OUTLINE OF

U.S. Histor
Early Settlement
Colonial Period
Road to Independence
Forming a
Westward Expansion
Sectional Conflict
Civil War
Economic Growth
Discontent and Reform
War, Prosperity, and Depression
The New Deal and World War II
Postwar Prosperity
Civil Rights and Social Change
A New World Order
Bridge to the 21st Century
2008 Presidential Election
OU*TLINE OF OUTLINE OF
U.SHISTORY . HISTORY
 Bureau of International Information Programs
U.S. Department of State
2011
OUTLINE OF OUTLINE OF

U.S.
HISTORY .
HISTORY
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 Early America
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 CHAPTER
2 The Colonial Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 CHAPTER 3 The Road to Independence
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 CHAPTER 4 The
Formation of a National Government . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
CHAPTER 5 Westward
Expansion and Regional Differences . . . . . . 110 CHAPTER
6
Sectional Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
128 CHAPTER 7 The Civil War and Reconstruction . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 140 CHAPTER 8 Growth and
Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 CHAPTER
9 Discontent and Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
188 CHAPTER 10 War, Prosperity, and Depression
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 CHAPTER 11 The New
Deal and World War II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
CHAPTER 12 Postwar America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 256 CHAPTER 13 Decades of Change: 1960-
1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 CHAPTER 14 The New
Conservatism and a New World Order . . . . . . 304
CHAPTER 15 Bridge to the 21st Century . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 CHAPTER 16 Politics of Hope
.......
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
PICTURE PROFILES
 Becoming a Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . 38 Transforming a Nation . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Monuments and
Memorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Turmoil and Change
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 21st
Century
Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
...
. . . . . . . 346 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
4
CHAPTER 1
EARLY
AMERICA
Mesa Verde
settlement in

Colorado, 13th
century.
CHAPTER 1: EARLY AMERICA

“Heaven and Earth never agreed better to

frame a place for man’s habitation.”
Jamestown founder John Smith, 1607
The first people to reach North
America almost certainly did so
without knowing they
had crossed into a new
continent. They would have
been following
game, as their
ancestors had for thousands of
years, along the Siberian coast
and then across the land
bridge.
Once in Alaska, it would take these
first North Americans thou
THE FIRST AMERICANS in great glaciers south to what is
now the United States. Evidence
of early life in North America
At the height of the Ice Age, be
continues to be found. Little of
tween 34,000 and 30,000 B.C.,
it, however, can be reliably
much of the world’s water was
dated before 12,000 B.C.; a
locked up in vast continental ice
recent discovery of a hunting
sheets. As a result, the Bering
look out in northern Alaska, for
Sea was hundreds of meters
exam ple, may date from almost
below its current level, and a
that time. So too may the finely
land bridge, known as Beringia,
crafted spear points and items
emerged between Asia and
found near Clovis, New Mexico.
North America. At its peak,
Similar artifacts have been
Beringia is thought to have been
found at sites throughout North
some 1,500 ki lometers wide. A
and South America, indicating
moist and treeless tundra, it was
that life was probably already
covered with grasses and plant
life, attracting the large animals
that early humans hunted for
sands of years more to work
their way through the openings
their survival.

6
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
well established in
much of the Western Mexico, as well as a canal
Hemisphere by some time prior and irrigation system.
to 10,000 B.C. Around that time
the mammoth began to die out MOUND
and the bison took its place as a BUILDERS AND
principal source of food and PUEBLOS
hides for these early North
Americans. Over time, as more The first Native-American
and more species of large game group to build mounds in
van ished — whether from what is now the United
overhunting or natural causes — States often are called the
plants, berries, and seeds became Adenans. They began
an increasingly important part of construct
the early Ameri can diet.
ing earthen burial sites and
Gradually, foraging and the first
forti fications around 600
attempts at primitive agri culture
B.C. Some mounds from
appeared. Native Americans in
that era are in the shape of
what is now central Mexico led
birds or serpents; they
the way, cultivating corn,
probably served religious
squash, and beans, perhaps as
purposes not yet fully
early as 8,000 B.C. Slowly, this
understood.
knowledge spread northward.
The Adenans appear to have
By 3,000 B.C., a primitive type
been absorbed or displaced
of corn was being grown in the
by vari ous groups
river valleys of New Mexico
collectively known as
and Arizo na. Then the first
Hopewellians. One of the
signs of irrigation began to
most im portant centers of
appear, and, by 300 B.C., signs
their culture was found in
of early village life.
southern Ohio, where the
By the first centuries A.D.,
remains of several thousand
the Hohokam were living in
of these mounds still can be
settlements near what is now
seen. Believed to be great
Phoenix, Arizo na, where
traders, the Hopewel lians
they built ball courts and
used and exchanged tools
pyramid-like mounds
and materials across a wide
reminiscent of those found in
 region of hundreds of mound, flattened at the top,
kilometers. that was 30 meters high and 37
Byaround500 A.D., the hectares at the base. Eighty
Hopewellians disappeared, too, other mounds have been found
gradually giving way to a nearby.
broad group of tribes generally Cities such as Cahokia depend
known as the Mississippians or ed on a combination of
Temple Mound culture. One hunting, foraging, trading, and
city, Ca agriculture for their food and
hokia, near Collinsville, supplies. Influ enced by the
Illinois, is thought to have had thriving societies to the south,
a population of about 20,000 at they evolved into complex hi
its peak in the early 12th erarchical societies that took
century. At the center of the slaves and practiced human
city stood a huge earthen sacrifice.
CHAPTER 1: EARLY
AMERICA palace”of 7
Mesa Verde, Colorado,
had more than 200
rooms. Another site, the
Pueblo
In what is now the southwest
Bonito ruins along New Mexico’s
United States, the Anasazi,
Chaco River, oncecontained
ancestors of the
modern Hopi more
than 800 rooms.
Indians, began building stone
Perhaps the most affluent of
and adobe pueblos around
the the pre-Columbian
Native
year 900. These unique and
Americans lived in the Pacific
amazing apartment-like struc
Northwest, where the natural
tures were often built along
cliff abundance of fish and
raw
faces; the most famous, the “cliff
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,
The America that greeted the combined aspects of hunting,
first Europeans was, thus, far gathering, and the cultivation of
from an empty wilderness. It is maize and other products for
now thought that as many their food supplies. In many
people lived in the Western cases, the women were
Hemisphere as in West ern responsible for farming and the
Europe at that time — about 40 distribution of food, while the
million. Estimates of the number men hunted and participated in
of Native Americans living in war. By all accounts, Native-
what is now the United States at American society in North
the onset of European America was closely tied to the
colonization range from two to land. Identification with nature
18 million, with most histori ans and the elements was
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,
ravaged whole communities and
is thought to have been a much
more direct cause of the
precipitous decline in the Indian
integral to religious beliefs. Florida coast near the present
Their life was essentially city of St. Augustine.
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
THE FIRST EUROPEANS

The first Europeans to arrive

in
North America — at least the
first for whom there is solid
evidence — were Norse,
traveling west were launched
from the Spanish posses
sions that he helped
establish. The first of these
took place in 1513 when a
group of men under Juan
Ponce de León landed on the
fromGreenland, where Erik the
1522, the Spanish further solidi With
Red had founded a settlement fied their position in the Western
around the year 985. In 1001 his
Hemisphere. The ensuing discov son Leif is thought to have
eries added to Europe’s explored the north east coast of
knowledge of what was now what is now Canada and spent
named America — after the at least one winter there.
Italian Amerigo Ves pucci, who
While Norse sagas suggest
wrote a widely popular account that Viking sailors explored
the of his voyages to a “New World.” Atlan tic coast of North
America
By 1529 reliable maps of the down as far as the Bahamas,
Atlantic coastline from Labrador such claims remain
unproven. In
to Tierra del Fuego had been
1963, however, the ruins of
drawn up, although it would take some Norse houses dat ing
from
more than another century that era were discovered at
before hope of dis covering a
L’Anse-aux-Meadows in northern
“Northwest Passage” to Asia
Newfoundland, thus supporting
would be completely abandoned. at least some of the saga
Among the most significant claims.
ear ly Spanish explorations
was
In 1497, just five years after
that of Hernando De Soto,
a
Christopher Columbus landed in veteran con quistador who
had the Caribbean looking for a west accompanied Francisco
Pizarro ern route to Asia, a Venetian sail
in the conquest of Peru. Leaving or named John Cabot arrived
in
Havana in 1539, De Soto’s
Newfoundland on a mission for
expedition landed in Florida and the British king. Although
quickly
ranged through the southeast forgotten, Cabot’s journey
was
the conquest of Mexico in
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
 provided livestock, tools,
and build ings. The tenants
paid the patroon rent and
gave him first option on
surplus crops.
Further to the south, a Swedish
trading company with ties to the
Dutch attempted to set up its
first settlement along the
Delaware Riv er three years
later. Without the
re sources to consolidate its
position, New Sweden was
gradually absorbed into New
Netherland, and later,
Pennsylvania and Delaware. In
1632 the Catholic Calvert fam
ily obtained a charter for land
north of the Potomac River from
King Charles I in what became
known as Maryland. As the
charter did not ex pressly
prohibit the establishment of
non-Protestant churches, the
colony became a haven for
Catholics. Mary land’s first
town, St. Mary’s, was
established in 1634 near where
people farms, not just tenancy
on manorial estates. The number
of independent farms grew in
consequence. Their owners de
manded a voice in the affairs of
the colony. Maryland’s first
legislature met in 1635.
 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 toOF
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 BRITISH COLONIES
strong power in the 1600s
and 1700s. It traded furs
with the British and sided
with them against the French
in the war for the dominance
of America between 1754
and 1763.
well as the attention the mother become estranged from
them. country paid the fledgling
As a result, when the British American colonies.
colonists began en croaching
on
In part to provide for the
Dutch claims in Long Island and defense measures England
was
Manhattan, the unpopu lar neglect ing, the Massachusetts
governor was unable to rally
the
Bay, Plym outh, Connecticut,
and population to their
defense. New
New Haven colonies formed the
Netherland fell in 1664.
The
New England Confederation in
terms of the capitulation,
1643. It was the European
however, were mild: The Dutch colonists’ first attempt at
settlers were able to retain their regional unity.
property and worship as
they
The early history of the British
pleased. settlers reveals a good deal of
As early as the 1650s, the con tention — religious and
Albe marle Sound region off the political — as groups vied
for
coast of what is now northern power and posi tion among
North Caroli na was inhabited by themselves and their
neighbors. settlers trickling down from
Maryland, in particular, suffered
Virginia. The first pro prietary from the bitter religious ri
valries governor arrived in 1664. The that afflicted England
during the
first town in Albemarle, a re mote era of Oliver Cromwell.
One of
area even today, was not estab the casualties was the state’s
lished until the arrival of a
group
Tolera tion Act, which was
of French Huguenots in 1704. revoked in the 1650s. It was
The 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 local population had
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, for example, shows that a
drought lasting 23 years, from 1276 to 1299, finally forced
the last groups of Anasazi to leave permanently. Although the
Anasazi dispersed from their ancestral homeland, their legacy
remains in the remarkable archaeological record that they left
behind, and in the Hopi, Zuni, and other
Pueblo peoples who are their
descendants. 

20
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
Major Native American cultural groupings,
A.D. 500-1300.
21
22

CHAPTER2
THE
COLONIA
LPERIOD
Pilgrims signing the
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 NEW ENGLAND
Portuguese throughout the England colonies had generally
colonies. thin, stony soil, relatively little
After 1680 England ceased to be level land, and long winters,
the chief source of immigration, making it difficult to make a
sup planted by Scots and living from farming. Turn ing to
“Scots-Irish” (Protestants from other pursuits, the New Eng
Northern Ire land). In addition, landers harnessed waterpower
tens of thousands of refugees and established grain mills and
fled northwestern Eu rope to saw mills. Good stands of
escape war, oppression, and timber en couraged
absentee-landlordism. By 1690 shipbuilding. Excellent harbors
the American population had promoted trade, and the sea
risen to a quarter of a million. became a source of great
From then on, it doubled every wealth. In Massachusetts, the
25 years until, in 1775, it cod industry alone quickly
numbered more than 2.5 furnished a basis for prosperity.
million. Although families occa With the bulk of the early
sionally moved from one colony settlers living in villages and
to another, distinctions between towns around the harbors, many
indi vidual colonies were New
marked. They England ers carried on some
were even more so among the kind of trade or business.

The northeastern New

24
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
three regional groupings of Common pastureland and
colonies. woodlots served the needs of
towns people, who worked small farms
nearby. Compactness made where they would buy
possible the village school, molasses to bring home for
the village church, and the sale to the local rum
village or town hall, where producers.
citizens met to discuss
matters of common interest. THE MIDDLE
The Massachusetts Bay COLONIES
Colony continued to expand
its commerce. From the Society in the middle colonies
middle of the 17th century was far more varied,
onward it grew prosperous, cosmopolitan, and tolerant
so that Boston became one of than in New England.
America’s greatest ports. Under William Penn,
Oak timber for ships’ hulls, tall Pennsylvania functioned
pines for spars and masts, and smoothly and grew rap idly.
pitch for the seams of ships came By 1685, its population was
from the Northeastern forests. al most
Building their own vessels and 9,000. The heart of the
sailing them to ports all over the colony
world, the shipmasters of
Massachusetts Bay laid the foun
dation for a trade that was to
grow steadily in importance. By
the end of the colonial period,
one-third of all vessels under the
British flag were built in New
England. Fish, ship’s stores, and
woodenware swelled the exports.
New England merchants and
shippers soon discovered that
rum and slaves were profitable
com modities. One of their most
enter prising — if unsavory —
trading practices of the time was
the
“trian gular trade.” Traders
would purchase slaves off the
coast of Africa for New
England rum, then sell the
slaves in the West Indies
the thriving centers of the British moved into the colony in the
Empire. Though the Quakers early 18th century. “Bold and
dominated in Philadelphia, indi gent strangers,” as one
elsewhere in Penn sylvania Pennsylvania official called
others were well represent ed. them, they hated the English and
Germans became the colony’s were suspicious of all
most skillful farmers. Important, government. The Scots-Irish
too, were cottage industries such tended to settle in the
as weaving, shoemaking, backcountry, where they cleared
cabinetmak ing, and other crafts. land and lived by hunt ing and
Pennsylvania was also the subsistence farming. New York
principal gateway into the New best illustrated the polyglot
World for the Scots-Irish, who nature of America. By 1646 the
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
were predominantly rural
blue dye obtained from native
settlements. plants that was used in coloring
fabric. By 1750 more than
By the late 17th century, Virgin
ia’s and Maryland’s economic 100,000 people lived in the two
colonies of North and South
and social structure rested on
the great planters and the Caroli na. Charleston, South
yeoman farmers. The planters of Carolina, was the region’s
the Tidewater re gion, supported leading port and trading center.
by slave labor, held most of the In the southernmost colonies,
political power and the best as everywhere else,
land. They built great houses, population growth in the
adopted an aristocratic way of backcountry had special sig
life, and kept in touch as bestnificance. German
they could with the world of immigrants and Scots-Irish,
culture overseas. unwilling to live in the
The yeoman farmers, who original Tidewater
worked smaller tracts, sat in settlements where English
popular assem blies and found influence was strong, pushed
their way into political office. inland. Those who could not
Their outspoken independence secure fertile land along the
was a constant warning to the coast, or who had exhausted
oligar chy of planters not to the lands they held, found the
encroach too far upon the rights hills farther west a bountiful
of free men. refuge. Although their
The settlers of the Carolinas hardships were enormous,
quickly learned to combine restless settlers kept coming;
agricul ture and commerce, and by the 1730s they were
the mar ketplace became a major pouring into the Shenan doah
source of prosperity. Dense Valley of Virginia. Soon the
forests brought revenue: in terior was dotted with
Lumber, tar, and resin from the farms. Living on the edge of
longleaf pine provided some of Native American country,
frontier families built cabins,
the best shipbuilding materials in
cleared the wilderness, and
cultivated maize and wheat.
the world. Not bound to a single The men wore leather made
crop as was Virginia, North and from the skin of deer or
South Carolina also produced sheep, known as buckskin;
and exported rice and indigo, a the women wore gar ments
of
26 cloth
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
they spun at home. Their William and Mary was
food consisted of venison, established in Virginia. A few
wild turkey, and fish. They years later, the Collegiate
had their own amusements: School of Connecticut, later
great barbecues, dances, to become Yale University,
housewarmings for newly was chartered.
married couples, shooting Even more noteworthy was
matches, and contests for the growth of a school
making quilted system main tained by
blankets. Quilt-making governmental authority. The
remains an American Puritan emphasis on reading
tradition today. directly from the Scriptures
under scored the importance
SOCIETY, of literacy.
SCHOOLS, AND In 1647 the Massachusetts
CULTURE Bay
Colony enacted the “ye olde
deluder Satan” Act,
A significant factor deterring requiring every town having
the emergence of a powerful more than 50 families to
aristocratic or gentry class in establish a grammar school
the colonies was the ability (a Latin school to prepare
of anyone in an estab lished students for college).
colony to find a new home Shortly thereafter, all the other
on the
New Eng
frontier. Time after time, land colonies, except for Rhode
domi nant Tidewater figures Is land, followed its example.
were obliged to liberalize The Pilgrims and Puritans had
political policies, land grant brought their own little librar ies
requirements, and religious and continued to import books
practices by the threat of a from London. And as early as
mass exo dus to the frontier. the 1680s, Boston booksellers
Of equal significance for the were do ing a thriving business
future were the foundations in works of classical literature,
of American education and history, politics, philosophy,
culture es tablished during science, theology, and belles-
the colonial period. Harvard lettres. In 1638 the first print ing
College was founded in 1636 press in the English colonies and
in Cambridge, the second in North America was
Massachusetts. Near the end in stalled at Harvard College.
of the century, the College of The first school in
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
science; there were also night mother of all North American
schools for adults. Women were subscription libraries.”
not entirely overlooked, but their In the Southern colonies,
edu cational opportunities were wealthy planters and merchants
limited to training in activities imported pri vate tutors from
that could be conducted in the Ireland or Scotland to teach their
home. Private teachers instructed children. Some sent their
the daughters of CHAPTER 2: children to school in England.
prosperous Philadelphians in singing, grammar, Having
French, music, dancing, painting, sometimes these
bookkeeping. other
THE COLONIAL PERIOD opportunities, the upper classes
in the Tidewater were not
interested in supporting pub lic
In the 18th century, the intel education. In addition, the diffu
lectual and cultural development sion of farms and plantations
of Pennsylvania reflected, in made the
large measure, the vigorous 27
personalities of two men: James formation of community
Logan and Benja min Franklin. schools difficult. There were
Logan was secretary of the
 only a few free schools in Americana, presented
Virginia. the pag eant of New
The desire for learning England’s history. The most
did not stop at the popular single work of the
borders of established day was the Reverend
Peter Zenger, whose New into prison on a charge of
York Weekl seditious libel. Zenger continued
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
communities, however. Michael Wiggles worth’s long
On the fron tier, the poem, “The Day of Doom,”
Scots-Irish, though which described the Last
living in Judgment in terrifying terms.
In 1704 Cambridge,
Massachu setts, launched
primitive cabins, were firm the colonies’ first successful
devotees of scholarship, and newspaper. By 1745 there
they made great efforts to were 22 newspapers being
attract learned ministers to published in British North
their settlements. America.
Literary production in the colo In New York, an important
nies was largely confined to step in establishing the
New England. Here attention principle of free dom of the
concen trated on religious press took place with the case
subjects. Ser mons were the of John that the charges
most common products of the printed by Zenger were true
press. A famous Pu ritan and hence not libelous. The
minister, the Reverend Cot ton jury returned a verdict of not
Mather, wrote some 400 guilty, and Zenger went free.
works. His masterpiece, The increasing prosperity of
MagnaliaChristi the towns prompted fears that
the dev il was luring society Christianity of its func tion of
into pursuit of worldly gain redemption from sin. His
and may have contrib uted to magnum opus, Of
the religious reaction of the Freedom of Will
1730s, known as the Great (1754), attempted to reconcile
Awaken ing. Its two Cal vinism with the
immediate sources were Enlightenment. The Great
George Whitefield, a Awakening gave rise to
Wesleyan re vivalist who evangelical denominations
arrived from England in (those
1739, and Jonathan Edwards, Christian churches that believe
who served the in personal conversion and the
Congregational Church in iner rancy of the Bible) and the
Northampton, Massachusetts. spirit of revivalism, which
Whitefield began a religious continue to play significant
re vival in roles in American reli gious and
Philadelphia and then moved cultural life. It weakened the
on to New England. He status of the established clergy
enthralled audiences of up to and provoked believers to rely
20,000 people at a time with on their own conscience.
histrionic displays, ges tures, Perhaps most important, it led
and emotional oratory. Reli to the proliferation of sects and
gious turmoil swept denominations, which in turn
throughout New England and encouraged general accep tance
the middle colonies as of the principle of religious
ministers left established toleration.
churches to preach the
revival. EMERGENCE OF
Edwards was the most COLONIAL
prominent of those GOVERNMENT
influenced by
Whitefield and the Great In the early phases of
Awakening. His most colonial de velopment, a
memorable contribution was striking feature was the lack
his 1741 sermon, “Sinners in of controlling influence by
the Hands of an Angry God.” the English
Rejecting theat government. All colonies ex
rics, he delivered his message in cept Georgia emerged as
a quiet, thoughtful manner, companies of shareholders,
arguing that the established or as feudal propri etorships
churches sought to deprive stemming from charters
 granted by the Crown. The example, full governmental
fact that the king had authority was vested in the
transferred his immedi ate company itself.
sovereignty over the New Nevertheless, the crown
companies and proprietors expected that the com pany
did not, of course, mean that would be resident in
the colonists in America England. Inhabitants of Virginia,
were necessarily free of then, would have no more voice
outside control. Under the in their govern ment than if the
terms of the Virginia king himself had retained
Company charter, for
World settlements to stock
English system of law based on
legal precedents or tradition, not
statutory law. In 1618 the
CHAPTER 2: THE COLONIAL
absolute rule.
PERIOD

29
Still, the colonies considered Virginia Company issued
themselves chiefly as common instructions to its appointed
wealths or states, much like governor providing that free
England itself, having only a inhab itants of the plantations
loose association with the should elect representatives to
authorities in London. In one join with the gov ernor and an
way or another, exclusive rule appointive council in passing
from the outside withered away. ordinances for the welfare of
The colonists — inheritors of the the colony.
long English tradition of the These measures proved to be
struggle for political liberty — some of the most far-reaching in
incorporated concepts of the entire colonial period. From
freedom into Virginia’s first then on, it was generally
charter. It provided that Eng lish accepted that the colonists had a
colonists were to exercise all right to participate in their own
liberties, franchises, and immuni government. In most in stances,
ties “as if they had been abiding the king, in making future
and born within this our Realm grants, provided in the charter
of Eng land.” They were, then, to that the free men of the colony
enjoy the benefits of the Magna should have a voice in
Carta — the charter of English legislation affecting them. Thus,
political and civ il liberties charters awarded to the
granted by King John in 1215 —
and the common law — the
Calverts in Maryland, William convenient for the general good
Penn in Pennsylvania, the of the colony....”
proprietors in North and South Although there was no legal self-
Carolina, and the proprietors in government, the action was not
New Jersey specified that contested, and, under the
legislation should be enacted com pact, the Plymouth settlers
with “the consent of the were able for many years to
freemen.” conduct their own affairs
In New England, for many years, without outside interference.
there was even more complete A similar situation developed in
self government than in the other the Massachusetts Bay
col onies. Aboard the Company, which had been given
Maflower, the Pilgrims the right to govern itself. Thus,
adopted an instrument for full authority rested in the hands
government called the of persons re siding in the
“Mayflower Compact,” to colony. At first, the dozen or so
“combine ourselves to gether original members of the
into a civil body politic for our company who had come to
better ordering and America attempted to rule
preservation ... and by virtue autocratically. But the other
hereof [to] enact, con stitute, and colonists soon demanded a
frame such just and equal laws, voice in public affairs and indi
ordinances, acts, constitutions, cated that refusal would lead to a
and offices ... as shall be thought mass migration.
most meet and
basis for the Pilgrims to establish then setting up their own
a system of political sys tem modeled
after that of the Pil grims at
30 Plymouth.
In only two cases was the
self government provision
ed, and control of the omitted. These were New
government passed to elected York, which was granted to
representatives. Subsequently, Charles II’s brother, the
other New England colonies Duke of York (later to
— such as Connecticut and become King James II), and
Rhode Island — also The company members
succeeded in becoming self- yield
governing simply by asserting
that they were beyond any
governmental authority, and
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY anarchy often pre vailed on
Georgia, which was granted to a the frontier.
group of “trustees.” In both Yet the assumption of self-
instances the provisions for gov ernment in the
governance were short-lived, for colonies did not go entirely
the colonists demanded legislative unchallenged. In the
rep resentation so insistently that 1670s, the Lords of Trade
the au thorities soon yielded. and Plantations, a royal
In the mid-17th century, the committee established to
English were too distracted by en force the mercantile
their Civil War (1642-49) and system in the colonies,
Oliver Cromwell’s Puritan Com moved to annul the Massa
monwealth to pursue an effective chusetts Bay charter
colonial policy. After the restora because the col ony was
tion of Charles II and the Stuart resisting the government’s
dynasty in 1660, England had economic policy. James II
more opportunity to attend to in 1685 approved a
colonial administration. Even proposal to create a Do
then, how ever, it was inefficient minion of New England
and lacked a coherent plan. The and place colonies south
colonies were through New Jersey under
left largely to their own its jurisdiction, thereby
devices. tight ening the Crown’s
The remoteness afforded by a control over the whole
vast ocean also made control region. A royal governor,
of the colo nies difficult. Sir Edmund Andros, levied
Added to this was the taxes by ex ecutive order,
character of life itself in early implemented a num ber of
Amer ica. From other harsh measures, and
countries limited in space jailed those who resisted.
and dotted with populous When news of the Glorious
towns, Rev olution (1688-89), which
the settlers had come to a land deposed James II in England,
of seemingly unending reach. reached Boston, the population
On such a continent, natural rebelled and impris oned
conditions pro moted a tough Andros. Under a new charter,
individualism, as people Massachusetts and Plymouth
became used to making their were united for the first time in
own decisions. Government 1691 as the royal colony of
pene trated the backcountry Massachusetts Bay. The other
only slowly, and conditions of New England colo nies quickly
reinstalled their previ ous to those held by the English
governments. Parlia ment: the right to vote on
The English Bill of Rights and the taxes and expenditures, and the
Toleration Act of 1689 affirmed right to ini tiate legislation
“liberties.” Their leverage rested rather than merely
on two significant powers similar react to proposals of the
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
 governor. The legislatures used advantages — primarily in
these rights to check the power of the sugar-rich islands of the
royal gover nors and to pass Carib bean — the struggles
other measures to expand their were generally indecisive,
power and influence. The and France remained in a
recurring clashes between gov powerful position in North
ernor and assembly made Ameri ca. By 1754, France
colonial politics tumultuous and still had a strong
worked in creasingly to awaken relationship with a number
the colonists to the divergence of Na tive American tribes
between American and English in Canada and along the
interests. In many cases, the Great Lakes. It controlled
royal authorities did not under the Mississippi River and,
by estab lishing a line of
forts and trading posts, had
stand the importance of what the marked out a great cres
colonial assemblies were doing cent-shaped empire
and simply neglected them. stretching from Quebec to
Nonetheless, the precedents and New Orleans. The British
principles estab lished in the remained confined to the
conflicts between as semblies and narrow belt east of the
governors eventually became part Appalachian Moun tains.
of the unwritten “con stitution” of Thus the French threatened
the colonies. In this way, the not only the British Empire
colonial legislatures asserted the but also the American
right of self-government. colonists themselves, for in
holding the Mississippi
THE FRENCH AND Valley, France could limit
their westward expansion.
An armed clash took place in
1754 at
32
Fort
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
Duquesne, the site where
INDIAN WAR

France and Britain engaged in

a succession of wars in Europe
and the Caribbean throughout
the 18th century. Though
Britain secured certain
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is now either the power of taxation or
lo cated, between a band of control over the development of
French reg ulars and Virginia the western lands to a central
militiamen under the command authority.
of 22-year-old George England’s superior strategic posi
Washington, a Virginia planter tion and her competent
and surveyor. The British leadership ultimately brought
government attempted to deal victory in the conflict with
with the conflict by calling a France, known as the French
meeting of representa tives from and Indian War in Ameri ca and
New York, Pennsylvania, the Seven Years’ War in Eu rope.
Maryland, and the New England Only a modest portion of it was
colonies. From June 19 to July fought in the Western
10, 1754, the Albany Congress, Hemisphere. In the Peace of
as it came to be known, met Paris (1763), France
with the Iro quois in Albany, relinquished all of Canada, the
New York, in order to improve Great Lakes, and the territory
relations with them and secure east of the Mississippi to the
their loyalty to the British. But Brit ish. The dream of a French
the delegates also declared a empire in North America was
union of the American colonies over.
“ab solutely necessary for their Having triumphed over France,
preserva tion” and adopted a Britain was now compelled to
proposal drafted by Benjamin face a problem that it had
Franklin. The Albany Plan of hitherto ne glected, the
Union provided for a pres ident governance of its em pire.
appointed by the king and a London thought it essential to
grand council of delegates organize its now vast
chosen by the assemblies, with possessions to facilitate defense,
each colony to be represented in reconcile the diver gent interests
proportion to its financial of different areas and peoples,
contributions to the gen eral and distribute more evenly the
treasury. This body would have cost of imperial administration.
charge of defense, Native In North America alone, British
American relations, and trade territories had more than
and settlement of the west. Most doubled. A population that had
importantly, it would have been predom inantly Protestant
independent authority to levy and English now included
taxes. But none of the colonies French-speaking Catholics from
accepted the plan, since they Quebec, and large numbers of
were not prepared to surrender partly Christianized Native
Ameri cans. Defense and tasks. Measures to establish a
administration of the new new one, however, would rouse
territories, as well as of the old, the latent suspicions of colonials
would require huge sums of who increasingly would see
money and increased personnel. Britain as no longer a protector
The old colonial system was of their rights, but rather a
obviously inadequate to these 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
37
John
Smith, the
stalwart
English
explorer and
settler whose
leadership helped
save Jamestown from
collapse during its
critical early years.

BECOMING A NATION
A PICTURE PROFILE
The United States of America was transformed in the
two centuries from the first English settlement at
Jamestown
in 1607 to the beginning of the 19th century. From a
series of isolated colonial settlements hugging the
Atlantic
Coast, the United States evolved into a new nation,
born in revolution, and guided by a Constitution
embodying the principles of democratic self-
government.
38
Detail from a painting by American
artist Benjamin West (1738-1820),
which depicts William Penn’s treaty
with the Native Americans living where
he founded the colony of Pennsylvania
as a haven for Quakers and others
seeking religious freedom.
Penn’s fair treatment of the Delaware
Indians led to long-term, friendly relations,
unlike the conflicts between European
settlers and Indian tribes in other colonies.
 39

A devout Puritan elder (right) confronts patrons drinking ale

outside a tavern. Tensions between the strictly religious
Puritans, who first settled the region, and the more secular
population were characteristic of the colonial era in New
England.
Cotton Mather was
one of the leading
Puritan figures
of the late 17th and early
18th centuries. His massive
Ecclesiastical History of
New England (1702)
is an exhaustive
chronicle of the
settlement of New
England and the
Puritan effort to
establish a kingdom
of God in the
wilderness of the
New World.

40
 Statue of Roger Williams, early champion of
religious freedom and the separation of church
and state. Williams founded the
colony of Rhode Island after leaving Massachusetts
because of
his disapproval of its religious ties to the Church of
England.

41
Drawing of revolutionary firebrand
Patrick Henry (standing to the left)
uttering perhaps the most famous words
of the American Revolution — “Give me
liberty or give me death!” — in a debate
before the Virginia Assembly in 1775.

42
 James
Madison,
fourth
president of the United
States, is often regarded
as the “Father of the
Constitution.”
His essays in the debate over
ratification of the Constitution
were collected with those of
Alexander
Hamilton and John Jay as The
Federalist Papers. Today,
they are regarded as a classic
defense of
republican government, in
which the executive,
legislative, and judicial
branches check and
balance each other to
protect the rights and
freedoms of the people.

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 colonial
armaments in the nearby town of
Concord.
 44
45

Thomas Jefferson, author of the

Declaration of Independence
and third president of the United
States. Jefferson also founded
the University of Virginia and
built one of America’s most
celebrated houses, Monticello,
in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Above: Surrender of Lord Cornwallis and the British army to
American and French forces commanded by George
Washington at Yorktown, Virginia, on October 19, 1781.
The battle of Yorktown led to the end of the war and
American independence, secured in the 1783 Treaty of
Paris.
Left: U.S. postage stamp commemorating the
bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition, one
of Thomas Jefferson’s visionary projects.
Meriwether Lewis, Jefferson’s secretary, and his
friend, William Clark, accompanied by a party of
more than 30 persons, set out on a journey into the
uncharted West that lasted four years. They traveled
thousands of miles, from Camp Wood, Illinois, to
Oregon, through lands that eventually became 11 American
states.

47
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 virtues of the independent
farmers and land owners.

48
John Marshall, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from
1801 to 1835, in a portrait by Alonzo Chappel. In a series of
landmark cases, Marshall
established the principle of judicial review — the right of
the courts to determine if any act of Congress or the
executive branch is constitutional, and therefore valid and
legal.

49
50

CHAPTER3
THE
ROAD TO
INDEPENDENCE
 The 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 spread the costs of empire
maturing British North more eq uitably, and speak
American colonies inevitably to the interests of both
forged a distinct identity. They French Canadians and North
grew vastly in eco nomic American Indians. The
strength and cultural attain colonies, on the other hand,
ment; virtually all had long long accustomed to a large
years of self-government behind measure of independence,
them. In the 1760s their ex pected more, not less,
combined pop ulation exceeded freedom. And, with the
1,500,000 — a six-fold increase French menace eliminated,
since 1700. None theless, they felt far less need for a
England and America did not strong British presence. A
begin an overt parting of ways scarcely compre hending
until 1763, more than a century Crown and Parliament on
and a half after the founding of the other side of the Atlantic
the first permanent settlement at found itself contending with
James town, Virginia. colonists trained in self-
government and im patient
A NEW COLONIAL with interference.
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,
 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
seemed reasonable enough in American waters were
that the colonies should pay instructed to seize smugglers,
for their own defense. That and “writs of assis tance,” or
would involve new taxes, warrants, authorized the king’s
levied by Parliament — at officers to search suspected
the expense premises.
of colonial self-government. Both the duty imposed by the
The first step was the Sug ar Act and the measures to
“taxation without Since the colonies were a deficit enforce
representation,” a slogan that trade area and were constantly it caused
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.”
replacement of the Molasses consternation among New
Act of 1733, which placed a England merchants. They
prohibitive duty, or tax, on the contended that payment of even
import of rum and molas ses the small duty imposed would
from non-English areas, with be ruinous to their businesses.
the Sugar Act of 1764. This act Merchants, legislatures, and
outlawed the importation of town meetings protested the law.
foreign rum; it also put a Colonial lawyers protested
modest duty on molas CHAPTER 3: 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 STAMP ACT
French West Indies for the rum
distilleries of New England. The
A general tax measure
British government enforced the
sparked the greatest organized
Sugar Act energetically.
resistance. Known as the
Customs of ficials were ordered
to show more
“Stamp Act,” it re quired all luckless customs agents to
newspapers, resign their offices, destroyed
broadsides, pamphlets, licenses, the hated stamps. Militant
leases, and oth er legal resistance ef fectively nullified
documents to bear revenue the Act.
stamps. The proceeds, collected Spurred by delegate Patrick
by American customs agents, Hen ry, the Virginia House
would be used for “defending, of
protecting, and securing” the Burgesses passed a set of
colonies. resolutions in May
Bearing equally on people who denouncing taxation
did any kind of business, the without repre sentation as a
Stamp Act aroused the hostility threat to colonial lib
of the most powerful and
articulate groups in the
American population: journal erties. It asserted that
ists, lawyers, clergymen, Virginians, enjoying the
merchants and businessmen, rights of Englishmen, could
North and South, East and West. be taxed only by their own
Leading merchants organized representatives. The
for resistance and formed Massachusetts Assembly
nonimportation associations. invited all the colonies to
Trade with the mother country appoint delegates to a
fell off sharply in the summer of “Stamp Act Congress” in
1765, as prominent men New York, held in Oc tober
53 1765, to consider appeals for
organized themselves into relief to the Crown and
the “Sons of Liber ty” — Parliament. Twenty-seven
secret organizations formed representatives from nine
to protest the Stamp Act — colonies seized the
often through violent opportunity to mobilize
means. colonial opinion. After much
From Mas sachusetts to South debate, the congress adopted
Carolina, mobs, forcing a set of
resolutions asserting that “no elected members to the
House of taxes ever have been or can be Commons. But this
idea con conflicted with the English
stitutionally imposed on them, principle of
“virtual but by their respective representation,”
according to legislatures,” and that the Stamp which
each member of Act had a “manifesttendency to
Parliament rep resented the subvert the rights and
liberties of interests of the whole country the colonists.”
and the empire — even if his electoral base consisted of
only TAXATION WITHOUTa tiny minority of
property REPRESENTATION owners from a
given district.
This theory assumedthat all
The issue thus drawn centered British subjects shared the same
interests as the property own ers
on the question of who
elected members of Parlia
representa
tion. The

colonists
ment.
believed they could not be represented unless they actually

54
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
The American leaders argued determination to be a strong
that their only legal relations monarch.
were with the Crown. It was the The British Parliament reject ed
king who had agreed to the colonial contentions.
establish colonies be yond the British merchants, however,
sea and the king who pro vided feeling the ef fects of the
them with governments. They American boycott, threw their
asserted that he was equally a weight behind a repeal move
king of England and a king of ment. In 1766 Parliament
the colo nies, but they insisted yielded, repealing the Stamp Act
that the Eng lish Parliament had and modi fying the Sugar Act.
no more right to pass laws for However, to mollify the
the colonies than any colonial supporters of central control over
legislature had the right to pass the colonies, Parliament
laws for England. In fact, how followed these actions with
ever, their struggle was equally passage of the Declaratory Act,
with King George III and which as serted the authority of
Parliament. Factions aligned Parliament to make laws binding
with the Crown generally the colonies “in all cases
controlled Parliament and whatsoever.” The colonists had
reflected the king’s
won only a temporary respite anew all the elements of discord.
from an impending crisis. Charles
Townshend, British chancellor of
THE TOWNSHEND ACTS

The year 1767 brought another

se ries of measures that stirred
the exchequer, attempted a new Pennsylvania fis cal program in
the face of Farmer, argued that
continued discontent over high Parliament had the right
to taxes at home. Intent upon control imperial commerce but
reducing British taxes by making did not have the right to tax
the more efficient the col lection of colonies, whether the
duties duties levied on American trade, were external or
internal.
he tightened customs admin The agitation following enact
istration and enacted duties on ment of the Townshend duties
colo nial imports of paper, was less violent than that
glass, lead, and tea from stirred by the Stamp Act, but
Britain. The “Townshend it was nevertheless strong,
Acts” were based on the particularly in the cities of the
premise that taxes imposed on Eastern seaboard. Merchants
goods imported by the once again resorted to non-
colonies were legal while impor tation agreements, and
internal taxes (like the Stamp people made do with local
Act) were not. products. Colonists, for
The Townshend Acts were de example, dressed in
signed to raise revenue that homespun clothing and found
would be used in part to substitutes for tea. They used
support colonial officials and homemade paper and their
maintain the Brit ish army in houses went unpaint ed. In
America. In response, Boston, enforcement of the
Philadelphia lawyer new regulations provoked
John Dickinson, in violence.
Lettersofa

55
CHAPTER 3: THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE three Bostonians
lay dead in the
snow. Dubbed the “Boston Mas
sacre,” the incident was
When customs officials sought to
dramatically pictured as proof of
collect duties, they were set
British heart lessness and
upon by the populace and
tyranny.
roughly handled. For this
Faced with such opposition,
infraction, two British regi ments
Par liament in 1770 opted for a
were dispatched to protect the
strategic retreat and repealed all
customs commissioners. the
Townsh end duties except
The presence of British troops that
on tea, which was a luxury
in Boston was a standing item in
the colonies, imbibed
invitation to disorder. On March
only by a very small minori ty. To
5, 1770, antag onism between
most, the action of Parliament
citizens and British soldiers
signified that the colonists had
again flared into violence. What
won a major concession, and
began as a harmless snowball
the cam paign against England
ing of British soldiers was largely
dropped. A colonial
degenerated into a mob
attack. embargo on “English
tea”
Someone gave the order to
fire. continued but was not
too
When the smoke had cleared,
scrupulously observed. Prosper
ity was increasing and most thus arouse them to action.
colonial leaders were willing to To ward these objectives, he
let the future take care of itself. published articles in
newspapers and made
SAMUEL ADAMS speeches in town meetings,
instigat ing resolutions that
During a three-year interval of appealed to the colonists’
calm, a relatively small number democratic impulses.
of radicals strove energetically In 1772 he induced the
to keep Boston town meeting to
select a

the controversy alive. They

contend ed that payment of the
tax consti tuted an acceptance of
the principle that Parliament had
the right to rule over the
colonies. They feared that at any
time in the future, the principle
of parliamentary rule might be
ap plied with devastating effect
on all colonial liberties.
The radicals’ most effective
leader was Samuel Adams of
Mas sachusetts, who toiled
tirelessly for a single end: inspec
tor of chimneys, tax-collector,
and moderator of town meetings.
A consistent failure in business,
he was shrewd and able in
politics, with the New England
town meeting his theater of
action.
Adams wanted to free people
from their awe of social and
politi cal superiors, make
them aware of their own
power and importance, and
 “Commit tee of
Correspondence” to state the
rights and grievances of the
colo nists. The committee
opposed a British decision to
pay the salaries of judges
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
from customs revenues; it
feared that the judges would
no also per mitted the East
India Company to supply
retailers directly, bypassing
colonial
wholesalers. By then, most of the
tea consumed in America
was imported illegally, duty-
free. By sell ing its tea
through its own agents at a
 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
of December 16, 1773, a
band of men disguised as
Mohawk Indians and led by
Samuel Adams boarded three
British ships lying at anchor
and dumped their tea cargo
into Boston harbor. Doubting
their ciple, they feared that if
the tea
were landed, colonists would
actually
purchase the tea and pay the
tax. A crisis now confronted
Britain. The East India
“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