Chapter 12 - The Fires of Perfection

Now I remember why I didn't blog this chapter last year. I strongly dislike social chapters, I die a little inside every time I read one.

The useless section in the beginning of the chapter, the double-spaced one, is just trying to convey how the spiritual reform movements of this time varied and were basically unorganized. It has a slightly hypocritical tone to it I don't approve of. A high school textbook is no place for an individual to preach (albeit subtly) their own personal opinions, but obviously that's become acceptable.

I. Revivalism and the Social Order

Society was changing so quickly during this time that people felt the need to turn toward religion for stability and moral order. Some religious reformers during this time sought to create experimental Utopian communities, but they never worked. Sort of like socialism.

A. Finney's New Measures

Charles Finney was famous for being exceptionally charismatic and radical. He carried a casual attitude toward standard religious doctrine, which separated him from more of the conservative spiritual reformers. He used so-called "new measures", which included protracted meetings and the use of an "anxious bench" (aka humiliation which, presumably, lead to a forced, fake conversion. Just saying.) What is important is that Finney and reformers like him wanted individuals to undergo an emotionally wrenching conversion experience and be reborn.

B. The Philosophy of the New Revivals

Finney rejected predestination. Apparently predestination seemed unreasonable to a generation of people who grew up being told they were individuals and capable of achieving anything. Finney embraced the doctrine of free will, which stated that all men and women who wanted to be saved could be saved. Finney changed direction slightly, and began to preach on the idea of human perfectibility, which is labeled perfectionism. He claimed that human beings should not rest until they were as perfect as God. Many supports of the Second Great Awakening (such as Lyman Beecher) believed Finney had gone too far and was leaning toward heresy. But Finney didn't care. He was Charles Finney, master of emotional manipulation, ruler of the common people.

C. Religion and the Market Economy

The draw toward religion was stronger in areas centered around a market economy than frontier towns, especially in the North. Rochester is not important, just remember that "religion helped bring order to what had been a chaotic and fragmented city". This idea is explained perhaps 294 times during this chapter, so in case you miss this one, don't worry. There will be another. Anyway, many workers were converted during this time, particularly by the Methodist church. Evangelical Protestantism reinforced values needed to succeed in the new competitive economy. Many employers encouraged workers to embrace religion, as toning back their drinking habits would probably make them more productive.

D. The Rise of African American Churches

African Americans were tired of being treated like second-class worshipers, so they branched out to create their own churches. Knowing Richard Allen's name is important, as well as knowing about the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Black churches were suppressed in the South, for obvious reasons.

E. The Significance of the Second Great Awakening

Evangelical Protestantism became the most dominant form of Christianity in America. Church memberships soared, though the Methodists were the largest. "Evangelicalsim was in harmony with the basic values of early-nineteenth-century Americans". Whatever that actually means. The revivals reinforced the American belief in democracy and equality.

II. Women's Sphere

Women played a large role in the religious expansion and outnumbered male converts by about three to two.

A. Women and Revivalism

Arranged marriages went out of style, though what this has to do with anything, I'm not sure. Basically, everyone turned to religion to deal with their own uncertainty, and the book relates that to everyone it possibly can in this chapter. Just wait.
When women joined churches, they got to meet more people, which broadened their chances for marriage.

B. The Ideal of Domesticity

There was increased pressure on wives and mothers during this time, for some reason. There was a greater distinction between the workplace and the home, as is illustrated by the idea of "domesticity". Check this out for more. Anyway, women were held to a higher moral standard and pressured to instill these moral values upon their husbands and their children. Women were held to a higher (double) standard of sexual purity. Catherine Beecher is important, because she argued that women exercised power as moral guardians of the nation's future. She wrote books on efficient home management. If she was alive today, she'd have a talk show. Women joined "sisterhoods" which were glorified group therapy sessions. But they did help to sustain reform movements launched by women to aid females of the lower class.

Victorianism was the ideal that women were supposed to devote more of their time to raising their children and domestic duties. It was popular in England. The book is just trying to prove that this new womens' "movement" wasn't unique to America.

C. The Middle-Class Family In Transition

During this time period, families became smaller and more private, as the family was increasingly seen as a shelter from the outside world. Fewer children contributed to a decline in the birth rate. Families were also smaller as children became more expensive to raise. Also, fewer children meant that parents could tend more carefully to their child's success.

III. American Romanticism

Ralph Waldo Emerson. That about sums it up. Romanticism began in Europe as a reaction against the Enlightenment and focused on the natural world. It overflowed into many works of literature during this time.

A. Emerson and Transcendentalism

Transcendentalists are "hard to define", but they were a group of people born out of the ideas of Romanticism who emphasized feeling and emotion over reason. They wanted to "rise above reason and beyond the material world". They emphasized the importance of the individual in society, spread a sense of optimism. American literature takes off during this time.

B. The Clash between Nature and Civilization

James Cooper- the first distinctive American novelist (I don't think this is an MC). The Romantics during this time were concerned that the spread and advance of civilization would destroy the natural simplicity of the land. Henry David Thoreau is another important author (Walden) who argued that a person can only find true freedom and independence from nature. He denounced materialism and greed.

C. Songs of the Self-Reliant and Darker Loomings

Walt Whitman (is my favorite person ever) however, embraced American society in its varied forms, and he gained inspiration from the common people. Get a copy of Leaves of Grass. Some authors during this time were more angst-ridden and depressive, such as Melville and Hawthorne. However, most people preferred Emerson's optimistic view of this time period.

IV. The Age of Reform

"The quest for perfection often proved hard to control." This section talks basically about the radical sub-sections of Romanticism and the pursuit of perfection.

A. Utopian Communities

Many people sought to create so-called 'utopian communities' which could demonstrate the possibilities of perfection. Know Brook Farm and the Oneida Community, as well as the Shakers.

B. The Mormon Experience
(Excuse me while I die of laughter.)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was founded by Joseph Smith, who was walking in the woods one day when God decided to reveal His new plan for the universe to him alone. Joesph Smith then found these golden tablets that God had given him. He had a translation made into the Book of Mormon, written by five people who could not read/write in Hebrew. Oh, but I learned from my roomie that only some are polygamous. This isn't what the book says, but this is all you need to know.

C. Socialist Communities

These communities were based on science and reason rather than religion. Robert Owen started the New Harmony colony as a socialist experiment. He believed that the character of individuals was shaped by their surroundings and that by changing those surroundings, one could change human character. The settlement however had difficulties and split. No one really cared about socialist experiments in the United States back in the day, but it seems like we might today.

D. The Temperance Movement

This movement sought to change society instead of shying away from it entirely. It aimed to eliminate the social costs of drinking (broken families, abuse and neglected wives and children, sickness and disability, poverty, and crime) by curbing alcohol consumption. The movement was originally focused drunkenness and did not oppose moderate drinking. But then the American Temperance Society was born, and decided abstinence was key. The temperance movement was the most successful and longest lasting of the reform movements during this time period. It actually had significant support in the South, surprisingly. The South never supports anything.

Um

Hey everyone.

So it looks like I got lazy this time last year. I'M REALLY SORRY ABOUT THIS FACT. I don't have any documents for Chapter 9 and 10.

Here are the links for the textbook reviews, in case you haven't looked at something:

Chapter 9: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073406848/student_view0/chapter9/chapter_overview.html

Chapter 10: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073406848/student_view0/chapter10/chapter_overview.html

This isn't nearly anywhere what I want to be able to give you all. I'm sorry my work ethic sucked this time last year. But come on, seriously? No wonder I didn't put a post up for this, because Chapter 10 is a SOCIAL chapter. I despise social chapters. That's probably the reason.

If anyone has any specific questions that need clarifying tonight, just call/Facebook me, I'll be up forever because I haven't studied for anything for tomorrow. But 4am is an unreasonable time.

PS: I might be continuing the blog past chapter 12, just a thought.

Note From the Future

Hey everyone. I made this blog last year in the beginning of the year to get everyone off on the right foot. I'm sorry if it's totally unfunny and weird, but it has some useful things in it (opinion, not fact).

If it helps, I'm glad. I'm not going to give you words of encouragement, they're useless here. But good luck APUSH victims of 2010-2011.

[If anyone needs help, or wants to pay me to tell you essay questions (joke, maybe), just talk to me]

Chapter 11! Something about Jackson

Chapter 11 – The Rise of Democracy

(1824 – 1840)

Sorry for the weird configuration, it twas originally a word document.

Intro: People campaigning for political offices during this time tried to portray themselves as the champion of the people battling against the aristocracy in order to receive votes. During this time, politics were becoming more democratic and changing from that of the early republic. Because of the growth of commerce and new markets, Americans were faced with many new opportunities to accumulate wealth and gain status and respect. Even though the new markets were producing a more stratified (unequal) society, the nation’s politics were becoming more democratic. This new democracy created a new class of politicians and involved many more voters than ever before. However, the relationship between the new equalities of politics and the new opportunities of the market was an uneasy one.

I. Equality and Opportunity

Intro: European visitors to America were struck by the “democratic spirit” that the Americans had embraced. They saw the equality of society in America and were shocked by it. However, the Americans were self-consciously proud of such democratic behavior, which they viewed as a valued heritage of the Revolution.

A. The Tension between Equality and Opportunity

There was tension between the American values of opportunity and quality. Obviously, widespread opportunity would produce inequality of wealth. In the age of the frontier region, a rough equality of wealth and status had prevailed with the lack of access to the markets. By the 1820’s and 1830’s however, as opportunities expanded the distribution of wealth became unequal. By equality, Americans did not mean equality of wealth or property. They meant the equality of opportunity. The government was seen by the American people as being a safeguard of opportunity.

II. The New Political Culture of Democracy

Intro: In 1824, James Monroe was coming to the end of his second term as president. He was not a part of the new politics, and many new leaders in the Republican Party looked to succeed him. The Republicans nominated William Crawford, but the three other Republican candidates already running refused to drop out of the race. These people were John Quincy Adams, John Calhoun, and Henry Clay. No one was able to predict the rise of Andrew Jackson however. He had limited political experience, so people originally took him as a joke. The people of America first made Jackson a serious candidate.

A. The Election of 1824

Jackson was in the lead for the election. However, Henry Clay, even though he had already been eliminated, held enough influence as Speaker of the House to name the winner. After a shady deal with Adams, he rallied the votes in the House needed to win Adams the presidency. After his victory, Adams announced Clay as his new secretary of state, which was the usual stepping stone to the presidency. Jackson charged the duo with a “corrupt bargain” and started campaigning for the 1828 election. After this event, the old party system was shattered. Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams began to organize a new party, known as the National Republicans, to distinguish it from Jefferson’s old party. Jackson’s supporters called themselves Democrats. By 1830, the National Republicans had evolved into the Whigs. (Many Anti-Masons were drawn into the Whig party). The Democrats came together under the leadership of Andrew Jackson. Once established, this second American party system dominated the nation’s politics until the 1850’s.

B. Social Sources of the New Politics

The rise of the new political culture was rooted in these social conditions. The American people believed that the government had a responsibility to relieve distress and promote prosperity and therefore saw politics as relevant to their daily lives. Elections became the means through which the majority expressed its policy preferences by voting for candidates pledged to specific programs. The representatives were now seen as embodiment of the will of the people. After this, most states eliminated property requirements for voting and enacted white male suffrage. Presidential elections became more democratic, as voters now were able to choose presidential electors. The change in America impacted Europe as well. Parliament in Britain approved the Reform Bill of 1832, which gave Britain the broadest electorate in Europe, even though only 15% of males could vote. In France and in Prussia, the democratic revolutions of 1848 championed universal male suffrage, but were unsuccessful. Voter turnout in America increased dramatically, and 78 percent of eligible voters were voting in the 1840’s.

C. The Acceptance of Parties

New types of politicians arose. Their lives were devoted to party service and depended for their living on public office. The number of governmental jobs increased. Political leaders were more likely to come from the middle ranks of society, especially outside of the South. To be successful during this time, a politician had to mingle with the masses and voice their feelings. This new strategy put the wealthy at a disadvantage. Martin Van Buren was a prime example of this new politician. He lacked great oratorical skills but he was a master organizer and tactician. He encouraged political parties and stressed that they would check abuses and keep the masses informed.

D. The Politics of the Common Man

Andrew Jackson was extremely successful at using the new political culture to become elected. During this time, politics became mass entertainment, in which campaign hoopla often overshadowed the issues. Politicians often talked about principles; however, they were sometimes intent on gaining and holding power. The Jacksonian Era has been called the Age of the Common Man. Everything was not perfect as women and slaves were still not allowed to vote and parties sometimes did not even address basic problems in society. Popular political parties provided an essential mechanism for peacefully resolving differences among competing interest groups, regions, and social classes.

III. Jackson’s Rise to Power

Intro: The new democratic styles of politics first appeared on the state and local levels.

A. John Quincy Adam’s Presidency

John Quincy Adams should have worked to create a mass-based party system in 1825. However, he was cold and tactless, and could not build popular support for the ambitious and often farsighted programs he proposed. He wanted the federal government to promote not only manufacturing and agriculture, but also the arts, literature, and science. He did not take any steps to gain reelection. Adams refused to be a party leader, which caused Henry Clay to organize the National Republicans. Clay however had serious handicaps with this task. The new style of politics came into its own nationally only when Andrew Jackson swept to power at the head of a new party, the Democrats. Jackson was called “Old Hickory”, and he remained vague on many issues to keep the conflicting interest of his coalition united. Jackson was elected in 1828, and his election marked the start of two disciplined national parties competing actively for votes. The people, however, had voted for Jackson as a national hero without any real sense of what he would do with his newly won power.

B. President of the People

Jackson was the representative of the new democracy. He was a man of action and decisiveness, but was also arrogant and vindictive. Even with his flaws, he was a shrewd politician. He displayed a keen sense of public opinion and skillfully read the shifting national mood. He defended the spoils system, in which public offices were given to friends and political supporters. Jackson regarded the cabinet as existing more to carry out his will than to offer counsel.

C. The Political Agenda in the Market Economy

Jackson faced three major problems during his presidency. First, the demand for new lands put continuing pressures on the Indians and brought them into conflict with whites. Secondly, the economies of the North, South, and West came into conflict over the new tariff and whether South Carolina could nullify that law. Finally, new attention was focused on the role of credit and banking in society.

IV. Democracy and Race

Intro: Jackson’s popularity derived not only from defeating the British but also from opening extensive tracts of valuable Indian lands into the market. In 1820, and estimated 125,000 Indians remained east of the Mississippi river. Southern states wanted the government to take over the Indian lands, so Monroe proposed to Congress that the remaining eastern tribes be relocated west of the Mississippi River. A new shift in the attitude toward race and the Indians occurred. After 1815, the dominant white culture stressed “innate” racial differences that could never be erased. A growing number of Americans began to argue that the Indian was a permanently inferior savage who blocked progress.

A. Accommodate or Resist?

Indians and other minorities in the Old Southwest were placed in a difficult situation by this new racial view. As southern whites increased their clamor for Indian removal, tensions among various tribal factions increased. The mixed-bloods in the Seminole tribes took the lead in urging military resistance to any attempt to expel them. John Ross, however, urged the Cherokees to adopt a program of accommodation by adopting white ways to prevent removal. They made it illegal for individual chiefs to sell any more lands to whites. Indians too had been drawn into the web of market relationships, causing society to become more unequal and economic elites to dominate the tribal governments. Cherokee society used slaves to harvest cotton

B. Trail of Tears

Jackson prodded Congress to provide funds for Indian removal. In 1830 Congress passed a removal bill. The Indians however, sued Georgia for trying to remove them in the federal court, and Chief Justice John Marshall wrote that the Indian tribes had full authority over their lands. Jackson however went ahead with plans for removal. The Indians were cheated out of 90% of their land. The Trail of Tears was travelled by 15,000 Indians who were forced to move west. Some Indians chose resistance, such as the Seminoles led by Osceola, but they were unsuccessful. Indians found themselves at the mercy of the pressures of the marketplace and the hardening racial attitudes of white Americans.

C. Free Blacks in the North

Jackson’s Democratic Party was the strongly proslavery and hostile to black rights. This intensifying racism bore down upon free African Americans. Laws were enacted in the North to keep African Americans in inferior positions. Most black northerners lacked meaningful political rights. Black northerners were also denied basic civil rights that whites enjoyed such as testifying in court against whites. Segregation was widely practiced in the free states. Discrimination pushed African American males into the lowest paying and most unskilled jobs. African American women normally continued working after marriage because their wages were critical to the family’s economic survival. A number of anti-black riots erupted in northern cities during these years.

D. The African American Community

Free blacks had long suffered from such oppression and injustice. They responded by founding schools, churches, and mutual aid societies to sustain their communities. Typically, black leaders strove to strike a moderate tone in their published writings and praised whites who embraced the antislavery cause. They even called for a gradual rather than an immediate abolition of slavery. David Walker was an outspoken black leader who urged slaves to use violence to end bondage.

E. Racism Strikes a Deeper Root

The growing virulent racism among whites in the 1820s prompted greater militancy among African Americans. Minstrel shows were used to send the message that African Americans could not cope with freedom and therefore did not belong in the North. Minstrelsy assured these white champions of democracy that they remained superior. The unsettling economic, social, and political changes increased white American’s fear of failure, which stimulated racism. The property-less white males in America relieved their personal tensions caused by lack of success through an increase in hostility to their black neighbors. The power of racism in Jacksonian America stemmed, at least in part, from the fact that equality remained part of the nation’s creed while it steadily receded as a social reality.

V. The Nullification Crisis

Intro: The issue of nullification raised a different question of how would various regions or interest groups accommodate their differences.

A. The Growing Crisis in South Carolina

South Carolina had been particularly hard hit by the depression of 1819. Even when the nation was recovering, many of the state’s cotton planters still suffered. The South Carolinians viewed federal tariffs as the cause of their miseries. When the duty was raised in 1824, they condemned the tax as unfair and claimed that it raised the prices of goods they imported while benefiting other regions of the nation. South Carolina was also concerned about the issue of slavery and did not want it to be made illegal, as they had the largest population of black slaves. Denmark Vesey led a slave conspiracy that was overturned only at the last minute. South Carolinians worried that other undetected conspirators lurked in their midst. The state’s leaders pushed for a stronger constitutional protection of slavery. Congress raised the duty rates in 1828 with the so-called Tariff of Abominations, causing South Carolina to outline for the first time the theory of nullification as published in the South Carolina Exposition and Protest as written by John Calhoun.

B. Calhoun’s Theory of Nullification

John C. Calhoun was the most impressive intellect of his political generation as well as Jackson’s vice president. Calhoun wanted Jackson to reform the tariff on South Carolina, but he and Jackson quarreled. Calhoun addressed the problem of how to protect the rights of a minority in a political system based on the rule of the majority. He argued that the people of each state had the right to nullify any federal law that exceeded the powers granted to Congress under the Constitution. If this was not allowed, the state then had the right to secede from the Union. In opposition, the Nationalist’s Theory of the Union as stated by Senator David Webster said that the Union was not a compact of sovereign states. He also endorsed the doctrine of judicial review which gave the Supreme Court authority to determine the meaning of the Constitution.

C. The Nullifiers Nullified

Congress passed another tariff upon South Carolina in 1832 that gave them no relief, so the legislature of the state called for a popular convention and declared the tariffs null and void. Jackson then issued a Proclamation on Nullification which said that under the Constitution there was no right of secession. He also passed the Force Bill which reaffirmed the president’s military powers. At the same time he urged Congress to reduce the tariff rates. Calhoun then agreed to a compromise tariff. This controversy convinced many southerners that they were becoming a permanent minority.

VI. The Bank War

Intro: Jackson understood the political ties that bound the nation, but he did not understand the economic and financial connections that were linked through banks and markets. He was extremely suspicious of the national bank and its power.

A. The National Bank and the Panic of 1819

The Second Bank of the United States suffered initially from woeful mismanagement from its charter in 1816. During the Panic of 1819, the bank sharply contracted credit and called in loans, fueling the despair and economic depression in America. To many people, banks became a symbol of the commercialization of American society and the passing of a simpler way of life

B. Biddle’s Bank

Nicholas Biddle became president of the national bank in 1823. He was arrogant and wanted to restore the Bank’s reputation, so he set out to provide the nation with a sound currency by regulating the amount of credit available in the economy. Government revenues were originally paid in banknotes (paper money). Biddle wanted banks to demand payment for notes in specie, aka hard gold or silver. This way, banks would only be able to function if they reduced the amount of notes in circulation. Being the government’s official depository gave Biddle’s bank enormous power over state banks and over the economy. Biddle was effective, but workers started to complain that they were being paid in depreciated state banknotes, a practice that in effect cheated workers out of part of their wages. They wanted currency of gold or silver.

C. The Clash Between Jackson and Biddle

Jackson deeply distrusted banks and paper money. He became convinced that banks and paper money threatened to corrupt the Republic. Jackson called for a reform of the banking system, but Biddle did not want to curb the Bank’s power. The Bank’s charter was up for renewal four years early, which when Congress passed Jackson vetoed it as unconstitutional.

D. The Bank Destroyed

The Bank became a central issue of the 1832 election with Henry Clay supporting Biddle and the bank against Jackson. Jackson won reelection, however, and Jackson was determined to destroy the Bank. To cripple the Bank, he ordered all the government’s federal deposits withdrawn. Jackson had to replace the secretary of the treasury with Roger Taney because the act violated federal law and no one else would do it. When the Bank’s charter expired in 1836, no national banking system replaced it. Instead, Jackson continued depositing federal revenues in selected state banks.

E. Jackson’s Impact on the Presidency

During his administration, Jackson had immeasurably enlarged the power of the presidency. Jackson redefined the character of the presidential office and its relationship to the people. He also converted the veto into an effective presidential power, vetoing bills when he thought they were bad policy instead of only if they were unconstitutional. He strengthened the power of the president over Congress. The development of the modern presidency began with Andrew Jackson.

VII. Van Buren and Depression

Intro: The state banks had to rapidly expand the amount of paper money in circulation. A spiraling inflation set in as prices rose 50 percent. Land value rose artificially and quickly. In an attempt to slow the economy, Jackson issued the Specie Circular in July 1836, which decreed that the government would only accept specie for the purchase of public land.

A. “Van Ruin’s” Depression

Jackson’s opponents, the Whigs, were led by Henry Clay and denounced Jackson for dangerously concentrating the power of the presidency. The Whigs embraced Clay’s “American System”, which was designed to spur national economic development and particularly manufacturing. The Whigs advocated a protective tariff, a national bank, and federal aid for internal improvements. The Democrats nominated Martin Van Buren for the 1836 election, who won over three Whig candidates. The country soon entered a serious depression as the cotton market collapsed. Public opinion identified hard times with the policies of the Democratic Party. Van Buren then created an Independent Treasury to keep the government’s funds which would keep them safe but it would also make money unavailable to banks to make loans and stimulate the economy. Unemployment rose drastically.

B. The Whig Triumph

The Whigs nominated Henry Harrison for their candidate in the election of 1840. Harrison was portrayed as a man of the people against Van Buren who was portrayed as a haughty aristocrat. The Whigs prominently involved women in political campaigning. Democrats had no choice but to eventually follow suit. Women’s role in national politics began in 1840, and within a few years their presence at party rallies was commonplace.

VIII. The Jacksonian Party System

Intro: Whigs and Democrats held different attitudes toward the changes brought about by the market, banks, and commerce.

A. Democrats, Whigs, and the Market

The Democrats viewed society as a continuing conflict between “the people” and a set of greedy aristocrats. For Democrats, the Bank War became a battle to restore the old Jeffersonian republic with its values of simplicity, frugality, hard work, and independence. The Democrats wanted the rewards of the market without sacrificing the features of a simple agrarian republic. The Whigs, however, were more comfortable with the market. Economic growth, they saw, would benefit everyone by creating jobs, stimulating demand for agricultural products, and expanding opportunity. They saw no class conflict and deemed banks and corporations a necessity. Whigs and Democrats disagreed over how active government should be. Democrats believed in a limited government, while the Whigs believed in an active government. Democrats believed that religion and politics should be kept clearly separate (but who knows if this is true). The Whigs believed that that government power should be used to foster the moral welfare of the country.

B. The Social Bases of the Two Parties

Neither party could carry an election by appealing exclusively to the rich or the poor. The Whigs, however, enjoyed disproportionate strength among the business and commercial classes, especially following the Bank War. Democrats attracted farmers isolated from the market or people uncomfortable with it. Attitude toward the market, rather than economic position, was more important in determining party affiliation. Religion and ethnic identities also shaped partisanship. Along with the market, democracy had become an integral part of American life.

Chapter 7 and 8 (Woah, they're combined!?)

This study guide's a little different than the previous ones because A- I'm crammed in the backseat of a car driving through some podunk town in the middle of nowhere and B- I'm going to get this done swiftly, I'm sorry it's getting posted at a late time! This is going to be a post of outside information relative to the test that you can use in your essays and see if you can bump up your grade

The Creation of the United States: 1776-1786

The War for Independence-

• The British had the best equipped army and navy in the world at the time of the American Revolution
• The geography of eastern North America offered no single vital center who's conquest would win the war for the British (This helped the Americans in their war effort greatly)
• The key factor in the outcome of the war for independence was the popular support for the American cause

The Patriot Forces-

• The Continental Army was led by George Washington and served the Continental Congress
• Other Patriots who did not want to enlist in the CA joined the militia companies
• The men of the militias only served near their home areas
• Because of this, states had difficulties filling their quotas for regiments in the Continental Army
• There were also some mutinies among the troops in the Continental Army
• Patriots seized control of the local governments in most communities between 1774-1775
• The Patriot militias were used to force even the most apathetic of Americans to choose sides in the Revolution
• When the men left for war, many women assumed management of the family farm and business
• However, many women left their homes to join husbands, fathers, and brothers; the so-called 'women of the army'
• Well known women like the ones above were Molly Pitcher and Catherine Greene

Loyalists-

• Loyalists accounted for one-fifth of the population of the colonists
• They were called 'Tories' by the Patriots
• Loyalism was strongest in the Lower South and weakest in New England; it also had followers in the middle colonies
• They faced mob violence and persecution by the Patriots
• Benedict Arnold- the most infamous supporter of the British cause; had been a hero in the early battles of the Revolution, but had become a paid informer of the British army
• The British wanted to mobilize the Loyalists and use them for their advantage, but in most areas this was impossible
• Their property was confiscated by the sate and sold at public auction
• They remained Americans however, even though they were opposed to rebellion

The Campaign for New York and New Jersey

• The British developed a strategic plan for war in the winter of 1775-1776 which involved William Howe taking an army to New York City while another British army marched south from Canada to Albany, where they would converge and cut New England off from the rest of the colonies
• Washington anticipated this strategy and shifted his forces toward New York in the spring of 1776
• The Patriots and the British fought the Battle of Long Island, which ended in disaster for the Patriots (this occurred when Congress was taking its final vote on the Declaration of Independence in July)
• The British offered Congress and opportunity to negotiate after this, and Benjamin Franklin and John Adams sat down with the Howe brothers
• The Howe brothers demanded the repeal of the Declaration of Independence, which Franklin and Adams refused
• This caused another round of fighting six days later, when the British invaded Manhattan (where the Americans were stationed)
• By November the Americans were fleeing south across New Jersey in a frantic attempt to avoid the British under General Charles Cornwallis
• Groups of militiamen began to desert Washington's army, but he proceeded with a counterattack against Cornwallis
• Washington's forces defeated the Hessian forces left to guard Trenton New Jersey and drove the British all the way back to New York City
• These victories salvaged American morale

The Northern Campaign of 1777

• British forces commanded by General John Burgoyne were defeated by American forces under General Horatio Gates in Saratoga
• This was the biggest British defeat until Yorktown
• It symbolized to the nations of Europe that the Americans had a fighting chance of winning their Revolution
• However, the British soon captured and occupied Philadelphia
• After this, the Continental forces headed for winter quarters at Valley Forge
• Although the British forces were able to capture the most important city in America, it proved to have little strategic value because central government was virtually nonexistent, and so the unified effort suffered little disruption

The French Alliance and the Spanish Borderlands

• During the first two years of fighting the Americans were sustained by loans from France and Spain who were allies against Britain
• They both saw the American Revolution as an opportunity to win back North American territories that had been lost to Britain in the Seven Years' War
• The American victory at Saratoga convinced France to tie itself to the United States and decided to recognize America's independence
• France agreed to help America in its fight against Britain until independence was achieved; this caused Britain to declare war on France
• Spain entered the war a year later
• However, the French and the Spanish feared the potential power of an independent United States
• Many American leaders had expansionist aspirations and understood that the wartime alliance with France and tacit support of Spain were expedients
• In 1778, Lord North tried to propose a peace commission in America that would pledge to never again impose revenue taxes on the Americans, but Congress declared that any person coming to terms with the peace commission would be labeled a traitor
• For Americans, the only possible topics of negotiation were the withdrawal of British forces and the recognition of American independence
• The British were forced to rethink their military strategy when France entered the war on the American's side

Indian Peoples and the Revolution in the West

• At the beginning of the conflict both the British and the Americans solicited the support of the Indians
• The Americans were wary of the Iroquois Confederacy, as the British tried to press the Iroquois to unite against the Americans
• Many Indian people were reluctant to become involved; however, the British were ultimately more persuasive
• The Indians could see that a Patriot victory would mean the extension of American settlements into their homelands
• Almost all the Indians tribes that engaged in fighting did so on the side of the British
• The Mohawk leader Joseph Brant succeeded in bringing most Iroquois warriors into the British camp
• The war in the West would not end with the conclusion of hostilities in the East

The War in the South

• The most important fighting of the Revolution took place in the South
• In December of 1778 British forces under General Clinton crushed Patriot forces at Savannah and began to organize the Loyalists in an effort to reclaim the colony
• In 1779, Clinton led a campaign against Charleston and forced the most significant American defeat in the war
• The southern campaign was marked by vicious violence between partisan militas of Patriots and Loyalists
• In 1781 Cornwallis became tired of chasing American forces around the country, and moved his forces from the Carolinas to the Virginia countryside; the British withdrawal from North Carolina allowed Greene to reestablish Patriot control of the Lower South

Yorktown

• At Yorktown, Washington and the French general Rochambeau's combined fores locked Cornwallis and the British forces into his camp.
• Cornwallis surrendered after a failed attempt to retreat across the New York River, and then sent his second-in-command, General Charles O'Hara to surrender
• In March of 1782 King George III was forced to accept the American claim for independence

The United States in Congress Assembled

• The Articles of Confederation, the first written constitution of the United States, created a national government of severely limited powers.
• This arrangement reflected the concerns of people fighting to free themselves from a coercive central government

The Articles of Confederation

• The debates of the delegates of the Continental Congress made it clear that the delegates who favored a loose union of autonomous states outnumbered those who wanted a strong central government.
• The Articles (adopted in 1777) created a national assembly called the Congress, in which each state had a single vote
• Votes would require the agreement of nine states
• Congress was granted national authority in the conduct of foreign affairs, matters of war and peace, and maintenance of the armed forces. It was also the final judge of authority in disputes between states
• They explicitly guaranteed the sovereignty of the individual states
• Ratification or amendment was supposed to be required by the agreement of all thirteen states
• Maryland was the last state to vote in favor of the Articles

Financing the War

• Congress financed the Revolution through grants and loans from friendly foreign powers and by issuing paper currency
• Congress called on the states to raise taxes, but most of the states were unwilling to do this and began to print currency of their own
• The Continental currency faced rapid depreciation and runaway inflation
• Congress than chartered the Bank of North America in Philadelphia, the first private commercial bank in the United States
• Robert Morris was the motivation behind the bank and the new gold and silver backed currency

Negotiating Independence

• Peace talks between the US and Great Britain opened in July 1782 when Franklin sat down with the British emissary in Paris
• However, Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams were aware of French attempts to manipulate the outcome of negotiations and to limit potential American power
• They then signed a preliminary treaty with Britain without France in Nov. of 1782.
• The resulting Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783 (we all know what the land divisions after looked like)

The Crisis of Demobilization

• Continental officers feared that the army would be disbanded before they received the provisions for their pensions that Congress had promised them
• However, Washington remedied this problem and began to dismiss the common soldiers

The Problem of the West

• Thousands of Americans migrated west and pressured the Indian country north of the Ohio River; and destructive violence continued along the frontier
• British troops continued to occupy posts in the Northwest and encouraged Indian attacks on vulnerable settlements
• John Jay was sent to negotiate a treaty with the Spanish for American access to the Mississippi, but he messed that up
• In the West, local community interest continued to override the fragile development of national community settlement
• Jefferson set up the "Government for the Northwestern Territory", where the western public would eventually be divided into states equal to the original thirteen as soon as their population grew large enough
• In the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, Congress established a system of government for the territory north of Ohio
• The creation of the land system of the United States was the major achievement of the Confederation government

Revolutionary Politics in the States

• Most Americans focused not on the Confederation government in Philadelphia but on the governments of their own states
• Most Americans identified with their local communities and states rather than with the American nation

The Broadened Base of Politics

• Political participation in the states was greatly broadened after 1775
• During these years a greater proportion of the population began to participate in elections
• Conservatives were wary of giving more power to Congress, as they saw the possibility of majority tyranny which might lead to the violation of property rights and to dictatorship

Declaration of Rights

• The thirteen states plus Vermont adopted individual Constitutions that were shaped by the debates between the radicals and the conservatives
• The fifteen articles that were adopted declared that sovereignty resided in the people, that government was the servant of the people, and the people had the right to reform, alter, or abolish the government
• These declarations were important precedents for the Bill of Rights which were the first ten amendments to the federal Constitution

A Spirit of Reform

• The political upheaval of the Revolution raised the possibility of other reforms in American society
• In the aftermath of the Revolution, there was evidence of increasing sympathy in the courts for women's property rights and fairer treatment of women's petitions for divorce
• From a strictly legal and political view, the Revolution may have done little to change women's role in society, but it did seem to help change expectations

African Americans and the Revolution

• Most African Americans did not celebrate in the American victory in the war, for it perpetuated the institution of slavery
• To many white Americans there was an obvious contradiction in waging a war for liberty while continuing to support the institution of slavery
• There was an increase in "manumissions" or grants of freedom to slaves by individual masters
• Perhaps the most important development was the growth of the free African American population, however they were largely excluded from the institutions of white Americans

Economic Problems

• The Revolution produced the worst inflation that Americans have ever experienced
• There was a popular outcry at the incredible increase in prices, and communities and states in the North responded with laws regulating wages and prices
• After the war, inflation was suddenly replaced by depression
• However, the Confederation Congress was not allowed to raise taxes on its own, so it petitioned the states for the funds necessary for debt repayment, but people feared being crushed by the burden of private debt and public taxes

State Remedies

• States erected high tariffs to curb imports and protect infant industries
• However, for these to be effective, local sentiment had to give way to the unity of a national community

Shays' Rebellion

• Farmers in the western part of Massachusetts had been hit particularly hard during the depression, and county jails were filled with debtors who couldn't pay
• Dozens of towns petitioned state governments for relief, but the urban and merchants who wanted to protect their interests, rejected legal tender and paper currency laws
• Farmers throughout the rural part of the state revolted in what became known as Shay's rebellion, named after David Shays who had been a leader in the Revolution

Other stuff you should know

• Know what led to the ratifying of the Articles of Confederation into the Constitution and the inclusion of the Bill of Rights
• Get the Federalists vs. Anti-Federalist sheet from Mr. Matthews that he has somewhere, and read over it before the test

The end! :)

Chapter 6 Section 2

Here's the second half of Chapter 6, or more really like the other 3/4 of Chapter 6. It's a little plain and lacking pictures, but I'll attempt and spice it up tomorrow. (It's cooler because I did it on Word first :D)

I. The Imperial Crisis

After the costly fighting of the Seven Years’ War Great Britain had to consolidate its gains. It needed to protect its North American territory, tighten the administration, and make the colonies as profitable as possible. To centralize its empire, Great Britain left a standing army of several thousand troops in America after the Seven Years’ War. It did this for the needs of centralization and also to prevent France from trying to regain its lost territory.

A. New Troubles on the Frontier

The British were worried about peace on the frontier because the Indians were on edge now that the French were gone. Because of the absence of the French, English traders and settlers would swarm into the West. After Pontiac’s rebellion the British administrators used their forces in America to enforce the Proclamation of 1763. This order prohibited white settlement past the crest of the Appalachian Mountains, keeping English settlers on the Eastern seaboard, where they were more easily subject to the control of the empire.

B. George Grenville’s New Measures

The British troops residing in the American colonies also by 1764 were there to enforce American acceptance of other new and sensible measures for tightening the empire. George Grenville was the first lord of treasury of England who was in charge of solving the financial problems of England after the Seven Years’ War. Britain had a massive deficit at the end of the war, and also had to pay for the supporting troops in the American colonies. The colonists, Grenville discovered, paid relatively low taxes and import duties. The low customs duties were because colonial merchants evaded the Molasses Act of 1733. The merchants bribed British customs officials and imported molasses from the French and the Dutch. Grenville’s first act he passed was the Revenue Act of 1764, also known as the Sugar Act. Grenville intended to enforce this new duty and to crack down on smugglers. Those who were caught were tried in admiralty courts which were headed by royally appointed judges rather than colonial judges. This act was intended mainly to yield revenue. The Currency Act of 1764 prohibited the colonies from making their paper money legal tender. The Quartering Act of 1765 contributed to the cost of keeping British forces in America. The Stamp Act of that same year placed taxes on legal documents, customs papers, newspapers, almanacs, college diplomas, playing cards, and dice. These acts passed by Parliament dampened the postwar optimism of the colonials.

C. The Beginning of Colonial Resistance

The colonials in America believed that if property guaranteed liberty, then no group of people should be taxed without their consent or that of their elected representatives. The passing of these multiple Acts showed that Parliament had taxed the colonials without representation and had also deprived the colonials of the freedom of trial by jury, which was a freedom claimed by all other English men and women. There was a radical minority in England called the Country Party or the Opposition, who shared with the colonials a deep suspicion of power. They believed that representative government safeguarded liberty more reliably than either monarch or oligarchy did. The Opposition believed that the rulers of England had not been watched closely enough and had been corrupted. This group was revered by the political leaders in the American colonies. Grenville’s measures led some colonials to suspect that ambitious men ruling England might be conspiring against American liberties. They disliked being treated like second-class citizens. This centralization of the British government of the American colonies came at a bad time psychologically and economically. New England merchants led the opposition to the Sugar Act principally on economic grounds. The Stamp Act, however, hit all colonials and served notice that Parliament claimed the authority to tax the colonies directly and for the sole purpose of raising revenues.

D. Riots and Resolves

The passing of the Acts by Parliament provoked the first display of colonial unity. In the middle of 1765, American assemblies passed resolves denying that Parliament could tax the colonies. The leader in the protesting of the Stamp Act was Patrick Henry, a leader in Virginia’s assembly, the House of Burgesses. The Burgesses passed Henry’s resolutions upholding their exclusive right to tax Virginians, but rejected the resolve that called for outright resistance. Other colonies followed suit; taking the same stand as Virginia on the issue of taxation. In October of 1765 delegates from nine colonies convened in New York and prepared a statement and petition for the king and Parliament to repeal both the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act. The Sons of Liberty was the collection of the new resistance groups that formed and was made up of traders, lawyers, and prosperous artisans. They rallied the lower classes in opposition to the Stamp Act. Mobs in the colonial cities attacked the stamp distributors in various ways. However, they got a little out of control. By November (when the Stamp Act officially took effect), most of the stamp distributors had resigned.

E. Repeal of the Stamp Act

George III made the repeal of the Stamp Act possible when he replaced Grenville with a new first minister, the Marquis of Rockingham, who had opposed the Stamp Act and had no desire to enforce it. The Stamp Act controversy showed the colonials how they shared a political outlook with each other distinctly different from the British. Americans did not approve of the virtual representation that Grenville insisted they had. Their view, known as actual representation, emphasized that elected officials were directly accountable to their constituents. The colonies agreed unanimously that Parliament did not have the right to tax them, only the right to legislate and to regulate trade. Parliament, wanting to assert its authority, issued a Declaratory Act immediately after the repeal of the Stamp Act, which stated that Parliament had the power to make laws for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.”

F. The Townshend Acts

Rockingham was replaced with William Pitt (in 1766) who was popular in the colonies for his leadership during the Seven Years’ War and his opposition to the Stamp Act. However, almost as soon as he took his post his health failed, and his position was passed to Charles Townshend, who’s only goal was to raise more revenue from the Americans. In 1767 he persuaded Parliament to tax the lead, paint, paper, glass, and tea that Americans imported from Britain. He also wanted to curb the power of the American assemblies. For example, Townshend suspended the New York assembly in 1767 until it agreed to obey the Quartering Act. He also paid the salaries of royal officials with some of the revenue from his new tariffs. This meant that the assemblies (who had previously paid these officials) lost that form of crucial leverage. Townshend created the American Board of Customs Commissioners, which was basically made up of tax collectors.

G. The Resistance Organizes

There were two main figureheads of the colonial resistance who were against Townshend’s efforts to centralize the empire. John Dickinson urged Americans to protest the Townshend duties by consuming fewer imported English luxuries. Samuel Adams was a leader in the Massachusetts assembly who sent a letter to all of the other colonial legislatures condemning the Townshend Acts and calling for a united American resistance. During this time, customs officials became popular targets of hatred. However, they fought back by extorting money out of American merchants for what amounted to protection money and seizing American vessels for violating royal regulations. They jacked John Hancock’s boat as well (the Liberty) which caused a night of rioting. (The boat must have been awesome). Lord Hillsborough, who was the new secretary of state for the colonies, responded to the riot by sending two regiments of troops to Boston. The Liberty riot and the arrival of British troops in Boston pushed colonial assemblies to coordinate their resistance more closely. The colonies adopted a policy of not importing or consuming British goods. The Stamp Act crisis brought about a greater form of intercolonial cooperation. “Committees of inspection” were formed to enforce the ban on trade with Britain. The “Daughters of Liberty” wore homespun clothing and served coffee instead of tea to proclaim their stance against Britain (whoa, dream big).

H. The International Sons of Liberty

The resistance supporters in the colonies felt connected with the freedom fighters throughout Europe. When Corsica was fighting for its freedom, many in the British Empire hoped that England would rally to defend Corsica, if only to keep France seizing this strategic point in the Mediterranean. The British however, did nothing. The hero of the Corsica revolt, Paoli was bought out by the British and corrupted, making the colonials wonder if they could manage to remain virtuous for very long.

I. The Boston Massacre

The colonials in Boston caused trouble for the British troops, who competed with Boston’s laboring classes for side jobs when off duty. By the year 1769, fights were breaking out between the British and the job seekers. The Boston Massacre was caused by the English soldiers who fired into a crowd which had gathered around the customhouse and was heckling the ten soldiers that guarded it. This incident dramatically increased colonial unrest, and made Parliament realize that Townshend’s duties only discouraged sales to colonials and encouraged them to produce goods at home. Lord North succeeded Townshend after he died in 1770 and repealed every tax except the duty on tea which he let stand as a symbol of Parliament’s authority (once again, dream big).

J. Resistance Revived

Because of the repeal of the Townshend Acts, the American resistance stalled for two years. But the conflict between America and England had not been resolved. When Rhode Island smugglers escaped a British ship in pursuit which had run aground. The residents of Providence then decided to burn it (fantastic idea: I was going to make a Rhode Island joke but we have people in our class who know people there). The British officials sent a commission to look into the matter and tried to bypass the colonial court system, causing resistance to flare. The assemblies created the committees of correspondence which drew up statements of American rights and grievances and distributed these documents within and among the colonies. Samuel Adams can be credited with this invention which fostered an intercolonial agreement on resistance to British measures. Parliament then passed the Tea Act of 1773 which was designed to bail out the drowning East India Company by giving them a monopoly on the trade in the Americas. Parliament tried to be sneaky by making this Act hurt American merchants but make tea cheaper for ordinary Americans. On December 16, 1773, the Boston Tea Party commenced and everyone knows what happened then.

K. The Empire Strikes Back (how original)

The British took the Boston Tea Party as confirmation that the colonies aimed at independence. Parliament then passed the Coercive Acts, which were called by the colonies the “Intolerable Acts”. The Boston Port bill closed the harbor until the colonials paid the East India Company for their losses. The Massachusetts Governor Act handed over the colony’s government to royal officials. The Impartial Administration of Justice Act (is really long) permitted any royal official accused of a crime to be tried in England. Finally, the Quartering Act allowed the British troops to occupy unoccupied private homes, buildings and barns throughout the colonies. These Coercive Acts were seen by the colonies as Parliament’s plot to enslave them. The efforts of the king and Parliament to centralize and run the colonies more efficiently was viewed by the American colonists as a conspiracy measure (disregard tone of contempt in book in this section, the author is biased). In 1774 Parliament passed the Quebec Act which established a permanent government in what had been French Canada (which was Catholic and had no representative assembly). The colonies began to call for an intercolonial congress, which led to the creation of the First Continental Congress.

II. Toward the Revolution

The First Continental Congress gathered in Massachusetts in September of 1774. The Massachusetts colony was on the verge of anarchy because its inhabitants resisted the enforcement of the Massachusetts Government Acts. (I felt like when we gave a standing ovation for the Wilsons at the Fine Arts Concert tonight that we were rebelling against anarchy too; let’s see that organ played now). Most members of the Congress also shared a common mistrust of England which was associated with vice, extravagance, and corruption. However, some colonies were more radical than others.

A. The First Continental Congress

The Congress wanted to accomplish three goals. First of all, it wanted to know how they were to justify the rights they claimed as American colonials. Secondly, they wanted to define the limits of Parliament’s power. Finally, they wanted to agree on the proper tactics for resisting the Coercive Acts. The delegates than adopted a Declaration of Rights and Grievances on October 14, 1774, asserting the right of the colonies to tax and legislate for themselves. The efforts of the conservative colonials in the group, such as Joseph Galloway, were blocked by this Declaration. Galloway wanted to propose a plan of union with Britain where a grand council of the colonies would handle all concerns, and the laws it passed were to be reviewed and/or vetoed by Parliament. No one liked this plan. The Congress stopped short of declaring that Parliament had no authority over them at all. The Congress then created the Continental Association which was an agreement to cease all trade with Britain until the Coercive Acts were repealed. Some resolves against the Coercive Acts were drawn up by Bostonians and residents of the Suffolk County which branded them as unconstitutional and called for civil disobedience to protest them. When these resolves were presented to the Congress they were endorsed but it would not prepare for war by authorizing proposals to strengthen and arm colonial militias. The Congress wanted to bring about the repeal of the coercive Acts, but it held firm against resisting any revolutionary course of action (that would have been too messy). However, its decisions drew colonials farther down the road to independence.

B. The Last Days of the British Empire in America (promising title)

Most of the colonials in America commended the achievements of the First Continental Congress. The Conservatives in society however were convinced that if independence was declared, chaos would commence. They feared that civil war would lead to anarchy without British rule (like it was doing anything productive anyway). Thomas Gage was the biggest oppose of the Continental Congress. He tried to dissolve the Massachusetts legislature but it reformed on its own into a Provincial Congress which began to arm the militia. Royal authority wasn’t doing any better outside of Boston.

C. The Fighting Begins

Basically Gage and Lord North planned to seize the leaders of the Provincial Congress to end the rebellion. However, when the British confronted the Americans at Lexington and continued on to Concord, they were routed by American rebels. The British fled back to Boston while being fired on by the colonials.

D. Common Sense

The bloodshed at Lexington Green and Concord committed colonials to a course of rebellion and independence. Thomas Paine was an Englishman who came to Philadelphia and made the American cause his own. He wrote about the age of republicanism and denounced monarchy as a foolish and dangerous form of government. He rejected the idea that colonials were or should want to be to be English. And then wrote a book about it.

Blurb at End: Over the course of two centuries colonial society and politics had evolved in such a way that for Americans an English identity no longer fit. And the prevailing assumptions in a monarchy about who should pay led to the effort to regulate and bring order to Britain’s “ungrateful” colonies. In the space of less than a generation, the logic of events made clear that despite all that the English and Americans shared; in the distribution of political power they were fundamentally at odds.

“And that’s the way the cookie crumbles.”

(Who says that on the announcements in the morning?)