Philosophy Behind the Revolt

• John Locke government as a contract between governed and the government
• balance of power in English constitution seen as "best" government possible
• English law not based on a written document vs. colonial experience with colonial charters
• "No Taxation without representation" - English believed that parliament represented the best interests of the empire so the colonists were being represented
• American colonies had always been different from other colonies
• English policies and laws in the Americas weren't always enforced, many royal office holders in the colonies contributed to the "looseness" of the system
• Colonial legislatures viewed themselves as "in control" of their colony
• Colonies didn't want to cooperate with one another
• The first plan for colonial unity the "Albany Plan" was rejected but was the first result of an intercolonial conference

French and Indian War

• French and Indian War left England as supreme among 3 powers of N. America (Iroquois, French, & England)
• The F/I war brought Americans into closer contact with British authority than ever before
• French had better relations with Indians than any other European power
• Conflicts in Europe had repercussions in the Americas
• Three phases to the F/I war
  1. local North American conflict - virtually all of the Indian tribes, except the Iroquois, were still allied with the French, the Iroquois were nominally allied with the English, but still feared the French and the Iroquois remained largely passive
  2. Internationalization
  3. Relaxation of English policies that colonists disliked
• F/I effects on British: war greatly expanded E's territorial claims (about 2x) in N.America, increased Britain's debt, and increased British resentment of Americans
• F/I war effects on Americans: forced to work together against a common enemy
• George III comes to the empire: determined to reassert power of the monarchy, intellectually and psychologically limited

Unpopular English Taxes/Acts

• Proclamation of 1763 - supposed to give London the power to control (and slow) westward movement --> failed
• Mutiny (or Quartering) Act 0f 1765 - colonists were required to help provision and maintain the army, colonists didn't object to housing and feeding troops only in making it mandatory
• Sugar Act of 1764 - designed to eliminate the illegal sugar trade between colonies and the West Indies, established vice-admiralty courts in the American colonies and reduced the access of American colonists to local juries
• Currency Act of 1764 - required the colonial assemblies to stop issuing paper money
• Stamp Act of 1765 imposed a tax on every printed document in the colonies (repealed 1766 after riots, boycotts, and protests) --> seemed to be an ominous precedent in the eyes of the colonists
• Most colonists found a way to live with or circumvent these new laws
• Colonists most upset with the fact the English (as they saw it) were trying to make laws without the o.k. of local assemblies - the didn't want to set that precedent
• Townshend Program 1767 : 1) disband NY assembly until it agreed to obey the Mutiny Act 2) Townshend Duties - taxes on products imported from England (repealed except for tax on tea 1770)
• Declaratory Act 1766 - confirmed parliamentary authority over the colonies in "all cases whatsoever" after the repeal of the Stamp Act
• Boston Massacre - poorly paid British soldiers open fire and kill some colonists who provoked them
• Patrick Henry asserted that Americans possessed the same rights as the English including the right to be taxed only by duly elected officials in "Virginia Resolves"
• Tea Act of 1773 gave the East Indian Co. a monopoly on tea which undercut American merchants (actually made tea cheaper). Protests to this law was larger than past protests. Boston Tea Party - took place after Bostonians failed to turn away ships laden with tea and triggered acts of resistance in other colonies
• Coercive Acts or Intolerable Acts of 1774 passed in retaliation over the tea party: closed Boston harbor, royal officers could be tried in England or other colonies, reduced self-government in Mass., provided for quartering of troops in Boston --> made a martyr of Boston
• Quebec Act granted political rights to Roman Catholics -- colonists feared a plot to subject colonists to the authority of the Pope

Trouble at home

• Paxton Boys were a group of Penn. Frontiersmen who marched on Phi. To demand tax relief and financial support for their defense against Indians
• Regulators organized a small scale civil war in NC resisting high taxes

First Continental Congress (September 1774)

1. rejected a plan for colonial union under British authority
2. endorsed a statement of grievances that reflected the influence of moderates
3. recommended military preparations for the defense against possible British attack
4. agreed to a series of boycotts
5. agreed to meet again

Lexington and Concord

• General Gage sought to capture "minuteman" to seize gunpowder in Concord
• William Dawes and Paul Revere notify villagers of movement
• "shots heard round the world"

Other Important Information

• Americans started war very unprepared for military combat
• Americans were very divided about what they were fighting for
• Common Sense by Thomas Paine helped to mobilize sentiment for fighting for independence
• Declaration of Independence Part I: contract theory Part II: grievances vs. the king after the Declaration British concentrated on capturing New York
• Financing the war was difficult and inflation soared
• American advantages: home field , more committed, foreign aid
• British advantages: #1 navy and army in the world, superior commanders
• Battle of Bunker Hill - British won couldn't afford many more victories like that
• Battle of Yorktown involved a French Fleet and a combined French-American army
• Most Native American tribes ultimately chose to stay out of the war
• As the American republic took shape, greater importance was attached to the role of women as mothers
• Phases of the War
  1. New England - British view was that rebellion was a local phenomenon in Boston and if they could squash that the rest of the colonies would fall into line
  2. Mid-Atlantic - sought to "cut" the colonies in two but Howe didn't follow the plan and tried to capture rebel capital of Philly Defeat at Saratoga was a disastrous loss for the British France came to the aid of the United States which helped turn the war into a European war too
  3. The South - British shifted war to the South because they believed they would get strong loyalist support as well as support from slaves. War became truly revolutionary: new type of warfare (guerilla) and made large groups of people become involved politically. British had some military success but troops were always "harassed" as they moved through the countryside.
  4. Virtual Marching Tour of the American Revolution - explore battles of the Revolutionary War
• Double cross! The French and Americans agreed to negotiate treaty together but US ended up negotiating w/o France and gaining formal British recognition of American independence
• Loyalists and Anglicans suffered during and after the war
• The war generally weakened position of Native Americans: increased demand for land, many resented aid given to the British, divided N.A.s internally
• (as with most wars) women's role in society increased many became camp followers and some even fought in the war…"rights of man" phrasing led women to question their role in society
• war lead to revolution in economic life-the colonies were on their own

New State Governments

• Americans very wary of creating a new "king'
• Agreed that government's power should come from the people
• Concept of equality
• Conn. & R.I didn't write new constitutions they just rewrote their old ones
• Separation of the executive and the legislature
• Bicameral and Unicameral legislatures
• M.A. constitution: held a constitutional convention (made it hard to change), strengthened the executive (to create stability)

Life under The Articles of Confederation

• what would be the role of slavery? Religion? State size?
• Articles of Confederation made dealing with other nations difficult (among many other flaws)
• Northwest Ordinance- made area North of Ohio a single territory, might later be divided into 3-5, 60,000 was minimum pop. For statehood, guaranteed freedom of religion and right to trial by jury, prohibited slavery
• The new confederation brought a period of stability with NA/US in the Northwest
• War had left the US in DEBT and taxation was still a big issue with citizens
• Hamilton and Madison pushed for a stronger central government
• Shays Rebellion dealt with taxation issues (among others) but even though it didn't succeed it showed the limited nature of the new government to control such uprisings.

So you say you want a Constitution...

• George Washington's support for the Constitutional Convention in Philly gave the meeting credibility
• Fifty five men representing all the states except Rhode Island attended this meeting
• The reps were generally young, wealth, and educated
• Meeting were held in private (closed to the public and the press)
• Virginia Plan: government divided into legislative, executive, and judiciary; legislature would have two houses (lower house based on population, upper house would be elected by lower house)
• New Jersey Plan: one house legislature, gave Congress expanded powers to tax and regulate commerce
• How do slaves fit in for taxation? Figuring population of a state?
• "Grand Compromise" - two houses (lower - population upper -two votes per state), slaves would count for 3/5th a person for figuring population
• convention agreed to ban the government from stopping the slave trade for twenty years
• Constitution contained no bill of rights
• Constitution was to be the supreme law of the land but it left some powers in the hands of the states
• Only the House of Representatives would be elected directly by the people
• Reliance on checks and balances and separation of power to prevent tyranny
• Thirty nine delegates signed the Constitution September 17, 1787

OK, so now what?

• delegates to the convention did a lot more than just change the Articles of Confederation, they had made a revolutionary new government
• now the debate was taken to the American people
• Federalists supported the Constitution and Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay published a series of essays supporting the new government in newspapers around the country under the pseudonym "Publius" - latter know as the Federalist papers (read Fed #10 and #52)
• Antifederalists were against the constitution and didn't have a cool sounding name, they believed they were defending the true principles of the Revolution and feared that the new government would obliterate the states
• Most states ratified the Constitution with the expectation that a Bill of Rights would be added
• First elections held in early 1789 --> Washington elected Pres., John Adams elected Vice. Pres, and first Congress served in many ways almost as a continuation of the Const. Convention
• First 10 amendments to the Constitution which became the Bill of Rights
• Most of the amendments placed limits of Congress (9/10)
• Congress had to decide how to organized the Court system and executive departments the Constitution didn't specify how large the Supreme Court should be or the duties and kinds of lower federal courts.

Meet the new boss

• although Constitution had been ratified there was still disagreement about the nature of the new government (strong nation government, urban, commercial vs. moderate government, rural, agricultural)
• Centralizers - Federalists & Alexander Hamilton vs. Moderates - Republicans & Tom Jefferson, James Madison
• Hamilton became a key figure in the early government
• Hami wanted to keep the government permanently in debt through the sale bonds, he reasoned that wealthy bond holders would always have a stake in keeping the government afloat
• Hami wanted to create a national bank - to help fund this bank he proposed taxes on alcoholic beverages and tariffs on imports
• Under Hamilton's plan a new national bank would
  1. be capitalized largely by investors
  2. facilitate the collection of taxes
  3. provide loans to private businesses
• Site of the nation's capital was chosen as part of negotiation about the federal government assuming the state's debt (assumption bill)
• The founders (especially Washington) did not believe in political parties and actually saw them as dangerous
• The Federalists appeared to their critics to be creating a menacing power structure so the formed organized opposition (Republicans no relation to Ronnie, Newt, or Bush)
• This is called the "first party system" by historians

Whiskey Rebellion

• farmers in western Penn. Refused to pay the new whiskey tax and harassed tax collector
• Washington personally took troops to Penn. to squash Jim Beam & Co.
• this new government wanted to look forceful from the start

Politics, Politics

• Jay's Treaty - avoided war with GB but many opposed it, restored a comfortable commercial relationship with GB
• George Washington refused to run for a third term as Pres.
• XYZ Affairs - French officials demand a loan for France and a bribe to begin negotiations with the US
• Quasi War - French and US naval vessels capturing one another --> lead to more cooperation with GB
• Alien and Sedition Acts passed by Federalists to control Republican opposition. Led to the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions that suggested states could "nullify" federal laws.
• Tammany Society emerged as a great political machine to help Republicans get elected
• Adams midnight appointments help secure Federalist dominance in Judiciary