Chapter 6Making War and Republican

Governments, 1776-1789

The Trials of War, 1776-1778

War in the North • Population of England vs. colonies

• British advantages:

Armies and Strategies• American disadvantages:

• Poor American youths

• Old British ex-convicts

Victory at Saratoga 1777• After several early victories by the British, Patriots achieved victory at Saratoga, NY.

• Why was this important?

Social and Financial Perils• British naval blockade

• Governments requisitioned military supplies directly from the people

• Hartford, CT-

• Women contribute-• TREND:

• Shopkeepers exploited the shortage-

• Civilians were subject to oppression-

• “Patriot tax”

Financial Crisis

• How was crisis addressed?

• Congress lacked tax authority to tax

• Funds were requisitioned from states, but…

• Social upheaval over high consumer prices

Valley Forge

• In Philadelphia, Washington’s army retreated 20 miles to Valley Forge were 12,000 soldiers suffered horribly. Why?

• Nearby farmers refused to help. Why?

• Germans and Quakers

• By spring, 1000 soldiers deserted and 3000 died from disease and malnutrition.

• Contribution from Baron von Steuben

• Result:

The Path to Victory 1778-1783• Prospects improved dramatically with French alliance.

• Why?

The French Alliance• Unlikely alliance?

• Treaty of Alliance 1778-

• Seven year half pay pension

• Unpopular British war

War in the South • Spain joins war in 1779-

• Gibraltar in Florida

Britain's Southern Strategy

Guerrilla Warfare in the Carolinas

• Weakened by this war of attrition, the British conceded the Carolinas to American guerillas and moved to Virginia. Easily defeating a divided force in VA, the British moved to New York. Here they were strategically surrounded by American and French forces and General Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown in October 1781.

• The Franco-American victory broke he resolve of England. The British ministry gave up war efforts on the American mainland.

The Patriot Advantage• French

• George Washington

• 1/3rd zealot population of Patriots

• They willingly took depreciating money as

soldiers and as sellers of supplies

• Ordinary citizens financed the war

Diplomatic Triumph• Treaty of Paris 1783-

• Loyalists’ property returned

• Allowed British legal claims to prewar debts

• Treaty of Versailles 1783-

Creating Republican Institutions, 1776-1787

The State Constitutions: How Much Democracy• Republicanism was more than just ousting the king

Pennsylvania’s Controversial Constitution

• Very democratic

• Political rights

• Unicameral house

• Elementary education

• Prison-debt protection

• Opposition

• “oppression of majority rule”

• John Adams “Thoughts on Government (1776)”

• New York and South Carolina’s constitutions

• Vermont

Women Seek a Public Voice• Sought to stop restrictive customs, not _______.

• Some women, such as Abigail Adams demanded equality for married women

• American “republicanism” did not support women

• In 1790 MA declared that girls had an equal right to education• Effect: By 1850

The Loyalist Exodus

• Suffered from detachment and alienation

• Canada, West Indies, and England• Cato Ramsey

• Property seized

The Articles of Confederation• Limited central government

• Important laws 9 of 13

• Changes in Articles need unanimous votes

• Declaration of war

• Adjudicate state disputes

• Borrow and print money

• Requisition funds from states

• Delay because of western state disputes

Continuing Fiscal Crisis

• Tax issue

The Northwest Ordinance

• Ordinance of 1784-• Set price and surveying qualifications

• Ordinance of 1787-• New states

• Schools

• Governor

• Slavery

• Achievement vs. Failure

Shay’s Rebellion 1786• The war cripples trade

• State governments in war debt

• Bond holders demand redemption

• States allowed instalment payments to creditors

• Higher taxes and limited paper currency

• Mobs and protests of taxes and money issues

• Daniel Shay, a Continental army veteran led the revolt in MA

• Revolt resembled the one against the Stamp Act

• Riot Act-

• Americans felt that the new government replaced the British as new oppressors

The Constitution of 1787• National government would exercise limited government, and states would retain authority

over all other matters.

The Rise of a Nationalist Faction• Many issues with the constitution-

The Philadelphia Convention• All states came except _________.

• Increase central authority

• Who were there?

The Virginia and New Jersey plans

• What was the main issue of controversy?

The Great Compromise

• Two houses: Upper (Senate) ____, Lower (House of Representatives) ________________.

• No property requirements for voting

Negotiations over Slavery

• Contradiction

• Convention denied Congress the power to regulate immigration,

therefore nullifying the slave trade intervention

• Three Fifths Compromise-

National Authority

• Taxation

• Military defense

• External commerce

• Authority to make relevant laws

• No state paper money

• Honor existing war debt

The People Debate Ratification• Needed 9 of 13

• Federalists-

The Constitution Ratified

• Who were Federalists?

• Who were Antifederalists?

• Bill of Rights

• Unlike France, where the Revolution of 1789 divided the society into irreconcilable factions for generations, the American Constitutional Revolution of 1787 created a national republic based on broad popular support.