8.1 Benjamin F. Bache, A Defense of the French Revolution (1792-1793)

Bache on Supporting the French Revolution

• Bache believes that the Americans should support the French Revolution despite the bloodshed

  • Many Americans condemned the Revolution because of its violence and brutality

  • Bache claims that the bloodshed was inveitable

    • The French “King exercised a despotic power without restraint“

    • “The noble described around them acircle is equally tyrannical“

    • Bache asserts that without violence andrage, it is impossible to overthrow the system

American & French Revolution

• The American and French Revolution both struggled for liberty. Both societies have a common enemy that oppress the people

8.2 Address of the Democratic-Republican Society of Pennsylvania (1794)

DRS on Their Right to Form a Society Commenting on Public Affairs

• The DRS preached equal justice and an overall dispersal of knowledge as essential pillars supporting the holy temple of liberty

• The primary drive of the societies was to distribute political information as members thought ignorance was the highest threat to democracy

• They worked carefully with republican newspaper editors, publishing numerous letter, essays, and theses

• The societies politicked in local elections officially or quietly to defend their rights

The Germ of an Odius Aristocracy

• The DRS wrote “the germ of an odius aristocracy has been planted in the United States“

  • This phrase is part of the address of the DRS of 1794

  • It went through a lengthy process of empowering the created institutions under the Constitution and leaving behind counterproductive practices which were relevant during the British rule

  • They stated that the aristocracy is trying to exercise in the country in a similar manner to that of the British

    • Excessive use of one’s economic power and influence in order to achieve personal agenda at the expense of the majority

8.3 Judith Sargent Murray, “On the Equality of the Sexes“ (1790)

Murray: Variety of Fashions Among Women

• It is said women accomplishment and ingenuity as a sartorial and social circle is not applied to the knowledge

Murray on Educating Women

• She argues against the claim that offering education to women will lead to the neglect their domestic duties

• In fact, she is raising the age old question of “nature vs. nurture“

  • Nature vs. Nurture - whether human behavior is determined by the environment, either prenatial or during a person’s life or by their genes

8.4 Protest Against the Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)

The Acts Violate the Principles of Free Government

• The Alien and Sedition Acts were a progression of four laws passed by the U.S. Congress in 1798 in the midst of far reaching dread that war with France was up and coming. The four laws – which stay disputable right up 'til today – confined the exercises of outside occupants in the nation and constrained ability to speak freely and of the press.

• A progression of laws referred to all in all as the Alien and Sedition Acts were passed by the Federalist Congress in 1798 and marked into law by President Adams. These laws included new powers to oust outsiders just as making it harder for new foreigners to cast a ballot.

• The Republican minority in Congress contended that dissidence laws abused the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which secures the right to speak freely of discourse and the press. The Federalist lion's share in Congress passed the Sedition Act and President Adams marked it into law on July 14, 1798.

The Relationship between Federal Government and the States

• The resolution opposed the Federal Alien and Sedition Acts which extended the powers of the federal government

  • They argued that the Constitution was a “pact“ or agreement among the states, hence, they can decide the constitutionality of laws passed by Congress

8.5 George Tucker on Gabriel’s Rebellion (1801)

Tucker: Progress in Human Affairs Will Lead Slaves to Become Discontented

1800 - a group of 26 Black slaves plotted a rebellion in Virginia. Quickly got arrested and severely punished, the event inspired Georges Tucker to reflect deeper on the condition of the slaves of Virginia.

• Tucker believed that in the overall situation in many places of the world regarding the fight against slavery and respect for human rights, the slaves’ tendencies to revolution has become more intense and stronger.

• Great progress that was made in human affairs all around against monarchy, and religious freedom, to mention but a few, and the natural love of freedom igniting the spirit of human beings in general, are corollary from which Tucker’s statement on the continuous discontent of slaves stemmed

Virginia’s Effect on Slave Ideologies

• Trucker also understand that living in Virginia detained a serious incidence on the slaves’ mentality that propelled them towards rebellion in their quest of freedom, equity, and equality.

  • The form of Virginia’s government that constantly embraced matter pertaining to improve human affairs, freedom of speech, human affairs in general, was implicitly teaching the slaves about a form of ideology that inevitably was conducive to revolution in order to gain the total respect of their rights and freedom as human beings

• Jean-Louis 2slaves about a form of ideology that inevitably was conducive to revolution in order to gain the

8.6 Tecumseh on Indians and Land (1810)

Indians vs. Americans View of Land as Private Property

• Tecumseh’s speech and use of words differentiated Indians views on land

  • Tecumseh believed that land could not be owned or sold by an individual

Evidence the the Whites Cannot be Trusted by the Indians

• The greed that drives the whites in terms of land should make Indians wary of them

8.7 Felix Grundy, Battle Cry of the War Hawks (1811)

Grundy on Acquiring Canada

Grundy believes that acquiring Canada will strengthen the American union

• Felix Grundy thought to drive the British from the continent and in that way to lessen the anger of the Native Americans whose tomahawks they all feared.

• When the nation would lose the valuable trade with the Canadians, it would lose the stability in general, and they will eventually go by themselves

Person Responsible for Tecumseh’s Uprising

• After recounting recent events, Grundy concludes that the British were behind the uprising of the natives

• America’s extreme national pride led them to think that all their enemies are directed by one larger, more intelligent enemy

  • A generational lesson in the country

8.8 Mercy Otis Warren on Religion & Virtue (1805)

Greatest Threat to Freedom

• Luxury

• Rejection of religion

The Most Significant Legacuy of the American Revolution

• Republican Government

• Freedom from tyranny