The American Revolution, Articles of Confederation, Constitution 1763-1789

1. John Adams letter to E. Niles 1818, attitudes 1763-1776 

2. Conflicting views after the French-Indian War, British reorganized empire (Wm.
    Pitt) enforcement of new & old taxes to replenish Eng. treasury
 
3. 1763 Pontiac's Conspiracy  (Uprising) two causes? J. Amherst, small pox blankets 

4. Proclamation Line of 1763. 10,000 troops stationed, funded by 1765 Quartering 
    Act 

5. 1761 James Otis -Writs of Asst, 1763 Va. the Parson's Cause

6. Amendments 1, 2, 3. 4, 6 Bill of Rights due to Colonial experience & Magna Carta

7. 1763 George Grenville 1st Ld Treasury

8. 1764 Sugar Act and Currency Act, 1765 Quartering Act & Stamp Act example of
    conservative revolution (two definitions)
 
9. Custom Service reformed, use of Vice-Admiralty courts (no juries) Amend. 6
 
10. 1765 Stamp Act Congress, Virginia Resolves

     internal vs. external tax debate "Taxation without representation" James Otis 
     "virtual representation" Parliamentary view vs direct representation
 
11  Sons of Liberty violence (terrorism or freedom fighters?),  merchant boycotts 

12. 1766 Stamp Act repealed and Declaratory Act passed - why? 

13. 1767 Charles Towshend - Chancellor of the Exchequer - new taxes on lead
      tea, paper, paint and glass
 
14. Board of the Commissioner of the Customs -Writs of Asst. Governor's salaries now
      paid by Parliament, based on enforcement record

15. N.Y. legislature  closed until a Billeting Act passed (quartering)

16. Samuel . Adams & James Otis- Circular Letter 

17. John Dickinson- Letter from a Farmer (in Penn) (not de Crevecouer)
     attacked Townshend taxes although external purpose was to raise revenue not 
     regulate' trade behavior. thus internal in spirit.

18. boycotts and  Sons of Liberty violence resumed by 1768 troops moved to Boston

19. March 5, 1770 Boston Massacre  response  of S. Adams & J. Adams 

20. Frederick  North  British Prime Minister  1770-82 repeal all Townshend duties 
      except on tea, 

21. relative calm from 1770-73, continued propaganda by  S. Adams through 
     Committees of Correspondence coupled with Free press criticism of British Govt.

22.  Gaspee Ship burned -  Rhode Island 1772

Theory of two potential revolutions growing 

23. 1771 Regulators  movement in NC Battle of Alamance
      1763 Paxton Boys uprising in Penn. (Ben Franklin diffuses it)
      1676 Bacon's Rebellion  all three hint of potential social revolt at home. 

24. Tea Act 1773, British  East  India Tea Co. - monopoly advantage given

25. American boycott of the cheaper tea (switch to coffee)

26. December 1773  Boston tea Party
 
27. Intolerable (Coercive) Acts 1774,  Boston Port Act, Mass Gov. Act 
      Adm. of Justice Act, Quartering Act (placed in homes)

28. Quebec Act 1774 creates further troubles

29. 1st Continental Congress, September  1774, Philadelphia, Suffolk Resolves, 
      Galloway Plan (resistance not independence)

30. Dec. of Rights & Grievances 

31. Apr. 19 1775 Lexington & Concord attack , night before the communications of 
      Paul Revere, Billy Dawes,  Samuel Prescott, poems by Longfellow & Emerson 

32. May, 1775 2nd Continental Congress - chose Washington to command a
      continental  Army, issues Olive Branch Petition to King George III (not expecting
      a reaction so why issued?)

33. June 1775 Bunker Hill (Breed's) Boston,
      May 1776 Forts Ticonderoga & Crown Pt. E. Allen B. Arnold. Br. flee Boston
 
34. Br. close all ports and ,hire Hessians mercenaries

35. Jan 1776 T. Paine Common Sense 

36. 7/4/76 Declaration  of Independence. (actually signed on August 2, 
      1776 committee of Franklin, Adams, Sherman, Livingston and Jefferson.
     
     Jefferson composed  almost all it (borrowed heavily from J. Locke - Right of  
     Revolution) use of natural law and enlightenment concepts, attack on slavery, 
     omission of mention of property rights 

     allusions to traditional English rights (Magna Carta & 1689 Bill of Rights)

     call to unite Am. public opinion (1/3 1/3 1/3 divide)

     Appeal to French support of the war ( B. Franklin ambassdor to France from the 
     Cont. Congress ) Why would France consider involvement (Pierre Beaumarchais,
     Oliver North, Aid to china in the 1930's) 

     King George III blamed rather than the obvious Parliament laws,  why? 

37 Aug 1776 British take  NY, Washington driven across NJ into PA. losses or retreats 
     Dec 25, 1776 surprise attack on Trenton (movie "the Crossing" with Jeff Bridges)
 
38. tribulations,  thinning recruitment & sparse supplies, T. Paine -"The Crisis"  16 
      pamphlets from 1776-83 to encourage troops,  Valley Forge Dec. 1777 -June 
      1778

      Army remained due to Washington's character. Newburgh Conspiracy 1782-3
      Order of Cincinnatus (Cincinnati formerly Ft. Washington) King George I ?
 
39. During Valley Forge Continental army trained by Lafayette and Von Stueben to
      become tradition al force, Combination of militia and regular army - concept of 
      militia citizen-soldiers versus professional standing armies and 2nd Amendment

       other European help from Pulaski, kosciosko, and De Kalb 

40. Saratoga Oct  1777 major victory for American forces, ends British campaigns in
      the north. Victory due to efforts of Benedict Arnold ( West point treason)

      leads to open involvement of France by Feb 1778 Franco-American  Treaty of 
      Amity and Commerce - B. Franklin S. Deane.  Reasons for French involvement 

41. British failure in the North leads to campaign in the Carolinas (mistaken loyalists
     expectations) attempt an evacuation from the Chesapeake bay 

42. British instead defeated by combination of the French navy with American forces 
      causes British loss at Yorktown Oct 1791 (Charles Cornwallis)

 43. J. Adams, John Jay. B. Franklin sent to Paris for the treaty, Delays due to 
      Spanish desires for Gibraltar and FR. BR. SP.  double dealings

44. discovery of secret meetings of Fr. Br. & Sp. over land between Miss. &Ohio Rivers 
     Americans violate orders of the Cont. Congress, negotiate separately Sept. 3, 1783 

45. Paris Peace Treaty - 7 provisions-
      American Independence, 
      new national boundaries- Miss River, Great lakes, Florida (Yazoo Strip dispute)
      Miss river shared use by the British and Americans
      Canadian fishing rights retained
      Colonial merchant debts upheld
      Loyalist lands to be restored (“Congress will earnestly recommend…”)
      The British to evacuate Great Lakes forts

1783 - 1789 Articles of Confederation, Constitution 

1. thirteen individual states (nation-states) each with sovereign powers  u.s.A 

2. joined as a confederation contrast to Britain (unitary confederate , federalism)
    led by Continental Congress and  Articles of Confederation

4. thirteen written State Constitutions suggested by Jefferson , most were
    redrafts of colonial charters by legislatures

5. Mass. - constitutional convention to by pass entrenched legislature
    Became the precursor model method for adoption of the U.S. Const.  in 1787

6. powers of Congress under the Articles of Confederation
    Each state equal vote, 2/3 vote needed for measures, unanimous for amendments
    Conduct war and peace and draft treaties and alliances
    Negotiate with Native American nations within U.S, boundaries
    Establish standards of coinage weights and measures
    Maintain a postal service  
  
7. powers retained by the states - taxing and regulating commerce 

Successes of the Articles of Confederation

8. Set up a system of national citizenship - carried over into federalism (rights and
    privileges of citizens guaranteed from state to state (more current issues of 
    non-White citizenship, interracial, and gay marriage records from state to state)

9. Won the war and achieved independence

10. Found a way to settled newly acquired lands without interstate warfare

11. new lands from Treaty of 1763 ceded to Congress, sold as a way to raise revenue
 
12. Territories to go through steps towards sovereign states, minimum 60,000

12. Ordinance of 1785 create concept of townships - six mile square  36 equal 
      sections, one mile square, sold at auction min. $1 acre

13. Ordinance of 1787 NW Ordinance NW Territory, 3-5 Territories  into states 
      Each with a bill of rights, slavery banned, Mason-Dixon line extension 

Weaknesses and failures

14. lacked executive and judicial branches ( two whys?) 
      lacked national compulsive power,  could not tax or control trade 

15. diplomatic failures, J. Adams  British Forts retained, unfair trade arrangements
      France violates the 1778 treaty. (refused free trade, established tariffs)

16. Jay-Gardouqui treaty with Spain (failed) 1785-6, free trade for New Orleans use dropped for25 years, future Western suspicions of Eastern tidewater elites
17. Individual states regulated trade not Congress. Led to trade wars at the American’s 
     Disadvantage. Each state erected tariffs against each other also. 

18. war debt unpaid, (at home and abroad) Congress unable to raise money (no power
      to tax) attempted requisition  and amendments to gain he power to tax - failed

19. Sale of Western public lands did not generate sufficient funds

20. postwar recession, deflation crushed debtors. With each state empowered to coin
      money, no consistent values across states. In some states debtors  took control
      and   issued paper money to inflate and ease debts. 

21. Creditor controlled Mass. saw the 1786-1787 Shays' Rebellion - attempt at 
      mortgage relief by destroying bank records.  (signs of East -West tensions)

22. Alexandria (Mt. Vernon) and Annapolis meetings 1785 &1786  A. Hamilton proposes
      Amending the Articles of Confederation

23. Sept 1787, Philadelphia, Constitutional Convention 

24. 55 delegates, most lawyers, all bourgeoisie 

25. Charles Beard An Economic Interpretation-of the Constitution 1913  
     conspiracy theory of counterrevolution by rich elite to stop social looming revolt 
     and protect holdings.

26. Henry Steel Commager -  how to protect liberty and states rights & strengthen 
     national authority? Checks & balances and federalism

27. Madison kept only notes of proceedings , Washington - presiding officer,
     Franklin elder statesman and intermediary, Hamilton- reactionary views 

28. Secrecy from press coverage (conspiracy?)

Compromises

29. Compromise between Large and small states over type of  national legislature 

30. Virginia Plan (large state) bicameral, both proportional to population, (one man one
      vote) executive and judiciary selected by the legislature

31. New Jersey Plan (small state) similar to Articles congress each state one vote, 
      separate & equally powerful executive and judiciary branches

32. Great Compromise (Conn. Comp.) House and Senate created, Senate upper house,
     why?,  (examples) Why large states agree to Senate favoring small states?

sectional compromises

33.  North- South, 3/5 Compromise over both taxes and representation 

34. East - West, admission of new states and 2/3 senate treaty approval needed
      Memory of Jay- Gardouqui, import but no export taxes authorized  (no slave trade
      restrictions until 1808)

35. Congress regulates interstate and international trade, states intrastate trade

36. Federalism- a theoretical compromise between state and national sovereignty
.    delegated, reserved, concurrent powers, supreme law of the land clause 
 
Article 1 - legislature
Article 2 - executive
Article 3 - judicial
Article 4 - relations among states
Article 5 - amendment process
Article 6 - misc. and supremacy clause
Article 7 - ratification process - needed nine states

37. Highest sovereignty? “We the People" 

38. national govt. divided 'into three branches; legislative Executive, judicial,
      checks & balances to prevent tyranny over states and each other
 
39. Congress (under Constitution) powers, taxes and trade regulation added,
      declaring War, appropriations, impeachment, elastic clause, implied powers
     (necessary & proper)

40. executive, compromise over selection, electoral college, purpose of  vice president
      civilian control of the military, veto power, appointments, carry out laws 
 
41. judiciary, creation of Supreme Court, Congress left to define powers and rest of 
     The federal judiciary, highest court of appeal,  judicial review

42. amendment process, two ways 

43. opponents-Anti-Federalist, small farmers, debtors, westerners, (Miss. River) 
      liberals fearing tyranny Sam Adams, Patrick Henry, J. Hancock (VP offer)
      Desire for a  bill of rights, Madison reticence 

44. Federalists; Eastern Seaboard merchants and wealthy planters  (Beard)

45.  Del.1st, N. Hampshire 9th  Mass. Va. N.C. ,bill of rights 

46. N.Y. persuaded by the letters to editors, Federalist papers Hamilton, Jay, 
     (Madison, Fed #10 - mischief of factions)
 
47. Less democratic than the articles, denial of popular rule, 
      only House directly elected,  others branches steps away

48. Constitution has grown more democratic by amendments rise of political parties 
      and federal court decisions, popular vote control of the electoral college 

49. Bill of Rights adopted 1791 

1st freedom of speech, press, assembly, no establishments of religion

2nd right to bear arms (reaction to militias and standing armies)

3rd no quartering of soldiers

4th search and seizure
 
5th due process, property, self incrimination, double jeopardy 

6th speedy trial and right to counsel (criminal cases)

7th right jury in civil cases dealing with issues over 20 dollars
 
8th ban cruel & unusual punishment  and excessive bail

9th non-listed rights retained by people 

10th powers reserved  to states 

Nature of the Bill of Rights to protect people from tyrannical national power (police states) and until the 14th amendment and even 20th century, they only applied to the national government .