Revolution. Declaration of Independence

Quiz words:
Stamp Act
taxation without representation
Sam Adams / Sons of Liberty / Liberty Tree
Committees of Correspondence
Boston Tea Party
Continental Congress
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Declaration of Independence
Loyalists and Patriots
Peace of Paris
Republicanism and Liberalism (ideologies)
state constitutions
Congress of Confederation
Shays’s rebellion
Federalists and Anti-Federalists
separation of powers
"other persons" (in the Constitution)

Outline:

Stamp Act:
- adopted in 1765, repealed in 1766
- on printed and legal documents (newspapers, licenses)
- taxation without representation
- external vs. internal duties
- protest followed
- Townshend Acts followed (only external duties, tea)

Protest against taxation:

Demands:
- no internal or external taxes
- boycott of British goods (tea, clothes)
- public protests (Liberty Tree)

Writings:
- John Dickinson, Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer
- Sam Adams and Sons of Liberty

Committees of Correspondence (1772)
- to state grievances
- first organized in Boston by John Adams
- both northern and southern colonies

Boston Tea Party (1773)
- against the Tea Act - precedent of monopoly in trade
- Committees of Correspondence organized protests
- Sam Adams & others threw tea in Boston harbor
- dressed like Mohawk Indians
- in response British Government closed Boston port

The Continental Congress
- First - 1774 in Philadelphia
- Virginial assembly called for it
- 12 continental colonies (except Georgia, Floridas)
- created common policies for all colonies
- Britain can only regulate commerce, not internal affairs
- organized committees to enforce boycott of British goods
- called for local militias (Minute Men)
- Britain responded with trade sanctions

The Declaration of Independence
- adopted July 4, 1776 after the war started
- drafted by Thomas Jefferson
- used George Mason’s Virginia’s Declaration of Rights
- used John Locke’s contractual theory of government
- declared inaliable rights to life, liberty, etc.

The War of Independence
- began with Second Continental Congress 1775
- George Washington commander in chief
- colonists divided into Loyalists and Patriots
- militia not well trained, provisions problems
- alliance with France 1778
- 1778 British House of Commons repeals pre-war acts
- 1783 Peace of Paris – independence, western boundary on Mississippi river

Revolutionary ideologies
- ideology is an implicit system of ideas that justifies a particular form of government and social order in a given society or nation
- Republicanism (classical republic, Roman writers like Cicero & British 17c Whig writers, independent property-holding citizens, elective government, civic virtue & common good)
- Liberalism (John Locke, social contract between the ruler and the people, laissez-faire economics, limited government, economic self-interest)

Development of the American system of government

State constitutions:
- adopted between 1776-1787
- principles: limited representative government elected by the sovereign people and defined in a written constitution
- bill of rights: freedom of speech, trial by jury, etc.
- separation of powers (legislative, executive, and judicial)
- less power to governors, more to legislatures

Congress of Confederation 1781-1787:
- Articles of Confederation took effect in 1781
- weak government - no executive or judicial branch
- could: govern foreign and interstate affairs & land policy
- could not: tax, regulate commerce

Shays’s Rebellion:
- Massachusetts – conservative government, high taxes, no paper money
- Captain Daniel Shays & farmers demanded less taxes & paper currency
- new legislature – less debt, taxes
- calls for a strong central government everywhere (Federalists)

Constitution:
- Convention 1787; ratified 1787-1790; Confederation Congress disbanded 1788
- Federalists – for strong national government (framed and argued for Constitution)
- Anti-Federalists – for individual rights (opposed the constitution and argued for Bill of Rights)
- did NOT abolish slavery, but prohibited Atlantic slave trade beginning in 1808
- counted “three-fifth of all other persons” (slaves) for representation and taxation
- slaves, women, and men without property still could not vote
- established separation of powers
- hard to amend – two-thirds vote in houses or national convention
- served national economic development
- demonstrated the possibility of republican government in a large state

Separation of powers

Legislative branch
- two houses to protect society from the “tyranny of the majority”
- House of Representatives elected by voters every two years
- Senate elected by state legislatures for staggered six year terms

Executive branch:
- President elected every four years
- the President could: veto acts of Congress, make treaties, executed laws, was commander-in-chief
- the President could not: declare war or peace, could be impeached

Judicial branch:
- Supreme court
- federal laws override state laws