5: A Kind of Revolution Flashcards
True or False: General enthusiasm for the Revolutionary War was high
False, John Adams estimated 1/3 for, 1/3 opposed, 1/3 neutral
Which demographic was first excluded from militias but later recruited out of desperation
“Less respectable” whites
According to Zinn, what is an effective device to gain support of a recalcitrant population in a cause?
Give the poor the “adventure and rewards” of military service so that they come to fight for a cause they might not have cared about
Which demographic spent more time in military service according to historian John Shy: the middle-class men or lower-class men?
Lower-class men, even though the middle-class made up more of society and had more to gain
What 1777 battle was a turning point in the RW? (hint: turning point as in American forces started winning some battles)
Saratoga, New York
Where was the final victory of the war won, and when?
Yorktown, Virginia, 1781
Which suppressed conflicts kept popping up during the RW?
Those between rich and poor
Describe the mutiny near Morristown, New Jersey on New Year’s Day 1781
Troops dispersed their officers, killed one captain, wounded others, and began marching, fully armed, toward the Continental Congress at Philadelphia
Fill in the blank: The huge __________ of the Loyalists had been one of the great incentives to Revolution
Landholdings
True or False: The American Revolution brought about the separation of Church and State
False, despite making such declarations, the Northern States adopted taxes post-1776 that forced everyone to support Christian teachings
True or False: The men who engineered the AR were largely members of the middle-class
False, they were mostly members of the Colonial ruling class
Fill in the blanks: “It seems that the rebellion against British rule allowed a certain group of the colonial elite to replace those loyal to England, give some benefits to small landholders, and leave ____ ____ ________ _____ and tenant farmers in very much their old situation”
Poor white working people
Historian Charles Beard, writing in the early 20th century, found strong connection between what and support of the Constitution?
Wealth
The immediate fear of rebellion by discontented farmers around the time of the Constitution was punctuated by this key event in western Massachusetts
Shays’ Rebellion
Fill in the blanks: Henry Knox expressed the creed of those involved in Shays’ Rebellion: “That the property of the United States has been protected from the confiscations of Britain by the joint exertions of all, and therefore ought to be the ______ ______ of all.”
Common property
Shays’ Rebellion was primarily a response to this (hint: a loan might involve this)
Debt collecting
What were the Federalist Papers
A series of articles published in New York by James Madison. Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay in support of ratifying the Constitution
James Madison’s solution to controlling a majority faction (decisions by vote of majority) and maintaining order was what
Dividing voting block into states
Fill in the blanks: “When economic interest is seen behind the political clauses of the _______, then the document becomes not simply the work of wise men trying to establish a decent and orderly society, but the work of certain groups trying to maintain their _______, while giving just enough _____ and liberties to enough of the people to ensure popular support”
Constitution; privileges; rights
Hamilton wrote that the new Union would be able to repress what?
Domestic faction and insurrection
What fraction of the population during the revolutionary period had small land holdings (and consequently vested interests in property rights)?
1/3
Why did city mechanics support the formation of American government?
Protection from foreign economic competition
Which 1798 act contradicted the Constitution’s promise not to abridge the freedom of the press?
The Sedition Act
What did the Sedition Act do?
Made it a crime to say anything “false, scandalous and malicious” against the government, Congress, or the President
What legal basis supported the Sedition Act?
the British common law of “seditious libel” in which you couldn’t stop someone from saying something, but you could punish them after the fact.
