Review of the 18th Century
A Nation is Born
This Day in History
• 1777: General Sir William Howe and General Charles Cornwallis launch
full-scale British attack on General George Washington and the Patriot
outpost at Brandywine Creek in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
• Howe and Cornwallis spilt their 18,000 troops
– Troop movements hidden by dense fog
• 11,000 surprised Continentals faced possibility of being surrounded.
• Washington ordered retreat north to Germantown
• The British abandoned pursuit, occupied Philadelphia.
– Congress fled to Lancaster, then to York, Pennsylvania
– British took control of the city without Patriot opposition
• One-day battle cost the Americans more than 1,100 men killed or
captured
• British lost approximately 600 men killed or injured.
• Patriots were also forced to abandon most of their cannon to the British
victors after their artillery horses fell in battle.
Thirteen Colonies
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Virginia 1607
Massachusetts 1620
Maryland 1634
Rhode Island 1636
Connecticut 1636
New York 1664
Carolinas 1663
Pennsylvania 1681
Georgia 1733
The Enlightenment
• Rationalism: emphasis on logic and reasoning
– Benjamin Franklin: devoted to science and
community service
– John Locke: natural rights of man
– Deists
• Provided the arguments against British rule
Great Awakening
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Pietism
Revivals
Undermined allegiance to traditional authority
Ideals split Protestantism
Women’s influence increased
Brought about criticism of authority
1754
• French and Indian Wars Begin
– Albany Conference
– Proclamation of 1763 limited western settlement
– Treaty of Paris, 1763
• British victory
– Costly, Britain deeply in debt from defending its
colonies
• Many felt colonies should pay Britain back
Britain Attempts to Increase Revenue
• American Revenue Act of 1764
– AKA Sugar Act: raised tax on imports
• Taxation without representation argument
– James Otis
• Currency Act to avoid inflation
– Banned use of paper money
– Ensured colonial economic dependence on Britain
• Stamp Act
– Tax on all printed material
• Congress issues Declaration of Rights and Grievances
1765
• Quartering Act
– Colonial governments provide barracks
– Soldiers billeted in taverns and inns for free
• Sons of Liberty formed
– Secret society throughout colonies
– Boycotting of English goods increased
• Stamp Act Congress formed
– Declaration of Rights and Grievances drafted
1766
• Stamp Act repealed
• Declaratory Act
– Affirmed Parliament’s right to create laws for
colonies
1767
• Townsend Acts
– Import duties
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Glass
Lead
Paper
Paint
Tea
– Authorized blank search warrants
– Juryless vice admiralty courts
• Repealed in 1770 after boycotts and some
violence
1770
• Boston Massacre
– Propaganda fodder
– Soldiers put on trial in Boston
– Defended by John Adams
1773
• Duty on tea only remnant of Townsend Acts
• Boston Tea Party
– December
Intolerable Acts
• Boston Port Act closed the port until crown
repaid for lost revenue
• Government Act increased royal governor’s
power
– Banned unauthorized town meetings
• Impartial Administration of Justice Act
authorized change of venue for English
1774
• First Continental Congress meets
– Issues another Declaration of Rights and
Grievances
• Suffolk Resolves
– Disobey Intolerable Acts
– Non-importation boycott now colonies-wide
– Collect own colonial taxes
1775
• Massachusetts declared in rebellion
– British to seize gunpowder and arms in Lexington
and Concord
– Paul Revere’s ride and capture
– British driven from Concord
• Second Continental Congress meets
– George Washington to head Continental Army
– Olive Branch Petition rejected
Gadsden Flag
• “Liberty or death, what we so proudly hail
Once you provoke her, rattling of her tail
Never begins it, never, but once engaged...
Never surrenders, showing the fangs of rage
Don't tread on me
…she with the deadly bite
…Shining with brightness, always on
surveillance
The eyes, they never close, emblem of
vigilance
Don't tread on me.”
• “I recollected that her eye excelled in brightness, that of
any other animal, and that she has no eye-lids
• —She may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance.
• —She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged,
ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of
magnanimity and true courage.
• —As if anxious to prevent all pretensions of quarreling
with her, the weapons…she conceals in the roof of her
mouth…to those who are unacquainted with her…appears
to be a most defenseless animal; and even when those
weapons are shewn… they appear weak and contemptible;
but their wounds however small, are decisive and fatal:
• —Conscious of this, she never wounds till she has
generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned
him against the danger of stepping on her.”
July 4, 1776
• Declaration of Independence adopted
• Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
• Published in January
• 100,000 copies sold
• “Freedom hath been hunted round the globe…and England
hath given her warning to depart.”
• Jefferson directly inspired by John Locke
– Rights of life, liberty, and property
• 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.
1781
• Cornwallis Surrendered
• Articles of Confederation ratified by the states
• Treaty of Paris signed in 1783
– Britain recognized American sovereignty
1787
• Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia drafts
the Constitution of the United States
– The Great Compromise/Connecticut Compromise
• House of Representatives: states represented by size
– Voters elected representatives
• Senate: states have equal representation
– State legislatures elected senators
• chief executive elected by electoral college
• Strong central government with checks and balances
– Three-fifths Compromise: every five enslaved people
count as three free people
1788
• Constitution ratified by 11 of 13 states
• Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists
The Constitution
• Government one of “enumerated powers” only
• “…the greatest and longest-lived formal check on
tyranny in history.”
• “We the People of the United States, in Order to
form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure
domestic Tranquility, provide for the common
defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure
the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our
Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution
for the United States of America.”
The Bill of Rights
• Ratified December, 1791
• Drafted by James Madison
• 9 placed limitations on Congress
– Forbidding infringement on individual rights
First Amendment
• Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom
of speech, or of the press; or the right of the
people peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the Government for a redress of grievances.
Second Amendment
• A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the
security of a free State, the right of the people
to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Third Amendment
• No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered
in any house, without the consent of the Owner,
nor in time of war, but in a manner to be
prescribed by law.
Forth Amendment
• The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no
Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,
supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly
describing the place to be searched, and the persons
or things to be seized.
Fifth Amendment
• No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or
otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment
or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases
arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia,
when in actual service in time of War or public
danger; nor shall any person be subject for the
same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or
limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case
to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of
life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;
nor shall private property be taken for public use,
without just compensation.
Sixth Amendment
• In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy
the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial
jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall
have been committed, which district shall have been
previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of
the nature and cause of the accusation; to be
confronted with the witnesses against him; to have
compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his
favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his
defence.
Seventh Amendment
• In Suits at common law, where the value in
controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of
trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a
jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of
the United States, than according to the rules of the
common law.
Eighth Amendment
• Excessive bail shall not be required, nor
excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual
punishments inflicted.
Ninth Amendment
• The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain
rights, shall not be construed to deny or
disparage others retained by the people.
Tenth Amendment
• The powers not delegated to the United States
by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
States, are reserved to the States respectively,
or to the people.
Industry Abroad
• Industrialization technology from England vastly
superior to America
– Power-driven machines replacing hand-operated tools
– Pioneered steam power
• Americans imported that technology from England
– Knowledgeable and skilled immigrants from England
helped America’s industrial revolution
• Until Industrial Revolution, production occurred in
the home
1789
• George Washington
elected President
• French Revolution
begins
– Divides Americans
1789
• Oliver Evans patented the first US steam boat
• “turnpike era begins”
– private companies built roads and charged fees for use
– Government financing helped roads to be built over
mountains
• Until 1790s, African Americans had freedoms,
protections, and even could vote
– Federal Militia Law of 1792 let states exclude free
blacks
Bank of the United States
• Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton
– Supported “implied powers”
– Framers could not anticipate future eventualities
and contingencies
• Opposed by Jefferson under Tenth Amendment
• Private owned banks abounded
Trouble on the Atlantic
• Impressments of sailors began in late 1793
– Forced enlistment
– Result of British sailors fleeing to American ships
• British paid poorly
• Conditions brutal
• Sometimes forcibly enlisted Americans
Eli Whitney
• New Englander in Georgia: cotton gin invented in 1793
• Cleaning cotton fast and inexpensive
– 8-fold spread of cotton crop across the southern states
– Slavery’s decline halted and resurged in south
• Greater domestically produced textiles
• North began to develop native textile industry
• Introduced concept of interchangeable parts to US
– Designed machine tools to be specific and uniform
– All gins made the same throughout US
• US government commissioned Whitney to produce
1,000 muskets for US army using interchangeable gun
parts
Fugitive Slave Law of 1793
• Required the return of runaway slaves to
master
– Denied slaves and free blacks constitutional
protections
• Runaways denied jury trials
• Legal status: property
• 1794: most states outlawed Atlantic slave trade
1790s
• Indian Trade and Intercourse Act: laws designed to
promote better relations between Indians and whites
(1790-1796)
– Prohibited transfers of lands to whites without
Congressional approval
– Promoted Anglo-American culture to replace traditions
– Unenforced before 1800
• 8% of African Americans free
• American newspapers went from 92 to 242
Politics get Familiar
• Federalists and Republicans (Anti-Federalists)
used newspapers
• Federalists
– Republicans conspiring their own reign of terror
• Republicans
– Federalists promoting a royal dynasty with Britain
• Angered Washington
Western Expansion Issues
• Treaty of Greenville
– Signed by 12 tribes to open modern-day Ohio and part of
Indiana to white settlement
– Ended hostilities in the area, led to
• Jay’s Treaty
– All British troops off American soil
– Did not end impressments
– Trade with British West Indies began
• Treaty of San Lorenzo
– With Spain gave American settlers access to Mississippi
• Washington refused to run for third term
• Farewell address warned against political parties and
foreign entanglements
– “…The common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party
are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people
to discourage and restrain it. It serves always to distract the
public councils and … agitates the community with illfounded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of
one part against another, foments occasionally riot and
insurrection.”
– “It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with
any portion of the foreign world…. I hold the maxim no less
applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is
always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those
engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But…it is
unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.”
1797
• John Adams becomes
president
• Defeated Jefferson
– Second highest number of
votes
– Became vice president
• Federalists divided,
weakened
– Tried to silence growing
Republican voices
Alien and Sedition Acts
• Naturalization Act
– Raised residence requirement from 5 to 14 years
• Alien Act
– Deportation of aliens without trial
• Alien Enemies Act
– Imprisonment of aliens during times of war without trial
• Sedition Act
– Prohibited assembly, printing, speaking, publishing
anything against the government
1798
• Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
– imposed state power to declare “objectionable”
federal laws invalid
– Declared Alien and Sedition Acts unconstitutional
• nullification
• Alien and Sedition Acts led to Federalist defeat
in 1800
1800
• US still mostly rural and agrarian
• 3% of the population lived in towns with a
population greater than 8,000
• Urban life produced affluence
• Washington, D.C. made capital, but still a village of
3,200
– Congressmen viewed it as a place to work, not live
Native Americans
• Harrison Land Law
– enabled white settlers to easily acquire farms from
public domain
– More land for lower prices
• East of the Mississippi
– Lost land, identity, population
– Lived in isolated communities that were still
invaded by settlers
References
Appleby, et. al. The American Vision. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2008
Architect of the Capitol. Retrieved from http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/cox_corr/g_exp/washingtons_inauguration. cfm?closeup=1
Axelrod, Alan. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to American History, Forth Edition. New York: Penguin, 2006.
The Battle of Brandywine Begins. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-battle-of-brandywinebegins?catId=1
The Boston Massacre. Retrieved from http://www.earlyamerica.com/review /winter96/enlargement.html.
Boston Tea Party Historical Society. Retrieved from www.boston-tea-party.org.
Boyer, et al. The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People, Concise Seventh Edition. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage
Learning, 2009.
Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People. Volume 1: To 1877, Third Edition. New York:
McGraw Hill, 2000.
Navy News Service. A Painting of President John Adams. Retrieved from http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=10322.
The Surrender of Lord Corwallis. Retrieved from http://www.aoc.gov/cc/photo-gallery/images/70228_hr.jpg.
The First Political Cartoons in America Retrieved from http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/firsts/cartoon/
Washington’s Farewell Address. Retrieved from the Avalon Project. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp.
Wasserman, James. The Templars and the Assassins: The Militia of Heaven. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions, 2001.