Unit 2: The American Revolution
By the mid-eighteenth century, Britain had colonies and trading posts across the globe. During this period of colonialism and European imperialism, European countries carved up the world – taking large portions of Africa, Asia, and the Americas. While some European powers used these newly acquired territories to establish homes for their people, most viewed their colonies as an opportunity to harvest natural and human capital to enrich the "mother country". The colonies and the people who lived there were not equal partners. By the 18th century, England had colonies in India and the Americas. While the American colonies produced certain cash crops such as tobacco, the British monarchy and government largely ignored them because they were not as rich in resources as their other colonies. While some colonies had royal governors, most were allowed to govern and were not taxed. The American colonies were left alone, in relative salutary neglect. This changed in 1763 when the American colonies got caught up in the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), one of the many conflicts between France and England, the two major superpowers of the colonial era. England emerged victorious from this conflict, which the American colonists called the French and Indian War. It effectively pushed France out of North America. Despite gaining much territory, the war was costly to the British Empire. The British government famously imposed new taxes on its American colonies to recoup its losses. In addition to this sudden change in British governance, the Proclamation Line of 1763 blocked the American colonists from accessing the territory gained from war. The British had agreed to cede this land to the Native Americans, who had been their allies during the Seven Years' War. With the Enlightenment philosophies we discussed in Unit 1 as their guide, the American colonists believed they were British citizens with the same rights as those living in England. Their demands for greater local control of trade and taxes evolved from resistance to demands for independence into the democratic institutions governing their new nation. After the American Revolution (1775–1783) brought complete separation from Britain, the colonists struggled to agree on the most equitable form of government for their newly independent state. The revolutionary leaders debated the nature of freedom and government, the best way to structure the state, the proper relationship between religion and politics, and other important topics. Their views reflected fundamental beliefs and assumptions about human nature found in the Enlightenment. In this section, we explore the American revolutionary experience, the creation of the United States, and the ideas and ideals that helped shape this time of rapid political and social transformation throughout the Americas.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 9 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- identify the immediate and long-term causes of the American Revolution;
- compare the Federalist and Republican visions of society and the state;
- describe some key ideas from the writings of the American revolutionaries;
- describe the legacies of the American Revolution; and
- explain how the Enlightenment influenced the American Revolution.
2.1: Origins of the American Revolution
The American Revolution was the first revolution in which a colony rebuked its colonial power. The colonists replaced the English monarchy with a republican government, which was a direct interpretation of Enlightenment philosophy. While the aristocracy had reorganized power within the English monarchy during the English Revolution of 1688, they did not replace it. In many ways, the American Revolution was an elitist movement of the upper echelon of American society – a sort of aristocracy. However, the revolutionaries were not noblemen, and they did not maintain the monarchical system. This "American Experiment" inspired other colonies in Latin America and the Caribbean to rise against their mother countries as they also moved to supplant the monarchical colonial system with a representative and republican government.
Watch this lecture, which describes what it was like to live in the colonies in the 18th century.
The American Revolution began as a series of revolts between 1765 and 1783, when the 13 American colonies declared independence from Great Britain and formed the United States. With this declaration, the rebellion became a revolution, and the 13 colonies formally declared themselves an independent nation, granting themselves the powers of nations, including the right to declare war and enter into alliances.
Why did the American colonists change from being solid British citizens to revolutionaries in just ten years? Many Americans had fought proudly in the Seven Years' War from 1756 to 1763, but the policies of taxation and mercantilism, coupled with the fact that the American colonists could not take the land gained during the war, transformed pride into hostility and resentment.Read this article, which discusses this Revolutionary Era. Before delving into the dynamics and ideals of the American Revolution, you should understand its chronology and historical context.
During the colonial period, the 13 colonies had established a unique identity due to their isolation from Britain. However, each colony was unique and had developed separate cultures, economies, and governments. For example, many colonies, such as Massachusetts and Virginia, had set up governments based on representative elected legislatures. The people – mainly white land-owning men – were accustomed to having an active role in the day-to-day governance of their towns and colonies. The educated elite was well-versed in Enlightenment philosophies and was influenced by the English Bill of Rights. Many colonial leaders, such as Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), John Adams (1735–1826), and Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), believed firmly in their role and the importance of citizen participation in government. During the Seven Years' War, the colonists banded together under Benjamin Franklin's Albany Plan of Union. The idea was that the colonies needed to work together and cooperate to help in the war effort. This temporary union bridged some of the gaps that existed among the colonies and implanted the idea that the 13 separate governments could come together under a shared purpose. In 1651, England passed the Navigation Acts, which were aimed mainly at the Dutch – England's largest trading partner. In 1664, England gained the colony of the New Netherlands, which became New York. The British East India Company and Dutch East India Company were great economic rivals, jostling for economic supremacy. The Navigation Acts, similar to all English colonies, prescribed that the colonies were to trade exclusively with England and serve as resource depots or markets for British-produced goods – as part of a mercantile system. The American colonists resisted these restrictions and resorted to smuggling to circumvent the Acts. The British government had essentially ignored this resistance until 1763, when they began to impose harsh punishments on American smugglers. The American colonists chafed under the new penalties – they viewed the Navigation Acts (in addition to the new taxes from the Stamp, Tea, and Sugar Acts) as violations of the independence they had previously enjoyed. The colonies appealed to the British government but lacked a clear way to redress their grievances. The British failed to consult the colonists on major policy issues and treated them like dependent children. Internal factors, such as population pressures, consumerism, commercialism, relationships (based on contracts rather than familial ties), and new ideas from the Enlightenment about political representation (Republicanism), prompted the American colonies to unite in a series of congresses and rebel. Watch this lecture to review the causes of the American Revolution. Think about what you already know about these events and how Freeman's understanding of revolution fits into our previous discussions. How does Freeman analyze the revolutionary events in terms of facts and interpretations? What does she suggest should be your primary focus?
Revolutionaries and those who opposed the revolution wrote pamphlets and other forms of propaganda to gain domestic and international support for their movement. "Common Sense" was one of the most important pamphlets of the American Revolution. Read the introduction and parts I–IV. Pay attention to Paine's arguments for independence from Britain. What are his claims? What does he say about religious diversity in the new nation? How does he envision equal representation?
In 1765, Daniel Dulaney (1722–1797), a Maryland Loyalist politician and mayor of Annapolis, explored the right of the British government to tax the colonies. How do his ideas complement and contrast with Paine's? How was the idea of taxes inherent to the revolution?
The first elected assembly in October 1765, the so-called "Stamp Act Congress", opposed the Acts of taxation. A group called the Sons of Liberty, based in Boston, Massachusetts, began to openly rebel against the British tax collectors by sabotaging the enforcement of the new laws. This led to the Boston Massacre in 1770 and the Boston Tea Party in 1773. Tensions escalated when the British government passed the Quartering Act of 1774, which essentially placed Boston under martial law. The colonies united by forming the first Continental Congress, but the British ignored the petitions and letters of redress drafted against British policies. In April 1775, several major confrontations, including Lexington and Concord, sparked a revolution. The colonies formed into the Second Continental Congress and, by July 1776, declared themselves independent. That spring, battles followed in North Carolina, New York, and Canada. The Continental Congress drafted its first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, based on Enlightenment ideas of citizen participation, republicanism, and limited government. Watch this lecture on why the colonists felt they needed to rebel and how they went about it. Think about what you know about the Enlightenment. Why did differences among the colonists fail to interfere with their shared purpose of independence?
War with the United States was expensive to the British, who were still paying for the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). By 1783, their losses outweighed the value of the colonies. In 1783, representatives of King George III (1738–1820) signed the Treaty of Paris with the United States to end the American Revolution. At this time, this was truly revolutionary: a colonial master had declared it would allow one of its colonies to become independent. The United States, a former colony, created a brand new government, writing its own constitution, and organizing itself as an independent state.
Read this text, which outlines the timeline for the American Revolution. Why was the American Revolution so unconventional at the time? In what ways did it define the modern revolutionary movement?
Read this article on the long-term consequences of the American Revolution. How are today's Americans the recipients of this legacy?
As you watch this lecture, pay attention to how Freeman defines revolution. What does it take for a revolution to end? What are some important legacies of the American Revolution?
Let's analyze some primary sources on the American Revolution. Choose at least one primary source document written between 1751–1775 and one written between 1776–1785 and answer these questions: Who authored the document? Were they in favor or opposed to the revolution? Was it written before or after the Declaration of Independence? Why is this important? What does the author argue? Do they support or oppose the revolution? Where do you see Enlightenment ideology? How do the ideas in the document compare to the ideas of Paine and Dulaney?
2.2: Revolutionizing Governance
Some argue that the true revolution began when the United States gained its freedom. The American "founders" turned to their heroes of the Enlightenment (John Locke, Montesquieu, Hobbes, and Rousseau) as they approached their monumental task of creating a government that would govern and maintain its independence for years to come. The new government and its first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, failed. Inspired by fears of federal suppression, state governments were supreme, and federal regulators had little governing authority. It had only one branch – the legislative – and only one house of Congress. States were equally represented, despite their size, while federal administrators could not levy taxes or interfere with state authority. The federal government ultimately failed because its powers were so limited – its sole responsibility was to deal with foreign powers, but it did not even have the tax revenue to pay its soldiers or other expenses. In fact, many soldiers were thrown in debtor's prison, which led to a populist uprising in 1786–1787, when Daniel Shay (1747–1825) led Shay's Rebellion to protest the shady state tax collection system in the state of Massachusetts. Shay's Rebellion was a precursor to the Constitutional Convention.
Watch this lecture to review the Articles of Confederation. What aspects of this document caused the first government to be so ineffective? Can you explain the rationale for the framer's faulty decision-making? We will see how the framers learned from their mistakes in the following sections.
Although the framers had initially convened to revamp the Articles of Confederation, the attending politicians – steeped in Enlightenment ideology with competing visions of the best form of government – debated and eventually created an entirely new Constitution by the end of the meeting. They divided the government into three equal branches and gave the federal governing body more power and authority. Study the text of the Constitution to see the compromises the framers made for this founding document for the United States. Can you point to any similarities with the documents we studied previously?
Read this article on the U.S. Constitution. How did the principles of Enlightenment help frame this document? How did the framers balance power between the federal and state governments?
The framers looked at many sources when writing the Constitution, including Enlightenment philosophy, the English Bill of Rights, and the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy. Delegates from the tribes attended the convention and educated the framers about their government system and why it was effective.
Watch this video on the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. What elements may have influenced the U.S. Constitution and how the framers organized the U.S. government?
Compare this constitution with the U.S. Constitution. What elements did the United States adopt from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy? How did their system of government influence our current model?
Watch this lecture, which describes how the Enlightenment influenced the framers of the U.S. Constitution. How did the revolutionary nature of the U.S. Constitution enable it to last so long?
The adoption process for the Constitution was not easy. Deep-seated fears of tyranny resounded throughout the United States, and two factions developed – the Federalists led by Alexander Hamilton (1755 or 1757–1804) supported a strong federal government, while the anti-Federalists (later the Democratic-Republican and then the Democrat Party) led by Thomas Jefferson believed individual states should have more power. The Federalists were committed to a strong central government, unwavering support for the U.S. Constitution, and a traditional social structure. Hamilton, James Madison (1751–1836), and John Jay (1745–1829) strengthened their talking points during the U.S. Constitutional Convention in 1787. They outlined their support for the U.S. Constitution in 85 articles and essays they wrote and published in New York papers in 1788. These became known as the Federalist Papers. The Anti-Federalists preferred state sovereignty, a limited federal government, and increased local control. Patrick Henry (1736–1799), Thomas Jefferson, and other anti-Federalists were afraid the Federalists were paving the way for future government tyranny. However, they were not as organized in promoting their arguments since they had not participated in the Constitutional Convention. Their strongest argument was the lack of a bill of rights in the Constitution: they convinced the Federalists to add the Bill of Rights (the first ten Amendments to the Constitution) as a condition for their support for ratification. The principles of the U.S. Bill of Rights and why the U.S. founders felt it was necessary to ratify the Constitution are key to understanding the revolutionary nature of the U.S. government. Consider how the Bill of Rights balances power between the government and its citizens as you read this article.
Now, read the American Bill of Rights and compare it with the English Bill of Rights you studied in Unit 1. What are the most important differences between the two documents? What do you think accounts for these differences?
Watch this video, which explains why the U.S. Bill of Rights is such an important part of the U.S. Constitution. How do you think the Enlightenment philosophers influenced the ideals of the U.S. Bill of Rights?
The U.S. Bill of Rights laid a foundation for civil rights and civil liberties for citizens in the United States. Read this article, which explains the difference between these two concepts. How have they evolved since the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1788? Now, let's take a moment to do some primary source analysis. Choose two primary source documents written between 1786 and 1800. Answer these questions for each document: Who authored the document? Were they in favor or opposed to the Bill of Rights/Constitution? Was it written before or after the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1788? What is the argument in the document? Does it support or oppose the Constitution and Bill of Rights? Where do you see Enlightenment ideology? Is the document a Federalist or Anti-Federalist document, and how did it help establish the U.S. government?
Unit 2 Assessment
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