America Chapters 5-6 Flashcards
how did Paine define the word republic?
‘the public good or the good of the whole’
Republicanism according to Farmer
‘Republicanism, essentially, was government by the consent of the governed.’
Popular Sovereignty
the idea that political power should be held by the people, central proposition of republican principles
quote Virginia Declaration of Rights (popular sovereignty)
‘All power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people… magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them.’
In May 1776 Congress adopted a resolution by _______ calling on all states that did not have a permanent constitution based on popular sovereignty to adopt one.
John Adams
Between 1776 and 1780 all but two states (_____) adopted new constitutions
Rohde Island and Connecticut which just revised their colonial charters, deleting reference to royal authority
Americans divided into two camps in their struggle about who should rule at home, these were:
elitists and democrats
Elitists
- men who had led the assemblies
- wanted to preserve order and prevent anarchy
- wanted republics where people chose the best men to govern and then stood aside to let them do so, governing along the lines of the formal colonial system
what did the democrats favour?
- a broad franchise
- no (or low) property qualifications for office holding
- frequent elections
- one-housed (unicameral) legislatures: they felt there was no need for an aristocratic second chamber
- a weak executive
what did the elitists favour?
- limited property qualification franchise and office holders
- infrequent elections
- two-housed (bicameral) legislature, one representing the people, the other the elite
- the governors would have wide ranging powers
What’s an executive?
the power or authority in government that carries the law into effect; persons who administer the government
Virginia Constitution quote on separation of powers
‘the legislative, executive and judiciary departments shall be separate and distinct.’
What is the Separation of Powers?
a system of government in which power is shared between the legislative, the executive and the judiciary, ensuring no branch can become dominant.
Bills of Rights
enumerated liberties like freedom of expression, worship and assembly and rights. The constitutions set out not only governments’ powers but also their limits.
What does Jackson Turner Main (1978) argue about legislatures?
the state legislatures after 1775 were significantly different from those before.
Statistic to show that state legislatures differed after 1775
Pre-1775 voters overwhelmingly selected representatives from among the rich. By 1873 the proportion of men from old elite families in the legislatures had dropped from 46 to 22 per cent.
What does Jackson Turner Main claim the primary division in American politics to be between?
agrarian-localist interests VS commercial-cosmopolitan interests
What does Colin Bonwick (1991) argue about the states’ handling of their own finances etc.
the states’ record of effective administration was ‘far better than contemporary, and later critics have allowed’
___ colonies prohibited established churches
nine
all the New England states except Rhode Island continued to require taxpayers to support_____
public Protestant worship
What did the Articles of Confederation do?
provided for a central government with limited powers
- congress was one body in which each state had one vote (regardless of size of population)
- no provision for a national executive or a national judiciary
- important measures like treaties needed the approval of at least nine states
- the Articles couldn’t be amended without the consent of all thirteen states
- Congress had no power to levy taxes, regulate trade or enforce financial requisitions
What did Dickinson view the Confederation as?
a ‘firm league of friendship’
When did the Articles obtain congressional approval?
November 1777
When were the Articles finally ratified?
March 1781
Loyalist emigration statistic
by 1783 some 80,000 loyalists had left their homes and gone into exile in Britain, Canada, Nova Scotia or the West Indies.
a more egalitarian society?
- after 1776 most Americans opposed hereditary privilege in all its forms; 2 states forbade the creation of titles of nobility
- Realignment of relations between elites and social inferiors
- Outward marks of social deference disappeared e.g. urges no longer wore wigs and scarlet robes
- Agrarian opportunities for landless Americans west of the Appalachians
- Women, Slavery
- Indentured servants disappeared due to the wa
It was difficult to reconcile the Declaration of Independence’s assertion that ‘all men are created equal’ with the fact that….
one in six Americans was a slave.
Why did slaves become loyalists?
- Washington banned all black people from service
- Lord Dunmore promised freedom to any Virginian slave who fled a rebel owner to serve the British
- General Clinton’s proclamation 1779
What did General Clinton’s 1779 Proclamation declare?
any slaves captured ins service to the rebels would be sold, but those who deserted the rebels and served Britain would receive ‘full security to follow within these lines, any occupation which [they] shall think proper
the task of abolishing slavery in the North was relatively simple since there was relatively few slaves…
only three per cent of New England’s population and six per cent of the middle states’ populations were slaves
how many of the South’s slaves fled to the British lines?
one in six of the South’s slaves
effect of the war on black loyalists
20,000 transported out of America. Most were resettled in the West Indies, or absorbed into the British army. 3000 were given land and freedom in Nova Scotia.
What happened in 1771 (r.e. slavery) and what followed?
The Massachusetts assembly banned the slave trade with Africa. Rhode Island and Connecticut followed suit in 1774.
the task of abolishing slavery in the North was relatively simple since there was relatively few slaves…
only three per cent of New England’s population and six per cent of the middle states’ populations were slaves
Slavery was not officially abolished in New York until…
1827
nearly ____ per cent of slaves lived in the southern states
ninety
What were the Manumission laws?
laws that allowed owners to free their slaves; liberalised after 1783
between 1782 and 1810 the number of free black people in Virginia rose from….
2000 to 30,000
but from 1790 to 1807…
more slaves were imported into North America than during any other similar period in colonial times
in 1790 there were ____ free black people in the USA
60,000
how many women served with the military forces in an ancillary capacity during the war?
20,000
Mary Beth Norton (1980) on the impact of war on women
Women moved from submission into a world over which they had some control, and were no longer content to be ‘good wives’, instead educating themselves and discussing politics.
historian Harry Ward (1999) on the impact of the war on women
ordinary American families became less patriarchal; like he colonies had repudiated royal paternalism, Americans came to believe that the family didn’t need a domineering head.
Alan farmer’s conclusion on women in this era
‘Most women remained in a subordinate position within a patriarchal social order’
Edward Countryman (1985) on Native Americans
the transformation of power relations between white people and the Native Americans in the trans-Appalachian west was among the most radical Changs wrought by the war.
negative economic effects of the war
- American ships seized
- trade devastated
- New England fishing industry temporarily destroyed
- Hyper-inflation
- Major requisitioning of lagoons had a disruptive effect on internal transport- plantation economies were disrupted by the flight of slaves seeking British protection
example of economic effect of war (baccy statistic)
tobacco production was reduced to a third of the pre-war levels
positive economic effects of war
- Americans could export directly to European markets
- Privateering: American privateers captured British vessels worth about £18 million
- reduction in imports of manufactured goods from Britain had a stimulating effect on American iron, textile industries
- military demands boosted domestic production
- farmers profited from selling food to various armies
- Some traders e.g. Robert Morris made huge profits
for how long were the Articles of Confederation governing for?
eight years; 1781-89
what did the 1785 Land Ordinance do?
it outlined a surveying system for the sale of northwestern land, dividing land up.
what did the 1787 Northwest Ordinance do?
prescribed a set of procedures for organising and admitting to statehood new territories.
between 1784 and 1786 the USA imported from Britain goods worth over _____ selling less than one-third of that in return,
£7.5 million
what is specie?
gold or coined money
After 1784 there were increasing demands that the Articles should be amended…
to allow Congress to regulate both international and American trade
the US population grew from….
2.75 million in 1780 to 4 million in 1790
National debt in 1783
$41 million
foreign debt to Netherlands, France and Spain comprised
$8 million
domestic debt the remaining….
$33 million
Interest on the national debt by 1783?
$2.4 million per year
By 1786 Congress had levied over $15 million in requisitions from states but only ___ had been paid.
$2.5 million
the only major source of independent income for the national government was from the sale of western lands, but this developed slowly, yielding only….
$760,000 before 1788
what did the debtors want?
an increase in paper money
what did the creditors think?
paper money would simply lead to inflation and economic instability
who won out of the creditors and debtors?
the debtors by the late 1780s: in 1787 seven states were issuing paper money. Rhode Island not only made paper money legal tender but compelled creditors to accept it.
social tensions in the 1780s?
September 1786 the governor of New Hampshire called out 2000 militiamen to disperse several hundred farmers threatening the legislative assembly after it reneged on a promise to issue paper money. Similar disturbances in Vermont, Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia.
Shay’s Rebellion
January 1787 Daniel Shays led several hundred armed men towards the federal arsenal at Springfield
When did Congress adopt the Stars and Stripes as the national flag?
1777
Interstate disharmony
- 1782-85 all the states except New Jersey placed duties on imports (affects foreign and interstate commerce) to raise revenue
- By 1786 the New England states had increased import duties to make them protective
- dispute Virginia and Maryland over navigation of the Potomac River
How was the Virginia and Maryland dispute resolved?
1785 James Madison proposed that commissioners from th two states meet to negotiate a solution; 1785 delegates reached agreement at meeting at Washington’s Mount Vernon.
The Annapolis meeting
September 1786, twelve men from five states met in Annapolis to discuss commercial problems; men agreed on need for constitutional change and proposed that a convention of all the states should be held in Philadelphia 1787 to redraft the Articles of Confederation.
The Philadelphia Convention
May 1787. The Convention delegates (the Founding Fathers) met to save the revolution or relaunch and lay the foundations of the republic.
What did Madison argue in ‘The Vices of the Political System of the United States’, April 1787
he outlined the need for a powerful national republic with a centralised government.
how many times did James Madison (V) speak at the Philadelphia Convention
161 times
How did Charles Beard depict the Founding Fathers?
as reactionaries whose aim was to destroy popular rule, who had considerable investments in certificates of public credit.
How did Robert Brown and Forrest McDonald (1965) respond to Charles Beard?
showing that Beard’s research was careless, in reality the Founding Fathers’ capital was largely invested in land, not public securities.
what statistic opposes Charles Beard’s view?
some of the largest holders of certificates of public credit voted against the proposed Constitution
The Virginia Plan
set the agenda; national legislature of two houses, in each of which representation was to be proportionate to the population.
The New Jersey Plan
Willliam Patterson from New Jersey presented an alternative scheme on 15hh June providing for a single legislative chamber, in which each state would have one vote.
The Great Compromise
accepted 16th July; said all the states whatever their population would have equal rep in the upper house (the Senate), but the lower house (the House of Representatives) would have proportional representation.
What was the Convention’s conclusion to slaves?
a slave was coin ted as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of both representation and direct taxation
what powers did the federal government have?
- could maintain an army and navy
- mint and borrow money
- make treaties with foreign powers
- levy taxes and regulate commerce
- ‘make all laws which shall be necessary and proper’ for executing its powers.
what limitations did the state governments have ?
- forbidden from waging war
- forbidden from engaging in diplomacy
- forbidden from coining money or laying duties on imports
- unable to issue money or make treaties
President / Federal executive
- elected for a four-year term by an Electoral College
- removed only on impeachment for ‘high crimes and misdemeanours’
- could veto acts of Congress
- commander-in-chief of the army and navy
The House of Representatives?
elected directly by voters for a two-year term
The Senate
comprised two senators from each state and was elected by state legislatures. Served for 6 years, one-third elected every two years.
how did historian Richard Hofstadter (1948) describe the Constitution ?
‘a harmonious system of mutual frustration’
The Constitution has _____ words, the Supreme Court’s interpretations of it number over 450 volumes
4000
George Washington on the Constitution
‘I am fully persuaded it is the best that can be obtained at the present moment under such diversity of ideas that prevail’
British PM William Gladstone on the Constitution
‘the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of men’
How did the Constitution’s preamble open?
‘We the People of the United States’
Alan Farmer on the Founding Fathers
‘The Founding Fathers remained true to the representative principle at almost every point’
system of checks and balances
- executive versus legislative versus judiciary
- House of Representatives versus Senate
- popular election versus indirect election
- federal government versus state governments
Alan Farmer on the Constitution
‘The fact that the Constitution was a sketch, not a blueprint, was a strength.’
The Founding Fathers’ political realism is evident from the fact that the Constitution has stood the test of time…
with relatives few amendments (27 since 1787), a document devised 200 years ago for a small, rural republic is still the fundamental law for the world’s greatest power.
Who were the Federalists?
supporters of the Constitution who wanted increased central and less state power
Alan Farmer on the Anti-Federalists
‘the fact that the Federalist opponents were dubbed ‘Anti-Federalists’ immediately cast them in a negative role.’
What was the crucial socio-economic factor in distinguishing Federalists from Anti-Federalists according to Jackson Turner Main?
their level of engagement in commercial trading
Who were the Anti-Federalists
those who criticised the Constitution and were susp
Who did Samuel Adams support?
the Federalists
Who influentially supported the Federalist cause?
Franklin and Washington
Why did John Hancock change sides?
when the Federalists suggested he might become Vice President if the Constitution were ratified
In February 1788 the Federalists triumphed by….
187 votes to 168
The Federalist Papers
86 articles urging the adoption of the Constitution, written by Hamilton, Madison and Jay using the joint pseudonym Publius
the Bill of Rights concession was vital in winning over _____ and Massachusetts
Virginia
