Download 1 1 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND ITS AFTERMATH What`s in

1
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND ITS AFTERMATH
What’s in a name: war of independence? or revolution?
Note the importance of the idea of “revolution”—
a. very important to American exceptionalism-- –the revolution narrowed
the focus of exceptionalism to the American nation, and reinforced images of
the new nation’s uniqueness as an anti-monarchical beacon – it was radicla
for its time.
b. Rev. established traditions--the right to overthrow the govt. (or resist it,
as in the southern secession from the Union in 1861; more commonly to
resist taxes);
in 19th century U.S. nurtured a revolutionary and anti-colonial tradition;
against interference in Latin America and supportive initially of Rev. there.
c. so the revolution was important and it’s important to know exactly what
kind of revolution it was
1. A reluctant and somewhat conservative revolution
a. Impact of the Seven Years War -1754-63
b. Longer term causes—the Seven Years War brought economic difficulties- made the idea of independence more importance-- independence in the
sense of freedom from the restriction of distant power (this was the origins of
American fear of big government—a distant King- -this is why the current
opponents of Obama call themselves the tea-party movement – identify with
the Boston Tea party that rejected British tea taxes).
2. Course of the war --1775-1781- first hostilities at Concord in 1775,
Declaration of Independence 1776 -- ending with the surrender of the British
at Yorktown after a French blockade prevented escape of Cornwallis.
Treaty of Paris (1783) settled the war
3. Comparisons — impressed by the bloodletting of the French and Russian
revolutions, many American commentators have pronounced the American
revolution exceptionally mild, devoid of violence or extreme ideology —the
image of Europe and of Europeans set the interpretation of the American
nation as exceptional
4. Social divisions
The war deeply divided the American people — there was an internal conflict
tied mostly to relationships with the imperial system, and to the class position
of individuals and groups-Loyalists-- 20,000 fought; 60,000 to 80,00 left, mostly for Canada and GB.
They included slaves offered freedom by the British in return for
fighting—these ended up in Freetown, now Sierra Leone.
5. Revolutionary Changes? There is a case for calling this a war with
disruptive, revolutionary effects, though some of these were really
evolutionary
a. changes in ideology -- to “republicanism” and anti-monarchy
1
2
b. in democratic practice from property franchise to manhood suffrage—
began in the revolutionary era after 1776 but not completed until 1830.
c. the elimination of the (well-to-do) loyalists who emigrated
d. the separation of church and state 1776>>>1833 (lastly in Massachusetts)
e. abolition of slavery in the north-- The northern states’ action to abolish
slavery were influenced by religious ideology, especially Quakerism and by
the economic marginality of northern slavery
f. the impact on the Indians – removed leverage Indians had through siding
with the British – removal of the Proclamation line of 1763 barring settlement
in Indian territory.
6. The revolution carried further the demise of European empires in North
America -- and the rise of an American empire east of the Mississippi.
7. The Constitution-- distinguish between this and Decl. of Independence
(1776); the latter was a justification for revolution; the former a plan for the
institutions of government
First attempt at union came with the Articles of Confederation 1781
The movement to establish a federal constitution came from the failures of
that government (too decentralised and financially weak)
Philadelphia 1787- constitution transfers stronger power to a central govt.,
and est. a presidency and congress -- ratified by the states, 1789-Federalists and anti-federalists fought over the constitution’s acceptance –
resolved in >>>
The bill of rights-- ratified by 1791
Freedom of religion, speech, assembly, right of petition, etc; “due process”
Aimed at protecting the individual from the federal govt, not the state
government,
The constitution also embodied checks and balances– Senate v. House;
president’s veto power. Theories of Montesquieu
8. The Contradiction of Slavery and FreedomWas the US founded on ideas of equality?
Principles of the revolution — equality — all men are created equal-- a
slogan; But what did this mean?
Republicanism championed concepts of virtue and independence based on
ownership of property, and equality defined as a career open to talent rather
than a hereditary aristocracy
Republicanism gave valuation to the idea of consent—those who did not
rebel, and did not consent, were devalued—in this way, the Revolution
legitimised slavery as the obverse of freedom
2
3
9. The Founding Fathers and Slavery:
3/5th clause; fugitive slave clause; slaves could be imported until 1808
North West ordinance – 1787 (not part of the constitution ---an action of the
confederation)
Slavery was embedded deeply in the Constitution.
10. The International Dimension
Declaration of Independence became a model for other peoples—an anticolonial action – the idea and the symbol used by other peoples e.g.,
Vietnam 1945 (D. Armitage)
11. It’s not just a diffusion of American influence. The American rev. was both
influenced by and in turn influenced events in Europe and elsewhere—
a. the role of the Enlightenment in stimulating revolution; rationality,
progress, moderation
b. the effects on 1789 in France;
financial; example and model; personnel
c. the context of war and revolution in Europe that follows by 1791-1794;
d. Haiti-- 1791 Revolution
The whole period 1776-1815 was one in which foreign policy issues were of
defining importance.
a. the 1790s—US’s incipient political parties and the government were drawn
into the arguments over the French revolution and trade antagonisms with
Britain, brought about because of the desire of Americans to remain neutral in
the European war.
b. The War of 1812 was partly an offshoot of the commercial restrictions that
the British put on American trade across the Atlantic during the Napoleonic
wars.
Only in 1815 was the United States’ continental position free from serious
great power rivalry. Attention could turn toward internal development. The
United States had been born in the struggle s of empire. Soon it would
become its own empire. The preparations were already been made.
3
4
TRANSNATIONAL ATLANTIC REVOLUTIONS
What is transnational history. Movement of people, good, ideas, institutions
across national boundaries.
Trans-Atlantic and global impacts
1) Impact on Britain was similarly mild in terms of internal politics
The American Revolution provoked not fear but a political reform debate in
Britain, but it was a debate that mostly focused on legislative, parliamentary
and taxation reform.
The impact on the empire was considerable, however. The “turn to the East”
of the British empire. The upheaval of the American Revolution influenced
even the founding of Australia.
Britain had sent 60,000 convicts to Maryland and Virginia in the 7 decades
before the American revolution.
Britain had an extreme need for an outlet to dump its convicts; since the 1740s
draconian laws had condemned many thousands of Britons to death or long
terms of imprisonment for relatively minor offences (this was part of a
paternalistic attempt to control the labouring poor because arbitrary mercy
could be applied – thus gaining the gratitude of families whose relatives were
condemned to death when sentences were commuted. Judges began to have
doubts about the severity of sentences, many were commuted to life
imprisonment. The prisons were inadequate; the prisoners piled up in the
hulks or old pensioned off war ships in the Thames; prisoners could no
longer be sent to North America- where would they go
The British government got the idea of establishing a penal colony that would
provide for the possible reformation of prisoners- based however on exile- for
the term of his natural life. The site, Botany Bay, was in the recently claimed
for Britain land of Eastern Australia. The fleet arrived in 1788, while the
American people were debating the merits of the new federal constitution.
Thus were the histories of the two countries linked.
2) British moves to abolish international slave trade- – 1807 (US 1808)- Abolition of the slave trade for Britain, covered the Atlantic –one historian
speaks of this as seeking a new moral capital to recover lost hegemonic status
after the American revolution. The evangelical leader, William
Wilberforce agitated for this abolition from 1787.
3) And of course the American revolution was closely connected to the
French revolution
Its success in holding at bay the greatest naval and military power of the time,
and the stirring principles of the Declaration of Independence had impacts in
Europe.
French soldiers had fought in the Revolution, most notably the Maquis de
Lafayette
4
5
the decay of the French monarchical state in the 1780s was due in part to the
over-reaching of its own empire, and its funding of such enterprises as the
support for the Americans;
the ideas of 1776 influenced and, in some ways confirmed, the principles of
Enlightenment that motivated the moderates who began the French
revolution.
The Revolution there quickly radicalised culminating in the arrest and later
execution of Louis XVI); 1793 saw the height of the Jacobin radical wave of
power, while in the countryside the bloodletting against the aristocracy
continued. Meanwhile, enamoured with the principles of liberty, equality and
fraternity, French exported their revolution to the rest of Europe through war.
French Revolution was different from the U.S. – there was no constitutional
order (cf. British traditions of common law and the free-born rights of
Englishmen) that could be appealed to, or a new system founded upon.
Its radical appeals stimulated radicals, e.g., Tom Paine, Rights of Man 1791-92
(he supported the export of French rev. principles to the German states as a
way of making France’s democracy safe from monarchical despotism in
adjoining countries
Also Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Woman 1792.
4) Feedback effects of the French revolution in the United States --the Revolution produced political division
Jefferson v Federalists-- the attitude towards the French revolution became a
touchstone, through which American Americans defined their nationhood.
Reaction against what was seen as the extremism of the French revolution in
both Britain and the United States produced a conservative moral counterrevolution —Timothy Dwight denounced Wollstonecraft as an unchaste
woman – a strumpet - -the English critic Horace Walpole called her a “hyena
in petticoats”
Efforts were made to contain the idea of woman’s rights; the evangelical
revivals of the late 1790s and early 1800s revitalized the protestant churches
in New England and put their ideas to work for Federalist causes
But the libertarian and free thinking tradition did not died completely and
resurfaced in the tradition of equal rights for women in the 1820s and 1830s
in the reformer, English-born Frances Wright, who migrated with Robert
Owen to Indian to form a utopian settlement.
5) The French Revolution also unsettled slavery in the Americas.
through the Haitian Revolution
St. Domingue's white minority split into Royalist and Revolutionary factions,
while the mixed-race population (mulattos) campaigned for civil rights.
Sensing an opportunity, the slaves of northern St. Domingue organized and
planned a massive rebellion which began on August 22, 1791.
5
6
They fought—the Rev. leader quickly became Toussaint L’Ouverture
(Bréda), a former slave
Tremendous violence erupted on both sides – three way contest – Sp. v Fr v
slave and free black rebels
1801 – Haitian constitution- end to slavery; racial equality
Eventual independence by 1803
Impact
a. Refugees
In 1793, fighting and an ensuing fire destroyed much of the capital of CapHaitien, and refugees piled into French naval ships anchored in the harbour.
The French navy deposited the refugees in Norfolk, Virginia.
Others went to Cuba and other Caribbean islands, and some from there to
Louisiana, which of course before 1803 was French, and before that, 17631800) Spanish, and before that French again.
White French refugees became involved in émigré politics in the U.S., hoping
to influence U.S. foreign policy. Anxieties about their actions, along with
those of European radicals also residing in the United States, led to the
passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts (1798) to curb anti-Federalist dissent.
A second wave of settlement followed. As many as 15,000 Saint-Domingue
refugees--whites, slaves loyal to their masters, and free people of colour-settled in Louisiana by 1807. Forming a relatively coherent diaspora for at
least two decades, they concentrated in New Orleans, doubling the city's
population.
Black refugees to Louisiana brought with them elements of African and
Haitian culture, especially voodoo/hoodoo practices, Caribbean house styles,
and the language, oral traditions, and dance steps of Mardi Gras.
New Orleans became the center of voodoo practice in North America, largely
for this reason. An African religious system, voodoo kept the living in
harmony with their spirit ancestors and with nature.
Black refugees also brought ideas of equality from the French revolution even
though they were escapees from the Black revolution in Haiti – this caused
anxieties among whites.
b. Ideological and psychological
Fear of a slave rebellion spreading to the United States
Haiti showed the following
a) black men could rise up successfully against their oppressors
b) they could organize, and fight wars
c) they produced leaders of outstanding ability and charisma
6
7
All this went against the growing orthodoxy of black inferiority.
This was a different kind of slave rebellion- no longer pre-political or premodern; now the slaves asked for Rights. A truly transnational
revolutionary moment in history.
For larger American policy the conflict reflected the internal political
divisions – President Adams (1797-1801) was anti-slavery, and so did not
want to help the French regain control
When Jefferson took power in 1801, fear of slave rebellion overrode his
concern for the doctrine that all men are created equal – he stated that the
"United States opposed the island's independence under Black rule and
wanted to see French authority restored." The French ambassador reported to
Paris that it was Jefferson's "dread of the blacks, not devotion to French
interests" that influenced his decision to support France.
But he changed his mind when Napoleon planned to use a reconquered
Haiti to launch a bid for expanded French power in the region, including
his takeover from Spain of Louisiana (1802).
The American withdrawal of supplies from the French forces in St
Domingue contributed to their defeat in 1803 and the establishment of the
independent republic of Haiti from 1804
Meanwhile, L'Ouverture's did not live to see the devt of the new black
republic; divisions among the Haitians, some of whom sided with the French,
led L'Ouverture to sign a peace treaty with the re-invading French Army in
1802; then captured and deported, he languished in a French prison and died
in April 1803. Jefferson grew even more hostile to the Haitian revolution after
L'Ouverture's successor, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, ordered the execution of
whites remaining after the Napoleonic attempts to reconquer St. Domingue
and reimpose slavery.
Dessalines proclaimed himself emperor.
Jefferson refused to recognize Haitian independence, and the Federalist
opposition also acquiesced. Although France recognized Haitian
independence in 1825, Haitians would have to wait until 1862 for the United
States to recognize Haiti's status as a sovereign, independent nation.
The Haitian defeat for Napoleon spelled the end of his plan for a North
American empire; short of money for the European wars, he sold the territory
to the United States (1803). This was the Louisiana Purchase.
The Napoleonic wars also weakened Spain, loosening the grip of that country
upon its South American colonies. Elites seized power first in Mexico in 1808,
and then in a host of South American countries. Símon Bolívar
7
8
8
9
9