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There is no such thing as unbiased history. There are numerous versions and numerous perspectives on each event. American history is most commonly taught from the perspective of the European settlers. That is analogous to teaching the history of Taiwan through the eyes of the mainlanders. Therefore, in the early years of US History there is more focus on Europe than on Native Americans. This focusing on one group of people at the expense of another is called ethnocentrism, which comes from the words ethnic (classifying a group by background, nationality, whatever) and central. In the name of preparing you to study abroad and in the name of saving time, I will do the same. Adapt to your teacher. If he or she wants to teach American history through the eyes of Polish bartenders, you go with it. There is too much US History to teach everything. Therefore a teacher must decide what is most important and teach only the highlights. Sometimes teachers will try to look at history as one continuous line (such as a struggle for a specific goal) or sometimes they look at it in terms of eras and specific events. I will try to balance the two. In my study of history, I tend to focus on military conflicts. That is what I enjoy studying and that is what makes the most sense to me. I view social history in relation to the wars that surround it. Everyone has his or her own way of understanding history. No one person’s is better than any others. Try to find whatever works for you. If something is interesting it’s easier to learn. The important thing is that you get the main ideas (which it is sometimes tricky to discover what those are) and you can put them in chronological order. At the beginning I will cover almost all of the important facts. When you start your course next year, it will be similar to the first couple classes I teach in here. Your teacher next year will go into much greater detail because he or she will have more time to do so. As the course goes on, I will begin to cover only the most important points. That means you will have to write down a higher percentage of what I say. Your note taking skills are important. Later in this course, I will be going so fast as to cover the entire Cold War in two-hours. Amazing, you say? I agree, but before too long we will all be on planes for America and it will be too late to help you, so I will just cover the key ideas. I am going into greater detail at first to allow you to have a better chance of retaining some of the information and because the first few class periods next year will be the most stressful, so I want to give you a stronger base for it. By the time your teacher next year gets to the Cold War, you will have firmly established study habits and you can handle all the new stuff. Now that I have given a little introduction to the study of history, let me give an introduction to this class. Each class I will get here a little early and write about 20 words on the board. These are the key points for the day. If you get nothing else from the lecture, make sure you understand the meaning of each one of the terms. I will pick about 8 of these for the test. For each term, try to get a description and a time period where appropriate. Here are some examples about what you notes you should have for each term:
Today's Key Vocabulary:
Today's Essay Questions:
Pay close attention. Today we will cover about 36,685 years of history. The first humans came to the Americas in the Ice Age. Approximately 35,000 B.C. people followed game across a great stretch of land connecting Asia with North America. The Ice Age reduced the water level because so much water was held in the glaciers and thus it exposed the Bering Land Bridge across the Bering Straits. The Ice Ages started 70,000 BC and ended about 14,500 BC, so 35,000 is just a guess. They most likely never knew they crossed into a new land and they eventually expanded and spread around the fertile new land. Now fast-forward ahead 36,000 years (yeah! only 685 more years to go today) and those people are what we call Native Americans. Christopher Columbus is widely known as the first European to set foot on the Americas. Actually Viking Leif Ericsson of Iceland landed on modern day Newfoundland around the year 1000. His father and grandfather were convicted murders, so the family was always looking for a new place to live (those convicted of murder could be killed legally by anyone in his native country who is interested). The ruins of the colony he started have been found on the south tip of Newfoundland. Many more explorers would follow and there are many famous
for finding one part of the Americas or another. Their motivation is as
important as their discoveries in the study of this era of history. So if Columbus was the first to find the Americas for the European powers, why don’t we call it North Columbus and South Columbus? Because Amerigo Vespucci claimed to be the first explorer of the new lands. In reality he was the first to realize it was the New World and not the east. Five years after Columbus, Vespucci sailed to modern day Brazil trying to find the westerly route also in the name of the Spanish. Another traveler who made an important contribution was John Cabot, who was seeking a Northwest Passage to the Orient. He knew of Columbus’s discovery five years sooner, but he thought it was possible to go up and over the New World to the orient. Most of the earliest explorers of North America were in search of the same thing. About the same time, Ferdinand Magellan was the first person to successfully circumnavigate the globe. The Portuguese explorer convinced the Spanish king that the world was much smaller than commonly believed and thus set sail with five ships to make the big loop. He sailed south of South America and through Oceania and then south of Africa. He actually got killed in tribal warfare in Guam, but as he was the brains and leader of the journey, he is given credit. Only one of his five ships (the Victoria) made it back to Spain. The trip took three years. In the years that followed, many more Spaniards set sail for the New World in search of great treasure. While you will probably have to memorize each one and what he explored in a future US History course, for this course, it is enough to learn the term Conquistador—Spanish for conqueror. The Europeans—especially the Spanish who had just finished a nasty war with the Moors and thus accustomed to being mean—saw the Indians as primitive and thus “natural slaves.” They didn’t find it easy to establish a real settlement in the New World though, because they came with soldiers not laborers and other fit to become settlers. Francisco Pizarro and Hernan Cortez were two of the most famous conquistadors. Among the Native Americans they conquered were the ancient civilizations of the Aztecs and the Mayas. Most of these explorers were looking for rumored cities of gold. One of the many ways that these men changed the lives of the Indians forever was the introduction of horses. Now days, it is common to speak ill of Columbus and the conquistadors for human rights violations, a very 20th century concept. Even the text does it. It is important when studying history to “judge a man with his times.” The same is true of people who try to make George Washington out as a villain for owning slaves, but we will get to that soon enough. The discovery of the New World set into motion the events that would eventually create the American superpower (although not for many, many years). But America was not born a superpower and will not be even close to being one for many years of history to come. Many Americans wrongly assume that because America is the greatest—in terms of power, I will leave you to form your own opinions about it otherwise—superpower in history, it was always meant to be. They feel that America became a superpower because it has all the right answers and therefore it has the right or responsibility to tell everyone else what to do—and you can see this in action throughout American history. I won’t spoil the surprise as to how the United States becomes the top power and why, but watch for it as we follow American history. That would be a great final exam essay question. Hint. Hint. More harmful to the Native American cultures than all the wars and enslavement, was the European diseases. Europeans had built up tolerances to diseases such as smallpox (a virus being weaponized by Iraq for reintroduction into the world) over time and thus could carry it without becoming ill. When the early Europeans arrived in the Americas, it is estimated that there were about 40 million Indians. By the time European diseases spread through the mainland, that number dropped so much that the Americas have a reputation for being relatively uninhabited when the colonists arrived. The virus exchange went both ways though. The early settlers came down with viruses such as yellow fever, which they didn’t have in Western Europe and many settlements failed because of such diseases. So other than the horrible diseases—which went both ways; what allowed the Spaniards to defeat the Mayan and Aztec civilizations? It certainly wasn’t numbers, as the Conquistadors conquered the two sizable civilizations with only a couple hundred people. (Higher technology and practice in the ways of war.) During the era of colonization, the New World was viewed as an area free of international law. Because of this perception of anarchy, it was common for ships to raid one another and steal the treasures found in the colonies. Among the greatest pirates was British Sir Francis Drake. He scored countless riches for the British crown in his raids on Spanish ships. He is remembered by some as one of the greatest sea captains of all times because of his role in the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. The British victory over the Spanish navy made the Brits into the dominant power of the day and it the rise of the British Navy which made that victory possible was almost entirely financed by treasure stolen in the name of the Queen. The British would have the upper hand in the colonization of the new world for years to come. The dominance of the British Navy would last until WWI. Sir Walter Raleigh established the first colony in North America on Roanoke Island off modern day North Carolina in 1585. He had managed to gain a charter from British Queen Elizabeth I (the current Queen is Elizabeth II) to establish a colony in the new world named Virginia in her honor—she was known as the “virgin queen” as she was unmarried and coincidently extremely unattractive from generations of inbreeding. On this island, the colonists set up a fort and brought the first females to the New World in hopes of establishing a permanent colony. There were 117 people in all. It is on this island that the first European child was born in the new world. Her name was Virginia Dare (named in honor of the queen, same as the colony). In 1587, John White, the patron of the colony took the ships back with him to England to get more supplies as the colonies were not yet self-sufficient. That would be the last time that Virginia Dare, or any of the families left behind were seen again. Roanoke Colony—or the Lost Colony” as it is commonly known—is one of the great mysteries in American history. White was prevented from leaving England to return the colonies because of conflict between the British Navy and the Spanish Armada. White was finally able to get a few small ships to set sail—since they were of no value for war—and stopped along the way for piracy of Spanish ships (as was the practice) but ended up getting robbed blind itself. They then had to return to England for more supplies. It wasn’t until 1590, that White and crew finally got back to Roanoke Island and they found the island uninhabited. Before leaving, those left behind had agreed that if they for some reason had to leave the island they would leave behind a message saying where they had gone. Upon returning to the island, they found the houses had been “taken down” and the word “Croatoan” was carved on a post. The men had to leave for England before they could go to the nearby island of Croatoan to look for survivors. It was 1607 before the search began again. The settlers of Jamestown looked for them. In the decades that followed, it was never discovered had Indians slaughtered them or had they been saved by them. There were rumors in the years that followed of a tribe of Indians with blue eyes, leading many historians to believe that the women had intermarried with a friendly tribe. Twenty years after the failed attempt in Roanoke, in 1607, the British made a second try. They created two companies to handle the colonization: the London Company was in charge of the southern area and the Plymouth Company was in charge of the northern half. The London Company sent settlers to start a colony on the James River in an area they called Jamestown, Virginia (their trip was commissioned by the new king of England, James I). Their mission from the king was to find gold, find a water route to Asia, and find the lost colonists. This colony succeeded and would go on to become the first successful British colony in modern America. The colony barely survived. Only 32 of the original 105 lasted through the first winter. It was one amazing leader and a lot of luck that got them through those early years. Early colonists were soldiers claiming the land for king and country, therefore they were unskilled and the first colonies did poorly. Many of the soldiers were too proud to do manual labor, having come from wealth. Also working against them was the location they chose for their settlement. These 101 soldiers and four boys had chosen their site for its strategic defenses, allowing them great protection from an attacking force, but usually building your home in the middle of a nasty swamp isn’t a good idea because the mosquitoes carry malaria (yellow fever) and the water is not potable. The bitter winters were quite a challenge as well. If weather, bugs, laziness, and disease weren’t enough, they also had starvation and Indian attacks to worry about. In 1609, reinforcements from England arrived; they did more to reinforce the problems than to offer solutions. The new settlers provided 400 more mouths to feed and little in the way of supplies. The only man who could instill order and resolve their problems with the Indians was Capt. John Smith. Prior to the warring with the Indians, he was only one of seven men tapped for leadership of the colony. In battle, he proved his leadership and soon took charge. In 1607, while hunting deer, Smith and some others were captured by Indians who took him back to the Indian Chief Powhatan for a decision on his fate. It was there that, according to legend, the Chief’s daughter Pocahontas saved Smith’s life. The Chief had ordered him executed and while he lay tied up on the chopping block, 11-year old Pocahontas came to his rescue. There are many different versions of this famous tale. In some, the whole thing was arranged in advance and in others Smith was an aspiring fiction writer with an overactive imagination. Problems in the colony continued and Smith took some time alone to explore and map the Chesapeake Bay. Smith returned in 1608 to find the colony in chaos. He was soon chosen to head the colony and he instituted a strict policy of rigid discipline, increased security, and mandatory farming work for all. Under his leadership the colony thrived. Smith was injured in a gunpowder explosion and went back to England later that year. The harsh winter that followed has been called the starving time. In 1609, the colony almost followed the lead of Roanoke. That winter 90% of the colonists died and many turned to cannibalism to survive. The following year Lord De La War arrived with supply and more people. He had been appointed the first governor of the Virginia Colony by the King. Still there was no crop, mineral, or industry making the colonies profitable. In 1612, a settler named John Rolfe began commercially growing tobacco in the colony. He planted seeds from the Caribbean because he felt the tobacco being grown by the Indians was too harsh for European markets. In one of their many battles with Chief Powhattan’s local Indians, the colonists had captured Pocahontas. During the time she was held, she fell in love with Rolfe and they would get married two years later. She converted to Christianity—adopting the English name Rebecca—and her marriage secured a peace with the local Indians lasting until her death 8 years later at the age of 24. If you will excuse a brief digression, Disney made a movie called Pocahontas, which was supposed to teach little kids about the history of the Jamestown colony, but they didn’t think history in its true form was interesting enough or convenient for the story, so they rewrote history to have her marry John Smith. John Rolfe was too small a figure for their movie but in reality he was every bit as important as Smith. Were it not for his marriage and his tobacco, most historians think the colony would have failed. During this time, the colonists focused their efforts on growing their cash crop, tobacco. It soon became the currency of the new world. Soon tobacco farming was so profitable that laws had to be passed requiring farmers to grow some crops also. The money from its sale was making England rich as well because the sales had to flow through English ports (which will be important next class when we discuss the causes of the revolution). The need for more labor also had a drastic influence on American history. Soon Africans were being brought to the mainland from Africa to work in the fields. 1619 was a Red Letter Year because in that one year:
There was a colony founded by the Dutch in 1614 with the intent of capturing furs for sale in Europe. The Dutch established a trading relationship with the local tribes, which were unified into the Five Nations of the Iroquois. In 1617, they built their first fort, where the capital city of Albany now stands. All of the Dutch settlements in the area were collectively known as New Netherlands. New Yorkers love to tell the story of the purchase of the island of Manhattan. Peter Minuit, the governor of the Dutch colony negotiated with the local Lenape Indians to purchase the island for $24 worth of cloth, kettles, axes, etc. Manhattan is the currently among the most expensive real estate in the world. The island, which is only about 80 square km, is the home to Wall Street, the United Nations, Madison Square Gardens (home to the NY Knicks and NY Rangers), the Empire State Building, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, and the former location of the Twin Trade Towers. All of this Dutch territory was surrendered to the English in 1664, when the Governor Peter Stuyvesant gave it all over to the brother of the brother of the King of England, the Duke of York. The colony was then renamed New York in his honor. While Virginia and New York were being settled with hopes of riches, soon arrived groups of settlers with different intentions entirely. In England, there was an official state church—the Church of England. It was illegal to practice any other religion. A group called the Puritans set out to reform the church, and when that failed, they set out to create a colony where they could practice their own religion. 100 or so of them set sail for the new world and redirected by a storm, they landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. During their journey upon their famous ship—the Mayflower—they set up a new government. The Mayflower Compact, as the document would come to be known, was the basis for the government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It was the first representative government in the new land. Arriving in the winter, about half of the Pilgrims died of starvation. Some local Indians helped teach the settlers how to plant maize (Indian name for corn). The first Thanksgiving is a direct result of the assistance that the natives gave to the settlers in the Massachusetts area. To thank the Indians for teaching them to grow maize, the settlers invited them to dinner when they harvested the crop. The term Pilgrim was used to refer to this group who had traveled to the new land to escape persecution and find a place where they could practice their religion freely. Pilgrim with a small p means person who journeys, especially for religious reasons. These men were much more idealistic and unbending than their southern counterparts. The movement of people to the Massachusetts Colony in search of religious freedom was, so far, the largest outward movement of people in English history. That movement of people included John Winthrop once he discovered that the colony was to be self-governing and not answerable to anyone back in England—or at least for the time being. Winthrop believed that previous colonies had failed because they were not religious oriented. The wealthiest and most influential of the early settlers in Massachusetts he was soon elected Governor. The original Pilgrims had thought that the Church of England was doomed and beyond repair. Winthrop, however still had hope and planned to initiate the reform in his colony. “We must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of the people are upon us,” said Winthrop. The idea of a colony as a role model for the rest of the world to follow lives on today. America in many ways is still striving to be that “city upon a hill” and the eyes of the world are truly on America. While the colony was a democracy, Winthrop ran the settlements like an iron-fisted dictator. This cost him the position multiple times, but he kept getting re-elected. He would serve four separate times as Governor. In 1636, the oppressively religious colony was the home to the first American college—one designed to train ministers—Harvard, named for its founder, Reverend John Harvard, who started the college with 400 books and a little money. This northern colony was not as lucky as Virginia to be blessed with tobacco. The northern economy was based on the trade of animal furs, the logging of trees—of which there was no shortage in America but was scarce enough in the Old World to be extremely profitable, the raising of livestock, and fishing off the shores of the New World. In 1632, English King Charles I gave granted a charter to George Calvert, Lord of Baltimore for a territory named Maryland to the north of Virginia. The colony was intended to be a home for Catholics, who didn’t get along too well with the religions of their neighbors and therefore hid their religious affiliation for many years. In 1649, however, Maryland passed the Toleration Act, making it legal to practice any religion as long as it was Christian, which was far ahead of many colonies. It was also illegal to use hostile language about other religions. Roger Williams was driven out of Massachusetts for speaking out against Governor, Winthrop. He felt that the policy of many settlers of stealing the Indian’s land was unchristian and he felt that a person’s relationship with God was a personal one, not decided by a congregation. After spending the winter with the Indians, he bought land from them and started a settlement named Providence. The new colony became a refuge for anyone seeking religious freedom and put into law a separation of church and state, which was the first time in the colonies and would become an would eventually become the colony of Rhode Island. It was not the only colony started by people banished from Winthrop’s Massachusetts. The ability of dissenters to be sent out on their own created a unique environment in America. If you didn’t like the local government, go out on your own. Only Native Americans—who were either befriended or battled—and courage limited available land. Also founded by people kicked out of Massachusetts was Clergyman Thomas Hooker who started Connecticut in 1636. It was 1662 before it obtained a royal charter under John Winthrop Jr. 1631 was the first settlement attempted in modern day Delaware. Dutch traders sought a fur trading post, but the natives killed all the settlers. Less than a decade later, Peter Minuet—the same man who bought Manhattan—led a group of Swedish settlers into the region. In 1655, the Dutch took over New Sweden and nine years later the English took over this territory at the same time as New York. In 1682, it became part of the territory of William Penn, but his failure to control the territory resulted in it becoming independent once and for all in 1701. John Wheelwright, also banished from the not-so-tolerant Massachusetts colony, founded the colony of New Hampshire. In 1653, Virginians began moving south to the North Carolina region provide a buffer on the southern frontier. In 1663, King Charles II created the colony of (South) Carolina—which was named for him. Settlers from the Caribbean founded the town of Charles Town—or Charleston as the home of the Citadel is currently called—in 1670. After obtaining control of the Dutch territories, the Duke of York made a grant to Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley. That piece of land became New Jersey. In 1681, William Penn and his Society of Friends—Quakers—were granted the territory, which is currently Pennsylvania. The last of the 13 colonies to be founded was Georgia, which all though there were a few Spanish settlements in the area, but the area that is now Georgia was originally just part of the southern portion of the Carolina grant. In 1732, King George II granted Georgia to British General Oglethorpe, which was intended to provide a second chance for England’s poor and to provide protection from the Spanish colony to the south. Florida was a Spanish colony and there was no love lost between the English and Spanish. In England at the time, debtors who fell behind on their payments were put into debtor’s prison, where they were kept until they paid the debt. If you can figure out the logic of putting someone in jail—where they have no capability of earning money—until they can pay back the money… please tell me. Now that we have discussed all the original colonies, lets discuss some of the other events going on at the same time. In 1675 was the first of many major conflicts between the settlers and the natives. The first generation of settlers in the Massachusetts area had worked out an uneasy alliance with the Indians, one largely based on personal bonds. With the death of the first generation leaders on both sides that friendship started to break down and the colonists hunger for land further alienated the local tribes. In 1675, the local government tried to assert its control and brought in the Indian chief by gunpoint for questioning. After questioning, he sickened and died. His brother Metacomet—or King Philip as the colonists knew him—declared war on the settlers. The fighting was on a grand scale and lasted until one of the natives fighting on the side of the whites (some of them had converted to Christianity and fought against their fellow natives) killed Metacomet in 1676. When the conflict ended, one in ten soldiers on both sides had been killed. In 1676 (one hundred years before the Revolution), was America’s first large scale revolt. Some see this as the start of America’s revolutionary nature; others see it as a simple power struggle between two men. Bacon’s Rebellion occurred when young Nathaniel Bacon rose up against Governor of Virginia Sir William Berkeley. The colonists in Virginia had been getting increasingly frustrated with the royal appointed governor over his inability to solve the Indian problem. The settlers had been having economic problems, poor weather, and other bad luck in recent years and they increasingly looked to the Indians as a people against whom they could vent their frustration. The Indian problems had started to get serious the year before, when a civil dispute turned lethal and then in retaliation, the settlers attacked the wrong tribe. Berkeley was determined to make peace, while Bacon and most of the settlers were determined to have war. Berkeley alienated the settlers with his search for peace, meanwhile the taxes were rising. Soon Bacon became the elected leader of a militia formed to battle the Indians—because he was the only one wealthy enough to finance it all. This increased tensions between the two men and soon Bacon’s men surrounded the statehouse demanding Bacon be put in charge of the colonial militias so he could use them against the Indians. Power switched hands in the rebellion a few times and Bacon burned most of Jamestown before he died of lice. After the rebellion ended, the Governor had 17 of Bacon’s followers executed. That’s it for today. Tomorrow is the road to the American Revolution and the war itself.
Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, New Hampshire, the Carolinas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Georgia did not develop as the United States. Yet by the end of this class, they will be just that. The tale of how these 13 independently formed and very different colonies would form into one nation and separate itself from its mother country is an intriguing one and an important one for students of US history. In 1650, the British Parliament passed the First Navigation Laws to control colonial commerce. Throughout this time period, the British government was careful not to allow the emergence of American industry. This kept the colonies dependent on their mother country but it frustrated the colonists that they had all the supplies but were unable to make goods which they had to purchase for much more money than they were This is just one part of the mercantilist policies of Great Britain—and the other European powers during this time. Mercantilism is the economic system where the major powers try to collect precious metals such as gold and silver by exporting more than they import. Also part of this policy was exploiting the colonies for advantage of the mother country. In 1682, an explorer named LaSalle traveled the Mississippi, resulting in France’s claim to most of the middle of what is now America. That means that France, Spain, and Britain were now the big powers in terms of colonies. In this era, Puritan churches were in reform. The very conservative churches had started to open their doors to anyone to expand their membership. They were one of the few churches in the new world that had a female majority, but that would soon prove a problem. That problem was the Salem Witch Trials, which happened when a group of teenage girls in a Salem, Massachusetts church claimed to have been bewitched by some of the older women in the church. A witch-hunt started and 20 women and two dogs were legally lynched. Most of them were hanged but one was pressed to death. The governor finally stopped the hysteria because his wife was accused. It had all been about personal grudges and use of religion to settle the score. Such craziness was common in Europe, where the punishments were even worse. How can a punishment be worse than hanging or pressing you ask? In England, they used to tie heavy weights to suspected witches and throw them in a lake, if you drowned you were innocent (and dead), if you floated you were a witch and then burned at the stake. They also used various medieval tortures such as quartering and death by hot pokers. Last class we discussed how the 13 original colonies were the result of many countries settling in the New World and how people with very different backgrounds settled together. In some cases the peoples stayed together but in most cases the Europeans intermarried once they arrived in the colonies. In this time, the New World was the most diverse area in the world. English made about half of the settlers, but blacks made up 20%, Scottish, German, Irish, Dutch and countless other European countries were also represented. It was this mixture of cultures that earned the new country that would soon form the nickname the Melting Pot. All of the cultures mixed and combined to create a unique culture: an American culture. A revival is a time period where many people increase their dedication to the church in a short time period. Throughout history, there have been many. The most famous one in this time period is the Great Awakening in which Massachusetts preacher Jonathan Edwards shook things up in his small town and started a pattern that soon swept the country. Church attendance in recent years had declined because various church reforms had reduced the qualifications for admission and they had backed away from the ideas of humanity being predestined to damnation, or that when you were born you were going to go to hell unless you did something about it. People started to think if they led good lives, they need not be religious or go to church to get to heaven. Edwards told his Puritan congregation that they would all go to hell for the littlest error and described the horrors of hell for hours. At one point, he what amounts to God is holding you over the pits of hell and he hates you and he thinks you are of no value but to be cast into the fires of hell. This revival soon spread into other churches and the idea of human stupidity in the face of God spread and church membership grew significantly. I have never seen this said in any history book, but I expect that many of the churchgoers were only attending for the great shows and acting. One preacher was famous for stripping half-naked and preaching while dancing around a stage of flaming torches. I’m not a religious man, but I’d go see something that exciting. European powers were constantly battling one another in the hopes of gaining some kind of advantage. Many times these wars would spill over into the new world. With the British colonies on the coast, the Spanish to the South and the French along the Mississippi it is little surprise. The colonists usually did not see the wars as their problems and the fighting occurred mostly in Europe or on the Atlantic. The wars had another name in the colonies as well. The names they chose show a great deal about their opinions. The War of the League of Augsburg was known in the colonies as King William’s War. The War of Spanish Succession was known in the colonies as Queen Anne’s War. The War of Austrian Succession was King George’s War to the colonists. One of the wars, which had the same name in Europe and the colonies, was the War of Jenkins Ear. Before you start writing furiously, let me say this part is of very little historical significance, so maybe you want to let your hand rest a second. I just want to share this humorous anecdote. After the War of Spanish Succession, the British had limited trading rights with the Spanish colonies, but stress was high because of smuggling. British Captain Jenkins was stopped by Spanish authorities and in the encounter, the Spanish commander sliced off Jenkins’s ear with his sword and made a remark like “If your King were here, I would do the same to him.” Jenkins whined to the King and war was declared. The fighting was mostly confined to the Caribbean and the border of Georgia and Florida before it merged into the War of Austrian Succession. Not all of the wars were European based though. The issues and fighting in the French & Indian War (known to Europeans as the Seven Years War) were colonial. It began in 1754 with competition between the expanding English and fur-trading French. The Ohio Valley was increasingly important to both nations and a war resulted. The French needed the region if they ever hoped to connect their possessions in the Mississippi Valley with their holdings in Canada. The British settlers needed the region to expand further west and to compete with the French traders for economically livelihood. The governor of Virginia asked a 21 year-old Virginian to go secure Virginia’s claims on the region. George Washington was made a lieutenant colonel and given command of 150 militiamen. Washington soon encountered the French and scared them off. He was building a fort when the French returned with reinforcements. Washington was forced to surrender the fort—which he had named Fort Necessity and his entire command. The French allowed him to march home with his honor though. The war was fought in the colonies for two years before war was declared between Britain and France (which is why the French and Indian War lasted nine years, but was called the Seven Years War in Europe). That war was fought in Europe, Asia, and Africa in addition to the colonies. The decisive theater was Germany where the French forces were seriously weakened, preventing them from doing much in the colonies. The French had allied with their fur-trading partner Indian tribes (hence the name). Not all tribes sided with the French though; there were actually Indians on both sides. The colonies pulled together for the first time to fight this war. In previous wars, there was no unity shown by the separate British colonies. They felt it wasn’t there concern. The British forces in the war did poorly. An elderly British general named Braddock insisted on bringing the European style of fighting to the new world, while the colonists under his command preferred tactics closer to hunting. Braddock thought that hiding behind trees or wearing subdued colors was cowardice. He marched them in straight lines dragging artillery. The advance was slow as trees were cut down to make room for them. Braddock was beaten by a much smaller army because their opponents didn’t line up in straight lines and because the British soldiers were wearing the traditional formal fighting coats, which were bright red. For this reason, British soldiers in this time and in the Revolutionary War as well, were called “redcoats.” None of the battles from this war are important and to be honest the military parts of the war are typically forgotten in history. The key points are that Washington emerges as a hero, Braddock and the Brits don’t understand New World warfare and they wear flashy red clothes. The results of the war are much more important. That war ended with the Peace of Paris in 1763. This war played a large part in the creation of the American Revolution because Britain tried to share the great cost of this war with the colonists, who they blamed for its start. The first attempt to share the cost of the war with the colonists was the Sugar Act of 1764, which was an import tax on various things including sugar and coffee. The colonial economy was already suffering and some tried to organize the colonists against the tax with moves like protests and boycotts of British goods. The efforts to fight the tax were not very successful, but it got the attention of the British enough to lead them to repeal the laws. One of the more effective arguments against the laws was “No taxation without representation,” meaning that a government that you cannot participate in has no right to tax you.Typically boycotts are voluntary, people who support a cause choose not to buy a product. In the case of the colonies, that was not always the case. In some of the boycotts that follow, those people who purchased the forbidden goods were found by a mob taken out into the streets and tarred and feathered. In some cases their houses were burned down as well. The British however didn’t learn their lesson and soon placed a new tax called the Stamp Act. This new tax covered many new goods, basically all papers from newspaper to playing cards. More importantly it was a direct tax meaning the average person saw the cost. The merchants paid the import tax so in the view of the average person; the cost just went up a little. For their papers, they paid themselves and saw every penny paid. The British government thought this tax very reasonable, in fact the British people had been paying a much higher tax on their papers for many years. The colonists launched another boycott and burned down most of the tax collection buildings. Soon that tax too was repealed.Many in Parliament saw the solution to these taxation problems to be a steady increase in taxes, slowly over time. One powerful Member of Parliament, however, disagreed. The result was the Townshend Acts. His tactic was to tax many more goods from paper to tea, but he was careful to make it an indirect tax, as had been the Sugar Act. This was too late to fool the colonists, who had been irritated after the Stamp Act. Initially the response was light, however, in large part because they colonists could buy smuggled tea cheaply, thus ending the need to pay that tax. The British saw this as a collapse of law and order and soon they began sending British redcoats to the colonies to enforce the laws. Big mistake. The colonists made it practice to harass the soldiers whenever they could. In one instance they went too far. About 60 colonists attacked a squad of ten soldiers. One of the soldiers was attacked with a club and another was knocked down. Acting without orders, but with good reason, the soldiers fired on the crowd. After the public relations geniuses of Sam Adams and Paul Revere and others in favor of independence finished, the story looked quite different. The fight was named the Boston Massacre and it was portrayed as if the soldiers needlessly shot a large number of innocent people. The Boston Tea Party occurred when the governor of Massachusetts refused to be scared a second time. His house had been burned in the protest of the Stamp Act and he refused to be intimidated. In the other major port cities, the colonists refused to let the British Tea be unloaded, but the governor of Massachusetts ordered that no ship could leave the port until the tea was unloaded. Extremists and troublemakers joined together to make sure that tea would never be unloaded. A group calling themselves the Sons of Liberty dressed as Indians and attacked the ship, throwing its cargo of 342 chests of tea into the harbor. The British were furious, but as in the past, their reaction would just create more trouble. In January of 1776, the recent immigrant Thomas Paine published a pamphlet entitled “Common Sense.” He said that all of the colonies problems were the fault of British King George III and the colonies should immediately declare themselves independent. It was written in the language of the common people and was the first document to openly call for independence. Many historians regard this document as the intellectual spark that started the revolution. The most famous quote from the work reads, “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” During the upcoming months, he wrote the less famous, but equally influential series called “The Crisis.” When viewed as a percentage of the population, his articles were more popular than the modern Super Bowl. For the rest of his life he was writing similar extremely timely and enormously controversial articles and books. He would soon alienate the English, French, and Americans and die in poverty. Living in all three countries at one time or another, he was not really an American, but history remembers him as a great American patriot. The title of philosopher fits him better, but he was truly dedicated to democracy and self-rule. Patrick Henry had been instrumental in the increasing Anti-King feelings that existed in Virginia in the late 1760’s and through the 1770’s. He consistently spoke against the King’s policies to the point of treason. In 1775, his speeches would secure him a place in Virginian and American history for sure. He was speaking before the Virginia House of Burgesses in an attempt to encourage others to take up arms against the crown. Memorize his words, they are among the most powerful in US history: “Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? … I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” After his speech, the colony passed the measure, thus starting the revolution in Virginia. Not all people in the colonies sought independence. Many were loyalists, or people loyal to the King, or as the patriots called them Tories, representing the British political party in power at the time. It wasn’t meant to be a compliment. According to some historians, half of the colonists were loyal to the British crown. As the war progressed, many of them left to escape being captured or mistreated. It is important to remember that most of the colonists were only the first or second generation from England. Meaning many of them had been born in England or their parents had. The ties between the colony and its mother country were strong and the cultural connection was undeniable. Were these people the traitors to their country or were the rebellious group that wanted to separate the traitors? History tends to judge that based on who wins. Remember this when the Civil War comes around next century. Initially the idea of an independent America was held only by a select few, but that group was successful in convincing the others through speeches like the one by Patrick Henry. In response to the actions of the Sons of Liberty, the crown passed the Coercive Acts, which the colonists called the Intolerable Acts. This was intended to hurt Boston as much as it was to raise money and its greatest significance was by helping to unify the colonies together against the crown. They saw the way Boston was being treated and feared that if they did not act, they could be next. The most dramatic of the acts was the Boston Port Act, which closed the harbor until the damages from the tea party were paid for. That destroyed the economy of Massachusetts. Also included were laws removing many of the freedoms the colonists had enjoyed for many years including the right to assemble and the right to trial by jury. The colonies soon came together to show sympathy and provide food aid for the Massachusetts colony. In response to the Intolerable Acts, the colonies all sent representatives to a Continental Congress in 1774.The group met in Philadelphia and was intended to be a way to gather together to discuss complaints. The difference between the colonies soon melted away as these men soon got to know each other well. Some of the colonies most influential speakers were there and it swayed many leaders in favor of independence. The colonies decided on a full boycott of British products until all of the taxes were removed. British Parliament rejected the Congress’s plan and many state militias began to prepare openly for a war, just incase. The Congress went home, but would soon meet again. I have only asked you to remember a few of the battles from the Revolutionary War. This war did not actually start with the Declaration of Independence, as many people wrongly believe. In fact the open conflict between American patriots and British red coats was one of the driving forces behind that declaration. The fighting actually started in the small towns of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. The colonists had been increasingly open in their defiance of the British laws and in response the British commander in Boston ordered that some troops go to the nearby towns to seize colonial gunpowder in control of the rebels and if possible grab some of the troublemakers. The British had a disadvantage though. Living in the city of Boston was a young man named Paul Revere. He was a silversmith and he had arranged for someone living near the British soldiers to hang lanterns in the bell tower of a nearby church to signal the British forces leaving the city. The arrangement was made famous by a famous poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.” The man in the church hung the lanterns on the late night of 18 April 1775 giving Revere the signal. He rode off as fast as he could to warn the townspeople, “The Redcoats are coming. The redcoats are coming.” The advanced warning allowed them time to prepare and for the famous patriots to escape. At Lexington, the British met with the local “minutemen,” called such because they were militia who could respond to a crisis on a minutes notice. The minutemen did not get out of the way rapidly enough for the redcoats, who fired on the men, killing eight. The redcoats then headed to Concord to complete their mission only to find some more trouble. This time the colonists had the advantage. The British soldiers were still being trained in European warfare with large formations, bright uniforms, and other formalities. The patriots had no such training and were perfectly happy to hide in the bushes and shoot the marching men. About 300 of the British would be hit before making it back to Boston. Ralph Waldo Emerson, a great American writer, wrote the “Concord Hymn” which referred to that day’s events as the “shot heard round the world.” Another famous patriot was Thomas Jefferson, a man we will discuss more in detail later as he will go on to become America’s third president. His first, and some would argue his greatest contribution to America however was writing the Declaration of Independence. He had been asked to do so by the second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia. Richard Henry Lee, the representative of Virginia, achieved a resolution declaring the colonies to be independent, but Jefferson was chosen to write the formal declaration. Jefferson rarely gave speeches because he was not a very good public speaker, but his ability to write was unmatched. The declaration, which was ratified July 4, 1776, started with the announcement that the United States was an independent country and not any longer attached to Britain. The next paragraph however is more historic and more influential on the course of history: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…” Basically his argument was that all people had certain natural rights and because the King had not respected these rights, the colonists had the right to rebel. It is impossible to overestimate the bravery that these men took by signing this document. They were obviously committing treason to the crown. The king did not treat rebellion nicely. Just to give an example of how King George treated such people, here is a quote from the death sentence given to some rebels from Ireland a few years later: “[You] are to be hanged by the neck, but not until you are dead; for while you are still living your bodies are to be taken down, your bowels torn out and burned before your faces, your heads then cut off, and your bodies divided each into four quarters, and your heads and quarters to be then at the King’s disposal; and may the Almighty God have mercy on your souls.” All of this didn’t discourage patriot John Hancock, the leader of the Continental Congress. When it came time to sign the declaration, Hancock had just heard that the Royal Ministry in England had put a reward out for his capture. He signed his name in the center in overly large letters with the quote, “The British ministry can read that name without spectacles; let them double their reward." Frenchman Marquis de Lafayette came to America early in the war to offer his sword to the American army in part because of money and in part because of a support for the ideas of liberty and freedom. Not only did he do a great job as an aide to General Washington, but he would later be essential in convincing the French to support the colonists. After the conclusion of the war, he would return to France and help spark the French Revolution that overturned the very government that aided America. The ideas America stood for defeated the country that helped them achieve it. Bunker Hill was a colonists victory but not without cost. The colonists took a hill overlooking Boston. The British had taken the city of Boston, but were suffering from the American attacks. They decided to attack the hill with a direct bayonet charge instead of trying to flank it. This was a deadly mistake, resulting in over 1000 British casualties as the Americans shot down from protected positions. American losses were about 400 and only because they ran out of ammunition and had to retreat. It showed the colonists that the British were not invincible and became a mark of patriotism as the new country emerged. It also resulted in the King pronouncing the colonies officially in rebellion. Before this time, the war was going on, but the colonists mostly claimed they did not seek independence. After this point, there was no way out. The King made up their minds for them and the road to independence was really their only choice. Also alienating the colonists was the king’s decision to hire mercenaries. Instead of forcing British people to join the war effort, which would have been very unpopular at home, he decided to pay people from other countries to fight for him. Among those that he hired were men from the German province of Hesse. These men were famous around the world for their brutality. Many colonists angered at including outsiders as what they saw as an internal problem, especially brutal outsiders. By this point it seemed that everything the king did pushed some people closer to revolution. Some of the greatest quotes in American history were not actually said by the person who they are attributed to. The best two examples are from this era: Nathan Hale and John Paul Jones. Nathan Hale was a junior officer in the Continental Army who had been trained as a schoolteacher. When General Washington needed a spy to go behind British lines and report back on their movements, Hale volunteered to go, undercover as a schoolteacher. Eventually he was caught and hanged. His last words were “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” While not to reduce Hale’s status as a true American hero, his words were actually not quite as poetic. His biographer wrote those particular words years later and the legend began. Similarly, the first hero of the US Navy, John Paul Jones, stepped into history with a similar comment, He was on a US Navy ship that was being beaten by a British ship and the Brits had asked for his surrender. “I have not yet begun to fight,” he is said to have replied. Facing the strongest navy in the world and having courage to fight the odds is impressive but he denied the quote, having answered the demand to surrender with, as he put it, a “most determined negative.” Now that I have shared these little historical tidbits with you, it is important to point out that most historians still connect these great sayings with these great men. If you get a test that wants to know who said one of these sayings, don’t try to be a smart guy. You should put the answer down that will get you the good grade. After all, there is rarely a right or wrong in history, just many versions of the truth. The French became American allies late in the war. They had for the first stages of the war, declined to aid the colonists for fear that the colonists were incapable of winning. After all, the Americans had been losing pretty consistently and had yet to win an important battle. They told the Americans they needed proof that the colonists could win, and then they would join. The American army proved itself at the Battle of Saratoga in October of 1777. The details of the battle aren’t really important, but the superior American leadership is usually seen as the cause of victory. Baron von Steuben was an officer on the Prussian General Staff who retired and after some tough times needed work. He met with Benjamin Franklin, who was the Ambassador to France at the time and arranged to work for General Washington. He arrived in the colonies just in time. During the winter of 1977-78, he trained the American soldiers under Washington. He turned a group of untrained farmers into an army. He did this by training one model group of 100 men extremely well and then using those men as a cadre to teach the others. This closely resembles the American drill sergeant system used in the US Army to this day. His training focused on marching and rifle drill but also put heavy emphasis on discipline in all things including cleanliness. His training would pay off greatly in the coming months and his influence continues to this day. Benedict Arnold’s name is a synonym for traitor in the United States. He served heroically in the continental army for many years. He was wounded twice in battle, including Saratoga where his willingness to risk his own life motivated the men to take the victory. Throughout his career, he had been unhappy with the speed of his promotions and often didn’t get along well with many of his senior officers. He had also always been bad with money, so when he was appointed Commandant of the important city of Philadelphia, he used his power to make some money. He got caught and Congress removed him from power. Through his personal connections with Washington, however he managed to get command of West Point, which he immediately began to deal with the British to surrender to them. Washington got wind of the plan before it could occur and Arnold escaped before Washington and certain death for treason caught him. Having served his country so proudly and having been such a prominent leader, his turning against America is something history would never forgive. The very successful British general Lord Cornwallis was about to make a mistake that would bring about the end of the war. His campaigns in Virginia had worn out his supplies. Like most of the British troops, he was reliant on ships for resupply. He headed for the Chesapeake Bay where he was supposed to meet with the British Navy. The British naval superiority he counted on had slipped away. He would soon be trapped at Yorktown with George Washington’s colonials cutting him off from the ground and the French navy preventing resupply or a water escape. Cornwallis realized there was no way out and surrendered his entire command of 7,000 men on October 19, 1781. The war would continue until 1783 when the Treaty of Paris was signed. The end of the war, however, was determined at Yorktown. After that, it was just a matter of a few small units clashing until the political victory met up with the military triumph. This outcome was not as much because of a large number of American victories or an overwhelming amount of support from France. In reality their assistance to the colonists is usually exaggerated, their support was mostly in the form of supplies like gunpowder. The result was mostly the result of good luck and good leadership, both were things the Brits lacked in this war. In the Treaty of Paris of 1783—called such because there are countless treaties of Paris in history—the British recognized the independence of the United States of America and set the boundaries as the Great Lakes to the north, the Mississippi on the west and Spanish Florida on the South. Maybe half of that territory was really a gift from Britain, as the Americans had not explored much less settled most of the western portions. The gift was not because the British had been beaten so badly, but because they were hoping to end on a friendly note and lure the Americans away from a French alliance. When looking at the colonies, it is important to keep one eye on what is happening between the European countries as so many decisions we made with the European powers in mind. I think we have covered enough for one day. Next class we will cover the years of 1783 until 1800 with a close look at the US Constitution and struggle to create a government for this new country. In some ways it will be more of a civics class than a history class, but it is important to understand the Constitution and our first couple presidents to understand the United States.
Today we will start where the last class left off—the Treaty of Paris—and continue through till the start of the 19th century and the election of Thomas Jefferson. This is a relatively small piece of history because we will spend quite a bit of time going over the structure of the US government and the US Constitution, which is important for understanding everything that comes after. The first Constitution of the United States was called the Articles of Confederation. It was passed in 1777, but not in effect until it was approved by the last state, Maryland, in 1781. The first point of the document was to name the country the United States of America. The second point guaranteed that every power not specifically given to the US government in the document was the right of the state alone. This was extremely important in getting the states to ratify, or approve, the document. The union of the states was described as a “mutual friendship and intercourse.” All in all it sounded more like a mutual defense treaty than a forming of a country. The purpose was less to create a unified country than to protect the states from being told what to do. There was no president to ensure that there would be no king. The Congress was weak and had nine members, one from each state. All votes required 9 of 13 votes to pass and Congress was not allowed to regulate commerce or enforce tax collection. Basically they could ask the states to collect money, but if they didn’t they could do nothing. Any amendments to the Articles had to be unanimously approved. The country however was heavily in debt after the war and had no ability to do anything about it. The economy of the colonies was in horrible shape as the colonies printed huge amounts of nearly worthless paper money and fought among themselves on taxes and land boundaries. Soon the arguing threatened to turn into anarchy. Captain Daniel Shays of western Massachusetts started what would be called Shay’s Rebellion in 1786. He and a group of Revolutionary War veterans had been losing their farms to mortgage foreclosures and they took up arms to demand lighter taxes, cheap paper money and suspension of property takeovers. This showed everyone that maybe they had gone too far with the ideas of the republic (government where the power lies in the hands of the people not the chief executive) and freedoms. Simply put, the new government was too weak to survive as a nation. Twelve of the thirteen original states sent delegates to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania—the first national capital—in 1787 to revise the Articles of Confederation. The meeting was held in secrecy and included only 55 men. This meeting is what historians call the Constitutional Convention because of its end result, the creation of the new government. The new government would be “of the people, for the people, and by the people” but its creation would be done behind locked doors by the educated elite. George Washington, the “sword of the revolution,” was chosen to lead the group, largely because of his ability to solve heated disputes. James Madison perhaps made the greatest contribution to the writing to the document and therefore is known as the “Father of the Constitution.” Many of those present had been involved in the writing of their state constitutions and most were the ablest of statesmen who studied the European governments and their benefits and shortfalls. The French Revolution having just ended, and the experience of the failed articles behind them, they had a greater chance than most to observe how to and not to form a government. The states would still be able to pass their own laws, but the federal (national) government would be much stronger. The government they created had three main parts, called branches. There were many controversial issues decided on during the convention. One such difference was between Virginia, who represented the bigger states, and New Jersey representing the smaller states. The Virginia Plan wanted Congressional membership based completely on population, meaning Virginia and the other large states would have much greater power than the smaller states. The New Jersey Plan called for equal representation in all states regardless of size. This would make New Jersey equal to Virginia and therefore a New Jersey vote more influential than a Virginia vote because Virginia had more voters. The Great Compromise, also known as the Connecticut Compromise, proposed that Congress consist of two houses (similar to the British Parliament). The Senate would include 2 representatives from each state regardless of size. The House of Representatives would have members based on population, with one being the minimum number. The branch of the government that passes laws is called the Legislative Branch. The next branch of the government is the Executive Branch. This is the President. Unlike the Articles, these men saw the need to have one man who represented the country. This is largely due to the success of the governor on Massachusetts in stopping Shays’s Rebellion. The President is the leader of the Executive Branch, which includes the Departments of Defense, Treasury, State, etc. He is the Commander in Chief of the military. He has the ability to appoint judges, veto bills from Congress, make treaties with foreign countries, and pardon those convicted of a crime. The third branch is the Judicial Branch, which is the court system. The highest court in the land is the US Supreme Court, which has the ability to overturn any lower court and any legislation or executive order that they deem unconstitutional. Below them are many more courts that handle most of the decisions. Maybe you are wondering which of the branches is the most powerful. Good question! The answer in theory is none of them. The reason I say this is that the framers of the Constitution worked extremely hard to ensure that none of the branches became stronger than the others so that no one person or group could truly control the government. They created a system of Checks and Balances that allowed each branch to keep an eye on the other two. Refer to your handout for the details of this. After a compromise was completed and the delegates approved the final draft of the Constitution, it was put to the states for approval. Each state would have to vote in its own legislature to approve the Constitution and join the new government. The new document amounted to a peaceful overthrow of the old government, so each country had to re-decide to join. Nine of the 13 states approval created a country that included only those nine and additional states would be added as they ratified the Constitution. The decisions in each state as to ratify or not was one of the hottest debates in American history. The country was divided into two groups, the Federalists who supported a strong national government and therefore the new Constitution, and the Anti-Federalists, who feared a stronger government and therefore wanted to keep the Articles. The Anti-Federalists who favored a weaker government were largely of the lower class because they feared the upper classes would use the Constitution to control them as the British had done. The Federalists had the best educated and most powerful behind it and therefore they eventually won. This wasn’t just a rich beating poor. The reason the rich supported the more order was that they had the most to benefit from order whereas the poor might gain from near anarchy. Enough Anti-Federalists were convinced to accept the Constitution by the promises of amendments to guarantee many of the freedoms not outlined in the Constitution. The ninth ratifying state was New Jersey and the new government went into effect. The last four soon fell into line because they could not form their own country and survive. The United States is not a pure democracy, meaning the people vote on and decide all governmental decisions, because the amount of government work would be ridiculously time consuming. Also, the President is not elected directly to prevent what the framers of the Constitution called a “mobocracy.” A government controlled truly and directly by the people could not be counted on to make the correct decisions because they are not well informed, or at this time well educated, and they tend to vote in their own short-termed self-interest. Therefore the government created was a representative democracy. The president is elected by an electoral college so as to prevent the rise of an extremist candidate. Many early leaders felt the Constitution left out very important freedoms. These men wanted protection that the new government wouldn’t trample what they felt was their rights in the same way that the British had. Therefore the first ten amendments to the US Constitution were passed and called the Bill of Rights. For this course, you need not memorize all of the first ten amendments. Here is what you must know. First one-GRASP (grievance, religion, assembly, petition). Second-right to bear arms. Fifth- freedom from self-incrimination. George Washington was selected as the first President of the United States. When he took office there was no group of advisors to assist him and it quickly became clear he needed advisors who could help him do the job. Therefore the Cabinet was created as a group of senior advisors who would each head a department that handled a specific part of the mission of the Executive Branch. The first was the Secretary of State, who handled foreign affairs. There are now 15 branches, including the Secretary of Homeland Security, a position created this year. In 1793, President Washington announced the Neutrality Proclamation, which stated that the United States did not seek to involve itself militarily with the wars of Europe. He warned the American people to avoid “entangling alliances” with European powers. In his time, Europe was constantly at war with one another and he felt America, protected by two oceans as borders and weak colonies on the other borders, should not get involved. This ignored the alliance with France after the American Revolution but allowed America relative peace while it grew as a country. At the time of the announcement, France was at war with England. He encouraged future leaders to seek trading partners but not alliances, which would draw America into wars around the world. Many anti-war activists and isolationists still use the same argument to encourage America to withdraw from the world. They use Washington’s reputation as our “founding father” as an argument in favor of abandoning the rest of the world. I would counter that in the modern world, oceans are not enough to protect us. It was a different world in 1793. The world is getting smaller and America needs to be actively involved in the world—as 9-11 showed us—or we are not safe. You are encouraged to make up your own opinion though. I think the final exam questions will probably be more ideological questions like “Should America be the world’s police, use examples from the history of the country to explain your answer.” Than questions like, “Why did America lose the Vietnam War?” Actually I take that back, be ready for both. The next revolution was the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. The national government had passed a tax on liquor, which severely hurt the grain farmers of Western Pennsylvania. They could not sell their grain for profit because of the high cost of transporting grain over land, but they could distill the grain and sell the liquor. This tax destroyed their ability to make money and therefore they followed the footsteps of the revolutionary war and they began tarring and feathering the tax collectors sent to collect. Even though the president had been a revolutionary himself, he was not about to allow this to happen. President Washington created a 12,000-man militia and put on his army uniform and personally commanded the forces as they defeated the local farmers quickly. In 1800, President Washington refused to seek a third term of office. He felt that no man who loved his country should seek to control it for too long. Also he feared that the position would grow to be based on him as a person rather than he as a person conforming to the position if he held it much longer. I suppose another reason is that he had been in the service of his country for most of his life, starting at 18 with the French & Indian War, and he wanted to go home to Mount Vernon in his home state of Virginia and stay with his wife, Martha. Washington in his farewell address encouraged the country not to form political parties. The creation of America’s two party system occurred because of differences between two of his advisors: Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. The main issue was the ability of the United States to create a national bank and borrow money. Broadly taken, was the strength of the national compared to the state governments. This was the Federalist and Anti-Federalist debate beginning again. Those people who supported Hamilton and his national bank called themselves the Federalists, while Jefferson’s supporters became the Democratic-Republicans. The names will change as history and the issues change, with some groups dying, others splitting, and others starting anew or changing their names. It is one of the more confusing things to keep track of, but just know that today the two main parties are the Democrats (such as Bill Clinton and Al Gore) and the Republicans (such as George Bush 1 and 2). Other hot issues of the time were whether or not to support France and how to conduct foreign policy. With Washington stepping aside, who would become the country’s second president? Washington’s Vice President John Adams became the representative of the Federalists and Jefferson was predictably chosen by the Democratic-Republicans. Jefferson had lost many supporters because of his support of France in the war so Adams won. Jefferson came in second place and therefore won the Vice-Presidency. This runner-up rule changed in 1804 with the 12th Amendment, but this was the original way. Under Washington, the government had worked hard to stay out of the war. France viewed that as moving too close to Britain, its enemy. France became capturing American navy ships in retaliation. When President Adams sent representatives to France, the government informed them, through three men nicknamed X, Y, and Z that if they wished to talk with the French government they would have to loan the French a large sum of money and give them a gift of even more. This would destroy any hope of peace, but without it, they could not hope for peace either. The American representatives refused, even though bribes like this were very common in European politics. The X, Y, Z Affair infuriated the American people, who began to chant “Millions for defense, but not one penny for tribute.” Soon the American military was being built up considerably and war was extremely close. France feared a fight with America and didn’t want to drive America even closer to Britain and therefore offered to receive a new representative. Adams destroyed his own political career in the name of saving the peace by sending a new representative. So many hawks (contrast with doves) were angered that he could not hope to be re-elected. Adams’s Federalists had taken advantage of the anti-French hysteria to pass a series of laws against the Democratic Republicans. They took the near-war situation as a chance to attack the base of their opponent’s party. Most foreigners arriving in America voted against the wealthier Federalists and the ruling party used this chance to attack them as pro-French. They raised the time to become a citizen from 5 to 14 years to reduce the number of foreigners eligible to become citizens. In addition to this alien law was sedition act, stating that anyone who spoke out against the government or its leaders was harming the country in a time of national crisis and thus could be jailed. When combined these political evils were called the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Jefferson, Immigration, Expansion
Let me start today’s class with a historical anecdote—one of my favorites. In December 1962, a president who we won’t discuss for eight or nine more classes, John F. Kennedy, invited all American Nobel Prize-winners to the White House for a dinner. He raised a toast and called the group the most distinguished group of intellectuals to ever dine in the White House, “with the possible exception of when Mr. Jefferson dined here alone.” What gives President Jefferson such a reputation for genius? He was the inventor of the copying machine, the swivel chair, the lazy susan, the pedometer, and he founded the University of Virginia. Rumor has it he was capable of writing in two languages at the same time—one with each hand. The election of 1800 was an interesting one. This was the first time that the two political parties openly competed for the presidency. John Adams, the incumbent, represented the Federalists and a very strong central government. Jefferson represented the Democratic-Republicans and was very much in favor of agriculture and states rights. Ironically, after winning the election, President Jefferson was behind drastically stretching the Constitution to increase the power of the federal government and the President. One of Jefferson’s first acts as President was to cut back the military a lot! The military had been increased to prepare for a possible war with France under the last president and Jefferson had no such intention. He founded West Point because he wanted to create educated professional officers because the well-educated tended to vote for his party and control of the military would be a nice bonus. He also cut the size of the military because he did not trust standing armies and feared that a large navy would draw them into European wars. This view would soon change however because of some North African bad guys. The Barbary Pirates blackmailed and plundered merchant ships that traveled in the Mediterranean Sea. Jefferson soon discovered that President Adams had been paying the pirates to leave American ships alone. Jefferson didn’t want a war, but he wasn’t willing to be blackmailed by pirates either. After the money was stopped, the pirates cut down the flagpole at the US Embassy in Tripoli. Jefferson, a pacifist, reluctantly sent | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
