Bell RingerReview—Explain how the Albany Plan of Union relates to this political cartoon.Bonus—who drew this political cartoon.

The American Revolution

Chapter 5

Even after the battles at Lexington and

Concord the colonists were at odds as to whether or not to break away from Britain They sent the Olive Branch Petition to the King

as one last chance to restore peace When the King refused, they sent the

Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms

Defining American War Aims

The colonists slowly turned their back on

reconciliation for three reasons1. Financial cost of war was too high to simply

reconcile things with England2. Britain began recruiting slaves, Natives, and

foreign mercenaries to fight against the colonists

3. The final straw—the Prohibitory Act which closed the colonies to all overseas trade

Too late to apologize indeed…

Defining American War Aims

Thomas Paine became the voice of the colonists’

ideology in his pamphlet Common Sense He declared that the problems should not be blamed on

Parliament but rather on the King and the English Constitution

It was the system’s fault for allowing such a corrupt king to come to power

“The island kingdom of England was not more fit to rule the American continent than a satellite was fit to rule the sun.”

Common Sense inspired Thomas Jefferson when he was asked to write the Declaration of Independence

Defining American War Aims

On July 2, 1776 the Continental Congress adopted the

resolution that the colonies ought to be free and independent states Two days later the Declaration of Independence with it’s

reasons for independence were accepted by the Congress

The DoI is divided into two parts—the part declaring us independent and upholding John Locke’s theory of social contract in which the government’s job is to protect the rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” for the people

The second part is all the ways in which the King broke his contract with the people

The Decision for Independence

America divided into two groups

Loyalists: Those who supported the King Tories: Those who supported independence

The states acted even more independent by creating state constitutions (MA still has the same one with few modifications)

Creating a federal government to focus on the nation as a whole would prove to be more difficult

The Articles of Confederation would be born out of this challenge

Responses to Independence

The AofC was a “league of friends”

Its powers were so limited that it wasn’t even sure if it was a legitimate government

We’ll discuss this more in the next chapter

Responses to Independence

Raising armies, gather supplies, and paying for the

war became a concern very quickly for the new government They did not have the ability to produce weapons fast

enough in America so they relied on European providers such as France

They had to create money since “hard money” was not easily attainable and the AoC couldn’t levy taxes The states printed plenty of their own currency

creating massive inflation Some colonists began trading with Britain again since

their money was still valuable

Mobilizing for War

The militias soon became discouraged

The government created a unified Continental Army with General George Washington as its commander in chief

He was an excellent choice as someone who never faltered on his commitment to the cause and was someone that all Patriots respected

Rarely did he have problems with his men on the field (other than lack of supplies which got particularly bad at Valley Forge) and he was able to resolve all of them

Mobilizing for War

Mobilizing for War

“Washington provided the army—and the people—with a symbol of stability around which they could rally”

Pictured—Washington and Nelson, his favorite horse

Page 136-145 contain the section discussing the

war itself Your assignment is to make a time line chronicling

the events of the war. Please do not simply draw a line with dates/events—make it colorful like a story board

You may work in groups of three or less but make sure everyone’s name is on the back of the project

Best project (as decided by a group of teachers) gets extra credit!

Assignment

The British were not the only losers in the

Revolution The Loyalists (approximately 1/5th of the

population) remained loyal Many of them moved back to England (not well

liked in England though) Some moved to Canada (few returned after the

war) Their abandoned lands were confiscated and

the positions left open created a place for Patriots to gain power

Loyalists and Minorities

Two religious groups were significantly

weakened The Anglican church (mostly Loyalists) was

disestablished in many areas The Quakers, because they were pacifists, they

were disliked and thus lost much of their social and political prestige

Catholics on the other hand were strengthened Because the French (predominately Catholic)

helped the Americans the attitudes towards Catholics lightened up

Loyalists and Minorities

The Revolution meant a great deal to the slaves

Many felt it could be a road to freedom In some cases, it would have been if the British had

won the war Nearly 1/3rd of the slaves defected during the war

One of the reasons the South was so committed to the war was to combat the British trying to free their slaves In the North between the idea of freedom (through

the Revolution) and Christian fervor people were becoming anti-slavery

The War and Slavery

The irony of the South fighting for freedom

from Britain is that they maintained that slavery was acceptable They believed that the slaves were inferior and

not deserving of citizenship They also believed that they only way to

preserve liberty was to avoid having a working white class that would become disgruntled about inequalities in wealth and jeopardize liberty

The War and Slavery

The Natives had a lot at stake in the

Revolution The British had tried to prevent encroachment

on Native lands prior to the war (Proclamation of 1763)

Meanwhile, the colonists wanted to move west at the expensive of the Natives Including George Washington

The Patriots asked the Natives to stay out of the “family quarrel”—it didn’t work (especially due to heavy recruiting from the British

Native Americans and the Revolution

Attacks from the Natives came in most regions

including the Cherokee in the South and the Iroquois in the North Despite heavy casualties, they continued attacking

throughout the war After the war the Americans’ attitudes towards Natives

grew worse Some took a more paternalistic approach though going

as far as saying that they were “redeemable” if they converted to white society

The Revolution was “the greatest blow that could have been dealt us” as stated by one Native leader

Native Americans and the Revolution

When the men went to war, the women were left to

take care of the children and the farms Those who lived in cities were often left in poverty

They took to rioting in comes cases or even attacking the British that they were required to quarter

Still some women followed their men to their battle camps Many soldiers complained about their presences saying

they were a distraction The women in the camps actually boosted moral

though as well as did laundry, cooked, and tended to the sick/wounded (nursing)

Women’s Rights and Women’s Roles

A small group of women picked up arms and fought

Molly Pitcher used to run pitchers of water to the field picked up her husband’s weapon and fought when he was shot

Little changed when everyone returned home regarding gender roles Women did however begin thinking about what they were

capable of doing Abigail Adams even wrote her husband concerning

women’s rights: “in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.”

Women’s Rights and Women’s Roles

Some called for women to gain rights

including education Many did not agree

Unmarried women had little rights regarding property, contracts, etc.

Married women had NO rights—couldn’t own property, get a divorce, have rights over children

Adams asked her husband to prevent “such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands.”

Women’s Rights and Women’s Roles

While the Revolution certainly strengthened

patriarchal beliefs it also set forth another idea: Republican Motherhood Republican Motherhood is the idea that you

should raise you children with the virtues of the republic

Women also gained some respect regarding what happened in the house and with the father

Women’s Rights and Women’s Roles

The American Revolution set into motion the

beginnings of a strong economy However, in the short run it was exceptionally

shaky Their trade ports were not hostile ports,

especially Britain This lead many shippers to become “privateers”

better known as pirates This turned out to be a good thing since it

forced Americans to make their own clothes, etc. thus generating more demand

The War Economy

Americans would start developing factories to

deal with demand Women made “homespun” clothing to avoid

getting fabric from England In general this was the foundation for the

market revolution that would come in the 1830s

The War Economy

All states agreed that a republican

government should be adopted They knew it would only be as strong as it’s

population If the population had sturdy, independent

property owners with civic virtues the country would be okay

Firmly believed that while there was NO equality of condition, there WAS equality for opportunity

Assumptions of Republicanism

Some states couldn’t get much accomplished

This resulted in some limiting the power of the people

Some focused on strengthening the executive branch Odd since they spent all that energy breaking

away from the monarchy VA enacted the Statute of Religious Liberty

(written by Thomas Jefferson) which pushed for total separation of church and state

Revising State Governments

Slavery was an even bigger issue

Some states had already banned it (PA—Quakers and all…)

Others were not willing to ban it but requested that people voluntarily get rid of slaves (VA) This is called manumission

The reasons it didn’t go away include Racists assumptions about superiority Economic investment the South had in slaves Fear/unknowing what to do with freed slaves since

white people did not believe they could be integrated

Revising State Governments

Executive branch was the presiding officer of Congress—John Hancock

Northwest Ordinances of 1784 & 1785 divided up land to sell to the Americans

Why would the government want this region to be populated?

They gridded each section which is why town in the west have straighter roads than the ones in the east

Of course they ran into Natives in this expansion (Miami tribe) and thus had the Battle of Fallen Timbers

Chief Little Turtle was defeated

Although a treaty was signed, it was not enforced

Shays’ Rebellion

To be discussed when we cover the Constitution—up next in Chapter 6!