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Brinkley, Chapter 5 Notes
The American Revolution
Defining American War Aims
When the Second Continental Congress met they agreed to support the war but
disagreed about its purpose.
The Adams Cousins - Favored Independence
Moderates - Quick reconciliation with Britain (John Dickinson)
Most Americans believed at first that they were fighting not for independence but
for a redress of grievances within the British Empire, but they changed their minds
as the fighting spread to their backyards.
Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense
argued that the greatest problem facing the
colonists was the English Constitution and
getting rid of it was worth fighting for.
Declaration of Independence
“That these United Colonies are, and, of right, ought to be, free and independent states; that
they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connexion
between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.”
Launched a period of energetic political innovation, as
one colony after another considered itself as a “state.”
By 1777 , Congress adopted a plan for union, the Articles of Confederation - a weak
decentralized system of government.
Continental Congress, July 4 1776
Jefferson wrote most of the Declaration, but had
help from Ben Franklin and John Adams.
Borrowed many concepts circulating throughout
the colonies and from the Enlightenment.
Mobilizing for War
Financing the war was difficult because Congress had no authority to levy taxes on
its own and had to borrow from state governments.
Most of the money used to finance the war came
from France and other nations.
Volunteer soldiers were scarce. States had to pay
bounties or draft them into service.
At first, militiamen remained under control of their respective states but Congress
recognized the need for a centralized military command and created a
Continental Army with George Washington as the Commander.
War for Independence
British Advantages:
Greatest Navy
Best Equipped Army
Resources of an empire
Coherent structure of command
American Advantages:
Fighting on own territory
More committed to the conflict
Substantial aid from abroad
Luck:
Early British blunders and miscalculations
The First Phase
British suffered heavy losses at Bunker Hill
Parliament did not believe it was a “real” war, but quarrels
Fighting moved out of Boston into Canada
Americans invaded Canada
unsuccessfully and Britain
realized they needed to wage a
full scale war
Lexington & Concord
Saratoga
Boston
Philadelphia
Charleston
Richmond
Canada
American
Revolution
Battles and Cities
Battles
Cities
Valley Forge
Delaware River
The Second Phase
If not for a series of British mistakes, the war would probably have ended by 1778
British General William Howe offered the colonists: surrender with a royal pardon
or face a battle against overwhelming odds.
American rejected Howe’s offer and Howe pushed them off Manhattan into
New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
British settled in for the winter, but Washington crossed the Delaware River on
Christmas night in 1776 and surprised the Hessians (German mercenaries).
Although it was a moral victory, it was a military defeat for Washington as he
was unable to hold onto Trenton.
The Second Phase
The British strategy relied on dividing the Continental Army into 2
British captured Philadelphia hoping the war would end soon after. The Continental
Congress fled to York, Pennsylvania.
George Washington tried to attack the British
at Germantown, just outside of Philadelphia.
Unsuccessful, he fled to Valley Forge.
In all the defeats, the Colonists managed a huge victory at Saratoga (New York)
Saratoga changed EVERYTHING
Securing Aid From Abroad
The French stood to gain the most of a British defeat
At first they provided the Colonists with badly needed supplies but no formal
diplomatic recognition. French foreign minister, Charles Gravier de Vergennes
wanted evidence that the Americans had a real chance of winning.
Prime Minister Lord North offered the colonists complete home rule within the
empire for Americans if they would quit the war.
Vergennes feared the Americans would accept the offer and destroy France’s
opportunity to support Britain. Formal recognition was granted to America.
The Final Phase: The South
After Saratoga, the British relied on heavily Loyalist sentiment in the South. They
moved South to enlist the Loyalists and tried to convince slaves to fight for them.
The British badly overestimated the Loyalist sentiment. Further, they
underestimated the ability of the colonial army to move within the territory of the
South and blend in with the population.
This phase of the war made it “revolutionary.” It had the effect of mobilizing and
politicizing large groups of the population. The war expanded into previously
isolated communities, with many civilians forced to involve themselves whether they
liked it or not. Support for independence increased greatly.
The British found success in the South in Charleston and Savannah
The Final Phase: The South
American and French forces quickly
descended on Yorktown. George Washington
and French General Count de Rochambeau
marched to Yorktown to meet the Marquis de
Lafayette. This joint operation caused the
surrender of Cornwallis.
The war for independence was over.
General Nathanael Greene replaced Horatio Gates in the colonial southern
campaigns. Gates confused British General Lord Cornwallis by dividing American
forces and avoided open, conventional battles. Cornwallis said the American forces
delivered “a very unexpected and severe blow.”
After American reinforcements arrived, Greene decided to move back into traditional
open battlefield fighting and lost to Cornwallis. However, Cornwallis lost so many men
that he decided to abandon the Carolina campaign and take a defensive position in
Yorktown, Virginia.
America, a Republic
Most politicians ignored women’s requests, and most men insisted on the traditional sexual
and political prerogatives of their sex.
Husbands remained patriarchs who dominated their households. Even younger men did not
support legal equality for their wives and daughters. In the new American republic, only white
men enjoyed full citizenship.
Nevertheless, the republican belief in an educated citizenry created opportunities for some
women. In 1779 , Judith Sargent Murray wrote an essay called “On the Equality of Sexes.” In
her essay she argued that men and women had equal capacities for memory and that women
had superior imaginations. She conceded that most women were inferior to men in judgment
and reasoning, but only from lack of training.
That situation changed in the 1790 s, when the attorney general of MA declared that girls had
an equal right to schooling under the state constitution. By 1850 , the literacy rates of women
and men in the northeastern states were equal, and educated women again challenged their
subordinate legal and political status.
Republican Mother
Despite the efforts of Adams and others like Judith
Sargent Murray (equal education), American
society became more patriarchal than ever.
No voting, all property belonged to the husband, no
legal transactions, no property rights, no legal
authority over her children, could not initiate
divorce.
Out of this though, was the importance of the woman as mother - to produce a new
kind of citizen, one steeped in the principles of liberty. The “Republican Mother”
Women’s Rights and Women’s Roles
Women were in charge of farms and businesses
while men fought
Led protests against price increases, rioted,
or looted food
Attacked British troops
when possible “Camp Followers” - nurses,
cooks, launderers; some
disguised themselves as men
to fight - Deborah Sampson
Spies
Assumptions of Republicanism
If Americans agreed to nothing else, they agreed that their new governments would be
republican.
Republic - government system in which power comes from the people, not a
supreme authority
The success of this type of
government depended on the
small, independent land owner
embedded with civic virtue.
Warned of a few powerful aristocrats and a great mass of dependent workers
Equality
“All men are created equal.”
All people have to earn their success. There might be no equality of condition, but
there would be equality of opportunity.
But would there really be equality of opportunity?
African Slaves
Exploitation of Indians
Women not granted access to education
First State Constitutions
State constitutions were to be written down
Power of the executive was to be limited
No executive could hold office in the
legislature simultaneously
Did not embrace direct popular rule
Property requirements for voters
Most Americans continued to believe that religion should play some role in
government but did not want to give special privileges to any particular
denomination.
1786 Virginia enacted the
Statue of Religious Liberty -
calling for the complete
separation of church and state.
(Thomas Jefferson)
Separation of Church and State
Note: There is NOTHING in
the US Constitution that makes
separation of church and state
an official law. This is merely
conventional practice.
Toleration and Slavery
Slavery was more difficult to resolve. In many places in the North it was abolished.
South Carolina and Georgia prohibited the further importation of slaves from abroad
Virginia passed a law encouraging the voluntary freeing (manumission) of slaves
Slavery survived nonetheless in all southern and border states because:
Racist assumptions among whites of the inferiority of blacks
Washington and Jefferson owned slaves
What would happen to freed blacks?
Belief that blacks could be assimilated into white society
The Articles of Confederation
National Government: 1 Branch = Confederation Congress
- A committee of delegates composed of representatives from
each state. Appointed by state legislatures.
Each state had 1 vote. 9 votes needed to approve any measure.
13 votes needed to approve any amendments to the Articles
Each state would tax itself to help contribute to common
expenses (war debt)
No state was to be deprived of western lands.
Each state retained powers not explicitly delegated to
Congress.
States retained sovereignty, freedom, and independence.
Powers of Congress
Declare War and Peace
Appoint military and naval officers
Requisition the states for men and
money
Send and receive ambassadors
Enter into treaties and alliances
Establish a post office
Coin money
Borrow money or issue paper money
on credit
Cannot:
Regulate trade
Draft troops
Levy direct taxes
Mediate interstate issues
Enforce its will on the states
Regulate Commerce
Can:
Weaknesses of Articles
Never solved the problem of representation
Big states wanted representation based on
population
Small states wanted equal representation
No separate executive. The “President” was
merely the residing officer at the sessions of
Congress
No judicial Branch to act as mediator between the states
Inflexible as it needed all 13 states to ratify amendments
Problems Created by the Articles
The Federal Government was weak and could not enforce the A of C
States refused to pay off foreign debts, refused to pay taxes on time, or at all (GA)
Trade limits imposed by Britain, France & Spain. A of C too weak to contest
Could not protect American settlements in areas controlled by Spain and Britain.
States violated treaties with Indian nations - A of C could not punish states
States would not send delegates to Congress - Congress could not hold session
States argued over boundaries, fishing rights, trading, etc. A of C could not resolve
infighting
Some states wanted secession
Turmoil between debtors and creditors - each state had different currencies
Rebellions left the states to defend themselves (Shay’s Rebellion)
A problematic era due to the weakness of the national government under the A of C
Foreign problems
The Critical Period, 1783 - 1789
Britain wants debts paid to merchants and refused to send a minister to the US for diplomacy
Britain still maintained Northwest trading posts--was not abiding by treaties that compelled
them to leave the territory. US will not pay debts until the trading posts are deserted
France, almost bankrupt, is upset with Congress for not paying debts
US unable to oppose the Barbary Pirates due to lack of a navy
States lacked respect for the national government
Domestic Problems
Military almost at the point of mutiny--not being paid by the government
British goods dumped at low prices
Bank-holders & creditors lost faith in gov’t b/c it could not even pay interest payments, let
alone pay its loan principal
No Standard Currency
Creditors hurt by state laws forcing
acceptance of paper money for debts
The Critical Period, 1783 - 1789
Dissatisfied Groups
Merchants wanted gov’t that regulates commerce & can secure favorable treatment overseas
Manufacturers wanted tariff barriers against foreign goods
Land speculators wanted strong gov’t to keep Indians away & the frontier open for profit
Holders of government bonds wanted the government to pay off its debt
Creditors and financiers wanted a stable currency and a less severe inflation rate
Post War Depression, 1784 - 1787
Exposed the problem of an inadequate money supply - particularly a problem for debtors.
Enormous outstanding debt from the War, and little means to pay it.
Congress could not tax, & states only gave small contributions. On the verge of default
States had war debts too and relied on heavy taxes from its citizens. Poor farmers considered
such policies unfair. Demanded that state governments issue paper currency to increase the
money supply and make it easier for them to pay their loans & taxes.
In MA, lawmakers refused to enact debtor relief legislation.
Shay’s Rebellion
They imposed high taxes to pay off the state’s war debt and cut the supply of paper currency.
Cash-strapped farmers could not pay both their
taxes and their debts. Creditors threatened lawsuits.
Courts were foreclosing on homes. Mobs of angry
farmers closed the courts by force. They were trying
to prevent “valuable and industrious members of
society being dragged from their families to prison.”
These crowd actions grew into a full-scale revolt led by Daniel Shays, former captain of the
Continental Army.
Shay’s Rebellion
Shays issued a set of demands to the MA legislature:
Issuance of paper money, tax relief, moratorium on
debts, and abolition of imprisonment for debts
The MA gov’t was relatively uninvolved in the
rebellion until “Shayists” prevented the collection of
debts and used force to keep the courts from sitting
and sheriffs from selling confiscated property.
Wealthy Bostonians in the West (including Abigail Adams) donated money to form a militia
to put down the rebellion.
The rebels were routed in a skirmish in January 1787. Shays escaped to Vermont and was later
pardoned. 150 others were captured and several sentenced to death. George Washington and
others urged compassionate treatment of the rebels and pardons were eventually granted.
Abigail Adams, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, while she was in London & he in Paris, she
described the uprising as: “Ignorant, restless desperadoes, without conscience or principles, have
led a deluded multitude to follow their standard, under pretense of grievances which have no
existence but in their imaginations.”
Shay’s Rebellion
Reversal from the Revolution
Sam Adams had become an establishment
figure in Massachusetts politics and urged
death sentences for the leading Shays rebels. It
is believed that he said, “The man who dares to
rebel against the laws of a republic ought to
suffer death.”
Demonstrated that many people realized that state governments undermined property rights
Effects of Shay’s Rebellion
Led to calls for stronger national government--every state except Rhode Island sendt
delegates to Philly to revise the Articles
The rebellion added urgency to the movement to produce a new, national constitution. One
with a more centralized government, the power to tax, and the power to intervene in state
affairs if needed.
People realized that a stronger national government was required to answer to the needs of the
union and to stop the states from threatening their peoples’ lives
Many people (including Madison) felt that the principles of the Revolution were being
threatened more by state governments than they could be by a stronger central
government, IF it was to be created
