TRIMESTERTRIMESTER 2 HISTORYHISTORY OVERVIEWOVERVIEW 2020-2021 1/4-1/4-1/1/77 ​ ​ ​ ​ The Constitution Date ​ ​ ​1787 Themes ​ ​Rise and Fall of Empires and Nations ​ ​ ​Trade and Commerce Readings ​ ​1/4-5 ​Hist US V3 Ch 35, 36 ​ ​ ​ ​Shhh! p 7-26 1/6-7 ​Hist US V3 Ch 37, 38 ​ ​ ​ ​Shhh! p 28-44 ​ ​ ​1/11-12 ​Hist US V3 Ch 39, 40 ​ ​ ​ ​Who Was Geo Washington? pp 1-21 ​ ​ ​ ​Founding Mothers – Mrs. Jay ​ ​ ​ ​Story of George Washington Ch 1-2 ​ ​ ​1/13-14 ​Hist US V3 Ch 41, 42 ​ ​ ​ ​Who Was Geo Washington? pp 22-42 ​ ​ ​ ​Story of George Washington Ch 3-4 BriefBrief OverviewOverview ofof AmericaAmerica inin thethe AftermathAftermath ofof thethe RevolutionaryRevolutionary WarWar The state of American affairs post-Revolutionary War: Congress and the states are in debt, and a postwar depression on the scale of the Great Depression of the 1930s exacerbates the troubles. Currency is losing value. Army vets are unpaid – given promissory notes that are worth little due to inflation. Vets sell their notes to put clothes on their backs and food in their mouths. Economic slump of the 1780s had many sources: • Massive quantities of property were destroyed in the war. • Because men were fighting in the war, they were unable to perform their regular jobs. Economic output fell. • Enslaved men, women, and children emancipated themselves by leaving with the British or simply running into forests and swamps. This was a financial loss to their enslavers. • Britain refused to allow Americans to trade with British sugar islands in the Caribbean – one of the American’s greatest income sources. • To finance the Revolutionary War, begun as a fight against ‘taxation without representation,’ Americans faced higher taxes than they ever met as British colonists. • Taxes in most states were 3-4 times higher than colonial levels. • Taxes imposed in the 1780s were heavier than they appeared on paper – there was an acute shortage of hard money (gold/silver), but gold or silver was often the only acceptable form of payment. • Taxes were aggressively collected: o Belongings could be seized if taxes not paid o If collectors didn’t make their quotas, the collector’s property could be confiscated and sold, or the collectors could be thrown in jail. This forced collectors to overcome any qualms in taking delinquent taxpayers’ property. Between the Peace of Paris in 1783 and the Constitution's ratification 5 years later, the single heaviest government expense at both the state and federal level was the war debt. heaviest government expense at both the state and federal level was the war debt. • A crucial mechanism of war finance had been the issuance of promissory notes- o IOUs to people who lent cash, to army contractors, to soldiers • Much was eventually converted to savings bonds. o Some held onto their promissory notes, but many sold theirs ▪ Joseph Plumb Martin had fought through the entire war. He and his comrades were bitter about the way they had been discharged in 1783. Many, including him, had to sell them to buy clothes and gain sufficient funds to make their way home. Rebellions and Uprisings Shays’s Rebellion • Daniel Shays led an uprising of Massachusetts farmers in opposition to the high taxes and stringent economic conditions. In January of 1787, Shays led 1200 men in an attack on a federal arsenal in Springfield. Though repulsed by an armed force raised by wealthy Bostonians, the rebellion led the Massachusetts legislature to provide debt relief. o Shays’s Rebellion revealed the hopeless weakness of the country’s military power. It also seemed to demonstrate the dangers of unmediated democracy, free assembly, and unbridled speech. Adonijah Mathews • In 1787, Mathews led an uprising of farmers who vowed: “not to pay the certificate tax” (a tax designed to reduce the war debt that Virginia had run up during the Revolutionary War). Mathews was arrested, but rebels overpowered the sheriff and set Mathews free. Mathews headed to Richmond, the state capital, and threatened an insurrection to force legislators to repeal the certificate tax. The legislators repealed the tax. Americans deeply divided- Historian Woody Holton sees 2 Factions with Conflicting Views: • Shays, Mathews, farmers- o Demanded tax relief and willing to use rebellion to get it • James Madison – o Madison and other Constitutional Framers rebelled against state governments by writing the Constitution o What alarmed Madison was the specific legislation that state assemblies adopted: ▪ Representatives had shown excessive indulgence to debtors and taxpayers. In most states, thousands of citizens were behind in paying their taxes ▪ Tax relief crippled governmental operations, prevented the servicing of the enormous debt amassed during the war. Social Changes: A rise in middle-class legislators is seen. With the exodus of Loyalist-elites after the war, many of whom filled political positions, men from the middle class (mechanics, etc.) stepped into the power vacuum. • In New Hampshire, New York, and New Jersey, middle-class legislators increased from 1/6th of the legislature to 3/5ths after the Revolutionary War. “Liberty” is redefined- For the Revolutionary generation: ​ • Liberty = communities should have the right to govern themselves For the post-Revolutionary generation: • Liberty = access for everyone to the political process A new “continental” attitude emerging: The generation born in the 1750s or early 1760s didn’t participate in the French & Indian War and remembered little such as the Stamp Act crisis or the Boston Tea Party. The experiences that shaped them was not participation in the Committees of Correspondence, but rather the war itself. They soldiered in the Revolutionary War and fought for the NATION. • They marched under orders of Congress • Under the direction of one man – Commanding General Washington • TheyThey learnedlearned toto thinkthink “continentally”“continentally” Examples of such men: • Alexander Hamilton – soldiered in the war, rising to lieutenant colonel; trusted aide-de- camp to General Washington • John Marshall – started in the militia as a teenager o “I had grown up at a time…when the maxim ‘united we stand, divided we fall’ was the maxim of every orthodox American; and I had imbibed these sentiments so thoroughly that they constituted a part of my being. I carried them with me into the army where I found myself associated with brave men from different states who were risking life and everything valuable in a common cause believed by all to be most precious; and where II waswas confirmedconfirmed inin thethe habithabit ofof consideringconsidering AmericaAmerica asas mymy countrycountry andand CongressCongress asas mymy government.”government.” ​ The MakingMaking ofof thethe ConstitutionConstitution “It appears to me, then, little short of a miracle, that the Delegates from so many different States (which States you know are also different from each other), in their manners, circumstances, and prejudices, should unite in forming a system of national Government, so little liable to well founded objections.” George Washington to Lafayette, February 7, 1788 “I have always regarded that Constitution as the most remarkable work known to me in modern times to have been produced by the human intellect, at a single stroke (so to speak), in its application to political affairs.” William Gladstone at a centennial celebration of the Constitution Political Tumult of the mid--1780s1780s “If the present paroxysm of our affairs be totally neglected, our case may become desperate.” ~ James Madison to James Monroe • Difficulties with foreign nations o Britain refused to leave the forts on the Great Lakes o Spain was claiming land on the American side of the Mississippi River ▪ 1784 – closed the Mississippi River from Natchez south • Problems with frontier warfare between the Indians and the white settlers o England and Spain supplying Indians with arms and encouraging raids o US settlers taking the land of the Indians in defiance of treaties • Mediterranean o Barbary pirates preying on American ships • Trade o American trade shut out of British West Indies • States o Refusing to abide by the stipulation of the Treaty of Paris for reimbursing Loyalists for loss of property ▪ Confederation government unable to enforce the treaty o Conflict over state borders o States reluctant to give up their sovereignty, making it difficult to resolve issues • Debt o Unable to service the huge war debt Confederation Congress • Itinerant, plagued with absenteeism o Difficult to obtain a quorum for conducting business ▪ (When the Treaty of Paris received, it took 7 weeks to muster a quorum to approve it) ▪ By 1786, Congress was able to conduct business only 15% of the time • Lack of a lot of talented men – many talented members of Congress chose to serve in their state legislatures • Delegates frustrated – those of larger states frustrated by the smaller states’ ability to hinder congressional action (each state had one vote, regardless of population) • TheThe CongressCongress hadhad nono powerpower toto collectcollect taxes,taxes, defenddefend thethe country,country, paypay thethe publicpublic debtdebt oror encourageencourage tradetrade andand commercecommerce –– anan ineineffffectualectual nationnationalal governmentgovernment By 1786 – belief was spreading among members of Congress that the republican experiment was foundering. There were many variables, but most attention focused on the inadequacies of the Articles of Confederation. The nation’s leading citizens believed the American economy would never attract capital (that would spur growth) unless the federal government were overhauled. They sought to reopen the credit valve. Rise of Federalism Federalists – supporters of a strong national government (Opponents referred to as “Anti-Federalists”) • Federalist leaders: o James Madison o Alexander Hamilton o George Washington o John Jay • The Federalist leaders’ experience in the Continental Army and Congress strengthened their national vision; they believed the nation’s survival was at stake. Lead up toto thethe Grand ConventionConvention March 1785 – Mount Vernon • Conference between commissioners from Virginia and Maryland at Mount Vernon.