Founding Documents &
Principles
Part I
The
Declaration of
Independence
Background
• French and Indian War (1754 – 1763) • January 1776: Common Sense
• Stamp
Stamp Act of 1765
1765 published
• Tea
Tea Act
Act (1773)
(1773) • Author: Thomas Paine
Paine
• Coercive
Coercive Acts of 1774
Acts of 1774 • 150,000
150,000 copies circulated within three
months
• April 19, 1775: “The Shot Heard
‘Round the World” • June 7, 1776: resolution for
• May 19: Second Continental
ContinentalCongress
Congress independence
Independence proposed in
meets inmeets
Philadelphia
in Philadelphia Continental Congress
• July 8, 1775: Olive Branch Petition • July 2: resolution
resolution passed
passed
sent to London • July 4, 1776: Declaration of
• August 22, 1775: George
George III
III declares
Independence
Declaration of Independence formally adopted
American rebels “open and avowed • Primary author: Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Je erson
enemies” Life, liberty, and property
(pursuit of happiness)
The Declaration of Independence
• “When in the Course of human events, • Purposes:
it becomes necessary for one people • Explain a theory
theoryofofgovernment
government
to dissolve the political bands which based on Enlightenment the
have connected them with another, natural law
principle of natural law to justify
justify
and to assume among the powers of independence independence
the earth, the separate and equal
station to which the Laws of Nature • Offer a list of complaints
complaints against
and of Nature’s God entitle them, a King George III (polemic)
decent respect to the opinions of • 27 grievances provided
mankind requires that they should • Issue a declaration
declarationofofwar/
statementof
war/statement ofseparation
separation
declare the causes which impel them
to the separation.”
The Declaration of Independence
• We hold these truths to be self-evident, • Natural law: theory that human beings
• that all men are created equal, intrinsic values that govern their
possess intrinsic
• that they are endowed by their Creator with behaviors
values and behavior
certain unalienable Rights, • Come from nature
nature, not from government
government
• that among these are Life, Liberty and • Sources of Jefferson’s theory:
the pursuit of Happiness.
• That to secure these rights, Governments • Virginia Constitution
are instituted among Men, deriving their • Virginia Declaration of Rights
just powers from the consent of the • Second Treatise of Government (John Locke,
governed, 1689)
• That whenever any Form of Government
becomes destructive of these ends, it is the • Serves as inspiration for later revolutions
Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, in France, Haiti
Haiti
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…
• Prudence, indeed, will dictate that
Governments long established should not be
changed for light and transient causes;
The Articles of
Confederation
The Articles of Confederation
• Intended to provide first frame of • Major Features/Issues:
government
government for the independent • Established a republican
republican structure +
colonies • Coordination/control of army
army and navy
• Finalized by Second Continental navy +
Congress in November 1776 • Unicameral
Unicameral legislature
• Ratified February 1781; goes into • One vote/state
March 1,
effect on March 1 1781 • No national executive
executive or judiciary
judiciary -
• Established a perpetual “league of • No ability to tax or regulate trade
trade -
friendship” among the colonies • No national currency
currency or bank
bank -
• Confederation: independent nations • Accomplishments/Failures
or states joined together under a
limited centralauthority
limited central authority • land ordinances
Creation of land ordinances +
• Treaty of
Negotiation of Treaty of Paris
Paris (1783) +
• (British, Spain)
Foreign relations (Britain, Spain) -
• Shay’s Rebellion
Shays’s Rebellion -
The Northwest
Ordinance of
1787
Organizing New
Territories
• “Northwest territories” ceded to federal
government by the states
• Primary objective: Establish a procedure for
surveying
surveying and selling
selling land to the public
• Steps to statehood:
• Congress
Congress appoints a governor, secretary, and
three judges
• Territorial legislature elected when population
reaches 5,000
5,000 men
• State constitution written and statehood
application to Congress at population of 60,000
60,000
• Other features:
public education
• Reserved land for development of public
education
• Banned slavery
slavery in the region; guaranteed
speech,religion,
freedoms of speech, religion,and
andthe
thepress
press
• Results in the creation of five (and part of a
sixth) states
