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Brinkley, Chapter 5 Notes
1
Brinkley, Chapter 5 Notes
The American Revolution
Defining American War Aims
When the Second Continental Congress met they agreed to support the war but disagreed about its purpose.
The Adams Cousins - Favored Independence
Moderates - Quick reconciliation with Britain (John Dickinson) Most Americans believed at first that they were fighting not for independence but for a redress of grievances within the British Empire, but they changed their minds as the fighting spread to their backyards.
Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense argued that the greatest problem facing the colonists was the English Constitution and getting rid of it was worth fighting for.
Declaration of Independence
“That these United Colonies are, and, of right, ought to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connexion between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.”
Launched a period of energetic political innovation, as one colony after another considered itself as a “state.”
By 1777, Congress adopted a plan for union, the Articles of Confederation - a weak decentralized system of government.
Continental Congress, July 4 1776
Jefferson wrote most of the Declaration, but had help from Ben Franklin and John Adams. Borrowed many concepts circulating throughout the colonies and from the Enlightenment.
Mobilizing for War
Financing the war was difficult because Congress had no authority to levy taxes on its own and had to borrow from state governments.
Most of the money used to finance the war came from France and other nations.
Volunteer soldiers were scarce. States had to pay bounties or draft them into service.
At first, militiamen remained under control of their respective states but Congress recognized the need for a centralized military command and created a Continental Army with George Washington as the Commander.
War for IndependenceBritish Advantages:
Greatest Navy
Best Equipped Army
Resources of an empire
Coherent structure of command
American Advantages:
Fighting on own territory
More committed to the conflict
Substantial aid from abroad
Luck:Early British blunders and miscalculations
The First PhaseParliament did not believe it was a “real” war, but quarrelsAmericans suffered many losses with some exceptions like Bunker Hill
The Second Phase
If not for a series of British mistakes, the war would probably have ended by 1778
British General William Howe offered the colonists: surrender with a royal pardon or face a battle against overwhelming odds. Americans rejected Howe’s offer.
The British strategy relied on dividing the Continental Army into 2. Americans suffer more losses.
In all the defeats, the Colonists managed a huge victory at Saratoga (New York)
Saratoga changed EVERYTHING = French Diplomatic Recognition, Military Support, Skilled Generals, and MONEY.
Brinkley, Chapter 5 Notes
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Lexington & Concord
Saratoga
Boston
Philadelphia
Charleston
Richmond
Canada American Revolution
Battles and Cities
Battles
Cities
Valley Forge
Delaware River
Securing Aid From AbroadThe French stood to gain the most of a British defeat
At first they provided the Colonists with badly needed supplies but no formal diplomatic recognition. French foreign minister, Charles Gravier de Vergennes wanted evidence that the Americans had a real chance of winning. (Saratoga)
Prime Minister Lord North offered the colonists complete home rule within the empire for Americans if they would quit the war.
Vergennes feared the Americans would accept the offer and destroy France’s
opportunity to support Britain. Formal recognition was granted to America.
One of the greatest gifts from France was Le Marquis de Lafayette.
George Washington at Valley Forge
The Final Phase: The South
After Saratoga, the British relied on heavily Loyalist sentiment in the South. They overestimated Loyalist sentiment. They also tried to convince slaves to fight for them.
After British victories in Savannah and the Carolinas, Cornwallis moved North to Virginia for the final battle of the war which took place at Yorktown, VA.
American and French forces quickly descended on Yorktown. George Washington and French General Count de Rochambeau marched to Yorktown to meet the Marquis de Lafayette. This joint operation caused the surrender of Cornwallis.
The war for independence was over.
Winning the PeaceConwallis’s defeat provoked outcries in England
Lord North resigned as Prime Minister
British emissaries appeared in France to negotiate a peace settlement
Ben Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay were the American diplomats
Treaty signed on September 3, 1783
3. Americans gained fishing rights off Newfoundland
Treaty of Paris 1783
1. Full American independence recognized by Britain
2. Boundaries set:North = Great LakesWest = MS RiverSouth = 31st Parallel
4. Britain kept control of Canada
5. Navigation of the MS River was to be open to both British & Americans
War and SlaveryFor some African Americans, war meant freedom. The British helped many escape the country as a way of disrupting the American war effort.
PA was the 1st state to abolish slavery (1780)
VT was the 1st colony to abolish slavery (1777)
Emancipation of slaves in the North was slow, but the number of slaves dwindled over the next few decades.
Nov. 7, 1775 Lord Dunmore issued a Proclamation “And I hereby further declare all indentured servants, Negroes, or others free, that are able and willing to bear arms, they joining His Majesty’s Troops...”
Fewer than 1,000 fought for Dunmore
About 5,000 served in the Continental Army
Brinkley, Chapter 5 Notes
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Tension Between Liberty and Slavery
The Revolution exposed the continuing tension between the natin’s commitment to liberty and its commitment to slavery.
It seemed obvious to most that slavery and liberty were incompatible, but it was less obvious in the South
Many white southerners believed that enslaving Africans was the best way to ensure liberty for white people. They feared that without slaves, it would be necessary to recruit a servile white workforce in the South, and that the resulting inequalities would jeopardize the survival of liberty
One of the ironies of the American Revolution was that many white Americans were fighting both to secure freedom for themselves and to preserve slavery for others.
For some African Americans, the Revolution meant an increased exposure to the concept of liberty
Native Americans and the RevolutionMost tribes ultimately chose to stay out of the war. Only the Iroquois allied with Britain - although they claimed to be neutral.
Many Indians the Revolution would replace a somewhat trustworthy ruling group (the British) with a hostile ruling group bent on expansion (Americans)
The Revolution weakened the position of the Native Americans in several ways:
Increased white demand for western land
Resentment towards Indians for not allying with Colonists and carrying out raids
Paternalistic point of view toward the Indians led by Thomas Jefferson: The Indians were “noble savages,” uncivilized in their present state but redeemable if they were willing to adapt to the norms of white society.
Abigail Adams
The emphasis on liberty and the “rights of man” led some wealthy women to question their position in society.
Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John, “In the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.” She was calling for new protections against abusive and tyrannical men.
Eliza Wilkinson
“The men say we have no business [with politics]. They won’t even allow us liberty of thought, and that is all I want.” Women did not insist on civic equality with men; they sought only to an end to restrictive customs and laws.
America, a RepublicMost politicians ignored women’s requests, and most men insisted on the traditional sexual and political prerogatives of their sex.
Husbands remained patriarchs who dominated their households. Even younger men did not support legal equality for their wives and daughters. In the new American republic, only white men enjoyed full citizenship.
Nevertheless, the republican belief in an educated citizenry created opportunities for some women. In 1779, Judith Sargent Murray wrote an essay called “On the Equality of Sexes.” In her essay she argued that men and women had equal capacities for memory and that women had superior imaginations. She conceded that most women were inferior to men in judgment and reasoning, but only from lack of training.
That situation changed in the 1790s, when the attorney general of MA declared that girls had an equal right to schooling under the state constitution. By 1850, the literacy rates of women and men in the northeastern states were equal, and educated women again challenged their subordinate legal and political status.
Republican Mother
Despite the efforts of Adams and others like Judith Sargent Murray (equal education), American society became more patriarchal than ever.
No voting, all property belonged to the husband, no legal transactions, no property rights, no legal authority over her children, could not initiate divorce.
Out of this though, was the importance of the woman as mother - to produce a new kind of citizen, one steeped in the principles of liberty. The “Republican Mother”
Women’s Rights and Women’s Roles
Women were in charge of farms and businesses while men fought
Led protests against price increases, rioted, or looted food
Attacked British troops when possible“Camp Followers” - nurses,
cooks, launderers; some disguised themselves as men to fight - Deborah Sampson
Spies
Brinkley, Chapter 5 Notes
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Assumptions of Republicanism
If Americans agreed to nothing else, they agreed that their new governments would be republican.
Republic - government system in which power comes from the people, not a supreme authority
The success of this type of government depended on the small, independent land owner embedded with civic virtue.
Warned of a few powerful aristocrats and a great mass of dependent workers
Equality
“All men are created equal.”
All people have to earn their success. There might be no equality of condition, but there would be equality of opportunity.
But would there really be equality of opportunity?
African Slaves
Exploitation of Indians
Women not granted access to education
First State Constitutions
State constitutions were to be written down
Power of the executive was to be limited
No executive could hold office in the legislature simultaneously
Did not embrace direct popular rule
Property requirements for voters
Most Americans continued to believe that religion should play some role in government but did not want to give special privileges to any particular
denomination.1786 Virginia enacted the Statue of Religious Liberty - calling for the complete separation of church and state. (Thomas Jefferson)
Separation of Church and State
Note: There is NOTHING in the US Constitution that makes separation of church and state an official law. This is merely conventional practice.
Toleration and Slavery
Slavery was more difficult to resolve. In many places in the North it was abolished.
South Carolina and Georgia prohibited the further importation of slaves from abroad
Virginia passed a law encouraging the voluntary freeing (manumission) of slaves
Slavery survived nonetheless in all southern and border states because:
Racist assumptions among whites of the inferiority of blacks
Washington and Jefferson owned slaves
What would happen to freed blacks?
Belief that blacks could be assimilated into white society
The Articles of Confederation 1777
National Government: 1 Branch = Confederation Congress - A committee of delegates composed of representatives from each state. Appointed by state legislatures.
Each state had 1 vote. 9 votes needed to approve any measure. 13 votes needed to approve any amendments to the Articles
Each state would tax itself to help contribute to common expenses (war debt)
No state was to be deprived of western lands.
Each state retained powers not explicitly delegated to Congress.
States retained sovereignty, freedom, and independence.
Brinkley, Chapter 5 Notes
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Powers of Congress
Declare War and Peace
Appoint military and naval officers
Requisition the states for men and money
Send and receive ambassadors
Enter into treaties and alliances
Establish a post office
Coin money
Borrow money or issue paper money on credit
Cannot:
Regulate trade
Draft troops
Levy direct taxes
Mediate interstate issues
Enforce its will on the states
Regulate Commerce
Can:Weaknesses of Articles
Never solved the problem of representation
Big states wanted representation based on population
Small states wanted equal representation
No separate executive. The “President” was merely the residing officer at the sessions of Congress
No judicial Branch to act as mediator between the states
Inflexible as it needed all 13 states to ratify amendments
Problems Created by the ArticlesThe Federal Government was weak and could not enforce the A of C
States refused to pay off foreign debts, refused to pay taxes on time, or at all (GA)
Trade limits imposed by Britain, France & Spain. A of C too weak to contest
Could not protect American settlements in areas controlled by Spain and Britain.
States violated treaties with Indian nations - A of C could not punish states
States would not send delegates to Congress - Congress could not hold session
States argued over boundaries, fishing rights, trading, etc. A of C could not resolve infighting
Some states wanted secession
Turmoil between debtors and creditors - each state had different currencies
Rebellions left the states to defend themselves (Shay’s Rebellion)
Success of the Articles
Received international recognition
Forged diplomatic relations with foreign nations
Borrowed money from international lenders
Negotiated the Treaty of Paris
Fielded a Continental Army and won a war
Established of a system of territorial governance under federal authority
--> Land Ordinance of 1784 and the Northwest Ordinance 1787
Land Ordinance of 1784
Until about 1780 the lands of the Northwest Territory were claimed by several existing states, including NY & VA. These states soon ceded their land holdings to the central government.
The Ordinance of 1784, drafted by Thomas Jefferson and passed by Congress, divided the territory into a handful of self-governing districts.
It stipulated that each district could send one representative to Congress upon its attaining a population of 20,000, and it would become eligible for statehood when its population equaled that of the least populous existing state. (This ordinance was superseded by the Ordinance of 1787.)
By the time the Revolution ended in 1783, specific measures were needed to guide the settlement, division, and organization of the Northwest Territory.
Provided for the scientific surveying of the territory’s lands and for a systematic subdivision of them.
Land Ordinance of 1785
It also required that half of the townships be sold in single blocks of 23,040 acres each, which restricted their sale to well-to-do farmers.
Land was to be subdivided according to a rectangular grid system; the basic unit of land grant was the township, which was a square area measuring six miles on each side.
A township could then be subdivided into a number of rectangular parcels of individually owned land. The minimum land sale was set at one square mile (640 acres), and the minimum price per acre was $1.
One section in each township was to be set aside for a school. These procedures formed the basis of American public land policy until the Homestead Act of 1862.
Brinkley, Chapter 5 Notes
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The Northwest Ordinance, 1787
1787 Ordinance - created a single Northwest Territory out of the lands north of the Ohio River. The territory was then subsequently divided into 5 territories.
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was the most important of the land ordinances.
It laid the basis for the government of the Northwest Territory and for the admission of its constituent parts as states into the Union.
Arguably the most important accomplishment of the Articles of Confederation.
Under this ordinance, the principle of granting new states equal rather than inferior
status to older ones was firmly established.
Each district was to be governed by a governor and judges appointed by Congress until it attained a population of 5,000 adult free males, at which time it would become a territory and could form its own representative legislature.
An individual territory could be admitted to statehood in the Union after having attained a population of 60,000.
Under the ordinance, slavery was forever outlawed from the lands of the Northwest Territory; freedom of religion, trial by jury, and other civil liberties were guaranteed
The Northwest Ordinance. 1787
Indians were promised decent treatment; and education was provided for.
A problematic era due to the weakness of the national government under the A of C
Foreign problems
The Critical Period, 1783-1789
Britain wants debts paid to merchants and refused to send a minister to the US for diplomacy
Britain still maintained Northwest trading posts--was not abiding by treaties that compelled them to leave the territory. US will not pay debts until the trading posts are desertedFrance, almost bankrupt, is upset with Congress for not paying debtsUS unable to oppose the Barbary Pirates due to lack of a navy
States lacked respect for the national governmentDomestic Problems
Military almost at the point of mutiny--not being paid by the government
British goods dumped at low prices
Bank-holders & creditors lost faith in gov’t b/c it could not even pay interest payments, let alone pay its loan principal
No Standard Currency
Creditors hurt by state laws forcing acceptance of paper money for debts
The Critical Period, 1783-1789Dissatisfied GroupsMerchants wanted gov’t that regulates commerce & can secure favorable treatment overseasManufacturers wanted tariff barriers against foreign goodsLand speculators wanted strong gov’t to keep Indians away & the frontier open for profitHolders of government bonds wanted the government to pay off its debtCreditors and financiers wanted a stable currency and a less severe inflation rate
Post War Depression, 1784-1787Exposed the problem of an inadequate money supply - particularly a problem for debtors. Enormous outstanding debt from the War, and little means to pay it. Congress could not tax, & states only gave small contributions. On the verge of default States had war debts too and relied on heavy taxes from its citizens. Poor farmers considered such policies unfair. Demanded that state governments issue paper currency to increase the money supply and make it easier for them to pay their loans & taxes.
Brinkley, Chapter 5 Notes
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In MA, lawmakers refused to enact debtor relief legislation.
Shay’s Rebellion
They imposed high taxes to pay off the state’s war debt and cut the supply of paper currency.
Cash-strapped farmers could not pay both their taxes and their debts. Creditors threatened lawsuits.
Courts were foreclosing on homes. Mobs of angry farmers closed the courts by force. They were trying to prevent “valuable and industrious members of
society being dragged from their families to prison.”
These crowd actions grew into a full-scale revolt led by Daniel Shays, former captain of the Continental Army.
Shay’s Rebellion
Shays issued a set of demands to the MA legislature:
Issuance of paper money, tax relief, moratorium on debts, and abolition of imprisonment for debts
The MA gov’t was relatively uninvolved in the rebellion until “Shayists” prevented the collection of debts and used force to keep the courts from sitting and sheriffs from selling confiscated property.
Wealthy Bostonians in the West (including Abigail Adams) donated money to form a militia to put down the rebellion.
The rebels were routed in a skirmish in January 1787. Shays escaped to Vermont and was later pardoned. 150 others were captured and several sentenced to death. George Washington and others urged compassionate treatment of the rebels and pardons were eventually granted.
Abigail Adams, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, while she was in London & he in Paris, she described the uprising as: “Ignorant, restless desperadoes, without conscience or principles, have led a deluded multitude to follow their standard, under pretense of grievances which have no existence but in their imaginations.”
Shay’s Rebellion
Reversal from the Revolution
Sam Adams had become an establishment figure in Massachusetts politics and urged death sentences for the leading Shays rebels. It is believed that he said, “The man who dares to rebel against the laws of a republic ought to suffer death.”
Demonstrated that many people realized that state governments undermined property rights
Effects of Shay’s Rebellion
Led to calls for stronger national government--every state except Rhode Island sent delegates to Philly to revise the Articles
The rebellion added urgency to the movement to produce a new, national constitution. One with a more centralized government, the power to tax, and the power to intervene in state affairs if needed.
People realized that a stronger national government was required to answer to the needs of the union and to stop the states from threatening their peoples’ lives
Many people (including Madison) felt that the principles of the Revolution were being threatened more by state governments than they could be by a stronger central government, IF it was to be created
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