Decade Pages

Relations Between European Powers and Natives

French

• More diplomatic

  • Came looking for furs and Catholic converts →saw Natives as potential economic and military allies

• Relied on cooperation much like the Dutch

  • Set up trading posts to control fur trade

• Posed less of a threat due to their smaller number of colonists and towns

• French also assisted the Huron against the Iroquois

• Often married Native women who served as guides and translators

Dutch

• Originally acted more as trading outposts than colonies

• Less likely to intermarry than French

England

• Marriage with Natives was less common

  • Native populations already devastated by disease

  • Many colonists came in families

• Initial relations were peaceful

  • Traded and shared new ideas (hunting, farming, fur and weapon trading)

• English had little to no respect for Native culture

• Expelled Natives rather than subjugating them like the Spanish did

Spanish

• Encomienda system

  • Forced Natives to work in mines or farm in exchange for the “care” of the Spaniards

• Put those of pure Native heritage on the bottom of the caste system

• Some dissenters like Bartolome de Las casas who advocated for better treatment of them

  • Pushed for passage of New Laws that ended their enslavement, halted their forced labor, and began to dismantle encomienda

    • Conservatives successfully pushed for a repeal of some laws

Other

• Natives often allied with one European power over another

Puritanism of New England

Puritans

• Reformed protestants seeking to purify the Church of England

• Calvinists →believed they had a unique covenant with God

• Predestination

• Church attendance was mandatory

Influence in New England

• Social Structure

  • Close-knit communities centered around the church

  • Emphasis on brotherhood, community, and togetherness

  • Traditional family roles

• Predestination

  • No problem killing in the name of God

  • Feared living an idle or lazy life (worked to live up to what was predestined for them)

• Government

  • Believed in self-government

  • Congregationalism

• Economic development

  • Centered around family sized farms and occasional trading

  • Differentiated their crops →contributed to economic success and life expectancy

  • Belief in predestination contributed to a strong work ethic

First Great Awakening

• 18th century religious renewal

  • Emotionalism became more prominent in religious services

    • Preachings from George Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards encouraged and empowered the common people to express their faith

  • Caused a split in some denominations

  • People began to study the bible more in their homes →sects that relied on traveling ministers (ex: Baptists and Methodists) gained more members

  • Stricter call for separation of church and state

  • Democratizing effect

    • People began to make religious decisions without higher authority →thought transferred over to political beliefs

  • Helped to foster a sense of shared identity in America

Salutary Neglect

Unofficial policy by Britain where they neglected to enforce certain laws in order to allow the colonies to flourish

• Exerting power over the colonies was difficult due to distance

• More problems than enforcing the regulations

• Britain had many corrupt officials who could easily be bribed

• Halted after the 7 years war

  • Britain lost large amounts of money during the war and intended to heavily tax the colonies to make up for it

    • Stamp act and Townshend acts

    • End of salutary neglect began to revolutionize the colonists against Britain

French and Indian War

Aka Seven years war

• Conflict between Britain and France

• Began over competing claims in the Ohio River Valley as the British encroachment threatened French fur trade networks and the autonomy of Natives

• Ended with British victory

  • Consolidated British control in North America

  • alleviated colonists fear of French attacks

  • colonists contributions reflected their political maturity and inc their confidence in self-governance

  • British saw the colonies as militarily weak and unable/unwilling to defend the expanding frontier

• Led to the decline of salutary neglect and increased taxation on the colonies

Rise of Democratic tendencies in the colonies

Great awakening

• Encouraged colonists to break away from religious authority and guide their own beliefs →ideas transferred over to politics

7 Years War

• British success with help from the colonies gave them renewed confidence in their abilities and self-governance

Many of the colonies had their own concepts of local meetings that would later be adopted in the constitution.

• Legislatures where the public would vote for or against a governors laws

• Participation in government was also extended in some colonies to small farmers rather than just the elite class

The enlightement

• Ideas such as the social contract and natural influenced colonists ideas of government and would later be adopted by the constitution

British Imperial Policy - Royal Governors to Mercantilism

Mercantilism - the belief that a country’s wealth was determined by how much more it exported than imported

• Countries tried to encourage exportation and decrease purchases from other countries through tariffs

• Colonies only existed to economically benefit the motherland

  • Provided raw materials to promote the country’s industries

• Navigation acts

  • Trade to and from the colonies could only be carried by English or colonial built and operated ships

  • All imported goods had to pass through English ports

  • Specific goods could only be exported to England (ex tobacco)

• The navigation acts had positive and negative effects

  • aided New England ship building, provided a tobacco monopoly in England, and provided English troops to the colonies

  • Severely limited colonial economic growth

    • colonists couldn’t manufacture their own goods →had to pay high prices for English goods and accept low prices for their own

Causes of the American Revolution

• Increasing taxation of the colonies by the british

  • Stamp act

    • required revenue stamps be placed on most printed paper in the colonies

  • Sugar act

    • placed duties on foreign sugar and certain luxuries

  • Townshend act

    • enacted new duties to be placed on colonial imports of tea, glass, and paper

    • also allowed the search of homes for smuggled goods

• Intolerable acts

  • Coercive acts: aimed to punish the people of Boston and Massachusetts

    • Port act

      • Closed the Boston port until tea was paid for

    • Massachusetts government act

      • reduced the power of their legislature and increased that of the royal governor

    • Administration of justice act

      • allowed royal officials to be tried for their crimes in GB and not the colonies

    • Quartering act was expanded

Increase in revolutionary ideals

• Enlightenment

  • Social contract

    • people have both a right and responsibility to stand up to a corrupt government

    • certain things are given up to create a government that promotes liberty and equality

• Natural rights

  • we’re all born with certain natural rights

  • Common Sense

    • Pamphlet that argued for the independence of the colonies and promoted the idea of a revolution

• First Continental Congress

  • Meeting of delegates from all colonies (sans GA) to respond to the actions of the British

  • Adopted a few measures to protest the acts of the British

  • petition was dismissed by Britain who sent additional troops to MA and considered it in a state of rebellion

    • combination of colonial defiance and British determination to suppress it led to violent clashes → first battles of the revolution

American Revolution - Diplomatic and Domestic issues

Diplomatic

• Britain sees colonies as weak

• Corrupt rule

  • Intolerable acts

  • Inc taxation

• Colonies seen as weak

  • troubled securing alliances with foreign countries

Domestic

• In fighting: Loyalists vs Patriots

  • Many Loyalists/Tories fought with the British and against the colonies, supplying them with food, ammunitions, etc

• Poorly trained army, lack of resources

Articles of Confederation - Structure, Weaknesses, and Strengths

Structure

• Central government with one body, Congress

  • Each state given 1 vote, 9/13 needed to pass important laws

• No separate executive or judiciary system

• A unanimous vote was required to amend the Articles

• A committee of state representatives (one from each state) could make minor excisions when the full Congress wasn’t in session

• Gave Congress the power to wage war, make treaties, send diplomatic representatives, and borrow money

  • No power to regulate commerce or collect taxes →had to rely on on taxes voted by each state

• Government had no executive power to enforce laws

Accomplishments

• Land Ordinance of 1785: Policy for surveying and selling western lands; set aside a section of land in each township for public education

• Northwest Ordinance of 1787: Granted limited self-government and prohibited slavery in the region between the Great Lakes and Ohio River

• Some credit for the victory against the British and negotiating favorable terms

Weaknesses

• Troubled relations with European powers

  • Viewed as weak

• Limited Governmental power

  • Too weak to stop Britain from maintaining military outposts on the Western frontier and restricting trade

  • Too weak to force states to restore property to Loyalists or repay debts to foreigners (as dictated by the treaty)

• Economic problems

  • No taxing power, could only request donations →no revenue to repay debts

  • States had large unpaid debts

  • Debt resulted in limited credit and reduced foreign trade

• Internal Conflict

  • 13 states treated each other as rivals → competed economically

    • Placed tariffs and restrictions on trade across state lines

    • Boundary disputes inc tensions and the government had no power settle them

• Shays rebellion

  • Farmer Captain Daniel Shays led a rebellion against high state taxes, debt imprisonment, and lack of paper money

  • Stopped the collection of taxes and closed debtors court

  • After attempting to seize weapons the Massachusetts militia broke the rebellion

Constitutional Convention - debates and compromise that arose

• Disagreements over the purpose of the convention

  • Some wanted to revise the articles , while others (federalists) wanted to completely rewrite it

• Representatives'

  • Debates over whether larger states should have a proportional number of representatives

    • Virginia plan favored larger states, while the New Jersey plan favored smaller ones

    • The Connecticut plan/Great Compromise proposed a two-house system

      • Senate: equal representation House: population proportional

• Slavery

  • Should slaves be counted in populations'

    • 3/5 Compromise: each slave counted as 3/5 of a person

  • Slave trade

    • Some wanted to ban it for humanitarian reasons

    • Others were concerned about labor supply

    • Compromised that slavery could be continued for 20 more years and vote to abolish after that

• Trade

  • Northern states wanted the central government to regulate interstate commerce and foreign trade

  • The south feared that export taxes would be placed on its agricultural products

  • Commercial Compromise: allowed Congress to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, including tariffs, but prohibited taxes on any exports

• Presidency

  • Debated the term of office

    • Limited term to 4 years with no limit on number of terms

  • Debated method for electing a president

    • Decided to assign each state a number of electors equal to the total of its reps in Senate and House →Electoral College

    • Debated what powers to give the president

      • Considerable power, including the power to veto

First 2 administrations (1790s) - Rise of Partisanship

In the 1790s 2 distinct political parties began to arise →Federalists (Hamilton) and Democratic-Republicans (Jefferson)

Federalists

• Desired a strong central government →needed to maintain and protect the union

• Pro-British

• Develop a large army and navy

• Aid business, supported a national bank and high tariffs

• Northern business owners and large landowners

Democratic-Republicans

• Interpret the Constitution strictly

• Create a weak central gov

• Pro-French

• Develop a small navy and army

• Favored agriculture, opposed a national bank and high tariffs

• Skilled workers, small farmers, and plantation owners

Jeffersonian Republicanism - principles and actions of Jefferson

• Downfall of the Federalists: Jeffersons presidency signified the end of federalist rule

• Appeased federalists: maintained national banks and Hamiltons debt-repayment plan and carried on neutrality policy

• Appeased Democratic-Republicans: adhering to the principle of a limited central government, reduced military, eliminated many federal jobs, repealed excise taxes, and lowered national debt

• The Louisiana Purchase

  • Jefferson bought western lands from Napoleon for $15 million

  • Personal moral dilemma

    • Jefferson believed in a strict interpretation of the constitution and no clause explicitly stated that a president could purchase foreign land

  • Increased Jeffersons popularity and weakened the image of the Federalists

• Wanted federalist officials out

  • Tried various methods to overturn past federalist measures

    • suspended alien and sedition acts and released those jailed under them

  • Federalist judges were only subject to recall by impeachment so Jefferson started an impeachment campaign that largely failed

• Foreign Policy

  • Tried to avoid war → rejected permanent alliances to maintain US neutrality

    • Did fight with Barbary pirates and gain a measure of respect and protection in Mediterranean waters

  • Embargo Act

    • Jeffersons alternative to war

    • prohibited American ships from sailing to foreign ports

    • Jefferson hoped that Britain would rather stop the impressment and fighting than to lose its biggest trading partner

    • Failed, impacting US economy negatively → Jefferson repealed

War of 1812 - Causes and effects

• Causes

  • Continued violation of US neutral rights

    • Both Britain and France violated the US’ neutral rights, but Britain was the only one who utilized impressment

    • Americans also remembered the help from the French during the revolution and applauded them for overthrowing their own monarchy

  • Frontier Pressures

    • Americans longed to expand west but needed the lands occupied by Britain and their Spanish and Indian allies

    • The British also provided aid (though minor) to Natives in the battle of Tippecanoe against the Americans →Americans blamed Britain for instigating the rebellion

  • War Hawks

    • New, Young, Democratic-Republicans who were eager for war with Britain

    • Gained influence in the House of Representatives

    • Argued that war would be the only way to defend American honor, gain Canada, and destroy Native resistance

  • Delays

    • British agreement to US demands over neutral rights had been delayed for some time →combined with pressure from war hawks persuaded Madison to declare war

• Effects

  • Ended in a stalemate

  • US gained respect of other nations

  • US accepted Canada as part of the British empire

  • Federalist party declined → result of being denounced for its talk of secession

  • Talk of nullification and secession in New England set a precedent later used by the South

  • Natives were forced to surrender to white settlement

  • British naval blockade limited European goods → US factories were built, moving the US toward industrial self-sufficiency

  • Nationalistic feelings grew stronger as well as the desire to move West, away from Europe

American nationalism - 1800 - 1823

• Influenced by the War of 1812

  • Tensions between England and America were already rising as Americans desired to cut ties with England (beginning of nationalism)

  • US united against England (putting issues of sectionalism on the back burner)

  • The diplomatic victory against the British helped America to gain respect from others and confidence in itself as an independent nation

Second Great Awakening - 1810s - 1830s

• Religious revivals that swept through America

• Pushed ideas of individual salvation and rejected predestination

• Increased the number of Christians in New England and the frontier

• Sparked a number of reform movement

Causes

• Growing emphasis on democracy and the individuals influence on politics affect how people viewed religion

• Market revolution caused people to fear that industrialization and commercialization lead to increased sin

Revivals

• Many preachers spoke of opportunity and salvation for all as well as a more emotional expression of faith that attracted many Americans

• Baptists and Methodists grew through traveling preachers

• Led to new denominations like mormons

Antebellum reform movements

Temperance

• Anti-alcohol movement'

• Blamed over consumption of alcohol for things like poverty, crime, and domestic violence

• Led to many states banning the sale and consumption of alcohol, but was later overshadowed by the anti-slavery movement

Public Asylums

• Mental hospitals: the poor treatment of the mentally ill was broadcast by Dorothy Dix →many states began to open up mental hospitals

• Schools for the blind and deaf

• Prisons: Started with Pennsylvania’’s building of penitentiaries, reflected the Major doctrine of the asylum movement: structure and discipline would bring about moral reform

Public Education

• Focused on the need for established free education

• Moral education

Anti-slavery

Women’s Suffrage

Jacksonian Democracy - 1828-1840

• Jackson was for the common white man

  • Universal white male suffrage

• Against the national bank →believed against the poor

• Strong federal government

• His concept of democracy didn’t extend to natives

• Opposed protective tariffs

• Opposed federal spending for internal improvements

Early slavery, tariffs, and sectionalism

Manifest destiny - 1840s