Chapter+7+The+Creation+of+the+United+States,+1776-1786

Chapter 7: The Creation of the United States, 1776-1786 THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE: Heading into War
 * America: || Britain: ||
 * Home advantage || Had world’s best-equipped army ||
 * Fighting for freedom || Strong navy ||
 * Strength of support for American cause || Political control ||
 * Large Population, Geography || Support of "loyal" Americans or the Loyalists ||

The Patriot Forces The Loyalists The campaign for New York and New Jersey > The Northern Campaigns of 1777 The Politics of the French and Spanish Alliance Indians The War in the South Yorktown THE UNITED STATES IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED The Articles of Confederation: Financing the War Negotiating independence The Crisis of Demobilization The Problem of the West REVOLUTINARY POLITICS IN THE STATES The Broadened Base of Politics The First State Constitutions Declaration of Rights > A Spirit of Reform African Americans and the Revolution > Economic Problems > > State Remedies Shay’s Rebellion Main ideas Loyalists vs. Patriots Articles of Confederation and the establishment of the United States Alliances Shay’s Rebellion: shows how Articles of Confederation does not work for U.S. Minorities: beginning of conflicts for the next century ID’s  1. **The Loyalists (a.k.a. Tories):** supporters of the British Army living in America
 * 100,000 served in the Continental Army u nder George Washington’s rule
 * Militias were important in defense of their own areas
 * Militias lacked discipline but had passion
 * Discipline was essential to win
 * 52,674 Americans died
 * 6,000 from wounds in battle
 * 10,000 from disease
 * Rest from prisoners or MIA
 * a.k.a Tories
 * 1/5 of the population
 * Supported England
 * Strongest in Lower south
 * Weakest in New England
 * Many slaves and most Indians
 * Ethnic minorities
 * Clergymen and lawyers
 * Winter of 1775-1776 British created a strategic plan
 * British had small victories
 * made Washington realize that he had to pursue defensive quality
 * Militias proved useless under fire
 * 1777 British retired plan of taking control of the Hudson River
 * Forced Europe to see America as a threat
 * Central government was nonexistent
 * French and Spain were America’s allies
 * Wanted to win back territories lost in 7 year war
 * Feb. 1778 American delegation submitted a treaty to Congress
 * Treaty of Commerce and Alliance with France
 * Stated neither was allowed to have a truce with Great Britain without the other’s consent
 * 1779 Spain joined the war
 * Provided ammunition
 * Herds of cattle
 * Took Mississippi river towns
 * British realized with France in War West Indies were at Risk
 * Washington had defensive strategy
 * War at Sea
 * British vs. France
 * Reluctant to join war because like both sides
 * Ultimately choose British
 * Hardest and most important fighting took place
 * British called slaves to abandon their masters and fight for the British in exchange for freedom
 * British forced to surrender
 * Defeat in South Carolina
 * Washington’s strategy was to coordinate with Rochambeau
 * after a month of heavy siege, cornwallis surrendered
 * Where British lost
 * Motion of independence
 * Offered by Richard Henry Lee on June 7, 1776
 * Created a national government of sharply limited powers
 * loose alliance between states
 * most power was given to the states
 * created no president/leader
 * November 1777: the Articles of Confederation were adopted by the Continental Congress, were then sent to states for ratification
 * Created a national assembly
 * Congress
 * Each state had a single vote
 * Granted national authority in the
 * foreign affairs
 * war
 * peace
 * maintenance of the armed forces
 * 12 states voted in favor of the articles
 * Maryland didn’t at first
 * in March 1781 the Articles took affect
 * Congress financed the Revolution though grants, and loans from foreign powers by using paper currency
 * Congress called on states to raise taxes payable to state dollar but states refuses
 * The total foreign subsidy at the end of the war was about 9 million dollars
 * States printed own currency
 * Most money lost its value
 * Peace talks between the United States and Great Britain opened in April 1782
 * Benjamin Franklin sat down with the British emissary
 * in Paris
 * fundamental demands were recognition of American independence and withdrawal of British forces
 * Treaty of Paris
 * Series of separate agreements among the United States, Great Britain, France, and Spain
 * Signed at Versailles
 * September 3,1783
 * between the surrender at Yorktown & the signing of the Treaty of Paris British continued to occupy New York City, Charleston and a series of Western points
 * Continental Army was on wartime alert
 * December 1783 Washington resigned his commission as general of the army even though many people wanted him to remain
 * After Yorktown British abandoned their Indian allies in the west
 * Even during the fighting American’s still migrated to the west
 * Congress took up the problem of extending national authority
 * Legislation was a remarkable attempt to create a democratic colonial policy
 * Once the population of a territory numbered 20,000 the residents could call a convention and establish a constitution and government of their own choosing
 * Once the population grew to equal the smallest of the original 13 states the territory could obtain statehood
 * Land Ordinance of 1785
 * Provided for the survey and sale of eastern lands
 * Wanted to avoid he chaos of overlapping surveys
 * Reserved one section in each township for the support of schools
 * Treaty of Fort Stanwix 1784
 * Treaty of Fort McIntosh 1785
 * Both forced Indians off their land
 * Northwest Ordinance of 1787
 * Congress established a system of government of the territory north of Ohio
 * Creation of land system was a major achievement
 * Despite the accomplishments of the Confederate government, Americans mostly focused on events in their own states not in Philadelphia
 * Americans identified more with their local communities and states than the nation
 * Political mobilization took place in 1774 and 1775
 * Greatly broadened political participation
 * Accompanied by a shift in the political debate
 * Tory vs. Whig
 * Whig- colonial elites
 * Tory – royal officials that believed colonial governments were a tool used by the king to control the colonies
 * Debate was ended by the American revolution
 * The original states and Vermont adopted the constitutions between 1776 and 1780
 * Each state had different views
 * One of the most important innovations of the constitutions was a guarantee of rights patterned on the Virginia Declaration of Rights of June 1776
 * written by George Mason
 * 8 states had freedom of speech
 * Important precedents for the Bill of Rights
 * Political upheaval of the revolution raised other reforms
 * Most steadfast reformer of the day was Thomas Jefferson
 * Seat in the House of Delegates
 * Worked on the Declaration of independence
 * Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom
 * Little to celebrate in American victory
 * Back to slavery
 * Many former slaves actually left with the british as free men
 * During the war their was inflation
 * In 1780 it took 4000 paper dollars to equal 100 silver dollars
 * Inflation was due to the british blockade
 * After the war depression started
 * Depression struck while the U.S. still had to pay off a huge debt incurred by the revolution
 * Commercial regulation had to be national to be effective
 * Needed unity
 * 1786 uprising of rural communities in Massachusetts
 * Farmers were in debt
 * Named after Daniel Shays
 * Caption in the revolution
 * Ended when a militia force raised in communities from eastern Massachusetts marched west
 * Important effect on conservation nationalists
 * Loyalists a.k.a Tory || Patriots ||
 * support of British Army || colonist ||
 * British have the army || untrained ||
 * Large military || Own soil ||
 * Professional || Heart ||
 * Well trained || Cause ||
 * Good leadership || Eager to fight ||
 * Well supplied || George Washington ||
 * Allies  à Indians || Unity ||
 * Organized ||  ||
 * Money || ||
 * November 1777
 * Made by the Continental congress then sent to states for ratification
 * Created Congress
 * Each state had one vote
 * Had national authority in
 * foreign affairs
 * war and peace
 * maintenance of the armed forces
 * British had alliance with the Indians
 * Patriots had alliances with France and Spain
 * Native Americans
 * Reluctant to join the war
 * Sided with British
 * African Americans
 * Sad that British did not win
 * Since America won they were still slaves

2. **The Patriots:** colonists who wanted American independence

3. **George Washington:** General of the Continental Army who wins independence for America; later becomes the first President of the United States after the creation of the United States Constitution

4. **Militia:** armed bodies of men drawn from local communities 5 . First & Second Continental Congress:** called in response to Coercive Acts forced by the British on the colonies and plans for war against the British, respectively

6. **Henry Lee:** General of the British army during the war

7. **Declaration of Independence:** declared independence from Great Britain in 1776; no longer part of the British Empire; gave certain rights, including the right to revolution; ratified on July 4th


 * 8. Treaty of Commerce and Alliance:** treaty with France signed in 1778; stated that each country agreed to help each other out if Britain attacked either one of them

9. **Battle of Yorktown:** in Yorktown, VA; American and French troops vs. British; heavy artillery, constant warfare, and failure of British retreat lead to Cornwallis's surrender as well as the official end of the war

10. **Richard Henry Lee:** Senator from Virginia who offered motion of independence on June 7, 1776 to the Continental Congress

11. **Treaty of Paris:**  series of separate agreements among the United States, Great Britain, France, and Spain; signed at Versailles on September 3, 1783; ended the Revolutionary War 12 . Thomas Jefferson:** founding father, main author of the Declaration of Independence; delegate of the Second Continental Congress

13. **Virginia Declaration of Rights:** written by George Mason in June 1776; 16 articles declared that sovereignty resided in the people, that government was the servant of the people, and that people had the right to reform, alter, or abolish that government; innovation in the creation of the states' constituions; later influenced the Bill of Rights

14.**The Articles of Confederation:** created a weak government with a loose alliance between states; most power was given to the states; there was no President/leader; created in 1777 and later ratified in 1781; lasted until United States Constitution was created in 1787 15 .Shay’s Rebellion:** in 1787, in Western Massachusetts, many farmers were in severe debt and were imprisoned until they could pay off their debt, (this meant that they would have to be imprisoned for the rest of their lives as they were not making money while in jail); leads to many poor farmers starting a rebellion; government does not respond well as they do not pay the farmers back; founding fathers begin to rethink government

16. **Treaty of Fort Stanwix 1784 and Treaty of Fort McIntosh 1785:**  Both forced Indians off their land in New York and Ohio, respectively 17 . Land Ordinance of 1785:** made provision for the federal survey of newly incorporated lands; divided the land into townships composed of 36 sections of one square mile each

18**. Northwest Ordinance of 1787:** established a system of government for the territory north of the Ohio River; established the important principle of bringing new territory into the states on an equal basis with the original thirteen states; also outlawed slavery north of the Ohio River

19**. Phillis Wheatley**: most famous African American writer; wrote "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral", "On Being Brought from Africa to America"

20. **Benjamin Banneker:** free African American; received an education; one of the most accomplished mathematicians and astromers of late 18th century 