HIST Exam 2

What were the Coercive (Intolerable) Acts of 1774?

Response to Boston’s rebellion passed by parliament; harbor shut down and cutoff from trade to and from Boston; Massachusetts under British control, tried under Britain rule

True or False: the Quartering Act allowed the British army to quarter newly arrived soldiers in colonists’ homes

True; applied to ALL colonies

Did other colonies come to the aid of Massachusetts as a result of the Intolerable Acts?

Yes, strengthened sense of shared colonial identity; concerns grew over power of Parliament

What was the Continental Congress?

Initially assembled in 1774 to coordinate joint response to British policies; created documents reiterating colonists retained same rights at Brits

What was the original goal of the Continental Congress?

Fix the system of government, not replace it; wanted to remain a part of Great Britain and come to peaceful resolution

Who were the Patriots?

opposed British policies

True or False: The Patriots always wanted to break from British policies

False; very few wanted to break from Great Britain before 1776

Who were the Loyalists?

Favored/tolerated British policies; opposition doing more harm than good; faithful to King and Parliament after 1776; many remained neutral

How did the American Revolution start?

Started with local militias in MA; no unified declaration of war from colonies

What was the Battle of Lexington and Concord, Apr. 19th, 1775?

British regiments set out to seize local militia arms and powder stores, but backfired; Paul Revere’s Ride; minutemen chased British back to Boston, and colonial militiamen laid seige to Boston, trapping British

Why did the Continental Congress struggle to agree on how to respond to events in MA?

radical delegates wanted to support MA’s militia, but others worried that supporting it would be akin to declaring war

How did the Continental Army try to avoid war with Britain?

adopted MA militia (formed Continental Army), and created the Olive Branch Petition

Who was the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army?

Virginia delegate George Washington

What was the Olive Branch Petition?

addressed directly to King George III, NOT parliament; declared loyalty to the Crown, while demanding redress of their grievances

True or False: King George III welcomed the Olive Branch Petition upon reading it

False; the king rejected it before even seeing it; colonists dismayed that their king would abandon them and sided with “tyrannical parliament”

When did the colonists seriously start to consider independence?

early 1776

What piece of writing fueled popular debate over the colonies’ independence?

Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense; Americans would be better of on their own; easy-to-read enlightenment philosophy to delegitimize monarchy and King George III

What was Dunmore’s proclamation?

Virginia Governor’s proclamation offering freedom to enslaved people of patriot masters, if they ran away and joined the British; backlash from white southerners, making many join patriot cause; many enslaved people seized opportunity to run away, enlist/flee colony

True or False: African Americans joined both patriot and loyalist causes

True; slaves in north often joined patriots; southern slaves joined British; some fought but most served as camp workers/spies

What did the Continental Congress urge all colonies to do in May of 1776?

encouraged all colonies to establish their own revolutionary government; foundation of new state governments and constitutions; separate from royal officials and British system

Declaration of Independence

Approved July 4th, 1776; drew on both British legal system/language and enlightenment rhetoric about “natural rights”; list of grievances toward King, not parliament;

What was the goal of the Declaration of Independence?

to get foreign powers interested in American cause, especially France

Why was the Continental Army vs. the British Army such a big problem?

Great Britain was the strongest empire with world’s largest army; British forces also included Hessians (german missionaries); crossing of Delaware —> Battle of Trenton one of few victories early; became a war of attrition

Attrition

gradually reducing strength or effectiveness of someone or something through sustained attack or pressure

What was a major turning point in the American revolution that convinced the French to join the fight against the British?

The Victory of Saratoga, NY in 1777; French generals, soldiers, supplies, and funds sent to America; Franco-American Alliance turned a colonial rebellion into a global war

What other countries also supported the American cause?

Spain and the Netherlands; revenge against Great Britain; tried to take back what was lost in the Seven Years War

Why do some think of the American Revolution as a “Civil War”?

Patriots vs. Loyalists; friends and family members pitted against each other; Patriots struggled under British occupation while loyalists struggled under American occupation

True or False: the Americans would not have won the war against Britain if it wasn’t for the French

True; untrained American soldiers suffered through brutal winters with inadequate resources; daily life affected by battles, occupation, disrupted economies, etc.

How did the American revolution end?

British surrendered at the Battle of York town, 1781; loss of public support in Britain for the costly war, focused on India instead; peace negotiations —> treaty signed in 1783

What were the short-term consequences of the American revolution?

rebuilding communities and lives, thousands of women widowed, integration of loyalists/emigration, establishing and running new state governments, navigating post-war economy and war debt

What were the long term consequences of the American revolution?

increased participation in politics and governance, separation of church and state (religious toleration), westward expansion (conflict with Native Americans), end of mercantilism opened up new trade and manufacturing opportunities

What were the political consequences of the American revolution?

state constitutions based on popular sovereignty (power/authority of gov.’t derived from people); weak governors and strong legislators; limited executive power to prevent “tyranny”

Articles of Confederation, 1781

Continental Congress- National Legislator, foreign policy/Native American relations; weak federal government that loosely knit states together; no power to tax, regulate commerce, or establish federal judiciary; powers reserved for the states

What were the economic consequences of the American revolution?

end of mercantilism; no trade restrictions, new markets and new trade relationships; heavily depended on British trade; removal of the Proclamation Line of 1763 opened up western territories for invasion/settlement, created new markets

How was the newly independent United States expected to pay off their war debt to France?

states were expected to contribute to their tax revenue to pay off debt

True or False: After the American Revolution, women in the US were allowed to politically represent themselves

False; women were politically represented by their husbands/fathers and not given the right to vote

What was republican motherhood?

new American republic needed informed, educated male citizens; women needed to be educated in republican civic values to teach them to their sons; laid the foundation for expansion of women’s political and social rights in later years

How were Loyalists affected as a result of the end of the American revolution?

many lost property during war; emigrated to Britain or elsewhere; many others stayed and adapted to new US

How were the Native Americans Affected as a result of the American Revolution?

many tribes had sided with Britain to keep settlers from moving west; support for the British was used to justify rapid expansion into western territories; American independence marked beginning of the end if what had remained of Native American independence

How were African Americans affected as a result of the American Revolution?

fight for liberty led to some Americans to manumit their enslaved laborers; most northern states soon passed gradual emancipation laws; slavery held on in south (some revoked freedom for service); rhetoric of equality created a “revolutionary generation” of enslaved people and free black Americans that would eventually encourage the antislavery movement; escaped slaves faced social and economic marginalization within British empire

What was Elizabeth Freeman’s freedom suit, 1781?

enslaved woman in MA who learned that new state constitution granted “every man the right to freedom”; first black person to sue for freedom in US; set legal precedent that slavery was illegal

Who coined the phrase, “A republic, if you can keep it,”?

Benjamin Franklin

True or False: the success of the US was NOT guaranteed in the beginning

True; weakness of Articles of Confederation, disagreements over new constitution, emergence of partisan politics, tensions at home and abroad

What was the first national government of the US?

Articles of Confederation; Continental Congress, National legislator

What caused the financial crisis in the 1780s?

weak local and national economies; lack of sound currency; individuals, states, and federal government couldn’t raise revenue or regulate commerce

What led to Shay’s rebellion?

thousands of poor farmers in western MA struggled with debt; wanted the MA government to protect them from their creditors, but the state supported the lenders instead (because they had bought war bonds); creditors threatened to foreclose of property, leading some farmers to revolt

What was Shay’s rebellion?

rebelling farmers who formed blockades around courthouses to keep judges from issuing foreclosure orders; saw themselves as protecting their rights, but state saw them as rebels who wanted to rule the government

What did Shay’s rebellion reflect about the current state of the US?

reflected the economic and political problems the US forced under the Articles of Confederation; fear of anarchy and the inability of the states to maintain control; highlighted need for stronger national government

What was the Constitutional Convention, 1787?

state delegates arrived in Philadelphia to revise Articles of Confederation

What was the biggest problem the government needed to fix during the Constitutional Convention?

federal government’s inability to levy taxes; states not contributing evenly to national debt

What were some other obstacles that the delegates had to overcome during the Constitutional Convention?

fear of a strong central government, reluctance of states to give up local power, regional differences between the states (different social structures, economies, interests, etc.)

What was the James Madisons’s Virginia Plan?

wanted to replace Article with completely new Constitution; proposed national republic with authority above the states rather than a loose confederation of states; states represented in federal government; radical plan, most believed that large, diverse countries could not be republics; fear that people with radically different interests would not be able to agree on political matters

Republicanism

representative government; representatives elected by the people

Democracy

direct political participation of the people

What form of government did the founders believe would be best to protect American’s liberties?

republicanism; elected official should be property-owning men; republicanism seen as compromise between tyranny of government and tyranny of the mob

What did the average elite think of the average American?

they were unfit to vote on national and law policies; democracy —> anarchy —> tyranny —> monarchy

The Virginia Plan

strong federal government with the power to act on any issues of national concern; government comprised of three branches (legislative, executive, and judicial branches)

What was the Legislative branch like under the Virginia Plan?

representatives elected by the people of their respective states; every state represented based on population size; lots of disagreements about representation; preferred by larger states

The New Jersey Plan

proposed that states have an equal number of representatives; more like revised version of Articles of Confederation with stronger central government; representatives appointed by state legislatures; preferred by smaller states

What was the Great Compromise?

congress split into two houses; House of Representatives and Senate

What is the House of Representatives?

lower house; representation proportional to population size

What is the Senate?

upper house; each state has two senators

What was the three-fifths compromise?

southern states wanted to count enslaved people in their population to increase representation; northern states argued that if they have no civil rights, they’re not citizens and cannot be counted; compromise counted three-fifths of each state’s slave population towards that state’s total population

The “Dirty Compromise”

what should have been done about slavery?; northern states opposed transatlantic trade on both moral and political grounds; importation of slaves would increase southern political power

What was the Slave Trade Clause?

protected the slave trade for 20 years (to be revised in 1808); made as compromise between New England and the south under the assumption that slavery would be on its way out; in reality, led to boom of domestic slave trade as slaves from VA tobacco plantations sold to deep south

How did the delegates set up the executive branch without creating a monarchy?

executive committee vs. single person; frequent elections, more frequent= more accountability, too frequent= logistical chaos

What is the electoral college?

set up to prevent uninformed voting and “tyranny of the majority”; candidate needs support from multiple regions to win; each state has name number of electors as it does members in Congress (House and Senate); 538 total, need 270 to win

What was the process of ratifying the Constitution?

went from convention to congress to the states to ratify

Who had the final in the ratification process?

state conventions; not held to popular vote

Who were the Anti-Federalists

against ratification of the Constitution; proposed national government too strong; Constitution included no Bill of Rights that would prevent government abuse of personal liberties

Who were the Federalists?

for ratification of Constitution; stronger central government necessary; believed national Bill of Rights would be redundant (since states already did that) and dangerous, limiting rights to only those listed; Federalist Papers

What were the conditions that some states proposed to agree to ratify the Constitution?

requested that amendments be made; Bill of Rights (first 10 amendments)

What event cemented the Constitution’s authority?

George Washington’s election as president in 1789

What factors ultimately held the nation together after the American Revolution?

the states didn’t realize quite how different they were from each other; fear of anarchy and the problem of managing dissatisfied people; belief that strong central government could help the economy and national debt; national security and fear of European powers still present in North America; sense of unity and nationalism

George Washington hoped US politics would not become consumed by what?

partisanship

Who was apart of George Washington’s cabinet during his presidency?

Vice Pres.: John Adams, federalist; Secretary of treasury: Alexander Hamilton, federalist; Secretary of state: Thomas Jefferson, democratic-republican (republican); In congress (H-VA) James Madison, major player in admin.

Who considered themselves federalists (usually)?

merchants, businessmen, often former federalists of the ratification debates, north states (esp. New England), leaned more anti-slavery

Who considered themselves republicans (usually)?

farmers, artisans, often former anti-federalists, New York and southern states

How did the federalists want to run the government?

favored ORDER; centralized government power most important for protecting the nation and the people’s liberties; implied power and strong government; loose interpretation of the Constitution

How did the republicans want to run the government?

favored LIBERTY: states’ rights most important for guaranteeing individual liberties and preventing the excessive exercise of governing authority; enumerated powers and limited government; strict interpretation of the Constitution

What did the federalists think about popular participation in the government?

government should be led by elites who have both education and property; distrusted “mobocracy”

What did the republicans think about popular participation in the government?

government should be responsive to the people; favored a more democratic system

What did the federalists think the US should do about economic policy?

wanted federal management of national debt to build credit; supported tariffs and excise taxes to provide revenue; supported creation of the First Bank of the US jointly controlled by the government and private investors

What did the republicans think the US should do about economic policy?

feared giving the national government too much economic power and revenue; viewed the federalist plan as only benefitting northern commerce and manufacturing, not southern agriculture; believed that creation of national bank was unconstitutional and gave more power to wealthy individuals

What did the federalists think the US should do about foreign policy?

favored peace and a strong commercial relationship with Great Britain; became suspicious of French revolution

What did the republicans think the US should do about foreign policy?

distrusted Britain and federalists interests in carrying in relationship with Britain; more supportive of French revolution

What led to the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794?

Hamilton’s whiskey tax which caused problems for western farmers, leading to riots and military intervention

What was the Whiskey Rebellion (1794)?

tax on whiskey production directly affected small farmers who did not have extra cash on hand to pay tax; petitions, protests, assaulting tax collectors and officials

What was the march on Pittsburgh, 1794?

part of the Whiskey Rebellion; about 5,000 armed farmers gathered and prepared to capture the city; Washington intervened, led federal army across Appalachians to squash rebellion; farmers scattered, limited legal action taken

What did the Whiskey Rebellion show about the federal government?

federal government was capable of quelling internal unrest, but also that some citizens saw government as their enemy

What was new in politics and survival during the early republic?

new governing institutions, systems, and political identities; domestic and foreign challenges to the “republican experiment”

How did ideals conflict during the early republic?

liberty, equality, and self-determination not evenly applied to all; slavery

What was Gabriel’s Rebellion, 1800?

slave plot to attack Richmond, VA and end slavery in the state; led by an enslaved man, Gabriel who was inspired by the American revolution and Haitian revolution; plot uncovered, attack thwarted, 26 tried and executed

What message did Gabriel’s rebellion send?

any challengers to slavery would be punished

What did Gabriel’s rebellion reveal?

enslaved people were capable of preparing and carrying out a revolution (which went against assumptions about Black intellectual inferiority); efforts to support news of other slave revolts like the Haitian revolution had failed; prospect of slave revolution in US terrified slaveholders and emboldened abolitionists

What did enlightenment thinkers and scientists think could possibly cause “blackness”?

environmental impact; separate species; skin disease; the Curse of Ham

What was the Curse of Ham?

biblical justification for “blackness”; descendants doomed to be “servants of servants”

True or False: many Americans believed nature had made white and black races too different to peacefully coexist outside the slave system

True

What was Jefferson’s goal as president?

wanted to prove that free people could govern themselves democratically; supported active political participation of non-elite white Americans; believed average people could make rational political decisions

Why did the federalists and others oppose more democracy?

felt it would lead to anarchy