Title: The American Revolution
1The American Revolution
- Using E.Q.U.A.L.
- The American Institute for History Education
- Dr. Yohuru Williams
2Standards Correlations
- This lesson correlates to the National History
Standards. - Era 3 -Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s)
- Standard 1C -Demonstrate understanding of the
factors affecting the course of the war and
contributing to the American victory. - This lesson correlates to the National Standards
for Civics and Government. - Standard IV.A.2. -Explain how nation-states
interact with each other. - Constitutional Connection
- This lesson focuses on the American Revolution,
which encouraged the founding fathers' desire to
create a government that would, as stated in the
Preamble, insure domestic tranquility and provide
for the common defense.
3Two American Revolutions?
- The alleged critical period between the end of
the Revolution and the Constitutions adoption
was not dominated by economic depression,
political turmoil, and international peril,
jeopardizing the independent survival of the
American experiment in liberty. Those who
assembled at the Philadelphia Convention to write
a new Constitution were not disinterested
demigods, nor did they intend to establish a
federal system of divided government powers. The
Constitution did not have the support of most
Americans. And finally, rather than representing
the culmination of the previous Revolution, the
Constitution represented a reactionary
counter-revolution against its central
principles. - Source Did the Constitution Betray the
Revolution? Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, William Marina
January 1, 1981
4The Classic Revolution After the Revolution The
Anti-federalists
- With the words, Give me liberty, or give me
death, Patrick Henry sounded the keynote of the
American Revolution. After the Revolution, Henry
and his supporters blocked the Constitutions
ratification until it bore the amendments known
as the Bill of Rights. Mindful of these
principles, the first generation of Americans
reinvented themselves and their society.
5The Classic Revolution After the Revolution
- The creation of the Constitution entailed hours
of debate and compromise, and even when it was
completed, some delegates were unhappy with it.
The task of fixing the ailing Confederate
government was not complete yet each state had
to ratify, or approve, the Constitution.
Basically, people divided into two groups, the
Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. Each of
their viewpoints is worth examining, as they both
had sound reasoning and in a real sense appealed
to the ideals of the Revolution.
6The Classic Revolution After the Revolution The
Anti-Federalists
- The Anti-Federalists did not want to ratify the
Constitution. Basically, they argued that - It gave too much power to the national government
at the expense of the state governments. - There was no bill of rights.
- The national government could maintain an army in
peacetime. - Congress, because of the necessary and proper
clause,' wielded too much power. - The executive branch held too much power.
7Betraying the Revolution?
- They envisioned that the spirit of the revolution
would be betrayed and the new nation would be
troubled by the same problems burdened the
colonies under British Rule.
8Shays Rebellion 1786 to 1787.
- When the fighting ceased and with their
independence won, the American people were left
with thirteen loosely united states. What seemed
simple  that these individual states could be
both independent and united as a nation would
not be easy.
9The Anti-Federalists and the American Revolution
- The way in which we conceptualize the revolution
and engage its meaning for the Constitution can
broaden our understanding of its deeper meaning.
For example, how exactly did their values
transform politics, economics, and culture in the
new republic?
10Breaking down the R.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N
- In order to do this we are literally going to
break down the Revolution into its parts
beginning with the letter R . . .
11R Reason
- In light of their struggle with Britain the
colonists saw themselves as a new society based
on new principles of government. Governments are
instituted among men, proclaimed Thomas
Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence,
deriving their just powers from the consent of
the governed. This idea that the people, not
their rulers, are sovereign was revolutionary .
. . But it also must be understood in the context
of World History.
12From Reason to Revolution
- The eighteenth century is often called the Age of
Reason or The Age of Enlightenment. During this
time, the colonies, like many other European
nations, were caught up in the ideas of such men
as Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu and Diderot.
In the popular coffee houses of Paris people from
all walks of life were meeting to discuss these
new philosophies. There were five basic ideas of
the Enlightenment Reason, Nature, Happiness,
Progress and Liberty.
13Background The Power of Ideas
- The Ideas of the Enlightenment
- The Declaration of Independence
- The American Revolution
- The French Revolution
- The Haitian Revolution
14Historical Fingerprinting
- What we will be looking for is the Core. The base
of the argument or appeal. The crossover, how
that argument or appeal builds on earlier or
relates to later historical events. And in what
ways is it unique or an island unto itself. So
these five ideas Reason, Nature, Happiness,
Progress and Liberty Reason are the fingerprints
of the Enlightenment.
15R Reason
- The Revolution Takes Place in the Age of Reason
- William Pitt
16Sugar or Equal
- Sweetening your colonial coffee or more
appropriately Tea
17E.Q.U.A.L.
- The document should contain an Enumeration of
basic rights and principles. - The document should address Quality of life
issues. - The document should promote the cause of
community Unity. - The document should be an Antecedent, forerunner
to the United States Constitution. - The document should express an appreciation of
freedom and or Liberty.
18A City Upon a Hill
- Antecedent documents trace back to the Magna
Carta (1215) which limited the power of the
English King and include such diverse sources as
John Winthrops City Upon a Hill and Nathaniel
Bacons Declaration of the Rights of the People
(1676) not to mention the West New Jersey Charter
(1676).
19City Upon a Hill
- Applying the E.Q.U.A.L.
- Enumeration
- Quality of Life
- Promote the cause of Unity
- Antecedent
- Expresses a desire for freedom or liberty.
20The Declaration of Independence
- When in the Course of human events, it becomes
necessary for one people to dissolve the
political bands which have connected them with
another, and to assume, among the powers of the
earth, the separate and equal station to which
the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle
them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind
requires that they should declare the causes
which impel them to the separation.
21The Declaration of Independence
- 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 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.
22The Declaration of the Rights of Man
- Approved by the National Assembly of France,
August 26, 1789 There were 17 in total. - 1. Men are born and remain free and equal in
rights. Social distinctions may be founded only
upon the general good. - 2. The aim of all political association is the
preservation of the natural and imprescriptible
rights of man. These rights are liberty,
property, security, and resistance to oppression.
- 3. The principle of all sovereignty resides
essentially in the nation. No body nor individual
may exercise any authority which does not proceed
directly from the nation. - 4. Liberty consists in the freedom to do
everything which injures no one else hence the
exercise of the natural rights of each man has no
limits except those which assure to the other
members of the society the enjoyment of the same
rights. These limits can only be determined by
law. - 5. Law can only prohibit such actions as are
hurtful to society. Nothing may be prevented
which is not forbidden by law, and no one may be
forced to do anything not provided for by law.
23E Emancipation
- The Revolution presented the opportunity for
liberation for many people inspired by the
language of the Enlightenment
24The Paradox of American Slavery
- As Lawrence Goldstone provocatively makes clear
in Dark Bargain, to a significant and
disquieting degree, Americas most sacred
document was molded and shaped by the most
notorious institution in its history.
25Paradox Defined
- How could the founding fathers who envisioned a
nation where all men are created equal also
hold other human beings in bondage and preserve
the concept of slavery? This is a question that
has plagued historians for decades.
26The Unintended and the Unexpected
- Recognize the importance of individuals who have
made a difference in history - Appreciate the force of the non-rational, the
irrational, and the accidental - Understand the relationship between geography and
history as a matrix of time and place.
27Women, Slaves and Common Men
- Defending the British soldiers accused in
perpetrating the Boston Massacre, John Adams
attempted to calm the town by dismissing the
waterfront characters who had been killed as "a
rabble of saucy boys, negroes and mulattoes,
Irish teagues, and outlandish jack tars."
28The poetry of Grace Growden Galloway, 1760s
- ". . . I am Dead
- Dead to each pleasing thought each Joy of Life
- Turn'd to that heavy lifeless lump a wife."
- "never get Tyed to a Man
- for when once you are yoked
- Tis all a Mere Joke
- of seeing your freedom again."
29Abigail Adams
- Abigail Adams to John Adams, March 31, 1776
- I long to hear that you have declared an
independency. And, by the way, 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. Do not put such unlimited power
into the hands of the husbands.
30Abigail Adams
- "Remember, all men would be tyrants if they
could. If particular care and attention is not
paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a
rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by
any laws in which we have no voice or
representation. - "That your sex are naturally tyrannical is a
truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no
dispute but such of you as wish to be happy
willingly give up -- the harsh tide of master for
the more tender and endearing one of friend.
31Abigail Adams
- "Why, then, not put it out of the power of the
vicious and the lawless to use us with cruelty
and indignity with impunity? - "Men of sense in all ages abhor those customs
which treat us only as the (servants) of your
sex regard us then as being placed by Providence
under your protection, and in imitation of the
Supreme Being make use of that power only for our
happiness."
32the despotism of the petticoat
- JOHNÂ ADAMSÂ TOÂ ABIGAILÂ ADAMS APRIL 14, 1776
- "We have been told that our struggle has loosened
the bonds of government everywhere that children
and apprentices were disobedient that schools
and colleges were grown turbulent that Indians
slighted their guardians, and negroes grew
insolent to their masters.
33Republican Motherhood Petticoat Despotism
- But your letter was the first intimation that
another tribe, more numerous and powerful than
all the rest, were grown discontented. This is
rather too coarse a compliment, but you are so
saucy, I won't blot it out.
34The power of the petticoat?
- "Depend upon it, we know better than to repeal
our masculine systems. Although they are in full
force, you know they are little more than theory.
We dare not exert our power in its full latitude.
We are obliged to go fair and softly, and, in
practice, you know we are the subjects. - John Adams to Abigail Adams April 14, 1776
35The Cult of Domesticity
- "We have only the name of masters, and rather
than give up this, which would completely subject
us to the despotism of the petticoat, I hope
General Washington and all our brave heroes would
fight."
36Desperate First Wives
- ABIGAILÂ ADAMSÂ TOÂ JOHNÂ ADAMS, MAY 7, 1776
- "I cannot say that I think you are very generous
to the ladies for, whilst you are proclaiming
peace and good-will to men, emancipating all
nations, you insist upon retaining an absolute
power over wives. - "But you must remember that arbitrary power is
like most other things which are very hard, very
liable to be broken and, notwithstanding all
your wise laws and maxims, we have it in our
power, not only to free ourselves, but to subdue
our masters, and without violence, throw both
your natural and legal authority at our feet."
37Good Wives Republican Wives and Mothers
- According to historian James Henretta,
democratic-republican ideology encouraged
demands for the legal emancipation of women even
as republican practice denied them. A few
American public leaders, he continued,
responded positively to female demands for
greater equality, but usually with male needs in
mind. - James Henretta, Society and Republicanism
America in 1787 No. 15, Summer 1987.
38Good Wives Republican Motherhood
- In his Thoughts on Female Education (1787),
Henretta notes, . . . Benjamin Rush advocated
intellectual training of women, so they would,
be an agreeable companion for a sensible man.
Rush and other men of affairs likewise praised
republican mothers who instructed their sons
in the principles of liberty and government.
39The Haitian Revolution
- In August 1791, a massive slave revolt exploded
in the French colony Saint Domingue, now known as
Haiti. This civil unrest lasted from 1791 to
1804, and was a result of the conflicts between
white planters, free coloureds, slaves and petit
blancs. Other Caribbean islands experienced
similar revolts but no other country was able to
defeat the planters, free the slaves, and make a
successful bid for independence.
40The Declaration of the Rights of Man
- 17. Since property is an inviolable and sacred
right, no one shall be deprived thereof except
where public necessity, legally determined, shall
clearly demand it, and then only on condition
that the owner shall have been previously and
equitably indemnified.
41Historical Agency and the Haitian Revolution
- The exceptional experience of Haiti can be
explained by the fact that France, the colonizer,
was also in a state of revolution from 1789.Â
This lit the flames of revolution in Haiti. The
principles of the French Revolution with
its watchwords of Liberty, Equality and
Fraternity, served as an inspiration for the
inhabitants of Haiti. The white planters saw it
as an opportunity to secure independence from
France, the free people of color wanted full
citizenship, the petits blancs wanted active
citizenship for all white persons, and the
slaves wanted freedom. The conflict between the
free coloureds and the grand blancs gave the
slaves a perfect opportunity to fight for their
freedom.
42V Victory
- The Declaration of Independence showed England
and other countries that Americans were
determined to become a free nation. If the
colonists lost the war, all the men who signed
the declaration would hang.
43Tiananmen Square June 5, 1989
- On May 13 the hunger strike began in Tiananmen
Square. Somehow that was a catalyst more and
more thoughts began to cross the line Marx was
replaced by Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, and
Martin Luther King. Never had I expected to see a
Chinese student in Tiananmen Square with a
headband bearing the English words, "I have a
dream."
44Tiananmen Square June 5, 1989
- When workers joined the demonstrations, a success
few had dared to hope for, the students lost
their ideological nerve. Those demonstrating for
due process and separation of powers stood side
by side with those who admired Mao together they
faced down the army in the wee hours of May 21
and held control of Peking. "You have won," I
told my Chinese friends. "The army has
disobeyed." "The army will never disobey," they
replied. "This is China." My Chinese friends were
right. The Chinese government is not designed to
respond to public opinion. There is no way
orderly change can occur in a totalitarian
society. George Jochnowitz, The words of Marx,
the methods of Lenin, (Tiananmen Square
massacre, China) National Review August 4, 1989.
45O Opportunity
- "I am sure America will be victorious finally,
but her sufferings for want of union and public
spirit may be great first. There is no people on
earth that ever had so fair an opportunity to
establish their freedom at so easy a rate, if the
opportunity had been properly approved. God
grant a happy issue to the war!" Letter from
Gen. Greene to his wife, May 1777. Gen. Nathanael
Greene (1742-1786), second-in-command to Gen.
George Washington
46L Liberty
- The only freedom which deserves the name is that
of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long
as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs,
or impede their efforts to obtain it. Each is the
proper guardian of his own health, whether
bodily, or mental or spiritual. Mankind are
greater gainers by suffering each other to live
as seems good to themselves, than by compelling
each to live as seems good to the rest. - John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859
47Paradox Defined
- How could the founding fathers who envisioned a
nation where all men are created equal also
hold other human beings in bondage and preserve
the concept of slavery? This is a question that
has plagued both apologists and critics of the
American system.
48The Paradox of American Slavery
- Some also took action. Franklin became president
of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the
Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free
Negros Unlawfully Held in Bondage. Washington
provided in his will for the emancipation of his
slaves after the death of his wife. John Adams
never owned slaves, as a matter of principle, yet
in his letter to two Quaker abolitionists he
expresses the widespread fear that
emancipationand agitation for itwould lead to
violence. All three at various times expressed
support for colonization.
49The Paradox of American Slavery
- And again to Jefferson, who writes in 1809 that
he has come to believe that black Africans "are
on a par with ourselves" and that this awareness
among citizens will hasten "the day of their
relief." Someday. How one judges these men is
problematic they have been lauded and condemned
for their words here.
50Imperfect gods?
- When he died in 1799 Washingtoncalled for his
manservant William Lee to be freed immediately,
and given a pension. The other slaves were to be
freed when his widow died. Martha chose to free
them two years later. According to Abigail
Adams this was because she feared her life might
be in danger, since her death meant freedom for
the slaves. (Hirschfield, p 214) Ironically,
neither Washington nor his wife could legally
free the dower slaves which still belonged to the
Custis estate. Â
51Dark Bargain created a fatal defect
- But in failing to address the issue of slavery
fully in the hopes of securing a new
Constitution, the founders allowed a deadly
infection to continue to breed that would
eventually result in the Civil War.
52The Paradox of American Freedom
- In his book, American Slavery and Freedom (1975)
Edmund S. Morgan moved the origins-of-slavery
debate away from sectional differences and deep
roots, relocating it in relation to the undoubted
fact that late-eighteenth-century Virginia gave
America its foremost exemplars of liberty. The
link between what they proclaimed and how they
lived was not, he suggests, mere happenstance or
a regrettable but minor contradiction. It was
fundamental.
Edmund S. Morgan American Slavery, American
Freedom The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia, (New
York W. W. Norton Co., 1975).
53What made the founding fathers experts on Liberty?
- The great paradox of the Revolution is slavery,
and the men we call the Founding Fathers knew it.
They talked and wrote about it, justified its
survival under the Constitution, and northerners
among them urged its eradication, someday.
54U Unity
- Benjamin Franklins "Join or Die" Pennsylvania
Gazette (Philadelphia), May 9, 1754 Newspaper
Serial and Government Publications Division
Library of Congress.
55U Unity
- In response to the Coercive Acts (several acts
designed to restructure colonial government and
reduce colonial freedoms passed in 1774), the
colonies (except for Georgia) met at Philadelphia
in the First Continental Congress. Along with a
declaration of principle, the delegates also
elected to boycott all British goods and cease
exporting American products to Britain and its
possessions. Women like those in North Carolina
joined with their male counterparts and refused
to buy and use British products, especially tea.
56Unity
- The colonists invented or adopted emblems --
images accompanied by a motto -- and
personifications -- allegorical figures -- to
express their political needs. They used them as
propaganda tools to draw together the country's
diverse peoples (who spoke many languages) in
order to promote national political union, the
best hope of securing liberty and equal justice
for all. Benjamin Franklin was responsible for
suggesting the country's first emblem -- a native
rattlesnake -- and its first personification --
Hercules. Both were readily understood by his
contemporaries the snake device conveyed the
need for political solidarity among the colonies,
while the strength of the infant Hercules was
likened to that of the mighty young nation.
57U The Great American Melting Pot
58T Tension From the Revolution to the Civil War
- Using ESP. What social, economic and political
tensions are occasioned by the Revolution and the
adoption of the new Constitution and persist to
the American Civil War some 80 years later
59I Independence
60I Independence
- What has this meant in terms of American social,
economic and political traditions in the United
States? American foreign policy? American popular
culture and Americas image abroad?
61O Order
- The leaders of the American Revolution, writes
the distinguished historian Bernard Bailyn, were
radicals. But their concern was not to correct
inequalities of class or income, not to remake
the social order, but to "purify a corrupt
constitution and fight off the apparent growth of
prerogative power." They wished, in other words,
to mend a broken system and improve upon it. In
doing so they drew on many traditions of
political and social thought, ranging from
English conservative philosophers to exponents of
the continental Enlightenment, from
backward-looking interpretations of ancient Roman
civilization to forward-looking views of a new
American people.
62O Order "A New Order of the Ages"
63O Order Novus Ordo Seclorum"
- "Novus Ordo Seclorum" was the motto suggested in
1782 by Charles Thomson, the Founding Father
chosen by the Continental Congress to come up
with the final design for the Great Seal of the
United States. He adapted it from a line in
Virgil's Eclogue IV, a pastoral poem that
expresses the longing for a new era of peace and
happiness which was written by the famed Roman
writer in the first century B.C.
64O Order Novus Ordo Seclorum"
- He put the motto at the bottom of the reverse
side where its meaning ties into the imagery
above it the unfinished pyramid with the date
MDCCLXXVI (1776). Thomson did not provide an
exact translation of the motto, but he explained
its symbolism Novus Ordo Seclorum signifies "the
beginning of the new American Era," which
commences from 1776.
65O Order Novus Ordo Seclorum"
- The farsighted founders of the United States
thought in terms of ages. They looked back into
history as well as forward, realizing their
actions would have long-lasting consequences. - In January 1776, Thomas Paine inspired the
Colonies with a vision of this new American Era.
In Common Sense he wrote "The cause of America
is in a great measure the cause of all mankind...
'Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an
age posterity are virtually involved in the
contest, and will be more or less affected, even
to the end of time, by the proceedings now."
66Thomas Paine, The Crisis -- December 1776
- "These are the times that try men's souls The
summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in
this crisis, shrink from the service of his
country but he that stands it Now, deserves the
love and thanks of man and woman. Â Tyranny, like
hell, is not easily conquered yet we have this
consolation with us, that the harder the conflict
the more glorious the triumph."Â
67O Order Novus Ordo Seclorum"
- In his farewell letter to the Army (June 8,
1783), George Washington wrote "The foundation
of our Empire was not laid in the gloomy age of
Ignorance and Superstition, but at an Epoch when
the rights of mankind were better understood and
more clearly defined, than at any former period."
68N Nationhood
- The Federalists had answers to all of the
Anti-Federalist complaints. Among them - The separation of powers into three independent
branches protected the rights of the people. Each
branch represents a different aspect of the
people, and because all three branches are equal,
no one group can assume control over another. - A listing of rights can be a dangerous thing. If
the national government were to protect specific
listed rights, what would stop it from violating
rights other than the listed ones? Since we can't
list all the rights, the Federalists argued that
it's better to list none at all.
69N Nationhood
- Overall, the Federalists were more organized in
their efforts. By June of 1788, the Constitution
was close to ratification. Nine states had
ratified it, and only one more (New Hampshire)
was needed. To achieve this, the Federalists
agreed that once Congress met, it would draft a
bill of rights. Finally, New York and Virginia
approved, and the Constitution was a reality.
Interestingly, the Bill of Rights was not
originally a part of the Constitution, and yet it
has proved to be highly important to protecting
the rights of the people.
70Forging a new Nation
- Every time we revisit the issues posed in the
bill of rights we revisit the Revolution and its
meaning across time space, the good, the bad and
the Ugly.
71The Shot heard around the World. . .
72Final Thought Gordon Wood
- Q. One of the most interesting observations you
make is that Americans are unique in turning to
the Founders of their country for guidance about
current issues. Just recently Richard Brookhiser
devoted an entire book to the subject, providing
the answers he thinks the founders would give to
the questions we face. Why do we do this?
73Final Thought Gordon Wood
- I think we go back to the Founders to renew and
reaffirm our faith in the values and ideals of
the nation. We are not a nation in the usual
sense of the term. To be an American is not to be
somebody, but to believe in something. And that
something is the ideals and values that came out
of the Revolution and the framing of the
Constitution. So the Founders give us a sense of
who we are and what we believe in.. .
74the Founders give us a sense of who we are and
what we believe in.. .
- Almost everything we believe as a people--our
noblest ideals and highest aspirations--come out
of the Revolution--our belief in liberty,
equality, constitutionalism, self-government, the
well-being of ordinary people--so it is not
surprising that we should want to know about the
men who created these ideas, institutions, and
values. - Source Interview with Gordon Wood Revolutionary
Characters By Rick Shenkman, History News
Network, 12-04-06
75We, the people, are sovereign! Next Time
Teaching the Preamble . . .