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Unit 3: Period 3: 1754 - 1800

3.1 Contextualizing Period 3

  • British-French Wars
    • Wars for control of territory
  • Colonial Independence
  • Taxation + Enlightenment
  • Articles of Confederation and the Constitution
    • republican ideals + Weak gov → strong gov + Bill of rights
  • Conflicting Views of Government
    • Founding Fathers debates + Federalist vs. Democratic-Republican
  • Changes in Economics, Politics, and Culture
    • Independence from Britain

3.2 The Seven Years’ War

Empires at War, 1689-1763

  • Wars broke out involving Great Britain and France
  • Wars occurred over 74 years (1689- 1763)
  • The winner gained supremacy in the West Indies and Canada + dominated lucrative colonial trade

The First Three Wars

  • King George’s War, King William’s War, Queen Anne’s War
  • Imperial wars fought in colonies
  • No regular troops were dispatched, and no British territorial gain

The Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War)

  • Beginning
    • Scene of conflict over the land: Ohio River valley
    • Rivalry: France v. G.B. → think colonial wars
    • 1749 - colonial speculators (British) gained rights to some of the Ohio River Valley
    • Virginia government Sends George Washington to Ft. Duquesne to claim land in Ohio country for VA
    • Conflict w/ French Troops → First shots fired
  • The Albany Plan of Union
    • Meeting of colonial delegates to discuss treaty + alliance with Iroquois
    • Anglo-colonial wars → colonist have a lack of unity and don’t want to give up individual power
    • Albany Congress → 7/13 colonies came to achieve unity (Ben Franklin Join or Die from Pennsylvania Gazette 1754) against natives
  • British victory
    • William Pitt’s strategy was to conquer Canada accompanied by retaking of Louisbourg and Montreal
    • European powers negotiated the Treaty of Paris 1763
    • GB acquired French Canada and Spanish Florida
    • France ceded Louisiana to Spain
  • Immediate Effects of the War
    • British extended control of North America + French Power out
  • The British View → Not proud of the military
  • The Colonial View → Proud of military performance

Reorganization of the British Empire

  • Britain gaining control over colonies
  • Pontiac’s rebellion: armed conflict between the British Empire + Native tribes following 7 years of war to drive the British out
  • Proclamation of 1763: British: prohibited settlement past the imaginary line of the Appalachian Mountains to help Natives
    • ANGRY COLONISTS + Ignore the proclamation

3.3 Taxation Without Representation

British Actions and Colonial Reactions

  • New Revenues + Regulations
    • Sugar Act: place duties on foreign sugar + certain luxuries → raise money for the crown
    • Quartering Act: required colonists to house British soldiers
    • Stamp Act: taxed newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, broadsides, legal documents, dice, and playing cards.
    • Patrick Henry passes the Virginia Stamp Act resolves, saying only the House of Burgess can tax
    • Sons of Liberty est nonimportation agreements
    • Declaratory Act: reaffirming Parliament’s right “to bind” the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.”
  • Second Phase of the Crisis
    • Townshend Acts: import taxes on glass, lead, paper, paint, tea
    • Colonists resisted and resorted to smuggling
    • To bring law and order, Britain landed troops in Boston in 1768.
    • Boston "Massacre": March 5, 1770:
    • 10 redcoats who were mobbed open fired on the civilians
    • killing or wounding 11
  • Renewal of the conflict
    • The Gaspee: the first major armed act of rebellion against the British crown. The investigation prompts the colonies to consider united action against England.
    • Boston Tea Party
    • Parliament passed Tea Act → Price of British East India Company + tax cheaper than Dutch Tea
    • Americans refused + set off on Boston Harbor dressed as natives and threw 342 chests of tea into the harbor
    • Intolerable Acts (Coercive acts): 1774
    • Port Act: closed the port of Boston prohibiting trade
    • Massachusetts Government Act: reduced power of MA legislature + more power to the royal governor
    • Administration of Justice Act: Royal officials accused of crimes to be tried in Great Britain
    • Expansion of Quartering Act: enable British troops to be Quartered in private homes
    • Quebec Act (1774) → British government also passed a law organizing Canadian lands gained from France + est. Roman Catholicism as the official religion of Quebec
    • Colonists viewed acts as direct attacks on American Colonies

3.4 Philosophical Foundations of The American Revolution

Enlightenment Ideas

  • At its peak in the mid-18th century
  • Deists: believed god had est. natural laws in creating the universe
    • Believed in rationalism+ trusted human reason to solve problems
  • Rationalism: the belief that life should be based on reason and logic than emotions or religious beliefs
  • Social Contract: the concept of an agreement among people to form a government to promote liberty and equality
    • John Locke
    • Jean-Jaques Rousseau

Thomas Paine’s Argument for Independence

  • Thomas Paine wrote his pamphlet Common Sense
  • Common Sense: argued that colonies should become independent states + break all political ties with the British monarchy
  • spread rapidly throughout colonies + ignited public demands for independence

3.5 American Revolution

First Continental Congress

  • was to respond to what the delegates viewed as Britain’s alarming threats to their liberties

  • The Delegates

    • All wealthy white men t+ diverse views about the crisis
    • Radicals: Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, John Adams
    • Moderates: George Washington, John Dickinson
    • Conservative: John Jay, Joseph Galloway
    • Loyalists: would not challenge the king’s government in any way

  • Actions of Congress

    • Joseph Galloway proposed a plan similar to Albany's plan but failed to pass by one vote
    1. Endorsed Suffolk Resolves → immediate repeal of intolerable acts
    2. passed Declaration and Resolves → urged the king to redress colonial grievances and restore colonial rights
    3. created Continental Association → network of committees to enforce the economic sanctions of Suffolk Resolves
    4. declared that if colonial rights were not recognized, delegates would meet again in May 1775

Fighting Begins

  • King’s government declared MA to be in a state of rebellion + sent additional troops
  • Lexington and Concord
    • The first fight of the American Revolution
    • British troops led by General Gage
    • Left Boston to seize colonial weapons
    • Tried to arrest rebel leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock
    • Paul Revere and William Dawes warned the minutemen (colonial militia)
    • "Shot heard round the world"
    • 8 colonists were killed at Lexington in April 1775
    • who shot first?
    • Another battle in Concord
    • British return to Boston and are attacked
  • Bunker Hill
    • British take the hill
    • Colonists gain confidence

Second Continental Congress

  • Met in Philadelphia in May 1775
    • Colonies were divided over declaring independence + created the Continental Army with George Washington as commander-in-chief
  • Military actions
    • Congress adopted the Declaration of Causes and Nessecites for Taking up Arms + called colonies to provide troops
  • Peace Efforts
    • Sent to King George III in July 1775 aimed to negotiate peace
    • King G. III dismissed the petition and declared the colonies to be in + Passes Parliaments Prohibitory Act
  • The Declaration of Independence
    • Thomas Jefferson wrote the draft of the Declaration of Independence
    • Aimed to justify independence
    • Listed grievances against King G. III
      • One grievance was removed (Jefferson wrote against slavery)
    • Aimed to gather support among colonists + obtain aid from foreign countries
  • Declared "unalienable rights" and popular sovereignty (power from people)
  • The Declaration is officially adopted by July 1776

The Revolutionary War

  • Patriots
    • Mainly from New England and VA (30%-40% population)
    • Fought against the British
    • Supported the American Revolution
    • General Washington never had more than 20,000 regular troops + was short of many supplies
    • African Americans also joined after Britain promised freedom to enslaved
  • Loyalists
    • Tories: maintained allegiance to the king (20-30% population)
    • loyal to the British
    • Educated, wealthy, older, and more conservative
    • Their property was often seized and harassed
    • American Indians → British prompted Natives to join by attacks
  • Initial American Losses and Hardships
    • Washington had a badly trained army + few supplies
    • Allowed the British to occupy NY + Philadephia
    • Severe winters in Valley Forge + disease took a toll on the army
    • Goods = scarce + inflation rampant
  • Alliance with France
    • Colonial victory in Saratoga persuaded France to join in the war against Britain
  • Victory
    • Faced with larger troops Britain decided to consolidate its forces in America
    • Yorktown: Last major battle of War → strongly supported by French naval + military forces
    • Washington’s army forced the surrender of General Charles Cornwallis
    • Treaty of Paris:
    • Negotiated in Paris by B. Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay
    • England recognized the US' independence
    • US boundary extended to the Mississippi River, the Great Lakes, and Spanish Florida
    • Americans would repay the debt owed to British creditors

3.6 The Influence of Revolutionary Ideas

Women in Revolutionary Era

  • Daughters of Liberty: organized to oppose British actions
  • Mary McCauley, Deborah Sampson
  • Economic role: maintained colonial society+ and provided food + clothing necessary for the war effort
  • Political Demands: REPUBLICAN MOTHERHOOD
    • Called for educating women so that in the home they could teach children the values of the new republic and +their roles as citizens

Status of Enslaved African Americans

  • Institution of slavery contradicted the spirit of the revolutionary war
  • Continental Congress abolished the importation of enslaved people
  • Slavery was in decline until the cotton gin

Native Americans and Independence

  • Supported the British so didn’t benefit from the colonial success
  • Few colonies believed ideas of liberty and equality applied to Ameican Indians

International Impact of the American Revolution

  • Enlightenment ideals from Europe
  • Gave light to other revolutions in the world → Haitian revolution

3.7 Articles of Confederation

  • Organization of New Governments

State governments

  • Most were written and adopted by state legislatures

  • The proposed constitution was submitted to a vote of the people for ratification

  • The subject of heated debate between conservatives + liberals

  • List of rights: each state constitution began with a bill or declaration listing basic rights and freedoms

  • Separation of Powers:

    1. Legislative powers to an elected 2 house legislature
    2. Executive powers to elect a governor
    3. Judicial powers to the system of courts

  • Voting: right to vote extended to all white males who owned some property

  • Office-Holding: held to higher property qualifications than voters

The Articles of Confederation

  • At Philadelphia in 1776, Jefferson was writing DOI
  • John Dickinson drafted 1st constitution
  • Adopted by Congress in 1777 + submitted to states for ratification
  • RI + MD insisted these lands be under the jurisdiction of the new central government
  • VA + NY agreed to cede claims to western lands + the article was ratified in March 1781
  • Unicameral government
  • Powers: gave Congress the power to wage war + treaties + diplomatic reps + borrow money

Accomplishments

  • Winning the war
  • Land Ordinance of 1785 → est. policy for surveying and selling western lands
  • Northwest Ordinance of 1787 → set rules for creating new states + limited self-gov

Problems with the articles

  • Financial → war debts unpaid + worthless paper money
  • Foreign → European nations had little respect for the new nation
  • Domestic →
    • Shay’s rebellion
    • Pushed framers to address AoC weaknesses + seeking to lower taxes and property foreclosures
    • Exposed the weakness of the articles → no president to put down the rebellion
    • Massachusetts militia put an end to the rebellion

3.8 The Constitutional Convention and Debates Over Ratification

Annapolis Convention

  • 5/13 states attended to discuss trade and commerce
  • Money policies very unstable & large post-war debt → heavy taxes
  • Congress requisitioned more taxes from states: and tried to comply but with protests

Drafting the Constitution at Philadelphia

  • Congress consented to give its approval to the meeting
  • Initially just to revise articles, eventually made new articles
  • Wanted to give new gov authority over taxation and regulation of foreign commerce, and also helped to craft state constitutions
  • Speak on slavery → 19/55 reps owned slaves
  • Virginia plan: Representation based on population
  • New Jersey Plan: favored small states, every state had equal votes
  • Delegates wanted a balance of power

Issues to Compromise

  • Representation of  = big states v. small states
  • Slavery → are slaves counted in representation
  • How to pick presidents?
  • Balance in Gov
    • Checks and balances
    • State v fed gov
  • Power of the people

The Great Compromise (Roger Sherman)

  • Bicameral legislature
  • House of reps → represent states by population
    • Picked by people
  • Senate → represent each state equally
    • Picked by a state legislator

3/5ths Compromise (Roger Sherman)

  • The debate over if slaves should be counted towards the population or not
  • North didn’t want slaves to count as the population as the South would have more power
  • Slaves would be counted as ⅗ths  of a person when deciding representation
  • Slavery took off the table until 1808

Federalists and Anti-Federalists

  • Federalists: went to various states to try to persuade people to ratify the constitution
  • Anti-Federalists: went to states trying to persuade them to not ratify the constitution
  • Federalists won and the constitution was ratified → gov power from sovereignty
  • Wanted NY and VA to ratify → Fed Papers
  • Federalist papers → James Madison + Alexander Hamilton + John Jay → cogent reasons for believing in the Constitution

3.9 The Constitution

Federalism → Federal government would handle issues that affected the entire country

Bill of Rights

  • Congress acted quickly to approve amendments to defect individual liberty

    1. It protects freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
    2. Right to bear arms
    3. In times of peace, no soldier shall be quartered in a house without consent
    4. Protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government without a warrant
    5. Protects criminal defendants from having to testify if they may incriminate themselves
    6. Guarantees criminal defendants nine different rights, including the right to a speedy and public trial
    7. Protects trial by jury in civil cases too
    8. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted
    9. All the rights not listed in the Constitution belong to the people, not the government
    10. The federal government only has powers from the Constitution

3.10 Shaping a New Republic

Washington’s Presidency

  • Washington would be the electoral college’s unanimous choice
  • Took oath of office on April 30, 1789

Organizing the Federal Government

  • Checks and balances would be determined day to day
  • Executive Departments:
    • President has to appoint chiefs of departments through approval by Senate
    • The cabinet was first established to advise the president
    • Secretary of State: Thomas Jefferson
    • Secretary of Treasury: Alexander Hamilton
    • Secretary of War: Henry Knox
    • Attorney General: Edmund Randolph
  • Federal Court System
    • Congress had the power to create other federal courts with lesser powers + determine # of justices
    • Judiciary Act of 1789: Set up the federal court system

Hamilton’s Finacial Program

  • Alexander Hamilton (AH) presented a plan to make US finances stable
  1. Elevate national credit → funding at par: assumption of state debts (small states objected)
  2. Funding would come from RICH investors, excise (whiskey) tax, and tax on imported goods for a more industrialized nation
  3. National bank→ funded with a federal surplus, print paper $$, and bank (?constitutional?)
  • Chartered for 20 years
  • Allowed capital of $20 million

Foreign Affairs

  • Washington’s 1st Term coincided with the outbreak of revolution in France
  • French Revolution
    • American supported revolution but against mobs + hysteria
    • US in alliance with the monarchy
    • The US argued that because the British were seizing American Merchant ships they should join France
  • Proclamation of Neutrality (1793)
    • Washington believed that the nation was too young to engage in the European war
    • Jefferson resigned from the cabinet in disagreement with Washington
  • Citizen Genet
    • French minister to the United States from 1793 to 1794.
    • His activities in that capacity embroiled the United States and France in a diplomatic crisis
  • Jay Treaty (1794)
    • British evacuate out US posts + Pay for damages
    • No future maritime seizures & impressments + NO ending supply of arms to Indians
    • Vitalized newborn Democrat-Republican party
  • Pinckney Treaty (1795)
    • Defined the border between the United States and Spanish Florida
    • Guaranteed the United States navigation rights on the Mississippi River

Domestic Concerns

  • American Indians:
    • In an effort to resist settlers’ encroachment on their lands, they moved frontier westward
    • Treaty of Greenville: Natives surrender claims to Ohio territory + open it up to settlement.
  • Whiskey Rebellion
    • Needed additional income in order to assume the nation’s debt
    • Taxing the farmer would be politically beneficial + wanted them to rebel → to show the strength of gov
    • Farm revolt in Western PA → Washington deploys troops + shows the power of gov
  • Western Lands
    • Jay’s treaty + Battle of Fallen Timbers gave Federal Government control of vast tracts of land
    • Public Land Act: established orderly procedures for dividing and selling federal lands at reasonable prices
    • Vermont + Kentucky + Tennessee became states

Political Parties

  • Debates between Federalists + Anti- Federalists began
  • Origins
    • Disputes between factions were organized
    • 2 leading figures + parties emerged
    • Federalists (Hamilton) vs Democratic-Republicans (Jefferson)
  • Differences
    • Federalists: (John Adams + Alexander Hamilton)
    • Loose interpretation + strong central gov
    • Pro- British
    • Large peacetime army + navy
    • Aid business + create strong national bank + high tariffs
    • Consisted of: northern business owners + land owners
    • Dem-Reps: (Thomas Jefferson + James Madison
    • Strict interpretation + weak central gov
    • Pro-french
    • Small peacetime army + navy
    • Favor agriculture + oppose national banks and tariffs
    • Consisted of: Skilled workers, small farmers, plantation owners

Washington’s Farewell Adress

  • Warned against political parties
  • No “permanent allainces”
  • Favored “temporary alliance” for “extraordinary emergencies”
  • 2 term precedent for Presidents

John Adams’ Presidency

  • Adams won by 3 electoral votes + Jefferson became VP
  • XYZ Affair
    • The incident between French + US → XYZ ministers requested bribes to enter for negotiation (Adams sought a peaceful settlement to negotiate ship seizing)
    • resulted in Quasi war
  • Alien and Sedition Acts:
    • Alien Laws → raised citizen requirements to 14 years of age + deported dangerous foreigners in times of peace
    • Sedition acts→ political move to end Jeffersonian opposition + made defaming gov illegal (1st amendment)
  • Kentucky + Virginia Resolutions
    • Condemned the Alien and Sedition Acts as unconstitutional
    • Claimed that because these acts overstepped federal authority under the Constitution, they were null and void.

3.11 Developing an American Identity

Social Change

  • Abolition of aristocratic titles
  • Separation of churches and state
  • Regional variations → States did not all change at the same time

Political Change

  • Development of political parties
  • Federalists vs Democratic-Republicans
  • Evolution of political parties

Cultural Change

  • Charles Wilson Peale, Pierre-Charles L’Enfant, Gillbert Smart
  • Distinctive culture emerging

3.12 Movement in Early Republic

Migration and Settlement

  • Northwest Ordinance: defined ownership of how the Northwest Territory would be legally transferred from the federal government to states and individual landowners.
  • Slavery was not allowed in the Northwest ordinance

American Indians

  • Indian Intercourse Act→ Federal government in control of all legal actions with natives
  • Resistance at Battle of Fallen Timbers → Dispute over Ohio River
  • West of Mississippi → Migration was the only survival option for tribes
  • Southern frontier → Spanish stopped the incursion of settlers from the US → Natives with more freedom

Population Change

  • Europeans continue to immigrate to the US
  • Enslaved Africans continue to be brought
  • Natural population gain

Slavery

  • Slavery declined before the cotton gin
  • Cotton gin → Eli Whitney → device for separating cotton from seed
  • Conflict over the Expansion of Slavery emerges soon
  • Movements of Enslaved → went to Canada but growing demands for workers halted them and the interregional slave trade became a huge deal