APUSH
"It has been much urged that a bank will give great convenience in the collection of taxes . . . yet the Constitution allows only the means which are 'necessary,' not those which are merely 'convenient' . . . there is not one [power] which ingenuity may torture into convenience, in some instance or other, to someone so long a list of enumerated powers. It would swallow up all the delegated powers, and reduce the whole to one power . . . . Therefore it was that the Constitution restrained them to the necessary means; that is to say, to those means without which the grant of the power would be nugatory (useless)." -Source: Thomas Jefferson on the National Bank, 1791
Alexander Hamilton
Which of the following best describes the most immediate impact of the Proclamation of 1763 on the British North American colonies?
Colonists disobeyed the Proclamation of 1763, moving westward past the Appalachian Mountains.
"In my opinion it would be both just and proper to declare the treaty with France to be void--but I think it would be more advisable to direct reprisals than to declare war at present, for the public mind does not appear to me to be quite prepared for it. . . . Whenever the mass of our people are convinced that the war would be just, necessary, and unavoidable, they will be content that it should be declared, and will support it vigorously, but I doubt whether that conviction however well founded, is as yet so prevailing and general as it ought to be. . . ." -Source: John Jay, letter to William North, 1798
George Washington
"It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." -Source: The Federalist Papers, No. 51, 1788
Patrick Henry
"Could it be made a decree in nature, or an edict registered in heaven, and man could know it, that virtue and wisdom should invariably appertain to hereditary succession, the objection to it would be removed; but when we see that nature acts as if she disowned and sported with the hereditary system; that the mental characters of successors in all countries, are below the average of human understanding; that one is a tyrant, another an idiot, a third insane, and some all three together, it is impossible to attach confidence to it, when reason in man has power to act." -Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791
The Enlightenment
"Whereas, the honorable House of Commons in England have of late drawn into question how far the General Assembly of this colony hath power to enact laws for laying of taxes and imposing duties, payable by the people of this, his majesty's most ancient colony: . . . the House of Burgesses of this present General Assembly have come to the following resolves:-- . . . Resolved, That . . . without interruption enjoyed the inestimable right of being governed by such laws, respecting their internal polity and taxation, as are from their own consent, with the approbation of their sovereign, or his substitute; and that the same hath never been forfeited or yielded up, but hath been constantly recognized by the kings and people of Great Britain." -Source: Patrick Henry, Virginia Resolves, 1765
The Enlightenment
"I have long been of Opinion that a well-conducted western Colony, if it could be settled with the Approbation of the Indians would be of great National Advantage with respect to the Trade, and particularly useful to the old Colonies as a Security to their Frontiers. I am glad to find that you, whose Knowledge of Indian Affairs and the Temper of those People far exceeds mine, entertain the same Sentiments, and think such an Establishment in the Ilinoias [sic] Country practicable. . . . "It grieves me to hear that our Frontier People are yet greater Barbarians than the Indians, and continue to murder them in time of Peace. I hope your Negociations [sic] will prevent a new War, which those Murders give great Reason to apprehend; and that the several Governments will find some Method of preventing such horrid Outrages for the future." -Source: Benjamin Franklin, In a letter to Sir William Johnson, 1766
The Quakers of Pennsylvania
"It has been much urged that a bank will give great convenience in the collection of taxes . . . yet the Constitution allows only the means which are 'necessary,' not those which are merely 'convenient' . . . there is not one [power] which ingenuity may torture into convenience, in some instance or other, to someone so long a list of enumerated powers. It would swallow up all the delegated powers, and reduce the whole to one power . . . . Therefore it was that the Constitution restrained them to the necessary means; that is to say, to those means without which the grant of the power would be nugatory (useless)." -Source: Thomas Jefferson on the National Bank, 1791
The balance of power between the federal and state governments
"Should all the states adopt it, it will be then a government established by the thirteen states of America, not through the intervention of the legislatures, but by the people at large. . . . Thus it is of a complicated nature; and this complication, I trust, will be found to exclude the evils of absolute consolidation, as well as of a mere confederacy. If Virginia was separated from all the states, her power and authority would extend to all cases: in like manner, were all powers vested in the general government, it would be a consolidated government; but the powers of the federal government are enumerated; it can only operate in certain cases; it has legislative powers on defined and limited objects, beyond which it cannot extend its jurisdiction." -Source: James Madison, in defense of the proposed Constitution at the Virginia state convention on the adoption of the Federal Constitution, 1788
The commerce clause
"In a single republic, all the power surrendered by the people is submitted to the administration of a single government; and the usurpations are guarded against by a division of the government into distinct and separate departments. In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself." -Source: Publius (James Madison), The Federalist Papers, no. 51, 1788
The federal government and state governments should have their power checked by each other.
"In examining the question how the disturbances on the frontiers are to be quieted, two modes present themselves, by which the object might perhaps be effected; the first of which is by raising an army, and [destroying the resisting] tribes entirely, or [secondly] by forming treaties of peace with them, in which their rights and limits should be explicitly defined, and the treaties observed on the part of the United States with the most rigid justice, by punishing the whites, who should violate the same. . . . The Indians being the prior occupants, possess the right of the soil. It cannot be taken from them unless by their free consent, or by the right of conquest in case of a just war. To disposses them on any other principle, would be a gross violation of the fundamental laws of nature, and of that distributive justice which is the glory of a nation." -Source: Henry Knox, to President George Washington, 1789
The passage of the Treaty of Greenville in 1795 and the American acquisition of Ohio and part of Indiana
"The American Revolution launched an idea of popular sovereignty that, together with the cost of the war, helped to provoke the downfall of the French monarchy. The French Revolution, dramatic as was its influence on the Old World, also became a fundamental event in the New World because it was eventually to challenge slavery as well as royal power." Robin Blackburn, historian, "Haiti, Slavery, and the Age of the Democratic Revolution", William and Mary Quarterly, 2006
The revolutions inspire future independence movements in the Caribbean and Latin America.
"All male white inhabitants, of the age of twenty-one years, and possessed in his own right of ten pounds value, and liable to pay tax in this State, or being of any mechanic trade, and shall have been resident six months in this State, shall have a right to vote at all elections for representatives, or any other officers, herein agreed to be chosen by the people at large; and every person having a right to vote at any election shall vote by ballot personally. . . ." -Source: Georgia State Constitution, 1777
Voters had to own property.
". . .From the numerous avocations to which a professional life exposes gentlemen in America from their families, a principal share of the instruction of children naturally devolves upon the women. It becomes us therefore to prepare them, by a suitable education, for the discharge of this most important duty of mothers. . . . The equal share that every citizen has in liberty and the possible share he may have in the government of our country make it necessary that our ladies should be qualified to a certain degree, by a peculiar and suitable education, to concur in instructing their sons in the principles of liberty and government." Benjamin Rush, Thoughts upon Female Education, 1787
Women should be responsible for teaching republican values to their families
"They sent one canoe with three men, one of which, when they came near unto us, spoke in his language very loud and very boldly; seeming as though he would know why we were there, and by pointing with his oar towards the sea, we conjectured he meant we should be gone. But when we showed them knives and their use, by cutting of sticks and other trifles, they came close aboard our ship, as desirous to entertain our friendship. To these we gave such things as we perceived they liked." -Source: George Waymouth, 1605
a European explorer encountering indigenous people.
"Should all the states adopt it, it will be then a government established by the thirteen states of America, not through the intervention of the legislatures, but by the people at large. . . . Thus it is of a complicated nature; and this complication, I trust, will be found to exclude the evils of absolute consolidation, as well as of a mere confederacy. If Virginia was separated from all the states, her power and authority would extend to all cases: in like manner, were all powers vested in the general government, it would be a consolidated government; but the powers of the federal government are enumerated; it can only operate in certain cases; it has legislative powers on defined and limited objects, beyond which it cannot extend its jurisdiction." -Source: James Madison, in defense of the proposed Constitution at the Virginia state convention on the adoption of the Federal Constitution, 1788
a Federalist
Federalists were able to reach a compromise with Anti-Federalists over the strength of the new central government by agreeing to which of the following?
a system of checks and balances within the federal government
"If the Sons (so degenerate) the Blessing despise, Let the Daughters of Liberty, nobly arise, And tho' we've no Voice, but a negative here. The use of the Taxables, let us forbear, (Then Merchants import till yr. Stores are all full May the Buyers by few and yr. Traffick be dull.) Stand firmly resolved, and bid Grenville to see That rather than Freedom, we'll part with our Tea And well as we love the dear Draught when adry, As American Patriots, --our Taste we deny . . . ." -Source: Hannah Griffitts, The Female Patriots, Address'd to the Daughters of Liberty in America, 1768
boycotts of British products
"In my opinion it would be both just and proper to declare the treaty with France to be void--but I think it would be more advisable to direct reprisals than to declare war at present, for the public mind does not appear to me to be quite prepared for it. . . . Whenever the mass of our people are convinced that the war would be just, necessary, and unavoidable, they will be content that it should be declared, and will support it vigorously, but I doubt whether that conviction however well founded, is as yet so prevailing and general as it ought to be. . . ." -Source: John Jay, letter to William North, 1798
disagreements over whether to engage in military disputes with European countries
"We found ourselves rather pressed, the Ohio Company appeared to purchase a large tract of the federal lands, about 6 or 7 million of acres— ;and we wanted to abolish the old system and get a better one for the Government of the Country— ;and we finally found it necessary to adopt the best system we could get. . . . When I drew the ordinance which passed (in a few words excepted) as I originally formed it, I had no idea the States would agree to the sixth Art. prohibiting Slavery— ; as only [Massachusetts] of the Eastern States was present—; and therefore omitted it in the draft—; but finding the House favourably disposed on this subject, after we had completed the other parts I moved the art—; which was agreed to without opposition." -Source: Nathan Dane, in a letter to Rufus King after the passage of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, 1787
growing regional differences on the practice of enslavement
"I have already intimated to you the danger of parties . . . with particular reference to . . . geographical discriminations. . ." -Source: George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
growing sectionalism in the United States over issues like slavery
"It is . . . . agreed that the western boundary of the United States which separates them from the Spanish colony of Louisiana, is in the middle of the channel or bed of the river Mississippi, from the northern boundary of the said states to the completion of the thirty-first degree of latitude north of the equator. And his Catholic Majesty has likewise agreed that the navigation of the said river, in its whole breadth from its source to the ocean, shall be free only to his subjects and the citizens of the United States. . . ." -Source: Pinckney's Treaty, Article IV, 1795
how the United States dealt with the presence of Spanish colonies in North America diplomatically
"I have long been of Opinion that a well-conducted western Colony, if it could be settled with the Approbation of the Indians would be of great National Advantage with respect to the Trade, and particularly useful to the old Colonies as a Security to their Frontiers. I am glad to find that you, whose Knowledge of Indian Affairs and the Temper of those People far exceeds mine, entertain the same Sentiments, and think such an Establishment in the Ilinoias [sic] Country practicable. . . . "It grieves me to hear that our Frontier People are yet greater Barbarians than the Indians, and continue to murder them in time of Peace. I hope your Negociations [sic] will prevent a new War, which those Murders give great Reason to apprehend; and that the several Governments will find some Method of preventing such horrid Outrages for the future." -Source: Benjamin Franklin, In a letter to Sir William Johnson, 1766
increased violence between white frontiersmen and Indigenous nations
"I have already intimated to you the danger of parties . . . with particular reference to . . . geographical discriminations. . ." -Source: George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
rise of political factions
"It is . . . . agreed that the western boundary of the United States which separates them from the Spanish colony of Louisiana, is in the middle of the channel or bed of the river Mississippi, from the northern boundary of the said states to the completion of the thirty-first degree of latitude north of the equator. And his Catholic Majesty has likewise agreed that the navigation of the said river, in its whole breadth from its source to the ocean, shall be free only to his subjects and the citizens of the United States. . . ." -Source: Pinckney's Treaty, Article IV, 1795
secure navigation on the western border
It is public opinion and knowledge that no end of deception is practiced and a thousand acts of robbery and violence are committed in the course of bartering and carrying off Negroes from their country and bringing them to the Indies and to Spain. . . . Since the Portuguese and Spaniards pay so much for a Negro, they go out to hunt one another without the pretext of a war, as if they were deer; even the very Ethiopians, who are different, being induced to do so by the profit derived. . . . They embark four and five hundred of them in a boat which, sometimes, is not a cargo boat. The very stench is enough to kill most of them, and, indeed, very many die. The wonder is that twenty percent of them are not lost. -Source: Fray Tomas de Mercado, Spanish Dominican Friar, 1587
the Atlantic slave trade
"The insurgents who were assembled at Worcester in Massachusetts have disbanded. The people at Boston seem to be glad at this event and say it was the effect of fear. But the fact is that the insurgents effected their object . . . The commotions of Massachusetts have wrought prodigious changes in the minds of men in that State [with regard to] the Powers of Government. Everybody says they must be strengthened and that unless this shall be effected there is no Security for liberty or Property. Such is the State of things in the east, that much trouble is to be apprehended in the course of the ensuing year." -Source: Henry Knox, letter to his former commander George Washington, 1786
the Constitutional Convention
"Niagara at most should be my furthest Post in that quarter . . . By this Means we may keep up a Trade with the most distant Nations, retain their good Opinion, and totally prevent any Jealousy of our intending them any ill. . . . As we increase in Numbers on this Continent, it's easy and Safe to advance our settlements in Townships, though this I would do only by Cession or by Purchase of the Lands to prevent the Shadow of an Excuse for the Indians to quarrel with us." -Source: Colonel William Eyre, as printed in The First Global War: Britain, France, and the Fate of North America, 1756-1775, 1764
the acquisition of new territory from France following the Seven Years' War
"Art. 1: Henceforth all hostilities shall cease; peace is hereby established, and shall be perpetual; and a friendly intercourse shall take place between the said United States and Indian tribes . . . . And in consideration of the peace now established . . . the said Indian tribes do hereby cede and relinquish forever, all their claims to the lands lying eastwardly and southwardly of the general boundary line now described: . . . ." -Source: Treaty of Greenville, 1795
the belief in the right of Americans to continue to expand westward
"When the Articles of Confederation were drafted, Americans had had little experience of what a national government could do for them and bitter experience of what an arbitrary government could do to them. In creating a central government they were therefore more concerned with keeping it under control than with giving it the means to do its job". -Source: Edmund S. Morgan, The Birth of the Republic, 1763-89, 1956
the lack of centralized military power under the Articles of Confederation
"There is a violent spirit of opposition. . . against the execution of the Stamp Act, the mob in Boston have carried it very high against Mr. Oliver the Secry (a Town born child) for his acceptance of an office in consequence of that act. They have even proceeded to some violence, and burnt him in Effigy &c. They threaten to pull down & burn the Stamp Office now building, and that they will hold every man as Infamous that shall presume to carry the Stamp Act into Execution; so that it is thought Mr. Oliver will resign." -Archibald Hinshelwood in a letter to Joshua Mauger describing colonial reactions to Andrew Oliver, a royal stamp tax collector, 1765
to pay off British debt after the Seven Years' War
"Whereas, the honorable House of Commons in England have of late drawn into question how far the General Assembly of this colony hath power to enact laws for laying of taxes and imposing duties, payable by the people of this, his majesty's most ancient colony: . . . the House of Burgesses of this present General Assembly have come to the following resolves:-- . . . Resolved, That . . . without interruption enjoyed the inestimable right of being governed by such laws, respecting their internal polity and taxation, as are from their own consent, with the approbation of their sovereign, or his substitute; and that the same hath never been forfeited or yielded up, but hath been constantly recognized by the kings and people of Great Britain." -Source: Patrick Henry, Virginia Resolves, 1765
virtual representation
"Who, amongst us, will not renounce. . . those vain ornaments. . . when she shall consider that the valiant defenders of America will be able to draw some advantage from the money which she may have laid out in these; that they will be better defended from the rigours of the seasons. . . . The time is arrived to display the same sentiments which animated us at the beginning of the Revolution, when we renounced the use of teas. . . rather than receive them from our persecutors. . . ." Esther DeBerdt Reed, "Sentiments of an American Woman," 1780
American men and women mobilized to provide financial and material support to the Patriots
"Could these colonists who had been British and who had celebrated their Britishness for generations become a truly independent people? How could one united people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, and professing the same Protestant religion differentiate themselves from the people of the former mother country? These questions, more than any others, bedeviled the politics of the early decades of the new Republic's history." -Source: Gordon S. Wood, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815, 2009
Americans sought to create a culture that was distinct from British culture
"In being compelled to labor, not for himself, but for a master. . . the slave may appear to be degraded from the human rank, and classed with those irrational animals which fall under the legal denomination of property. In being protected, on the other hand, in his life and in his limbs, against the violence of all others, even the master of his labor and his liberty; and in being punishable himself for all violence committed against others, the slave is no less evidently regarded by the law as a member of the society, not as a part of the irrational creation; as a moral person, not as a mere article of property. The federal Constitution, therefore, decides with great propriety on the case of our slaves, when it views them in the mixed character of persons and of property. This is in fact their true character." -Source: The Federalist Papers, No. 54, 1788
Enslaved persons were counted as three-fifths of a person for purposes of representation.
"Colón [Columbus] and his crew did not voyage alone. They were accompanied by a menagerie of insects, plants, mammals, and microorganisms . . . European expeditions brought cattle, sheep, and horses, along with crops like sugarcane (originally from New Guinea), wheat (from the Middle East), bananas (from Africa), and coffee (also from Africa) . . . " -From Charles C. Mann, historian, 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, 2011.
European economies shifted from a feudal economy to a capitalist economy
"The insurgents who were assembled at Worcester in Massachusetts have disbanded. The people at Boston seem to be glad at this event and say it was the effect of fear. But the fact is that the insurgents effected their object . . . The commotions of Massachusetts have wrought prodigious changes in the minds of men in that State [with regard to] the Powers of Government. Everybody says they must be strengthened and that unless this shall be effected there is no Security for liberty or Property. Such is the State of things in the east, that much trouble is to be apprehended in the course of the ensuing year." -Source: Henry Knox, letter to his former commander George Washington, 1786
Federalists
"Be it enacted and it is hereby enacted by the Representatives of the Freemen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. . . That all persons, as well negroes and mulattoes as others who shall be born within this state, from and after the passing of this act, shall not be deemed and considered as servants for life or slaves; and that all servitude for life or slavery of children in consequence of the slavery of their mothers, in the case of all children born within this state from and after the passing of this act as aforesaid, shall be and hereby is utterly taken away, extinguished and forever abolished." Pennsylvania Act, 1780
Growing support for the abolition of slavery in northern states
"Be it enacted and it is hereby enacted by the Representatives of the Freemen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. . . That all persons, as well negroes and mulattoes as others who shall be born within this state, from and after the passing of this act, shall not be deemed and considered as servants for life or slaves; and that all servitude for life or slavery of children in consequence of the slavery of their mothers, in the case of all children born within this state from and after the passing of this act as aforesaid, shall be and hereby is utterly taken away, extinguished and forever abolished." Pennsylvania Act, 1780
Increased awareness of inequalities in society during and after the American Revolution
"Around 7,000 years ago, agriculture emerged in Mesoamerica, including the domestication of maize, beans, and squash, causing major changes in the plants that people cultivated. Three sisters agriculture had spread across Mexico by 3,500 years ago, though they originated at different times." -Source: Amanda J. Landon, anthropologist, "The 'How' of the Three Sisters," 2008
It caused Native Americans in the area to develop permanent settlements supported by farming and irrigation systems.
"We found ourselves rather pressed, the Ohio Company appeared to purchase a large tract of the federal lands, about 6 or 7 million of acres— ;and we wanted to abolish the old system and get a better one for the Government of the Country— ;and we finally found it necessary to adopt the best system we could get. . . . When I drew the ordinance which passed (in a few words excepted) as I originally formed it, I had no idea the States would agree to the sixth Art. prohibiting Slavery— ; as only [Massachusetts] of the Eastern States was present—; and therefore omitted it in the draft—; but finding the House favourably disposed on this subject, after we had completed the other parts I moved the art—; which was agreed to without opposition." -Source: Nathan Dane, in a letter to Rufus King after the passage of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, 1787
It established procedures by which territories could become states.
"The American Revolution launched an idea of popular sovereignty that, together with the cost of the war, helped to provoke the downfall of the French monarchy. The French Revolution, dramatic as was its influence on the Old World, also became a fundamental event in the New World because it was eventually to challenge slavery as well as royal power." Robin Blackburn, historian, "Haiti, Slavery, and the Age of the Democratic Revolution", William and Mary Quarterly, 2006
It helped to inspire the French Revolution
"There were four chiefs: Mr. Bear, Cougar, Bald Eagle, and Salmon. They met to try to figure out what it was that they were going to do. They knew of a place where there were many salmon. This would be the best thing of the coming people. It would keep them strong and healthy; besides, it would taste so good! But there was a problem. The salmon were being held way up river by a dam and were being guarded by some women, who when crossed would stop at nothing to destroy anything that got in the way of keeping their salmon and doing their work." -Native American legend recorded by Martin Louie and Diana Brooks. Published in Wicazo Sa Review, 1990.
Native Americans in the Northwest relied on fishing, while Native Americans on the Plains relied on hunting to obtain food.
"The American Revolution launched an idea of popular sovereignty that, together with the cost of the war, helped to provoke the downfall of the French monarchy. The French Revolution, dramatic as was its influence on the Old World, also became a fundamental event in the New World because it was eventually to challenge slavery as well as royal power." Robin Blackburn, historian, "Haiti, Slavery, and the Age of the Democratic Revolution", William and Mary Quarterly, 2006
Revolutions against colonial powers in the Caribbean and Latin America
"It is written in the Book of Proverbs: "He who is stupid will serve the wise man." And so it is with the barbarous and inhumane peoples who have no civil life and peaceful customs. It will always be just and in conformity with natural law that such people submit to the rule of more cultured and humane princes and nations. Thanks to their virtues and the practical wisdom of their laws, the latter can destroy barbarism and educate these people to a more humane and virtuous life. And if the latter reject such rule, it can be imposed upon them by force of arms." -Source: Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, On the Reasons for the Just War among the Indians, 1547
Spanish cruelty towards indigenous people in the Americas
"In the Bill of Rights for this Commonwealth it is declared that the happiness of the people & the Preservation of civil government depend upon the piety religion & morality & that the people have a right to invest their Legislature with power to require that provision be made for the public worship of God & the support of [P]rotestant teachers & require the attendance of people upon such worship instructions.... We must insist that the Continental Constitution contain a Bill of Rights which by Express shall secure to us our privileges especially our religion." -Source: Daniel Adams, at a town meeting in Townshend, Massachusetts, 1787
The Anti-Federalists
"I will allow that bodily strength seems to give man a natural superiority over woman; and this is the only solid basis on which the superiority of the sex can be built. But I still insist that not only virtue but the knowledge of the two sexes should be the same in nature, if not in degree, and that women, considered not only as moral but rational creatures, ought to endeavour to acquire human virtues (or perfections) by the same means as men, instead of being educated like a fanciful kind of half being— one of Rousseau's wild chimeras." -Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 1792
The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848
"This is the Country, which the French have many Years envied us, and which they have been long meditating to make themselves Masters of: They are at length come to a Resolution to attack us. . . in one of the best of those Colonies, Virginia; and in that part of it which lies on the River Ohio. . . . The French however if they find their Way to the Coast of Virginia, will easily over-run the provinces, because each Province considers itself as independence of the Rest, and the Invaders from Canada all act under one Governor; to unite 13 Provinces which fill an Extent of 1600 Miles is not easy . . . Canada must be subdued." The Maryland Gazette, 1755
The Seven Years' War (the French and Indian War)
"It is . . . . agreed that the western boundary of the United States which separates them from the Spanish colony of Louisiana, is in the middle of the channel or bed of the river Mississippi, from the northern boundary of the said states to the completion of the thirty-first degree of latitude north of the equator. And his Catholic Majesty has likewise agreed that the navigation of the said river, in its whole breadth from its source to the ocean, shall be free only to his subjects and the citizens of the United States. . . ." -Source: Pinckney's Treaty, Article IV, 1795
The US government's efforts to forge diplomatic initiatives with European powers in North America
"To describe the present state and circumstances of the Union we may declare in one word that we are at the Eve of a Bankruptcy and of a total dissolution of Government. Since the close of the war there has not been paid into the general Treasury as much money as was necessary for one years interest of the domestic and foreign debt and Congress have been reduced to the dreadful alternative of borrowing principal to pay interest. Our efforts at home to this end were ineffectual abroad where we were not known and, where enthusiasm for liberty has enrolled us among the most deserving of mankind, we were more successful. The deception cannot much longer be kept up and unless something can be done before the close of the ensuing year we must cease to be a unified government." -Source: William Blount, speech to the General Assembly of North Carolina, 1787
The federal government under the Articles of Confederation was not strong enough to face the nation's issues.
"I will allow that bodily strength seems to give man a natural superiority over woman; and this is the only solid basis on which the superiority of the sex can be built. But I still insist that not only virtue but the knowledge of the two sexes should be the same in nature, if not in degree, and that women, considered not only as moral but rational creatures, ought to endeavour to acquire human virtues (or perfections) by the same means as men, instead of being educated like a fanciful kind of half being— one of Rousseau's wild chimeras." -Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 1792
The growing movement towards granting women suffrage in the 1800s
"When the Articles of Confederation were drafted, Americans had had little experience of what a national government could do for them and bitter experience of what an arbitrary government could do to them. In creating a central government they were therefore more concerned with keeping it under control than with giving it the means to do its job". -Source: Edmund S. Morgan, The Birth of the Republic, 1763-89, 1956
The national government could not levy taxes on the people.
"By interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, [we] entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice. . . . It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world." -Source: George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
The rise of a foreign policy of non-involvement
". . .From the numerous avocations to which a professional life exposes gentlemen in America from their families, a principal share of the instruction of children naturally devolves upon the women. It becomes us therefore to prepare them, by a suitable education, for the discharge of this most important duty of mothers. . . . The equal share that every citizen has in liberty and the possible share he may have in the government of our country make it necessary that our ladies should be qualified to a certain degree, by a peculiar and suitable education, to concur in instructing their sons in the principles of liberty and government." Benjamin Rush, Thoughts upon Female Education, 1787
a push for increased education of women
"This is the Country, which the French have many Years envied us, and which they have been long meditating to make themselves Masters of: They are at length come to a Resolution to attack us. . . in one of the best of those Colonies, Virginia; and in that part of it which lies on the River Ohio. . . . The French however if they find their Way to the Coast of Virginia, will easily over-run the provinces, because each Province considers itself as independence of the Rest, and the Invaders from Canada all act under one Governor; to unite 13 Provinces which fill an Extent of 1600 Miles is not easy. . . . Canada must be subdued." The Maryland Gazette, 1755
competing claims to colonial land
"Art. 1: Henceforth all hostilities shall cease; peace is hereby established, and shall be perpetual; and a friendly intercourse shall take place between the said United States and Indian tribes . . . . And in consideration of the peace now established . . . the said Indian tribes do hereby cede and relinquish forever, all their claims to the lands lying eastwardly and southwardly of the general boundary line now described: . . . ." -Source: Treaty of Greenville, 1795
continued conflicts between Indigenous communities and Americans who sought to encroach on Indigenous land in the Northwest Territory
"To what expedient, then, shall we finally resort, for maintaining in practice the necessary partition of power among the several departments, as laid down in the Constitution? The only answer that can be given is, that as all these exterior provisions are found to be inadequate, the defect must be supplied, by so contriving the interior structure of the government as that its several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping each other in their proper places." -Source: Publius (James Madison), The Federalist Papers, no. 51, 1788
creation of a strong central government
"—The most powerful motive I had or have for engaging in, or continuing the study of painting has been, the wish of commemorating the great Events of our Countrys [sic] Revolution: I am fully sensible that the profession as it is generally practised, is frivolous, little useful to Society, and unworthy the attention of a Man who possesses talents for more serious occupations—but, to diffuse the knowledge and preserve the Memory of the noblest series of Actions which have ever dignified the History of Man:—to give to the present and the future Sons of Oppression and Misfortune such glorious Lessons of their rights and of the Spirit with which they should assert and support them:—and even to transmit to their descendants the personal resemblance of those who have been the great actors in these illustrious scenes. . . ." -Source: John Trumbell, In a letter to Thomas Jefferson, 1789
creation of government programs that funded the arts
"Could these colonists who had been British and who had celebrated their Britishness for generations become a truly independent people? How could one united people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, and professing the same Protestant religion differentiate themselves from the people of the former mother country? These questions, more than any others, bedeviled the politics of the early decades of the new Republic's history." -Source: Gordon S. Wood, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815, 2009
development of a distinct national culture in the United States
"To what expedient, then, shall we finally resort, for maintaining in practice the necessary partition of power among the several departments, as laid down in the Constitution? The only answer that can be given is, that as all these exterior provisions are found to be inadequate, the defect must be supplied, by so contriving the interior structure of the government as that its several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping each other in their proper places." -Source: Publius (James Madison), The Federalist Papers, no. 51, 1788
encourage state delegates to ratify the Constitution
"By interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, [we] entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice. . . . It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world." -Source: George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
engagement in European conflicts
"Into this land of meek outcasts there came some Spaniards who immediately behaved like ravening wild beasts . . . killing, terrorizing, afflicting, torturing, and destroying the native peoples, doing all this with the strangest and most varied new methods of cruelty, never seen or heard of before, and to such a degree that this Island of Hispaniola once so populous (having a population that I estimated to be more than three million), has now a population of barely two hundred persons." -Source: Bartolomé de Las Casas, Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies, 1542.
enslaving indigenous people as laborers in the encomienda system
"They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger. . . The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. . . . The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come." -Patrick Henry, "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death," 1775
growing support for American involvement in the American Revolution
"They sent one canoe with three men, one of which, when they came near unto us, spoke in his language very loud and very boldly; seeming as though he would know why we were there, and by pointing with his oar towards the sea, we conjectured he meant we should be gone. But when we showed them knives and their use, by cutting of sticks and other trifles, they came close aboard our ship, as desirous to entertain our friendship. To these we gave such things as we perceived they liked." -Source: George Waymouth, 1605
how Europeans and indigenous peoples adopted useful aspects of each other's culture
"All male white inhabitants, of the age of twenty-one years, and possessed in his own right of ten pounds value, and liable to pay tax in this State, or being of any mechanic trade, and shall have been resident six months in this State, shall have a right to vote at all elections for representatives, or any other officers, herein agreed to be chosen by the people at large; and every person having a right to vote at any election shall vote by ballot personally. . . ." -Source: Georgia State Constitution, 1777
how southern state constitutions maintained pre-Revolutionary property qualifications for voting
"There is a violent spirit of opposition. . . against the execution of the Stamp Act, the mob in Boston have carried it very high against Mr. Oliver the Secry (a Town born child) for his acceptance of an office in consequence of that act. They have even proceeded to some violence, and burnt him in Effigy &c. They threaten to pull down & burn the Stamp Office now building, and that they will hold every man as Infamous that shall presume to carry the Stamp Act into Execution; so that it is thought Mr. Oliver will resign." -Archibald Hinshelwood in a letter to Joshua Mauger describing colonial reactions to Andrew Oliver, a royal stamp tax collector, 1765
increased imperial control by the British government
"When the maese de campo arrived at the pueblo of Acoma he asked the Indians for provisions for his trip and gave them in exchange hatchets and many other things. . . . and then the Indians very unwillingly gave some maize and tortillas. Being told that what the Spaniards needed most was flour, the Indians replied that they had none on hand, but that the Spaniards might leave and return for it the next day. . . . When the maese de campo went to the pueblo with his eighteen men to get the flour . . . the Indians, with treachery and premeditation, after inviting them to come up to their pueblo, killed the maese de campo, Captain Felipe de Escalante, Captain Diego Nuñez, eight soldiers, and two servants . . ." -Source: Juan de Oñate, Testimony in the Trial of the Indians of Acoma, 1598
increasing European demands upon indigenous resources
"I have long been of Opinion that a well-conducted western Colony, if it could be settled with the Approbation of the Indians would be of great National Advantage with respect to the Trade, and particularly useful to the old Colonies as a Security to their Frontiers. I am glad to find that you, whose Knowledge of Indian Affairs and the Temper of those People far exceeds mine, entertain the same Sentiments, and think such an Establishment in the Ilinoias [sic] Country practicable. . . . "It grieves me to hear that our Frontier People are yet greater Barbarians than the Indians, and continue to murder them in time of Peace. I hope your Negociations [sic] will prevent a new War, which those Murders give great Reason to apprehend; and that the several Governments will find some Method of preventing such horrid Outrages for the future." -Source: Benjamin Franklin, In a letter to Sir William Johnson, 1766
increasing conflicts between settlers in the Northwest Territory and Natives
"When the maese de campo arrived at the pueblo of Acoma he asked the Indians for provisions for his trip and gave them in exchange hatchets and many other things. . . . and then the Indians very unwillingly gave some maize and tortillas. Being told that what the Spaniards needed most was flour, the Indians replied that they had none on hand, but that the Spaniards might leave and return for it the next day. . . . When the maese de campo went to the pueblo with his eighteen men to get the flour . . . the Indians, with treachery and premeditation, after inviting them to come up to their pueblo, killed the maese de campo, Captain Felipe de Escalante, Captain Diego Nuñez, eight soldiers, and two servants . . ." -Source: Juan de Oñate, Testimony in the Trial of the Indians of Acoma, 1598
indigenous military resistance to European encroachment
"Who, amongst us, will not renounce. . . those vain ornaments. . . when she shall consider that the valiant defenders of America will be able to draw some advantage from the money which she may have laid out in these; that they will be better defended from the rigours of the seasons. . . . The time is arrived to display the same sentiments which animated us at the beginning of the Revolution, when we renounced the use of teas. . . rather than receive them from our persecutors. . . ." Esther DeBerdt Reed, "Sentiments of an American Woman," 1780
inspiring Americans to offer support to American soldiers
"The creation of the middle ground involved a process of mutual invention by both the French and the Algonquians. This process passed through various stages, of which the earliest is at once the most noticed and the least interesting. It was in this initial stage that the French, for example, simply assimilated Indians into their own conceptual order. Indians became sauvages, and the French reduced Indian religion to devil worship and witchcraft. Algonquians, for their part, thought of the first Europeans as manitous [spirits]. On both sides, new people were crammed into existing categories in a mechanical way." -Source: Richard White, historian, The Middle Ground, 1991
mutual misunderstandings about the terms of land ownership
Instead of a powerful nation-state with imperial pretensions, the government established under the Articles of Confederation was not really much of a government at all, but rather a diplomatic conference where the sovereign states, each of which regarded itself as an autonomous nation, met to coordinate a domestic version of foreign policy. It was, in effect, designed to be weak, and lacked altogether the authority to manage a burgeoning empire." -Source: Joseph J. Ellis, historian, American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic, 2007
negotiating the Treaty of Paris of 1783
"If the Sons (so degenerate) the Blessing despise, Let the Daughters of Liberty, nobly arise, And tho' we've no Voice, but a negative here. The use of the Taxables, let us forbear, (Then Merchants import till yr. Stores are all full May the Buyers by few and yr. Traffick be dull.) Stand firmly resolved, and bid Grenville to see That rather than Freedom, we'll part with our Tea And well as we love the dear Draught when adry, As American Patriots, --our Taste we deny . . . ." -Source: Hannah Griffitts, The Female Patriots, Address'd to the Daughters of Liberty in America, 1768
new taxes like the Stamp Act
"There is a violent spirit of opposition. . . against the execution of the Stamp Act, the mob in Boston have carried it very high against Mr. Oliver the Secry (a Town born child) for his acceptance of an office in consequence of that act. They have even proceeded to some violence, and burnt him in Effigy &c. They threaten to pull down & burn the Stamp Office now building, and that they will hold every man as Infamous that shall presume to carry the Stamp Act into Execution; so that it is thought Mr. Oliver will resign." -Archibald Hinshelwood in a letter to Joshua Mauger describing colonial reactions to Andrew Oliver, a royal stamp tax collector, 1765
passing legislation that asserts British right to tax colonists
"In a single republic, all the power surrendered by the people is submitted to the administration of a single government; and the usurpations are guarded against by a division of the government into distinct and separate departments. In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself." -Source: Publius (James Madison), The Federalist Papers, no. 51, 1788
persuade state delegates to replace the Articles of Confederation
"To describe the present state and circumstances of the Union we may declare in one word that we are at the Eve of a Bankruptcy and of a total dissolution of Government. Since the close of the war there has not been paid into the general Treasury as much money as was necessary for one years interest of the domestic and foreign debt and Congress have been reduced to the dreadful alternative of borrowing principal to pay interest. Our efforts at home to this end were ineffectual abroad where we were not known and, where enthusiasm for liberty has enrolled us among the most deserving of mankind, we were more successful. The deception cannot much longer be kept up and unless something can be done before the close of the ensuing year we must cease to be a unified government." -Source: William Blount, speech to the General Assembly of North Carolina, 1787
ratifying the US Constitution
Which of the following was a major change in American politics from the 1780s to the 1790s?
rise of a strong federal government after the ratification of the Constitution
"Who, amongst us, will not renounce. . . those vain ornaments. . . when she shall consider that the valiant defenders of America will be able to draw some advantage from the money which she may have laid out in these; that they will be better defended from the rigours of the seasons. . . . The time is arrived to display the same sentiments which animated us at the beginning of the Revolution, when we renounced the use of teas. . . rather than receive them from our persecutors. . . ." Esther DeBerdt Reed, "Sentiments of an American Woman," 1780
sewing and mending clothes of American soldiers
"Be it enacted and it is hereby enacted by the Representatives of the Freemen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. . . That all persons, as well negroes and mulattoes as others who shall be born within this state, from and after the passing of this act, shall not be deemed and considered as servants for life or slaves; and that all servitude for life or slavery of children in consequence of the slavery of their mothers, in the case of all children born within this state from and after the passing of this act as aforesaid, shall be and hereby is utterly taken away, extinguished and forever abolished." Pennsylvania Act, 1780
slavery was inconsistent with the belief that "all men are created equal."
"We found ourselves rather pressed, the Ohio Company appeared to purchase a large tract of the federal lands, about 6 or 7 million of acres— ;and we wanted to abolish the old system and get a better one for the Government of the Country— ;and we finally found it necessary to adopt the best system we could get. . . . When I drew the ordinance which passed (in a few words excepted) as I originally formed it, I had no idea the States would agree to the sixth Art. prohibiting Slavery— ; as only [Massachusetts] of the Eastern States was present—; and therefore omitted it in the draft—; but finding the House favourably disposed on this subject, after we had completed the other parts I moved the art—; which was agreed to without opposition." -Source: Nathan Dane, in a letter to Rufus King after the passage of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, 1787
support for abolition movements in the North to prohibit slavery
"Who, amongst us, will not renounce. . . those vain ornaments. . . when she shall consider that the valiant defenders of America will be able to draw some advantage from the money which she may have laid out in these; that they will be better defended from the rigours of the seasons. . . . The time is arrived to display the same sentiments which animated us at the beginning of the Revolution, when we renounced the use of teas. . . rather than receive them from our persecutors. . . ." Esther DeBerdt Reed, "Sentiments of an American Woman," 1780
support for the Revolutionary War
"Closer to the center of European society, armed enterprise by one sovereign was sure to provoke a countereffort by rivals; and only rarely could a ruler conquer territories from which important tax income could be garnered. The success of the Spanish government in fashioning a vast empire in the Americas and its failure to maintain control over the Netherlands illustrate these facts very clearly. Spanish military effort in the New World paid off handsomely. Indeed it was the swelling flow of New World silver after the 1550s that made Philip think he could conduct war both in the Mediterranean against the Turks and in the north against the Dutch." -Source: William H. McNeill, historian, The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and Society since A.D. 1000, 1982
the Seven Years' War (French and Indian War), when the French and British battles in North America led to war in Europe
"In being compelled to labor, not for himself, but for a master. . . the slave may appear to be degraded from the human rank, and classed with those irrational animals which fall under the legal denomination of property. In being protected, on the other hand, in his life and in his limbs, against the violence of all others, even the master of his labor and his liberty; and in being punishable himself for all violence committed against others, the slave is no less evidently regarded by the law as a member of the society, not as a part of the irrational creation; as a moral person, not as a mere article of property. The federal Constitution, therefore, decides with great propriety on the case of our slaves, when it views them in the mixed character of persons and of property. This is in fact their true character." -Source: The Federalist Papers, No. 54, 1788
the Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford in 1857
"It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." -Source: The Federalist Papers, No. 51, 1788
the concept of checks and balances
"In a single republic, all the power surrendered by the people is submitted to the administration of a single government; and the usurpations are guarded against by a division of the government into distinct and separate departments. In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself." -Source: Publius (James Madison), The Federalist Papers, no. 51, 1788
the creation of a federal system of government
Let us now, if you please, take a view of the other side of the question. Suppose we were to revolt from Great-Britain, declare ourselves Independent, and set up a Republic of our own-what would be the consequence?—I stand aghast at the prospect—my blood runs chill when I think of the calamities, the complicated evils that must ensue, and may be clearly foreseen—it is impossible for any man to foresee them all. . . ." "But as soon as we declare for independency . . . Ruthless war, with all its aggravated horrors, will ravage our once happy land—our seacoasts and ports will be ruined, and our ships taken. Torrents of blood will be split, and thousands reduced to beggary and wretchedness." -Source: Charles Inglis, The True Interest of America Impartially Stated in Certain Strictures on a Pamphlet Intitled Common Sense, 1776
the faction of Loyalist opposition to the American Revolution
"Whereas, the honorable House of Commons in England have of late drawn into question how far the General Assembly of this colony hath power to enact laws for laying of taxes and imposing duties, payable by the people of this, his majesty's most ancient colony: . . . the House of Burgesses of this present General Assembly have come to the following resolves:-- . . . Resolved, That . . . without interruption enjoyed the inestimable right of being governed by such laws, respecting their internal polity and taxation, as are from their own consent, with the approbation of their sovereign, or his substitute; and that the same hath never been forfeited or yielded up, but hath been constantly recognized by the kings and people of Great Britain." -Source: Patrick Henry, Virginia Resolves, 1765
the growth of resistance from colonial leaders to increased British control
"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, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." -Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, 1776
the influence of the Enlightenment on American colonists
"Whereas, the honorable House of Commons in England have of late drawn into question how far the General Assembly of this colony hath power to enact laws for laying of taxes and imposing duties, payable by the people of this, his majesty's most ancient colony: . . . the House of Burgesses of this present General Assembly have come to the following resolves:-- . . . Resolved, That . . . without interruption enjoyed the inestimable right of being governed by such laws, respecting their internal polity and taxation, as are from their own consent, with the approbation of their sovereign, or his substitute; and that the same hath never been forfeited or yielded up, but hath been constantly recognized by the kings and people of Great Britain." -Source: Patrick Henry, Virginia Resolves, 1765
the introduction of new taxes on the colonies
"To describe the present state and circumstances of the Union we may declare in one word that we are at the Eve of a Bankruptcy and of a total dissolution of Government. Since the close of the war there has not been paid into the general Treasury as much money as was necessary for one years interest of the domestic and foreign debt and Congress have been reduced to the dreadful alternative of borrowing principal to pay interest. Our efforts at home to this end were ineffectual abroad where we were not known and, where enthusiasm for liberty has enrolled us among the most deserving of mankind, we were more successful. The deception cannot much longer be kept up and unless something can be done before the close of the ensuing year we must cease to be a unified government." -Source: William Blount, speech to the General Assembly of North Carolina, 1787
the ratification of the United States Constitution
"In the Bill of Rights for this Commonwealth it is declared that the happiness of the people & the Preservation of civil government depend upon the piety religion & morality & that the people have a right to invest their Legislature with power to require that provision be made for the public worship of God & the support of [P]rotestant teachers & require the attendance of people upon such worship instructions.... We must insist that the Continental Constitution contain a Bill of Rights which by Express shall secure to us our privileges especially our religion." -Source: Daniel Adams, at a town meeting in Townshend, Massachusetts, 1787
the ratification of the first ten amendments to protect individual liberties and rights
"To what expedient, then, shall we finally resort, for maintaining in practice the necessary partition of power among the several departments, as laid down in the Constitution? The only answer that can be given is, that as all these exterior provisions are found to be inadequate, the defect must be supplied, by so contriving the interior structure of the government as that its several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping each other in their proper places." -Source: Publius (James Madison), The Federalist Papers, no. 51, 1788
the structure of the government itself should limit its powers.
"Instead of a powerful nation-state with imperial pretensions, the government established under the Articles of Confederation was not really much of a government at all, but rather a diplomatic conference where the sovereign states, each of which regarded itself as an autonomous nation, met to coordinate a domestic version of foreign policy. It was, in effect, designed to be weak, and lacked altogether the authority to manage a burgeoning empire." -Source: Joseph J. Ellis, historian, American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic, 2007
to create a weak national government with a unicameral legislature and no executive branch
"In my opinion it would be both just and proper to declare the treaty with France to be void--but I think it would be more advisable to direct reprisals than to declare war at present, for the public mind does not appear to me to be quite prepared for it. . . . Whenever the mass of our people are convinced that the war would be just, necessary, and unavoidable, they will be content that it should be declared, and will support it vigorously, but I doubt whether that conviction however well founded, is as yet so prevailing and general as it ought to be. . . ." -Source: John Jay, letter to William North, 1798
uncertainty about how to respond to increased conflict with the French
"In examining the question how the disturbances on the frontiers are to be quieted, two modes present themselves, by which the object might perhaps be effected; the first of which is by raising an army, and [destroying the resisting] tribes entirely, or [secondly] by forming treaties of peace with them, in which their rights and limits should be explicitly defined, and the treaties observed on the part of the United States with the most rigid justice, by punishing the whites, who should violate the same. . . . The Indians being the prior occupants, possess the right of the soil. It cannot be taken from them unless by their free consent, or by the right of conquest in case of a just war. To disposses them on any other principle, would be a gross violation of the fundamental laws of nature, and of that distributive justice which is the glory of a nation." -Source: Henry Knox, to President George Washington, 1789
violent conflicts between white settlers and Indigenous communities over removing Indigenous peoples from western lands
"Should all the states adopt it, it will be then a government established by the thirteen states of America, not through the intervention of the legislatures, but by the people at large. . . . Thus it is of a complicated nature; and this complication, I trust, will be found to exclude the evils of absolute consolidation, as well as of a mere confederacy. If Virginia was separated from all the states, her power and authority would extend to all cases: in like manner, were all powers vested in the general government, it would be a consolidated government; but the powers of the federal government are enumerated; it can only operate in certain cases; it has legislative powers on defined and limited objects, beyond which it cannot extend its jurisdiction." -Source: James Madison, in defense of the proposed Constitution at the Virginia state convention on the adoption of the Federal Constitution, 1788
weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation
". . .From the numerous avocations to which a professional life exposes gentlemen in America from their families, a principal share of the instruction of children naturally devolves upon the women. It becomes us therefore to prepare them, by a suitable education, for the discharge of this most important duty of mothers. . . . The equal share that every citizen has in liberty and the possible share he may have in the government of our country make it necessary that our ladies should be qualified to a certain degree, by a peculiar and suitable education, to concur in instructing their sons in the principles of liberty and government." Benjamin Rush, Thoughts upon Female Education, 1787
women's participation in the Revolutionary War
