Weighted: 10-17% °❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 1754-1800
To be honest, the Revolutionary War itself in my opinion was not as insightful as pre or post war ideology. Like, pre-war there was so much debate and nuance in discussion that fostered so many intriguing shifts in beliefs and writing, and then the Revolutionary War itself was just a bunch of men fighting and dying. Nonetheless, there were some memorable events.
Of course, even though the colonists published the Declaration of Independence that didn't entail them to suddenly receiving freedom. Great Britain denied their requests and continued to fight. As mentioned previously, the American militia was not the strongest. Therefore, led by George Washington, the Continental Army was formed. Initially, they were still not very good and were ill-equipped, especially against the powerhouse that was Great Britain's militia during the time. Despite reluctance, African Americans also made up a portion of the Continental Army as Washington was very concerned over his smaller army. The first battle was the Battle of Lexington and Concord where Paul Revere famously shouted, "the British are coming!". While the American colonies had won some battles, their army could not sustain against Great Britian's for much longer. So, they requested external help. The Battle of Saratoga is known as the turning point in the Revolutionary War as the colonist's victory in that convinced the French to ally with them and provide military support, alongside influence from Benjamin Franklin as he grew immense popularity as a French delegate at the time. So, with foreign aid and a thirst for independence, the American colonies were able to defeat the British. In 1781, Great Britain surrendered at the Battle of Yorktown and by 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed that officially declared and recognized the American colonies as an independent nation, now named the United States of America.
Now that the US was their own independent nation, they published their first federally established government constitution entitled the Articles of Confederation. Prior and during the Revolutionary war, each state had their own outline and framework of how their local government operated. The Articles of Confederation supported this as its basis was on very little federal government control and intervention of the states. This would soon prove to be a mistake though and would highlight the faults of state power over federal power. However, some beneficial legislation did pass out of the Articles of Confederation such as the Land Ordinance of 1785 which promoted public education and more notably, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 which established rules for territories seeking statehood and abolished slavery in these newly formed northwest territories. While useful, it did not compare with the grievances illustrated through the Article of Confederation. As the US was still heavily indebted to Britain and France, the federal government needed a way to obtain funds. However, as described, the Articles of Confederation could not collect or impose taxes on states which also meant they had no money for things such an army. Most states were doing very financially poorly and during this time period, the US was broke. This would be especially relevant when discussing the effects of Shay's Rebellion.
Daniel Shay was a Massachusetts farmer. While many were impacted by the nationwide poor financial situation of the US, farmers in particular were struggling the worst as many fought in the war and came back with significantly more debt. So, Shay and other farmers heavily affected by this armed themselves and began to riot. While they were shut down by the local Massachusetts Milita, this highlighted the weakness of the Articles of Confederation as many were concerned of the possibility of future similar uprisings and with no President or national army to defend, exacerbated the need to reform it. State tensions also increased drastically as the government could not regulate commerce, the ability to control policies that traveled through different states, and many bordering states could not come to a consensus with each other over various policies. Moreover, with the ability to pass laws requiring 9/13 state votes and 13/13 to make amendments to the Articles of Confederation, not much passed due to differing beliefs. Truly for the first few years of the United States, it more closely resembled separate nations instead one united country that fought together for this.
In 1785, delegates from 12/13 states met together at the Constitutional Convention to discuss future actions. While it was initially called for to reassess the Articles of Confederation, delegates soon realized they needed a new constitution all together. From there, two groups formed over this issue: Federalists and Anti-Federalists.
⋆ Federalists: Wanted stronger central government control
⋆ Anti-Federalists: Wanted to keep states' power and opposed a strong central government
There was also debate over how people would be represented; two plans were considered.
⋆ Virgina Plan: Representation by population and favored larger states
⋆ New Jersey Plan: Equal representation regardless of population and favored smaller states
As favoring a type of state over the other was not something that could be agreed upon, the Great Compromise was made which separated the legislative branch into two houses known as a bicameral. The House of Representatives was based on population and the Senate would have an equal number of votes from each state (2). However, when focusing on the vast enslaved population, there was even more division. Southern states wanted every slave to be counted as a person as their population was largely made up from enslaved workers and it would give them more representation and therefore power in the house. However, the North with fewer enslaved workers did not want to have less representation and power compared to the South. So, the 3/5th's compromise was created which meant each enslaved worker would count as 3/5ths of a person towards representation. At the same time, a new constitution was drafted that included many ideas like a more complex central government that'd split power into three branches: the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. There, it reached the people for ratification.
Famous federalists Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison joined forces to work on a series of documents defending the new United States Constitution entitled the Federalist Papers. The plan was to write a total of 25 essays with the work divided evenly among the three men. In the end, they wrote 85 essays in the span of six months. John Jay got sick after writing 5, James Madison wrote 29, and Hamilton wrote the other 51 papers. However, anti-federalists were still weary of the Constitution and demanded it required a Bill of Rights which would guarantee individual liberties and rights. With the federalists agreeing to these demands, the Constitution was ratified in 1789, officially ending the Articles of Confederation.
Additional Terms:
⋆ Valley Forge: the winter encampment of Waashington's Continental Army during the war
⋆ Olive Branch Petition: A document that was the final attempt by the colonists to avoid going to war with Britain; they declared themselves as loyal to the British to prevent further conflict
Author's Note: How do you write like you're running out of time? Write day and night like you're running out of time? That's how I feel right now.
──── ୨୧ ──── thanks for reading!!!
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