APUSH Unit 3

French and Indian War

British vs. French and groups of Native Americans
French and Indian War was a smaller conflict in a bigger global conflict between Britain and France called the Seven Years War - Occurs on American soil
French were encroaching on territory claimed by British people - Ohio River Valley
George Washington - in 1753, he was Lieutenant Colonel in the Virginia militia
Washington sent west to warn the French, they take over a British fort, Washington starts a fight and wins, then loses one that the French start
Basically what this war was - series of disputes over Ohio River Valley land
Albany Congress/Convention - Already planning on fighting French and Native Americans, were planning on how to defend colonies during this convention - delegates from British colonies discussed defense, trade, and westward expansion
* Wanted to ally with Iroqouis, invite the to the Albany Congress - token presence
Native Americans fight with them because it’s their best option - as long as Europeans fighting each other, they will have some sort of control over the land
Ben Franklin introduces Albany Plan of Union, Join or Die poster, suggests that council of representatives should be made for the states
* Didn’t happen for taxes, but would lay the foundation for Revolutionary Congress
Originally, French were winning by a lot - plus, colonies were less lenient with British; more impressment, British soldiers could force themselves into colonists homes
King George was worried over costs - opens peace negotiations
Peace of Paris - ceded florida to British, French leave North America and Spanish get their land west of Mississippi, all land east of Mississippi was given to British
American colonists want to move Westward, stresses Native American relationships
Ottawa Leader Pontiac raids military forts in Virginia and Pennsylvania - Proclomation Line of 1763 established, migrating West across Applachian Mountains not allowed.
* Another reason for colonial resentment
Cost was very high for the British, debt doubled and cost for maintaining colonies was growing - would have to raise taxes heavily

Taxation without Representation

British requires American colonists to bear part of the burden for cost of Seven Years War - Americans are British citizens, just won lots of land, should be willing to pay some taxes
Salutary Neglect - British had political sovereignty, but America was practically completely separate; Colonists were in charge of their day to day life
* Navigation Acts - Colonies only able to trade with British, Colonists didn’t really care about this law and smuggled, British didn’t enforce
* Overall - Britain neglects the ruling of the American Colonies, so they feel that they are more independent of the British than the British government believes
Now that Britain was desperate for money, salutary neglect couldn’t be allowed anymore
British Prime Minister George Grenville created 3-pronged plan for getting colonies under control
  * Stricter enforcement of current laws (i.e. the Navigation Acts)
  * Extend Wartime provisions into peacetime
  * Quartering Act of 1765 - Keeps British soldiers stationed in colonies, colonists responsible for feeding and housing
Sugar Act - imposes taxes on coffee, wine, luxury items, and enforces existing taxes on molasses
Stamp Act, 1765 - Tax on all paper items, i.e. newspapers, playing cards, legal contracts, etc.
Currency Act - Colonial assembly not allowed to print currency.
Colonists feel suffocated by this, also stressed about declining wages and rise in unemployment
Debate sparked on taxes on colonists when they had no representation in government - no taxation without representation
British believe in virtual representation - Parliament represents all British citizens, which includes colonies as well
Colonists say that the only people who could represent them had to be from the colonies
Sons of Liberty, Daughters of Liberty, Vox Populi all try to give voice to protest
  * Groups are very diverse in terms of careers, mainly born from Stamp Act
  * Stamp Act Congress - 27 delegates from 9 colonies, want to petition the British government to repeal the stamp act because doing otherwise would be tyranny
  * In Stamp Act petitions, colonists are loyal subjects to British - Revolution not on the table yet
British would repeal the Stamp and Sugar Acts
Declaratory Act - Parliament can pass whatever they want in the colonies
Townshend Act, 1767 - puts taxes on paper, tea, glass, which were imported into colonies
  * Everyone was against the Townshend Act, were willing to boycott all of the goods
  * All classes were supporting the boycott
  * Women would make clothes rather than buying British clothes, and make tea instead of buying British tea
Boston Massacre, 1770 - group of boys and young men harass British soldiers, threw snowballs - someone fires a gun, British soldiers fire on the crowd; 11 colonists shot, 4 dead
  * John Adams defended the men in Court, six of eight were acquitted.
  * Adams still kind of against the British government
  * Shows overall distrust towards British, see it as a part of tyranny
Boston Tea Party - Sons of Liberty disguise themselves as Native Americans, dump 45 tons of British tea into the Boston Harbor - this would be worth 2 million dollars
* Tea Act - British East India Company is importing all ttea to the colonists, angers them because they were used to smuggling Dutch Tea
Coercive Acts - Closes Boston Harbor until tea was fully paid for
Passed Another Quartering Act
All of these Acts known as the Intolerable Acts - colonies start making militias to protect from British Tyranny

Philosophical Foundations of Revolution

How and Why did colonial attitutdes about government change in the years right before the American Revolution?
Revolution still not considered as an option
Continental Congress - Deliberation over Britain’s legislative tyranny - all agree that they need to resist further violations, but didn’t want revolution
British government refuse to meet with them, argued that colonists were rebelling against their rightful authority
Where did the colonists learn to think like this?
John Locke, Two Treatises of Government
  * Government can only exist with the consent of the governed, people are allowing it to exist
  * Natural Rights granted by a creator, not by a government, so government could not take them away - Life, Liberty, Property
  * Self Rule through elected representatives
Jean Jacques Rousseau
* Works on social contract
* Power to govern is in the hands of the people - people give up some power as long as their natural rights are protected
Baron de Montesquieu
* Writings inspire colonial leaders to believe that Republican government is the best form of preserving people’s liberty
* Government should be split into three branches, Executive, Judicial, Legislative, checks and balances
Americans see themselves as blessed with liberty, and any threat to that was a threat to their way of life
Common Sense by Thomas Paine
  * Bibilical examples to show the flaws in monarchy
  * Lots of Enlightenment thoughts that filter into the main population
  * Thomas Paine gives focus to colonial thoughts about the British government - convinces them that the only way forward is as independent Americans
2nd Continental Congress
* Formal resoultion for Independence formed, Thomas Jefferson tasked with righting the Declaration of Independence
* Has a lot of Enlightenment ideas
Declaration sparks war

American Revolution

What factors contributed to the American victory in the Revolutionary War?
America should not have won - British strongest nation in the world, and they went to war with their most important trade partner
Not everyone was ok with this war - Patriot Cause embodied by continental congress and Common Sense - Half were supporting patriots, some were neutral, some(loyalists) were completely against independence
Continental Congress appoints George Washington as general for Continental Army because of his fame from the French-Indian War
First 6 months, Continental Army did not win a single conflict
Soldiers would often desert because of how they didn’t want to protect lands other than their own
British General William Howe comes to New York with 10,000 trained British soldiers and 60,000 loyalists join them
Washington wages war of attrition - tire out the British until they don’t want to fight anymore
Washington makes offer to enslaved people that if they fought, they would be freed - copied British
Most black people fighting were free and from the North, 5000 supported patriot cause
Battle of Trenton - Washington crosses the Delaware river, fights Hessian soldiers (German mercenaries)
Battle of Saratoga - Most important battle; Benjamin Franklin was trying to get French support, this victory convices France to take their side
France saw this as an opportunity to weaken Britain
Spain and Holland also join against Britain
Battle of Yorktown, 1781 - French guns and ships help Washington decisively beat the British, war ends
Paris Peace Treaty - War officially ends, America recognized as independent nation, western boundary established at Mississippi River

Influence of Revolutionary Ideals

How did the American Revolution affect American and Global society?

American Society

People show concern over societal inequality
* Slavery?
Continental Congress abolished importation of enslaved laborers, Northern states abolish slavery
  * Movement was generally supported
  * Didn’t last long, South needed slavery for economic gains
  * Sentiments died down
Opening of state and national governments to greater democratic influence
* right to vote without titles or nobility affecting anything
Revolutionary Ideals also contribute to role of women
  * Plowed and planted fields while husbands were at war, in addition to regular domestic duties
  * Ladies Association of Philadelphia - supplies troops with clothing, bandages and bullets
  * Would dress up as men and fight in the war
  * Nancy Hart, Georgia - Gave British soldiers food, then shot and killed two; Neighbors hung the rest
  * Women who had gotten used to this wanted a permanent expansion of these roles
  * Republican Motherhood - Women were vital to healthy democracy to raise sons schooled in republican ideals, means women have to be educated in these ideals as well

Global Society

Nobody expected American colonists to win against the British, or build a government based on natural rights and individual liberty
Inspires other countries and their revolutions, mainly the French Revolution
  * French Revolution, 1789 - Very poor economy, commoners make up a majority of the population, but they’re all poor and don’t have much political power
  * National assembly called for commoners, King Louis tries to stop it, but they storm the Bastille (prison)
  * Make the Declaration of Rights and Man, heavily influenced by the Declaration of Independence
Haitian Revolution
  * Haiti was a French colony, saw French Revolution and followed that
  * Enslaved people rise against masters, burn masters, etc.
  * Haitian revolutionaries win, establish Haitian government
Latin American countries also rebel - Mexico, Peru, Chile, etc.

Articles of Confederation

Articles of Confederation were the first Constitution
Influenced by existing state constitutions
State governments largely focused political power into the legislative branch
* Legislative branch - part of government that makes laws
State legislative branches have representatives of the people
Most power placed in legislative branch with the articles of confederation - Didn’t want too much power with a single person
Articles did not even provide for a president, or supreme court
* All power was in the legislature, each state had one vote, and each state could veto any changes to the articles
* 9/13 states had to agree upon a change for it to happen - super majority, very hard to agree on
Immediate problem that needed to be dealt with was Westward migration
  * Americans going westward were dealing with violence with Native Americans, and some people were just going to western territory unregulated
  * In order to regulate this, Northwest Ordinance of 1787 is made
    * Abolished slavery in Northwest territory
    * Provided a means by which western territories could get a population and apply for statehood
  * Northwest Ordinance best thing to happen under the Articles
Shays Rebellion - worst thing to come out of the Articles of Confederation
  * Farmers were in debt because of Revolutionary War, had trouble paying everything off - entire country was in poor economic state
  * Daniel Shays gathers 1000 people, head to arsenal and arm themselves - Massachusetts militia stops them
  * Basically shows how weak the Articles are - this and other rebellions like this could happen and the national government would have no way to stop it.
Local + Federal Leaders start talking about replacing the Articles

Constitutional Convention and Debates Over Ratification

What were the differing ideological positions on the structure and function of the newly conceived federal government?
Fifty five delegates meet in 1787 for Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia
Meant to show the problems of Articles, they immediately decide to make a new one
James Madison and Alexander Hamilton
Wanted more power given to the government
How to represent the people - two plans
  * Virginia Plan - Appeals to them because big states get more power
    * Strong Centralized State
    * Bicameral Legislature - two houses in Congress
    * Representatives based on population
  * New Jersey - Favors small states
    * Unicameral state - one house in Congress
    * Every state has equal representatives
  * Great Compromise
    * Bicameral
    * One house (House of Representatives) represents based on population
    * Second house (Senate) represents each state equally with two votes each
Are slaves counted as part of the population? Important to South because if they do, they get a lot more power
  * Goes against the entire principle of slavery - not supposed to be treated as humans, South is hypocritical
  * South would walk away if slaves weren’t counted
  * Three-Fifth’s Compromise - Each slave counts as three-fifth’s of a person in terms of population
  * South also wants to keep slavery, scared since most Northern states were outlawing - Convention agrees to not ban until 1808
Voting for Representatives
  * House
    * Elected directly by the people
    * Two year terms
  * Senate
    * Elected by State governments
    * 6 year terms
  * President
    * Elected by electoral college
    * Elected by states, pretty much
    * 4 year terms
In order for the Constitution to be valid, 9 out of 13 states had to agree
Results in two opposing parties - Federalists and Anti-Federalists
  * Federalists - Want people to ratify the constitution
    * Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay
  * Anti-Federalists - Don’t want ratification, puts too much power in the government and no way to protect people if their rights were infringed
Federalists win - persuasion, more organized, give Bill of Rights for individual rights and way to protect people’s rights

Constitution

Federalism - The sharing of power between the national and state governments
Article 6 of Constitution says that constitution trumps state law when both contradict
* Enumerated Powers - the laws that trump state laws, limited
10th Amendment - Powers not delegated to National government are reserved to the states
Constitution embodies federalism because some powers given to the federal government while others are reserved exclusively to the states
Constitution provides separation of powers
  * Legislative - makes laws
  * Executive - Carries out and enforces the laws
  * Judicial - interprets the laws to ensure they align with the Constitution
Set up this way so that none of the branches have too much power - checks and balances
* President can veto any laws created by Congress, Congress can override with 2/3’s majority vote

Shaping a New Republic

George Washington unanimously elected
Washington makes executive departments - treasury, war, state, justice - each headed by a secretary
Alexander Hamilton - Secretary of Treasury, establishes national bank
* If US establishes a national bank, will unify states and improve credit - wants to accrue state debts into national debt
* Would allow US to borrow money from other nations, increases dependence of states on federal government
No power that gives the government to do this - Hamilton uses Elastic Clause - wasn’t prohibited by the constitution, therefore legal
Works - makes the National Bank
Internation issues - French Revolution, breaks out during Washington’s presidency
  * Issue was if United States would help France with their wars against other European nations, especially Britain
  * Washington makes Proclamation of Neutrality - Hamilton convinces him that America is too young to get involved, goes against Jefferson
  * Edmond Genet - comes to America to convince Americans to help France - Washington wants him to leave, but he becomes an American citizen
British were seizing American ships and impressing the crews (meaning they were forcing them to fight for Britain)
  * Washington sends John Jay for this, results in Jay’s Treaty - Britain gives up it’s posts in the West, nothing changes about seizures of American ships
  * Spanish get worried, America seems to be getting too close with Britain - consolidate their territories in the West
  * Pinckney Treaty Made with Spain - Spain lets Americans use the New Orleans Port and Southern border for US is at the 31st parallel
Land Hungry Americans want to go West, conflicts brew with Native Americans - British may be supplying them and encouraging them to fight the Americans
Battle of Fallen Timbers - US army fights a confederacy of Native American tribes, beat them and get access to all lands in the Ohio Valley
Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 - Whiskey tax, Pennsylvania farmers attack tax collectors; Washington rides in with the US Army and ends the Rebellion
Two Party System has been formed
  * Federalists
    * Led by Alexander Hamilton
    * Want a strong central government
    * Favored urban and elite interests
  * Democratic-Republicans
    * Led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
    * Champions of states rights
    * Favored rural and agricultural interests
Washington stops after two terms, and warns America of two party system and alliances with European nations during his famous Farewell Address
John Adams - vice president to George Washington and 2nd President
* Pro British
Adams wants to stay neutral between French and British war
Sends a delegation to France, 3 Frenchmen immediately ask for bribe before proceeding with negotiations - XYZ Affair
Alien and Sedition Acts - Allows federal government to deport any non-citizen, makes it illegal to criticize the government publically
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions - State have a right to nullify any laws made by the federal government if it went beyond the powers granted in the Constitution
Thomas Jefferson becomes the Third President after Adams is not elected for a second term.

Developing an American Identity

How can we explain the changes in American culture from 1754 - 1800?
Women had limited rights during this time period, but many leaders believed that wives and mothers were integral to the creation of a strong America
Republican Motherhood - Mothers are in the best position to influence political ideas by raising virtuous sons that are educated in the principles of liberty; Meant they needed to be educated as well
* Expands schooling for women
* Only for white women
Art and Literature were mostly influenced by European styles
  * Charles Wilson Peale’s portrait of Washington
  * Samuel Jennings’ includes women and black people in his paintings, emphasizes importance of rationality and education
  * John Trumbull is also important because of his paintings of important historical points in a romanticized way
Architecture - also borrowed from Europe
Literature - Poor Richard’s Almanack, has a lot of important aphorisms - defines Americans as industrious and hard-working;
Religion - Thomas Jefferson responsible for Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, separates Church and State