Colorado, 13th

century.
CHAPTER 1: EARLY AMERICA

THE FIRST AMERICANS sands of years more to work

their way through the openings
their survival. in
great
6
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
glaciers south to what is now the
United States. Evidence of early
At the height of the Ice Age, be
life in North America continues
tween 34,000 and 30,000 B.C.,
to be found. Little of it, however,
much of the world’s water was
can be reliably dated before
locked up in vast continental ice
12,000 B.C.; a recent discovery
sheets. As a result, the Bering
of a hunting look out in northern
Sea was hundreds of meters
Alaska, for exam ple, may date
below its current level, and a
from almost that time. So too
land bridge, known as Beringia,
may the finely crafted spear
emerged between Asia and
points and items found near
North America. At its peak,
Clovis, New Mexico.
Beringia is thought to have been
Similar artifacts have been
some 1,500 ki lometers wide. A
found at sites throughout North
moist and treeless tundra, it was
and South America, indicating
covered with grasses and plant
that life was probably already
life, attracting the large animals
well established in
that early humans hunted for
much of the Western overhunting or natural
Hemisphere by some time prior causes — plants, berries, and
to 10,000 B.C. Around that time seeds became an
the mammoth began to die out increasingly important part
and the bison took its place as a of the early Ameri can diet.
principal source of food and Gradually, foraging and the
hides for these early North first attempts at primitive
Americans. Over time, as more agri culture appeared. Native
and more species of large game Americans in what is now
van ished — whether from central Mexico led the way,
 cultivating corn, squash, and The Adenans appear to have
beans, perhaps as early as been absorbed or displaced
8,000 B.C. Slowly, this by vari ous groups
knowledge spread collectively known as
northward. Hopewellians. One of the
By 3,000 B.C., a primitive type most im portant centers of
of corn was being grown in the their culture was found in
river valleys of New Mexico southern Ohio, where the
and Arizo na. Then the first remains of several thousand
signs of irrigation began to of these mounds still can be
appear, and, by 300 B.C., signs seen. Believed to be great
of early village life. traders, the Hopewel lians
By the first centuries A.D., used and exchanged tools
the Hohokam were living in and materials across a wide
settlements near what is now region of hundreds of
Phoenix, Arizo na, where kilometers.
they built ball courts and Byaround500 A.D., the
pyramid-like mounds Hopewellians disappeared, too,
reminiscent of those found in gradually giving way to a
Mexico, as well as a canal broad group of tribes generally
and irrigation system. known as the Mississippians or
Temple Mound culture. One
MOUND city, Ca
BUILDERS AND hokia, near Collinsville,
PUEBLOS Illinois, is thought to have had
a population of about 20,000 at
The first Native-American its peak in the early 12th
group to build mounds in century. At the center of the
what is now the United city stood a huge earthen
States often are called the mound, flattened at the top,
Adenans. They began that was 30 meters high and 37
construct hectares at the base. Eighty
other mounds have been found
ing earthen burial sites and
nearby.
forti fications around 600
B.C. Some mounds from Cities such as Cahokia depend
that era are in the shape of ed on a combination of
birds or serpents; they hunting, foraging, trading, and
probably served religious agriculture for their food and
purposes not yet fully supplies. Influ enced by the
understood. thriving societies to the south,
they evolved into complex hi
 erarchical societies that took ravaged whole communities and
slaves and practiced human is thought to have been a much
sacrifice. more direct cause of the
precipitous decline in the Indian
materials made food supplies population in the 1600s than the
plentiful and permanent villages numerous wars and skir mishes
pos sible as early as 1,000 B.C. with European settlers. Indian
The opu lence of their “potlatch” customs and culture at the time
gatherings remains a standard were extraordinarily diverse, as
for extravagance and festivity could be expected, given the ex
probably unmatched in early panse of the land and the many
American history. dif ferent environments to which
they had adapted. Some
NATIVE- generalizations, however, are
AMERICAN possible. Most tribes,
CULTURES particularly in the wooded
eastern region and the Midwest,
combined aspects of hunting,
The America that greeted the gathering, and the cultivation of
first Europeans was, thus, far maize and other products for
from an empty wilderness. It is their food supplies. In many
now thought that as many cases, the women were
people lived in the Western responsible for farming and the
Hemisphere as in West ern distribution of food, while the
Europe at that time — about 40 men hunted and participated in
million. Estimates of the number war. By all accounts, Native-
of Native Americans living in American society in North
what is now the United States at America was closely tied to the
the onset of European land. Identification with nature
colonization range from two to and the elements was
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,
 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

8
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
maintained extensive and
formal relations — both
friendly and
groups and strong evidence hostile.
exists that neighboring tribes
recounting of tales and
dreams. Clearly, there was a
good deal of trade among
various
failed to reveal the gold or French as a threat to their trade
treasure his men sought. route along the Gulf Stream, de
However, his par ty did leave the stroyed the colony in 1565.
peoples of the re gion a Ironical ly, the leader of the
remarkable, if unintended, gift: Spanish forces, Pedro
Enough of his horses escaped to Menéndez, would soon estab
transform life on the Great lish a town not far away — St.
Plains. Within a few generations, Au gustine. It was the first
the Plains Indians had become permanent
masters of horsemanship, greatly
expanding the range of their
activities. European settlement in what
While the Spanish were pushing would become the United
up from the south, the northern States.
por tion of the present-day The great wealth that poured
United States was slowly being into Spain from the colonies
revealed through the journeys of in Mexico, the Caribbean,
men such as Giovan ni da and Peru provoked great
Verrazano. A interest on the part of the
Florentine who sailed for the other European powers.
French, Verrazano made landfall Emerging mari time nations
in North Carolina in 1524, then such as England, drawn in
sailed north along the At lantic part by Francis Drake’s
Coast past what is now New success ful raids on Spanish
York harbor. treasure ships, began to take
Adecade later, the an interest in the New World.
Frenchman Jacques Cartier set In 1578 Humphrey Gilbert,
sail with the hope — like the the author of a treatise on the
other Europeans before him — search for the Northwest
of finding a sea passage to Asia. Passage, received a patent
Cartier’s expeditions along the from Queen Elizabeth to
St. Lawrence River laid the colonize the
founda tion for the French “heathen and barba rous
claims to North America, which landes” in the New World
were to last until 1763. that other European nations
Following the collapse of their had not yet claimed. It would
first Quebec colony in the be five years before his
1540s, French Huguenots efforts could begin. When he
attempted to set tle the northern was lost at sea, his half-
coast of Florida two decades brother, Walter Raleigh, took
later. The Spanish, viewing the up the mission.
In 1585 Raleigh established rations. Many died of
the first British colony in disease, ships were often
North Amer ica, on Roanoke battered by storms, and some
Island off the coast of North were lost at sea.
Carolina. It was later aban Most European emigrants
doned, and a second effort left their homelands to
two years later also proved a escape political oppression,
failure. It would be 20 years to seek the freedom to
before the British would try practice their
again. This time — at religion, or to find op
Jamestown in 1607 — the portunities denied them at
colony would succeed, and home. Between 1620 and
North America would enter a 1635,
new era.
from Europe to North America.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS Spanning more than three
centuries,
T he early 1600s saw the begin this movement grew from a
trickle ning of a great tide of emigration
10
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
of a few hundred English economic difficulties swept
colonists to a flood of millions England. Many people could
of newcomers. Impelled by not find work. Even skilled
powerful and diverse artisans could earn little
motivations, they built a new more than a bare living. Poor
civi lization on the northern part crop yields added to the
of the continent. distress. In ad dition, the
The first English immigrants to Commercial Revolution had
what is now the United States created a burgeoning textile
crossed the Atlantic long after industry, which demanded an
thriv ing Spanish colonies had ever increasing supply of
been estab lished in Mexico, the wool to keep the looms
West Indies, and South running. Landlords en closed
America. Like all early farmlands and evicted the
travelers to the New World, peasants in favor of sheep
they came in small, cultiva tion. Colonial
overcrowded ships. During expansion became an outlet
their six- to 12-week voy for this displaced peasant
ages, they lived on meager population.
The colonists’ first glimpse of Kennebec, Hudson, Delaware,
the new land was a vista of Susquehanna, Potomac, and
dense CHAPTER 1: EARLY
woods. The settlers might not AMERICA
have survived had it not been for
the help of friendly Indians, who
taught them how to grow Political considerations influ
native plants — pumpkin, enced many people to move to
squash, beans, and corn. In America. In the 1630s, arbitrary
addition, the vast, virgin forests, rule by England’s Charles I gave
extending nearly 2,100 impetus to the migration. The
kilometers along the Eastern subsequent re volt and triumph
seaboard, proved a rich source of Charles’ oppo nents under
of game and firewood. They also Oliver Cromwell in the 1640s
provided abundant raw materials led many cavaliers — “king’s
used to build houses, fur niture, men” — to cast their lot in
ships, and profitable items for Virginia. In the German-
export. speaking regions of Europe, the
Although the new continent was oppressive policies of various
remarkably endowed by nature, petty princes — particularly with
trade with Europe was vital for regard to religion — and the
ar ticles the settlers could not devastation caused by a long
produce. The coast served the series of wars helped swell the
immigrants well. The whole movement to America in the late
length of shore pro vided many 17th and 18th centuries.
inlets and harbors. Only two The journey entailed careful
areas — North Carolina and planning and management, as
southern New Jersey — lacked well as considerable expense
har bors for ocean-going vessels. and risk. Settlers had to be
Majestic rivers — the transported nearly 5,000
kilometers across the sea. They
needed
numerous others — linked lands and the formidable barrier of
utensils,
the between the coast and the Appalachian Mountains discourclothing,
Appalachian Mountains with the aged settlement beyondseed, the
sea. Only one river, however, the coastal plain. Only trappers
tools,
and St. Lawrence — dominated by traders ventured intobuildingthe
the French in Canada — offered wilderness. For the first materials,
hundred a water passage to the Great years the colonists built
livestock,
their Lakes and the heart of the settlements compactly along
arms, and
the continent. Dense forests, the coast.
resistance of some Indian tribes,
ammunition. In contrast to the as the dominant figure.
colonization policies of other Despite quarrels, starvation,
coun tries and other periods, the and Native-American
emigra tion from England was attacks, his ability to enforce
11 disci pline held the little
not directly sponsored by colony together through its
the government but by first year.
private groups of In 1609 Smith returned to Eng
individuals whose chief land, and in his absence, the
motive was profit. colony descended into anarchy.
During the winter of 1609-1610,
JAMESTOWN the majority of the colonists
succumbed to disease. Only 60
The first of the British of the original 300 settlers were
colonies to take hold in still alive by May 1610. That
North America was same year, the town of Henrico
Jamestown. On the basis of (now Richmond) was
a char ter which King James established farther up the James
I granted to the Virginia (or River.
London) Company, a group It was not long, however, before
of about 100 men set out for a development occurred that
the Chesapeake Bay in revo lutionized Virginia’s
1607. tobacco seed from the West
Seeking to avoid conflict with Indies with native plants and
the Spanish, produced a new variety that was
pleasing to European taste. The
first shipment of this tobacco
reached London in 1614. Within
they chose a site about 60 a decade it had become
kilometers up the James Virginia’s chief source of
River from the bay. Made up revenue.
of townsmen and ad Prosperity did not come
venturers more interested in quickly, however, and the
finding gold than farming, death rate from disease and
the group was unequipped Indian attacks remained
by temperament or abil ity extraordinarily high.
to embark upon a Between 1607 and 1624
completely new life in the approximately 14,000 peo
wilderness. Among them, ple migrated to the colony, yet
Captain John Smith emerged
economy. In 1612 John Rolfe reformed — departed for
began cross-breed ing imported Leyden, Holland, where the
Dutch granted them asylum.
12 However, the Calvinist Dutch
re stricted them mainly to low-
paid la boring jobs. Some
1,132 were living there in members of the congregation
1624. On recommendation of a grew dissatisfied with this
royal commis sion, the king discrimination and resolved to
dissolved the Virginia emigrate to the New World. In
Company, and made it a royal 1620, a group of Leyden Puri
colony that year. tans secured a land patent from
the Virginia Company.
MASSACHUSETTS Numbering 101, they set out
for
During the religious upheavals Virginia on theMa
of the 16th century, a body of flower. A storm sent them far
men and women called north and they landed in New
Puritans sought to reform the England on Cape Cod.
Established Church of England Believing themselves outside
from within. Essentially, they the jurisdiction of any orga
demanded that the rituals and nized government, the
structures associated with men drafted a formal
Roman Catholicism be agreement to abide by “just
replaced by simpler Calvinist and equal laws” drafted
Protestant forms of faith and by leaders of their own
worship. Their reformist ideas, choosing. This was
by destroying the unity of the the
state church, threatened to Mayflower
divide the people and to Compact. In
undermine royal authority. December the
In 1607 a small group of Sepa Maflower reached
only Plymouth harbor; the Pil
grims began to build their
settle ment during the
winter. Nearly half the
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY colonists died of exposure
ratists — a radical sect of Puritans and disease, but
who did not believe the neighboring Wampa noag
Established Church could ever be Indians provided the
informa tion that would
 sustain them: how to grow accordance with their
maize. By the next fall, the religious beliefs and set an
Pilgrims had a plentiful crop example for all of
of corn, and a growing trade Christendom.
based on furs and lumber. The Massachusetts Bay Colony
A new wave of immigrants ar was to play a significant role in
rived on the shores of the development of the entire
Massachusetts Bay in 1630 New Eng land region, in part
bearing a grant from King because Win throp and his
Charles I to establish a colony. Puritan colleagues were able to
Many of them were Puritans bring their charter with them.
whose religious practices were Thus the authority for the col
increasingly prohibited in ony’s government resided in
England. Their leader, John Massa chusetts, not in England.
Winthrop, urged them to cre Under the charter’s provisions,
ate a “city upon a hill” in the power rested with the General
New World — a place where Court, which was made up of
they would live in strict “free-
CHAPTER 1: EARLY Hutchinson, chal lenged key
AMERICA 13 doctrines of Puritan the
ology. Both they and their
followers were banished.
men” required to be members of Williams purchased land from
the Puritan, or Congregational, the Narragansett Indians in what
Church. This guaranteed that the is now Providence, Rhode
Puritans would be the dominant Island, in 1636. In 1644, a
political as well as religious sympathetic Puri
force in the colony. The General tan-controlled English
Court elected the gov ernor, who Parliament gave him the charter
for most of the next gen eration that established Rhode Island as
would be John Winthrop. The a distinct colony where complete
rigid orthodoxy of the Pu ritan separation of church and state as
rule was not to everyone’s lik well as freedom of reli gion was
ing. One of the first to challenge practiced.
the General Court openly was a So-called heretics like Williams
young clergyman named Roger were not the only ones who left
Williams, who objected to the Mas sachusetts. Orthodox
colony’s seizure of Indian lands Puritans, seek ing better lands
and advocated sepa ration of and opportunities, soon began
church and state. Another leaving Massachusetts Bay
dissenter, Anne Colony. News of the fertility of
 the Connecticut River Valley, Company, Henry Hudson in
for in stance, attracted the 1609 explored the area around
interest of farm ers having a what is now New York City and
difficult time with poor land. the river that bears his name, to
By the early 1630s, many were a point prob ably north of
ready to brave the danger of present-day Albany, New York.
Indian attack to obtain level Subsequent Dutch voy ages laid
ground and the basis for their claims and
early settlements in the area. As
with the French to the north, the
deep, rich soil. These new first interest of the Dutch was
commu nities often eliminated the fur trade. To this end, they
church mem bership as a cultivated close relations with
prerequisite for voting, thereby the Five Nations of the Iroquois,
extending the franchise to ever who were the key to the
larger numbers of men. At the heartland from which the furs
same time, other settle ments came. In 1617 Dutch settlers
began cropping up along the built a fort at the junction of the
New Hampshire and Maine Hudson and the Mohawk
coasts, as more and more Rivers, where Al bany now
stands.
14
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
immigrants sought the land and Settlement on the island of
liberty the New World seemed to Man hattan began in the early
offer. 1620s. In 1624, the island was
purchased from local Native
NEW NETHERLAND Americans for the re ported price
AND MARYLAND of $24. It was promptly renamed
New Amsterdam.
Hired by the Dutch East India In order to attract settlers to the
Hudson River region, the
Dutch en
couraged a type of feudal could bring 50 adults to his
aristocra cy, known as the es tate over a four-year
“patroon” system. The first of period was giv en a 25-
these huge estates were kilometer river-front plot,
established in 1630 along the exclusive fishing and
Hud son River. Under the hunting privi leges, and civil
patroon sys tem, any and criminal juris diction
stockholder, or patroon, who over his lands. In turn, he
 the Potomac River flows into the By 1640 the British had solid
Chesa peake Bay. colonies established along the
While establishing a refuge for
New England coast and the
Catholics, who faced increasing
Chesapeake Bay. In between
per secution in Anglican were
the Dutch and the tiny
England, the Calverts were also
Swedish community. To the west
interested in cre ating
profitable were the
original Americans,
estates. To this
end, then called
Indians.
and to avoidtroublewith the
Sometimes friendly, sometimes
British government, they
also hostile, the Eastern
tribes were
encouraged Protestant
no longer strangers to the
immigration.
Europeans. Although Native
Maryland’s royal charter had
Americans ben efited from
a mixture of feudal and
modern access to new
technol ogy and
elements. On the one hand
the trade, the disease and
thirst for
Calvert family had the
power to land that the early
settlers also
create manorial
estates. On the
brought posed a
serious
oth
challenge to their
er, they could only make
COLONIAL-INDIAN
RELATIONS
prevailed during the first half 50 representatives from
century of Pennsylvania’s exis each of the five member
tence. On the other were a long tribes. The council dealt
series of setbacks, skirmishes, with matters common to all
and wars, which almost the tribes, but it had no say
invariably resulted in an Indian in how the free and equal
defeat and further loss of land. tribes ran their day to-day
The first of the important Native affairs. No tribe was
American uprisings occurred in allowed to make war by
Vir ginia in 1622, when some itself. The council passed
347 whites were killed, laws to deal with crimes
including a number of such as murder.
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 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
 mous decision on whom to
go support. Member tribes made
ing to war, or moving and coming their own de
into conflict with other tribes to

16The steady influx of settlers OUTLINE OF U.S.

The British might not have won HISTORY
intothe Iroquois.the
cisions, some fighting with the Their losses were
Brit ish, some with the great
backwoods and the league never
colonists, some remaining recovered.
regions of that
neutral. As a result, ev eryone
war otherwise.
thefought colonies disrupted SECOND GENERATION
Easternagainst
The Iroquois League stayed
Native-American life. As
more strong until the
American Revolu
and more game was killed
off, tion. Then, for the first
time, the
tribes were faced
with the council could
not reach a unani
difficult choice of going hungry,
The Iroquois League was a strong
power in the 1600s and 170The
religious and civil conflict in
England in the mid-17th century
limited immigration, as New York,
New Jersey, Delaware, and
Pennsylvania. The Dutch
settlements had been ruled by
autocratic governors ap pointed in
Europe. Over the years, the
Indian slaves. With time, buffer against Spanish
however, timber, rice, and incursion. But it had another
indigo gave the col ony a unique quality: The man
worthier economic base. charged with Georgia’s
In 1681 William Penn, a fortifications, General James
wealthy Quaker and friend of Oglethorpe, was a reformer who
Charles II, re ceived a large tract deliberately set out to create a
of land west of the Delaware
River, which became known as
Pennsylvania. To help populate refuge where the poor and
it, Penn actively recruited a host former prisoners would be
of religious dissenters from given new opportunities.
England and the continent —
Quak ers, Mennonites, Amish, SETTLERS,
Moravians, and Baptists. SLAVES, AND
When Penn arrived the follow SERVANTS
ing year, there were already
Dutch, Swedish, and English
settlers liv ing along the Men and women with little
Delaware River. It was there he active interest in a new life
founded Philadelphia, the “City in America were often
of Brotherly Love.” induced to make the move to
the New
In keeping with his faith, Penn
was motivated by a sense of World by the skillful per
equal ity not often found in suasion of promoters.
other Amer ican colonies at the William Penn, for example,
time. Thus, women in publicized the oppor tunities
Pennsylvania had rights long awaiting newcomers to the
before they did in other parts of Pennsylvania colony. Judges
America. Penn and his deputies and prison authorities
also paid considerable attention offered convicts a chance to
to the colony’s relations with the migrate to colonies like
Del aware Indians, ensuring that Georgia instead of serving
they were paid for land on prison sentences.
which the Eu ropeans settled. But few colonists could
Georgia was settled in 1732, the finance the cost of passage
last of the 13 colonies to be for themselves and their
established. Lying close to, if families to make a start in
not actually inside the the new land. In some cases,
boundaries of Spanish Florida, ships’ cap tains received
the region was viewed as a large rewards from the sale
 of service contracts for poor homesteads, either in the
mi grants, called indentured colonies in which they had
servants, and every method originally settled or in
from extravagant promises neighboring ones. No social stig
to actual kidnapping was ma was attached to a family that
used to take on as many had its beginning in America
passengers as their vessels under this semi-bondage. Every
could hold. colony had its share of leaders
In other cases, the expenses who were former in dentured
of transportation and servants.
maintenance were paid by There was one very important
colonizing agencies like the exception to this pattern:
Virginia or Massachusetts African slaves. The first black
Bay Companies. In return, Africans were brought to
indentured servants agreed Virginia in 1619, just 12 years
to work for the agen after the founding of James
for four to seven years. Free at sometimes including a
small the end of this term, they would tract of land. be
given “free dom dues,”

18
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
town. Initially, many were
cies as contract laborers, usually
regarded as indentured servants
Perhaps half the settlers living
who could earn their freedom.
in the colonies south of New
By the 1660s, however, as the
England came to America under
demand for planta tion labor in
this system. Although most of
the Southern colonies grew, the
them fulfilled their obligations
institution of slavery be gan to
faithfully, some ran away from
harden around them, and Af
their employers. Never theless,
ricans were brought to America
many of them were eventu ally
in shackles for a lifetime of
able to secure land and set up
involuntary servitude. 9
19 CHAPTER 1: EARLY AMERICA

THE ENDURING MYSTERY OF THE ANASAZI

Time-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
villages 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,
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
Major Native American cultural groupings,
A.D. 500-1300.
21
Mayflower Compact
aboard ship, 1620.
CHAPTER 2: THE COLONIAL PERIOD

“What then is the

American, this new man?”

American author and agriculturist

J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, 1782

Most 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
NEW PEOPLES Carolina and
elsewhere, slaves from Africa,
primarily in the
South, and ascattering of
Spaniards, Italians, and the American population had
Portuguese throughout the risen to a quarter of a million.
colonies. From then on, it doubled every
After 1680 England ceased to be 25 years until, in 1775, it
the chief source of immigration, numbered more than 2.5
sup planted by Scots and million. Although families occa
“Scots-Irish” (Protestants from sionally moved from one colony
Northern Ire land). In addition, to another, distinctions between
tens of thousands of refugees indi vidual colonies were
fled northwestern Eu rope to marked. They
escape war, oppression, and
absentee-landlordism. By 1690
 were even more so among the promoted trade, and the sea
three regional groupings of became a source of great
colonies. wealth. In Massachusetts, the
cod industry alone quickly
NEW ENGLAND furnished a basis for prosperity.
England colonies had generally With the bulk of the early
thin, stony soil, relatively little settlers living in villages and
level land, and long winters, towns around the harbors, many
making it difficult to make a New
living from farming. Turn ing to England ers carried on some
other pursuits, the New Eng kind of trade or business.
landers harnessed waterpower Common pastureland and
and established grain mills and woodlots served the needs of
saw mills. Good stands of towns people, who worked small
timber en couraged farms
shipbuilding. Excellent harbors
nearby. Compactness made Massachusetts Bay laid the foun
possible the village school, the dation for a trade that was to
village church, and the village or grow steadily in importance. By
town hall, where citizens met to colony
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

The northeastern New

24
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
from the Northeastern forests.
Building their own vessels and
sailing them to ports all over the
world, the shipmasters 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
was Philadelphia, a city of broad,
population along the Hudson tree-shaded streets,
substantial
River included Dutch, French, brick and stone houses, and
Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, busy docks. By the end of the
English, Scots, Irish, Germans, colonial period, nearly a
century
Poles, Bohemians, Portuguese, later, 30,000 people lived
there,
and Italians. The Dutch representing many lan guages,
continued to exercise an creeds, and trades. Their tal ent
important social and economic for successful business
influence on enterprise made the city one of

25
CHAPTER 2: THE
COLONIAL PERIOD
merchants gave Manhattan
much of its original bustling,
commercial atmosphere.
the New York region long after
the fall of New Netherland and
THE SOUTHERN
their in tegration into the British
sharp-stepped gable roofs COLONIES In contrast to New
colonial system. Their
became a permanent part of the England and the middle
city’s architecture, and their colonies, the Southern colonies
moved into the colony in the source of prosperity. Dense
early 18th century. “Bold and forests brought revenue:
indi gent strangers,” as one Lumber, tar, and resin from the
Pennsylvania official called longleaf pine provided some of
them, they hated the English and the best shipbuilding materials in
were suspicious of all
government. The Scots-Irish
tended to settle in the the world. Not bound to a single
backcountry, where they cleared crop as was Virginia, North and
land and lived by hunt ing and South Carolina also produced
subsistence farming. New York and exported rice and indigo, a
best illustrated the polyglot blue dye obtained from native
nature of America. By 1646 the plants that was used in coloring
were predominantly rural fabric. By 1750 more than
settlements. 100,000 people lived in the two
By the late 17th century, Virgin colonies of North and South
ia’s and Maryland’s economic Caroli na. Charleston, South
and social structure rested on Carolina, was the region’s
the great planters and the leading port and trading center.
yeoman farmers. The planters of In the southernmost colonies,
the Tidewater re gion, supported as everywhere else,
by slave labor, held most of the population growth in the
political power and the best backcountry had special sig
land. They built great houses, nificance. German
adopted an aristocratic way of immigrants and Scots-Irish,
life, and kept in touch as best unwilling to live in the
they could with the world of original Tidewater
culture overseas. settlements where English
The yeoman farmers, who influence was strong, pushed
worked smaller tracts, sat in inland. Those who could not
popular assem blies and found secure fertile land along the
their way into political office. coast, or who had exhausted
Their outspoken independence the lands they held, found the
was a constant warning to the hills farther west a bountiful
oligar chy of planters not to refuge. Although their
encroach too far upon the rights hardships were enormous,
of free men. restless settlers kept coming;
The settlers of the Carolinas by the 1730s they were
quickly learned to combine pouring into the Shenan doah
agricul ture and commerce, and
the mar ketplace became a major
Valley of Virginia. Soon the were obliged to liberalize
in terior was dotted with political policies, land grant
farms. Living on the edge of requirements, and religious
Native American country, practices by the threat of a
frontier families built cabins, mass exo dus to the frontier.
cleared the wilderness, and Of equal significance for the
cultivated maize and wheat. future were the foundations
The men wore leather made of American education and
from the skin of deer or culture es tablished during
sheep, known as buckskin; the colonial period. Harvard
the women wore gar ments College was founded in 1636
of cloth they spun at home. in Cambridge,
Their food consisted of Massachusetts. Near the end
venison, wild turkey, and of the century, the College of
fish. They had their own William and Mary was
amusements: great established in Virginia. A few
barbecues, dances, years later, the Collegiate
housewarmings for newly School of Connecticut, later
to
26
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
married couples, shooting become Yale University, was
matches, and contests for chartered.
making quilted Even more noteworthy was
blankets. Quilt-making remains the growth of a school
an American tradition today. system main tained by
governmental authority. The
SOCIETY, Puritan emphasis on reading
SCHOOLS, AND directly from the Scriptures
CULTURE under scored the importance
of literacy.
In 1647 the Massachusetts
A significant factor deterring Bay
the emergence of a powerful Colony enacted the “ye olde
aristocratic or gentry class in deluder Satan” Act,
the colonies was the ability requiring every town having
of anyone in an estab lished more than 50 families to
colony to find a new home establish a grammar school
on the (a Latin school to prepare
frontier. Time after time, students for college).
domi nant Tidewater figures Shortly thereafter, all the other
New Eng science; there were also night
land colonies, except for Rhode schools for adults. Women were
Is land, followed its example. not entirely overlooked, but their
The Pilgrims and Puritans had edu cational opportunities were
limited to training in activities
prosperous Philadelphians in singing, grammar, that
French, music, dancing, painting, sometimescould be
bookkeeping.
brought their own little librar ies conducted in the home. Private
and continued to import books teachers instructed the daughters
from London. And as early as of CHAPTER 2: THE
the 1680s, Boston booksellers COLONIAL PERIOD
were do ing a thriving business
in works of classical literature,
history, politics, philosophy, In the 18th century, the intel
science, theology, and belles- lectual and cultural development
lettres. In 1638 the first print ing of Pennsylvania reflected, in
press in the English colonies and large measure, the vigorous
the second in North America was personalities of two men: James
in stalled at Harvard College. Logan and Benja min Franklin.
The first school in Logan was secretary of the
Pennsylvania was begun in colony, and it was in his fine li
1683. It taught reading, writing, brary that young Franklin found
and keeping of accounts. the latest scientific works. In
Thereafter, in some fashion, 1745 Logan erected a building
every Quaker community for his collection and bequeathed
provided for the elementary both building and books to the
teaching of its children. More city.
advanced training — in classi cal Franklin contributed even more
languages, history, and literature to the intellectual activity of
— was offered at the Friends Phila delphia. He formed a
Public School, which still debating club that became the
operates in Phila delphia as the embryo of the American
William Penn Charter School. Philosophical Society. His
The school was free to the poor, endeavors also led to the
but parents were required to pay founding of a public academy
tuition if they were able. that later devel oped into the
In Philadelphia, numerous University of Penn sylvania. He
private schools with no religious was a prime mover in the
affiliation taught languages, establishment of a subscription
mathematics, and natural library, which he called “the
mother of all North American minister, the Reverend Cot ton
subscription libraries.” Mather, wrote some 400
In the Southern colonies, works. His masterpiece,
wealthy planters and merchants MagnaliaChristi
imported pri vate tutors from Americana, presented
Ireland or Scotland to teach their the pag eant of New
children. Some sent their England’s history. The most
children to school in England. popular single work of the
Having these other opportunities, day was the Reverend
the upper classes in the Michael Wiggles worth’s long
Tidewater were not interested in poem, “The Day of Doom,”
supporting pub lic education. In which described the Last
addition, the diffu sion of farms Judgment in terrifying terms.
and plantations made the In 1704 Cambridge,
27 Massachu setts, launched
formation of community the colonies’ first successful
schools difficult. There were newspaper. By 1745 there
only a few free schools in were 22 newspapers being
Virginia. published in British North
The desire for learning America.
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
 In New York, an important Philadelphia and then moved on
step in establishing the to New England. He enthralled
principle of free dom of the audiences of up to 20,000 people
at a
Peter Zenger, whose New into prison on a charge of
time
York Weekl seditious libel. Zenger continued with
Journal, begun in 1733, to edit his paper from jail during
represented the opposition to his nine
the government. After two years month trial, which excited
intense of publication, the colonial interest throughout the
colonies. governor could no longer Andrew Hamilton, the
prominent
tolerate Zenger’s sa lawyer who defended Zenger, tirical barbs,
and had him thrown argued

28
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
press took place with the case histrionic displays, ges tures, and
of John that the charges emotional oratory. Reli gious
printed by Zenger were true turmoil swept throughout New
and hence not libelous. The England and the middle colonies
jury returned a verdict of not as ministers left established
guilty, and Zenger went free. churches to preach the revival.
The increasing prosperity of Edwards was the most
the towns prompted fears that prominent of those
the dev il was luring society influenced by
into pursuit of worldly gain Whitefield and the Great
and may have contrib uted to Awakening. His most
the religious reaction of the memorable contribution was
1730s, known as the Great his 1741 sermon, “Sinners in
Awaken ing. Its two the Hands of an Angry God.”
immediate sources were Rejecting theat
George Whitefield, a rics, he delivered his message in
Wesleyan re vivalist who a quiet, thoughtful manner,
arrived from England in arguing that the established
1739, and Jonathan Edwards, churches sought to deprive
who served the Christianity of its func tion of
Congregational Church in redemption from sin. His
Northampton, Massachusetts. magnum opus, Of
Whitefield began a religious Freedom of Will
re vival in
(1754), attempted to reconcile striking feature was the lack
Cal vinism with the of controlling influence by
Enlightenment. The Great the English
Awakening gave rise to government. All colonies ex
evangelical denominations cept Georgia emerged as
(those companies of shareholders,
Christian churches that believe or as feudal propri etorships
in personal conversion and the stemming from charters
iner rancy of the Bible) and the granted by the Crown. The
spirit of revivalism, which fact that the king had
continue to play significant transferred his immedi ate
roles in American reli gious and sovereignty over the New
cultural life. It weakened the companies and proprietors
status of the established clergy did not, of course, mean that
and provoked believers to rely the colonists in America
on their own conscience. were necessarily free of
Perhaps most important, it led outside control. Under the
to the proliferation of sects and terms of the Virginia
denominations, which in turn Company charter, for
encouraged general accep tance example, full governmental
of the principle of religious authority was vested in the
toleration. company itself.
Nevertheless, the crown
EMERGENCE OF expected that the com pany
COLONIAL would be resident in
GOVERNMENT England. Inhabitants of Virginia,
then, would have no more voice
In the early phases of in their govern ment than if the
colonial de velopment, a king himself had retained
World settlements to stock authorities in London. In one
way or another, exclusive rule
from the outside withered away.
CHAPTER 2: THE COLONIAL
The colonists — inheritors of the
PERIOD
long English tradition of the
struggle for political liberty —
Still, the colonies considered incorporated concepts of
themselves chiefly as common freedom into Virginia’s first
wealths or states, much like charter. It provided that Eng lish
England itself, having only a colonists were to exercise all
loose association with the liberties, franchises, and immuni
ties “as if they had been abiding
and born within this our Realm Carolina, and the proprietors in
of Eng land.” They were, then, to New Jersey specified that
enjoy the benefits of the Magna legislation should be enacted
Carta — the charter of English with “the consent of the
political and civ il liberties freemen.”
granted by King John in 1215 — In New England, for many years,
and the common law — the there was even more complete
English system of law based on self government than in the other
legal precedents or tradition, not col onies. Aboard the
statutory law. In 1618 the Maflower, the Pilgrims
absolute rule. adopted an instrument for
government called the
29 “Mayflower Compact,” to
“combine ourselves to gether
Virginia Company issued
into a civil body politic for our
instructions to its appointed
better ordering and
governor providing that free
preservation ... and by virtue
inhab itants of the plantations
hereof [to] enact, con stitute, and
should elect representatives to
frame such just and equal laws,
join with the gov ernor and an
ordinances, acts, constitutions,
appointive council in passing
and offices ... as shall be thought
ordinances for the welfare of
most meet and
the colony.
convenient for the general good
These measures proved to be
of the colony....”
some of the most far-reaching in
Although there was no legal self-
the entire colonial period. From
government, the action was not
then on, it was generally
contested, and, under the
accepted that the colonists had a
com pact, the Plymouth settlers
right to participate in their own
were able for many years to
government. In most in stances,
conduct their own affairs
the king, in making future
without outside interference.
grants, provided in the charter
A similar situation developed in
that the free men of the colony
the Massachusetts Bay
should have a voice in
Company, which had been given
legislation affecting them. Thus,
the right to govern itself. Thus,
charters awarded to the
full authority rested in the hands
of persons re siding in the
colony. At first, the dozen or so
Calverts in Maryland, William original members of the
Penn in Pennsylvania, the company who had come to
proprietors in North and South America attempted to rule
autocratically. But the other voice in public affairs and indi
colonists soon demanded a cated that refusal would lead to a
mass migration.
basis for the Pilgrims to establish rep resentation so insistently
a system of that the au thorities soon
yielded.
30 In the mid-17th century, the
English were too distracted by
their Civil War (1642-49) and
ed, and control of the Oliver Cromwell’s Puritan
government passed to elected Com monwealth to pursue an
representatives. Subsequently, effective colonial policy. After
other New England colonies the restora tion of Charles II
— such as Connecticut and and the Stuart dynasty in 1660,
Rhode Island — also England had more opportunity
succeeded in becoming self- to attend to colonial
governing simply by asserting administration. Even then, how
that they were beyond any ever, it was inefficient and
governmental authority, and lacked a coherent plan. The
then setting up their own colonies were
political sys tem modeled after left largely to their own
that of the Pil grims at devices.
Plymouth. The remoteness afforded
In only two cases was the self by a vast ocean also made
government provision omitted. control of the colo nies
These were New York, which difficult. Added to this was
was granted to Charles II’s the character of life itself in
brother, the Duke of York early Amer ica. From
(later to become King James countries limited in
II), and The company space and dotted with
members yield populous towns,
the settlers had come to a
land of seemingly
unending reach. On such a
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY continent, natural
Georgia, which was granted to a conditions pro moted a
group of “trustees.” In both tough individualism, as
instances the provisions for people became used to
governance were short-lived, for making their own
the colonists demanded legislative decisions. Government
pene trated the
 backcountry only slowly, and The English Bill of Rights and
conditions of anarchy often the Toleration Act of 1689
pre vailed on the frontier. affirmed
Yet the assumption of self-gov “liberties.” Their leverage
31
CHAPTER 2: THE
COLONIAL PERIOD
rights of life, liberty,
and property, had the right to
reb el when governments
violated their
freedom of worship for Christians
rights.
in the colonies as well as in
By the early 18thcentury,
England and enforced limits
on almost all the colonies
had been
the Crown. Equally important,
John Locke’s
Second broughtjurisdiction ofunderthe Britishthe
Crown,direct
Treatiseon but under the rules established Government(1690),
by the Glorious Revolu the Glorious Revolution’s major tion.
Colonial governors sought
theoretical justification, set
forth to exercise powers that
the king
a theory of government
based had lost in
England, but the
not on divine right but on
colonial as semblies, aware
of
contract. It contended
that the events there, at
tempted to
people, endowed with natural
assert their “rights” and
Massachusetts Bay. The other
unwritten “con stitution” of the Na tive American tribes in
colonies. In this way, the colonial Canada and along the Great
legislatures asserted the right of Lakes. It controlled the
self-government. Mississippi River and, by
estab lishing a line of forts
THE FRENCH AND and trading posts, had
marked out a great cres
32
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
cent-shaped empire
stretching from Quebec to
INDIAN WAR
New Orleans. The British
remained confined to the
France and Britain engaged in narrow belt east of the
a succession of wars in Europe Appalachian Moun tains.
and the Caribbean throughout Thus the French threatened
the 18th century. Though not only the British Empire
Britain secured certain but also the American
advantages — primarily in the colonists themselves, for in
sugar-rich islands of the Carib holding the Mississippi
bean — the struggles were Valley, France could limit
generally indecisive, and their westward expansion.
France remained in a powerful An armed clash took place in
position in North Ameri ca. By 1754 at Fort Duquesne, the site
1754, France still had a strong where
relationship with a number of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is now with the Iro quois in Albany,
lo cated, between a band of New York, in order to improve
French reg ulars and Virginia relations with them and secure
militiamen under the command their loyalty to the British. But
of 22-year-old George the delegates also declared a
Washington, a Virginia planter union of the American colonies
and surveyor. The British “ab solutely necessary for their
government attempted to deal preserva tion” and adopted a
with the conflict by calling a proposal drafted by Benjamin
meeting of representa tives from Franklin. The Albany Plan of
New York, Pennsylvania, Union provided for a pres ident
Maryland, and the New England appointed by the king and a
colonies. From June 19 to July grand council of delegates
10, 1754, the Albany Congress, chosen by the assemblies, with
as it came to be known, met each colony to be represented in
proportion to its financial Britain was now compelled to
contributions to the gen eral face a problem that it had
treasury. This body would have hitherto ne glected, the
charge of defense, Native governance of its em pire.
American relations, and trade London thought it essential to
and settlement of the west. Most organize its now vast
importantly, it would have possessions to facilitate defense,
independent authority to levy reconcile the diver gent interests
taxes. But none of the colonies of different areas and peoples,
accepted the plan, since they and distribute more evenly the
were not prepared to surrender cost of imperial administration.
either the power of taxation or In North America alone, British
control over the development of territories had more than
the western lands to a central doubled. A population that had
authority. been predom inantly Protestant
England’s superior strategic posi and English now included
tion and her competent French-speaking Catholics from
leadership ultimately brought Quebec, and large numbers of
victory in the conflict with partly Christianized Native
France, known as the French Ameri cans. Defense and
and Indian War in Ameri ca and administration of the new
the Seven Years’ War in Eu rope. territories, as well as of the old,
Only a modest portion of it was would require huge sums of
fought in the Western money and increased personnel.
Hemisphere. In the Peace of The old colonial system was
Paris (1763), France obviously inadequate to these
relinquished all of Canada, the tasks. Measures to establish a
Great Lakes, and the territory new one, however, would rouse
east of the Mississippi to the the latent suspicions of colonials
Brit ish. The dream of a French who increasingly would see
empire in North America was Britain as no longer a protector
over. of their rights, but rather a
Having triumphed over France, danger to them. 9
33
CHAPTER 2: THE COLONIAL PERIOD
AN EXCEPTIONAL NATION?

The 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.

34
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY

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.” 

35
CHAPTER 2: THE COLONIAL PERIOD
 Map depicting the English colonies and western territories, 1763-
1775.
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
43 Artist’s depiction of the first
shots of the
American Revolution, fired at
Lexington, Massachusetts, on
April 19, 1775. Local militia
confronted British troops
marching to seize

Above: Surrender of Lord Cornwallis and the British army to

American and French forces commanded by George
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 virtuesThe protest against
 British taxes
known as the
“Boston Tea
Party,” 1773.
CHAPTER 3: THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE

“The Revolution was effected before the

war commenced. The
Revolution was in the hearts and minds of
the people.”
Former President John Adams, 1818
Throughout the 18th century, the to the interests of both
maturing British North French Canadians and North
American colonies inevitably American Indians. The
forged a distinct identity. They colonies, on the other hand,
grew vastly in eco nomic long accustomed to a large
strength and cultural attain ment; measure of independence, ex
virtually all had long years of pected more, not less,
self-government behind them. In freedom. And, with the
the 1760s their combined pop French menace eliminated,
ulation exceeded 1,500,000 — a they felt far less need for a
six-fold increase since 1700. strong British presence. A
None theless, England and scarcely compre hending
America did not begin an overt Crown and Parliament on
parting of ways until 1763, more the other side of the Atlantic
than a century and a half after found itself contending with
the founding of the first colonists trained in self-
permanent settlement at James government and im patient
town, Virginia. with interference.

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
 The organization of Canada and
of
necessitated policies that would the interests of the the
colonies. not alienate the French and Fast increasing in Ohio
population, Indian inhabitants. Here London and needing
more land for was in fundamental conflict with settlement,

52
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
Valley 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 effectiveness. British warships in
seemed reasonable enough American waters were instructed
that the colonies should pay to seize smugglers, and “writs of
for their own defense. That assis tance,” or warrants,
would involve new taxes, authorized the king’s officers to
levied by Parliament — at search suspected premises.
the expense Both the duty imposed by the
of colonial self-government. Sug ar Act and the measures to
The first step was the enforce it caused consternation
replacement of the Molasses among New England merchants.
Act of 1733, which placed a They contended that payment of
prohibitive duty, or tax, on the even the small duty imposed
import of rum and molas ses would be ruinous to their
from non-English areas, with businesses. Merchants,
the Sugar Act of 1764. This act legislatures, and town meetings
outlawed the importation of protested the law. Colonial
foreign rum; it also put a lawyers protested CHAPTER 3:
modest duty on molas THE ROAD TO
ses from all sources and levied INDEPENDENCE
taxes on wines, silks, coffee, and
a num ber of other luxury items.
The hope was that lowering the colonies to provide royal troops
duty on mo lasses would reduce with provisions and barracks.
the temptation to smuggle the
commodity from the Dutch and the controversy alive. They
French West Indies for the rum contend ed that payment of the
distilleries of New England. The tax consti tuted an acceptance of
British government enforced the the principle that Parliament had
Sugar Act energetically. the right to rule over the
Customs of ficials were ordered colonies. They feared that at any
to show more time in the future, the principle
of
“taxation without Since the colonies were a deficit
representation,” a slogan that trade area and were constantly
was to persuade many Ameri short of hard cur rency, this
cans they were being oppressed measure added a serious
by the mother country. burden to the colonial economy.
Later in 1764, Parliament enact Equally objectionable from
the co ed a Currency Act “to prevent pa lonial viewpoint
was the per bills of credit hereafter issued Quartering Act,
passed in 1765, in any of His Majesty’s colonies which
required from being made legal tender.”
 parliamentary rule might be ap them aware of their own
plied with devastating effect on power and importance, and
all colonial liberties. thus arouse them to action.
The radicals’ most effective To ward these objectives, he
leader was Samuel Adams of published articles in
Mas sachusetts, who toiled newspapers and made
tirelessly for a single end: inspec speeches in town meetings,
tor of chimneys, tax-collector, instigat ing resolutions that
and moderator of town meetings. appealed to the colonists’
A consistent failure in business, democratic impulses.
he was shrewd and able in In 1772 he induced the
politics, with the New England Boston town meeting to
town meeting his theater of select a
action. “Commit tee of
Adams wanted to free people Correspondence” to state the
from their awe of social and rights and grievances of the
politi cal superiors, make colo nists. The committee
independence. From the time he lon ger be dependent on the
graduated from Harvard College legislature for their incomes
and in 1743, Adams was a public thus no longer
servant in some capacity —

56
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
to set a fire.

accountable to it, thereby leading THE BOSTON “TEA

PARTY”
to the emergence of “a despotic form of
government.” The In 1773, however, Britain
committee communicated with furnished Adams and his
allies other towns on this matter and with an incen diary
issue. The requested them to draft replies. powerful East
India Company,
Committees were set up in finding itself in critical fi nancial
virtually all the colonies, and out straits, appealed to the Brit
ish of them grew a base of effective government, which
granted it a revolutionary organizations. Still, monopoly on
all tea exported to
Adams did not have enough fuel
the colonies. The government
opposed a British decision to of December 16, 1773, a
pay the salaries of judges band of men disguised as
from customs revenues; it Mohawk Indians and led by
feared that the judges would Samuel Adams boarded three
no also per mitted the East British ships lying at anchor
India Company to supply and dumped their tea cargo
retailers directly, bypassing into Boston harbor. Doubting
colonial their ciple, they feared that if
wholesalers. By then, most the tea
of the tea consumed in were landed, colonists would
America actually
was imported illegally, duty- purchase the tea and pay the
free. By sell ing its tea tax. A crisis now confronted
through its own agents at a Britain. The East India
price well under the Company had car ried out a
customary one, the East India parliamentary statute. If the
Company made smuggling destruction of the tea went un
unprofitable and threat punished, Parliament would
ened to eliminate the admit to the world that it had no
independent control over the colonies.
colonial merchants. Aroused Official opinion in Britain
not only by the loss of the tea almost unanimously con
trade but also by the demned the Boston Tea Party as
monopolistic practice in an act of vandalism and
volved, colonial traders advocated le gal measures to
joined the radicals bring the insurgent colonists
agitating for independence. into line.
In ports up and down the At
lantic coast, agents of the THE COERCIVE ACTS
East In dia Company were
forced to resign. New Parliament responded with new
shipments of tea were either laws that the colonists called the
re turned to England or “Coercive” 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
“Intolerable Acts.” The first, the
to western lands, it threatened to
Boston Port Bill, closed the port
block colonial expan sion to the
of Boston until the tea was paid
North and Northwest; its
for. The action threatened the recognition of the Roman Catho
very life of the city, for to lic Church outraged the
prevent Boston from having Protestant sects that dominated
access to the sea meant every colony. Though the
economic disaster. Other
Quebec Act had not been passed
enactments restricted local
as a punitive measure,
author ity and banned most townAmericans associated it with the
Co
countrymen’s commitment to prin

57
CHAPTER 3: THE ROAD
TO INDEPENDENCE
isolating Massachusetts, as
Parlia ment intended, these
acts rallied its sister colonies
to its
A Quartering Act required local
aid. The Que bec Act, passed at
au thorities to find suitable
nearly the same time, extended
quarters for British troops,
in the boundaries of the
province
private homes if
necessary. of Quebec
south to the Ohio
Instead of subduing and
River. In conformity with pre
meetings held without the ercive Acts, and all became
governor’s consent. known
vious French practice, it as the “Five Intolerable Acts.”
provided for trials without jury, At
did not estab lish a the suggestion of the Vir ginia
representative assembly, and House of Burgesses, colonial
gave the Catholic Church semi- representatives met in
es tablished status. By Philadelphia on September 5,
disregarding old charter claims 1774, “to consult upon the
 present unhappy state of the liberty, and prop erty,” and
Colonies.” Delegates to this the right of provincial
meeting, known as the First Con legislatures to set “all cases
tinental Congress, were chosen of taxa tion and internal
by provincial congresses or polity.” The most important
popular conventions. Only action taken by the Con
Georgia failed to send a gress, however, was the
delegate; the total number of 55 formation of a “Continental
was large enough for diversity of Association” to rees tablish
opinion, but small enough for the trade boycott. It set up a
genu ine debate and effective system of committees to
action. The division of opinion inspect customs entries,
in the colonies publish the names of

posed a genuine dilemma for

the merchants. They
intimidated the
delegates. They would have
to hesitant into joining the
popular
give an appearance of
firm movement and
punished the
unanimity to induce the British hostile;
government to make

58
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
concessions. But they also merchants who violated the
would have to avoid any agree ments, confiscate their
show of radicalism or spirit imports, and encourage
of independence that would frugality, economy, and
alarm more moderate industry.
Americans. The Continental Association
A cautious keynote speech, im mediately assumed the
fol lowed by a “resolve” that leadership in the colonies,
no obe dience was due the spurring new local
Coercive Acts, ended with organizations to end what
adoption of a set of res remained of royal authority.
olutions affirming the right Led by the pro independence
of the colonists to “life, leaders, they drew their
support not only from the Quakers, he wrote, “The die
less well-to-do, but from is now cast, the Colonies
many members of the must ei ther submit or
professional class (especial triumph.”
ly lawyers), most of the This action isolated Loyalists
planters of the Southern who were appalled and
colonies, and a num ber of frightened by the course of
began the collection of events following the Coercive
military sup plies and the Acts.
mobilization of troops; and
fanned public opinion into THE REVOLUTION
revo lutionary ardor. BEGINS
Many of those opposed to
Brit ish encroachment on General Thomas Gage, an
American rights nonetheless amiable English gentleman
favored discus sion and with an Amer ican-born wife,
compromise as the prop er commanded the garrison at
solution. This group included Boston, where political
Crown-appointed officers, activity had almost wholly
Quakers, and members of replaced trade. Gage’s main
other religious sects opposed duty in the colo nies had been
to the use of violence, nu to enforce
merous merchants
the Coer cive Acts.
(especially in the middle
When news reached
colonies), and some discon
him
tented farmers and
that the Massachusetts colonists
frontiersmen in the Southern
were collecting powder and
colonies.
military stores at the town of
The king might well have
Concord, 32 kilometers away,
effect ed an alliance with
Gage sent a strong detail to
these moder
confiscate these munitions.
ates and, by timely
After a night of marching, the
concessions, so strengthened
British troops reached the
their position that the
village of Lexington on April 19,
revolutionaries would
1775, and saw a grim band of 77
have found it difficult to Minutemen — so named
proceed with hostilities. But because they were said to be
George III had no intention ready to fight in a minute —
of making concessions. In through the early morning mist.
September 1774, scorning a The Minute men intended only a
petition by Phila delphia
silent protest, but Marine Major The Second Continental Con
John Pitcairn, the leader of the gress met in Philadelphia, Penn
British troops, yelled, “Disperse, sylvania, on May 10. The
you damned rebels! You dogs, Congress voted to go to war,
run!” The leader of the Min inducting the co lonial militias
utemen, Captain John Parker, into continental ser vice. It
told his troops not to fire unless appointed Colonel George
fired at first. The Americans Washington of Virginia as their
were with drawing when commander-in-chief on June 15.
someone fired a shot, which led Within two days, the Americans
the British troops to fire at the had incurred high casualties at
Minutemen. The British then Bunker Hill just outside Boston.
charged with bayonets, leaving Congress also ordered
eight dead and 10 wounded. In American expeditions to march
the often quoted phrase of 19th northward into Canada by fall.
century poet Ralph Waldo Capturing Montreal, they failed
Emerson, this was “the shot in a winter assault on Quebec,
heard round the and eventually
world.” retreated to New
The British pushed on to Con York.
cord. The Americans had taken Despite the outbreak of armed
away most of the munitions, but conflict, the idea of complete sep
they destroyed whatever was aration from England was still
left. In the meantime, American repugnant to many members of
forces in the countryside had the Continental Congress. In
mobilized to harass the British July, it adopted the Olive Branch
on their long return to Boston. Petition, begging the king to
prevent
militiamen from “every Middlesex soldiers. By the time
fur ther
Gage’s village and farm” made targets of weary detachment
hostile
stumbled into the bright red coats of the British Boston,
actions
All along the road, behind stone
until some sort of agreement
walls, hillocks, and houses,
could be worked out. King
CHAPTER 3: THE ROAD TO
George rejected it; instead, on
INDEPENDENCE
August 23, 1775, he issued a
procla mation declaring the
it had suffered more than 250 colonies to be in a state of
killed and wounded. The rebellion.
Americans lost 93 men. Britain had expected the South
ern colonies to remain loyal, in
part because of their reliance on
 59 revolutionary armies before
slav ery. Many in the British troops could arrive
Southern colonies feared to help.
that a rebellion against the British warships continued
mother country would also down the coast to
trigger a slave uprising. In Charleston, South Car olina,

published a 50-page pamphlet, continued sub

Common Sense. mission to a tyrannical king and
Within three months, it sold an outworn government, or
100,000 copies. Paine attacked liberty and happiness as a the
idea of a hereditary self-sufficient, independent monarchy,
declaring that one republic. Circulated throughout
honest man was worth more to the colonies, Common
society than “all the crowned ruf Sensehelped to crystallize a
fians that ever lived.” He decision for separation. presented
the alternatives —

60
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
November 1775, and opened fire on the city
Lord Dunmore, the governor of in early June 1776. But
Vir ginia, tried to capitalize South Car olinians had time
on that fear by offering to prepare, and repulsed the
freedom to all slaves who British by the end of the
month. They would not
return South for more than
would fight for the British. two years.
Instead, his proclamation
drove to the rebel side many COMMON SENSE AND
Virginians who would INDEPENDENCE
otherwise have remained
Loyalist. In January 1776, Thomas
The governor of North Paine, a radical political
Caroli na, Josiah Martin, theorist and writer who had
also urged North come to America from
Carolinians to remain loyal England in 1774, There still
to the Crown. When 1,500 remained the task, however,
men answered Martin’s call, of gaining
they were defeated by each colony’s
 approval of a formal truthstobe selfevident,
declaration. On June thatallmenare createdequal,
7, Richard Henry Lee of Vir thattheyare endowedby
ginia introduced a resolution theirCreator withcertain
in the Second Continental unalienable Rights,that
Congress, de claring, “That amongthese areLife,
these United Colonies are, Libertyandthe pursuitof
and of right ought to be, free Happiness.— Thattosecure
and independent states....” theserights, Governments
Immedi ately, a committee areinstituted amongMen,
of five, headed by Thomas derivingtheir justpowersfrom
Jefferson of Virginia, was theconsentof thegoverned, —
appointed to draft a That wheneveran Formof
document for a vote. Government becomes
Largely Jefferson’s work, the destructiveof theseends,itis
Dec laration of theRightofthe Peopletoalter
Independence, adopted July ortoabolishit, andtoinstitute
4, 1776, not only announced new
the birth of a new nation, but Government, laingits
also set forth a philosophy of foundationon
human free dom that would suchprinciples
become a dynamic force andorganizing itspowersin
throughout the entire world. suchform,asto
The Declaration drew upon themshallseem mostlikel
French and English to e ecttheir
Enlightenment political Safetyand Happiness.
philosophy, but one Jefferson linked Locke’s
influence in princi ples directly to the
par ticular stands out: John situation in the colonies. To
Locke’sSecond Treatiseon fight for
Government. Locke American in dependence
took conceptions of the was to fight for a gov
traditional rights of ernment based on popular
Englishmen and universal consent in place of a
ized them into the natural government by a king who
rights of all humankind. The had us to a jurisdiction
Declaration’s familiar foreign to our constitution,
opening passage echoes and unacknowl edged by our
Locke’s social-contract theory of laws....” Only a gov ernment
government: based on popular consent
Weholdthese 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

Although 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
 “combined with others to subject

61
CHAPTER 3: THE ROAD
TO INDEPENDENCE the
Delaware River, north of
Trenton, New Jersey. In the
early morning hours of
December 26,
to escape. By November,
his troops surprised the British
however, Howe had captured
garrison there, taking more
than
Fort Washing ton on Manhattan
900 prison ers. A week later,
on
Island. New York City would
January 3, 1777, Washington
remain under British attacked
the British at Princeton,
control until the end of the
war. regaining most of the
territory
That December,
Washington’s formally
occupied by the British.
forces were near collapse, as
The victories at Trenton and
sup plies and promised aid failed
Princeton revived flagging
Ameri
to materialize. Howe again
can spirits.
missed his chance to crush the
In September 1777, however,
Americans by deciding to wait
Howe defeated the American
until spring to re sume
fighting. army at
Brandywine in
On Christmas Day, December
Pennsylvania and occupied
and allowed the Americans of the Hudson River, Burgoyne’s
Continental Congress to army ad vanced on Albany. The
flee. Wash Americans were waiting for him.
ington had to endure the bitterly Led by Bene dict Arnold — who
cold winter of 1777-1778 at would later be tray the
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Americans at West Point, New
lacking ade quate food, York — the colonials twice re
clothing, and supplies. Farmers pulsed the British. Having by
and merchants exchanged their this time incurred heavy losses,
goods for British gold and Bur goyne fell back to Saratoga,
silver rather than for dubious New York, where a vastly
paper money issued by the superior
Continental Congress and the Ameri can force under General
states. Horatio Gates surrounded the
Valley Forge was the lowest ebb British troops. On October 17,
for Washington’s 1777, Burgoyne sur rendered
Continental Army, but elsewhere his entire army — six gen
1777 proved to be erals, 300 other officers, and
5,500 enlisted personnel.

the turning point in the war. Brit FRANCO-

ish General John Burgoyne, AMERICAN
moving south from Canada, ALLIANCE
attempted to invade New York
and New England via Lake In France, enthusiasm for the
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
 American cause was high:
The French intellectual
world was it self stirring
against feudalism and
American armies came from
62
OUTLINE OF U.S.
HISTORY Paris in 1776.
His wit, guile, and intellect
soon made their
privilege. However, the Crown presence felt in the French lent
its support to the colonies capital, and played a major role for
geo political rather than in winning French assistance.
ideological reasons: The French France began providing aid
to government had been eager for the colonies in May 1776,
when reprisal against Britain ever it sent 14 ships with war
since France’s defeat in 1763. supplies to America. In fact,
most To further the American cause, of the gunpowder used
by the
Benjamin Franklin was sent to
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 THE BRITISH MOVE
colonies won their in SOUTH
dependence, that neither
would con clude peace with
With the French now involved,
Britain without the consent
the British, still believing that
of the other, and that each
most Southerners were
guaranteed the other’s
Loyalists, stepped up their
possessions in America. This
efforts in the Southern colonies.
was the only bi lateral
A campaign began in late 1778,
defense treaty signed by the
with the capture of Savannah,
United States or its
Georgia. Shortly thereafter,
predecessors until 1949.
British troops and naval forces
the Americans. In 1780 Britain
converged on Charleston, South
declared war on the Dutch, who
Carolina, the principal Southern
had continued to trade with the
port. They man aged to bottle
Americans. The combina tion of
up American forces on the
these European powers, with
Charleston peninsula. On May
France in the lead, was a far
12, 1780, General Benjamin
greater threat to Britain than the
Lincoln surrendered the city and
American colonies standing
its 5,000 troops, in the greatest
alone.
American de feat of the war.
The Franco-American alliance
But the reversal in fortune only
soon broadened the
conflict. In emboldened
the American
June 1778 British ships fired
on rebels. South Carolinians
began
French vessels, and the
two roaming the
countryside,
countries went to war. In 1779
attacking British supply lines.
In
Spain, hoping to re
July, American Gen eral Horatio
acquireterritoriestaken by
Gates, who had assem bled a
 Britain in the Seven Years’
War, replacement force of
untrained
entered the conflict on the
side militiamen, rushed to
Camden,
of France, but not as an ally of

63
CHAPTER 3: THE ROAD TO
INDEPENDENCE makeshift
army panicked and ran when
confronted by the
British regulars. Cornwallis’s
South Carolina, to
confront troops met the
Americans
British forces led by
General several more
times, but the
Charles Corn wallis. But Gates’s
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 fleet
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,

64
1781, after being trapped at York
town near the mouth of Jay. On April 15, 1783, Congress
Chesapeake Bay, Cornwallis approved the fi nal treaty. Signed
surrendered his army of 8,000 on September 3, the Treaty of
British soldiers. Although Paris acknowledged the
Cornwallis’s defeat did not independence, freedom, and sover
immediately end the war — eignty of the 13 former colonies,
which would drag on now states. The new United States
inconclusively for almost two stretched west to the Mississippi
more years — a new British River, north to Canada, and south
government decided to pur sue to Florida, which was returned to
peace negotiations in Paris in Spain. The fledgling colonies that
early 1782, with the American Richard Henry Lee had spoken of
side represented by Benjamin more than seven years before had
Franklin, John Adams, and fi nally become “free and
John independent states.”
The task of knitting together a OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
nation remained. 9
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE AMERICAN

REVOLUTION
The 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. 
65
66

CHAPTER4
THE
FORMATIO
N OFA
NATIONAL
GOVERNMEN
 T
George Washington
addressing the
Constitutional
Convention in
Philadelphia, 1787.
CHAPTER 4: THE FORMATION OF A NATIONAL
GOVERNMENT

“Every man, and every body of men on

Earth, possesses the right of
self-government.”
Drafter of the Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson, 1790
STATE CONSTITUTIONS but three had drawn up constitu
tions.
None made any drastic break
The success of the Revolution
with the past, since all were built
gave Americans the opportunity
on the
to give legal form to their ideals
as expressed in the Declaration solid foundation of colonial
of Independence, and to remedy experi ence and English practice.
some of their griev ances But each was also animated by
the spirit of re publicanism, an
through state constitutions. As
ideal that had long been praised
early as May 10, 1776, Congress
by
had passed a resolution advising
the colonies to form new govern Enlightenment phi losophers.
ments “such as shall best Naturally, the first objective of
conduce to the happiness and the framers of the state constitu
safety of their constituents.” tions was to secure those
Some of them had al ready done “unalien able rights” whose
so, and within a year af ter the violation had caused the former
Declaration of Independence, all colonies to repu diate their
connection with Britain. Thus,
each constitution began with a
The new constitutions showed
the impact of democratic ideas.

68
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
declaration or bill of rights. an enumeration of fundamental
Virgin ia’s, which served as a liberties: moderate bail and
model for all the others, included humane punishment, speedy trial
a declaration of principles: by jury, freedom of the press and
popular sovereignty, rota tion in of con
office, freedom of elections, and
science, and the right of the more recent standards.
majority to reform or alter Constitu tions established to
the government. Other states guarantee people their natural
enlarged the list of liberties rights did not secure for
to freedom of speech, of as everyone the most
sembly, and of petition. Their fundamental natural right —
con stitutions frequently equality. The colo nies south of
included such provisions as Pennsylvania excluded their
the right to bear arms, to a slave populations from their
writ of habeas corpus, to inalienable rights as human
invio lability of domicile, beings. Women had no
and to equal pro tection political rights. No state went
under the law. Moreover, all so far as to permit univer sal
prescribed a three-branch male suffrage, and even in
structure of government — those states that permitted all
executive, legisla tive, and taxpayers to vote
judiciary — each checked (Delaware, North Carolina,
and balanced by the others. and Georgia, in addition to
Pennsylvania’s constitution was Pennsylva nia), office-
the most radical. In that state, holders were required to own
Phila delphia artisans, Scots- a certain amount of property.
Irish frontiers men, and
German-speaking farmers had THE ARTICLES OF
taken control. The provincial CONFEDERATION
congress adopted a
constitution that permitted The struggle with England
every male taxpayer and his had done much to change
sons to vote, required rotation colonial atti tudes. Local
in office (no one could serve as assemblies had rejected the
a rep resentative more than Albany Plan of
four years out of every seven), Union in 1754, re
and set up a single chamber smallest part of their autonomy
legislature. The state to any other body, even one they
constitutions had some glaring themselves had elected. But in
limitations, particularly by
the course of the Rev olution, countries. Nine states had their
mutual aid had proved ef own armies, several their own
fective, and the fear of navies. In the absence of a sound
relinquishing individual common currency, the new
authority had lessened to a large nation conducted its commerce
degree. with a curious hodgepodge of
John Dickinson produced the coins and a bewildering variety
“Articles of Confederation and of state and na tional paper bills,
Per petual Union” in 1776. The all fast depreciat ing in value.
Conti nental Congress adopted uniform policy.
them in November 1777, and Farmers probably suffered the
they went into effect in 1781, most from economic difficulties
having been ratified by all the following the Revolution. The
states. Reflecting the fragil ity of supply of farm produce
a nascent sense of nationhood, exceeded demand; unrest
the Articles provided only for a centered chiefly among farmer-
very loose union. The national debtors who wanted strong
govern ment lacked the authority remedies to avoid foreclosure on
to set up tariffs, to regulate their property and imprison ment
commerce, and to levy taxes. It for debt. Courts were clogged
possessed scant control of with suits for payment filed by
international relations: A number their creditors. All through the
of states had begun their own summer of 1786, popular
nego tiations with foreign conventions and informal
fusingtosurrendereven the

69
CHAPTER 4: THE
FORMATION OF
A NATIONAL
GOVERNMENT
participa
tion in the British mercantile Economic difficulties after the
system. The states gave war prompted calls for change.
preference to Ameri can goods in The end of the war had a
severe their tariff policies, but these effect on
merchants who were inconsistent, leading to the
supplied the armies of both demand for a
stronger central sides and who had lost the
government to implement a advantages deriving
from
gatherings in several states complications of land, fur
demanded reform in the state trade, Indians, settlement,
administrations. and lo cal government.
That autumn, mobs of farmers in Lured by the rich est land yet
Massachusetts under the found in the country,
leadership of a former army pioneers poured over the
captain, Daniel Shays, began Appala chian Mountains and
forcibly to prevent the county beyond. By 1775 the far-
courts from sitting and passing flung outposts scat tered
further judgments for debt, along the waterways had
pending the next state election. tens of thousands of settlers.
In January 1787 a ragtag army of Separated by mountain
1,200 farmers moved toward the ranges and hundreds of
federal arsenal at Springfield. kilometers from the centers
The rebels, armed chiefly with of political authority in the
staves and pitchforks, were East, the inhabitants
repulsed by a small state militia established their own
force; General Benjamin Lincoln governments. Settlers from
then arrived with all the Tidewater states
reinforcements from Boston and pressed on into the fertile
routed the remaining Shaysites, river valleys, hardwood
whose leader escaped to forests, and rolling prairies
Vermont. The government of the interior. By 1790 the
captured 14 rebels and sentenced population of the trans-
them to death, but ul timately Appalachian region num
pardoned some and let the others bered well over 120,000.
off with short prison terms. After Before the war, several
the defeat of the rebellion, a colonies had laid extensive
newly elected legislature, whose and often over lapping claims
majority sympathized with the to land beyond the
reb els, met some of their speaking for the latter group,

70
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
such claims this rich territorial
prize seemed unfairly
Appalachians. To those withoutapportioned. Mary land,
the Revolution, the United introduced a resolution that the
States again had to face the western lands be considered
old unsolved Western ques 1780 New York led the way
tion, the problem of by ceding its claims. In 1784
 Virgin ia, which held the Whenever any one of them
grandest claims, relinquished had 60,000 free inhabitants,
all land north of the Ohio it was to be admitted to the
River. Other states ceded Union “on an equal footing
their claims, and it became with the original states in all
apparent that Congress respects.” The ordinance
would come into posses sion guaranteed civil rights and
of all the lands north of the liberties, encouraged
Ohio River and west of the education, and prohib ited
Allegh eny Mountains. This slavery or other forms of
common pos session of invol untary servitude.
millions of hectares was the The new policy repudiated the
most tangible evidence yet of time-honored concept that
na tionality and unity, and colonies existed for the benefit
gave a cer tain substance to of the mother country, were
the idea of national politically subordi nate, and
sovereignty. At the same peopled by social inferiors.
time, these vast territories Instead, it established the
were a problem that required principle that colonies
solution. (“territories”) were an extension
The Confederation Congress es of the nation and entitled, not as
tablished a system of limited self a privilege but as a right, to all
government for this new national the benefits of equality.
Northwest Territory. The
Northwest Ordinance of CONSTITUTIONAL
1787 provided for its CONVENTION
organization, initially as a
single district, ruled by a By the time the Northwest Ordi
governor and judges nance was enacted, American
appointed by the Congress. leaders were in the midst of
When this territory had drafting a new and stronger
5,000 free male inhabitants constitution to replace the
of voting age, it was to be Articles of Confederation. Their
entitled to a legislature of presiding officer, George
two chambers, itself electing Washing ton, had written
the lower house. In addition, accurately that the states were
it could at that time send a united only by a “rope of sand.”
nonvoting delegate to Disputes between Maryland and
Congress. Three to five Virginia over navigation on the
states would be formed as Potomac River led to a confer
the territory was settled. ence of representatives of five
states at Annapolis, Maryland, in Pennsylvanians: Gouverneur
1786. One of the delegates, Morris, who clearly saw the
Alexander Hamilton of New need for national government,
York, convinced his colleagues and James Wilson, who labored
that commerce was bound up in defatigably for the national
with large political and idea. Also elected by
economic questions. What was Pennsylvania was Benjamin
re- Franklin, nearing the end of an
71 CHAPTER 4: THE FORMATION OF
A NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
quired was a fundamental extraordinary career of public
rethink ing of the Confederation. service and scientific
The Annapolis conference issued achievement. From Virginia
a call for all the states to appoint came James Madison, a practical
representatives to a convention young statesman, a thor ough
to be held the following spring in student of politics and history,
Philadel phia. The Continental and, according to a colleague,
Congress was at first indignant “from a spirit of industry and
over this bold step, but it application ... the best-informed
acquiesced after Washington man on any point in debate.” He
gave the project his backing and would be recognized as the
was elected a delegate. During “Father of the
the next fall and winter, elections Constitution.”
were held in all states but Rhode Massachusetts sent Rufus
Island. King and Elbridge Gerry,
A remarkable gathering of no young men of ability and
tables assembled at the Federal experience. Roger Sher man,
Convention in May 1787. The shoemaker turned judge, was
state legislatures sent leaders one of the representatives
with expe rience in colonial and from
state govern ments, in Congress, Connecticut. From New York
on the bench, and in the army. came Alexander Hamilton,
Washington, re garded as the who had pro posed the
country’s first citizen because of meeting. Absent from the
his integrity and his mili tary Convention were Thomas
leadership during the Revolu Jefferson, who was serving
tion, was chosen as presiding as minister repre senting the
officer. United States in France, and
Prominent among the more John Adams, serving in the
active members were two same capacity in Great
Britain. Youth pre dominated
among the 55 delegates — states, and the power of a
the average age was 42. central government. They
Congress had authorized the adopted the principle that
Convention merely to draft the functions and powers of
amend ments to the Articles the national government —
of Confedera tion but, as being new, general, and
Madison later wrote, the inclusive — had to be
delegates, “with a manly carefully defined and stated,
confidence in their country,” while all other functions and
simply threw the Articles powers were to be
aside and went ahead with understood
the building of a wholly new
form of government. 72
They recognized that the as be longing to the states.
para mount need was to But realizing that the central
reconcile two different government had to have real
powers — the power of power, the delegates also
local control, which was generally accepted the fact
already being exercised by that the government should
the 13 semi-in dependent be authorized,
among other things, to coin established. Legislative,
money, to regulate commerce, to executive, and judicial powers
declare war, and to make peace. were to be so harmoniously
balanced that no one could ever
DEBATE AND gain control. The delegates
agreed that the legislative
COMPROMISE The branch, like the colonial
18th-century statesmen who met legislatures and the British
in Philadelphia were adherents Parliament, should consist of two
of Montesquieu’s concept of the houses.
balance of power in politics. On these points there was una
This principle was supported by nimity within the assembly. But
colo nial experience and sharp differences also arose.
strengthened by the writings of Repre sentatives of the small
John Locke, with which most of states — New Jersey, for
the delegates were fa miliar. instance — objected to changes
These influences led to the that would reduce their in
conviction that three equal and fluence in the national
co ordinate branches of government by basing
government should be representation upon popu lation
rather
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
than upon statehood, as was the membership would be
case under the Articles of apportioned according to the
Confederation. number of free inhabitants plus
On the other hand, representa three-fifths of the slaves.
tives of large states, like Certain members, such as Sher
Virginia, argued for man and Elbridge Gerry, still
proportionate represen tation. smart ing from Shays’s
This debate threatened to go on Rebellion, feared that the mass
endlessly until Roger Sherman of people lacked suf ficient
came forward with arguments wisdom to govern themselves
for and thus wished no branch of the
representation in proportion to federal government to be elected
the population of the states in di rectly by the people. Others
one house of Congress, the thought the national government
House of Represen tatives, and should be given as broad a
equal representation in the other, popular base as possible. Some
the Senate. delegates wished to exclude the
The alignment of large against growing West from the
small states then dissolved. But
73 CHAPTER 4: THE FORMATION OF
A NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
al most every succeeding opportunity of statehood; others
question raised new divisions, to championed the equality
be resolved only by new principle established in the
compromises. Northern ers Northwest Ordi nance of 1787.
wanted slaves counted when de There was no serious difference
termining each state’s tax share, on such national economic ques
but not in determining the tions as paper money, laws
number of seats a state would concern ing contract obligations,
have in the House of or the role of women, who were
Representatives. Under a com excluded from politics. But there
promise reached with little was a need for
dissent, tax levies and House
balancing sectional economic in Laboring through a hot Philadel
terests; for settling arguments as phia summer, the convention
to the powers, term, and finally achieved a draft
selection of the chief executive; incorporating in a brief
and for solving problems document the organization of the
involving the tenure of judges most complex government yet
and the kind of courts to be devised, one that would be su
established. preme within a clearly defined
and limited sphere. It would his ap pointments and all his
have full power to levy taxes, treaties to the Senate for
borrow money, establish uniform confirmation. The presi dent,
duties and ex cise taxes, coin in turn, could be impeached
money, regulate in terstate and removed by Congress.
commerce, fix weights and The ju diciary was to hear all
measures, grant patents and copy cases arising under federal
rights, set up post offices, and laws and the Con stitution;
build post roads. It also was in effect, the courts were
authorized to raise and maintain empowered to interpret both
an army and navy, manage the fundamental and the
Native American af fairs, statute law. But members of
conduct foreign policy, and wage the judiciary, appointed by
war. It could pass laws for the president and confirmed
naturalizing foreigners and by the Senate, could also be
control ling public lands; it could impeached by Congress.
admit new states on a basis of The propos als were to be
absolute equal ity with the old. ratified by one of two
The power to pass all necessary methods: either by the
and proper laws for executing legislatures of three-fourths
these clearly defined pow ers of the states, or by
rendered the federal government convention in three-fourths
able to meet the needs of later of the states, with the
gen erations and of a greatly Congress proposing the
expanded body politic. method to be used.
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
 come to naught, for the states properfor carryinginto
To paid
protectnotheattention all: HowExecutionthe...
to them.
Constitution should the powers from
What was to save the
hasty alteration, Article V given new to Powersvested bythis be
the new government
government
stipulated from the to
that amendments same Constitutionin
enforced? the
Under the Articles of
fate?
the Constitution be proposed Confedera Governmentof theUnited
At the
either by outset, mostofdelegates
two-thirds States....(Article
both tion, the I,
national government
fur nished
houses of Con a single answer — Section 7)
had possessed — on paper —
the use of force. But it
gress or by two-thirds of the signifiwas ThisConstitution,
cant powers, andthe
which, in
quickly seen that the
states, meeting in convention. practice, hadLawsofthe UnitedStates
application of force upon the whichshallbe madein
states would destroy the Pursuance thereof;andall
Union.
74 The deci sion was that Treatiesmade, orwhichshall
the government
OUTLINE OF U.S.should not act bemade,under theAuthority
HISTORY
upon the states but upon the oftheUnited States,shallbe
people within the states, and thesupreme
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:
Congressshall havepower...to
makeallLaws whichshallbe
necessaryand
Finally, the convention faced
the most important problem of
LawoftheLand; andtheJudges
ineveryState shallbebound
thereby,an Thinginthe
Constitutionor Lawsofan
Statetothe Contrary
notwithstandin
g.(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 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 influenced 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
risingor setting;but
now,at
his torian Charles Beard, inAn length,IhaveRATIFICATION AND
thehappiness
EconomicTHE BILL OF RIGHTStoknowthatit
Ihaveoftenin thecourseof
Interpretationof
thesession... lookedatthat isarising,and notasetting,
theConstitution,thepresident,
[chair]behind On September 17, 1787, after argued that the
sun.
Founding
withoutbeing abletotell
16 weeks of deliberation, the
Fathers represented emerging
finished Constitution was
signed
commercial capitalist interests
by 39 of the 42delegates
that needed a strong national
present. Franklin, pointing to
the
government. He also believed
half-sun painted in brilliant gold
many may have been motivated
on the back of Wash ington’s
by personal holdings of large
chair, said:
amounts of depreciated gov
ernment securities. However,

75
CHAPTER 4: THE FORMATION OF A NATIONAL
GOVERNMENTwhetheritwas
element of the American na
tional identity.
The convention was over; the In Virginia, the Antifederalists
members “adjourned to the City attacked the proposed new gov
Tavern, dined together, and took ernment by challenging the open
a cordial leave of each other.” ing phrase of the Constitution:
Yet a crucial part of the struggle “We the People of the United
for a more perfect union States.” Without using the
remained to be faced. The individual state names in the
consent of popularly elected Constitution, the del egates
state conventions was still argued, the states would not
required before the document retain their separate rights or
could become effective. pow ers. Virginia
The convention had decided that Antifederalists were led by
the Constitution would take Patrick Henry, who became
effect upon ratification by the chief spokesman for
conventions in nine of the 13 back-coun try farmers who
states. By June 1788 the required feared the powers of the new
nine states had ratified the central government. Wa
Constitution, but the large states vering delegates were
of Virginia and New York had persuaded by a proposal that
not. Most people felt that the Virginia con vention
without their support the recommend a bill of rights,
Constitution would nev er be and Antifederalists joined
honored. To many, the docu with the Federalists to ratify
ment seemed full of dangers: the Constitution on June 25.
Would not the strong central In New York, Alexander
government that it established Ham ilton, John Jay, and
tyrannize them, oppress them James
with heavy taxes, and drag Madison pushed for the
them into wars? ratification of the
Differing views on these ques Constitution in a series of
tions brought into existence two essays known as
par ties, the Federalists, who TheFederalist
favored a strong central Papers. The essays,
government, and the published in New York
Antifederalists, who preferred a newspapers, provided a
loose association of separate now-classic argument for a
states. Impas sioned arguments central federal gov ernment,
on both sides were voiced by the with separate executive,
press, the legislatures, and the legislative, and judicial
state conventions. branches that
 checked and balanced one individual rights were
another. WithThe virtually unanimous.
FederalistPapers Congress quickly
influenc ing the New York adopted 12 such amend
delegates, the Con ments; by December 1791,
stitution was ratified on enough states had ratified 10
July 26. amendments to make them
Antipathy toward a strong part of the Constitu tion.
cen tral government was only Collectively, they are known
one con cern among those as the Bill of
opposed to the Constitution; Rights. Among their
of equal concern to many provisions: freedom of
was the fear that the speech, press, religion, and
Constitution did not protect the right to
individ ual rights and assemble peacefully,

76
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
freedoms sufficiently. protest, and demand
Virginian George Mason, changes (First
author Amendment); protec tion
of Virginia’s Declaration of against unreasonable search es,
Rights of 1776, was one of three seizures of property, and
delegates to the Constitutional arrest
Convention who had refused to (Fourth Amendment); due
sign the final document because process of law in all criminal
it did not enu merate individual cases (Fifth Amendment);
rights. Together with Patrick right to a fair and speedy trial
Henry, he campaigned (Sixth
vigorously against ratification of Amendment); protection
the Constitution by Virginia. against cruel and unusual
Indeed, five states, including punishment
Massachusetts, ratified the (Eighth Amendment); and
Constitution on the con dition provision that the people
that such amendments be added retain
immediately. additional rights not listed in
When the first Congress con the
vened in New York City in Constitution (Ninth
Septem ber 1789, the Amendment).
calls for amendments Since the adoption of the
protecting Bill of Rights, only 17
 more amend ments have Con
been added to the stitution of the United States.”
Constitution. Although a When Washington took office,
number of the subsequent the new Constitution enjoyed nei
amendments re vised the ther tradition nor the full backing
federal government’s struc of organized public opinion. The
ture and operations, most new government had to create its
followed the precedent own machinery and legislate a
established by the Bill of system of taxation that would
Rights and expanded support it. Until a judiciary could
individual rights and be established, laws could not be
freedoms. enforced. The army was small.
The navy had ceased to exist.
PRESIDENT WASHINGTON Congress quickly created the de
partments of State and and
One of the last acts of the Con Justice were also created. Since
gress of the Confederation was Washington preferred to make de
to ar range for the first cisions only after consulting
presidential elec tion, setting those men whose judgment he
March 4, 1789, as the date that valued, the
the new government would American presidential Cabinet
come into being. One name was came into existence, consisting
on everyone’s lips for the new of the heads of all the
chief of state, George departments that Congress
Washington. He was might create. Simultane ously,
unanimously chosen president Congress provided for a fed eral
and took the oath of office at his judiciary — a Supreme Court,
inau guration on April 30, 1789. with one chief justice and five
In words spoken by every associ ate justices, three circuit
president since, Washington courts, and 13 district courts.
pledged to execute the duties of Meanwhile, the country was
the presidency faithfully and, to growing steadily and
the best of his ability, to “pre immigration from Europe was
serve, protect, and defend the increasing. Ameri cans were

Treasury, with Thomas Jefferson respective

secretaries. and Alex ander Hamilton as their
Departments of War

77
CHAPTER 4: THE FORMATION OF A NATIONAL
GOVERNMENT
moving westward: New oversaw the admission of
Englanders and three new states: Vermont
Pennsylvanians into Ohio; (1791), Ken tucky (1792),
Virginians and Carolinians into and Tennessee
Kentucky and Tennessee. Good (1796).
farms were to be had for small Finally, in his Farewell
sums; labor was in strong Address, he warned the
demand. The rich valley nation to “steer clear of
stretches of upper New York, permanent alliances with any
Pennsylvania, and Virginia soon por tion of the foreign
became great wheat-growing world.” This ad vice
areas. influenced American
Although many items were still attitudes toward the rest of
homemade, the Industrial Revo the world for gen erations to
lution was dawning in the United come.
States. Massachusetts and Rhode
Is land were laying the HAMILTON VS. JEFFERSON
foundation of important textile
industries; Con necticut was
beginning to turn out tinware A conflict took shape in the
and clocks; New York, New 1790s between America’s first
Jersey, and Pennsylvania were political parties. Indeed, the
pro ducing paper, glass, and iron. Federalists, led by Alexander
Ship ping had grown to such an Hamilton, and the Republicans
extent that on the seas the United (also called Demo cratic-
States was second only to Republicans), led by
Britain. Even be fore 1790, Thomas Jefferson, were the
American ships were trav eling first political parties in the
to China to sell furs and bring Western world. Un like loose
back tea, spices, and silk. political groupings in the
At this critical juncture in the British House of Commons or
country’s growth, in the American colonies
Washington’s wise leadership before the Revolution, both
was crucial. He organized a had reasonably consistent and
national government, principled platforms,
developed policies for relatively stable popular
settlement of territories followings,
previously held by Britain and continuing organizations.
and The Federalists in the main rep
Spain, stabilized the resented the interests of trade
northwestern frontier, and and manufacturing, which they
saw as forces of progress in the central government capable of
world. They believed these could establishing sound public
be advanced only by a strong
78