DBQ Period 3: To what extent was the American Revolution truly revolutionary? Flashcards
Includes info on given and possible EBD primary sources, as well as sophistication point analyses
SP: Gordon Wood (“American Revolution as a Radical Movement”), 1991
The Founding Fathers may not have made the revolution seem revolutionary (not bloodthirsty), but it truly was a new beginning because it changed both political and social order; political and social order were inherently synonymous during this time period.
–> (Founding Fathers) “they did not devour themselves”
–> a revolution “undertaken not to change the existing structure of society, but to preserve it”
–> social distinctions viewed as causes of other revolutions were, in the 18th cent., “usually thought to be caused by the abuses of government”
–> “most liberal, the most democratic, the most commercially minded, and the most modern people in the world”
–> failed to abolish slavery and encourage women’s rights, but set the stage for future anti-slavery/women’s rights movements in the future
SP: Howard Zinn (“A Kind of Revolution”, “A People’s History of the United States”), 1980
The revolution only brought change to rich, ruling classes; it left lower classes and marginalized groups in the low and marginalized trenches in which they had originally fought the war, and for which they fought the war against.
–> “create the richest ruling class in history and still have enough for the middle classes to act as a buffer”
–> “struggle for office and power between members of an upper class”
–> “did not mean Indians or blacks or women or white servants”
Abortive Slave Trade Clause, First Draft, Declaration of Independence, 1776
passage included by Thomas Jefferson in original draft of Declaration, spurring the most intense debate of the proceedings; eventually removed from the final document, due probably to resentment from South Carolinian, Georgian, and Northern slave-trading delegates
–> asserts that King George has “waged cruel war against human nature itself” by taking people into slavery and/or provoking them into “miserable death” on the journey over to the Americas
–> King was going against his Christian ideals, making a “market where MEN should be bought & sold”
–> King is a hypocrite because he is now urging his slaves to “purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them”
Dunmore Proclamation
issued by Virginia governor John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, hoping to hurt local farmers who were choosing to engage in revolutionary rebellion
–> “all slaves who escaped from those participating in the rebellion and came over and fought on the British side would gain their freedom”
–> many young, male slaves chose to escape and gain their freedom via the British, and in doing so pushed slave owners in Virginia and Maryland to the side of the revolutionaries
–> Americans wanted to fight to keep slavery, especially in Georgia and the Carolinas; British approved the Proclamation and offered as official public policy that any male or female slaves that escaped from rebels would become free (w/o military service)
–> turned the revolution into “the biggest story of freedom in American history that most Americans know nothing about”, mostly because slaves escaped from the Patriot side
Quock Walker Case: “Instructions to the Jury” Charge of Chief Justice Cushing, 1783
a freedom lawsuit that challenged the legality of slavery in Massachusetts as per the Constitutional line “all men are born free and equal”
–> slavery has its origins in British government, therefore making it un-American and unconstitutional in the new country because America is “more favorable to the natural rights of mankind”
–> the Massachusetts Constitution declares that all men are free and equal, so it is completely incompatible with the idea and enforcement of slavery
–> “there can be no such thing as perpetual servitude of a rational creature, unless his liberty is forfeited by some criminal conduct or given up by personal consent or contract”
Pro-slavery Petition in Virginia (Legislative Petitions, 1784-1785)
enslaved people accounted for more than half of the population in some Virginia counties, and were essential to the workings of the Southern economy; so, when Virginia passed a private manumission law (1782) to allow masters to liberate their own slaves, people started to gather signatures on petitions to protect their individual “property” rights
–> argued that we rebelled against the British because they took away our property rights, so we should rebel against (or at least change) our own government because they are trying to do the same
–> “a very subtle and daring attempt is made…TO WREST US FROM OUR SLAVES”
–> mentioned that former slaves who had been freed by their masters because of the 1782 act were the cause of theft, outrage, insolence, and violence in the community, and that enough should be proof of the destruction of a peaceful society
–> “you will make effectual Provision for the due Government of them”
Map - Early Emancipation in the North
Northern slavery did not immediately recede following the institution of both the national and individual state constitutions, but by 1804 all Northern states had voted to abolish slavery within their borders (an action not shared by Southern parties)
–> some states passed gradual emancipation laws, including Pennsylvania (Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, 1780), but still slaves remained taken advantage of even until 1850
Excerpt from Hannah Griffitts, “The Female Patriots”, 1768, Poem Addressed to the Daughters of Liberty
the Daughters of Liberty was a group created, similar to the Sons of the same name, in response to unfair British taxation and representation during the American Revolution (specifically the Townshend Acts of 1767)
–> argued that although women had no voice, their actions could speak louder than any man’s supposed claims
–> said that the Daughters (homeowners, wives, sisters, mothers, friends) would boycott the purchase of tea and stamps in order to protest against their heavy taxation, directly impeding the British economy
–> “may the buyers be few and your Traffic be dull…bid Grenville to see that rather than Freedom, we’ll part with our Tea”
Women taking action during the American Revolution (from secondary sources)
even though they were not allowed to participate in explicit roles that would aid the revolution on the battlefront, and even in the storeroom or the factory, women during the American Revolution found keystone ways to drag their country to victory
–> Lydia Darragh: forced to cooperate under Quartering Act in winter 1777, given that her family could remain in their home but the British would use it for any meetings they deemed necessary; Dec. 2, a meeting was held where Lydia overheard the plans to sabotage Washington on Dec. 4 of that year, so she fled towards the encampment and warned the general to ready his troops for that morning
–> some women were camp followers, where they trailed after the soldiers and provided them washing, cooking, and medical services that were crucial to survival
–> Mary Ludwig Hays (Molly Pitcher): husband was wounded during the Battle of Monmouth (1778) as she struck out to bring water to soldiers, so she stepped in and replaced her husband at his artillery piece
–> Sybil Ludington: New York teenage female equivalent of Paul Revere, who rode forty miles during a rainstorm (April 1777) to rouse local militia to fight a British force attacking nearby Danbury, CT
–> Sally Kellogg: woman who recorded the harrowing experiences that were without a doubt faced by many ordinary individuals, like the balls of gunfire that just barely missed their heads
–> Deborah Sampson: woman from Mass. who disguised herself as a man, Robert Shurtliff (the name of her dead brother), to fight for the Continental Army
Letters of Abigail and John Adams
Abigail Adams sent plenty of letters to her husband, John, while he was in the process of writing the future Codes of Law of the new government, but not many of them were listened to or even deeply regarded as being serious pleas
–> “I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors”; wrote that all men could become tyrants, and would become tyrants, if given the power to do so
–> women will form their own rebellion if not treated right in the new Constitution, Declaration
–> John says that Abigail’s letter was the first sign that there was “another Tribe more numerous and powerful than all the rest [that] were grown discontented”, meaning he thought the women were perfectly happy with having been perpetually forgotten
–> “We know better than to repeal our Masculine systems…which would completely subject Us to the Despotism of the Petticoat”
Benjamin Rush on Women’s Education (Excerpted)
Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, wanted to put in practice a system of education that would appropriately assist the United States, which he died in 1786 as a trustee of a Philadelphia Young Ladies’ Academy
–> “female education should be accommodated to the state of society, manners, and government of the country in which it is conducted”
–> argued women should be educated in order to be able to properly educate their sons; their schooling was not for them, but for the betterment of others
–> “a principal share of the instruction of children naturally devolves upon the women. It becomes us therefore to prepare them”
–> “necessary that our ladies should be qualified to a certain degree, by a suitable education, to concur in instructing their sons in the principles of liberty and government”
–> time to change our society away from the British version of female education; but instead of offering more of it, we’ll just offer a different kind
Articles of Confederation
marrying the ideas of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, striking a balance between the Founding Fathers’ fears and priorities in terms of a small- or large-scale government
–> confederation (“con”, against federation) means the document was against a strong central power, strong executive individual(s)
–> included limited representation, issues dealing with foreign policy, no Congressional power to tax or build an army, navy; no power to amend, no separation of powers within the weak federal government
–> was able to get states through the war for independence, negotiated the Treaty of Paris, created a method for division and sale of Western land (Land Ordinance of 1785) and a method for new states to enter the union and to prohibit slavery in the Northwest (Northwest Ordinance of 1787)
Hamilton at the Constitutional Convention, 1787
Hamilton was distinctly opposed to the general population, the masses, being given a say in the government because he believed they were prone to sway and to limiting candor/honesty in favor of personal interests; thought the government should be composed and created by just the rich, wealthy, and educated
–> “give therefore to the first class a distinct, permanent share in the government”
–> “take mankind as they are, and what are they governed by? Their passions”
Hamilton on the Whiskey Rebellion, written as “Tully” in the press, 1794
thought that people were getting out of hand and proving the importance of having a secluded government with little popular contribution; challenged the idea that the people have the right to rebel and speak their minds as outlined in the first, second amendments of the Bill of Rights, 1791
–> “shall the majority govern or be governed? Shall the nation rule or be ruled?”
–> “for a power that may not be exercised is a nullity” (Congress has the right to raise excise taxes without intense upheaval)
“Common Sense” by Thomas Paine, January 1776
an English immigrant to the American colonies, Paine’s “Common Sense” outlined the argument for independence and rightfully incurred the largest circulation of any book published in American history
–> “I answer roundly, that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power had any thing to do with her”
–> “even brutes do not devour their young”
–> “this new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe”
–> encouraged the American people to fight for their natural rights because their country was so great, and so deserving of freedom and sovereignty
