RB

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