Chapter Six

THE REVOLUTION WITHIN

American Idealization of Freedom

DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM

• Equality for all

• Rejection of hereditary aristocracy

• Public debates over social and political issues

• Dramatic shift for free, land-owning whites

• Artisans, small farmers, laborers, and the militia all became self-conscious elements in public debate

• Inequality was fundamental to the colonies before the Revolution

• Declaration stated “All men are created equal”

• This was a radical departure from the old English social order

• Society after the Revolution was idealistic at best

DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM

• Turmoil in the states

• Pennsylvania’s pre-war elite opposed independence

• This left a vacuum of political leadership after the war

• Voting qualifications were highly contested in Pennsylvania also

• All states were forced to write new state constitutions

• All governments must now be republics

• Structure of government

• Pennsylvania had a one house legislature

• John Adams proposed a system of “balanced governments”

• 2 house legislatures (similar to the House of Reps. and Senate)

Pennsylvania’s Constitution (with corrections)

VOTING RIGHTS• Property qualifications became the focal point of voting rights debates

• The least amount of democratization occurred in the Southern states

• The wealthy, land owning planters, and elite controlled politicians refused to give up too much control

• Politics and tradition helped them maintain their roles

• By the mid-1780s, a large majority of the white male population could meet voting requirements in their respective states

• Exceptions were: Maryland, Virginia, and New York

• Voting requirements differed from state to state

• Some were based on how much land you owned

• Some based on how much your property was worth

• Voting exceptions

• Women, Indians, slaves

• Catholics and Jews were greatly prejudiced from voting

Democracy and Freedom Idealized

RELIGIOUS TOLERATION

• Anti-Catholicism waned in the latter decades of the 18th century due to America joining forces with the French

• Those that were skeptical of religious doctrine (primarily against Catholics and Jews) still believed that religion was a necessary foundation for public morality and accountability

• This goes hand in hand with public authority supporting religious values

• Thomas Jefferson’s “Religious Liberty”

• “Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom” – established separation of church and state

• James Madison reinforced this point by stating absolute separation was necessary to reinforce the principle that America was a country that offered “asylum to the persecuted and oppressed of every nation and religion”

• In the midst of this growing separation, Protestant denominations flourished

ECONOMIC FREEDOM

• Free labor was a necessity in America

• Lack of freedom in apprenticeship and servitude increasingly became seen as incompatible with republicanism and democratic citizenship

• As a result, indentured servitude virtually disappeared by 1800

• The distinction between freedom and slavery sharpened

• Equality was the crux and soul of the American republic

• Equality meant equal opportunity economically, not equality of condition

• Jefferson related land and economic resources with freedom due to this mentality

• Basically, money + land = freedom

ECONOMIC FREEDOM

• Inflation after the war

• The Revolution produced a great deal of inflation

• Some Americans revolted as a result

• The Articles of Confederation and state constitutions did little to help

• The Articles could not tax and the state taxes too much

• The small farmer did not stand a chance economically

• Free trade

• Congress urged the states to fix wages and prices (this did not work)

• Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations – the “invisible hand’ of the free market directed economic life more effectively than government intervention in economics

• This became the intellectual justification for the growth of capitalism

What Americans hoped would happen to American Loyalists

LOYALISTS AFTER THE REVOLUTION

• An estimated 20 to 25 % of Americans were Loyalists

• Ethnic minorities that were Loyalists were really in trouble

• They were always afraid that the white majority would infringe on their rights and/or kill them

• In a sense, the Revolution was a civil war among Americans

• Between the Loyalist and Revolutionary ideologies

• The war brought a deprivation of natural and basic rights to the Loyalists

• The Revolutionaries were fighting for liberty, equal rights, etc., but they’re almost putting Loyalists into slavery by denying almost all of their rights

• Once again, the slaves were noting how ironic this situation was

• Over 100,000 Loyalists were banned from the United States or emigrated to Canada, the Caribbean, or Europe voluntarily

INDIANS AFTER THE REVOLUTION

• Indians were definitely on the losing end

• Most sided with the British and Americans now had a very legitimate reason in their minds to hate and destroy the Indians

• In reality, both the Americans and British were guilty of war crimes toward the Indians

• After the war, Americans now wanted Indian land at all cost and felt completely justified in taking it

• Land was seen as a natural right and fruit of American victory

• The Treaty of Paris (1783) shifted the balance of power in eastern North American from the Indians to the Americans

• In the 18th century, Indians played the Europeans and colonists against each other and retained most of their rights

American Propaganda Indicating a British and Indian Conspiracy

INDIANS AFTER THE REVOLUTION

• “Freedom” was not a term that the Indians knew or understood

• They quickly adopted it and understood it as something that meant they must fight to retain their independence and struggle to retain their land

• Overall, American independence meant the total loss of freedom for the Native American

SLAVERY AFTER THE REVOLUTION

• Slavery and Freedom

• Americans viewed Britain as a “nation of slaves”

• America was a “country of freed men”

• Some in America actually advocated for the rights of blacks, however, not many listened

• The irony of Americans crying for freedom while enslaving blacks was not overlooked by the slaves

• Arguments against Abolition

• Some argued that slavery for blacks meant true freedom for whites

• Others (the more influential voices) argued that the government did not have the right to seize property (including slaves)

• This was seen as a total infringement on liberty

SLAVERY AFTER THE REVOLUTION

• General Liberty

• Americans caused a bigger problem by defining freedom as a universal entitlement accessible to all men, rather than a specific race, class, or people

• This easily raised questions over the legitimacy of slavery

• How can freedom be a universal entitlement if we as a nation are enslaving people?

• Quest for Freedom in Black Communities

• Blacks in the North and South were greatly influenced by the language of liberty

• “Freedom petitions” were presented by slaves in New England as early as the 1770s

• Many blacks were shocked and surprised at the white, Revolutionary interpretation of freedom

• The Duality of Freedom

SLAVERY AFTER THE REVOLUTION• The Duality of Freedom

• Freedom for white, Revolutionary, land-owning males only

• No Loyalists, no Jews, no Catholics, no women, and no blacks allowed.

• The British as emancipators

• 100,000 slaves deserted their owners and fled to British lines during the war

• The British did not want the slaves and especially did not need the logistical problem

• However, they readily took the slaves because they wanted to do anything they could to irritate the Americans

• At the end of the war, over 15,000 blacks went with the British to Canada, the Caribbean, or Europe

• In response to this problem, some Americans emancipated their slaves in an attempt to show they were as good as the British

• This became an issue of morality and virtue during the war only

SLAVERY AFTER THE REVOLUTION

• Northern Abolition

• 1777 to 1804 – every state north of Maryland took steps towards emancipation

• Abolition in the North was a slow process

• It typically applied to future children of black women who were already enslaved

• Free black communities sprung up after the Revolution

• Slavery does not end with the Revolution

• It takes until the Civil War to legally end slavery

• It takes until the 1960s for the government to legally enforce civil rights

GENDER AND POLITICS

• The Revolution did not alter the patriarchal nature of family law inherited from Britain

• Socially and legally, women lacked the essential qualifications for political participation

• They did not own land and they were not men.

• Within households, patriotic women participated in political discussion about independence

• Abigail Adams, Deborah Sampson

• Women who did enter public debate often felt the need to apologize for actually participating

• This fits into the mentality that men at the time held against women

• They were always submissive, irrational, and unfit for citizenship

Abigail Adams

GENDER AND POLITICS

• Republican Motherhood

• Women participated in the Revolution and the new nation by training children (especially boys) to be better future citizens

• Republican motherhood reinforced the trend and idea of marrying companions

• Women and men had to work together to be truly free

• Overall, the Revolution changed the lives of virtually every American

• Despite its shortcomings, America became a beacon of hope to those who tired of the Old World tyranny, aristocracy, and monarchy

• The ideal of “natural rights” quickly spread internationally