The Early Republic of Amerika Flashcards
New national Government:
Articles of Confederation (1776 -1789)
• Americans were sceptic of a national authority after the collapse of Royal governors & the outbreak of war.
Formation of a national congress (1776) directed the war effort & announced independence on 4th July
& drafted the articles of a new national government.
• Congress would act as a central body (legislator) each state would have 1 vote regardless of size/population.
• State delegations consisted of 2-7 ppl.
– Congressmen elected annually & limited to 3 terms in 6 yrs.
• Crucially Congress had no power to levy taxes, regulate trade or enforce financial requisitions.
• No provision for National executive or National judiciary.
• Congress could:
– declare war, raise an army or navy.
– Borrow & issue money, conclude treaties & alliances.
– Deal with issues among states, settle boundary disputes, regulate Natives affairs, and make requisitions on states for money.
– Set standards for weight & height.
• Important treaties needed approval of at least 9 states.
• Articles couldn’t be amended without consent of 13 states.
• All powers not in the confederation were reserved to the states
Problems with National Government & under the Articles of Confederation:
• No powers to impose tax.
Had to pay for war by issuing money (=inflation), leaning on states to provide money;
– states had their own financial issues & couldn’t provide enough.
• Heavily rely on state help for treaties (9/13 to ratify)
• Congress bankrupt, required states to agree to a new federal currency.
– plan failed & by 1781 no effective national currency.
• It had printed money off to afford the war against Britain & this had led to high inflation.
• Confederation established by the state & not the people; no element of direct popular election.
– War was a powerful unifier; peace diminished the unifier of the union
• Congress was a gathering; only barely had enough people to sign the treaty of Paris.
– Some would not turn up to congress sessions if had something better to do.
Nature of America: post war
Were more politically conscious after war, idea of Republicism gave the government authority & legitimacy
Elitists VS Democrates:
Elitists:
Often men who led assemblies, thought Gov should maintain liberties & preserve order.
Feared too much democracy might generate unstable GOV.
Led to republics where people used power to elect best man to govern & standing aside to let them do so.
Gov should be along the lines:
• Franchise limited to property
• High qualifications for office holdings
• Right to vote would be held infrequently
• Two-housed legislature, one representing the people, the other the elite.
• Governors would have wide powers
Democrats:
Often men from humble backgrounds.
They tended to favour:
• Broad Franchise (although not suggested giving to women or slaves)
• No – or low property qualification for office holding
• Frequent elections
• One housed legislature; no need for second chamber of aristocrats
• Weak executive
Elite Vs New Men:
In most states the new arrangements were hardly models of democracy.
Constitution reflected 18th century belief of political rights confided to property owners.
A man without property not sufficiently independent to be trusted with political power.
Property qualifications restricted electorate but in some states so high exclude all but very wealthy.
IN SC & Virginia elite retained their power.
Suffrage was widened further nearly all states reduced property qualifications for voting.
Because more state governors become more responsive to popular opinion.
New office holdings created vacancies for new men of modest means.
With enlargement of legislators & better representation in districts
State legislators changed significantly after 1775, previously would vote representative from the rich.
By 1783 proportion of men from old elite families in legislatures dropped to 22%.
Farmers & artisans consisted of majority in some Northern legislatures & sizable minority in South Use to only make up 1/5.
Wealthy dominated politics but ordinary folk had greater voice.
Cosmopolitans Vs Localists:
the division was between agrarian-localist interests & commercial Cosmopolitan interests
Cosmopolitans
- In North, Cosmopolitan came from commercial areas.
– In south they were large property owners.
– Most lived along navigable rivers, connections in towns with large-scale commerce were wealthy & had wide interests, experiences & broader outlook.
– Welcomed activities of Gov & supported conservative monetary policies.
– oft Federalist in ideology (strong government & commerce)
———————
localists
Localists were predominantly rural & owned small properties living in remote areas & had narrow intellectual, economic & social horizons.
Suspicious of Government intervention, banking & urban interests.
often Republican in ideology (wanting a small central government role & more power to the states).
• No party system in place by Mid 1780’s & very little orchestrated campaigning.
Negative eco impact of R war
• Areas experienced military operations suffered.
– Property destroyed or stole by troops from both side
• Large numbers of American merchant ships seized by Royal Navy.
• American trade devastated by British Blockade and fact American was no longer part of mercantilist system.
– Tabaco production reduced to 1/3 pre war lvls.
• New England fishing industry destroyed
• Hyper-inflation resulted of shortage of goods & vast printing of money
• Military requisitions of wagons disrupted internal transport.
• Plantation economies of Southern states disrupted by flight of slaves seeking B protection.
Positive eco impact of R war
• Freed from constraints of navigations act, could export directly to European Markets
• Privateering was risky but very profitable for some towns & individuals.
– Privateers captured British vessels worth about £18 mill
• Reduction in imports of manufactures goods from B = stimulating effect on American iron, textile, paper, property & shoe making.
• Military boosted domestic production of Uniform, munitions & guns
• Farmers outside war zones profited from selling to various armies.
• British held areas experienced booms during war, especially NY
• Some traders won contracts for military supplies which made huge profits
Impact of R War on slavery
• Prior to 1775, most white colonists had taken slavery for granted as part of natural social order
– but the revolutionary war challenged the belief of slavery mostly because the heart of revolution was the belief of Human liberty.
• In the declaration of independence it declared all men were equal.
• 1/6 men in America were slaves.
Slavery during the R war
• Some slaves saw the war as an opportunity for freedom, black males willing to align with whichever side offered best chance for freedom.
• Most fled to the British, when Washington banned all black men from the Continental army endorsed by the Continental congress in 1775
– and Lord Dunmore offered proclamation of freedom if slaves fled their rebel owners and fought for Britain
– they became loyalists.
• 1000s, about 1/6 slaves in Virginia fled to the B who welcomed them and employed them as servants and labourers.
• At the end of the War Britain transported 20,000 black loyalists out of America who were either:
– resettled in West Indies,
– absorbed into the British army
– and 3000 were given land and freedom.
• Some slaves fought for the New England militia in times of crisis.
• By 1777 Washington and Congress allowed black people into the continental army only due to Bad manpower shortages.
• They expected their freedom in exchange for service.
Northern opposition to Slavery
• Before war some white Americans, denounced slavery. In 1771, MA banned slave trade.
• RI and CT followed in 1774.
• As the revolutionary war heightened so did the principles of equality and anti-slave movements began.
• Banning slavery in the North was easy as only 3% of population was slaves & 6% in middle colonies.
• 1780 Penn gave gradual freedom to slaves when they became adults followed by RI and CT.
• By 1783 MA banned slave trade, as their constitution said all men were free and slaves sort their freedom.
• In NY and NJ, opposition to slave banning was so strong nothing was done until 1799.
South and Slaves
– Manumission laws 1783
• 9% of slaves lived in the south, most Southerners wanted to maintain slavery, they were seen as an instrument to increase productivity and keep them ‘in their place’.
• Anti-slavery movements had little impact in the south.
• The most significant changed was 1783 manumission laws which allowed people to free slaves, some planters inspired by revolutionary ideology took advantages of these laws to free their slaves.
• In Va between 1782-1810 the number of free black people increased to 30,000.
• VA and ML banned slave trade by 1783 for economic reasons more than revolutionary liberty
– so that the prise of their slaves would rise due to less of them being imported.
Free Black people in America
• In 1790, there were 60,000 free black people in USA.
• Most white notherners held similar racist attitudes to the southerners.
• Black people in North and South suffered from discrimination and segregation.
• Black people set up their own cultural life forming own volunteer groups and churches.
Impact of R War on status of women:
• Women of all races and classes endured hardship during the war.
• Some were homeless, some were raped and many lost loved ones.
• The war presented opportunities to exercise greater control over their lives.
• Over 20,000 women served as cooks, laundresses and prostitutes for the army.
• Women replaced absent husbands as heads of households.
• Women started to read newspapers and discussed politics and ensured their daughters had the best education.
• However the revolution didn’t effect women too much as after the war they were expected to return to the domestic sphere;
– homemaking, childcaring, feeding and caring for families.
• Women remained in a subordinate position.
Impact on R War for Native Americans.
• Relations between Native Americans and white settlers had most radical change from the war.
• In 1784 Americans started to conclude treaties with Natives to take their land.
• The new Republic had no sympathy for the Natives, and the Natives didn’t have the same rights and privileges as Americans.
How Revolutionary was the war of Independence?
More egalitarian society
(Yes Revolutionary, things have changed for better)
• Two states forbade the creation of noble titles,
– many states prohibited hereditary office holding.
• New men of lower class sat in state legislatures:
– Challenged social & political supremacy of old elite.
– Believed entitled to their share in direction of the nation that help to create
– + demand their interests to be considered even if conflicted with the rich.
– Sig realignment of relation between elite & New men (Latter = less polite to Elite)
• Many Americans officers in both Continental army & militia units as result or merit not status.
• Outward marks of defence disappeared.
– Republicanism meant less ceremony in law courts.
– Judges no longer wore wigs & scarlet robes in English fashion.
• Western expansion of Appalachians created opportunity for landless Americans to acquire farms.
• Some Northern states abolished slavery
- In 1771, MA banned slave trade.
– RI & CT followed in 1774.
– 1780 Penn gave gradual freedom to slaves when they became adults
– followed by RI & CT
• Servants almost disappeared as result of war.
– Many gained freedom through military service
– while immigration ▲ as labour ceased due to war
How revolutionary was the war of independence
Wasn’t as revolutionary as people thought
not much change
• Virtually all American leaders accepted class distinctions as natural & inevitable.
– Made no attempt to redistribute wealth or promote social equality
• Social classes not change in sig ways.
– Except for loyalists, old colonial aristocracy survived war intact
– in Most states Land holdimgs and quali = unchanged
– = high property qualifications which would exclude all but wealthiest.
• In debted servants were declining before the war.
• War had a limiting effect on slaves & women.
• America had been & remained a land of self sufficient farmers.
Economic problems
facing the Confederation 1781-1787
(& due to weakness of the Articles of Confederation)
• Economy suffered from destruction of war and separation with Britain and its mercantilist system.
– Economic difficulties were due to large imports of British goods after 1783.
• Between 1784-86 Congress imported over £7 million British goods, selling less than 1/3 in return.
– American debt and flow of gold to meet trade deficit caused slower reocvery.
• Prices were depressed, private and public indebt were heavy and trade was chaotic.
– Control over trade were left to states.
• MA tried to prevent dumping of British goods in America, NH supported B.
– Many states wanted the articles amended so Congress could regulate international and American trade.
• Rivalry as North & Middle states for mercantile and industrial interests wanted protective tariffs
– while Agricultural south wanted free trade.
• Pop rose to 4 mill by 1790, Prospect of Western expansion = a bonus
• new markets available in Europe and Far East,
– B trading restrictions gone and could trade directly to West Indies,
– barriers to international trade were dismantled.
Financial issues
faced by the Confederation 1781-7 due to Articals of confederation
Debt Issues, Taxes and State stuff
• Congress was unable to pay for their soldiers,
– Army officers pressed for back pay and half pay pensions,
– by June 1783, Soldiers surrounded Penn state house and forced congress to abandon Philadelphia.
• The Confederation inherited a worthless currency and huge debts.
– In 1783 national debt was $41 mill; foreign debt $8 mill and domestic debt $33 mill
• The state govs imposed heavy taxes to ▼ war debts.
– By 1783 The paper continental currency had ceased to circulate and some states stopped issuing it.
– Lacking coin money to pay taxes or debt, debtors demanded increase of paper money.
– Most creditors opposed this as it would lead to inflation and economic instability.
• By late 1780’s, debtors winning political control and 7 states still issuing paper money.
• Overall no national currency, high debts, all damaged trade within states & abroad
Social Tensions: in Post war Am
And Shays Rebellion jan 1787
• The financial tensions of 1780’s resulted in Social tensions.
• In September 1786 governor of NH called out 2000 militia to disperse of several hundred farmers threatening legislative assemblies for breaking promise on issuing paper money.
• Situations like this spread to many of the states.
• MA state legislature rejected the demand for paper money and insisted that tax is paid by scarce species.
• Many farmers who couldn’t pay their taxes lost their land and some imprisoned.
Shay’s Rebellion:
• By summer 1786 rioting mobs preventing courts from hearing debt cases.
• By Autumn the riots found a leader, Daniel Shay, a bankrupt farmer who was a captain in the war.
• In Jan 1787 Shay led rebels to the federal arsenal in Springfield.
• The rebels were dispersed by 1000 militia and by February the insurgence was put down.
• Shays rebellion alerted conservatives throughout America that anarchy loomed and a stronger national government was needed.
Foreign Policy in post war am
British Forts
Jay treary 1784 spain
• Britain still has forts in the south west after promising to leave in treaty of Paris.
– Britain said they would occupy the forts until America paid British Merchants pre-war debts and restored loyalist property.
– Congress urged states to pay the pre-war debts and returned loyalist property but they turned a deaf ear to congress.
• A government so weak at home couldn’t gain respect from abroad.
– When Adams went to London to negotiate Britain to evacuate the forts
– they refused to talk to a federal government since congress couldn’t compel the states to implement treaties.
• Spain opposed American west expansion.
– They strengthened their ties with the Natives to create a Spanish-Native buffered to protect own possessions.
Spanish control of the Mississippi river
• in 1784 Spain closed off the Mississippi from American navigation depriving west settlers outlet for their goods.
• John Jay initiated a treaty with Spain in return for limited access to Spanish markets USA agreed to give up the Mississippi for 25 years.
• The Southern states rejected this,
– furious at Jay’s willingness to give up their interests
– and some talked about setting up a western republic under Spanish protection.
Why was there a call for a stronger National Government? (to replace the Articles of Confederation)
Critics of gov:
• Many appalled by powerlessness of Government in foreign affairs & commercial matters.
• Creditors wanted Government that would stop states giving paper money & increasing inflation.
Why was there a call for a stronger National Government? (to replace the Articles of Confederation):
Impact of war:
• Struggle of independence increased sense of being American.
• War mixed men from different states
• & the continental army produced national heroes & shrines e.g Bunker hill.
Why was there a call for a stronger National Government? (to replace the Articles of Confederation):
American Nationalism:
• Growing signs of national consciousness; adopted stars & stripes on flag in 1777.
• Bald eagle took place on national seal in 1782
[BOO!]
• Nationalism inspired political leaders who led movements for constitutional reform.
– Hamilton, GW, James Madison wanted unified republic to command the result of the world
– true national society in local & state attachment subordinate to American loyalties.
Why was there a call for a stronger National Government? (to replace the Articles of Confederation):
Conservatives:
• Most nationalists = horrified by new men who occupied many seats in state legislature
– & more horrified by low standard new legislation was.
• Nationalist supported revolutionary ideology of popular sovereignty.
– Lacked faith in ability of common ppl to exercise democracy,
– & saw too much democracy in state legislature.
• Wanted strong gov with whose power in hands of wealthy & educated.
