The American Revolution (1763–1783)

The American Revolution (1763–1783)

Causes

• Economic Strains After the French and Indian War:

  • Britain’s debt led to stricter tax policies, ending salutary neglect.

• Key Acts and Colonial Reactions:

  • Stamp Act (1765): Tax on paper goods → Stamp Act Congress and boycotts.

  • Townshend Acts (1767): Tax on imports → Widespread protests.

  • Tea Act (1773): British monopoly on tea → Boston Tea Party.

  • Intolerable Acts (1774): Punished Massachusetts → First Continental Congress.

• Philosophical Roots:

  • Enlightenment ideas (e.g., John Locke’s natural rights).

  • Thomas Paine’s Common Sense (1776) argued for independence.

Declaration of Independence (1776)

• Drafted by Thomas Jefferson; declared separation from Britain.

• Focused on natural rights and grievances against King George III.

Post-Revolution Outcomes

• Articles of Confederation (1781–1789):

  • Weak national government; couldn’t tax or regulate trade.

  • Success: Northwest Ordinance (1787), which established how territories became states.

  • Failure: Shay’s Rebellion exposed its weaknesses.

• Treaty of Paris (1783):

  • Recognized U.S. independence.

  • Set borders from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River.

The Constitution and Early Republic (1787–1820s)

Constitutional Convention (1787)

• Addressed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.

• Key compromises:

  • Great Compromise: Bicameral Congress.

  • Three-Fifths Compromise: Slaves counted as 3/5 of a person.

Federalist vs. Anti-Federalist Debate

• Federalists (e.g., Hamilton, Madison): Supported a strong federal government.

• Anti-Federalists (e.g., Jefferson): Feared loss of state power → Bill of Rights (1791) added.

Washington’s Presidency (1789–1797)

Precedents

• Established a Cabinet, two-term presidency, and neutrality in foreign affairs.

Key Issues

• Whiskey Rebellion (1794): Demonstrated federal power to enforce laws.

• Farewell Address: Warned against political parties and entangling alliances.

Westward Expansion (1800–1860s)

Jeffersonian Era

• Louisiana Purchase (1803):

  • Doubled U.S. size, purchased from France for $15 million.

• Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806):

  • Explored new territories, strengthened U.S. claims in the West.

Indian Removal

• Indian Removal Act (1830) under Andrew Jackson → Trail of Tears (1838).

Manifest Destiny (1840s)

• Belief in U.S. expansion from coast to coast.

• Key events:

  • Annexation of Texas (1845): Led to the Mexican-American War (1846–1848).

  • Oregon Trail: Mass migration westward.

Sectional Tensions and the Civil War (1820–1865)

Key Causes of Sectionalism

• Slavery and States’ Rights:

  • Debates over slavery in new territories (e.g., Missouri Compromise, Kansas-Nebraska Act).

  • Southern economy dependent on slavery; Northern economy industrialized.

• Abolition Movement:

  • Leaders: Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe (Uncle Tom’s Cabin).

• Political Breakdown:

  • Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857): Declared African Americans couldn’t be citizens.

  • Election of 1860: Lincoln’s victory led to Southern secession.

Civil War (1861–1865)

• Union vs. Confederacy:

  • Union strengths: Industry, railroads, population.

  • Confederate strengths: Military leadership, defensive strategy.

• Key Turning Points:

  • Emancipation Proclamation (1863): Freed slaves in Confederate states.

  • Gettysburg (1863): Turning point in the war.

  • Sherman’s March to the Sea (1864): Total war strategy devastated the South.

• Outcome:

  • Union victory; 13th Amendment (1865) abolished slavery.

Reconstruction and Industrialization (1865–1900)

Reconstruction (1865–1877)

• Rebuilding the South:

  • Freedmen’s Bureau: Helped former slaves with education and employment.

  • Reconstruction Amendments:

    • 13th: Abolished slavery.

    • 14th: Citizenship for African Americans.

    • 15th: Voting rights for African American men.

Resistance

• Rise of the KKK and Black Codes.

• Compromise of 1877: Ended Reconstruction, federal troops left the South.

Industrialization and Urbanization

• Rise of Big Business:

  • Tycoons: Rockefeller (oil), Carnegie (steel), Vanderbilt (railroads).

  • Laissez-faire policies allowed monopolies.

• Labor Unions:

  • Knights of Labor: Inclusive but declined after violence at Haymarket Riot.

  • American Federation of Labor: Focused on skilled workers.

• Immigration:

  • "New immigrants" from Southern/Eastern Europe faced discrimination.

  • Tenement living led to urban poverty (Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives).

Progressive Era and WWI (1900–1920)

Progressive Era (1900–1917)

• Reforms:

  • Muckrakers: Exposed corruption (e.g., Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle).

  • Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal: Regulated trusts, conservation, consumer protection.

  • Women’s suffrage: 19th Amendment (1920).

• Social Justice:

  • Settlement houses (e.g., Hull House).

  • Labor laws improved working conditions.

World War I (1914–1918)

• U.S. Involvement:

  • Initially neutral, joined in 1917 after German U-boat attacks and the Zimmerman Telegram.

• Homefront:

  • War Industries Board, propaganda, women in the workforce.

• Treaty of Versailles (1919):

  • Ended WWI but the U.S. rejected the League of Nations.

The Roaring Twenties (1920–1929)

Economic Boom

• Consumer Culture:

  • Mass production (e.g., Ford’s assembly line).

  • Growth of credit and advertising.

• Stock Market:

  • Speculation and buying on margin fueled economic growth but set the stage for the Great Depression.

Social Changes

• Prohibition (1920–1933):

  • 18th Amendment banned alcohol → rise of speakeasies and organized crime (e.g., Al Capone).

• Women’s Rights:

  • 19th Amendment granted suffrage.

  • Flappers challenged traditional gender norms.

• Harlem Renaissance:

  • Explosion of African American culture, literature, and music (e.g., Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington).

• Nativism and Red Scare:

  • Immigration restrictions (e.g., Emergency Quota Act of 1921).

  • Fear of communism and anarchism (Sacco and Vanzetti Trial).