American Revolution and the New Nation

Independence and the Need for a Constitution

In 1783, the United States won independence from Great Britain.
The Articles of Confederation were a temporary measure during the war.
In 1787, elite white men gathered in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention to create a new US Constitution.
Key questions:
- What type of government would be established?
- What would be the status of slavery?
- What would be the extent and limits of religious freedom?

Religion and Religious Freedom

The US Constitution established limited religious freedom, but women's rights were not addressed.
During the colonial period, many colonies had theocracies with an official church (e.g., Puritans in Massachusetts, Anglicans in Virginia).
Other colonies like Pennsylvania and Rhode Island had religious freedom.
Questions for the new nation:
- Should the US have an official church?
- If so, which denomination (Anglican, Puritan, Quaker, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian)?
- Should the US be declared a Christian or Protestant nation?
- How much separation should there be between church and state?
Enlightenment thinkers favored religious freedom and were critical of church power.
- Figures like Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine were deists.
- Deists believe in a God who created the earth but does not interfere in daily life and do not recognize the divinity of Jesus.
Some founding fathers wanted an official tax-supported church and a religious test for public office.
James Madison, influenced by Thomas Jefferson, advocated for separation of church and state and religious freedom.
- Madison proposed the Virginia Plan, which became the basis of the US Constitution.
- He supported three branches of power: legislative, judicial, and executive.
- The legislature has a Senate and a House of Representatives.
- Madison aimed for institutional checks and balances to prevent government oppression.
- No religious test for federal public office.
The US did not establish a state church, The way England had the Church of England.
However, five of the original 13 states established an official church:
- Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Vermont.
- These states used state money to support their churches.
Many state constitutions had restrictions on who could vote or hold office.
- 11 of 13 states prohibited Jews, agnostics, and atheists from holding office.
- Seven states prohibited Catholics from holding office.
- Five states limited civil rights protections to Protestants only.
The phrase "separation of church and state" is from an 1802 letter by Thomas Jefferson.
The early Constitution did not establish a full separation of church and state.
The founders disagreed on whether America should be an explicitly Christian nation or one with religious freedom.
Ultimately, a limited and mixed form of religious freedom was established.

Women's Rights

The Constitutional Convention did not discuss women's rights or suffrage, unlike the French Revolution.
Women participated in the Revolutionary War as nurses, seamstresses, cooks, and maids.
Some women, like Deborah Sampson (disguised as Robert Shirtcliffe), fought in the army.
- Sampson's motives are unknown due to lack of primary sources; possibilities include earning money, revolutionary zeal, or being transgender.
Women worked as spies due to prevailing attitudes that they were innocent and non-threatening.
Women formed societies to support boycotts of British goods.

Abigail Adams

Abigail Adams was an early feminist with no formal schooling but was well-read in philosophy, politics, poetry, and the Enlightenment.
She was both the wife and mother of a president (John Adams and John Quincy Adams).
In 1776, Abigail wrote to her husband, John Adams, urging him to "remember the ladies" and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.
She wanted basic human protections and rights for women, beyond just the right to vote.
Under coverture laws, married women had no legal identity apart from their husbands.
- They could not own property, make contracts, bring legal suits, control their wages, or gain custody of their children.
There were no alimony laws or child support laws.
There were no domestic abuse laws.
Women could not run for public office, serve on juries, or access higher education.
John Adams dismissed Abigail's request, saying women already had too much power over their husbands.
The new American government did not include protections for women and highly restricted their rights.
Many states limited suffrage to landholding men, excluding women because they were considered dependent on their fathers or husbands.
Women were thought to be too delicate to make decisions about politics, business, and war.

Race and Slavery

Despite the efforts of African Americans and Native Americans, the new United States government protected slavery and dispossession.
The revolution disrupted slavery.
England offered freedom to enslaved people who fought against the rebellion.
About 5,000 African Americans fought in the Continental Army, some as free men, others forced to fight with promises of freedom.
- However, most were not freed after the war.
About 20,000 African Americans fought for the British, some of whom were re-enslaved, while others escaped to Canada, England, or the Caribbean and were granted freedom.
Enslaved people used the disruptions of the war to escape.
They also wrote petitions to state legislatures, using Enlightenment ideas, revolutionary rhetoric, and religious arguments to fight against slavery.
Paul Cuffe (Cuffy), a biracial man (African and Native American), protested taxation without representation.
- He and other African American men filed a petition protesting the fact that they could not vote.
- He founded the Friendly Society of Sierra Leone, dedicated to relocating African Americans to Africa, believing they would never find freedom and acceptance in the US.
- He helped transport 38 African Americans, including 20 children, to Africa.
Antislavery sentiment rose due to:
- Religion (Quakers' Golden Rule).
- Enlightenment ideals of liberty and freedom.
- Formerly enslaved people publishing their stories (e.g., Elude Equiano, Phyllis Wheatley).
- Arguments that slavery was bad for white people, making them lazy and giving slave owners an unfair advantage.
Slavery began to be outlawed in the North during and after the American Revolution, either through immediate or gradual emancipation.
- Gradual emancipation involved freeing children born to enslaved mothers after a certain date.
By the 1790s, almost every Northern state had ended slavery.
The economies and cultures of the North and South diverged, as slavery became more central to the Southern economy.
Some founding fathers, like Thomas Paine, criticized slavery, while others, mostly Southern slaveholders (Washington, Madison, Jefferson, Patrick Henry), protected it.
25 of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention were slave owners.
Protections of slavery were written into the federal Constitution:
- The Three-Fifths Clause: Enslaved people counted as three-fifths of a person when determining a state's population, increasing Southern states' power.
- Congress was prohibited from stopping the importation of new enslaved people (the Atlantic slave trade) for 20 years.
- The Fugitive Slave Clause: Owners had the right to reclaim enslaved people who escaped to free states.
Abolitionists, like William Lloyd Garrison, condemned the Constitution because of its protections for slavery.
The 1790 Naturalization Act stated that only "free white person[s]" could become US citizens.
- This excluded enslaved people and immigrants from Africa or Asia.
- This law remained in effect for over a century.

Native Americans

The revolution was detrimental to Native Americans.
The English crown's big Indian reserve was removed, opening the area to westward expansion.
The United States government intended to expand West.
The Iroquois signed a treaty with the United States in 1794.
- The treaty gave them them a large land claim in the Great Lakes region that was considered the Far West.
Treaties with larger nations (Iroquois, Cherokee, Creek, Seminole) were made, treating them as foreign nations.
Red Jacket, an Iroquois leader, made a famous speech in 1805 to white missionaries, questioning the divisions among Christians and advocating for the right to practice Native American religions.
The Iroquois lost their land over time, with many moving to Canada.
Native Americans used various methods (treaties, speeches) to preserve their land, culture, and religion.
They also organized new multi-tribal, multi-ethnic communities.

Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa (The Prophet)

Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa, Shawnee brothers, led a movement against Euro-American invasion.
Tenskwatawa, known as the Prophet, had a vision and urged Native Americans to reject European habits and return to traditional ways.
In 1808, they founded Prophetstown, Indiana, attracting about 3,000 Native Americans from 14 tribes.
Prophetstown became a threat, and the US government sent a militia to burn it down, ending their movement.
Native Americans from different tribes tried to unify against the encroachment of The United States.
They aimed to preserve their sovereignty and hold on to their lands.
They did not want to be US citizens.