APUSH Quiz Study Guide Topics: American Revolution, Articles of Confederation, Constitution, and Washington Presidency

Pre/Post-American Revolution:

- Causes For Revolution: There are ~5 MAIN grievances that led to the beginning of the revolution:

1. King George III- living lavishly while saying England is poor and needs colonies to pay (think about “big ass column” and “well fed”)

2. Stamp Act- A direct tax on most products involving paper that was only payable in British sterling, which was hard to obtain -> this act was NOT APPROVED by colonial legislature (leads to no taxation w/o representation)

3. Sugar Act- Another direct tax on foreign wine, coffee, indigo, and textiles-> if accused of smuggling to bypass this act, you were sent to a special British court without a jury of your peers

4. Declaratory Act- Reasserts that Britain is the one who rules over the colonies

5. Quartering Of Soldiers- British soldiers were allowed to enter colonial houses for however long they liked and colonists had to obey by what they said

- These 5 main grievances are taken so seriously that they appear later when the Bill of Rights is created.

Loyalists v. Patriots:

- Loyalists- believed that we should remain loyal to England because of the economic benefits and the protection they provided (they mostly lived in cities/urban areas)
- Patriots- believed that direct taxation without representation was a violation of their natural rights (@ John Locke) (they mostly lived in the countryside/rural areas)

- *The tensions between loyalists and patriots is over principle

Justifications for Loyalists and Patriots-

Loyalist Justification-
- Colonies profit from trade w/ England
- Colonies would be weak w/o England
- Taxes were only imposed b/c of the French and Indian War, which was fought to protect colonists

Patriot Justification-
- British personnel cause riots, violence, and death
- Colonists have no voice in Parliament

- Taxation takes away property, which is a natural right (property being money and goods)

Forms of Resistance-

- An example of patriots and forms of resistance can be seen with the Sons of Liberty, who were technically the first “terrorist organization”, as they used violence to achieve their political goals

- While the Sons of Liberty used violent forms of protest, most of the time, peaceful means were used, such as:

The Virginia Resolves- says only colonial governments can tax colonies, and therefore Stamp Act is illegal and unconstitutional, and had the ability to destroy American and British Freedom

The Stamp Act Congress- a meeting in NYC where representatives from 9/13 colonies met to discuss how to respond to the Stamp Act (says no taxation w/o rep. and colonists should only be tried in colonial courts w/ a jury of their peers)

Boycott- Colonists made their own clothes instead of buying British made clothing

NOTE: British Parliament defended the passing of taxes by claiming that the colonists had “virtual representation” (says colonial interests are represented by merchant virtue)

More Grievances + Buildup-

Townshend Acts- tax on tea, glass, and paper, and allowed officials to search homes as long as they had a “writ of assistance” (which was extremely easy to obtain)

Boston Massacre- (this is common sense I fear)

Intolerable Acts- (1774) Closed the Boston Harbor, expanded the Quartering Acts, lessened the power of Massachusetts legislation, and allowed British people accused of crimes to be tried in England, and not in the colonies

- The Intolerable Acts lead to the First Continental Congress, where state representatives met to discuss how they should respond (1774)

- At the same time as all of this is happening (1774), Thomas Paine is spreading his pamphlet, “Common Sense”, which used simple language and strong arguments to appeal to everyday people who were still unsure about their stance on revolution

- A Second Continental Congress met in 1775 to discuss what would happen if Britain did not repeal these acts, and the Olive Branch petition was created as a last-ditch attempt to keep peace with Britain
-> King George III rejected this petition, and as word gets to the colonies that he did, the first shots of the war are fired at Lexington and Concord (Apr 18, 1775) ( “shot heard round the world”)
During The War-

- The colonists are DESPERATE for a victory
-> Battle of Saratoga and Battle of Trenton were MAJOR TURNING POINTS in the war

- America had European Allies that played an important role in the winning of the war:
-> France: Marquis de Lafayette
-> Prussia: Baron von Steuben

- The British surrender at Yorktown in 1781 and the war ends in 1783 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris

END OF PRE/POST-AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Articles of Confederation as a government:

- While fighting the war, American leaders realized that if they won, they would need some sort of new government, and drafted the Articles of Confederation in 1777, which were later ratified in 1781 (America’s first form of government)

The A.O.C were extremely weak and ineffective:
-> There was no national currency, and each state printed their own money

-> There was no military, so Congress could not stop foreign powers from exploiting Americans
-> 9/13 states in Congress had to agree for a decision to be passed, which rarely happened

-> Congress couldn’t pass taxes, only ask for money, meaning no public works or funding for military/navy
-> The little power Congress did have was disregarded, as states had more power than the federal government

- A problematic issue arose in the form of Federalism, which was the government principle of dividing power between states and the federal government

-> The idea of federalism created two new political parties, known as Federalists and Anti-Federalists (more on this later)

- Since the A.O.C didn’t allow Congress to tax the states,veterans could not be paid for their service during the Revolutionary War, which led to Shays’ Rebellion:

-> Shays’ Rebellion occurred in Massachusetts between 1786 and 1787, and since Congress could not raise an army, rich people in the area had to pay for a private militia to put down the rebellion
-> This highlighted the weakness of the A.O.C, and made it obvious that we needed a stronger central government
-> This sets the context for the Constitutional Convention

-Despite all these failures though, the Articles of Confederation did have one success, and this was the Northwest Ordinance, which outlined how territories would become states;
-> Once the territory had at least 60K people living in it, they could apply for statehood and vote for what they believed (slavery was outlawed in these new states)

Constitutional Convention- In the context of Shays’ Rebellion, inflation, foreign manipulation, etc.

-> Big sense of urgency during this meeting b/c we needed a stronger government ASAP

The Constitution and Political Divisions:

- The country was now essentially divided into 2 political parties, Federalists and Anti-Federalists, these divisions were based on principle and would only grow more as time passed

Federalists v. Anti-Federalists (Democrat Republicans)

Elastic and Supremacy Clauses:
- The Elastic Clause (Article 1, Section 8) allowed Congress to make laws that they thought were “necessary and proper” for the maintenance of nation security
- The Supremacy Clause said that federal law is always more powerful than state law

Constitutional Compromises:
- The Constitution is often seen as a collection of compromises, as not everyone could agree to the same terms , for example:

The Virginia Plan outlined a system where states who had greater populations got greater representation in Congress (proportional distribution), while the New Jersey Plan outlined a system of equal distribution
-> These two systems somewhat merged to create the House of Representatives, which is based on proportional distribution, and the Senate, which is based on equal distribution. BOTH of these houses make up our congress

- States wanted to handle slavery differently. For example Maryland wanted, at the bare minimum, for the slave trade to be illegal and for slaves to not count toward the population leaving states with less representatives, while South Carolina wanted slavery to be protected, and that states with slaves should have them counted as part of the population so they could have more representation
-> As a result, the ⅗ compromise was passed, making one slave ⅗ of a person, so that they could still count toward the population, but not as much as a white person would

George Washington Presidency:

- NOTE: George Washington did not have a political party, as he thought they could divide America

Unwritten Constitution- “Unspoken Rules” set by George Washington for future presidents, such as a VP and a cabinet

G.W’s Goals:
- Tame sectionalism (areas thinking they’re better, ex. North v. South)
- Reduce factional friction ( Federalists v. Democrat-Republicans)
- Work towards creating a strong and prosperous America

-For America to be strong and prosperous, we need to handle our financial situation

-> Washington appoints Hamitlon to be his Secretary of the Treasury and tasks him with creating a financial plan for America

Hamilton’s Financial Plan- Hamilton’s financial plan assumed states’ debts and created a national debt and a national bank with a national currency, which he believed would help to boost the young nation’s credit
-> Jefferson hates this plan b/c he thinks that it benefits Federalists and b/c of its implications on states’ rights

-> Originally, Hamilton could not get this plan passed by Congress, and so he maneuvers around this by compromising with Thomas Jefferson and allowing the nation’s capital to be in the south, and he uses the Elastic Clause as reasoning to get his plan passed (Loose constructionist!!!!!)

Whiskey Rebellion- Hamilton uses Elastic Clause to pass Whiskey Tax to help raise money for the nation, but the main people producing whiskey are rural farmers who are Democratic-Republicans, so they feel threatened
-> This rebellion is put down with a government funded military, showing that the constitution empowered the federal government and was not to be played around with

Genet Affair- France is at war with England and seeking aid from the U.S (1793).
Democratic-Republicans want to aid France, as they helped during our revolution and we signed a treaty with them, while Federalists did not want to help France so that they could preserve their relationship with the British and because they thought America was too weak to fight another war
-> Washington declares that the Treaty of Alliance is dead, and America is too weak economically and militarily, and rejects Genet. This is known as the Proclamation of Neutrality, in which we asserted that we can have trade alliances, but not military alliances b/c we are too weak/vulnerable

British Irritations- The British have still not 100% left mainland U.S, and some are still in the Ohio River Valley, preventing Americans from expanding. These British are working with Native Americans to scalp and attack Americans in the area.

-> Along with this, the practice of impressment, in which American sailors were kidnapped by British and forced to work for them portrayed America as weak

-> This causes George Washington to send his Chief Justice, John Jay, to England to try and create a treaty with England with the following goals:
- Avoid war

- Earn respect for American neutrality

- Restore profitable trade

- Stop impressment

- Get British out O.R.V

-> The treaty they created was known as “Jay’s Treaty” and NO ONE liked it, especially not the Democratic-Republicans, who believed that it made us look weak and like we were kissing England’s ass (Federalists don't like it, but it's better than nothing)

- Because of Jay’s Treaty, France attacks U.S ships b/c it looks like we are allies with Britain (this will become John Adams’ problem)