Bell Ringer
Review—
Explain how the
Albany Plan of
Union relates to this
political cartoon.
Bonus—who drew
this political cartoon.
Chapter 5
Defining American War
Aims

 Even after the battles at Lexington and Concord the
colonists were at odds as to whether or not to break
away from Britain
 They sent the Olive Branch Petition to the King as one
last chance to restore peace
 When the King refused, they sent the Declaration of
the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms
Defining American War
Aims

 The colonists slowly turned their back on
reconciliation for three reasons
1. Financial cost of war was too high to simply reconcile
things with England
2. Britain began recruiting slaves, Natives, and foreign
mercenaries to fight against the colonists
3. The final straw—the Prohibitory Act which closed the
colonies to all overseas trade
 Too late to apologize indeed…
Defining American War
Aims

 Thomas Paine became the voice of the colonists’ ideology
in his pamphlet Common Sense
 He declared that the problems should not be blamed on
Parliament but rather on the King and the English
Constitution
 It was the system’s fault for allowing such a corrupt king to
come to power
 “The island kingdom of England was not more fit to rule
the American continent than a satellite was fit to rule the
sun.”
 Common Sense inspired Thomas Jefferson when he was
asked to write the Declaration of Independence
The Decision for
Independence

 On July 2, 1776 the Continental Congress adopted the
resolution that the colonies ought to be free and
independent states
 Two days later the Declaration of Independence with it’s
reasons for independence were accepted by the Congress
 The DoI is divided into two parts—the part declaring us
independent and upholding John Locke’s theory of social
contract in which the government’s job is to protect the
rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” for the
people
 The second part is all the ways in which the King broke his
contract with the people
Responses to
Independence

 America divided into two groups
 Loyalists: Those who supported the King
 Tories: Those who supported independence
 The states acted even more independent by creating
state constitutions (MA still has the same one with
few modifications)
 Creating a federal government to focus on the nation
as a whole would prove to be more difficult
 The Articles of Confederation would be born out of
this challenge
Responses to
Independence

 The AofC was a “league of friends”
 Its powers were so limited that it wasn’t even sure if it
was a legitimate government
 We’ll discuss this more in the next chapter
Mobilizing for War

 Raising armies, gather supplies, and paying for the war
became a concern very quickly for the new government
 They did not have the ability to produce weapons fast
enough in America so they relied on European providers
such as France
 They had to create money since “hard money” was not
easily attainable and the AoC couldn’t levy taxes
 The states printed plenty of their own currency creating
massive inflation
 Some colonists began trading with Britain again since their
money was still valuable
Mobilizing for War

 The militias soon became discouraged
 The government created a unified Continental Army
with General George Washington as its commander in
chief
 He was an excellent choice as someone who never
faltered on his commitment to the cause and was
someone that all Patriots respected
 Rarely did he have problems with his men on the field
(other than lack of supplies which got particularly bad
at Valley Forge) and he was able to resolve all of them
Mobilizing for War

 “Washington provided
the army—and the
people—with a symbol
of stability around
which they could rally”
 Pictured—Washington
and Nelson, his favorite
horse
Assignment

 Page 136-145 contain the section discussing the war
itself
 Your assignment is to make a time line chronicling
the events of the war. Please do not simply draw a
line with dates/events—make it colorful like a story
board
 You may work in groups of three or less but make
sure everyone’s name is on the back of the project
 Best project (as decided by a group of teachers) gets
extra credit!
Loyalists and Minorities

 The British were not the only losers in the Revolution
 The Loyalists (approximately 1/5th of the population)
remained loyal
 Many of them moved back to England (not well liked
in England though)
 Some moved to Canada (few returned after the war)
 Their abandoned lands were confiscated and the
positions left open created a place for Patriots to gain
power
Loyalists and Minorities

 Two religious groups were significantly weakened
 The Anglican church (mostly Loyalists) was
disestablished in many areas
 The Quakers, because they were pacifists, they were
disliked and thus lost much of their social and political
prestige
 Catholics on the other hand were strengthened
 Because the French (predominately Catholic) helped
the Americans the attitudes towards Catholics
lightened up
The War and Slavery

 The Revolution meant a great deal to the slaves
 Many felt it could be a road to freedom
 In some cases, it would have been if the British had
won the war
 Nearly 1/3rd of the slaves defected during the war
 One of the reasons the South was so committed to
the war was to combat the British trying to free their
slaves
 In the North between the idea of freedom (through the
Revolution) and Christian fervor people were
becoming anti-slavery
The War and Slavery

 The irony of the South fighting for freedom from
Britain is that they maintained that slavery was
acceptable
 They believed that the slaves were inferior and not
deserving of citizenship
 They also believed that they only way to preserve
liberty was to avoid having a working white class that
would become disgruntled about inequalities in
wealth and jeopardize liberty
Native Americans and the
Revolution

 The Natives had a lot at stake in the Revolution
 The British had tried to prevent encroachment on
Native lands prior to the war (Proclamation of 1763)
 Meanwhile, the colonists wanted to move west at the
expensive of the Natives
 Including George Washington
 The Patriots asked the Natives to stay out of the
“family quarrel”—it didn’t work (especially due to
heavy recruiting from the British
Native Americans and the
Revolution

 Attacks from the Natives came in most regions including
the Cherokee in the South and the Iroquois in the North
 Despite heavy casualties, they continued attacking
throughout the war
 After the war the Americans’ attitudes towards Natives
grew worse
 Some took a more paternalistic approach though going as
far as saying that they were “redeemable” if they converted
to white society
 The Revolution was “the greatest blow that could have
been dealt us” as stated by one Native leader
Women’s Rights and
Women’s Roles

 When the men went to war, the women were left to take
care of the children and the farms
 Those who lived in cities were often left in poverty
 They took to rioting in comes cases or even attacking the
British that they were required to quarter
 Still some women followed their men to their battle
camps
 Many soldiers complained about their presences saying
they were a distraction
 The women in the camps actually boosted moral though
as well as did laundry, cooked, and tended to the
sick/wounded (nursing)
Women’s Rights and
Women’s Roles

 A small group of women picked up arms and fought
 Molly Pitcher used to run pitchers of water to the field
picked up her husband’s weapon and fought when he was
shot
 Little changed when everyone returned home regarding
gender roles
 Women did however begin thinking about what they were
capable of doing
 Abigail Adams even wrote her husband concerning
women’s rights: “in the new code of laws which I suppose it
will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would
remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to
them than your ancestors.”
Women’s Rights and
Women’s Roles

 Some called for women to gain rights including
education
 Many did not agree
 Unmarried women had little rights regarding
property, contracts, etc.
 Married women had NO rights—couldn’t own
property, get a divorce, have rights over children
 Adams asked her husband to prevent “such unlimited
power into the hands of the Husbands.”
Women’s Rights and
Women’s Roles

 While the Revolution certainly strengthened
patriarchal beliefs it also set forth another idea:
Republican Motherhood
 Republican Motherhood is the idea that you should
raise you children with the virtues of the republic
 Women also gained some respect regarding what
happened in the house and with the father
The War Economy

 The American Revolution set into motion the
beginnings of a strong economy
 However, in the short run it was exceptionally shaky
 Their trade ports were not hostile ports, especially
Britain
 This lead many shippers to become “privateers” better
known as pirates
 This turned out to be a good thing since it forced
Americans to make their own clothes, etc. thus
generating more demand
The War Economy

 Americans would start developing factories to deal
with demand
 Women made “homespun” clothing to avoid getting
fabric from England
 In general this was the foundation for the market
revolution that would come in the 1830s
Assumptions of
Republicanism

 All states agreed that a republican government
should be adopted
 They knew it would only be as strong as it’s
population
 If the population had sturdy, independent property
owners with civic virtues the country would be okay
 Firmly believed that while there was NO equality of
condition, there WAS equality for opportunity
Revising State
Governments

 Some states couldn’t get much accomplished
 This resulted in some limiting the power of the people
 Some focused on strengthening the executive branch
 Odd since they spent all that energy breaking away
from the monarchy
 VA enacted the Statute of Religious Liberty (written
by Thomas Jefferson) which pushed for total
separation of church and state
Revising State
Governments

 Slavery was an even bigger issue
 Some states had already banned it (PA—Quakers and all…)
 Others were not willing to ban it but requested that people
voluntarily get rid of slaves (VA)
 This is called manumission
 The reasons it didn’t go away include
 Racists assumptions about superiority
 Economic investment the South had in slaves
 Fear/unknowing what to do with freed slaves since white
people did not believe they could be integrated
Executive branch was
the presiding officer
of Congress—John
Hancock
Northwest Ordinances of
1784 & 1785 divided up
land to sell to the
Americans
Why would the
government want this
region to be populated?
They gridded each section
which is why town in the
west have straighter roads
than the ones in the east
Of course they ran into
Natives in this expansion
(Miami tribe) and thus
had the Battle of Fallen
Timbers
Chief Little Turtle was
defeated
Although a treaty was
signed, it was not
enforced
Shays’ Rebellion

 To be discussed when we cover the Constitution—
up next in Chapter 6! 