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Early SettlementColonial Period Road to IndependenceForming a GovernmentWestward ExpansionSectional Conflict Civil War Economic Growth Discontent and Reform War, Prosperity, and DepressionThe New Deal and World War II Postwar Prosperity Civil Rights and Social Change A New World OrderBridge to the 21st Century2008 Presidential Election OUTLINE OF U.S. History U . S . HISTORY U . S . HISTORY OUTLINE OFOUTLINE OF Bureau of International Information Programs U.\f. Department of \ftate 2011 CHAPTER 1 Early America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 CHAPTER 2 The Colonial Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 CHAPTER 3 The Road to Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 CHAPTER 4 The Formation of a National Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 CHAPTER 5 Westward Expansion and Regional Differences . . . . . . . 110 CHAPTER 6 Sectional Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 CHAPTER 7 The Civil War and Reconstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 CHAPTER 8 Growth and Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 CHAPTER 9 Discontent and Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 CHAPTER 10 War, Prosperity, and Depression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 CHAPTER 11 The New Deal and World War II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 CHAPTER 12 Postwar America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 CHAPTER 13 Decades of Change: 1960-1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 CHAPTER 14 The New Conservatism and a New World Order . . . . . . . 304 CHAPTER 15 Bridge to the 21st Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 CHAPTER 16 Politics of Hope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 PICTURE PROFILES Becoming a Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Transforming a Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Monuments and Memorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Turmoil and Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 21st Century Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349 CONTENTS U . S . HISTORY U . S . HISTORY OUTLINE OFOUTLINE OF 4 EARLY AMERICA 1 Mesa \berde settlement in Colorado, 13th century.

CHAPTER 6 “Heaven and Earth never agreed better to frame a place for man’s habitation.” Jamestown founde\f John Smith , 16\b7 THE FIRST AMERICANS A t the height of the Ice Age, be - tween 34,000 and 30,000 B .C ., much of the world’s water was locked up in vast continental ice sheets . As a result, the Bering Sea was hundreds of meters below its current level, and a land bridge, known as Beringia, emerged between Asia and North America . At its peak, Beringia is thought to have been some 1,500 ki - lometers wide . A moist and treeless tundra, it was covered with grasses and plant life, attracting the large animals that early humans hunted for their survival . The first people to reach North America almost certainly did so without knowing they had crossed into a new continent . They would have been following game, as their ancestors had for thousands of years, along the Siberian coast and then across the land bridge . Once in Alaska, it would take these first North Americans thou - sands of years more to work their way through the openings in great glaciers south to what is now the United States . Evidence of early life in North America continues to be found . Little of it, however, can be reliably dated before 12,000 B .C .; a recent discovery of a hunting look - out in northern Alaska, for exam - ple, may date from almost that time .

So too may the finely crafted spear points and items found near Clovis, New Mexico . Similar artifacts have been found at sites throughout North and South America, indicating that life was probably already well established in CHAPTER 1\f EARLY AMER\bCA 7 much of the Western Hemisphere by some time prior to 10,000 B .C . Around that time the mammoth began to die out and the bison took its place as a principal source of food and hides for these early North Americans . Over time, as more and more species of large game van - ished — whether from overhunting or natural causes — plants, berries, and seeds became an increasingly important part of the early Ameri - can diet . Gradually, foraging and the first attempts at primitive agri - culture appeared . Native Americans in what is now central Mexico led the way, cultivating corn, squash, and beans, perhaps as early as 8,000 B .C . Slowly, this knowledge spread northward . By 3,000 B .C ., a primitive type of corn was being grown in the river valleys of New Mexico and Arizo - na . Then the first signs of irrigation began to appear, and, by 300 B .C ., signs of early village life . By the first centuries A .D ., the Hohokam were living in settlements near what is now Phoenix, Arizo - na, where they built ball courts and pyramid-like mounds reminiscent of those found in Mexico, as well as a canal and irrigation system . MOUND BUILDERS AND PUEBLOS T he first Native-American group to build mounds in what is now the United States often are called the Adenans . They began construct - ing earthen burial sites and forti - fications around 600 B .C . Some mounds from that era are in the shape of birds or serpents; they probably served religious purposes not yet fully understood . The Adenans appear to have been absorbed or displaced by vari - ous groups collectively known as Hopewellians . One of the most im - portant centers of their culture was found in southern Ohio, where the remains of several thousand of these mounds still can be seen . Believed to be great traders, the Hopewel - lians used and exchanged tools and materials across a wide region of hundreds of kilometers . By around 500 A .D ., the Hopewellians disappeared, too, gradually giving way to a broad group of tribes generally known as the Mississippians or Temple Mound culture . One city, Ca - hokia, near Collinsville, Illinois, is thought to have had a population of about 20,000 at its peak in the early 12th century . At the center of the city stood a huge earthen mound, f lattened at the top, that was 30 meters high and 37 hectares at the base . Eighty other mounds have been found nearby . Cities such as Cahokia depend - ed on a combination of hunting, foraging, trading, and agriculture for their food and supplies . Inf lu - enced by the thriving societies to the south, they evolved into complex hi - erarchical societies that took slaves and practiced human sacrifice .

4678910243265B52E9B74CO 8 In what is now the southwest United States, the Anasazi, ancestors of the modern Hopi Indians, began building stone and adobe pueblos around the year 900 . These unique and amazing apartment-like struc - tures were often built along cliff faces; the most famous, the “cliff palace” of Mesa Verde, Colorado, had more than 200 rooms . Another site, the Pueblo Bonito ruins along New Mexico’s Chaco River, once contained more than 800 rooms . Perhaps the most aff luent of the pre-Columbian Native Americans lived in the Pacific Northwest, where the natural abundance of fish and raw materials made food supplies plentiful and permanent villages pos - sible as early as 1,000 B .C . The opu - lence of their “potlatch” gatherings remains a standard for extravagance and festivity probably unmatched in early American history . NATIVE-AMERICAN CULTURES T he America that greeted the first Europeans was, thus, far from an empty wilderness . It is now thought that as many people lived in the Western Hemisphere as in West - ern Europe at that time — about 40 million . Estimates of the number of Native Americans living in what is now the United States at the onset of European colonization range from two to 18 million, with most histori - ans tending toward the lower figure .

What is certain is the devastating ef - fect that European disease had on the indigenous population practi - cally from the time of initial con - tact . Smallpox, in particular, ravaged whole communities and is thought to have been a much more direct cause of the precipitous decline in the Indian population in the 1600s than the numerous wars and skir - mishes with European settlers . Indian customs and culture at the time were extraordinarily diverse, as could be expected, given the ex - panse of the land and the many dif - ferent environments to which they had adapted . Some generalizations, however, are possible . Most tribes, particularly in the wooded eastern region and the Midwest, combined aspects of hunting, gathering, and the cultivation of maize and other products for their food supplies . In many cases, the women were responsible for farming and the distribution of food, while the men hunted and participated in war . By all accounts, Native-American society in North America was closely tied to the land . Identification with nature and the elements was integral to religious beliefs . Their life was essentially clan-oriented and com - munal, with children allowed more freedom and tolerance than was the European custom of the day . Although some North Ameri - can tribes developed a type of hi - eroglyphics to preserve certain texts, Native-American culture was primarily oral, with a high value placed on the recounting of tales and dreams . Clearly, there was a good deal of trade among various CHAPTER 1\f EARLY AMER\bCA 9 groups and strong evidence exists that neighboring tribes maintained extensive and formal relations — both friendly and hostile . THE FIRST EUROPEANS T he first Europeans to arrive in North America — at least the first for whom there is solid evidence — were Norse, traveling west from Greenland, where Erik the Red had founded a settlement around the year 985 . In 1001 his son Leif is thought to have explored the north - east coast of what is now Canada and spent at least one winter there . While Norse sagas suggest that Viking sailors explored the Atlan - tic coast of North America down as far as the Bahamas, such claims remain unproven . In 1963, however, the ruins of some Norse houses dat - ing from that era were discovered at L’Anse-aux-Meadows in northern Newfoundland, thus supporting at least some of the saga claims . In 1497, just five years after Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean looking for a west - ern route to Asia, a Venetian sail - or named John Cabot arrived in Newfoundland on a mission for the British king . Although quickly forgotten, Cabot’s journey was later to provide the basis for British claims to North America . It also opened the way to the rich fishing grounds off George’s Banks, to which Eu - ropean fishermen, particularly the Portuguese, were soon making reg - ular visits . Columbus never saw the main - land of the future United States, but the first explorations of it were launched from the Spanish posses - sions that he helped establish . The first of these took place in 1513 when a group of men under Juan Ponce de León landed on the Florida coast near the present city of St . Augustine . With the conquest of Mexico in 1522, the Spanish further solidi - fied their position in the Western Hemisphere . The ensuing discov - eries added to Europe’s knowledge of what was now named America — after the Italian Amerigo Ves - pucci, who wrote a widely popular account of his voyages to a “New World .” By 1529 reliable maps of the Atlantic coastline from Labrador to Tierra del Fuego had been drawn up, although it would take more than another century before hope of dis - covering a “Northwest Passage” to Asia would be completely abandoned . Among the most significant ear - ly Spanish explorations was that of Hernando De Soto, a veteran con - quistador who had accompanied Francisco Pizarro in the conquest of Peru . Leaving Havana in 1539, De Soto’s expedition landed in Florida and ranged through the southeast - ern United States as far as the Missis - sippi River in search of riches . Another Spaniard, Francis - co Vázquez de Coronado, set out from Mexico in 1540 in search of the mythical Seven Cities of Cibo - la . Coronado’s travels took him to the Grand Canyon and Kansas, but 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 10 failed to reveal the gold or treasure his men sought . However, his par - ty did leave the peoples of the re - gion a remarkable, if unintended, gift: Enough of his horses escaped to transform life on the Great Plains .

Within a few generations, the Plains Indians had become masters of horsemanship, greatly expanding the range of their activities . While the Spanish were pushing up from the south, the northern por - tion of the present-day United States was slowly being revealed through the journeys of men such as Giovan - ni da Verrazano . A Florentine who sailed for the French, Verrazano made landfall in North Carolina in 1524, then sailed north along the At - lantic Coast past what is now New York harbor . A decade later, the Frenchman Jacques Cartier set sail with the hope — like the other Europeans before him — of finding a sea passage to Asia . Cartier’s expeditions along the St . Lawrence River laid the founda - tion for the French claims to North America, which were to last until 1763 . Following the collapse of their first Quebec colony in the 1540s, French Huguenots attempted to set - tle the northern coast of Florida two decades later . The Spanish, viewing the French as a threat to their trade route along the Gulf Stream, de - stroyed the colony in 1565 . Ironical - ly, the leader of the Spanish forces, Pedro Menéndez, would soon estab - lish a town not far away — St . Au - gustine . It was the first permanent European settlement in what would become the United States . The great wealth that poured into Spain from the colonies in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Peru provoked great interest on the part of the other European powers . Emerging mari - time nations such as England, drawn in part by Francis Drake’s success - ful raids on Spanish treasure ships, began to take an interest in the New Wo r l d . In 1578 Humphrey Gilbert, the author of a treatise on the search for the Northwest Passage, received a patent from Queen Elizabeth to colonize the “heathen and barba - rous landes” in the New World that other European nations had not yet claimed . It would be five years before his efforts could begin . When he was lost at sea, his half-brother, Walter Raleigh, took up the mission . In 1585 Raleigh established the first British colony in North Amer - ica, on Roanoke Island off the coast of North Carolina . It was later aban - doned, and a second effort two years later also proved a failure . It would be 20 years before the British would try again . This time — at Jamestown in 1607 — the colony would succeed, and North America would enter a new era . EARLY SETTLEMENTS T he early 1600s saw the begin- ning of a great tide of emigration from Europe to North America .

Spanning more than three centuries, this movement grew from a trickle CHAPTER 1\f EARLY AMER\bCA 11 of a few hundred English colonists to a f lood of millions of newcomers .

Impelled by powerful and diverse motivations, they built a new civi - lization on the northern part of the continent . The first English immigrants to what is now the United States crossed the Atlantic long after thriv - ing Spanish colonies had been estab - lished in Mexico, the West Indies, and South America . Like all early travelers to the New World, they came in small, overcrowded ships .

During their six- to 12-week voy - ages, they lived on meager rations .

Many died of disease, ships were often battered by storms, and some were lost at sea . Most European emigrants left their homelands to escape political oppression, to seek the freedom to practice their religion, or to find op - portunities denied them at home .

Between 1620 and 1635, economic difficulties swept England . Many people could not find work . Even skilled artisans could earn little more than a bare living . Poor crop yields added to the distress . In ad - dition, the Commercial Revolution had created a burgeoning textile industry, which demanded an ever- increasing supply of wool to keep the looms running . Landlords en - closed farmlands and evicted the peasants in favor of sheep cultiva - tion . Colonial expansion became an outlet for this displaced peasant population . The colonists’ first glimpse of the new land was a vista of dense woods . The settlers might not have survived had it not been for the help of friendly Indians, who taught them how to grow native plants — pumpkin, squash, beans, and corn .

In addition, the vast, virgin forests, extending nearly 2,100 kilometers along the Eastern seaboard, proved a rich source of game and firewood .

They also provided abundant raw materials used to build houses, fur - niture, ships, and profitable items for export . Although the new continent was remarkably endowed by nature, trade with Europe was vital for ar - ticles the settlers could not produce .

The coast served the immigrants well . The whole length of shore pro - vided many inlets and harbors . Only two areas — North Carolina and southern New Jersey — lacked har - bors for ocean-going vessels . Majestic rivers — the Kennebec, Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna, Potomac, and numerous others — linked lands between the coast and the Appalachian Mountains with the sea . Only one river, however, the St . Lawrence — dominated by the French in Canada — offered a water passage to the Great Lakes and the heart of the continent . Dense forests, the resistance of some Indian tribes, and the formidable barrier of the Appalachian Mountains discour - aged settlement beyond the coastal plain . Only trappers and traders ventured into the wilderness . For the first hundred years the colonists built their settlements compactly along the coast .

4678910243265B52E9B74CO 12 Political considerations inf lu - enced many people to move to America . In the 1630s, arbitrary rule by England’s Charles I gave impetus to the migration . The subsequent re - volt and triumph of Charles’ oppo - nents under Oliver Cromwell in the 1640s led many cavaliers — “king’s men” — to cast their lot in Virginia .

In the German-speaking regions of Europe, the oppressive policies of various petty princes — particularly with regard to religion — and the devastation caused by a long series of wars helped swell the movement to America in the late 17th and 18th centuries . The journey entailed careful planning and management, as well as considerable expense and risk .

Settlers had to be transported nearly 5,000 kilometers across the sea . They needed utensils, clothing, seed, tools, building materials, livestock, arms, and ammunition . In contrast to the colonization policies of other coun - tries and other periods, the emigra - tion from England was not directly sponsored by the government but by private groups of individuals whose chief motive was profit . JA ME STOW N T he first of the British colonies to take hold in North America was Jamestown . On the basis of a char - ter which King James I granted to the Virginia (or London) Company, a group of about 100 men set out for the Chesapeake Bay in 1607 . Seeking to avoid conf lict with the Spanish, they chose a site about 60 kilometers up the James River from the bay . Made up of townsmen and ad - venturers more interested in finding gold than farming, the group was unequipped by temperament or abil - ity to embark upon a completely new life in the wilderness . Among them, Captain John Smith emerged as the dominant figure . Despite quarrels, starvation, and Native-American attacks, his ability to enforce disci - pline held the little colony together through its first year . In 1609 Smith returned to Eng - land, and in his absence, the colony descended into anarchy . During the winter of 1609-1610, the majority of the colonists succumbed to disease .

Only 60 of the original 300 settlers were still alive by May 1610 . That same year, the town of Henrico (now Richmond) was established farther up the James River . It was not long, however, before a development occurred that revo - lutionized Virginia’s economy . In 1612 John Rolfe began cross-breed - ing imported tobacco seed from the West Indies with native plants and produced a new variety that was pleasing to European taste . The first shipment of this tobacco reached London in 1614 . Within a decade it had become Virginia’s chief source of revenue . Prosperity did not come quickly, however, and the death rate from disease and Indian attacks remained extraordinarily high . Between 1607 and 1624 approximately 14,000 peo - ple migrated to the colony, yet only CHAPTER 1\f EARLY AMER\bCA 13 1,132 were living there in 1624 . On recommendation of a royal commis - sion, the king dissolved the Virginia Company, and made it a royal colony that year . MASSACHUSETTS D uring the religious upheavals of the 16th century, a body of men and women called Puritans sought to reform the Established Church of England from within . Essentially, they demanded that the rituals and structures associated with Roman Catholicism be replaced by simpler Calvinist Protestant forms of faith and worship . Their reformist ideas, by destroying the unity of the state church, threatened to divide the people and to undermine royal authority . In 1607 a small group of Sepa - ratists — a radical sect of Puritans who did not believe the Established Church could ever be reformed — departed for Leyden, Holland, where the Dutch granted them asylum .

However, the Calvinist Dutch re - stricted them mainly to low-paid la - boring jobs . Some members of the congregation grew dissatisfied with this discrimination and resolved to emigrate to the New World . In 1620, a group of Leyden Puri - tans secured a land patent from the Virginia Company . Numbering 101, they set out for Virginia on the May - f lower . A storm sent them far north and they landed in New England on Cape Cod . Believing themselves outside the jurisdiction of any orga - nized government, the men drafted a formal agreement to abide by “ just and equal laws” drafted by leaders of their own choosing . This was the Mayf lower Compact . In December the Mayf lower reached Plymouth harbor; the Pil - grims began to build their settle - ment during the winter . Nearly half the colonists died of exposure and disease, but neighboring Wampa - noag Indians provided the informa - tion that would sustain them: how to grow maize . By the next fall, the Pilgrims had a plentiful crop of corn, and a growing trade based on furs and lumber . A new wave of immigrants ar - rived on the shores of Massachusetts Bay in 1630 bearing a grant from King Charles I to establish a colony .

Many of them were Puritans whose religious practices were increasingly prohibited in England . Their leader, John Winthrop, urged them to cre - ate a “city upon a hill” in the New World — a place where they would live in strict accordance with their religious beliefs and set an example for all of Christendom . The Massachusetts Bay Colony was to play a significant role in the development of the entire New Eng - land region, in part because Win - throp and his Puritan colleagues were able to bring their charter with them . Thus the authority for the col - ony’s government resided in Massa - chusetts, not in England . Under the charter’s provisions, power rested with the General Court, which was made up of “free - 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 14 men” required to be members of the Puritan, or Congregational, Church .

This guaranteed that the Puritans would be the dominant political as well as religious force in the colony .

The General Court elected the gov - ernor, who for most of the next gen - eration would be John Winthrop . The rigid orthodoxy of the Pu - ritan rule was not to everyone’s lik - ing . One of the first to challenge the General Court openly was a young clergyman named Roger Williams, who objected to the colony’s seizure of Indian lands and advocated sepa - ration of church and state . Another dissenter, Anne Hutchinson, chal - lenged key doctrines of Puritan the - ology . Both they and their followers were banished . Williams purchased land from the Narragansett Indians in what is now Providence, Rhode Island, in 1636 . In 1644, a sympathetic Puri - tan-controlled English Parliament gave him the charter that established Rhode Island as a distinct colony where complete separation of church and state as well as freedom of reli - gion was practiced . So-called heretics like Williams were not the only ones who left Mas - sachusetts . Orthodox Puritans, seek - ing better lands and opportunities, soon began leaving Massachusetts Bay Colony . News of the fertility of the Connecticut River Valley, for in - stance, attracted the interest of farm - ers having a difficult time with poor land . By the early 1630s, many were ready to brave the danger of Indian attack to obtain level ground and deep, rich soil . These new commu - nities often eliminated church mem - bership as a prerequisite for voting, thereby extending the franchise to ever larger numbers of men . At the same time, other settle - ments began cropping up along the New Hampshire and Maine coasts, as more and more immigrants sought the land and liberty the New World seemed to offer . NEW NETHERLAND AND MARYLAND H ired by the Dutch East India Company, Henry Hudson in 1609 explored the area around what is now New York City and the river that bears his name, to a point prob - ably north of present-day Albany, New York . Subsequent Dutch voy - ages laid the basis for their claims and early settlements in the area . As with the French to the north, the first interest of the Dutch was the fur trade . To this end, they cultivated close relations with the Five Nations of the Iroquois, who were the key to the heartland from which the furs came . In 1617 Dutch settlers built a fort at the junction of the Hudson and the Mohawk Rivers, where Al - bany now stands . Settlement on the island of Man - hattan began in the early 1620s . In 1624, the island was purchased from local Native Americans for the re - ported price of $24 . It was promptly renamed New Amsterdam . In order to attract settlers to the Hudson River region, the Dutch en - CHAPTER 1\f EARLY AMER\bCA 15 couraged a type of feudal aristocra - cy, known as the “patroon” system .

The first of these huge estates were established in 1630 along the Hud - son River . Under the patroon sys - tem, any stockholder, or patroon, who could bring 50 adults to his es - tate over a four-year period was giv - en a 25-kilometer river-front plot, exclusive fishing and hunting privi - leges, and civil and criminal juris - diction over his lands . In turn, he provided livestock, tools, and build - ings . The tenants paid the patroon rent and gave him first option on surplus crops . Further to the south, a Swedish trading company with ties to the Dutch attempted to set up its first settlement along the Delaware Riv - er three years later . Without the re - sources to consolidate its position, New Sweden was gradually absorbed into New Netherland, and later, Pennsylvania and Delaware . In 1632 the Catholic Calvert fam - ily obtained a charter for land north of the Potomac River from King Charles I in what became known as Maryland . As the charter did not ex - pressly prohibit the establishment of non-Protestant churches, the colony became a haven for Catholics . Mary - land’s first town, St . Mary’s, was established in 1634 near where the Potomac River f lows into the Chesa - p e a k e B ay . While establishing a refuge for Catholics, who faced increasing per - secution in Anglican England, the Calverts were also interested in cre - ating profitable estates . To this end, and to avoid trouble with the British government, they also encouraged Protestant immigration . Maryland’s royal charter had a mixture of feudal and modern elements . On the one hand the Calvert family had the power to create manorial estates . On the oth - er, they could only make laws with the consent of freemen (property holders) . They found that in order to attract settlers — and make a profit from their holdings — they had to offer people farms, not just tenancy on manorial estates . The number of independent farms grew in consequence . Their owners de - manded a voice in the affairs of the colony . Maryland’s first legislature met in 1635 . COLONIAL-INDIAN R EL ATIONS B y 1640 the British had solid colonies established along the New England coast and the Chesapeake Bay . In between were the Dutch and the tiny Swedish community . To the west were the original Americans, then called Indians . Sometimes friendly, sometimes hostile, the Eastern tribes were no longer strangers to the Europeans .

Although Native Americans ben - efited from access to new technol - ogy and trade, the disease and thirst for land that the early settlers also brought posed a serious challenge to their long-established way of life . At first, trade with the European settlers brought advantages: knives, 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 16 axes, weapons, cooking utensils, fishhooks, and a host of other goods .

Those Indians who traded initial - ly had significant advantage over rivals who did not . In response to European demand, tribes such as the Iroquois began to devote more at - tention to fur trapping during the 17th century . Furs and pelts pro - vided tribes the means to purchase colonial goods until late into the 18th century . Early colonial-Native-American relations were an uneasy mix of co - operation and conf lict . On the one hand, there were the exemplary rela - tions that prevailed during the first half century of Pennsylvania’s exis - tence . On the other were a long series of setbacks, skirmishes, and wars, which almost invariably resulted in an Indian defeat and further loss of land . The first of the important Native- American uprisings occurred in Vir - ginia in 1622, when some 347 whites were killed, including a number of missionaries who had just recently come to Jamestown . White settlement of the Con - necticut River region touched off the Pequot War in 1637 . In 1675 King Philip, the son of the native chief who had made the original peace with the Pilgrims in 1621, attempted to unite the tribes of southern New England against further Europe - an encroachment of their lands . In the struggle, however, Philip lost his life and many Indians were sold into servitude . The steady inf lux of settlers into the backwoods regions of the Eastern colonies disrupted Native-American life . As more and more game was killed off, tribes were faced with the difficult choice of going hungry, go - ing to war, or moving and coming into conf lict with other tribes to the west . The Iroquois, who inhabited the area below lakes Ontario and Erie in northern New York and Pennsyl - vania, were more successful in re - sisting European advances . In 1570 five tribes joined to form the most complex Native-American nation of its time, the “Ho-De-No-Sau- Nee,” or League of the Iroquois . The league was run by a council made up of 50 representatives from each of the five member tribes . The council dealt with matters common to all the tribes, but it had no say in how the free and equal tribes ran their day- to-day affairs . No tribe was allowed to make war by itself . The council passed laws to deal with crimes such as murder . The Iroquois League was a strong power in the 1600s and 1700s . It traded furs with the British and sided with them against the French in the war for the dominance of America between 1754 and 1763 .

The British might not have won that war otherwise . The Iroquois League stayed strong until the American Revolu - tion . Then, for the first time, the council could not reach a unani - mous decision on whom to support .

Member tribes made their own de - CHAPTER 1\f EARLY AMER\bCA 17 cisions, some fighting with the Brit - ish, some with the colonists, some remaining neutral . As a result, ev - eryone fought against the Iroquois .

Their losses were great and the league never recovered . SECOND GENERATION OF BRITISH COLONIES T he religious and civil conf lict in England in the mid-17th century limited immigration, as well as the attention the mother country paid the f ledgling American colonies . In part to provide for the defense measures England was neglect - ing, the Massachusetts Bay, Plym - outh, Connecticut, and New Haven colonies formed the New England Confederation in 1643 . It was the European colonists’ first attempt at regional unity . The early history of the British settlers reveals a good deal of con - tention — religious and political — as groups vied for power and posi - tion among themselves and their neighbors . Maryland, in particular, suffered from the bitter religious ri - valries that aff licted England during the era of Oliver Cromwell . One of the casualties was the state’s Tolera - tion Act, which was revoked in the 1650s . It was soon reinstated, howev - er, along with the religious freedom it guaranteed . With the restoration of King Charles II in 1660, the British once again turned their attention to North America . Within a brief span, the first European settlements were established in the Carolinas and the Dutch driven out of New Nether - land . New proprietary colonies were established in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania . The Dutch settlements had been ruled by autocratic governors ap - pointed in Europe . Over the years, the local population had become estranged from them . As a result, when the British colonists began en - croaching on Dutch claims in Long Island and Manhattan, the unpopu - lar governor was unable to rally the population to their defense . New Netherland fell in 1664 . The terms of the capitulation, however, were mild: The Dutch settlers were able to retain their property and worship as they pleased . As early as the 1650s, the Albe - marle Sound region off the coast of what is now northern North Caroli - na was inhabited by settlers trickling down from Virginia . The first pro - prietary governor arrived in 1664 .

The first town in Albemarle, a re - mote area even today, was not estab - lished until the arrival of a group of French Huguenots in 1704 . In 1670 the first settlers, drawn from New England and the Carib - bean island of Barbados, arrived in what is now Charleston, South Carolina . An elaborate system of government, to which the British philosopher John Locke contribut - ed, was prepared for the new colony .

One of its prominent features was a failed attempt to create a hereditary nobility . One of the colony’s least ap - pealing aspects was the early trade in 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 18 Indian slaves . With time, however, timber, rice, and indigo gave the col - ony a worthier economic base . In 1681 William Penn, a wealthy Quaker and friend of Charles II, re - ceived a large tract of land west of the Delaware River, which became known as Pennsylvania . To help populate it, Penn actively recruited a host of religious dissenters from England and the continent — Quak - ers, Mennonites, Amish, Moravians, and Baptists . When Penn arrived the follow - ing year, there were already Dutch, Swedish, and English settlers liv - ing along the Delaware River . It was there he founded Philadelphia, the “City of Brotherly Love .” In keeping with his faith, Penn was motivated by a sense of equal - ity not often found in other Amer - ican colonies at the time . Thus, women in Pennsylvania had rights long before they did in other parts of America . Penn and his deputies also paid considerable attention to the colony’s relations with the Del - aware Indians, ensuring that they were paid for land on which the Eu - ropeans settled . Georgia was settled in 1732, the last of the 13 colonies to be established . Lying close to, if not actually inside the boundaries of Spanish Florida, the region was viewed as a buffer against Spanish incursion . But it had another unique quality: The man charged with Georgia’s fortifications, General James Oglethorpe, was a reformer who deliberately set out to create a refuge where the poor and former prisoners would be given new opportunities . SETTLERS, SLAVES, AND S E R VA N T S M en and women with little active interest in a new life in America were often induced to make the move to the New World by the skillful per - suasion of promoters . William Penn, for example, publicized the oppor - tunities awaiting newcomers to the Pennsylvania colony . Judges and prison authorities offered convicts a chance to migrate to colonies like Georgia instead of serving prison sentences . But few colonists could finance the cost of passage for themselves and their families to make a start in the new land . In some cases, ships’ cap - tains received large rewards from the sale of service contracts for poor mi - grants, called indentured servants, and every method from extravagant promises to actual kidnapping was used to take on as many passengers as their vessels could hold . In other cases, the expenses of transportation and maintenance were paid by colonizing agencies like the Virginia or Massachusetts Bay Companies . In return, indentured servants agreed to work for the agen - cies as contract laborers, usually for four to seven years . Free at the end of this term, they would be given “free - dom dues,” sometimes including a small tract of land . CHAPTER 1\f EARLY AMER\bCA 19 Perhaps half the settlers living in the colonies south of New England came to America under this system .

Although most of them fulfilled their obligations faithfully, some ran away from their employers . Never - theless, many of them were eventu - ally able to secure land and set up homesteads, either in the colonies in which they had originally settled or in neighboring ones . No social stig - ma was attached to a family that had its beginning in America under this semi-bondage . Every colony had its share of leaders who were former in - dentured servants . There was one very important exception to this pattern: African slaves . The first black Africans were brought to Virginia in 1619, just 12 years after the founding of James - town . Initially, many were regarded as indentured servants who could earn their freedom . By the 1660s, however, as the demand for planta - tion labor in the Southern colonies grew, the institution of slavery be - gan to harden around them, and Af - ricans were brought to America in shackles for a lifetime of involuntary servitude . 9 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 20 T ime-worn pueblos and dramatic cliff towns, set amid the stark, rugged me - sas and canyons of Colorado and New Mexico, mark the settlements of some of the earliest inhabitants of North America, the Anasazi (a Navajo word meaning “ancient ones”). By 500 A.D. the Anasazi had established some of the first vil lages in the American Southwest, where they hunted and grew crops of corn, squash, and beans. The Anasazi flourished over the centuries, developing sophisticated dams and irrigation systems; creating a masterful, distinctive pottery tradi - tion; and carving multiroom dwellings into the sheer sides of cliffs that remain among the most striking archaeological sites in the United States today. Yet by the year 1300, they had abandoned their settlements, leaving their pottery, implements, even clothing — as though they intended to return — and seemingly vanished into history. Their homeland remained empty of human beings for more than a century — until the arrival of new tribes, such as the Navajo and the Ute, followed by the Spanish and other European settlers. The story of the Anasazi is tied inextricably to the beautiful but harsh environment in which they chose to live. Early settlements, consisting of simple pithouses scooped out of the ground, evolved into sunken kivas (underground rooms) that served as meeting and religious sites. Later generations developed the masonry techniques for building square, stone pueblos. But the most dra - matic change in Anasazi living was the move to the cliff sides below the flat- topped mesas, where the Anasazi carved their amazing, multilevel dwellings. The Anasazi lived in a communal society. They traded with other peoples in the region, but signs of warfare are few and isolated. And although the Ana - sazi certainly had religious and other leaders, as well as skilled artisans, social or class distinctions were virtually nonexistent. Religious and social motives undoubtedly played a part in the building of the cliff communities and their final abandonment. But the struggle to raise food in an increasingly difficult environment was probably the paramount fac - tor. As populations grew, farmers planted larger areas on the mesas, causing some communities to farm marginal lands, while others left the mesa tops for the cliffs. But the Anasazi couldn’t halt the steady loss of the land’s fertility from constant use, nor withstand the region’s cyclical droughts. Analysis of tree rings, for example, shows that a drought lasting 23 years, from 1276 to 1299, finally forced the last groups of Anasazi to leave permanently. Although the Anasazi dispersed from their ancestral homeland, their legacy remains in the remarkable archaeological record that they left behind, and in the Hopi, Zuni, and other Pueblo peoples who are their descendants.  THE ENDURING MYSTERY OF THE ANASAZI CHAPTER 1\f EARLY AMER\bCA Major Native American cultural grouping\f, A.D. \b00-1300. OUTL\bNE OF U.S. H\bSTORY 21 22 2 THE COLONIAL PERIOD Pilgrims signing the Mayflower Compact aboard ship, 1620.

CHAPTER 24 NEW PEOPLES M ost settlers who came to Amer - ica in the 17th century were English, but there were also Dutch, Swedes, and Germans in the middle region, a few French Huguenots in South Carolina and elsewhere, slaves from Africa, primarily in the South, and a scattering of Spaniards, Italians, and Portuguese throughout the colonies .

After 1680 England ceased to be the chief source of immigration, sup - planted by Scots and “Scots-Irish” (Protestants from Northern Ire - land) . In addition, tens of thousands of refugees f led northwestern Eu - rope to escape war, oppression, and absentee-landlordism . By 1690 the American population had risen to a quarter of a million . From then on, it doubled every 25 years until, in 1775, it numbered more than 2 .5 million . Although families occa - sionally moved from one colony to another, distinctions between indi - vidual colonies were marked . They were even more so among the three regional groupings of colonies . NEW ENGLAND T he northeastern New England colonies had generally thin, stony soil, relatively little level land, and long winters, making it difficult to make a living from farming . Turn - ing to other pursuits, the New Eng - landers harnessed waterpower and established grain mills and saw - mills . Good stands of timber en - couraged shipbuilding . Excellent harbors promoted trade, and the sea became a source of great wealth .

In Massachusetts, the cod industry alone quickly furnished a basis for prosperity . With the bulk of the early settlers living in villages and towns around the harbors, many New England - ers carried on some kind of trade or business . Common pastureland and woodlots served the needs of towns - people, who worked small farms CHAPTER 2\f THE COLON\bAL PER\bOD “What then is the American, this new man?” Ame\fican autho\f and ag\ficultu\fist J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur , 1782 25 nearby . Compactness made possible the village school, the village church, and the village or town hall, where citizens met to discuss matters of common interest . The Massachusetts Bay Colony continued to expand its commerce .

From the middle of the 17th century onward it grew prosperous, so that Boston became one of America’s greatest ports . Oak timber for ships’ hulls, tall pines for spars and masts, and pitch for the seams of ships came from the Northeastern forests . Building their own vessels and sailing them to ports all over the world, the shipmasters of Massachusetts Bay laid the foun - dation for a trade that was to grow steadily in importance . By the end of the colonial period, one-third of all vessels under the British f lag were built in New England . Fish, ship’s stores, and woodenware swelled the exports . New England merchants and shippers soon discovered that rum and slaves were profitable com - modities . One of their most enter - prising — if unsavory — trading practices of the time was the “trian - gular trade .” Traders would purchase slaves off the coast of Africa for New England rum, then sell the slaves in the West Indies where they would buy molasses to bring home for sale to the local rum producers . THE MIDDLE COLONIES S ociety in the middle colonies was far more varied, cosmopolitan, and tolerant than in New England . Under William Penn, Pennsylvania functioned smoothly and grew rap - idly . By 1685, its population was al - most 9,000 . The heart of the colony was Philadelphia, a city of broad, tree-shaded streets, substantial brick and stone houses, and busy docks .

By the end of the colonial period, nearly a century later, 30,000 people lived there, representing many lan - guages, creeds, and trades . Their tal - ent for successful business enterprise made the city one of the thriving centers of the British Empire . Though the Quakers dominated in Philadelphia, elsewhere in Penn - sylvania others were well represent - ed . Germans became the colony’s most skillful farmers . Important, too, were cottage industries such as weaving, shoemaking, cabinetmak - ing, and other crafts . Pennsylvania was also the principal gateway into the New World for the Scots-Irish, who moved into the colony in the early 18th century . “Bold and indi - gent strangers,” as one Pennsylvania official called them, they hated the English and were suspicious of all government . The Scots-Irish tended to settle in the backcountry, where they cleared land and lived by hunt - ing and subsistence farming . New York best illustrated the polyglot nature of America . By 1646 the population along the Hudson River included Dutch, French, Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, English, Scots, Irish, Germans, Poles, Bohemians, Portuguese, and Italians . The Dutch continued to exercise an important social and economic inf luence on 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 26 the New York region long after the fall of New Netherland and their in - tegration into the British colonial system . Their sharp-stepped gable roofs became a permanent part of the city’s architecture, and their merchants gave Manhattan much of its original bustling, commercial atmosphere .

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES In contrast to New England and the middle colonies, the Southern colonies were predominantly rural settlements . By the late 17th century, Virgin - ia’s and Maryland’s economic and social structure rested on the great planters and the yeoman farmers .

The planters of the Tidewater re - gion, supported by slave labor, held most of the political power and the best land . They built great houses, adopted an aristocratic way of life, and kept in touch as best they could with the world of culture overseas . The yeoman farmers, who worked smaller tracts, sat in popular assem - blies and found their way into political office . Their outspoken independence was a constant warning to the oligar - chy of planters not to encroach too far upon the rights of free men . The settlers of the Carolinas quickly learned to combine agricul - ture and commerce, and the mar - ketplace became a major source of prosperity . Dense forests brought revenue: Lumber, tar, and resin from the longleaf pine provided some of the best shipbuilding materials in the world . Not bound to a single crop as was Virginia, North and South Carolina also produced and exported rice and indigo, a blue dye obtained from native plants that was used in coloring fabric . By 1750 more than 100,000 people lived in the two colonies of North and South Caroli - na . Charleston, South Carolina, was the region’s leading port and trading center . In the southernmost colonies, as everywhere else, population growth in the backcountry had special sig - nificance . German immigrants and Scots-Irish, unwilling to live in the original Tidewater settlements where English inf luence was strong, pushed inland . Those who could not secure fertile land along the coast, or who had exhausted the lands they held, found the hills farther west a bountiful refuge . Although their hardships were enormous, restless settlers kept coming; by the 1730s they were pouring into the Shenan - doah Valley of Virginia . Soon the in - terior was dotted with farms . Living on the edge of Native American country, frontier families built cabins, cleared the wilderness, and cultivated maize and wheat .

The men wore leather made from the skin of deer or sheep, known as buckskin; the women wore gar - ments of cloth they spun at home .

Their food consisted of venison, wild turkey, and fish . They had their own amusements: great barbecues, dances, housewarmings for newly married couples, shooting matches, and contests for making quilted CHAPTER 2\f THE COLON\bAL PER\bOD 27 blankets . Quilt-making remains an American tradition today . SOCIETY, SCHOOLS, AND CULTURE A significant factor deterring the emergence of a powerful aristocratic or gentry class in the colonies was the ability of anyone in an estab - lished colony to find a new home on the frontier . Time after time, domi - nant Tidewater figures were obliged to liberalize political policies, land- grant requirements, and religious practices by the threat of a mass exo - dus to the frontier . Of equal significance for the future were the foundations of American education and culture es - tablished during the colonial period .

Harvard College was founded in 1636 in Cambridge, Massachusetts .

Near the end of the century, the College of William and Mary was established in Virginia . A few years later, the Collegiate School of Connecticut, later to become Yale University, was chartered . Even more noteworthy was the growth of a school system main - tained by governmental authority .

The Puritan emphasis on reading directly from the Scriptures under - scored the importance of literacy . In 1647 the Massachusetts Bay Colony enacted the “ye olde deluder Satan” Act, requiring every town having more than 50 families to establish a grammar school (a Latin school to prepare students for college) . Shortly thereafter, all the other New Eng - land colonies, except for Rhode Is - land, followed its example . The Pilgrims and Puritans had brought their own little librar - ies and continued to import books from London . And as early as the 1680s, Boston booksellers were do - ing a thriving business in works of classical literature, history, politics, philosophy, science, theology, and belles-lettres . In 1638 the first print - ing press in the English colonies and the second in North America was in - stalled at Harvard College . The first school in Pennsylvania was begun in 1683 . It taught reading, writing, and keeping of accounts .

Thereafter, in some fashion, every Quaker community provided for the elementary teaching of its children .

More advanced training — in classi - cal languages, history, and literature — was offered at the Friends Public School, which still operates in Phila - delphia as the William Penn Charter School . The school was free to the poor, but parents were required to pay tuition if they were able . In Philadelphia, numerous private schools with no religious affiliation taught languages, mathematics, and natural science; there were also night schools for adults . Women were not entirely overlooked, but their edu - cational opportunities were limited to training in activities that could be conducted in the home . Private teachers instructed the daughters of prosperous Philadelphians in French, music, dancing, painting, singing, grammar, and sometimes bookkeeping .

4678910243265B52E9B74CO 28 In the 18th century, the intel - lectual and cultural development of Pennsylvania ref lected, in large measure, the vigorous personalities of two men: James Logan and Benja - min Franklin . Logan was secretary of the colony, and it was in his fine li - brary that young Franklin found the latest scientific works . In 1745 Logan erected a building for his collection and bequeathed both building and books to the city . Franklin contributed even more to the intellectual activity of Phila - delphia . He formed a debating club that became the embryo of the American Philosophical Society . His endeavors also led to the founding of a public academy that later devel - oped into the University of Penn - sylvania . He was a prime mover in the establishment of a subscription library, which he called “the mother of all North American subscription libraries . ” In the Southern colonies, wealthy planters and merchants imported pri - vate tutors from Ireland or Scotland to teach their children . Some sent their children to school in England .

Having these other opportunities, the upper classes in the Tidewater were not interested in supporting pub - lic education . In addition, the diffu - sion of farms and plantations made the formation of community schools difficult . There were only a few free schools in Virginia . The desire for learning did not stop at the borders of established communities, however . On the fron - tier, the Scots-Irish, though living in primitive cabins, were firm devotees of scholarship, and they made great efforts to attract learned ministers to their settlements . Literary production in the colo - nies was largely confined to New England . Here attention concen - trated on religious subjects . Ser - mons were the most common products of the press . A famous Pu - ritan minister, the Reverend Cot - ton Mather, wrote some 400 works . His masterpiece, Magnalia Chris - ti Americana , presented the pag - eant of New England’s history . The most popular single work of the day was the Reverend Michael Wiggles - worth’s long poem, “The Day of Doom,” which described the Last Judgment in terrifying terms . In 1704 Cambridge, Massachu - setts, launched the colonies’ first successful newspaper . By 1745 there were 22 newspapers being published in British North America . In New York, an important step in establishing the principle of free - dom of the press took place with the case of John Peter Zenger, whose New York Weekly Journal , begun in 1733, represented the opposition to the government . After two years of publication, the colonial governor could no longer tolerate Zenger’s sa - tirical barbs, and had him thrown into prison on a charge of seditious libel . Zenger continued to edit his paper from jail during his nine- month trial, which excited intense interest throughout the colonies .

Andrew Hamilton, the prominent lawyer who defended Zenger, argued CHAPTER 2\f THE COLON\bAL PER\bOD 29 that the charges printed by Zenger were true and hence not libelous .

The jury returned a verdict of not guilty, and Zenger went free . The increasing prosperity of the towns prompted fears that the dev - il was luring society into pursuit of worldly gain and may have contrib - uted to the religious reaction of the 1730s, known as the Great Awaken - ing . Its two immediate sources were George Whitefield, a Wesleyan re - vivalist who arrived from England in 1739, and Jonathan Edwards, who served the Congregational Church in Northampton, Massachusetts . Whitefield began a religious re - vival in Philadelphia and then moved on to New England . He enthralled audiences of up to 20,000 people at a time with histrionic displays, ges - tures, and emotional oratory . Reli - gious turmoil swept throughout New England and the middle colonies as ministers left established churches to preach the revival . Edwards was the most prominent of those inf luenced by Whitefield and the Great Awakening . His most memorable contribution was his 1741 sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God .” Rejecting theat - rics, he delivered his message in a quiet, thoughtful manner, arguing that the established churches sought to deprive Christianity of its func - tion of redemption from sin . His magnum opus, Of Freedom of Will (1754), attempted to reconcile Cal - vinism with the Enlightenment . The Great Awakening gave rise to evangelical denominations (those Christian churches that believe in personal conversion and the iner - rancy of the Bible) and the spirit of revivalism, which continue to play significant roles in American reli - gious and cultural life . It weakened the status of the established clergy and provoked believers to rely on their own conscience . Perhaps most important, it led to the proliferation of sects and denominations, which in turn encouraged general accep - tance of the principle of religious toleration .

EMERGENCE OF COLONIAL GOVERNMENT In the early phases of colonial de - velopment, a striking feature was the lack of controlling inf luence by the English government . All colonies ex - cept Georgia emerged as companies of shareholders, or as feudal propri - etorships stemming from charters granted by the Crown . The fact that the king had transferred his immedi - ate sovereignty over the New World settlements to stock companies and proprietors did not, of course, mean that the colonists in America were necessarily free of outside control .

Under the terms of the Virginia Company charter, for example, full governmental authority was vested in the company itself . Nevertheless, the crown expected that the com - pany would be resident in England .

Inhabitants of Virginia, then, would have no more voice in their govern - ment than if the king himself had retained absolute rule .

4678910243265B52E9B74CO 30 Still, the colonies considered themselves chief ly as common - wealths or states, much like England itself, having only a loose association with the authorities in London . In one way or another, exclusive rule from the outside withered away . The colonists — inheritors of the long English tradition of the struggle for political liberty — incorporated concepts of freedom into Virginia’s first charter . It provided that Eng - lish colonists were to exercise all liberties, franchises, and immuni - ties “as if they had been abiding and born within this our Realm of Eng - land .” They were, then, to enjoy the benefits of the Magna Carta — the charter of English political and civ - il liberties granted by King John in 1215 — and the common law — the English system of law based on legal precedents or tradition, not statutory law . In 1618 the Virginia Company issued instructions to its appointed governor providing that free inhab - itants of the plantations should elect representatives to join with the gov - ernor and an appointive council in passing ordinances for the welfare of the colony . These measures proved to be some of the most far-reaching in the entire colonial period . From then on, it was generally accepted that the colonists had a right to participate in their own government . In most in - stances, the king, in making future grants, provided in the charter that the free men of the colony should have a voice in legislation affecting them . Thus, charters awarded to the Calverts in Maryland, William Penn in Pennsylvania, the proprietors in North and South Carolina, and the proprietors in New Jersey specified that legislation should be enacted with “the consent of the freemen .” In New England, for many years, there was even more complete self- government than in the other col - onies . Aboard the Mayf lower , the Pilgrims adopted an instrument for government called the “Mayf lower Compact,” to “combine ourselves to - gether into a civil body politic for our better ordering and preservation . . . and by virtue hereof [to] enact, con - stitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices . . . as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony . . . . ” Although there was no legal basis for the Pilgrims to establish a system of self-government, the action was not contested, and, under the com - pact, the Plymouth settlers were able for many years to conduct their own affairs without outside interference . A similar situation developed in the Massachusetts Bay Company, which had been given the right to govern itself . Thus, full authority rested in the hands of persons re - siding in the colony . At first, the dozen or so original members of the company who had come to America attempted to rule autocratically . But the other colonists soon demanded a voice in public affairs and indi - cated that refusal would lead to a mass migration . The company members yield - CHAPTER 2\f THE COLON\bAL PER\bOD 31 ed, and control of the government passed to elected representatives .

Subsequently, other New England colonies — such as Connecticut and Rhode Island — also succeeded in becoming self-governing simply by asserting that they were beyond any governmental authority, and then setting up their own political sys - tem modeled after that of the Pil - grims at Plymouth . In only two cases was the self- government provision omitted .

These were New York, which was granted to Charles II’s brother, the Duke of York (later to become King James II), and Georgia, which was granted to a group of “trustees .” In both instances the provisions for governance were short-lived, for the colonists demanded legislative rep - resentation so insistently that the au - thorities soon yielded . In the mid-17th century, the English were too distracted by their Civil War (1642-49) and Oliver Cromwell’s Puritan Com - monwealth to pursue an effective colonial policy . After the restora - tion of Charles II and the Stuart dynasty in 1660, England had more opportunity to attend to colonial administration . Even then, how - ever, it was inefficient and lacked a coherent plan . The colonies were left largely to their own devices . The remoteness afforded by a vast ocean also made control of the colo - nies difficult . Added to this was the character of life itself in early Amer - ica . From countries limited in space and dotted with populous towns, the settlers had come to a land of seemingly unending reach . On such a continent, natural conditions pro - moted a tough individualism, as people became used to making their own decisions . Government pene - trated the backcountry only slowly, and conditions of anarchy often pre - vailed on the frontier . Yet the assumption of self-gov - ernment in the colonies did not go entirely unchallenged . In the 1670s, the Lords of Trade and Plantations, a royal committee established to en - force the mercantile system in the colonies, moved to annul the Massa - chusetts Bay charter because the col - ony was resisting the government’s economic policy . James II in 1685 approved a proposal to create a Do - minion of New England and place colonies south through New Jersey under its jurisdiction, thereby tight - ening the Crown’s control over the whole region . A royal governor, Sir Edmund Andros, levied taxes by ex - ecutive order, implemented a num - ber of other harsh measures, and jailed those who resisted . When news of the Glorious Rev - olution (1688-89), which deposed James II in England, reached Boston, the population rebelled and impris - oned Andros . Under a new charter, Massachusetts and Plymouth were united for the first time in 1691 as the royal colony of Massachusetts Bay . The other New England colo - nies quickly reinstalled their previ - ous governments . The English Bill of Rights and the Toleration Act of 1689 affirmed 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 32 freedom of worship for Christians in the colonies as well as in England and enforced limits on the Crown .

Equally important, John Locke’s Sec - ond Treatise on Government (16 9 0), the Glorious Revolution’s major theoretical justification, set forth a theory of government based not on divine right but on contract . It contended that the people, endowed with natural rights of life, liberty, and property, had the right to reb - el when governments violated their rights . By the early 18th century, almost all the colonies had been brought under the direct jurisdiction of the British Crown, but under the rules established by the Glorious Revolu - tion . Colonial governors sought to exercise powers that the king had lost in England, but the colonial as - semblies, aware of events there, at - tempted to assert their “rights” and “liberties .” Their leverage rested on two significant powers similar to those held by the English Parlia - ment: the right to vote on taxes and expenditures, and the right to ini - tiate legislation rather than merely react to proposals of the governor . The legislatures used these rights to check the power of royal gover - nors and to pass other measures to expand their power and inf luence .

The recurring clashes between gov - ernor and assembly made colonial politics tumultuous and worked in - creasingly to awaken the colonists to the divergence between American and English interests . In many cases, the royal authorities did not under - stand the importance of what the colonial assemblies were doing and simply neglected them . Nonetheless, the precedents and principles estab - lished in the conf licts between as - semblies and governors eventually became part of the unwritten “con - stitution” of the colonies . In this way, the colonial legislatures asserted the right of self-government . THE FRENCH AND I N D I A N WA R F rance and Britain engaged in a succession of wars in Europe and the Caribbean throughout the 18th century . Though Britain secured certain advantages — primarily in the sugar-rich islands of the Carib - bean — the struggles were generally indecisive, and France remained in a powerful position in North Ameri - ca . By 1754, France still had a strong relationship with a number of Na - tive American tribes in Canada and along the Great Lakes . It controlled the Mississippi River and, by estab - lishing a line of forts and trading posts, had marked out a great cres - cent-shaped empire stretching from Quebec to New Orleans . The British remained confined to the narrow belt east of the Appalachian Moun - tains . Thus the French threatened not only the British Empire but also the American colonists themselves, for in holding the Mississippi Valley, France could limit their westward expansion . An armed clash took place in 1754 at Fort Duquesne, the site where CHAPTER 2\f THE COLON\bAL PER\bOD 33 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is now lo - cated, between a band of French reg - ulars and Virginia militiamen under the command of 22-year-old George Washington, a Virginia planter and surveyor . The British government attempted to deal with the conf lict by calling a meeting of representa - tives from New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the New England colonies . From June 19 to July 10, 1754, the Albany Congress, as it came to be known, met with the Iro - quois in Albany, New York, in order to improve relations with them and secure their loyalty to the British . But the delegates also declared a union of the American colonies “ab - solutely necessary for their preserva - tion” and adopted a proposal drafted by Benjamin Franklin . The Albany Plan of Union provided for a pres - ident appointed by the king and a grand council of delegates chosen by the assemblies, with each colony to be represented in proportion to its financial contributions to the gen - eral treasury . This body would have charge of defense, Native American relations, and trade and settlement of the west . Most importantly, it would have independent authority to levy taxes . But none of the colonies accepted the plan, since they were not prepared to surrender either the power of taxation or control over the development of the western lands to a central authority . England’s superior strategic posi - tion and her competent leadership ultimately brought victory in the conf lict with France, known as the French and Indian War in Ameri - ca and the Seven Years’ War in Eu - rope . Only a modest portion of it was fought in the Western Hemisphere . In the Peace of Paris (1763), France relinquished all of Canada, the Great Lakes, and the territory east of the Mississippi to the Brit - ish . The dream of a French empire in North America was over . Having triumphed over France, Britain was now compelled to face a problem that it had hitherto ne - glected, the governance of its em - pire . London thought it essential to organize its now vast possessions to facilitate defense, reconcile the diver - gent interests of different areas and peoples, and distribute more evenly the cost of imperial administration . In North America alone, British territories had more than doubled . A population that had been predom - inantly Protestant and English now included French-speaking Catholics from Quebec, and large numbers of partly Christianized Native Ameri - cans . Defense and administration of the new territories, as well as of the old, would require huge sums of money and increased personnel . The old colonial system was obviously inadequate to these tasks . Measures to establish a new one, however, would rouse the latent suspicions of colonials who increasingly would see Britain as no longer a protector of their rights, but rather a danger to them . 9 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 34 AN EXCEPTIONAL NATION? T he United States of America did not emerge as a nation until about 175 years after its establishment as a group of mostly British colonies. Yet from the beginning it was a different society in the eyes of many Europeans who viewed it from afar, whether with hope or apprehension. Most of its settlers — whether the younger sons of aristocrats, religious dissenters, or impoverished inden - tured servants — came there lured by a promise of opportunity or freedom not available in the Old World. The first Americans were reborn free, establishing themselves in a wilderness unencumbered by any social order other than that of the primitive aboriginal peoples they displaced. Having left the baggage of a feudal order behind them, they faced few obstacles to the development of a society built on the principles of political and social liberalism that emerged with difficulty in 17th- and 18th-century Europe. Based on the thinking of the philosopher John Locke, this sort of liberalism emphasized the rights of the individual and constraints on government power. Most immigrants to America came from the British Isles, the most liberal of the European polities along with The Netherlands. In religion, the majority adhered to various forms of Calvinism with its emphasis on both divine and secular contractual relationships. These greatly facilitated the emergence of a social order built on individual rights and social mobility. The development of a more complex and highly structured commercial society in coastal cities by the mid-18th century did not stunt this trend; it was in these cities that the American Revolution was made. The constant reconstruction of society along an ever-receding Western frontier equally contributed to a liberal-democratic spirit. In Europe, ideals of individual rights advanced slowly and unevenly; the concept of democracy was even more alien. The attempt to establish both in continental Europe’s oldest nation led to the French Revolution. The effort to destroy a neofeudal society while establishing the rights of man and democrat - ic fraternity generated terror, dictatorship, and Napoleonic despotism. In the end, it led to reaction and gave legitimacy to a decadent old order. In America, the European past was overwhelmed by ideals that sprang naturally from the process of building a new society on virgin land. The principles of liberalism and democracy were strong from the beginning. A society that had thrown off the burdens of European history would naturally give birth to a nation that saw itself as exceptional.  CHAPTER 2\f THE COLON\bAL PER\bOD 35 THE WITCHES OF SALEM In 1692 a group of adolescent girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, became subject to strange fits after hearing tales told by a West Indian slave. They accused several women of being witches. The townspeople were appalled but not surprised: Belief in witchcraft was widespread throughout 17th-century America and Europe. Town officials convened a court to hear the charges of witchcraft. Within a month, six women were convicted and hanged. The hysteria grew, in large measure because the court permitted wit - nesses to testify that they had seen the accused as spirits or in visions. Such “spectral evidence” could neither be verified nor made subject to objective examination. By the fall of 1692, 20 victims, including several men, had been executed, and more than 100 others were in jail (where another five victims died) — among them some of the town’s most prominent citizens. When the charges threatened to spread beyond Salem, ministers throughout the colony called for an end to the trials. The governor of the colony agreed. Those still in jail were later acquitted or given reprieves. Although an isolated incident, the Salem episode has long fascinated Americans. Most historians agree that Salem Village in 1692 experienced a kind of public hysteria, fueled by a genuine belief in the existence of witch - craft. While some of the girls may have been acting, many responsible adults became caught up in the frenzy as well. Even more revealing is a closer analysis of the identities of the ac - cused and the accusers. Salem Village, as much of colonial New England, was undergoing an economic and political transition from a largely agrarian, Puritan-dominated community to a more commercial, secular society. Many of the accusers were representatives of a traditional way of life tied to farming and the church, whereas a number of the accused witches were members of a rising commercial class of small shopkeepers and tradesmen. Salem’s obscure struggle for social and political power between older traditional groups and a newer commercial class was one repeated in communities throughout Ameri - can history. It took a bizarre and deadly detour when its citizens were swept up by the conviction that the devil was loose in their homes. The Salem witch trials also serve as a dramatic parable of the deadly consequences of making sensational, but false, charges. Three hundred years later, we still call false accusations against a large number of people a “witch hunt.”  OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY Map depicting the Engli\fh colonie\f and we\ftern territorie\f, 1763-177\b.

CHAPTER 2\f THE COLON\bAL PER\bOD 37 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 38 BECOMING \f NATION The United States of America was transformed in the two centuries from the first English settlement at Jamestown in 1607 to the beginning of the 19th century. From a series of isolated colonial settlements hugging the Atlantic Coast, the United States evolved into a new nation, born in revolution, and guided by a Constitution embodying the principles of democratic self-government. A PICTURE PROFILE John \fmith, the stalwart English explorer and settler whose leadership helped save Jamestown from collapse during its critical early years. Detail from a painting by American artist Benjamin West (1738-1820), which depicts William Penn’s treaty with the Native Americans living where he founded the colony of Pennsylvania as a haven for Quakers and others seeking religious freedom. Penn’s fair treatment of the Delaware Indians led to long-term, friendly relations, unlike the conflicts between European settlers and Indian tribes in other colonies. 39 40 A devout Puritan elder (right) confronts patrons drinking ale outside a tavern. Tensions between the strictly religious Puritans, who first settled the region, and the more secular population were characteristic of the colonial era in New England. Cotton Mather was one of the leading Puritan figures of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. His massive Ecclesiastical History of New England (1702) is an exhaustive chronicle of the settlement of New England and the Puritan effort to establish a kingdom of God in the wilderness of the New World. 41 \ftatue of Roger Williams, early champion of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. Williams founded the colony of Rhode Island after leaving Massachusetts because of his disapproval of its religious ties to the Church of England. 42 Drawing of revolutionary firebrand Patrick Henry (standing to the left) uttering perhaps the most famous words of the American Revolution — “Give me liberty or give me death!” — in a debate before the \birginia Assembly in 1775. 43 Benjamin Franklin: scientist, inventor, writer, newspaper publisher, city father of Philadelphia, diplomat, and signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Franklin embodied the virtues of shrewd practicality and the optimistic belief in self-improvement often associated with America itself. James Madison, fourth president of the United \ftates, is often regarded as the “Father of the Constitution.” His essays in the debate over ratification of the Constitution were collected with those of Alexander Hamilton and John Jay as \fhe Federalist Pa\bers . Today, they are regarded as a classic defense of republican government, in which the executive, legislative, and judicial branches check and balance each other to protect the rights and freedoms of the people. 44 Arti\ft’\f depiction of the fir\ft \fhot\f of the American Revolution, fired at Lexington, Ma\f\fachu\fett\f, on April 19, 177\b. Local militia confronted Briti\fh troop\f marching to \feize colonial armament\f in the nearby town of Concord. 45 Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United \ftates. Jefferson also founded the University of \birginia and built one of America’s most celebrated houses, Monticello, in Charlottesville, \birginia. 47 Above: \furrender of Lord Cornwallis and the British army to American and French forces commanded by George Washington at Yorktown, \birginia, on October 19, 1781. The battle of Yorktown led to the end of the war and American independence, secured in the 1783 Treaty of Paris.

Left: U.\f. postage stamp commemorating the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition, one of Thomas Jefferson’s visionary projects. Meriwether Lewis, Jefferson’s secretary, and his friend, William Clark, accompanied by a party of more than 30 persons, set out on a journey into the uncharted West that lasted four years. They traveled thousands of miles, from Camp Wood, Illinois, to Oregon, through lands that eventually became 11 American states. 48 Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the treasury in the administration of President George Washington. Hamilton advocated a strong federal government and the encouragement of industry. He was opposed by Thomas Jefferson, a believer in decentralized government, states’ rights, and the virtues of the independent farmers and land owners. 49 John Marshall, chief justice of the U.\f. \fupreme Court from 1801 to 1835, in a portrait by Alonzo Chappel. In a series of landmark cases, Marshall established the principle of judicial review — the right of the courts to determine if any act of Congress or the executive branch is constitutional, and therefore valid and legal. 50 3 T H E ROA D TO INDEPENDENCE The protest against British taxes known as the “Boston Tea Party,” 1773.

CHAPTER 52 Throughout the 18th century, the maturing British North American colonies inevitably forged a distinct identity . They grew vastly in eco - nomic strength and cultural attain - ment; virtually all had long years of self-government behind them .

In the 1760s their combined pop - ulation exceeded 1,500,000 — a six-fold increase since 1700 . None - theless, England and America did not begin an overt parting of ways until 1763, more than a century and a half after the founding of the first permanent settlement at James - town, Virginia . A NEW COLONIAL SYSTEM In the aftermath of the French and Indian War, London saw a need for a new imperial design that would involve more centralized control, spread the costs of empire more eq - uitably, and speak to the interests of both French Canadians and North American Indians . The colonies, on the other hand, long accustomed to a large measure of independence, ex - pected more, not less, freedom . And, with the French menace eliminated, they felt far less need for a strong British presence . A scarcely compre - hending Crown and Parliament on the other side of the Atlantic found itself contending with colonists trained in self-government and im - patient with interference . The organization of Canada and of the Ohio Valley necessitated policies that would not alienate the French and Indian inhabitants . Here London was in fundamental conf lict with the interests of the colonies .

Fast increasing in population, and needing more land for settlement, CHAPTER 3\f THE ROAD TO \bNDEPENDENCE “The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the hearts and minds of t h e p e o ple .” Fo\fme\f P\fesident John Adams , 1818 53 they claimed the right to extend their boundaries as far west as the Mississippi River . The British government, fear - ing a series of Indian wars, believed that the lands should be opened on a more gradual basis . Restricting movement was also a way of ensur - ing royal control over existing settle - ments before allowing the formation of new ones . The Royal Proclama - tion of 1763 reserved all the west - ern territory between the Allegheny Mountains, Florida, the Mississippi River, and Quebec for use by Na - tive Americans . Thus the Crown at - tempted to sweep away every western land claim of the 13 colonies and to stop westward expansion . Although never effectively enforced, this mea - sure, in the eyes of the colonists, con - stituted a high-handed disregard of their fundamental right to occupy and settle western lands . More serious in its repercus - sions was the new British revenue policy . London needed more money to support its growing empire and faced growing taxpayer discontent at home . It seemed reasonable enough that the colonies should pay for their own defense . That would involve new taxes, levied by Parliament — at the expense of colonial self-government . The first step was the replacement of the Molasses Act of 1733, which placed a prohibitive duty, or tax, on the import of rum and molas - ses from non-English areas, with the Sugar Act of 1764 . This act outlawed the importation of foreign rum; it also put a modest duty on molas - ses from all sources and levied taxes on wines, silks, coffee, and a num - ber of other luxury items . The hope was that lowering the duty on mo - lasses would reduce the temptation to smuggle the commodity from the Dutch and French West Indies for the rum distilleries of New England .

The British government enforced the Sugar Act energetically . Customs of - ficials were ordered to show more effectiveness . British warships in American waters were instructed to seize smugglers, and “writs of assis - tance,” or warrants, authorized the king’s officers to search suspected premises . Both the duty imposed by the Sug - ar Act and the measures to enforce it caused consternation among New England merchants . They contended that payment of even the small duty imposed would be ruinous to their businesses . Merchants, legislatures, and town meetings protested the law .

Colonial law yers protested “taxation without representation,” a slogan that was to persuade many Ameri - cans they were being oppressed by the mother country . Later in 1764, Parliament enact - ed a Currency Act “to prevent pa - per bills of credit hereafter issued in any of His Majesty’s colonies from being made legal tender .” Since the colonies were a deficit trade area and were constantly short of hard cur - rency, this measure added a serious burden to the colonial economy .

Equally objectionable from the co - lonial viewpoint was the Quartering Act, passed in 1765, which required 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 54 colonies to provide royal troops with provisions and barracks . THE STAMP ACT A general tax measure sparked the greatest organized resistance .

Known as the “Stamp Act,” it re - quired all newspapers, broadsides, pamphlets, licenses, leases, and oth - er legal documents to bear revenue stamps . The proceeds, collected by American customs agents, would be used for “defending, protecting, and securing” the colonies . Bearing equally on people who did any kind of business, the Stamp Act aroused the hostility of the most powerful and articulate groups in the American population: journal - ists, lawyers, clergymen, merchants and businessmen, North and South, East and West . Leading merchants organized for resistance and formed nonimportation associations . Trade with the mother country fell off sharply in the summer of 1765, as prominent men organized themselves into the “Sons of Liber - ty” — secret organizations formed to protest the Stamp Act — often through violent means . From Mas - sachusetts to South Carolina, mobs, forcing luckless customs agents to resign their offices, destroyed the hated stamps . Militant resistance ef - fectively nullified the Act . Spurred by delegate Patrick Hen - ry, the Virginia House of Burgesses passed a set of resolutions in May denouncing taxation without repre - sentation as a threat to colonial lib - erties . It asserted that Virginians, enjoying the rights of Englishmen, could be taxed only by their own representatives . The Massachusetts Assembly invited all the colonies to appoint delegates to a “Stamp Act Congress” in New York, held in Oc - tober 1765, to consider appeals for relief to the Crown and Parliament .

Twenty-seven representatives from nine colonies seized the opportunity to mobilize colonial opinion . After much debate, the congress adopted a set of resolutions asserting that “no taxes ever have been or can be con - stitutionally imposed on them, but by their respective legislatures,” and that the Stamp Act had a “manifest tendency to subvert the rights and liberties of the colonists .” TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION T he issue thus drawn centered on the question of representation . The colonists believed they could not be represented unless they actually elected members to the House of Commons . But this idea conf licted with the English principle of “virtual representation,” according to which each member of Parliament rep - resented the interests of the whole country and the empire — even if his electoral base consisted of only a tiny minority of property owners from a given district . This theory assumed that all British subjects shared the same interests as the property own - ers who elected members of Parlia - ment . CHAPTER 3\f THE ROAD TO \bNDEPENDENCE 55 The American leaders argued that their only legal relations were with the Crown . It was the king who had agreed to establish colonies be - yond the sea and the king who pro - vided them with governments . They asserted that he was equally a king of England and a king of the colo - nies, but they insisted that the Eng - lish Parliament had no more right to pass laws for the colonies than any colonial legislature had the right to pass laws for England . In fact, how - ever, their struggle was equally with King George III and Parliament .

Factions aligned with the Crown generally controlled Parliament and ref lected the king’s determination to be a strong monarch . The British Parliament reject - ed the colonial contentions . British merchants, however, feeling the ef - fects of the American boycott, threw their weight behind a repeal move - ment . In 1766 Parliament yielded, repealing the Stamp Act and modi - fying the Sugar Act . However, to mollify the supporters of central control over the colonies, Parliament followed these actions with passage of the Declaratory Act, which as - serted the authority of Parliament to make laws binding the colonies “in all cases whatsoever .” The colonists had won only a temporary respite from an impending crisis . THE TOWNSHEND ACTS T he year 1767 brought another se - ries of measures that stirred anew all the elements of discord . Charles Townshend, British chancellor of the exchequer, attempted a new fis - cal program in the face of continued discontent over high taxes at home .

Intent upon reducing British taxes by making more efficient the col - lection of duties levied on American trade, he tightened customs admin - istration and enacted duties on colo - nial imports of paper, glass, lead, and tea from Britain . The “Townshend Acts” were based on the premise that taxes imposed on goods imported by the colonies were legal while internal taxes (like the Stamp Act) were not . The Townshend Acts were de - signed to raise revenue that would be used in part to support colonial officials and maintain the Brit - ish army in America . In response, Philadelphia lawyer John Dickinson, in Letters of a Pennsylvania Farm - er, argued that Parliament had the right to control imperial commerce but did not have the right to tax the colonies, whether the duties were external or internal . The agitation following enact - ment of the Townshend duties was less violent than that stirred by the Stamp Act, but it was nevertheless strong, particularly in the cities of the Eastern seaboard . Merchants once again resorted to non-impor - tation agreements, and people made do with local products . Colonists, for example, dressed in homespun clothing and found substitutes for tea . They used homemade paper and their houses went unpaint - ed . In Boston, enforcement of the new regulations provoked violence .

4678910243265B52E9B74CO 56 When customs officials sought to collect duties, they were set upon by the populace and roughly handled .

For this infraction, two British regi - ments were dispatched to protect the customs commissioners . The presence of British troops in Boston was a standing invitation to disorder . On March 5, 1770, antag - onism between citizens and British soldiers again f lared into violence .

What began as a harmless snowball - ing of British soldiers degenerated into a mob attack . Someone gave the order to fire . When the smoke had cleared, three Bostonians lay dead in the snow . Dubbed the “Boston Mas - sacre,” the incident was dramatically pictured as proof of British heart - lessness and tyranny . Faced with such opposition, Par - liament in 1770 opted for a strategic retreat and repealed all the Townsh - end duties except that on tea, which was a luxury item in the colonies, imbibed only by a very small minori - ty . To most, the action of Parliament signified that the colonists had won a major concession, and the cam - paign against England was largely dropped . A colonial embargo on “English tea” continued but was not too scrupulously observed . Prosper - ity was increasing and most colonial leaders were willing to let the future take care of itself . SAMUEL ADAMS D uring a three-year interval of calm, a relatively small number of radicals strove energetically to keep the controversy alive . They contend - ed that payment of the tax consti - tuted an acceptance of the principle that Parliament had the right to rule over the colonies . They feared that at any time in the future, the principle of parliamentary rule might be ap - plied with devastating effect on all colonial liberties . The radicals’ most effective leader was Samuel Adams of Mas - sachusetts, who toiled tirelessly for a single end: independence . From the time he graduated from Harvard College in 1743, Adams was a public servant in some capacity — inspec - tor of chimneys, tax-collector, and moderator of town meetings . A consistent failure in business, he was shrewd and able in politics, with the New England town meeting his theater of action . Adams wanted to free people from their awe of social and politi - cal superiors, make them aware of their own power and importance, and thus arouse them to action . To - ward these objectives, he published articles in newspapers and made speeches in town meetings, instigat - ing resolutions that appealed to the colonists’ democratic impulses . In 1772 he induced the Boston town meeting to select a “Commit - tee of Correspondence” to state the rights and grievances of the colo - nists . The committee opposed a British decision to pay the salaries of judges from customs revenues; it feared that the judges would no lon - ger be dependent on the legislature for their incomes and thus no longer CHAPTER 3\f THE ROAD TO \bNDEPENDENCE 57 accountable to it, thereby leading to the emergence of “a despotic form of government .” The committee communicated with other towns on this matter and requested them to draft replies . Committees were set up in virtually all the colonies, and out of them grew a base of effective revolutionary organizations . Still, Adams did not have enough fuel to set a fire .

THE BOSTON “TEA PARTY” In 1773, however, Britain furnished Adams and his allies with an incen - diary issue . The powerful East India Company, finding itself in critical fi - nancial straits, appealed to the Brit - ish government, which granted it a monopoly on all tea exported to the colonies . The government also per - mitted the East India Company to supply retailers directly, bypassing colonial wholesalers . By then, most of the tea consumed in America was imported illegally, duty-free . By sell - ing its tea through its own agents at a price well under the customary one, the East India Company made smuggling unprofitable and threat - ened to eliminate the independent colonial merchants . Aroused not only by the loss of the tea trade but also by the monopolistic practice in - volved, colonial traders joined the radicals agitating for independence . In ports up and down the At - lantic coast, agents of the East In - dia Company were forced to resign .

New shipments of tea were either re - turned to England or warehoused . In Boston, however, the agents de - fied the colonists; with the support of the royal governor, they made preparations to land incoming car - goes regardless of opposition . On the night of December 16, 1773, a band of men disguised as Mohawk Indians and led by Samuel Adams boarded three British ships lying at anchor and dumped their tea cargo into Boston harbor . Doubting their countrymen’s commitment to prin - ciple, they feared that if the tea were landed, colonists would actually purchase the tea and pay the tax . A crisis now confronted Britain . The East India Company had car - ried out a parliamentary statute . If the destruction of the tea went un - punished, Parliament would admit to the world that it had no control over the colonies . Official opinion in Britain almost unanimously con - demned the Boston Tea Party as an act of vandalism and advocated le - gal measures to bring the insurgent colonists into line . THE COERCIVE ACTS P arliament responded with new laws that the colonists called the “Coercive” or “Intolerable Acts .” The first, the Boston Port Bill, closed the port of Boston until the tea was paid for . The action threatened the very life of the city, for to prevent Boston from having access to the sea meant economic disaster . Other enactments restricted local author - ity and banned most town meetings held without the governor’s consent .

4678910243265B52E9B74CO 58 A Quartering Act required local au - thorities to find suitable quarters for British troops, in private homes if necessary . Instead of subduing and isolating Massachusetts, as Parlia - ment intended, these acts rallied its sister colonies to its aid . The Que - bec Act, passed at nearly the same time, extended the boundaries of the province of Quebec south to the Ohio River . In conformity with pre - vious French practice, it provided for trials without jury, did not estab - lish a representative assembly, and gave the Catholic Church semi-es - tablished status . By disregarding old charter claims to western lands, it threatened to block colonial expan - sion to the North and Northwest; its recognition of the Roman Catho - lic Church outraged the Protestant sects that dominated every colony .

Though the Quebec Act had not been passed as a punitive measure, Americans associated it with the Co - ercive Acts, and all became known as the “Five Intolerable Acts .” At the suggestion of the Vir - ginia House of Burgesses, colonial representatives met in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774, “to consult upon the present unhappy state of the Colonies .” Delegates to this meeting, known as the First Con - tinental Congress, were chosen by provincial congresses or popular conventions . Only Georgia failed to send a delegate; the total number of 55 was large enough for diversity of opinion, but small enough for genu - ine debate and effective action . The division of opinion in the colonies posed a genuine dilemma for the delegates . They would have to give an appearance of firm unanimity to induce the British government to make concessions . But they also would have to avoid any show of radicalism or spirit of independence that would alarm more moderate Americans . A cautious keynote speech, fol - lowed by a “resolve” that no obe - dience was due the Coercive Acts, ended with adoption of a set of res - olutions affirming the right of the colonists to “life, liberty, and prop - erty,” and the right of provincial legislatures to set “all cases of taxa - tion and internal polity .” The most important action taken by the Con - gress, however, was the formation of a “Continental Association” to rees - tablish the trade boycott . It set up a system of committees to inspect customs entries, publish the names of merchants who violated the agree - ments, confiscate their imports, and encourage frugality, economy, and i ndu s t r y . The Continental Association im - mediately assumed the leadership in the colonies, spurring new local organizations to end what remained of royal authority . Led by the pro- independence leaders, they drew their support not only from the less well-to-do, but from many members of the professional class (especial - ly lawyers), most of the planters of the Southern colonies, and a num - ber of merchants . They intimidated the hesitant into joining the popular movement and punished the hostile; CHAPTER 3\f THE ROAD TO \bNDEPENDENCE 59 began the collection of military sup - plies and the mobilization of troops; and fanned public opinion into revo - lutionary ardor . Many of those opposed to Brit - ish encroachment on American rights nonetheless favored discus - sion and compromise as the prop - er solution . This group included Crown-appointed officers, Quakers, and members of other religious sects opposed to the use of violence, nu - merous merchants (especially in the middle colonies), and some discon - tented farmers and frontiersmen in the Southern colonies . The king might well have effect - ed an alliance with these moder - ates and, by timely concessions, so strengthened their position that the revolutionaries would have found it difficult to proceed with hostilities .

But George III had no intention of making concessions . In September 1774, scorning a petition by Phila - delphia Quakers, he wrote, “The die is now cast, the Colonies must ei - ther submit or triumph .” This action isolated Loyalists who were appalled and frightened by the course of events following the Coercive Acts . THE REVOLUTION BEGINS G eneral Thomas Gage, an amiable English gentleman with an Amer - ican-born wife, commanded the garrison at Boston, where political activity had almost wholly replaced trade . Gage’s main duty in the colo - nies had been to enforce the Coer - cive Acts . When news reached him that the Massachusetts colonists were collecting powder and military stores at the town of Concord, 32 kilometers away, Gage sent a strong detail to confiscate these munitions . After a night of marching, the British troops reached the village of Lexington on April 19, 1775, and saw a grim band of 77 Minutemen — so named because they were said to be ready to fight in a minute — through the early morning mist . The Minute - men intended only a silent protest, but Marine Major John Pitcairn, the leader of the British troops, yelled, “Disperse, you damned rebels! You dogs, run!” The leader of the Min - utemen, Captain John Parker, told his troops not to fire unless fired at first . The Americans were with - drawing when someone fired a shot, which led the British troops to fire at the Minutemen . The British then charged with bayonets, leaving eight dead and 10 wounded . In the often- quoted phrase of 19th century poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, this was “the shot heard round the world .” The British pushed on to Con - cord . The Americans had taken away most of the munitions, but they destroyed whatever was left . In the meantime, American forces in the countryside had mobilized to harass the British on their long return to Boston . All along the road, behind stone walls, hillocks, and houses, militiamen from “every Middlesex village and farm” made targets of the bright red coats of the British soldiers . By the time Gage’s weary detachment stumbled into Boston, 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 60 it had suffered more than 250 killed and wounded . The Americans lost 93 men . The Second Continental Con - gress met in Philadelphia, Penn - sylvania, on May 10 . The Congress voted to go to war, inducting the co - lonial militias into continental ser - vice . It appointed Colonel George Washington of Virginia as their commander-in-chief on June 15 .

Within two days, the Americans had incurred high casualties at Bunker Hill just outside Boston . Congress also ordered American expeditions to march northward into Canada by fall . Capturing Montreal, they failed in a winter assault on Quebec, and eventually retreated to New York . Despite the outbreak of armed conf lict, the idea of complete sep - aration from England was still repugnant to many members of the Continental Congress . In July, it adopted the Olive Branch Petition, begging the king to prevent fur - ther hostile actions until some sort of agreement could be worked out .

King George rejected it; instead, on August 23, 1775, he issued a procla - mation declaring the colonies to be in a state of rebellion . Britain had expected the South - ern colonies to remain loyal, in part because of their reliance on slav - ery . Many in the Southern colonies feared that a rebellion against the mother country would also trigger a slave uprising . In November 1775, Lord Dunmore, the governor of Vir - ginia, tried to capitalize on that fear by offering freedom to all slaves who would fight for the British . Instead, his proclamation drove to the rebel side many Virginians who would otherwise have remained Loyalist . The governor of North Caroli - na, Josiah Martin, also urged North Carolinians to remain loyal to the Crown . When 1,500 men answered Martin’s call, they were defeated by revolutionary armies before British troops could arrive to help . British warships continued down the coast to Charleston, South Car - olina, and opened fire on the city in early June 1776 . But South Car - olinians had time to prepare, and repulsed the British by the end of the month . They would not return South for more than two years . COMMON SENSE AND INDEPENDENCE In January 1776, Thomas Paine, a radical political theorist and writer who had come to America from England in 1774, published a 50-page pamphlet, Common Sense . Within three months, it sold 100,000 copies . Paine attacked the idea of a hereditary monarchy, declaring that one honest man was worth more to society than “all the crowned ruf - fians that ever lived .” He presented the alternatives — continued sub - mission to a tyrannical king and an outworn government, or liberty and happiness as a self-sufficient, independent republic . Circulated throughout the colonies, Common Sense helped to crystallize a decision for separation . CHAPTER 3\f THE ROAD TO \bNDEPENDENCE 61 There still remained the task, however, of gaining each colony’s approval of a formal declaration . On June 7, Richard Henry Lee of Vir - ginia introduced a resolution in the Second Continental Congress, de - claring, “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states . . . .” Immedi - ately, a committee of five, headed by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, was appointed to draft a document for a vote . Largely Jefferson’s work, the Dec - laration of Independence, adopted July 4, 1776, not only announced the birth of a new nation, but also set forth a philosophy of human free - dom that would become a dynamic force throughout the entire world .

The Declaration drew upon French and English Enlightenment political philosophy, but one inf luence in par - ticular stands out: John Locke’s Sec - ond Treatise on Government . Locke took conceptions of the traditional rights of Englishmen and universal - ized them into the natural rights of all humankind . The Declaration’s familiar opening passage echoes Locke’s social-contract theory of government: 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.

Jefferson linked Locke’s princi - ples directly to the situation in the colonies . To fight for American in - dependence was to fight for a gov - ernment based on popular consent in place of a government by a king who had “combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowl - edged by our laws . . . .” Only a gov - ernment based on popular consent could secure natural rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness .

Thus, to fight for American inde - pendence was to fight on behalf of one’s own natural rights . DEFEATS AND VICTORIES A lthough the Americans suffered severe setbacks for months after independence was declared, their tenacity and perseverance eventu - ally paid off . During August 1776, in the Battle of Long Island in New York, Washington’s position be - came untenable, and he executed a masterly retreat in small boats from Brooklyn to the Manhattan shore .

British General William Howe twice hesitated and allowed the Americans 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 62 to escape . By November, however, Howe had captured Fort Washing - ton on Manhattan Island . New York City would remain under British control until the end of the war . That December, Washington’s forces were near collapse, as sup - plies and promised aid failed to materialize . Howe again missed his chance to crush the Americans by deciding to wait until spring to re - sume fighting . On Christmas Day, December 25, 1776, Washington crossed the Delaware River, north of Trenton, New Jersey . In the early- morning hours of December 26, his troops surprised the British garrison there, taking more than 900 prison - ers . A week later, on January 3, 1777, Washington attacked the British at Princeton, regaining most of the territory formally occupied by the British . The victories at Trenton and Princeton revived f lagging Ameri - can spirits . In September 1777, however, Howe defeated the American army at Brandy wine in Pennsylvania and occupied Philadelphia, forcing the Continental Congress to f lee . Wash - ington had to endure the bitterly cold winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, lacking ade - quate food, clothing, and supplies .

Farmers and merchants exchanged their goods for British gold and silver rather than for dubious paper money issued by the Continental Congress and the states . Valley Forge was the lowest ebb for Washington’s Continental Army, but elsewhere 1777 proved to be the turning point in the war . Brit - ish General John Burgoyne, moving south from Canada, attempted to invade New York and New England via Lake Champlain and the Hud - son River . He had too much heavy equipment to negotiate the wooded and marshy terrain . On August 6, at Oriskany, New York, a band of Loyalists and Native Americans un - der Burgoyne’s command ran into a mobile and seasoned American force that managed to halt their advance .

A few days later at Bennington, Ver - mont, more of Burgoyne’s forces, seeking much-needed supplies, were pushed back by American troops . Moving to the west side of the Hudson River, Burgoyne’s army ad - vanced on Albany . The Americans were waiting for him . Led by Bene - dict Arnold — who would later be - tray the Americans at West Point, New York — the colonials twice re - pulsed the British . Having by this time incurred heavy losses, Bur - goyne fell back to Saratoga, New York, where a vastly superior Ameri - can force under General Horatio Gates surrounded the British troops .

On October 17, 1777, Burgoyne sur - rendered his entire army — six gen - erals, 300 other officers, and 5,500 enlisted personnel . FRANCO-AMERICAN ALLIANCE In France, enthusiasm for the American cause was high: The French intellectual world was it - self stirring against feudalism and CHAPTER 3\f THE ROAD TO \bNDEPENDENCE 63 privilege . However, the Crown lent its support to the colonies for geo - political rather than ideological reasons: The French government had been eager for reprisal against Britain ever since France’s defeat in 1763 . To further the American cause, Benjamin Franklin was sent to Paris in 1776 . His wit, guile, and intellect soon made their presence felt in the French capital, and played a major role in winning French assistance . France began providing aid to the colonies in May 1776, when it sent 14 ships with war supplies to America .

In fact, most of the gunpowder used by the American armies came from France . After Britain’s defeat at Sara - toga, France saw an opportunity to seriously weaken its ancient enemy and restore the balance of power that had been upset by the Seven Years’ War (called the French and Indian War in the American colonies) . On February 6, 1778, the colonies and France signed a Treaty of Amity and Commerce, in which France recog - nized the United States and offered trade concessions . They also signed a Treaty of Alliance, which stipu - lated that if France entered the war, neither country would lay down its arms until the colonies won their in - dependence, that neither would con - clude peace with Britain without the consent of the other, and that each guaranteed the other’s possessions in America . This was the only bi - lateral defense treaty signed by the United States or its predecessors u nt i l 1949 . The Franco-American alliance soon broadened the conf lict . In June 1778 British ships fired on French vessels, and the two countries went to war . In 1779 Spain, hoping to re - acquire territories taken by Britain in the Seven Years’ War, entered the conf lict on the side of France, but not as an ally of the Americans . In 1780 Britain declared war on the Dutch, who had continued to trade with the Americans . The combina - tion of these European powers, with France in the lead, was a far greater threat to Britain than the American colonies standing alone .

THE BRITISH MOVE SOUTH W ith the French now involved, the British, still believing that most Southerners were Loyalists, stepped up their efforts in the Southern colonies . A campaign began in late 1778, with the capture of Savannah, Georgia . Shortly thereafter, British troops and naval forces converged on Charleston, South Carolina, the principal Southern port . They man - aged to bottle up American forces on the Charleston peninsula . On May 12, 1780, General Benjamin Lincoln surrendered the city and its 5,000 troops, in the greatest American de - feat of the war . But the reversal in fortune only emboldened the American rebels .

South Carolinians began roaming the countryside, attacking British supply lines . In July, American Gen - eral Horatio Gates, who had assem - bled a replacement force of untrained militiamen, rushed to Camden, 4678910243265B52E9B74CO South Carolina, to confront British forces led by General Charles Corn - wallis . But Gates’s makeshift army panicked and ran when confronted by the British regulars . Cornwallis’s troops met the Americans several more times, but the most signifi - cant battle took place at Cowpens, South Carolina, in early 1781, where the Americans soundly defeated the British . After an exhausting but unproductive chase through North Carolina, Cornwallis set his sights on Virginia . VICTORY AND INDEPENDENCE In July 1780 France’s King Louis XVI had sent to America an expe - ditionary force of 6,000 men under the Comte Jean de Rochambeau . In addition, the French f leet harassed British shipping and blocked re - inforcement and resupply of Brit - ish forces in Virginia . French and American armies and navies, total - ing 18,000 men, parried with Corn - wallis all through the summer and into the fall . Finally, on October 19, 1781, after being trapped at York - town near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, Cornwallis surrendered his army of 8,000 British soldiers . Although Cornwallis’s defeat did not immediately end the war — which would drag on inconclusively for almost two more years — a new British government decided to pur - sue peace negotiations in Paris in early 1782, with the American side represented by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay . On April 15, 1783, Congress approved the fi - nal treaty . Signed on September 3, the Treaty of Paris acknowledged the independence, freedom, and sover - eignty of the 13 former colonies, now states . The new United States stretched west to the Mississippi River, north to Canada, and south to Florida, which was returned to Spain . The f ledgling colonies that Richard Henry Lee had spoken of more than seven years before had fi - nally become “free and independent states . ” The task of knitting together a nation remained . 9 CHAPTER 3\f THE ROAD TO \bNDEPENDENCE 64 65 T he American Revolution had a significance far beyond the North American continent. It attracted the attention of a political intelligentsia throughout the European continent. Idealistic notables such as Thaddeus Kosciusko, Friedrich von Steuben, and the Marquis de Lafayette joined its ranks to affirm liberal ideas they hoped to transfer to their own nations. Its success strengthened the concept of natural rights throughout the Western world and furthered the En - lightenment rationalist critique of an old order built around hereditary monar - chy and an established church. In a very real sense, it was a precursor to the French Revolution, but it lacked the French Revolution’s violence and chaos because it had occurred in a society that was already fundamentally liberal. The ideas of the Revolution have been most often depicted as a triumph of the social contract/natural rights theories of John Locke. Correct so far as it goes, this characterization passes too quickly over the continuing importance of Calvinist-dissenting Protestantism, which from the Pilgrims and Puritans on had also stood for the ideals of the social contract and the self-governing com - munity. Lockean intellectuals and the Protestant clergy were both important advocates of compatible strains of liberalism that had flourished in the British North American colonies. Scholars have also argued that another persuasion contributed to the Revolution: “republicanism.” Republicanism, they assert, did not deny the existence of natural rights but subordinated them to the belief that the main - tenance of a free republic required a strong sense of communal responsibility and the cultivation of self-denying virtue among its leaders. The assertion of individual rights, even the pursuit of individual happiness, seemed egoistic by contrast. For a time republicanism threatened to displace natural rights as the major theme of the Revolution. Most historians today, however, concede that the distinction was much overdrawn. Most individuals who thought about such things in the 18th century envisioned the two ideas more as different sides of the same intellectual coin. Revolution usually entails social upheaval and violence on a wide scale. By these criteria, the American Revolution was relatively mild. About 100,000 Loyalists left the new United States. Some thousands were members of old elites who had suffered expropriation of their property and been expelled; others were simply common people faithful to their King. The majority of those who went into exile did so voluntarily. The Revolution did open up and further liberalize an already liberal society. In New York and the Carolinas, large Loyalist estates were divided among small farmers. Liberal assumptions became the official norm of American political culture — whether in the dis - establishment of the Anglican Church, the principle of elected national and state executives, or the wide dissemination of the idea of individual freedom.

Yet the structure of society changed little. Revolution or not, most people re - mained secure in their life, liberty, and property.  THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY 66 4 THE FORMATION OF A NATIONAL GOVERNMENT George Washington addressing the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, 1787.

CHAPTER 68 STATE CONSTITUTIONS T he success of the Revolution gave Americans the opportunity to give legal form to their ideals as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, and to remedy some of their griev - ances through state constitutions .

As early as May 10, 1776, Congress had passed a resolution advising the colonies to form new govern - ments “such as shall best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents .” Some of them had al - ready done so, and within a year af - ter the Declaration of Independence, all but three had drawn up constitu - tions . The new constitutions showed the impact of democratic ideas .

None made any drastic break with the past, since all were built on the solid foundation of colonial experi - ence and English practice . But each was also animated by the spirit of re - publicanism, an ideal that had long been praised by Enlightenment phi - losophers . Naturally, the first objective of the framers of the state constitu - tions was to secure those “unalien - able rights” whose violation had caused the former colonies to repu - diate their connection with Britain .

Thus, each constitution began with a declaration or bill of rights . Virgin - ia’s, which served as a model for all the others, included a declaration of principles: popular sovereignty, rota - tion in office, freedom of elections, and an enumeration of fundamental liberties: moderate bail and humane punishment, speedy trial by jury, freedom of the press and of con - CHAPTER 4\f THE FORMAT\bON OF A NAT\bONAL GOVERNMENT “Every man, and every body of men on Earth, possesses the right of self-government.” D\fafte\f of the Decla\fation of Independence Thomas Jefferson , 179\b 69 science, and the right of the majority to reform or alter the government . Other states enlarged the list of liberties to freedom of speech, of as - sembly, and of petition . Their con - stitutions frequently included such provisions as the right to bear arms, to a writ of habeas corpus, to invio - lability of domicile, and to equal pro - tection under the law . Moreover, all prescribed a three-branch structure of government — executive, legisla - tive, and judiciary — each checked and balanced by the others . Pennsylvania’s constitution was the most radical . In that state, Phila - delphia artisans, Scots-Irish frontiers - men, and German-speaking farmers had taken control . The provincial congress adopted a constitution that permitted every male taxpayer and his sons to vote, required rotation in office (no one could serve as a rep - resentative more than four years out of every seven), and set up a single- chamber legislature . The state constitutions had some glaring limitations, particularly by more recent standards . Constitu - tions established to guarantee people their natural rights did not secure for everyone the most fundamental natural right — equality . The colo - nies south of Pennsylvania excluded their slave populations from their inalienable rights as human beings .

Women had no political rights . No state went so far as to permit univer - sal male suffrage, and even in those states that permitted all taxpayers to vote (Delaware, North Carolina, and Georgia, in addition to Pennsylva - nia), office-holders were required to own a certain amount of property . THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION T he struggle with England had done much to change colonial atti - tudes . Local assemblies had rejected the Albany Plan of Union in 1754, re - fusing to surrender even the smallest part of their autonomy to any other body, even one they themselves had elected . But in the course of the Rev - olution, mutual aid had proved ef - fective, and the fear of relinquishing individual authority had lessened to a large degree . John Dickinson produced the “Articles of Confederation and Per - petual Union” in 1776 . The Conti - nental Congress adopted them in November 1777, and they went into effect in 1781, having been ratified by all the states . Ref lecting the fragil - ity of a nascent sense of nationhood, the Articles provided only for a very loose union . The national govern - ment lacked the authority to set up tariffs, to regulate commerce, and to levy taxes . It possessed scant control of international relations: A number of states had begun their own nego - tiations with foreign countries . Nine states had their own armies, several their own navies . In the absence of a sound common currency, the new nation conducted its commerce with a curious hodgepodge of coins and a bewildering variety of state and na - tional paper bills, all fast depreciat - ing in value .

4678910243265B52E9B74CO 70 Economic difficulties after the war prompted calls for change . The end of the war had a severe effect on merchants who supplied the armies of both sides and who had lost the advantages deriving from participa - tion in the British mercantile system .

The states gave preference to Ameri - can goods in their tariff policies, but these were inconsistent, leading to the demand for a stronger central government to implement a uniform p ol ic y . Farmers probably suffered the most from economic difficulties following the Revolution . The supply of farm produce exceeded demand; unrest centered chief ly among farmer-debtors who wanted strong remedies to avoid foreclosure on their property and imprison - ment for debt . Courts were clogged with suits for payment filed by their creditors . All through the summer of 1786, popular conventions and informal gatherings in several states demanded reform in the state administrations . That autumn, mobs of farmers in Massachusetts under the leadership of a former army captain, Daniel Shays, began forcibly to prevent the county courts from sitting and passing further judgments for debt, pending the next state election . In January 1787 a ragtag army of 1,200 farmers moved toward the federal arsenal at Springfield . The rebels, armed chief ly with staves and pitchforks, were repulsed by a small state militia force; General Benjamin Lincoln then arrived with reinforcements from Boston and routed the remaining Shaysites, whose leader escaped to Vermont .

The government captured 14 rebels and sentenced them to death, but ul - timately pardoned some and let the others off with short prison terms .

After the defeat of the rebellion, a newly elected legislature, whose majority sympathized with the reb - els, met some of their demands for debt relief .

THE PROBLEM OF EXPANSION W ith the end of the Revolution, the United States again had to face the old unsolved Western ques - tion, the problem of expansion, with its complications of land, fur trade, Indians, settlement, and lo - cal government . Lured by the rich - est land yet found in the country, pioneers poured over the Appala - chian Mountains and beyond . By 1775 the far-f lung outposts scat - tered along the waterways had tens of thousands of settlers . Separated by mountain ranges and hundreds of kilometers from the centers of political authority in the East, the inhabitants established their own governments . Settlers from all the Tidewater states pressed on into the fertile river valleys, hardwood forests, and rolling prairies of the interior . By 1790 the population of the trans-Appalachian region num - bered well over 120,000 . Before the war, several colonies had laid extensive and often over - lapping claims to land beyond the CHAPTER 4\f THE FORMAT\bON OF A NAT\bONAL GOVERNMENT 71 Appalachians . To those without such claims this rich territorial prize seemed unfairly apportioned . Mary - land, speaking for the latter group, introduced a resolution that the western lands be considered com - mon property to be parceled by the Congress into free and independent governments . This idea was not re - ceived enthusiastically . Nonethe - less, in 1780 New York led the way by ceding its claims . In 1784 Virgin - ia, which held the grandest claims, relinquished all land north of the Ohio River . Other states ceded their claims, and it became apparent that Congress would come into posses - sion of all the lands north of the Ohio River and west of the Allegh - eny Mountains . This common pos - session of millions of hectares was the most tangible evidence yet of na - tionality and unity, and gave a cer - tain substance to the idea of national sovereignty . At the same time, these vast territories were a problem that required solution . The Confederation Congress es - tablished a system of limited self- government for this new national Northwest Territory . The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 provided for its organization, initially as a single district, ruled by a governor and judges appointed by the Congress .

When this territory had 5,000 free male inhabitants of voting age, it was to be entitled to a legislature of two chambers, itself electing the lower house . In addition, it could at that time send a nonvoting delegate to Congress . Three to five states would be formed as the territory was settled . Whenever any one of them had 60,000 free inhabitants, it was to be admitted to the Union “on an equal footing with the original states in all respects .” The ordinance guaranteed civil rights and liberties, encouraged education, and prohib - ited slavery or other forms of invol - untary servitude . The new policy repudiated the time-honored concept that colonies existed for the benefit of the mother country, were politically subordi - nate, and peopled by social inferiors .

Instead, it established the principle that colonies (“territories”) were an extension of the nation and entitled, not as a privilege but as a right, to all the benefits of equality . CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION B y the time the Northwest Ordi - nance was enacted, American leaders were in the midst of drafting a new and stronger constitution to replace the Articles of Confederation . Their presiding officer, George Washing - ton, had written accurately that the states were united only by a “rope of sand .” Disputes between Maryland and Virginia over navigation on the Potomac River led to a confer - ence of representatives of five states at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1786 .

One of the delegates, Alexander Hamilton of New York, convinced his colleagues that commerce was bound up with large political and economic questions . What was re - 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 72 quired was a fundamental rethink - ing of the Confederation . The Annapolis conference issued a call for all the states to appoint representatives to a convention to be held the following spring in Philadel - phia . The Continental Congress was at first indignant over this bold step, but it acquiesced after Washington gave the project his backing and was elected a delegate . During the next fall and winter, elections were held in all states but Rhode Island . A remarkable gathering of no - tables assembled at the Federal Convention in May 1787 . The state legislatures sent leaders with expe - rience in colonial and state govern - ments, in Congress, on the bench, and in the army . Washington, re - garded as the country’s first citizen because of his integrity and his mili - tary leadership during the Revolu - tion, was chosen as presiding officer . Prominent among the more active members were two Pennsylvanians:

Gouverneur Morris, who clearly saw the need for national government, and James Wilson, who labored in - defatigably for the national idea .

Also elected by Pennsylvania was Benjamin Franklin, nearing the end of an extraordinary career of public service and scientific achievement .

From Virginia came James Madison, a practical young statesman, a thor - ough student of politics and history, and, according to a colleague, “from a spirit of industry and application . . . the best-informed man on any point in debate .” He would be recognized as the “Father of the Constitution .” Massachusetts sent Rufus King and Elbridge Gerry, young men of ability and experience . Roger Sher - man, shoemaker turned judge, was one of the representatives from Connecticut . From New York came Alexander Hamilton, who had pro - posed the meeting . Absent from the Convention were Thomas Jefferson, who was serving as minister repre - senting the United States in France, and John Adams, serving in the same capacity in Great Britain . Youth pre - dominated among the 55 delegates — the average age was 42 . Congress had authorized the Convention merely to draft amend - ments to the Articles of Confedera - tion but, as Madison later wrote, the delegates, “with a manly confidence in their country,” simply threw the Articles aside and went ahead with the building of a wholly new form of government . They recognized that the para - mount need was to reconcile two different powers — the power of local control, which was already being exercised by the 13 semi-in - dependent states, and the power of a central government . They adopted the principle that the functions and powers of the national government — being new, general, and inclusive — had to be carefully defined and stated, while all other functions and powers were to be understood as be - longing to the states . But realizing that the central government had to have real power, the delegates also generally accepted the fact that the government should be authorized, CHAPTER 4\f THE FORMAT\bON OF A NAT\bONAL GOVERNMENT 73 among other things, to coin money, to regulate commerce, to declare war, and to make peace .

DEBATE AND COMPROMISE T he 18th-century statesmen who met in Philadelphia were adherents of Montesquieu’s concept of the balance of power in politics . This principle was supported by colo - nial experience and strengthened by the writings of John Locke, with which most of the delegates were fa - miliar . These inf luences led to the conviction that three equal and co - ordinate branches of government should be established . Legislative, executive, and judicial powers were to be so harmoniously balanced that no one could ever gain control . The delegates agreed that the legislative branch, like the colonial legislatures and the British Parliament, should consist of two houses . On these points there was una - nimity within the assembly . But sharp differences also arose . Repre - sentatives of the small states — New Jersey, for instance — objected to changes that would reduce their in - f luence in the national government by basing representation upon popu - lation rather than upon statehood, as was the case under the Articles of Confederation . On the other hand, representa - tives of large states, like Virginia, argued for proportionate represen - tation . This debate threatened to go on endlessly until Roger Sherman came forward with arguments for representation in proportion to the population of the states in one house of Congress, the House of Represen - tatives, and equal representation in the other, the Senate . The alignment of large against small states then dissolved . But al - most every succeeding question raised new divisions, to be resolved only by new compromises . Northern - ers wanted slaves counted when de - termining each state’s tax share, but not in determining the number of seats a state would have in the House of Representatives . Under a com - promise reached with little dissent, tax levies and House membership would be apportioned according to the number of free inhabitants plus three-fifths of the slaves . Certain members, such as Sher - man and Elbridge Gerry, still smart - ing from Shays’s Rebellion, feared that the mass of people lacked suf - ficient wisdom to govern themselves and thus wished no branch of the federal government to be elected di - rectly by the people . Others thought the national government should be given as broad a popular base as possible . Some delegates wished to exclude the growing West from the opportunity of statehood; others championed the equality principle established in the Northwest Ordi - nance of 1787 . There was no serious difference on such national economic ques - tions as paper money, laws concern - ing contract obligations, or the role of women, who were excluded from politics . But there was a need for 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 74 balancing sectional economic in - terests; for settling arguments as to the powers, term, and selection of the chief executive; and for solving problems involving the tenure of judges and the kind of courts to be established . Laboring through a hot Philadel - phia summer, the convention finally achieved a draft incorporating in a brief document the organization of the most complex government yet devised, one that would be su - preme within a clearly defined and limited sphere . It would have full power to levy taxes, borrow money, establish uniform duties and ex - cise taxes, coin money, regulate in - terstate commerce, fix weights and measures, grant patents and copy - rights, set up post offices, and build post roads . It also was authorized to raise and maintain an army and navy, manage Native American af - fairs, conduct foreign policy, and wage war . It could pass laws for naturalizing foreigners and control - ling public lands; it could admit new states on a basis of absolute equal - ity with the old . The power to pass all necessary and proper laws for executing these clearly defined pow - ers rendered the federal government able to meet the needs of later gen - erations and of a greatly expanded body politic . The principle of separation of powers had already been given a fair trial in most state constitutions and had proved sound . Accordingly, the convention set up a governmental system with separate legislative, ex - ecutive, and judiciary branches, each checked by the others . Thus congressional enactments were not to become law until approved by the president . And the president was to submit the most important of his ap - pointments and all his treaties to the Senate for confirmation . The presi - dent, in turn, could be impeached and removed by Congress . The ju - diciary was to hear all cases arising under federal laws and the Con - stitution; in effect, the courts were empowered to interpret both the fundamental and the statute law . But members of the judiciary, appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, could also be impeached by Congress . To protect the Constitution from hasty alteration, Article V stipulated that amendments to the Constitution be proposed either by two-thirds of both houses of Con - gress or by two-thirds of the states, meeting in convention . The propos - als were to be ratified by one of two methods: either by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states, or by convention in three-fourths of the states, with the Congress proposing the method to be used . Finally, the convention faced the most important problem of all:

How should the powers given to the new government be enforced?

Under the Articles of Confedera - tion, the national government had possessed — on paper — signifi - cant powers, which, in practice, had CHAPTER 4\f THE FORMAT\bON OF A NAT\bONAL GOVERNMENT 75 come to naught, for the states paid no attention to them . What was to save the new government from the same fate? At the outset, most delegates fur - nished a single answer — the use of force . But it was quickly seen that the application of force upon the states would destroy the Union . The deci - sion was that the government should not act upon the states but upon the people within the states, and should legislate for and upon all the indi - vidual residents of the country . As the keystone of the Constitution, the convention adopted two brief but highly significant statements: Congress shall have power ... to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the ... Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States.

... (Article I, Section 7) This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. (Article VI) Thus the laws of the United States became enforceable in its own na - tional courts, through its own judges and marshals, as well as in the state courts through the state judges and state law officers . Debate continues to this day about the motives of those who wrote the Constitution . In 1913 his - torian Charles Beard, in An Econom - ic Interpretation of the Constitution , argued that the Founding Fathers represented emerging commercial- capitalist interests that needed a strong national government . He also believed many may have been motivated by personal holdings of large amounts of depreciated gov - ernment securities . However, James Madison, principal drafter of the Constitution, held no bonds and was a Virginia planter . Conversely, some opponents of the Constitu - tion owned large amounts of bonds and securities . Economic interests inf luenced the course of the debate, but so did state, sectional, and ideo - logical interests . Equally important was the idealism of the framers .

Products of the Enlightenment, the Founding Fathers designed a gov - ernment that they believed would promote individual liberty and pub - lic virtue . The ideals embodied in the U .S . Constitution remain an es - sential element of the American na - tional identity . RATIFICATION AND THE BILL OF RIGHTS O n September 17, 1787, after 16 weeks of deliberation, the finished Constitution was signed by 39 of the 42 delegates present . Franklin, pointing to the half-sun painted in brilliant gold on the back of Wash - ington’s chair, said:

4678910243265B52E9B74CO 76 I have often in the course of the session ... looked at that [chair] behind the president, without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now, at length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising, and not a setting, sun.

The convention was over; the members “adjourned to the City Tavern, dined together, and took a cordial leave of each other .” Yet a crucial part of the struggle for a more perfect union remained to be faced . The consent of popularly elected state conventions was still required before the document could become effective . The convention had decided that the Constitution would take effect upon ratification by conventions in nine of the 13 states . By June 1788 the required nine states had ratified the Constitution, but the large states of Virginia and New York had not .

Most people felt that without their support the Constitution would nev - er be honored . To many, the docu - ment seemed full of dangers: Would not the strong central government that it established tyrannize them, oppress them with heavy taxes, and drag them into wars? Differing views on these ques - tions brought into existence two par - ties, the Federalists, who favored a strong central government, and the Antifederalists, who preferred a loose association of separate states . Impas - sioned arguments on both sides were voiced by the press, the legislatures, and the state conventions . In Virginia, the Antifederalists attacked the proposed new gov - ernment by challenging the open - ing phrase of the Constitution: “We the People of the United States .” Without using the individual state names in the Constitution, the del - egates argued, the states would not retain their separate rights or pow - ers . Virginia Antifederalists were led by Patrick Henry, who became the chief spokesman for back-coun - try farmers who feared the powers of the new central government . Wa - vering delegates were persuaded by a proposal that the Virginia con - vention recommend a bill of rights, and Antifederalists joined with the Federalists to ratify the Constitution on June 25 . In New York, Alexander Ham - ilton, John Jay, and James Madison pushed for the ratification of the Constitution in a series of essays known as The Federalist Papers . The essays, published in New York newspapers, provided a now-classic argument for a central federal gov - ernment, with separate executive, legislative, and judicial branches that checked and balanced one another .

With The Federalist Papers inf luenc - ing the New York delegates, the Con - stitution was ratified on July 26 . Antipathy toward a strong cen - tral government was only one con - cern among those opposed to the Constitution; of equal concern to many was the fear that the Constitution did not protect individ - ual rights and freedoms sufficiently .

Virginian George Mason, author CHAPTER 4\f THE FORMAT\bON OF A NAT\bONAL GOVERNMENT 77 of Virginia’s Declaration of Rights of 1776, was one of three delegates to the Constitutional Convention who had refused to sign the final document because it did not enu - merate individual rights . Together with Patrick Henry, he campaigned vigorously against ratification of the Constitution by Virginia . Indeed, five states, including Massachusetts, ratified the Constitution on the con - dition that such amendments be added immediately . When the first Congress con - vened in New York City in Septem - ber 1789, the calls for amendments protecting individual rights were virtually unanimous . Congress quickly adopted 12 such amend - ments; by December 1791, enough states had ratified 10 amendments to make them part of the Constitu - tion . Collectively, they are known as the Bill of Rights . Among their provisions: freedom of speech, press, religion, and the right to assemble peacefully, protest, and demand changes (First Amendment); protec - tion against unreasonable search - es, seizures of property, and arrest (Fourth Amendment); due process of law in all criminal cases (Fifth Amendment); right to a fair and speedy trial (Sixth Amendment); protection against cruel and unusual punishment (Eighth Amendment); and provision that the people retain additional rights not listed in the Constitution (Ninth Amendment) . Since the adoption of the Bill of Rights, only 17 more amend - ments have been added to the Constitution . Although a number of the subsequent amendments re - vised the federal government’s struc - ture and operations, most followed the precedent established by the Bill of Rights and expanded individual rights and freedoms . PRESIDENT WASHINGTON O ne of the last acts of the Con - gress of the Confederation was to ar - range for the first presidential elec - tion, setting March 4, 1789, as the date that the new government would come into being . One name was on everyone’s lips for the new chief of state, George Washington . He was unanimously chosen president and took the oath of office at his inau - guration on April 30, 1789 . In words spoken by every president since, Washington pledged to execute the duties of the presidency faithfully and, to the best of his ability, to “pre - serve, protect, and defend the Con - stitution of the United States .” When Washington took office, the new Constitution enjoyed nei - ther tradition nor the full backing of organized public opinion . The new government had to create its own machinery and legislate a system of taxation that would support it . Until a judiciary could be established, laws could not be enforced . The army was small . The navy had ceased to exist . Congress quickly created the de - partments of State and Treasury, with Thomas Jefferson and Alex - ander Hamilton as their respective secretaries . Departments of War 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 78 and Justice were also created . Since Washington preferred to make de - cisions only after consulting those men whose judgment he valued, the American presidential Cabinet came into existence, consisting of the heads of all the departments that Congress might create . Simultane - ously, Congress provided for a fed - eral judiciary — a Supreme Court, with one chief justice and five associ - ate justices, three circuit courts, and 13 district courts . Meanwhile, the country was growing steadily and immigration from Europe was increasing . Ameri - cans were moving westward: New Englanders and Pennsylvanians into Ohio; Virginians and Carolinians into Kentucky and Tennessee . Good farms were to be had for small sums; labor was in strong demand . The rich valley stretches of upper New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia soon became great wheat-growing areas . Although many items were still homemade, the Industrial Revo - lution was dawning in the United States . Massachusetts and Rhode Is - land were laying the foundation of important textile industries; Con - necticut was beginning to turn out tinware and clocks; New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania were pro - ducing paper, glass, and iron . Ship - ping had grown to such an extent that on the seas the United States was second only to Britain . Even be - fore 1790, American ships were trav - eling to China to sell furs and bring back tea, spices, and silk . At this critical juncture in the country’s growth, Washington’s wise leadership was crucial . He organized a national government, developed policies for settlement of territories previously held by Britain and Spain, stabilized the northwestern frontier, and oversaw the admission of three new states: Vermont (1791), Ken - tucky (1792), and Tennessee (1796) .

Finally, in his Farewell Address, he warned the nation to “steer clear of permanent alliances with any por - tion of the foreign world .” This ad - vice inf luenced American attitudes toward the rest of the world for gen - erations to come .

HAMILTON VS. JEFFERSON A conf lict took shape in the 1790s between America’s first political parties . Indeed, the Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, and the Republicans (also called Demo - cratic-Republicans), led by Thomas Jefferson, were the first political parties in the Western world . Un - like loose political groupings in the British House of Commons or in the American colonies before the Revolution, both had reasonably consistent and principled platforms, relatively stable popular followings, and continuing organizations . The Federalists in the main rep - resented the interests of trade and manufacturing, which they saw as forces of progress in the world . They believed these could be advanced only by a strong central government capable of establishing sound public CHAPTER 4\f THE FORMAT\bON OF A NAT\bONAL GOVERNMENT 79 credit and a stable currency . Openly distrustful of the latent radicalism of the masses, they could nonetheless credibly appeal to workers and arti - sans . Their political stronghold was in the New England states . Seeing England as in many respects an ex - ample the United States should try to emulate, they favored good relations with their mother country . Although Alexander Hamilton was never able to muster the popular appeal to stand successfully for elec - tive office, he was far and away the Federalists’ main generator of ideol - ogy and public policy . He brought to public life a love of efficiency, order, and organization . In response to the call of the House of Representatives for a plan for the “adequate support of public credit,” he laid down and supported principles not only of the public economy, but of effective gov - ernment . Hamilton pointed out that the United States must have credit for industrial development, com - mercial activity, and the operations of government, and that its obliga - tions must have the complete faith and support of the people . There were many who wished to repudiate the Confederation’s na - tional debt or pay only part of it .

Hamilton insisted upon full pay - ment and also upon a plan by which the federal government took over the unpaid debts of the states in - curred during the Revolution . He also secured congressional legisla - tion for a Bank of the United States .

Modeled after the Bank of England, it acted as the nation’s central fi - nancial institution and operated branches in different parts of the country . Hamilton sponsored a na - tional mint, and argued in favor of tariffs, saying that temporary pro - tection of new firms could help fos - ter the development of competitive national industries . These measures — placing the credit of the feder - al government on a firm founda - tion and giving it all the revenues it needed — encouraged commerce and industry, and created a solid phalanx of interests firmly behind the national government . The Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson, spoke primarily for agri - cultural interests and values . They distrusted bankers, cared little for commerce and manufacturing, and believed that freedom and democra - cy f lourished best in a rural society composed of self-sufficient farm - ers . They felt little need for a strong central government; in fact, they tended to see it as a potential source of oppression . Thus they favored states’ rights . They were strongest in the South . Hamilton’s great aim was more efficient organization, whereas Jef - ferson once said, “I am not a friend to a very energetic government .” Hamilton feared anarchy and thought in terms of order; Jefferson feared tyranny and thought in terms of freedom . Where Hamilton saw England as an example, Jefferson, who had been minister to France in the early stages of the French Rev - olution, looked to the overthrow of the French monarchy as vindication 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 80 of the liberal ideals of the Enlighten - ment . Against Hamilton’s instinctive conservatism, he projected an elo - quent democratic radicalism . An early clash between them, which occurred shortly after Jeffer - son took office as secretary of state, led to a new and profoundly impor - tant interpretation of the Constitu - tion . When Hamilton introduced his bill to establish a national bank, Jef - ferson, speaking for those who be - lieved in states’ rights, argued that the Constitution expressly enumer - ated all the powers belonging to the federal government and reserved all other powers to the states . Nowhere was the federal government empow - ered to set up a bank . Hamilton responded that because of the mass of necessary detail, a vast body of powers had to be implied by general clauses, and one of these authorized Congress to “make all laws which shall be nec - essary and proper” for carrying out other powers specifically granted .

The Constitution authorized the national government to levy and collect taxes, pay debts, and bor - row money . A national bank would materially help in performing these functions efficiently . Congress, therefore, was entitled, under its im - plied powers, to create such a bank .

Washington and the Congress ac - cepted Hamilton’s view — and set an important precedent for an ex - pansive interpretation of the federal government’s authority . CITIZEN GENET AND FOREIGN POLICY A lthough one of the first tasks of the new government was to strengthen the domestic economy and make the nation financially secure, the United States could not ignore foreign affairs . The corner - stones of Washington’s foreign pol - icy were to preserve peace, to give the country time to recover from its wounds, and to permit the slow work of national integration to continue . Events in Europe threat - ened these goals . Many Americans watched the French Revolution with keen interest and sympathy . In April 1793, news came that France had declared war on Great Britain and Spain, and that a new French envoy, Edmond Charles Genet — Citizen Genet — was coming to the United States . When the revolution in France led to the execution of King Louis XVI in January 1793, Britain, Spain, and Holland became involved in war with France . According to the Franco-American Treaty of Alliance of 1778, the United States and France were perpetual allies, and the Unit - ed States was obliged to help France defend the West Indies . However, the United States, militarily and economically a very weak country, was in no position to become in - volved in another war with major European powers . On April 22, 1793, Washington effectively abrogated the terms of the CHAPTER 4\f THE FORMAT\bON OF A NAT\bONAL GOVERNMENT 81 1778 treaty that had made American independence possible by proclaim - ing the United States to be “friendly and impartial toward the belligerent powers .” When Genet arrived, he was cheered by many citizens, but treated with cool formality by the government . Angered, he violated a promise not to outfit a captured British ship as a privateer (private - ly owned warships commissioned to prey on ships of enemy nations) .

Genet then threatened to take his cause directly to the American peo - ple, over the head of the government .

Shortly afterward, the United States requested his recall by the French government . The Genet incident strained American relations with France at a time when those with Great Brit - ain were far from satisfactory . Brit - ish troops still occupied forts in the West, property carried off by British soldiers during the Revolution had not been restored or paid for, and the British Navy was seizing American ships bound for French ports . The two countries seemed to be drifting toward war . Washington sent John Jay, first chief justice of the Supreme Court, to London as a special envoy .

Jay negotiated a treaty that secured withdrawal of British soldiers from western forts but allowed the British to continue the fur trade with the Indians in the Northwest . London agreed to pay damages for American ships and cargoes seized in 1793 and 1794, but made no commitments on possible future seizures . Moreover, the treaty failed to address the fes - tering issue of British “impressment” of American sailors into the Royal Navy, placed severe limitations on American trade with the West In - dies, and accepted the British view that food and naval stores, as well as war materiel, were contraband sub - ject to seizure if bound for enemy ports on neutral ships . American diplomat Charles Pinckney was more successful in dealing with Spain . In 1795, he negotiated an important treaty set - tling the Florida border on Ameri - can terms and giving Americans access to the port of New Orleans .

All the same, the Jay Treaty with the British ref lected a continu - ing American weakness vis-a-vis a world superpower . Deeply unpopu - lar, it was vocally supported only by Federalists who valued cultural and economic ties with Britain . Wash - ington backed it as the best bargain available, and, after a heated debate, the Senate approved it . Citizen Genet’s antics and Jay’s Treaty demonstrated both the diffi - culties faced by a small weak nation caught between two great powers and the wide gap in outlook between Federalists and Republicans . To the Federalists, Republican backers of the increasingly violent and radical French Revolution were dangerous radicals (“Jacobins”); to the Repub - licans, advocates of amity with Eng - land were monarchists who would subvert the natural rights of Ameri - cans . The Federalists connected vir - tue and national development with commerce; the Republicans saw 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 82 America’s destiny as that of a vast agrarian republic . The politics of their conf licting positions became increasingly vehement . ADAMS AND JEFFERSON W ashington retired in 1797, firm - ly declining to serve for more than eight years as the nation’s head .

Thomas Jefferson of Virginia (Re - publican) and John Adams (Federal - ist) vied to succeed him . Adams won a narrow election victory . From the beginning, however, he was at the head of a party and an administra - tion divided between his backers and those of his rival, Hamilton . Adams faced serious internation - al difficulties . France, angered by Jay’s treaty with Britain, adopted its definition of contraband and began to seize American ships headed for Britain . By 1797 France had snatched 300 American ships and broken off diplomatic relations with the United States . When Adams sent three commissioners to Paris to ne - gotiate, agents of Foreign Minis - ter Charles Maurice de Talleyrand (whom Adams labeled X, Y, and Z in his report to Congress) informed the Americans that negotiations could only begin if the United States loaned France $12 million and bribed of - ficials of the French government .

American hostility to France rose to an excited pitch . The so-called XYZ Affair led to the enlistment of troops and the strengthening of the f ledg - ling U .S . Navy . In 1799, after a series of sea bat - tles with the French, war seemed inevitable . In this crisis, Adams re - jected the guidance of Hamilton, who wanted war, and reopened ne - gotiations with France . Napoleon, who had just come to power, re - ceived them cordially . The danger of conf lict subsided with the nego - tiation of the Convention of 1800, which formally released the United States from its 1778 defense alliance with France . However, ref lecting American weakness, France refused to pay $20 million in compensation for American ships taken by the French Nav y . Hostility to France had led Con - gress to pass the Alien and Sedition Acts, which had severe repercus - sions for American civil liberties .

The Naturalization Act, which changed the requirement for citi - zenship from five to 14 years, was targeted at Irish and French immi - grants suspected of supporting the Republicans . The Alien Act, oper - ative for two years only, gave the president the power to expel or im - prison aliens in time of war . The Sedition Act proscribed writing, speaking, or publishing anything of “a false, scandalous, and mali - cious” nature against the president or Congress . The few convictions won under it created martyrs to the cause of civil liberties and aroused support for the Republicans . The acts met with resistance . Jef - ferson and Madison sponsored the passage of the Kentucky and Virgin - ia Resolutions by the legislatures of these two states in November and CHAPTER 4\f THE FORMAT\bON OF A NAT\bONAL GOVERNMENT 83 December 1798 . Extreme declara - tion of states’ rights, the resolutions asserted that states could “interpose” their views on federal actions and “nullify” them . The doctrine of nul - lification would be used later for the Southern states’ resistance to protec - tive tariffs, and, more ominously, s l ave r y . By 1800 the American people were ready for a change . Under Washington and Adams, the Feder - alists had established a strong gov - ernment, but sometimes failing to honor the principle that the Ameri - can government must be responsive to the will of the people, they had followed policies that alienated large groups . For example, in 1798 they had enacted a tax on houses, land, and slaves, affecting every property owner in the country . Jefferson had steadily gathered behind him a great mass of small farmers, shopkeepers, and other workers . He won a close victory in a contested election . Jefferson en - joyed extraordinary favor because of his appeal to American idealism . In his inaugural address, the first such speech in the new capital of Wash - ington, D .C ., he promised “a wise and frugal government” that would preserve order among the inhabit - ants but leave people “otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of in - dustry, and improvement .” Jefferson’s mere presence in the White House encouraged demo - cratic procedures . He preached and practiced democratic simplic - ity, eschewing much of the pomp and ceremony of the presidency . In line with Republican ideology, he sharply cut military expenditures .

Believing America to be a haven for the oppressed, he secured a lib - eral naturalization law . By the end of his second term, his far-sighted secretary of the treasury, Albert Gallatin, had reduced the national debt to less than $560 million . Wide - ly popular, Jefferson won reelection as president easily . LOUISIANA AND BRITAIN O ne of Jefferson’s acts doubled the area of the country . At the end of the Seven Years’ War, France had ceded its territory west of the Mississippi River to Spain . Access to the port of New Orleans near its mouth was vital for the shipment of American products from the Ohio and Missis - sippi river valleys . Shortly after Jef - ferson became president, Napoleon forced a weak Spanish government to cede this great tract, the Louisiana Territory, back to France . The move filled Americans with apprehension and indignation . French plans for a huge colonial empire just west of the United States seriously threat - ened the future development of the United States . Jefferson asserted that if France took possession of Loui - siana, “from that moment we must marry ourselves to the British f leet and nation .” Napoleon, however, lost interest after the French were expelled from Haiti by a slave revolt . Knowing that another war with Great Britain was 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 84 impending, he resolved to fill his treasury and put Louisiana beyond the reach of Britain by selling it to the United States . His offer present - ed Jefferson with a dilemma: The Constitution conferred no explicit power to purchase territory . At first the president wanted to propose an amendment, but delay might lead Napoleon to change his mind . Ad - vised that the power to purchase territory was inherent in the power to make treaties, Jefferson relented, saying that “the good sense of our country will correct the evil of loose construction when it shall produce ill effects .” The United States obtained the “Louisiana Purchase” for $15 mil - lion in 1803 . It contained more than 2,600,000 square kilometers as well as the port of New Orleans . The nation had gained a sweep of rich plains, mountains, forests, and river systems that within 80 years would become its heartland — and a bread - basket for the world . As Jefferson began his second term in 1805, he declared American neutrality in the struggle between Great Britain and France . Although both sides sought to restrict neutral shipping to the other, British con - trol of the seas made its interdiction and seizure much more serious than any actions by Napoleonic France . British naval commanders routinely searched American ships, seized ves - sels and cargoes, and took off sailors believed to be British subjects . They also frequently impressed American seamen into their service . When Jefferson issued a procla - mation ordering British warships to leave U .S . territorial waters, the British reacted by impressing more sailors . Jefferson then decided to rely on economic pressure; in December 1807 Congress passed the Embargo Act, forbidding all foreign com - merce . Ironically, the law required strong police authority that vastly increased the powers of the national government . Economically, it was disastrous . In a single year Ameri - can exports fell to one-fifth of their former volume . Shipping interests were almost ruined by the measure; discontent rose in New England and New York . Agricultural interests suffered heavily also . Prices dropped drastically when the Southern and Western farmers could not export their surplus grain, cotton, meat, and tobacco . The embargo failed to starve Great Britain into a change of pol - icy . As the grumbling at home in - creased, Jefferson turned to a milder measure, which partially conciliated domestic shipping interests . In early 1809 he signed the Non-Intercourse Act permitting commerce with all countries except Britain or France and their dependencies . James Madison succeeded Jeffer - son as president in 1809 . Relations with Great Britain grew worse, and the two countries moved rapidly to - ward war . The president laid before Congress a detailed report, showing several thousand instances in which the British had impressed American citizens . In addition, northwestern CHAPTER 4\f THE FORMAT\bON OF A NAT\bONAL GOVERNMENT 85 settlers had suffered from attacks by Indians whom they believed had been incited by British agents in Canada . In turn, many Americans favored conquest of Canada and the elimination of British inf luence in North America, as well as vengeance for impressment and commercial repression . By 1812, war fervor was dominant . On June 18, the United States declared war on Britain . THE WAR OF 1812 T he nation went to war bitterly divided . While the South and West favored the conf lict, New York and New England opposed it because it interfered with their commerce .

The U .S . military was weak . The army had fewer than 7,000 regular soldiers, distributed in widely scat - tered posts along the coast, near the Canadian border, and in the re - mote interior . The state militias were poorly trained and undisciplined . Hostilities began with an inva - sion of Canada, which, if properly timed and executed, would have brought united action against Mon - treal . Instead, the entire campaign miscarried and ended with the Brit - ish occupation of Detroit . The U .S .

Navy, however, scored successes .

In addition, American privateers, swarming the Atlantic, captured 500 British vessels during the fall and winter months of 1812 and 1813 . The campaign of 1813 centered on Lake Erie . General William Henry Harrison — who would lat - er become president — led an army of militia, volunteers, and regulars from Kentucky with the object of reconquering Detroit . On September 12, while he was still in upper Ohio, news reached him that Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry had annihilated the British f leet on Lake Erie . Har - rison occupied Detroit and pushed into Canada, defeating the f leeing British and their Indian allies on the Thames River . The entire region now came under American control . A year later Commodore Thomas Macdonough won a point-blank gun duel with a British f lotilla on Lake Champlain in upper New York . De - prived of naval support, a British in - vasion force of 10,000 men retreated to Canada . Nevertheless, the Brit - ish f leet harassed the Eastern sea - board with orders to “destroy and lay waste .” On the night of August 24, 1814, an expeditionary force routed American militia, marched to Washington, D .C ., and left the city in f lames . President James Madison f led to Virginia . British and American negotia - tors conducted talks in Europe . The British envoys decided to concede, however, when they learned of Mac - donough’s victory on Lake Champ - lain . Faced with the depletion of the British treasury due in large part to the heavy costs of the Napoleonic Wars, the negotiators for Great Brit - ain accepted the Treaty of Ghent in December 1814 . It provided for the cessation of hostilities, the restora - tion of conquests, and a commission to settle boundary disputes . Unaware that a peace treaty had been signed, 4678910243265B52E9B74CO the two sides continued fighting into 1815 near New Orleans, Louisiana .

Led by General Andrew Jackson, the United States scored the great - est land victory of the war, ending once and for all any British hopes of reestablishing continental inf luence south of the Canadian border . While the British and Americans were negotiating a settlement, Fed - eralist delegates selected by the leg - islatures of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire gathered in Hart - ford, Connecticut, to express oppo - sition to “Mr . Madison’s war .” New England had managed to trade with the enemy throughout the conf lict, and some areas actually prospered from this commerce . Nevertheless, the Federalists claimed that the war was ruining the economy . With a possibility of secession from the Union in the background, the con - vention proposed a series of consti - tutional amendments that would protect New England interests . In - stead, the end of the war, punctuated by the smashing victory at New Or - leans, stamped the Federalists with a stigma of disloyalty from which they never recovered . 9 CHAPTER 4\f THE FORMAT\bON OF A NAT\bONAL GOVERNMENT 86 87 B y the end of the 18th century, many educated Americans no longer professed traditional Christian beliefs. In reaction to the secularism of the age, a religious revival spread westward in the first half of the 19th century. This “Second Great Awakening” consisted of several kinds of activity, distinguished by locale and expression of religious commitment. In New England, the renewed interest in religion inspired a wave of social activism.

In western New York, the spirit of revival encouraged the emergence of new denominations. In the Appalachian region of Kentucky and Tennessee, the revival strengthened the Methodists and the Baptists, and spawned a new form of religious expression — the camp meeting. In contrast to the Great Awakening of the 1730s, the revivals in the East were notable for the absence of hysteria and open emotion. Rather, unbelievers were awed by the “respectful silence” of those bearing witness to their faith. The evangelical enthusiasm in New England gave rise to interdenominational missionary societies, formed to evangelize the West.

Members of these societies not only acted as apostles for the faith, but as educators, civic leaders, and exponents of Eastern, urban culture. Publication and education societies promoted Christian education. Most notable among them was the American Bible Society, founded in 1816. Social activism inspired by the revival gave rise to abolition of slavery groups and the Society for the Promotion of Temperance, as well as to efforts to reform prisons and care for the handicapped and mentally ill. Western New York, from Lake Ontario to the Adirondack Mountains, had been the scene of so many religious revivals in the past that it was known as the “Burned-Over District.” Here, the dominant figure was Charles Grandison Finney, a lawyer who had experienced a religious epiphany and set out to preach the Gospel. His revivals were characterized by careful planning, showmanship, and advertising. Finney preached in the Burned-Over District throughout the 1820s and the early 1830s, before moving to Ohio in 1835 to take a chair in theology at Oberlin College, of which he subsequently became president. Two other important religious denominations in America — the Mormons and the Seventh Day Adventists — also got their start in the Burned- Over District. THE SECOND GREAT AWAKENING OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY In the Appalachian region, the revival took on characteristics similar to the Great Awakening of the previous century. But here, the center of the revival was the camp meeting, a religious service of several days’ length, for a group that was obliged to take shelter on the spot because of the distance from home. Pioneers in thinly populated areas looked to the camp meeting as a refuge from the lonely life on the frontier. The sheer exhilaration of participating in a religious revival with hundreds and perhaps thousands of people inspired the dancing, shouting, and singing associated with these events. Probably the largest camp meeting was at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, in August 1801; between 10,000 and 25,000 people attended. The great revival quickly spread throughout Kentucky, Tennessee, and southern Ohio, with the Methodists and the Baptists its prime beneficiaries.

Each denomination had assets that allowed it to thrive on the frontier. The Methodists had a very efficient organization that depended on ministers — known as circuit riders — who sought out people in remote frontier locations.

The circuit riders came from among the common people and possessed a rapport with the frontier families they hoped to convert. The Baptists had no formal church organization. Their farmer-preachers were people who received “the call” from God, studied the Bible, and founded a church, which then ordained them. Other candidates for the ministry emerged from these churches, and established a presence farther into the wilderness. Using such methods, the Baptists became dominant throughout the border states and most of the South. The Second Great Awakening exercised a profound impact on American history. The numerical strength of the Baptists and Methodists rose relative to that of the denominations dominant in the colonial period — Anglicans, Presbyterians, and Congregationalists. The growing differences within American Protestantism reflected the growth and diversity of an expanding nation.  88 CHAPTER 4\f THE FORMAT\bON OF A NAT\bONAL GOVERNMENT 89 TRANSFOR\fING \f N\fTION The United States transformed itself again in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A rural, agricultural nation became an industrial power whose backbone was steel and coal, railroads, and steam power. A young country once bound by the Mississippi River expanded across the North American continent, and on to overseas territories. A nation divided by the issue of slavery and tested by the trauma of civil war became a world power whose global inf luence was first felt in World War I. A PICTURE PROFILE Andrew Jackson, president from 1829 to 1837. Charismatic, forceful, and passionate, Jackson forged an effective political coalition within the Democratic Party with Westerners, farmers, and working people. 90 Henry Clay of Kentucky, although never president, was one of the most influential American politicians of the first half of the 19th century. Clay became indispensable for his role in preserving the Union with the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850. Both pieces of legislation resolved, for a time, disputes over slavery in the territories. The great champions of women’s rights in the 19th century: Elizabeth Cady \ftanton (seated) and \fusan B. Anthony. \ftanton helped organize the first women’s rights convention in 1848 in \feneca Falls, New York. In later years, she joined Anthony in founding the National Woman \fuffrage Association. “I forged the thunderbolts,” \ftanton said of their partnership, “and she fired them.” 91 William Lloyd Garrison, whose passionate denunciations of slavery and eloquent defense of the rights of enslaved African Americans appeared in his weekly paper, the Liberator , from its first issue in 1831 to 1865, when the last issue appeared at the close of the Civil War.

Frederick Douglass, the nation’s leading African-American abolitionist of the 19th century, escaped from slavery in 1838. His speech about his sufferings as a slave at the Massachusetts Anti-\flavery \fociety’s annual convention in Nantucket launched his career as an outspoken lecturer, writer, and publisher on the abolition of slavery and racial equality. Harriet Tubman, a former slave who rescued hundreds from slavery through the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a vast network of people who helped fugitive slaves escape to the North and to Canada in the first half of the 19th century. Confederate dead along a stone wall during the Chancellorsville campaign, May 1863. \bictorious at Chancellorsville, \.\fouthern forces advanced north into Pennsylvania, but were defeated at the three-day battle of Gettysburg, the turning point of the Civil War and the largest battle ever fought in North America. More Americans died in the Civil War (1861-65) than in any other conflict in U.\f. history. 93 94 Encampment of Union troops from New York in Alexandria, \birginia, just across the Potomac River from the capital of Washington. 95 Union General Ulysses \f. Grant, who led Union forces to victory in the Civil War and became the 18th president of the United \ftates. Despite heavy losses in several battles against his opponent, General Lee (below), Grant refused to retreat, leading President Lincoln to say to critics calling for his removal, “I can’t spare this general. He fights.” Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Military historians to this day study his tactics and Grant’s in battles such as \bicksburg, Chancellorsville, \.and the Wilderness. 96 Engraving of the first African-American members elected to the U.\f. Congress during the Reconstruction Era, following the Civil War. \feated at left is H.R. Revels, senator from Mississippi. The others were members of the House of Representatives, from the states of Alabama, Florida, \fouth Carolina, and Georgia. Although practically unknown during her lifetime, Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) is now seen as one of the most brilliant and original poets America has ever produced. 97 Andrew Carnegie, business tycoon and philanthropist. Born in \fcotland of a poor family, Carnegie immigrated to the United \ftates and made his fortune by building the country’s largest iron and steel manufacturing corporation. Believing that the wealthy had an obligation to give back to society, he endowed public libraries across the United \ftates.

\famuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), better known by his pen name of Mark Twain, is perhaps the most widely read and enjoyed American writer and humorist. In his Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and other works, Twain developed a style based on vigorous, realistic, colloquial American speech. 98 Custer’s army on the march prior to Little Bighorn. The Plains Indians who defeated his army were resisting white intrusions into their sacred lands and U.\f. government attempts to force them back onto \fouth Dakota’s Great \fioux Reservation. \fitting Bull, \fioux chief who led the last great battle of the Plains Indians against the U.\f. Army, when his warriors defeated forces under the command of General George Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. 99 101 Above, Oklahoma City in 1889, four weeks after the Oklahoma Territory was opened up for settlement. \fettlers staked their claim, put up tents, and then swiftly began erecting board shacks and houses — a pattern repeated throughout the West.

Left, a vessel at the Gatun locks of the Panama Canal. The United \ftates acquired the rights to build the canal in 1903 in a treaty with Panama, which had just rebelled and broken away from Colombia. Under the terms of the 1977 treaty, the canal reverted to Panamanian control on December 31, 1999. 102 Left, opposite page, immigrants arriving at Ellis Island in New York City, principal gateway to the United \ftates in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. From 1890 to 1921, almost 19 million people entered the United \ftates as immigrants. Below, children working at the Indiana Glass Works in 1908. Enacting child labor laws was one of the principal goals of the Progressive movement in this era. 103 104 Mulberry Street in New York City, al\fo known a\f “Little Italy,” in the early year\f of the 20th century. Newly arrived immigrant familie\f, largely from Ea\ftern and \fouthern Europe in thi\f period, often \fettled in den\fely populated urban enclave\f. Typically, their children, or grandchildren, would di\fper\fe, moving to other citie\f or other part\f of the country. 105 106 Thomas Edison examines film used in the motion picture projector that he invented with George Eastman. The most celebrated of Edison’s hundreds of inventions was the incandescent light bulb. 107 Orville Wright, who built and flew the first heavier-than-air airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903, with his brother Wilbur. Orville is shown here at the controls of a later model plane in 1909.

Alexander Graham Bell makes the first telephone call from New York City to Chicago in 1892. Bell, an immigrant from \fcotland who settled in Boston, invented the telephone 16 years earlier, in 1876. 108 American infantry forces in 1918, firing a 37 mm. gun, advance against German positions in World War I.

The “Big Four” at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, following the end of World War I. They are, seated from left, Prime Minister \bittorio Orlando of Italy, Prime Minister David Lloyd George of Great Britain, Premier Georges Clemenceau of France, and President Woodrow Wilson of the United \ftates. Despite strenuous efforts, Wilson was unable to persuade the U.\f. \fenate to agree to American participation in the new League of Nations established in the aftermath of the war. 109 For the educated and well-to-do, the 1920s was the era of the “Lost Generation,” symbolized by writers like Ernest Hemingway, who left the United \ftates for voluntary exile in Paris. It was also the “flapper era” of frivolity and excess in which young people could reject the constraints and traditions of their elders. Top, flappers posing for the camera at a 1920s-era party. Above, Henry Ford and his son stand with one of his early automobiles, and the 10-millionth Ford Model-T. The Model-T was the first car whose price and availability made car ownership possible for large numbers of people. 110 5 WESTWARD EXPANSION AND REGIONAL DI F F ER ENCE S Horse-drawn combine harvesting wheat in the Midwest, 19th century.

CHAPTER 112 BUILDING UNITY T he War of 1812 was, in a sense, a second war of independence that confirmed once and for all the American break with England . With its conclusion, many of the serious difficulties that the young republic had faced since the Revolution dis - appeared . National union under the Constitution brought a balance between liberty and order . With a low national debt and a continent awaiting exploration, the prospect of peace, prosperity, and social prog - ress opened before the nation . Commerce cemented national unity . The privations of war con - vinced many of the importance of protecting the manufacturers of America until they could stand alone against foreign competition . Eco - nomic independence, many argued, was as essential as political inde - pendence . To foster self-sufficiency, congressional leaders Henry Clay of Kentucky and John C . Calhoun of South Carolina urged a policy of pro - tectionism — imposition of restric - tions on imported goods to foster the development of American industry . The time was propitious for rais - ing the customs tariff . The shepherds of Vermont and Ohio wanted pro - tection against an inf lux of English wool . In Kentucky, a new industry of weaving local hemp into cotton bagging was threatened by the Scot - tish bagging industry . Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, already a f lourishing center of iron smelting, was eager to challenge British and Swedish iron suppliers . The tariff enacted in 1816 imposed duties high enough to give manufacturers real protection . In addition, Westerners advocat - CHAPTER 5\f WESTWARD EXPANS\bON AND REG\bONAL D\bFFERENCES “Go West, young man, and grow up with t h e c o u nt r y.” Newspape\f edito\f Horace Greeley , 1851 113 ed a national system of roads and canals to link them with Eastern cit - ies and ports, and to open frontier lands for settlement . However, they were unsuccessful in pressing their demands for a federal role in inter - nal improvement because of oppo - sition from New England and the South . Roads and canals remained the province of the states until the passage of the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916 . The position of the federal gov - ernment at this time was greatly strengthened by several Supreme Court decisions . A committed Fed - eralist, John Marshall of Virginia be - came chief justice in 1801 and held office until his death in 1835 . The court — weak before his adminis - tration — was transformed into a powerful tribunal, occupying a po - sition co-equal to the Congress and the president . In a succession of his - toric decisions, Marshall established the power of the Supreme Court and strengthened the national govern - ment . Marshall was the first in a long line of Supreme Court justices whose decisions have molded the meaning and application of the Constitu - tion . When he finished his long ser - vice, the court had decided nearly 50 cases clearly involving constitu - tional issues . In one of Marshall’s most famous opinions — Marbury v. Madison (1803) — he decisively established the right of the Supreme Court to review the constitution - ality of any law of Congress or of a state legislature . In McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), he boldly upheld the Hamiltonian theory that the Constitution by implication gives the government powers beyond those expressly stated . EXTENSION OF SLAVERY S lavery, which up to now had re - ceived little public attention, began to assume much greater importance as a national issue . In the early years of the republic, when the Northern states were providing for immedi - ate or gradual emancipation of the slaves, many leaders had supposed that slavery would die out . In 1786 George Washington wrote that he devoutly wished some plan might be adopted “by which slavery may be abolished by slow, sure, and im - perceptible degrees .” Virginians Jef - ferson, Madison, and Monroe and other leading Southern statesmen made similar statements . The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 had banned slavery in the Northwest Territory . As late as 1808, when the international slave trade was abol - ished, there were many Southern - ers who thought that slavery would soon end . The expectation proved false, for during the next generation, the South became solidly united behind the institution of slavery as new economic factors made slavery far more profitable than it had been before 1790 . Chief among these was the rise of a great cotton-growing industry in the South, stimulated by the intro - duction of new types of cotton and 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 114 by Eli Whitney’s invention in 1793 of the cotton gin, which separated the seeds from cotton . At the same time, the Industrial Revolution, which made textile manufacturing a large- scale operation, vastly increased the demand for raw cotton . And the opening of new lands in the West after 1812 greatly extended the area available for cotton cultivation . Cot - ton culture moved rapidly from the Tidewater states on the East Coast through much of the lower South to the delta region of the Mississippi and eventually to Texas . Sugar cane, another labor-inten - sive crop, also contributed to slav - ery’s extension in the South . The rich, hot lands of southeastern Loui - siana proved ideal for growing sug - ar cane profitably . By 1830 the state was supplying the nation with about half its sugar supply . Finally, tobac - co growers moved westward, taking slavery with them . As the free society of the North and the slave society of the South spread westward, it seemed politi - cally expedient to maintain a rough equality among the new states carved out of western territories . In 1818, when Illinois was admitted to the Union, 10 states permitted slav - ery and 11 states prohibited it; but balance was restored after Alabama was admitted as a slave state . Popula - tion was growing faster in the North, which permitted Northern states to have a clear majority in the House of Representatives . However, equal - ity between the North and the South was maintained in the Senate . In 1819 Missouri, which had 10,000 slaves, applied to enter the Union . Northerners rallied to op - pose Missouri’s entry except as a free state, and a storm of protest swept the country . For a time Congress was deadlocked, but Henry Clay ar - ranged the so-called Missouri Com - promise: Missouri was admitted as a slave state at the same time Maine came in as a free state . In addition, Congress banned slavery from the territory acquired by the Louisiana Purchase north of Missouri’s south - ern boundary . At the time, this pro - vision appeared to be a victory for the Southern states because it was thought unlikely that this “Great American Desert” would ever be settled . The controversy was tempo - rarily resolved, but Thomas Jefferson wrote to a friend that “this momen - tous question, like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror . I considered it at once as the knell of the Union .” LATIN AMERICA AND THE MONROE DOCTRINE D uring the opening decades of the 19th century, Central and South America turned to revolution . The idea of liberty had stirred the people of Latin America from the time the English colonies gained their free - dom . Napoleon’s conquest of Spain and Portugal in 1808 provided the signal for Latin Americans to rise in revolt . By 1822, ably led by Simón Bolívar, Francisco Miranda, José de San Martín and Miguel de Hidalgo, CHAPTER 5\f WESTWARD EXPANS\bON AND REG\bONAL D\bFFERENCES 115 most of Hispanic America — from Argentina and Chile in the south to Mexico in the north — had won in - dependence . The people of the United States took a deep interest in what seemed a repetition of their own experience in breaking away from European rule .

The Latin American independence movements confirmed their own be - lief in self-government . In 1822 Pres - ident James Monroe, under powerful public pressure, received authority to recognize the new countries of Latin America and soon exchanged ministers with them . He thereby confirmed their status as genuinely independent countries, entirely sep - arated from their former European connections . At just this point, Russia, Prussia, and Austria formed an association, the Holy Alliance, to protect them - selves against revolution . By inter - vening in countries where popular movements threatened monarchies, the alliance — joined by post-Napo - leonic France — hoped to prevent the spread of revolution . This policy was the antithesis of the American principle of self-determination . As long as the Holy Alliance con - fined its activities to the Old World, it aroused no anxiety in the United States . But when the alliance an - nounced its intention of restoring to Spain its former colonies, Americans became very concerned . Britain, to which Latin American trade had be - come of great importance, resolved to block any such action . London urged joint Anglo-American guarantees to Latin America, but Secretary of State John Quincy Adams convinced Monroe to act unilaterally: “It would be more candid, as well as more dig - nified, to avow our principles explic - itly to Russia and France, than to come in as a cock-boat in the wake of the British man-of-war .” In December 1823, with the knowledge that the British nav y would defend Latin America from the Holy Alliance and France, Presi - dent Monroe took the occasion of his annual message to Congress to pronounce what would become known as the Monroe Doctrine — the refusal to tolerate any further extension of European domination in the Americas: The American continents ... are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.

We should consider any attempt on their part to extend their [political] system to any portion of this hemisphere, as dangerous to our peace and safety.

With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered, and shall not interfere. But with the governments who have declared their independence, and maintained it, and whose independence we have ...

acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling, in any other manner, their destiny, by any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 116 an unfriendly disposition towards the United States.

The Monroe Doctrine expressed a spirit of solidarity with the new - ly independent republics of Latin America . These nations in turn rec - ognized their political affinity with the United States by basing their new constitutions, in many instances, on the North American model . FAC T IONA L ISM A N D POLITICAL PARTIES D omestically, the presidency of Monroe (1817-1825) was termed the “era of good feelings .” The phrase ac - knowledged the political triumph of the Republican Party over the Feder - alist Party, which had collapsed as a national force . All the same, this was a period of vigorous factional and re - gional conf lict . The end of the Federalists led to a brief period of factional politics and brought disarray to the practice of choosing presidential nominees by congressional party caucuses . For a time, state legislatures nominated candidates . In 1824 Tennessee and Pennsylvania chose Andrew Jack - son, with South Carolina Senator John C . Calhoun as his running mate . Kentucky selected Speaker of the House Henry Clay; Massachu - setts, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, son of the second president, John Adams . A congressional cau - cus, widely derided as undemocrat - ic, picked Secretary of the Treasury William Crawford . Personality and sectional al - legiance played important roles in determining the outcome of the election . Adams won the electoral votes from New England and most of New York; Clay won Kentucky, Ohio, and Missouri; Jackson won the Southeast, Illinois, Indiana, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New Jersey; and Crawford won Virginia, Georgia, and Delaware .

No candidate gained a majority in the Electoral College, so, accord - ing to the provisions of the Con - stitution, the election was thrown into the House of Representatives, where Clay was the most inf luential figure . He supported Adams, who gained the presidency . During Adams’s administration, new party alignments appeared .

Adams’s followers, some of whom were former Federalists, took the name of “National Republicans” as emblematic of their support of a federal government that would take a strong role in developing an expanding nation . Though he governed honestly and efficiently, Adams was not a popular president .

He failed in his effort to institute a national system of roads and canals .

His coldly intellectual temperament did not win friends . Jackson, by con - trast, had enormous popular appeal and a strong political organization .

His followers coalesced to establish the Democratic Party, claimed di - rect lineage from the Democratic- Republican Party of Jefferson, and in general advocated the principles of small, decentralized government . CHAPTER 5\f WESTWARD EXPANS\bON AND REG\bONAL D\bFFERENCES 117 Mounting a strong anti-Adams cam - paign, they accused the president of a “corrupt bargain” for naming Clay secretary of state . In the election of 1828, Jackson defeated Adams by an overwhelming electoral majority . Jackson — Tennessee politi - cian, fighter in wars against Native Americans on the Southern fron - tier, and hero of the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812 — drew his support from the “common people .” He came to the presidency on a rising tide of enthusiasm for popular democracy . The election of 1828 was a significant benchmark in the trend toward broader voter participation . By then most states had either enacted universal white male suffrage or minimized prop - erty requirements . In 1824 members of the Electoral College in six states were still selected by the state leg - islatures . By 1828 presidential elec - tors were chosen by popular vote in every state but Delaware and South Carolina . These developments were the products of a widespread sense that the people should rule and that government by traditional elites had come to an end . NULLIFICATION CRISIS T oward the end of his first term in office, Jackson was forced to con - front the state of South Carolina, the most important of the emerg - ing Deep South cotton states, on the issue of the protective tariff . Busi - ness and farming interests in the state had hoped that the president would use his power to modify the 1828 act that they called the Tar - iff of Abominations . In their view, all its benefits of protection went to Northern manufacturers, leaving agricultural South Carolina poorer .

In 1828, the state’s leading politician — and Jackson’s vice president until his resignation in 1832 — John C .

Calhoun had declared in his South Carolina Exposition and Protest that states had the right to nullify op - pressive national legislation . In 1832, Congress passed and Jackson signed a bill that revised the 1828 tariff downward, but it was not enough to satisfy most South Carolinians . The state adopted an Ordinance of Nullification, which declared both the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 null and void within state bor - ders . Its legislature also passed laws to enforce the ordinance, including authorization for raising a military force and appropriations for arms .

Nullification was a long-established theme of protest against perceived excesses by the federal government .

Jefferson and Madison had proposed it in the Kentucky and Virginia Res - olutions of 1798, to protest the Alien and Sedition Acts . The Hartford Convention of 1814 had invoked it to protest the War of 1812 . Never before, however, had a state actually attempted nullification . The young nation faced its most dangerous crisis yet . In response to South Carolina’s threat, Jackson sent seven small naval vessels and a man-of-war to Charleston in November 1832 . On 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 118 December 10, he issued a resound - ing proclamation against the nulli - fiers . South Carolina, the president declared, stood on “the brink of insurrection and treason,” and he appealed to the people of the state to reassert their allegiance to the Union . He also let it be known that, if necessary, he personally would lead the U .S . Army to enforce the law . When the question of tariff duties again came before Congress, Jack - son’s political rival, Senator Henry Clay, a great advocate of protection but also a devoted Unionist, spon - sored a compromise measure . Clay’s tariff bill, quickly passed in 1833, specified that all duties in excess of 20 percent of the value of the goods imported were to be reduced year by year, so that by 1842 the duties on all articles would reach the level of the moderate tariff of 1816 . At the same time, Congress passed a Force Act, authorizing the president to use military power to enforce the laws . South Carolina had expected the support of other Southern states, but instead found itself isolated . (Its most likely ally, the state govern - ment of Georgia, wanted, and got, U .S . military force to remove Native American tribes from the state .) Eventually, South Carolina rescind - ed its action . Both sides, neverthe - less, claimed victory . Jackson had strongly defended the Union . But South Carolina, by its show of re - sistance, had obtained many of its demands and had demonstrated that a single state could force its will on Congress . THE BANK FIGHT A lthough the nullification crisis possessed the seeds of civil war, it was not as critical a political issue as a bitter struggle over the contin - ued existence of the nation’s central bank, the second Bank of the United States . The first bank, established in 1791 under Alexander Hamilton’s guidance, had been chartered for a 20-year period . Though the gov - ernment held some of its stock, the bank, like the Bank of England and other central banks of the time, was a private corporation with profits passing to its stockholders . Its public functions were to act as a deposito - ry for government receipts, to make short-term loans to the government, and above all to establish a sound currency by refusing to accept at face value notes (paper money) issued by state-chartered banks in excess of their ability to redeem . To the Northeastern financial and commercial establishment, the central bank was a needed enforc - er of prudent monetary policy, but from the beginning it was resent - ed by Southerners and Westerners who believed their prosperity and regional development depended upon ample money and credit . The Republican Party of Jefferson and Madison doubted its constitutional - ity . When its charter expired in 1811, it was not renewed . For the next few years, the bank - ing business was in the hands of state-chartered banks, which issued currency in excessive amounts, cre - CHAPTER 5\f WESTWARD EXPANS\bON AND REG\bONAL D\bFFERENCES 119 ating great confusion and fueling in - f lation . It became increasingly clear that state banks could not provide the country with a reliable currency .

In 1816 a second Bank of the United States, similar to the first, was again chartered for 20 years . From its inception, the second bank was unpopular in the newer states and territories, especially with state and local bankers who resented its vir - tual monopoly over the country’s credit and currency, but also with less prosperous people everywhere, who believed that it represented the interests of the wealthy few . On the whole, the bank was well managed and rendered a valu - able service; but Jackson had long shared the Republican distrust of the financial establishment . Elected as a tribune of the people, he sensed that the bank ’s aristocratic man - ager, Nicholas Biddle, was an easy target . When the bank ’s support - ers in Congress pushed through an early renewal of its charter, Jackson responded with a stinging veto that denounced monopoly and special privilege . The effort to override the veto failed . In the presidential campaign that followed, the bank question re - vealed a fundamental division . Es - tablished merchant, manufacturing, and financial interests favored sound money . Regional bankers and entre - preneurs on the make wanted an increased money supply and lower interest rates . Other debtor classes, especially farmers, shared those sen - timents . Jackson and his supporters called the central bank a “monster” and coasted to an easy election vic - tory over Henry Clay . The president interpreted his tri - umph as a popular mandate to crush the central bank irrevocably . In Sep - tember 1833 he ordered an end to deposits of government money in the bank, and gradual withdrawals of the money already in its custody .

The government deposited its funds in selected state banks, characterized as “pet banks” by the opposition . For the next generation the Unit - ed States would get by on a relatively unregulated state banking system, which helped fuel westward expan - sion through cheap credit but kept the nation vulnerable to periodic panics . During the Civil War, the United States initiated a system of national charters for local and re - gional banks, but the nation re - turned to a central bank only with the establishment of the Federal Re - serve system in 1913 .

WHIGS, DEMOCRATS, AND KNOW-NOTHINGS Jackson’s political opponents, unit - ed by little more than a common opposition to him, eventually co - alesced into a common party called the Whigs, a British term signify - ing opposition to Jackson’s “monar - chial rule .” Although they organized soon after the election campaign of 1832, it was more than a decade be - fore they reconciled their differences and were able to draw up a platform .

Largely through the magnetism of 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 120 Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, the Whigs’ most brilliant statesmen, the party solidified its membership . But in the 1836 election, the Whigs were still too divided to unite behind a single man . New York ’s Martin Van Buren, Jackson’s vice president, won the contest . An economic depression and the larger-than-life personality of his predecessor obscured Van Buren’s merits . His public acts aroused no enthusiasm, for he lacked the com - pelling qualities of leadership and the dramatic f lair that had attended Jackson’s every move . The election of 1840 found the country aff licted with hard times and low wages — and the Democrats on the defensive . The Whig candidate for presi - dent was William Henry Harrison of Ohio, vastly popular as a hero of conf licts with Native Americans and the War of 1812 . He was promoted, like Jackson, as a representative of the democratic West . His vice presi - dential candidate was John Tyler — a Virginian whose views on states’ rights and a low tariff were popular in the South . Harrison won a sweep - ing victory . Within a month of his inaugu - ration, however, the 68-year-old Harrison died, and Tyler became president . Tyler’s beliefs differed sharply from those of Clay and Web - ster, still the most inf luential men in Congress . The result was an open break between the new president and the party that had elected him . The Tyler presidency would accomplish little other than to establish defini - tively that, if a president died, the vice president would assume the of - fice with full powers for the balance of his term . Americans found themselves di - vided in other, more complex ways .

The large number of Catholic im - migrants in the first half of the 19th century, primarily Irish and Ger - man, triggered a backlash among native-born Protestant Americans .

Immigrants brought strange new customs and religious practices to American shores . They competed with the native-born for jobs in cit - ies along the Eastern seaboard . The coming of universal white male suffrage in the 1820s and 1830s in - creased their political clout . Dis - placed patrician politicians blamed the immigrants for their fall from power . The Catholic Church’s failure to support the temperance move - ment gave rise to charges that Rome was trying to subvert the United States through alcohol . The most important of the nativ - ist organizations that sprang up in this period was a secret society, the Order of the Star-Spangled Banner, founded in 1849 . When its mem - bers refused to identify themselves, they were swiftly labeled the “Know- Nothings .” In a few years, they be - came a national organization with considerable political power . The Know-Nothings advocated an extension in the period required for naturalized citizenship from five to 21 years . They sought to exclude the foreign-born and Catholics from public office . In 1855 they won con - CHAPTER 5\f WESTWARD EXPANS\bON AND REG\bONAL D\bFFERENCES 121 trol of legislatures in New York and Massachusetts; by then, about 90 U .S . congressmen were linked to the party . That was its high point . Soon after, the gathering crisis between North and South over the extension of slavery fatally divided the party, consuming it along with the old de - bates between Whigs and Demo - crats that had dominated American politics in the second quarter of the 19th century . STIRRINGS OF REFORM T he democratic upheaval in poli - tics exemplified by Jackson’s election was merely one phase of the long American quest for greater rights and opportunities for all citizens .

Another was the beginning of la - bor organization, primarily among skilled and semiskilled workers . In 1835 labor forces in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, succeeded in reducing the old “dark-to-dark ” workday to a 10-hour day . By 1860, the new work day had become law in sever - al of the states and was a generally accepted standard . The spread of suffrage had al - ready led to a new concept of education . Clear-sighted statesmen everywhere understood that uni - versal suffrage required a tutored, literate electorate . Workingmen’s organizations demanded free, tax- supported schools open to all chil - dren . Gradually, in one state after another, legislation was enacted to provide for such free instruction .

The leadership of Horace Mann in Massachusetts was especially ef - fective . The public school system became common throughout the North . In other parts of the coun - try, however, the battle for public education continued for years . Another inf luential social move - ment that emerged during this period was the opposition to the sale and use of alcohol, or the temper - ance movement . It stemmed from a variety of concerns and motives:

religious beliefs, the effect of alco - hol on the work force, the violence and suffering women and children experienced at the hands of heavy drinkers . In 1826 Boston ministers organized the Society for the Pro - motion of Temperance . Seven years later, in Philadelphia, the society convened a national convention, which formed the American Tem - perance Union . The union called for the prohibition of all alcoholic bev - erages, and pressed state legislatures to ban their production and sale .

Thirteen states had done so by 1855, although the laws were subsequently challenged in court . They survived only in northern New England, but between 1830 and 1860 the temper - ance movement reduced Americans’ per capita consumption of alcohol . Other reformers addressed the problems of prisons and care for the insane . Efforts were made to turn prisons, which stressed punishment, into penitentiaries where the guilty would undergo rehabilitation . In Massachusetts, Dorothea Dix led a struggle to improve conditions for insane persons, who were kept con - 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 122 fined in wretched almshouses and prisons . After winning improve - ments in Massachusetts, she took her campaign to the South, where nine states established hospitals for the insane between 1845 and 1852 . WOMEN’S RIGHTS S uch social reforms brought many women to a realization of their own unequal position in society . From colonial times, unmarried women had enjoyed many of the same legal rights as men, although custom re - quired that they marry early . With matrimony, women virtually lost their separate identities in the eyes of the law . Women were not permit - ted to vote . Their education in the 17th and 18th centuries was limited largely to reading, writing, music, dancing, and needlework . The awakening of women began with the visit to America of Fran - ces Wright, a Scottish lecturer and journalist, who publicly promoted women’s rights throughout the Unit - ed States during the 1820s . At a time when women were often forbidden to speak in public places, Wright not only spoke out, but shocked audi - ences by her views advocating the rights of women to seek information on birth control and divorce . By the 1840s an American women’s rights movement emerged . Its foremost leader was Elizabeth Cady Stanton . In 1848 Cady Stanton and her colleague Lucretia Mott organized a women’s rights convention — the first in the history of the world — at Seneca Falls, New York . Delegates drew up a “Declaration of Senti - ments,” demanding equality with men before the law, the right to vote, and equal opportunities in educa - tion and employment . The resolu - tions passed unanimously with the exception of the one for women’s suffrage, which won a majority only after an impassioned speech in fa - vor by Frederick Douglass, the black abolitionist . At Seneca Falls, Cady Stan - ton gained national prominence as an eloquent writer and speaker for women’s rights . She had realized ear - ly on that without the right to vote, women would never be equal with men . Taking the abolitionist Wil - liam Lloyd Garrison as her model, she saw that the key to success lay in changing public opinion, and not in party action . Seneca Falls became the catalyst for future change . Soon other women’s rights conventions were held, and other women would come to the forefront of the move - ment for their political and social equality . In 1848 also, Ernestine Rose, a Polish immigrant, was instrumental in getting a law passed in the state of New York that allowed married women to keep their property in their own name . Among the first laws in the nation of this kind, the Married Women’s Property Act en - couraged other state legislatures to enact similar laws . In 1869 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and another leading women’s rights activist, Susan B . Anthony, founded CHAPTER 5\f WESTWARD EXPANS\bON AND REG\bONAL D\bFFERENCES 123 the National Woman Suffrage Asso - ciation (NWSA) to promote a con - stitutional amendment for women’s right to the vote . These two would become the women’s movement’s most outspoken advocates . Describ - ing their partnership, Cady Stanton would say, “I forged the thunderbolts and she fired them .” W E S T WA R D T he frontier did much to shape American life . Conditions along the entire Atlantic seaboard stimulat - ed migration to the newer regions .

From New England, where the soil was incapable of producing high yields of grain, came a steady stream of men and women who left their coastal farms and villages to take advantage of the rich interior land of the continent . In the backcoun - try settlements of the Carolinas and Virginia, people handicapped by the lack of roads and canals giving ac - cess to coastal markets and resent - ful of the political dominance of the Tidewater planters also moved west - ward . By 1800 the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys were becoming a great frontier region . “Hi-o, away we go, f loating down the river on the O- hi-o,” became the song of thousands of migrants . The westward f low of population in the early 19th century led to the division of old territories and the drawing of new boundaries . As new states were admitted, the political map stabilized east of the Mississippi River . From 1816 to 1821, six states were created — Indiana, Illinois, and Maine (which were free states), and Mississippi, Alabama, and Missouri (slave states) . The first frontier had been tied closely to Europe, the sec - ond to the coastal settlements, but the Mississippi Valley was indepen - dent and its people looked west rath - er than east . Frontier settlers were a varied group . One English traveler de - scribed them as “a daring, hardy race of men, who live in miserable cabins . . . . They are unpolished but hospitable, kind to strangers, hon - est, and trustworthy . They raise a little Indian corn, pumpkins, hogs, and sometimes have a cow or two .

. . . But the rif le is their principal means of support .” Dexterous with the ax, snare, and fishing line, these men blazed the trails, built the first log cabins, and confronted Native American tribes, whose land they occupied . As more and more settlers pene - trated the wilderness, many became farmers as well as hunters . A com - fortable log house with glass win - dows, a chimney, and partitioned rooms replaced the cabin; the well replaced the spring . Industrious set - tlers would rapidly clear their land of timber, burning the wood for potash and letting the stumps de - cay . They grew their own grain, veg - etables, and fruit; ranged the woods for deer, wild turkeys, and honey; fished the nearby streams; looked after cattle and hogs . Land specu - lators bought large tracts of the cheap land and, if land values rose, 4678910243265B52E9B74CO 124 sold their holdings and moved still farther west, making way for others . Doctors, lawyers, storekeepers, editors, preachers, mechanics, and politicians soon followed the farm - ers . The farmers were the sturdy base, however . Where they settled, they intended to stay and hoped their