This document provides a summary of a US History 11 lecture on the creation of the new American republic after the Revolutionary War and the question of slavery. The summary covers: Americans winning independence from Britain with French aid; building the Articles of Confederation and its failures; creating the US Constitution and compromises over slavery; and the competing visions in early American society between Federalists, Democratic-Republicans, and on the issue of slavery.

1. US History 11 – CHEE
Lecture 6 – Creating a New Republic
& the Question of Slavery
o The End of the War
o Building a Republic
o Creating a National Government
o The Limits and Possibilities of the Revolution
o American Society: Competing Visions

2. Americans win with French aid
British Army Surrenders to American Continentals on
land, French blockade on the seas, at Yorktown,
Virginia – 1781
Mondhare, Reddition de l’Armee Angloises Commandee par Mylord Comte de Cornwallis, 1781.

3. Political Cartoon on No More Quartering Act!
“An Apartment to Lett for Military Gentlemen”
American victory, British peace negotiations
James Gillray’s 1782 cartoon, The American Rattle Snake

4. Treaty of Paris 1783 Shows a Reconciliation
between Britain & the U.S.
Reconciliation between Brittania and Her Daughter
Americans gained
independence!
Generous boundaries –
Mississippi on the west
Great Lakes on the north
Up to Spanish Florida in
the south

5. Revolutionary Republicanism
o Inspired by enlightenment ideals
o Rejection of monarchy
o Government as a contract, for public good - “we the
people” (Lock, Rousseau)
o Individual citizens putting public good or public virtue
over individual interests
o Dangers of excessive individual liberty? Versus political
chaos
o Principle of political equality, elections frequent
(questions over who has the right to equality)
– Aristocratic versus democratic values
– Fear of the“tyranny of the people”?
– “Manly” qualities like rationality, self-discipline and public
sacrifice

6. Paine Promotes a Republican Government
Thomas Paine. Common
Sense. 1776
Promoted a republican
government
Direct democracy –
state/federal
government with an
elected assembly &
president

7. Paine’s “Common Sense and a Plain
Understanding” started a movement for a
“people”’s government, of citizens
o Pennsylvania – 1776 – single state legislature elected
by taxpaying adult men (with no property
requirements for officeholders) & a President
o Inspires Vermont (Green Mountain Boys revolted
from NY – 1777)
o Georgia, Delaware, New Hampshire, & South
Carolina also adopted democratic “president” for
their governors

8. John Adams. Thoughts on Government. 1776
articulates a more conservative approach
o Argues for “balanced”
institutions or that elites,
the “better sort” should
rule
o advocates for hierarchy - 2
chambers – upper & lower
o Some states (Virginia,
Maryland, NY, & MA) created
state senates representing
property, not people
A Republican from MA

9. Legislatures Become More Democratic, 1765–1790
After the revolution, majority of legislators have modest wealth

10. Articles of Confederation, 1777, Fails
What are the problems with this confederation?
AKA “Articles of Confusion” – loose confederation
or “firm league of friendship”
o No executive government
o States sovereign – each state, one vote
o Congress weak
o no power to tax - Voluntary Tax contributions from each state
o Laws – majority of votes
o Article amendments, unanimous vote
o No power to regulate commerce, tariffs
o Conflict over western lands

11. Regulated Prices or Free Markets?
Inflation & Depression: $450 million Continentals
1777- $105 Continentals - $100 worth of gold/silver
1780 - $4000 Continentals - $100 gold/silver

12. Regulated Prices or
Free Markets?
Adam Smith.
Wealth of Nations.
1776
Free markets
“Invisible hand”

13. Avoiding Civil War: Shays’s Rebellion
1786 Crisis with growing farmer debts & creditors in Massachusetts
1786 - Daniel Shays & Job Shattuck, MA Regulators
former Revolutionary War captain Shays led 1200 men with complaints
about not getting paid, MA Governor Shattuck led a force of 4400 men, right
before their executions, forgave the Regulators, and nearly avoided civil war

14. Samuel Adams & the Sons of Liberty
Terrorist group?
Or trained mobs
o Artisans
o Shopkeepers
o Farmers
o Religious leaders
o Wealthy merchants

15. The Limits & Possibilities of the Revolution
o Separation of Church and state – success!
o Slavery –
o Abolition, states like Vermont outlaw slavery
o Gradual abolition
o Legal suits/petitions
o Manumissions
o Women - excluded

16. Separation of Church & State
Pre-1776 – Rhode Island, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania & Delaware allowed for
separation
1786 – Thomas Jefferson’s Bill for Establishing
Religious Freedom – separation of church &
state, removing religious tests for public office,
became the model for the Constitution’s First
Amendment

17. Washington & Jefferson agonize over
language regarding slavery
The Declaration of
Independence – 1776
“…all men are created
equal…”

18. Slavery after the American Revolution:
Gradual Emancipation & Expansion
North - “Gradual abolition”
1775 – 50K slaves
1810 – 27K slaves
South – Expansion,
Upper vs lower South
Upper South – shift from
tobacco to grains

19. Suits & Petitions: Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman Sues
her Massachusetts Master for Freedom
o Brom and Bett v. Ashley – 1781
o Won her suit and lived as a
paid domestic servant for
her lawyer until 1808
o Basis for Quok Walker’s suit
Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman
(c.1744-1829)

20. “A Natural &
Inalienable Right
to …Freedom”
Prince Hall
A free African American
Petitions to the
Massachusetts
legislature, January 13,
1777

21. Quok Walker files lawsuit in MA,
against his previous owner
o 1781, 28-year old Quok Walker
declares his freedom
o Then sues for wages & damages for
assault, imprisonment when
recaptured
o 1783, Chief Justice Cushing quotes
MA’s constitution, “all men are born
free and equal”
o Effectively abolishes slavery in
Massachusetts

22. Slavery after the American Revolution:
Manumission
Alexander Hamilton
oHelped to find the New York
Manumission Society – 1785
oNY ends slavery (abolition)
by c.1799

23. Despite revolutionary ideals & movements
excluded women but promoted notions of
“Republican Motherhood”
John Copley, Copley Family Portrait, c. 1776-1777
Republicanism
emphasized
“Manly” qualities:
rationality, self-discipline
and public sacrifice

24. “Remember the
Ladies…”
during the revolution…
Abigail Adams

25. John Adams
o “We know better…than
to repeal our masculine
systems…”
John Adams
o New Jersey – only state
allowed free, propertied
women to vote in local
elections in the 1780s

26. o The Constitution’s Framers
o The Constitution’s Compromises
o The Fight for Ratification
o Securing a Bill of Rights
Creating a National Government

27. The Constitution
Grand Convention met to create the constitution,
first ratified by 9 states in 1788, completes the political revolution

28. The Looking Glass for 1787
Nationalists
Localists
having trouble getting rescued
Sinking Connecticut

29. The Constitution’s Framers
o Philadelphia Convention convenes – 1787
o Chair George Washington
o Robert Morris, Philadelphian land speculator &
“financier” of the Revolution
o New York’s Alexander Hamilton
o James Madison of Virginia, “The Vices of the
Political System of the United States”
o Merchants, lawyers, landholders or southern
planters

30. Federalist Papers - 1788
o James Madison, Alexander Hamilton & John Jay, 85
essays.
o Create a large republic…

31. “Dual Federalism”
o Both federal and state governments –
the legal institutions of the people
o Problem of representation?
– Upper House – Senate
– Lower House – House of Representatives

32. The Constitution’s Compromises
o Compromises for the South
– 3/5 clause
– Fugitive slave law
– No consideration of slavery ban before 1808
o Compromises for the North
– Congress – power to regulate commerce, establish
uniform bankruptcy laws, mint coins, regulate
money, standard weights & measures, create a
postal service
– States – not allowed to issue money

33. End of the Slave Trade
The U.S. & Europe outlaw the slave trade in the first
half of the nineteenth century.
1803 – Denmark
1807 - Great Britain
1808 - the US
1814 – France
1817 - the Netherlands
1845 - Spain

34. End of Chattel Slavery as an Institution
794, 1848 – France
833 – GB
865 - US
oday - an estimated 200
million people still live in
servitude

35. Division over the Constitution
Federalists (pro-
Constitution) - townspeople
Anti-federalists – mostly
farmers
New Hampshire is the ninth
state to ratify,
March 4, 1789 – Constitution
goes into effect.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewwv7RyMxAk&feature=BFa&list=PLA8CC511DE

36. 1791 – 10 Bill of Rights Ratified as a
Compromise to anti-Federalists
o check against a large federal
government
o Constitutional ratification in 5
states contingent upon the
creation of a Bill of Rights
o 1791 – 10 constitutional
amendments ratified and
appended

37. George Washington,
First U.S. President, 1789

38. John Adams, VP
Thomas Jefferson, Sec of State

39. Regulated Prices or Free Markets?
Inflation & Depression: $450 million Continentals
1777- $105 Continentals - $100 worth of gold/silver
1780 - $4000 Continentals - $100 gold/silver

40. 1791 – Bank of the United States
Controversial Bank - Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton
Bank to pay off state debts- $21.5 million

41. Fugio cent –”I fly” and “Mind your Business”
First Coins authorized by Congress

42. o Political Tumult in the Early Republic
o A Republic of Citizens
o Opportunity for Some, Exclusion for Others
American Society: Competing Visions

43. Competing Visions in the Early Republic
Jeffersonians (Democratic-
Republicans)
Hamiltonians (Federalists)

44. Competing Visions in the Early Republic
Jeffersonians (Democratic-
Republicans)
o Opposed a strong central
power
o Literal interpretation of
the Constitution
o Democratic-Republican
clubs
o Alliance with France
Adams/Hamiltonians (Federalists
oFavored strong central power
oBroad interpretation of the
Constitution
oRejected French radical
democracy
oAlliance with Britain

45. Washington Suppresses the Whiskey Rebellion, 1794
Kemmelmeyer, General Washington, Reviewing the Western Army at Fort Cumberland the 18th
of October, 1794
7 cents/gallon
Tarred & feathered tax
collectors
Armed farmers in western
Pennsylvania & a crowd
of 7K people set fire to
Pittsburgh

46. Post-Revolutionary America in the World
o Crisis in the Spanish Empire
o Westward Expansion and Indian Resistance
o American Societies and the Atlantic World

47. Toussaint L’Ouverture – Haitian Revolution - 1791
Gabriel – 1800 - Virginia
Slave rebellion becomes a
revolution!

48. The XYZ Affair - 1798
French foreign minister Talleyrand, demanded $240K in bribes to
American ministers

49. President Adams maintains peace with France
Created a navy & Marine
Corps to protect from
French vessels

50. States Challenge/Nullify Congressional Laws:
Kentucky & Virginia Resolutions 1798
o Kentucky & Virginia unilaterally attempt to
nullify federal laws within their states,
arguing state rights to nullify those deemed
unconstitutional
o In reaction to the Alien & Sedition Acts –
giving presidential/congressional power to
expel, fine, imprison anyone who conspires to
opposition of government, insurrection, riot,
unlawful assembly, publication…
o Created future problems for states’ rights
dangerous to the union
James Madison – Father
of the Constitution &
U.S. President

51. South Carolina & Nullification of Tariffs
SC Senator Calhoun, an
anti-federalist and
promoter of
sectionalism, attempted
to nullify tariffs arguing
for the sovereignty of
states

52. DANIEL WEBSTER of
Massachusetts
Senator Webster Argues Against Nullification
o Federal Government as
sovereign, as the citizens, or
“the people” drafted the
constitution
o Nullification
unconstitutional!

53. The Jeffersonian Revolution of 1800
Elections of 1800
oTie at first – Jefferson-Burr, Adams
trailed
oCongress passed 12th
Amendment –
separate Electoral College ballots for
President & V-P
oPeaceful transition of power from
Federalists to Jeffersonians
oCapital moves to D.C.

54. Thomas
Jefferson
-Sally Hemings
Controversy
A Philosophic Cock
Affair with his
slave Hemings

55. Louisiana Purchase – 1803 - $15 million
The United States Population Doubled in 1803

56. Westward Expansion and Indian Resistance
Joseph Richardson, Jr., Peace Medal,
1793, American Numismatic Society
o 1791 – Confederation of Shawnee Indians
kill, wound, and capture 900/1500
American soldiers sent to dislodge them
from Ohio
o 1794 – US troops defeat the Shawnees,
Shawnees sign the Treaty of Grenville &
cede land east of the Mississippi River
o 1805 – Tenskwatawa leads a religious
awakening among Northwest Indian
nations
o 1811 – Americans defeats Shawnee Indians
at Prophetstown, ending Shawnee armed
resistance to white settlement.
o 1830s - Indians lost most of their land in
Ohio, southern Indiana, Michigan, and
Illinois

57. Presidio of San Francisco
Louis Choris (Victor Adam) Vue de Presidio San Francisco, Voyage pittoresque autour du
monde. 1822

58. From Revolution to a new American Society
o Success in creating a new republic of citizens!
o Success in separating church and state, federalism,
and banking!
o Exclusion of Slaves, Indians, women, others… –
while providing opportunity for some
o Consolidation and expansion of slavery in the
south
o Continuing ironies in thinking of “liberty”

59. Grace Chee Copyright 4.2015
Message to Students:
Professor Chee does not endorse other slide
share presentations and recommends that you
read primary sources, text, and other
readings/videos as assigned