Chapter 5: The American Revolution

Question 1

What is Republicanism?

Answer 1

Government by the consent of the governed

Question 2

What did most colonial assemblies do upon the collapse of British Authority 1774-75?

Answer 2

Set themselves up as provincial conventions

Question 3

When did Congress decide to adopt a resolution saying that all states should change their constitutions?

Answer 3

1776

Question 4

What was a strong fear of the colonists when drawing up new constitutions?

Answer 4

The dangers of excessive and powerful government

Question 5

What were the two camps of Republicanist colonists?

Answer 5

Elitists and Democrats

Question 6

What did Elitists believe?

Answer 6

They felt that too much democracy may generate unstable governments, and so the franchise was to be limited to property holders.
There would be property holding prerequisites for office holders, and there would be two houses - one for the people, one for the elite.
The executive would be strong

Question 7

What did Democrats believe?

Answer 7

Broad franchise (still no slaves or women)
No - or low - property prerequisites for office holders
Weak executive
Single house of legislature

Question 8

What were some policies in the new state constitutions?

Answer 8

All agreed on separation of powers
All agreed that sovereignty was in the hands of the people
Legislature was split into two houses in all states but Pennsylvania & Georgia
All states required property ownership to vote, but the qualifications were low.
Qualifications for office holding remained the same as colonial assemblies.
Every state except Pennsylvania had an elected head - a governor. (However, 10 states set a 1-year term and governors were often figureheads at best)

Question 9

What were the two limits on legislature power?

Answer 9

Requirement for annual elections
Bills of Rights

Question 10

What document provided the model for state bills of rights?

Answer 10

Virginia Declaration of Rights 1776

Question 11

What were the rights listed in the Virgina Declaration of rights?

Answer 11

Freedom of expression, worship, and assembly
The right to jury trial
Subordination of military to civilian power
Protection against crule & unusual punishment
Guarantees against self-incrimination, search warrants, and arrest without knowing your accuser.

Question 12

In what ways were the new legislatures more democratic than the old?

Answer 12

Pre-1775, voters overwhelmingly selected representatives from among the rich.
By 1783, the proportion of the elite in the legislatures had dropped from 46% to 22%

Question 13

What was the main divide in early american politics?

Answer 13

Cosmopolitans vs. Localists

Question 14

Who were Cosmpolitans and what did they believe?

Answer 14

Mostly from the North
Had wider experience, and were more welcoming of activist government.

Question 15

Who were localists and what did they believe?

Answer 15

Mostly from the South
Lived in local, often rural, areas and were suspicious of government & urban interests

Question 16

Why were early political divisions in the states minimal?

Answer 16

There was no party system and very little orchestrated campaigning

Question 17

What was the main political stage 1775-1787?

Answer 17

Each individual state

Question 18

What difficulties did the states face in the early republic?

Answer 18

Difficulty asserting authority - 2 New York counties formed Vermont in 1777
Civil administration made difficult by the prescence of armies - British occupation of cities
Financial problems - even with increased taxation, the revenue raised was insufficient. Printed money, led to inflation.
Loyalism - every man had to swear an oath of allegiance to his state, and those who refused could be banned or imprisoned in some states.

Question 19

What act removed all state intervention in religious affairs?

Answer 19

Act for Establishing Religious Freedom 1786

Question 20

Why was there a need to prohibit state intervention in religious affairs?

Answer 20

Many states prohibited established churches after 1775

Question 21

Why were Americans generally disdainful towards the idea of a national government?

Answer 21

Sense of nationalism was limited - Many Americans saw themselves as Virginians first, Americans second
Suspicious of tyrannic national government - didn’t want toset up a new one while fighting the British for that very reason

Question 22

When did Congress appoint a board to write up a constitution for central governmnet?

Answer 22

1776 - board of 13 men, one from each state

Question 23

What was the first draft of the American constitution?

Answer 23

The Articles of Confederation

Question 24

What was the provision set out in the Articles of Confederation?

Answer 24

Every state’s vote is equal in Congress
No provision for national executive or judiciary
Congress could declare war, take loans, conclude treaties, ask the states for money and men, and raise an army.
Important measures like treaties needed the agreement of at least 9 states.
The Articles needed unanimous agreement to be changed
Crucially, Congress could not tax the states.

Question 25

When did the Articles get approved by Congress?

Answer 25

1777

Question 26

When did the Articles get ratified by all 13 states?

Answer 26

4 years after Congress approved them - 1781

Question 27

What were some issues faced by American central government under the Articles?

Answer 27

Congressional members often didn’t turn up - only just had enough members to ratify the Treaty of Paris 1783
Couldn’t raise money for the army - States didn’t provide enough
Peace with Britain diminished one of the most powerful reasons for Union

Question 28

When did Congress go bankrupt?

Answer 28

1780

Question 29

By when was there effectively no currency in the colonies?

Answer 29

1781

Question 30

What was the effect of loyalist departure on American society?

Answer 30

Minimal - loyalists came from all sectors of society & their places were filled by others, despite some 80,000 of them leaving by 1783

Question 31

In what ways did the American Revolution make a more egalitarian society?

Answer 31

By 1776, most Americans opposed hereditary privelige.
2 states forbade the creation of noble titles & many prohibited hereditary office holding.
New men sat in the state legislatures - not just the elite
Many officers in the army got there on merit rather than status
Some states abolished slavery
Westward expansion gave some the opportunity to get land

Question 32

In what ways did the American revolution not make a more egalitarian society?

Answer 32

Virtually all American leaders agreed that class distinctions were natural & inevitable
Social classes didn’t change significantly
General pattern of land holding remianed unchanged
Limited effect on slavery & women
Still a country of self-sufficient farmers

Question 33

Why did the Revolution present a challenge to the idea of slavery?

Answer 33

The belief in human liberty & the idea that ‘all men are created equal’ was difficult to reconcile with the fact that 1 in 6 americans were slaves

Question 34

Why did many slaves defect to the British army?

Answer 34

Washington banned all black servicemen in 1775
Lord Dunmore of Britain promised freedom to any Virginian slave who defected to help the British army.
1 in 6 of the South’s slaves fled to British lines. They were employed as labourers and servants, rarely as soldiers.

Question 35

What did the British do with slaves after the war?

Answer 35

They transported around 20,000 black loyalists out of America.
Most resettled in the West Indies.
Some were absorbed into the British Army
3000 or so were given land & freedom in Nova Scotia

Question 36

Why was there Northern opposition to slavery?

Answer 36

There were relatively few slaves in the North - 3% of New England’s population

Question 37

What form did the Northern opposition to slavery take?

Answer 37

1771 - Massachusetts bans slave trade with Africa
1774 - Rhode Island & Conneticut follow suit
Between 1781 & 1783 Massachusetts gradually banned slavery.
However, there was opposition in New York & New Jersey.

Question 38

Why was there opposition to banning slavery in the South?

Answer 38

90% of slaves were in the southern states
They were an economic asset to many plantation owners

Question 39

What was liberalised about slavery in the South?

Answer 39

Manumission laws were liberalised in 1783 - Slave owners could now free their slaves.
Free black people in Virginia rose from 2,000 to 30,000 between 1782 & 1810
Virgina & Maryland banned participation in the Atlantic slave trade.

Question 40

How did societal attitudes towards slaves not change?

Answer 40

White people were still racist

Question 41

In what ways was the effect of the revolution on slaves limited?

Answer 41

An overwhelming majority of slaves remained slaves
Abolition in the North was very slow - slaveholderrs could sell their slaves to the South

Question 42

What was the impact of the revolution on women?

Answer 42

Very limited - some 20,000 served with the army in auxiliary roles such as chefs or laundresses
However, societal attitudes didn’t change and they got little to no increased freedoms.

Question 43

What was the impact of the revolution on Native Americans?

Answer 43

Native Americans were forced to settle for peace with the colonists
The Colonists were generally hostile to the natives - took large amounts of land in treaties and largely excluded them from citizenship

Question 44

What were the positive economic effects of the war?

Answer 44

Americans could now export directly to European markets
Privateering became a lucrative source of wealth for some - American privateers captured British ships worth around £18m
Farmers outside the warzones profited from selling food to the army
Sharp reduction of British imports let domestic sectors flourish

Question 45

What were the negative economic effects of the war?

Answer 45

The areas that experienced significant military operations suffered - Property was destroyed or stolen from both sides
Large numbers of american merchant ships were seized by the Royal Navy.
The lack of British mercantilism & blockade of ports hurt american export trade
Hyper-inflation from Congress printing more money harmed the day-to-day running of the economy.

Question 46

In what ways was the American Revolution actually revolutionary?

Answer 46

The essence of the political revolution was in its ideas, and these ideas led to the creation of the USA, a country whose main ideas differed from the rest of Europe greatly.

Question 47

In what ways was the American Revolution not revolutionary?

Answer 47

Society hardly changed at all - the new United States of America looked very similar to the 13 colonies that preceded them