American Ideals, Paradoxes, and Early Government

The Paradox of Freedom and Slavery

  • The American Paradox: The fundamental contradiction in America's founding ideals—espousing liberty, equality, and the pursuit of happiness (from the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution) while simultaneously upholding the institution of slavery.
  • Founding Fathers' Perspective: Figures like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, highly intelligent individuals, would have been aware of this contradiction. Their wrestling with these questions is documented.
  • Morgan's Interpretation of Liberty: Edmund Morgan argues that the founders' understanding of "liberty" and "freedom" differed from modern interpretations. For them, true liberty was intrinsically linked to independence.
    • Independent Citizens: Those who could be truly free and experience liberty were financially independent, typically wealthy landholders, free from debt, and not beholden to others.
    • Dependent Individuals: Enslaved people, poor white people, Native Americans, women, and children were considered dependent and thus incapable of full liberty in this worldview.
    • Critique: A cynical academic might interpret this as a justification for oligarchy, but Morgan believes the founders genuinely held this belief.
  • Slavery and Dependency: In this framework, enslaved people were dependent. Morgan extended this to suggest that even if freed, Black people would likely remain dependent in the prevailing societal structure.
  • Origins of Independence Ideas: These concepts traced back to England in the 1500s and 1600s, influencing colonists to seek land in America to achieve independence and, thus, freedom (e.g., Colonial Virginia).
  • Bacon's Rebellion (1676): This conflict, involving indentured servants and poor white colonists against the elite over Native American policy and land access, significantly shaped Virginian ideas of liberty. The rebellion highlighted the instability of a large, landless, dependent poor white population.
  • Shift to Slavery: Following Bacon's Rebellion (and slightly before), there was a deliberate societal transition in Colonial Virginia away from indentured servitude and towards chattel slavery. This shift made land more available for poor whites, thereby creating the conditions for the ideals of white independence and liberty to flourish without the fear of internal uprisings from a large, dependent white underclass.
  • The Inextricable Link (Morgan's Paradox): Morgan asserts that the rise of slavery in Virginia was simultaneous and essential to the rise of ideas about independence, liberty, and freedom. Thomas Jefferson could write about liberty because slavery existed, which removed the dependent poor white class that might otherwise threaten social order and allow for a larger class of independent white citizens.
    • "Joker and Batman" Analogy: The relationship between slavery and freedom is not one of opposites or hypocrisy but an inextricable, interdependent link—one cannot exist without the other in this historical context.
  • Critiques of Morgan's Argument: A significant critique, especially from the political left, is Morgan's limited focus on race or racism in his analysis, despite deeply discussing slavery.
  • Contemporary Relevance: Morgan, writing in 1972, posits that understanding this historical paradox (freedom and slavery coexisting) might lead us to question contemporary "American paradoxes" where some forms of "tyranny" or "servitude" might bind to our modern freedoms, making us wonder what unspoken dependencies underpin our present-day liberties.
    • He encourages readers to interpret this modern connection for themselves.

Governing After the Revolution

  • Post-Revolutionary Questions: The revolution raised critical questions about the nature of government and the rights of citizens.
    • Government Structure: What form would the government take?
    • Equality and Natural Rights: The rhetoric of equality and natural rights prompted inquiries into the rights of women and African Americans (both free and enslaved).
  • Political Ideologies in the Founding Era: Early American leaders used specific terms to discuss government structures:
    • Monarchy: Rule by kings and queens; succession by inheritance. A major threat to the founding fathers, who had just rebelled against it. Associated with despotism (e.g., Oliver Cromwell's dictatorship).
    • Virtuous Citizens: Those capable of ruling in a republic; defined by independence (self-employed, self-sustaining, debt-free, land-owning).
    • Democracy: Rule by the majority, often seen by the founders as the "tyranny of the majority" or "rule by the unwashed masses." They were as skeptical of pure democracy as they were of monarchy.
    • Republic: The preferred form, advocating for "rule by the virtuous." James Madison and others envisioned a republic where every American lived on a small farm, embodying independence.

Challenges to Social Order During the Revolution

  • Women's Rights: The rhetoric of equality led some women, like Judith Sargent Murray, to write provocative essays advocating for women's equality and education (early feminist ideas).
    • Republican Motherhood: The compromise view was that women should be educated not for their own sake, but so they could educate their sons to be virtuous citizens of the republic, thereby ensuring the nation's future.
    • Companionate Marriage: A shift from patriarchal, 'husband-dominated' marriages to those based on affection rather than male authority (e.g., John Cadwalader's portrait with his wife).
  • Racial Order and Abolition:
    • Northern Abolition: Slavery, initially present in both northern and southern colonies (e.g., 20 \% of New York's population was enslaved), began to be abolished in the North after the revolution, due to the ideals of liberty and property.
    • Gradual Abolition: Many states adopted gradual abolition laws (e.g., freeing enslaved people at age 35 or children born after a certain date at age 18).
    • Massachusetts (1780): Abolished slavery outright.
    • Early Anti-Slavery Movement: Organizations like the Pennsylvania Abolition Society (founded 1775) and the New York Abolition Society (founded 1785) emerged to advocate for abolition.
    • Free Black Communities: Free Black people (not all Black people were enslaved) organized and formed mutual aid societies (Masonic lodges, improvement societies) to foster education, pool resources, and advocate for political rights, including voting rights for Black men in some states.

State and Federal Government Structures

  • State Constitutions: After declaring independence, states drafted their own constitutions, resulting in a wide range of governmental structures.
    • Pennsylvania (1776): Progressive constitution; no property requirements for voting (any free man could vote), unicameral legislature (one house), and no executive branch.
    • South Carolina: Highly conservative; extremely high property requirements for holding office (e.g., £10,000 net worth for governor, £2,000 for state legislature). Only a small percentage of the white populace could hold office.
      • Morgan would argue this reflected South Carolina's definition of those deemed "independent" and therefore "virtuous" enough to rule.
  • The Articles of Confederation (First National Government):
    • Structure: Unicameral Continental Congress; one state, one vote (total of 13 votes).
    • Fear of Centralized Power: Reflected the delegates' distrust of strong central authority, a reaction against their experience with the British Parliament.
    • Weaknesses:
      • No power to tax directly, leading to inability to pay Revolutionary War debt.
      • No power to regulate commerce, resulting in interstate trade wars (e.g., New York vs. New Jersey tariffs) and unstable foreign trade relations.
      • Required nine of 13 states to pass any law, and unanimous consent to amend the Articles, making it largely dysfunctional.
      • No central executive or standing army, hindering response to crises.
      • Multiple state currencies and unbacked paper currency led to high inflation and economic instability.
    • Successes:
      • Served as a "firm league of friendship," providing a united diplomatic front (e.g., treaties with France and Spain).
      • Successfully negotiated that states cede Western land claims to the central government.
      • Western Land Ordinances (e.g., Northwest Ordinance of 1787): Key legislation establishing a system for organizing, surveying, and selling Western lands. It created a path for future territories to become states equal to the original 13, and crucially, it barred slavery from these Midwestern states (e.g., Ohio, Indiana, Michigan). This ensured territorial expansion would also expand American self-government.

Conflicts with Native Americans

  • End of Proclamation Line (1763): The revolution invalidated the British proclamation line, leading to American expansion into Native American lands west of the Appalachians.
  • Native American Response: Native peoples, angered by the British "selling" them to Congress (Treaty of Paris had no stipulations for them), formed the Northwest Confederacy to resist encroachment.
  • First Indian War (under Articles): The new U.S. Army engaged in warfare with the Northwest Confederacy over land access.
  • Treaty of Greenville (1795): Ended the conflict, with the Northwest Confederacy ceding significant land in the Ohio Valley to the United States. This established a recurring theme of conflict over land between the U.S. and Native Americans.

Economic Crisis and Shays' Rebellion

  • Economic Downturn: The post-Revolutionary period was marked by severe economic hardship:
    • Inflated, largely worthless paper currency.
    • Shortage of gold and silver.
    • Unstable trade relations (domestic and foreign).
    • Unpaid national and state debts.
  • Shays' Rebellion (1786- 1787): An uprising of indebted farmers in western Massachusetts. They were losing their land due to lack of specie and high taxes.
    • Highlighted the central government's inability to respond effectively to internal crises due to its lack of a standing army and fiscal power.
    • Nationalist Response: This rebellion shifted the focus of some leaders (Nationalists like Alexander Hamilton and James Madison) from fear of strong central government (monarchy) or excessive democracy (tyranny of the majority) to a new fear: the potential instability caused by the "unwashed masses" (the poor and rebellious).
    • They argued for a stronger central government with the power to enforce laws and maintain order.

The Constitutional Convention

  • Annapolis Convention (1786): Precursor meeting to discuss interstate economic problems.
  • Philadelphia Convention / Constitutional Convention (1787): Leaders, empowered by the Confederation Congress to revise the Articles, met in secret for several months. George Washington presided.
  • Outcome: Instead of merely amending the Articles, they created an entirely new governing document: the U.S. Constitution, establishing a more powerful federal government.