US History - Road to Revolution and Early Republic

French and Indian War (Part of the Seven Years' War)

• British colonists felt threatened by French encroachment in the Ohio River Valley.

• The French, in turn, felt threatened by British encroachment on their territory.

• Early in the war, the British lost battles to the French and their Indian allies.

• The British government called for a congress of representatives from the colonies to organize frontier defense, trade, and westward expansion.

• Benjamin Franklin proposed the Albany Plan of Union, advocating a centralized government for the colonies to better coordinate Western defense.

  • The plan was rejected due to opposition to the required taxation.

  • The plan laid the groundwork for the future Revolutionary Congress.

• The British eventually won the French and Indian War, formalized by the Peace of Paris in 1763.

Consequences of the Peace of Paris (1763)

• The French were largely removed from North America, with the Louisiana territory ceded to Spain.

• The British more than doubled their land holdings, gaining all land east of the Mississippi River.

Growing Tensions

• Colonists began moving westward into the Ohio River Valley, leading to conflicts with American Indians.

• Ottawa Leader Pontiac led raids against encroaching colonists.

• The British government issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 to ease tensions, forbidding colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains.

• Colonists felt entitled to the land after fighting in the war and were frustrated by the proclamation.

• British debt doubled during the war, and the cost of running the colonies increased fivefold.

Taxation Without Representation

• The British Parliament decided to tax the colonies to help pay for the French and Indian War, ending the period of "salutary neglect."

• Stricter enforcement of the Navigation Acts was imposed.

• The Quartering Act of 1765 required colonists to house and feed British troops.

• The Sugar Act imposed taxes on coffee, wine, and other luxury items and enforced existing taxes on molasses.

• The Stamp Act of 1765 taxed all paper items.

• Colonists argued that taxation without representation was unjust, as they had no representatives in Parliament.

• British leaders argued for "virtual representation," claiming that members of Parliament represented all British classes, not just localities.

• Groups like the Sons of Liberty and Daughters of Liberty protested the Stamp Act.

• The Stamp Act Congress, with delegates from nine colonies, petitioned Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act, asserting that taxation without representation was tyranny.

• Parliament repealed the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act but passed the Declaratory Act, affirming their right to pass any law in the colonies.

Escalating Resistance

• In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, imposing new taxes on imported items like paper, glass, and tea.

• Colonists organized protests and boycotts of British goods, with women playing a crucial role in producing their own goods.

• Tensions culminated in the Boston Massacre in 1770, where British soldiers fired on a group of colonists, killing four.

• The Boston Tea Party occurred in 1773 in response to the Tea Act, where colonists dumped British tea into Boston Harbor.

• Parliament passed the Coercive Acts (called the Intolerable Acts by colonists), closing Boston Harbor and implementing a new Quartering Act.

Path to Independence

• Colonies began forming armed groups to protect themselves against British actions.

• The Continental Congress convened in 1774 to resist violations of their liberties while maintaining their status as British subjects.

• Enlightenment thought influenced colonial leaders, emphasizing natural rights, the social contract, and republicanism.

  • Natural Rights: All human beings are endowed with rights by a Creator, not a government which can never be taken away.

  • Social Contract: The power to govern is in the hands of the people, who willingly give over some of that power to create a government capable of protecting their natural rights; if the government tramples upon these rights, it is the people's duty to overthrow it.

• By 1776, the Continental Congress decided that independence from Britain was the only way forward.

• Thomas Paine's pamphlet "Common Sense" convinced many colonists that independence was necessary.

Declaration of Independence

• Thomas Jefferson was tasked with writing the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted on July 2, 1776, and made public on July 4.

• The Declaration is deeply influenced by Enlightenment thought

  • Natural Rights: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

  • Social Contract: "That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it."

Revolutionary War

• There was significant opposition to independence among Loyalists, who wanted to remain loyal to Britain.

• The Continental Congress approved the assembly of an army and appointed George Washington as its general.

• The Continental Army was ill-equipped, ill-trained: suffered many defeats early in the war.

• The Patriots won a crucial victory at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, convincing the French to ally with them.

• The British surrendered after their defeat at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.

• Inspired similar revolutions in France and Haiti.

Articles of Confederation

• Before, during and after the revolution, states assembled their own constitutions and governments.

• The states put the power for governance in the legislative body.

• The Articles of Confederation went into effect by 1781; based on this model.

• The new federal government was established under the Articles of Confederation, with all power in the legislative body and no executive or judicial branch.

• There was no provision for a national military force.

• The federal government had limited power to tax and had to request revenue from the states.

• The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was a significant achievement, providing a plan for territories to become states and abolishing slavery in the Northwest Territory.

Weaknesses of the Articles and Shay's Rebellion

• The U.S. economy was a dumpster fire; farmers had debt, and were unable to pay because of inflation and new taxes

• Shays' Rebellion, led by Daniel Shays in Massachusetts, highlighted the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.

• The rebellion displayed the weakness of the articles of confederation.

• Alarmed state and national leaders wondered how many other angry farmers could rise up; no president or national army to help them

• A constitutional convention was called in 1787 to revise the Articles, but it resulted in the creation of a new Constitution.

Constitutional Convention and Debates

• Federalists (urban, commercial background) wanted a stronger central government.

• Anti-Federalists (rural) favored states' rights and opposed increasing federal power.

• The Virginia Plan proposed representation by population, favoring larger states.

• The New Jersey Plan proposed equal representation for all states, favoring smaller states.

• The Great Compromise created a bicameral Congress with the House of Representatives based on population and the Senate with equal representation (two votes per state).

• The Three-Fifths Compromise counted three-fifths of the enslaved population for representation purposes.

• The new Constitution established a more robust central government with three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.

Ratification and a New American Culture

• The Constitution was sent to the states for ratification.

• Federalists advocated for ratification through the Federalist Papers, written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison.

• Anti-Federalists opposed ratification due to the lack of a Bill of Rights.

• The Federalists prevailed, promising to add a Bill of Rights after ratification.

• The Constitution of the United States went into effect in March 1789.

• There was a desire to define a distinct American culture post-Revolution, with plans for public education and artists focusing on historical themes.

• Republican motherhood assigned women the role of raising virtuous, liberty-minded sons.

Early Government under the Constitution

• George Washington was elected president and John Adams vice president.

• Washington established the departments of treasury, state, war, and justice.

• Alexander Hamilton, as Secretary of the Treasury, introduced policies to assume state debts, create a national bank (Bank of the United States), and improve national credit.

• Hamilton invoked the elastic clause of the Constitution to justify the National Bank.

• The Democratic-Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, opposed Federalist policies, viewing them as federal overreach.

• The Whiskey Rebellion in 1794, caused by a tax on whiskey, was suppressed by Washington, demonstrating the power of the new federal government.

• Washington cautioned against the formation of parties and foreign alliances in his Farewell Address.

Adams' Presidency and the Alien and Sedition Acts

• John Adams became the second president amid war between Britain and France.

• The XYZ Affair, involving French diplomats demanding a bribe, caused outrage in the U.S.

• The Federalist-dominated Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, restricting immigration and making it illegal to criticize the government publicly.

• The Democratic-Republicans responded with the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, arguing that states could nullify unconstitutional federal laws.

• Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams in the election of 1800.

Relations with Foreign Powers and the Legacy of Slavery

• The Washington administration was concerned about the relations between the United States, Britain, Spain, and the American Indians.

• The Indian Trade and Intercourse Act regulated relationships among settlers and Indians but was largely ignored.

• Tensions remained with Spain on the southern frontier, leading to the Pinckney Treaty, which established the border at the 31st parallel.

• Distinct regional attitudes toward slavery emerged; rapid growth of free blacks in the North, while the South's slave population grew, and new legislation made it almost impossible to free slaves.