The Revolution Stops Here
Revoking the Declaration of
Independence
Congress of the Oligarchs
 2nd
Continental Congress convenes in
Philadelphia, 1775
 Meets
in secret
 Appoints Washington commander-in-chief
as part of deal with Southern colonies
 Appoints Jefferson to lead committee
writing rationale for independence
Another effort to please South
 Franklin & Adams go over draft

Declaration of Independence
Adopted July 4th, 1776
 Deductive argument
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Universal argument
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More unfinished business for the 19th century
Perspective – bourgeoisie?
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“human events,” “all men”
Lacks force of law? Avoids issues?
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From general to particular
Right to property, including slaves
Continues to inspire revolution today
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Let’s do a close reading . . .
“Rebellion is a Catchy Tune”
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For 100 years before revolution, backwoods
“have-nots” rising up against colonial “haves”
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Bacon’s Rebellion, Paxton Boys, et al.
Shays Rebellion (1786)
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1000 MA farmers, in uniform, march on Boston
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“Revolutionary” Sam Adams pushes through “Riot
Act,” arresting rebels without trial
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Lost bonuses, farms, right to hold office
Rebellion against monarch OK, against republic is
treason
Suppressed by federal army
Jefferson: “a little rebellion is a good thing”

Anti-Federalist, at odds with new American power elite
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to James
Madison, from Paris, Jan. 30, 1787

"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is
a good thing, and as necessary in the political
world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful
rebellions, indeed, generally establish the
encroachments on the rights of the people
which have produced them. An observation of
this truth should render honest republican
governors so mild in their punishment of
rebellions as not to discourage them too
much. It is a medicine necessary for the
sound health of the government."
Articles of Confederation

Debate begun 1776: nation independent, at
war, needs money, sense of unity
 Congress adopts 1777, states ratify 1781
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Radically limited national government
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No power to tax citizens, issue money or regulate
commerce
Legislation requires 9 out of 13 states to agree
No executive or judiciary
Right away perceived as “weak”: good for farmers &
workers, bad for merchants, bankers & manufacturers
State legislatures largely incompetent or overwhelmed
Pressure mounts to revise: 1785-6-7

Constitution a result of Shays Rebellion?
Federalist Response to Shays

George Washington, Letter
to James Madison, Nov. 5,
1786
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Let us look to our National
character . . . No Morn
ever dawned more
favourable than ours didand no day was ever more
clouded than the present!
Wisdom, & good
examples are necessary
at this time to rescue the
political machine from the
impending storm."

Chief Justice William
Cushing, Supreme Judicial
Court, in the Hampshire
Gazette, June 6, 1787
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[I fear] evil minded
persons, leaders of the
insurgents...[waging war]
against the
Commonwealth, to bring
the whole government
and all the good people of
this state, if not continent,
under absolute command
and subjugation to one or
two ignorant,
unprincipled, bankrupt,
desperate individuals.
The South and the West
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Southerners especially
eager to expand
westward

Spain closes Mississippi
River, England holds
Great Lakes
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Treaty of Paris (1783)
grants U.S. Northwest
Territory
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Land ordinances (1784 &
1785) divide into
townships & sections to
auction off (map p. 30)
New states would have
equal status, no slavery
Large companies prosper
Popular sentiment
warms toward
nationalism
25 May 1787: Led by
dissatisfied southern
states, delegates
assemble in
Philadelphia
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“the well-bred, well-fed,
well-read and the wellwed”
What kind of
constitution would
you think oligarchs
would write?