FONER CHAPTER 6

Discussion of Freedoms

What changes occurred due to the Revolution? (Impact)

To what degree was the Revolution a radical one? (In what ways…)

Social Political Economic IntellectualTo what degree do state government

reflect the ideals of the revolution?

Essential Questions:

Freedom - Economic

“free labor” replaces indenture & apprenticeship (not republican)

Greater contrast – slavery & freedom Emphasis on equality (of opportunity) Land = access to opportunity and freedom Smith- The Wealth of Nations – “invisible

hand” – capitalist base of USTwo visions of economic freedom – public

welfare or individual rights (and best way to achieve)

Freedom - Religious

Separation of church and state Free exercise – both idea in First AmendmentReligion still seen as needed for public

morality & virtue – Christianity favored Religious pluralism and diversity becomes the

pattern

Freedom - Indians

Loss of BOP ability, loss of land, loss of independence and culture

Freedom came to mean protection of land, culture and independence

In NW Ordinance – land not taken w/o consent – but ……

No citizenship Nations and treaty system = method to take

land Assimilation goal – Five Civilized tribes Battle of Fallen Timbers; Treaty of Greenville

1795

Freedom – African Americans

Ideas of universal rights – freedoms – D of I Freedom petitions – Quok Walker case Free black communities Gradual emancipation - neonatal

emancipation Some states gave right to political

participation “citizens of color” Constitution – “other persons” (later Dred

Scott Case)

Freedom – Loyalists

Represented all classes – 20-25% - revealed class tensions

Feared anarchy and disorderLand confiscated – not compensated postwar

(elites generally purchased) 100,000-110,000 left Pattern – freedom of expression –

speech/press limited during crisis period ( new internal enemies)

Republican Principles: Political

Innovations/ChangesIncreased role for legislature;

decreased power of executive Written constitutions w/ Bill of Rights Separation of powersDecreased property qualifications to

voteMore balanced representation of the

backcountry in legislaturesAmending process

Republican Principles: Social Innovations/Changes

No aristocracy – merit, egalitarianism Separation of church and stateAnti-slavery movement begins – Quok

Walker caseWomen’s education and literacy;

some legal rights – “Republican Motherhood”

Sense of opportunity economically Sense of right to political

participationFirst labor organizations and major

strikes - class

Limitations: African Americans – tension

between liberty and equality Property critical – gain status, wealth Propertyless = dangerous; thus free

propertyless blacks = danger to white liberty

Limitations on importation of slaves both N and S

By 1800 gradual or immediate abolition of slavery in the N

Slavery no longer national institution – becomes southern institution –”peculiar”

Intensified sectional developments and differences