French and Indian War

• British vs. French and groups of Native Americans

• French and Indian War was a smaller conflict in a bigger global conflict between Britain and France called the Seven Years War - Occurs on American soil

• French were encroaching on territory claimed by British people - Ohio River Valley

• George Washington - in 1753, he was Lieutenant Colonel in the Virginia militia

• Washington sent west to warn the French, they take over a British fort, Washington starts a fight and wins, then loses one that the French start

• Basically what this war was - series of disputes over Ohio River Valley land

• Albany Congress/Convention - Already planning on fighting French and Native Americans, were planning on how to defend colonies during this convention - delegates from British colonies discussed defense, trade, and westward expansion

  • Wanted to ally with Iroqouis, invite the to the Albany Congress - token presence

• Native Americans fight with them because it’s their best option - as long as Europeans fighting each other, they will have some sort of control over the land

• Ben Franklin introduces Albany Plan of Union, Join or Die poster, suggests that council of representatives should be made for the states

  • Didn’t happen for taxes, but would lay the foundation for Revolutionary Congress

• Originally, French were winning by a lot - plus, colonies were less lenient with British; more impressment, British soldiers could force themselves into colonists homes

• King George was worried over costs - opens peace negotiations

• Peace of Paris - ceded florida to British, French leave North America and Spanish get their land west of Mississippi, all land east of Mississippi was given to British

• American colonists want to move Westward, stresses Native American relationships

• Ottawa Leader Pontiac raids military forts in Virginia and Pennsylvania - Proclomation Line of 1763 established, migrating West across Applachian Mountains not allowed.

  • Another reason for colonial resentment

• Cost was very high for the British, debt doubled and cost for maintaining colonies was growing - would have to raise taxes heavily

Taxation without Representation

• British requires American colonists to bear part of the burden for cost of Seven Years War - Americans are British citizens, just won lots of land, should be willing to pay some taxes

• Salutary Neglect - British had political sovereignty, but America was practically completely separate; Colonists were in charge of their day to day life

  • Navigation Acts - Colonies only able to trade with British, Colonists didn’t really care about this law and smuggled, British didn’t enforce

  • Overall - Britain neglects the ruling of the American Colonies, so they feel that they are more independent of the British than the British government believes

• Now that Britain was desperate for money, salutary neglect couldn’t be allowed anymore

• British Prime Minister George Grenville created 3-pronged plan for getting colonies under control

  • Stricter enforcement of current laws (i.e. the Navigation Acts)

  • Extend Wartime provisions into peacetime

  • Quartering Act of 1765 - Keeps British soldiers stationed in colonies, colonists responsible for feeding and housing

• Sugar Act - imposes taxes on coffee, wine, luxury items, and enforces existing taxes on molasses

• Stamp Act, 1765 - Tax on all paper items, i.e. newspapers, playing cards, legal contracts, etc.

• Currency Act - Colonial assembly not allowed to print currency.

• Colonists feel suffocated by this, also stressed about declining wages and rise in unemployment

• Debate sparked on taxes on colonists when they had no representation in government - no taxation without representation

• British believe in virtual representation - Parliament represents all British citizens, which includes colonies as well

• Colonists say that the only people who could represent them had to be from the colonies

• Sons of Liberty, Daughters of Liberty, Vox Populi all try to give voice to protest

  • Groups are very diverse in terms of careers, mainly born from Stamp Act

  • Stamp Act Congress - 27 delegates from 9 colonies, want to petition the British government to repeal the stamp act because doing otherwise would be tyranny

  • In Stamp Act petitions, colonists are loyal subjects to British - Revolution not on the table yet

• British would repeal the Stamp and Sugar Acts

• Declaratory Act - Parliament can pass whatever they want in the colonies

• Townshend Act, 1767 - puts taxes on paper, tea, glass, which were imported into colonies

  • Everyone was against the Townshend Act, were willing to boycott all of the goods

  • All classes were supporting the boycott

  • Women would make clothes rather than buying British clothes, and make tea instead of buying British tea

• Boston Massacre, 1770 - group of boys and young men harass British soldiers, threw snowballs - someone fires a gun, British soldiers fire on the crowd; 11 colonists shot, 4 dead

  • John Adams defended the men in Court, six of eight were acquitted.

  • Adams still kind of against the British government

  • Shows overall distrust towards British, see it as a part of tyranny

• Boston Tea Party - Sons of Liberty disguise themselves as Native Americans, dump 45 tons of British tea into the Boston Harbor - this would be worth 2 million dollars

  • Tea Act - British East India Company is importing all ttea to the colonists, angers them because they were used to smuggling Dutch Tea

• Coercive Acts - Closes Boston Harbor until tea was fully paid for

• Passed Another Quartering Act

• All of these Acts known as the Intolerable Acts - colonies start making militias to protect from British Tyranny

Philosophical Foundations of Revolution

• How and Why did colonial attitutdes about government change in the years right before the American Revolution?

• Revolution still not considered as an option

• Continental Congress - Deliberation over Britain’s legislative tyranny - all agree that they need to resist further violations, but didn’t want revolution

• British government refuse to meet with them, argued that colonists were rebelling against their rightful authority

• Where did the colonists learn to think like this?

• John Locke, Two Treatises of Government

  • Government can only exist with the consent of the governed, people are allowing it to exist

  • Natural Rights granted by a creator, not by a government, so government could not take them away - Life, Liberty, Property

  • Self Rule through elected representatives

• Jean Jacques Rousseau

  • Works on social contract

  • Power to govern is in the hands of the people - people give up some power as long as their natural rights are protected

• Baron de Montesquieu

  • Writings inspire colonial leaders to believe that Republican government is the best form of preserving people’s liberty

  • Government should be split into three branches, Executive, Judicial, Legislative, checks and balances

• Americans see themselves as blessed with liberty, and any threat to that was a threat to their way of life

• Common Sense by Thomas Paine

  • Bibilical examples to show the flaws in monarchy

  • Lots of Enlightenment thoughts that filter into the main population

  • Thomas Paine gives focus to colonial thoughts about the British government - convinces them that the only way forward is as independent Americans

• 2nd Continental Congress

  • Formal resoultion for Independence formed, Thomas Jefferson tasked with righting the Declaration of Independence

  • Has a lot of Enlightenment ideas

• Declaration sparks war

American Revolution

• What factors contributed to the American victory in the Revolutionary War?

• America should not have won - British strongest nation in the world, and they went to war with their most important trade partner

• Not everyone was ok with this war - Patriot Cause embodied by continental congress and Common Sense - Half were supporting patriots, some were neutral, some(loyalists) were completely against independence

• Continental Congress appoints George Washington as general for Continental Army because of his fame from the French-Indian War

• First 6 months, Continental Army did not win a single conflict

• Soldiers would often desert because of how they didn’t want to protect lands other than their own

• British General William Howe comes to New York with 10,000 trained British soldiers and 60,000 loyalists join them

• Washington wages war of attrition - tire out the British until they don’t want to fight anymore

• Washington makes offer to enslaved people that if they fought, they would be freed - copied British

• Most black people fighting were free and from the North, 5000 supported patriot cause

• Battle of Trenton - Washington crosses the Delaware river, fights Hessian soldiers (German mercenaries)

• Battle of Saratoga - Most important battle; Benjamin Franklin was trying to get French support, this victory convices France to take their side

• France saw this as an opportunity to weaken Britain

• Spain and Holland also join against Britain

• Battle of Yorktown, 1781 - French guns and ships help Washington decisively beat the British, war ends

• Paris Peace Treaty - War officially ends, America recognized as independent nation, western boundary established at Mississippi River

Influence of Revolutionary Ideals

• How did the American Revolution affect American and Global society?

American Society

• People show concern over societal inequality

  • Slavery?

• Continental Congress abolished importation of enslaved laborers, Northern states abolish slavery

  • Movement was generally supported

  • Didn’t last long, South needed slavery for economic gains

  • Sentiments died down

• Opening of state and national governments to greater democratic influence

  • right to vote without titles or nobility affecting anything

• Revolutionary Ideals also contribute to role of women

  • Plowed and planted fields while husbands were at war, in addition to regular domestic duties

  • Ladies Association of Philadelphia - supplies troops with clothing, bandages and bullets

  • Would dress up as men and fight in the war

  • Nancy Hart, Georgia - Gave British soldiers food, then shot and killed two; Neighbors hung the rest

  • Women who had gotten used to this wanted a permanent expansion of these roles

  • Republican Motherhood - Women were vital to healthy democracy to raise sons schooled in republican ideals, means women have to be educated in these ideals as well

Global Society

• Nobody expected American colonists to win against the British, or build a government based on natural rights and individual liberty

• Inspires other countries and their revolutions, mainly the French Revolution

  • French Revolution, 1789 - Very poor economy, commoners make up a majority of the population, but they’re all poor and don’t have much political power

  • National assembly called for commoners, King Louis tries to stop it, but they storm the Bastille (prison)

  • Make the Declaration of Rights and Man, heavily influenced by the Declaration of Independence

• Haitian Revolution

  • Haiti was a French colony, saw French Revolution and followed that

  • Enslaved people rise against masters, burn masters, etc.

  • Haitian revolutionaries win, establish Haitian government

• Latin American countries also rebel - Mexico, Peru, Chile, etc.

Articles of Confederation

• Articles of Confederation were the first Constitution

• Influenced by existing state constitutions

• State governments largely focused political power into the legislative branch

  • Legislative branch - part of government that makes laws

• State legislative branches have representatives of the people

• Most power placed in legislative branch with the articles of confederation - Didn’t want too much power with a single person

• Articles did not even provide for a president, or supreme court

  • All power was in the legislature, each state had one vote, and each state could veto any changes to the articles

  • 9/13 states had to agree upon a change for it to happen - super majority, very hard to agree on

• Immediate problem that needed to be dealt with was Westward migration

  • Americans going westward were dealing with violence with Native Americans, and some people were just going to western territory unregulated

  • In order to regulate this, Northwest Ordinance of 1787 is made

    • Abolished slavery in Northwest territory

    • Provided a means by which western territories could get a population and apply for statehood

  • Northwest Ordinance best thing to happen under the Articles

• Shays Rebellion - worst thing to come out of the Articles of Confederation

  • Farmers were in debt because of Revolutionary War, had trouble paying everything off - entire country was in poor economic state

  • Daniel Shays gathers 1000 people, head to arsenal and arm themselves - Massachusetts militia stops them

  • Basically shows how weak the Articles are - this and other rebellions like this could happen and the national government would have no way to stop it.

• Local + Federal Leaders start talking about replacing the Articles

Constitutional Convention and Debates Over Ratification

• What were the differing ideological positions on the structure and function of the newly conceived federal government?

• Fifty five delegates meet in 1787 for Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia

• Meant to show the problems of Articles, they immediately decide to make a new one

• James Madison and Alexander Hamilton

• Wanted more power given to the government

• How to represent the people - two plans

  • Virginia Plan - Appeals to them because big states get more power

    • Strong Centralized State

    • Bicameral Legislature - two houses in Congress

    • Representatives based on population

  • New Jersey - Favors small states

    • Unicameral state - one house in Congress

    • Every state has equal representatives

  • Great Compromise

    • Bicameral

    • One house (House of Representatives) represents based on population

    • Second house (Senate) represents each state equally with two votes each

• Are slaves counted as part of the population? Important to South because if they do, they get a lot more power

  • Goes against the entire principle of slavery - not supposed to be treated as humans, South is hypocritical

  • South would walk away if slaves weren’t counted

  • Three-Fifth’s Compromise - Each slave counts as three-fifth’s of a person in terms of population

  • South also wants to keep slavery, scared since most Northern states were outlawing - Convention agrees to not ban until 1808

• Voting for Representatives

  • House

    • Elected directly by the people

    • Two year terms

  • Senate

    • Elected by State governments

    • 6 year terms

  • President

    • Elected by electoral college

    • Elected by states, pretty much

    • 4 year terms

• In order for the Constitution to be valid, 9 out of 13 states had to agree

• Results in two opposing parties - Federalists and Anti-Federalists

  • Federalists - Want people to ratify the constitution

    • Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay

  • Anti-Federalists - Don’t want ratification, puts too much power in the government and no way to protect people if their rights were infringed

• Federalists win - persuasion, more organized, give Bill of Rights for individual rights and way to protect people’s rights

Constitution

• Federalism - The sharing of power between the national and state governments

• Article 6 of Constitution says that constitution trumps state law when both contradict

  • Enumerated Powers - the laws that trump state laws, limited

• 10th Amendment - Powers not delegated to National government are reserved to the states

• Constitution embodies federalism because some powers given to the federal government while others are reserved exclusively to the states

• Constitution provides separation of powers

  • Legislative - makes laws

  • Executive - Carries out and enforces the laws

  • Judicial - interprets the laws to ensure they align with the Constitution

• Set up this way so that none of the branches have too much power - checks and balances

  • President can veto any laws created by Congress, Congress can override with 2/3’s majority vote

Shaping a New Republic

• George Washington unanimously elected

• Washington makes executive departments - treasury, war, state, justice - each headed by a secretary

• Alexander Hamilton - Secretary of Treasury, establishes national bank

  • If US establishes a national bank, will unify states and improve credit - wants to accrue state debts into national debt

  • Would allow US to borrow money from other nations, increases dependence of states on federal government

• No power that gives the government to do this - Hamilton uses Elastic Clause - wasn’t prohibited by the constitution, therefore legal

• Works - makes the National Bank

• Internation issues - French Revolution, breaks out during Washington’s presidency

  • Issue was if United States would help France with their wars against other European nations, especially Britain

  • Washington makes Proclamation of Neutrality - Hamilton convinces him that America is too young to get involved, goes against Jefferson

  • Edmond Genet - comes to America to convince Americans to help France - Washington wants him to leave, but he becomes an American citizen

• British were seizing American ships and impressing the crews (meaning they were forcing them to fight for Britain)

  • Washington sends John Jay for this, results in Jay’s Treaty - Britain gives up it’s posts in the West, nothing changes about seizures of American ships

  • Spanish get worried, America seems to be getting too close with Britain - consolidate their territories in the West

  • Pinckney Treaty Made with Spain - Spain lets Americans use the New Orleans Port and Southern border for US is at the 31st parallel

• Land Hungry Americans want to go West, conflicts brew with Native Americans - British may be supplying them and encouraging them to fight the Americans

• Battle of Fallen Timbers - US army fights a confederacy of Native American tribes, beat them and get access to all lands in the Ohio Valley

• Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 - Whiskey tax, Pennsylvania farmers attack tax collectors; Washington rides in with the US Army and ends the Rebellion

• Two Party System has been formed

  • Federalists

    • Led by Alexander Hamilton

    • Want a strong central government

    • Favored urban and elite interests

  • Democratic-Republicans

    • Led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison

    • Champions of states rights

    • Favored rural and agricultural interests

• Washington stops after two terms, and warns America of two party system and alliances with European nations during his famous Farewell Address

• John Adams - vice president to George Washington and 2nd President

  • Pro British

• Adams wants to stay neutral between French and British war

• Sends a delegation to France, 3 Frenchmen immediately ask for bribe before proceeding with negotiations - XYZ Affair

• Alien and Sedition Acts - Allows federal government to deport any non-citizen, makes it illegal to criticize the government publically

• Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions - State have a right to nullify any laws made by the federal government if it went beyond the powers granted in the Constitution

• Thomas Jefferson becomes the Third President after Adams is not elected for a second term.

Developing an American Identity

• How can we explain the changes in American culture from 1754 - 1800?

• Women had limited rights during this time period, but many leaders believed that wives and mothers were integral to the creation of a strong America

• Republican Motherhood - Mothers are in the best position to influence political ideas by raising virtuous sons that are educated in the principles of liberty; Meant they needed to be educated as well

  • Expands schooling for women

  • Only for white women

• Art and Literature were mostly influenced by European styles

  • Charles Wilson Peale’s portrait of Washington

  • Samuel Jennings’ includes women and black people in his paintings, emphasizes importance of rationality and education

  • John Trumbull is also important because of his paintings of important historical points in a romanticized way

• Architecture - also borrowed from Europe

• Literature - Poor Richard’s Almanack, has a lot of important aphorisms - defines Americans as industrious and hard-working;

• Religion - Thomas Jefferson responsible for Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, separates Church and State