Unit 1
The American
Character and Belief
System
LT1: Political Foundations
O Belief in a written constitution (Mayflower Compact
and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut)
O Legitimacy through written laws and the description
of how self-government will work
O God was included in these documents
O Despite this fact, they were examples of Enlightenment
political thought
O Self government (to an extent) from the start (House
of Burgesses and the New England Town Meetings)
O The wealthy landowners, religious leaders, or
appointed governors still controlled most important
decisions, but elections within those positions did
take place
O M and M Theory
LT2: Religious Development
O New England – Puritans (largest
denomination in the colonies)
O Middle Colonies – very diverse: Catholics,
Puritans (especially those banished),
Anglicans, Quakers, etc.
O Southern Colonies – Anglican (second
largest denomination)
O Puritans
O New England, Massachusetts Bay Colony
O The “city upon a hill” quote from John Winthrop
O Strict moral code and the requirement of
profession of faith
O Church was the focal point of each town
O Though they sought religious freedom in coming
to America, they were not tolerant of other faiths
(or even slight differences within their faith)
O Roger Williams
O Anne Hutchinson
O Prosperity contributed to their decline
O Their success both allowed them to prosper, then
pulled them away from original purpose
O Anglicans (Church of England)
O Virginia (Chesapeake region)
O Though membership may have been required, this
requirement was . . .
O Resented because of strong individual spirit
O Embraced because it brought status (official
Church of England and a connection to the Crown)
O Less of a focus than Puritan faith in New England
O Churches were more scattered due to the
settlement pattern of the farming (plantation)
South
O A family affair
O The Great Awakening
O Religious revival era of the mid-1700s
O Johnathon Edwards and George Whitefield felt
people were becoming too concerned with worldly
matters (remember the Puritan decline)
O This is the Age of Enlightenment
O Field preaching brought thousands to the “hellfire
and brimstone” sermons
O It democratized religion in America
O Women and African-Americans were involved more than
ever
O It split churches, but this provided more options for
people
O God became closer to the believer- personal experience
O This religious challenge to authority helped foster
political challenges to authority
O Therefore, it can be viewed as a contributing factor to
the American Revolution
LT3: Enlightenment
O Philosophers of Europe were not just
challenging religion with science, they were
challenging the old political ideas by
introducing new theories of government
O Challenging authority across the board
O Divine Right gave way to natural rights,
consent of the governed, and selfgovernment
O Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and
Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of
Independence
O Connection to Britain is no longer needed
O Britain has violated the rights of its citizens
(natural rights)
O Therefore, we have the “right of revolution” –
to overthrown an unjust government
O The colonists had a rebellious spirit (LT4)
O Consent of the governed is the only legitimate
government
LT4: Rebellion was a
Tradition
O Bacon’s, Shays’s, and Whiskey
Rebellions were sparked by economic
and political grievances against
authority that was perceived as
arbitrary and distant
O Turner’s Rebellion epitomized the
great nightmare of the antebellum
slavocracy- a large-scale slave revolt
O Bacon’s Rebellion - 1676
O Virginia frontiersman are upset that the
government in Virginia is not protecting them from
Indians
O Rebellion burns Jamestown, but ultimately the
government crushes it
O Outcomes
O British government realized the perils of the poor
white class
O Indentured servitude dwindles and black slave
labor increases
O Can be seen as the first true challenge to the
British government’s authority (100 yrs. before
the Revolution)
O Shays’s Rebellion – 1787
O Massachusetts farmers are in debt (new states
were increasing taxes to acquire money after the
Revolution)
O Those unable to pay are thrown in debtor’s prison
O Shays’s leads attacks on the courts because of
these “unfair” taxes and an unresponsive, distant
government and the state militia is called out
O Outcomes
O The government feared rebellions might spread to
other states
O There was a call to “alter” the Articles of
Confederation to provide a stronger authority in
matters of national interest and the economy
O Whiskey Rebellion - 1794
O Taxation on those who produced whiskey
(vital economic good)
O Farmers attack tax collectors in protest
(unfair taxation – remember the Revolution)
O Washington’s force disperses the rebels
O Outcome
O An early test of the government’s ability to tax
O An early test of the government’s ability to
maintain law and order
O Turner’s Rebellion - 1831
O Slave revolt – physical assault on white
southerners
O Turner was caught and executed
O Outcome
O The South imposes harsher restrictions on the
slave population and the slave code
O The South more passionately defends slavery
O Helps inflame abolition movement in the North
LT5: The Ideas and Principles of the
Articles and the Constitution
O Coming out of the Revolution, America wanted
a National Government that was weak.
O Colonists had viewed themselves as Virginians,
New Yorkers, etc. first, and then Americans.
Colonial, and then state, pride came first.
O They created a loose confederation (league of
friendship) with a weak national government –
The Articles of Confederation
O It failed.
O The Articles of Confederation
O Successes
O It was a national government that was based on the
principles the founders and colonists fought for
O The Northwest Ordinances
O Failures
O Virginia Plan called for a strong central government
with three distinctive elements
O National Supremacy above state sovereignty
O The people could directly vote for some national
leaders
O The central government would be made up of three
distinct branches: a bicameral legislature, an
executive, and a judiciary
O The New Jersey Plan would continue more along the
lines of how Congress already operated under the
Articles
O This plan called for a unicameral legislature with the
one vote per state formula still in place
O The supporters of the proposed Constitution
called themselves Federalists
O the Constitution was required in order to
safeguard the liberty and independence that
the American Revolution had created
O Antifederalists opposed the Constitution
O They believed that the greatest threat to the
future of the United States lay in the
government's potential to become corrupt
and seize more and more power
LT6: Political and Social Conflict in
the Early 19th Century
O Rapid population growth and geographic
expansion caused a great deal of conflict
O Democracy began to be championed as an
unqualified key to improving the country
O Slavery and its expansion
O The country's founders left no clear solution
to the issue of slavery in the Constitution.
Popular sovereignty, amendment,
nullification, and secession were all
discussed as possible remedies
O Northwest Territory
O Northwest Ordinances
O Division of the territory into states
O Formula for establishing these new states
with representation
O Establishment of religious freedom, the
banning of slavery, and provisions for
education
O Importance:
O There is a plan to move west
O America values education and sets up an
orderly way to expand
O Slavery becomes an issue as we expand
O Compromise of 1820
O (1) Missouri was admitted as a slave state
and Maine (formerly part of Massachusetts)
as free, and
O (2) except for Missouri, slavery was to be
excluded from the Louisiana Purchase lands
north of latitude 36°30′
O was criticized by many southerners because
it established the principle that Congress
could make laws regarding slavery;
O northerners, on the other hand, condemned
it for acquiescing in the expansion of slavery
O Compromise of 1850
North Gets
California admitted as a free
state
Slave trade prohibited in
Washington D.C.
Texas loses boundary dispute
with New Mexico
South Gets
No slavery restrictions in Utah
or New Mexico territories
Slaveholding permitted in
Washington D.C.
Texas gets $10 million
Fugitive Slave Law
O Who won and who lost in the deal?
O North seemed to gain the most. The
balance of the Senate was now with
the free states, although California
often voted with the south on many
issues in the 1850s.
O The major victory for the south was
the Fugitive Slave Law.
O In the end, the north refused to
enforce it.
O Compromise of 1877
O The end of 15 years of Reconstruction
O Hayes (R) “defeats Tilden (D)
O Military “occupation” ends
O North abandons the South
O Too long of a process
O More pressing concerns out West
O South is handed back over to Democratic
Rule
O Segregated society continues and strengthens
O Black underclass
LT7: Religious, Philosophical, and Social
Movements of the 19th Century
O After establishing a new nation, America
sought to make its own way – the American
experiment
O Grounded in optimism and individualism
O Even when people begin to see flaws in the
American experiment, they sought new
thoughts and ideas
O And many times this created serious conflicts
O Utopian societies
O Most of the original utopias were created for
religious purposes.
O Gradually, utopian communities came to
reflect social perfectibility rather than
religious purity
O Self-reliance, optimism, individualism and a
disregard for external authority and tradition
O These experiments ultimately disintegrated
O The Second Great Awakening
O Because religion was separated from the control of
political leaders, a series of religious revivals swept
the United States from the 1790s and into the 1830s
O best known for its large camp meetings
O The evangelical impulse at the heart of the Second
Great Awakening shared some of the egalitarian
thrust of Revolutionary ideals
O The new evangelical movement, however, placed
greater emphasis on humans' ability to change their
situation for the better
O Second Great Awakening also included greater public
roles for white women and much higher AfricanAmerican participation
O Transcendentalism
O People, men and women equally, have knowledge about
themselves and the world around them that "transcends"
or goes beyond what they can see, hear, taste, touch or
feel
O People can trust themselves to be their own authority on
what is right
O The transcendentalists led the celebration of the
American experiment as one of individualism and selfreliance
O Imagination was better than reason, creativity was better
than theory, and action was better than contemplation
O Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt
Whitman
O Temperance
O By 1830, the average American over 15 years old
consumed nearly seven gallons of pure alcohol a
year – three times as much as we drink today –
and alcohol abuse (primarily by men) was
wreaking havoc on the lives of many, particularly
in an age when women had few legal rights and
were utterly dependent on their husbands for
sustenance and support
O The temperance movement, rooted in America's
Protestant churches, first urged moderation, then
encouraged drinkers to help each other to resist
temptation, and ultimately demanded that local,
state, and national governments prohibit alcohol
outright
O Abolition
O Early Abolitionists called for a gradual end to slavery
O The new Abolitionists thought differently. They saw
slavery as a blight on America that must be brought to an
end immediately.
O They sent petitions to Congress and the states,
campaigned for office, and flooded the south with
inflammatory literature
O William Lloyd Garrison
O Frederick Douglass
O Sojourner Truth
O Uncle Tom’s Cabin
LT8: Political and Social Impact
of Territorial Expansion
O Western migration had become central to the American way
of life.
O This land offered the promise of independence and prosperity
O Manifest destiny touched on issues of religion, money, race,
patriotism, and morality
O Political Impact of Expansion
O Representation for new states
O Slavery in the territories
O The west led the path by having no property requirements for
voting
O Social Impact of Expansion
O In the new western states, there was a greater level of equality
among the masses than in the former English colonies. Land
was readily available
O Louisiana Purchase
O Jefferson's plans for the nation depended upon western
expansion and access to international markets for
American farm products
O The most efficient route to market remained along
waterways and access to New Orleans remained crucial
for the western economy and its settlement.
O The belief that the future prosperity of the republic
required the expansion of yeoman farmers in the west. .
an "EMPIRE OF LIBERTY"
O Federalist opposition
O Was it constitutional?
O Lewis and Clark Expedition
O While trying to find a route across the
continent, they were also expected to make
detailed observations of the natural
resources and geography of the west
O they were to establish good relations with
native groups in an attempt to disrupt
British dominance of the lucrative Indian fur
trade of the continental interior
O The expansion of the nation caused major
alterations in American life
O Companies begin to build roads (called
turnpikes since they charged a fee), bridges,
canals
O Outright military conflict with native groups
increases
O A new capitalist economy enormously expands
wealth and lays the foundation for the Industrial
Revolution
O A growing regional distinctiveness of American
life emerges
O Remember the Compromise of 1820
O Remember the Compromise of 1850
O http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/
US/US09-01.html