American history

1. Colonial times : ideas & ideas

-People start crossing the Atlantic to find new roads. So new European centre for the trend.

- Build colonies. They left England for economic, political & religious reason.

- New ideals: limiting the royal power cf Magna Carta, civil war (want to save their freedom); cf Lord Cromwell > no king for a moment. + Habeas Corpus (preservation of private propriety & personal liberties + Bill of Rights / King no more real power, Parliament is stronger.

- Puritans fleeing from religious persecution seen as radical by the Anglicans.  Those who left remain English. Reject the King as their spiritual leader but remain their social economic leader. During the travel : many hardship, did not want to quarrel & be more in danger so before landing at Plymouth (now Massachusetts ) they wrote out an agreement with rules & regulation > signed by all forty one men on board of the MAYFLOWER > THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT = like a revolution

- Colonists: very religious so they are going to express all their religious ideas, tried to build of a model for the rest of Europe “we shall be like a city on a hill”

> Today the US are still very religious & they still continue to see their country as a model

- Two forms of gov: A governor (royal power) & local assembly (popular power > new) // US today, political goes from the local to federal, local judge are elected... Federal states, each state has its own constitution

1. The colonies

• The Southern colonies: Jamestown (in honour of King James I) – settlers sent by a group of rich London investors: The Virginia Company so they make money through business ventures financed & coordinated by the Company. Why here? They hoped that they would find gold as the Spanish conquistadores. + climax +Cash crops – bring a slave economy – triangular commerce but create a huge dependence on the North + hierarchy society + venture capitalists

But constant need for more land BC cotton, sugar, tobacco erode the soils very fast

• The Northern colonies (New England = Mass, Connecticut, Rhode Island & New Hampfire):  Massachusetts: deeply religious, closed together bc they left Eng by entire villages > create a community. Left with the Bible to find the salvation of their soul. They are planting enough to survive & eat not for making money (+harder in the North bc of the climax). + developing important shipbuilding centre, leads to a huge naval power & imp trade such as Boston
• The middle colonies (NY, New Jersey, Delaware, Penn): religious communities ≠ from the Puritans: Pennsylvania founded by William Penn, under a charter from the Eng king he is the owner. He belongs to the Quakers. Acceptance of diversity & huge tolerance: religious, political & economic & ethnic (accept the Af Am. Never fought against the native Am. Freedom of worship, no oath + feminist. 1st to be antislavery. Pennsylvania seen as a utopia, kind of a promise land. Philadelphia: centre of the colonies & became the 1st capital of the USA.

Economic: Patroon System: large farms, mainly cultivating grains so during the war > exporting a lot in Europe

• Propriety Colonies : bought from the King, under End rule but much freedom, Governor choose by the Lord Proprietary
• Charter colonies : contract btw political corporation & the King > has the legislative power
•  Provincial colonies : directly under the king > legislative power – governor by the king – the pop only elect local representatives > less freedom

1. Revolution

• The 7 years’ war: The French claim that Louisiana belonged to them: If they were French soldiers in the Mississippi Valley they would be able to keep the colonists to the east of the Appalachian Mountains & stop them from moving westwards. French lost. Economic & politic csq which will help bring about the Am revolution. France gave up its claim to Canada & to all North Am east of the Mississippi river. To prevent war with the Natives Am, the King gave them a reserve. It forbade colonists to settle west of the Appalachians.  (1st motivation to be indep bc they needed more & more lands). Angrier when the Eng gov told them they must pay new taxes on sugar, coffee, textiles etc. & they must feed & house the Eng soldiers. Pay taxes with a gov they did not elect? + Stamp Act (new taxes) > Representatives of the 9 colonies met in NY > THE STAMP ACT CONGRESS. Demonstration in Boston, 2 regiments sent people angrier. Boston Massacre. Tea Act > BOSTON TEA PARTY in 1773. September 1st: 1st continental congress in Philadelphia: all trade with Britain suspended but still loyal to the British King. But many began to organize themselves into groups of soldiers. Lexington & Concord battle. Eng are not allowed to have a real army so farmers etc. can fight & are more > Boston is under siege! 2ND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS in 1775. They began to act as an Am gov. They set up an army under the command of G Washington. T Jefferson writes the 1st draft of THE DECLARATION OF INDEP IN 1776: a statement than the colonies were a nation & the gov: representatives elected by the people & protects the rights of indiv citizen (inspired by Benjamin Franklin = 1st ambassador of France) Alliance with France played an imp role. 1781: win the war? Need a gov bc with the Articles of Confederation, US only an union to win the war. In 1783 with the help of Lafayette the war is won & the USA are born an an Indep Conferation, not as a country each state has its own constitution. There is only a legislative body, not an executive & a judicial. But pb bc no president, no real army (cf Shay’s rebellion), no taxes possible.> hard to win the respect or help of foreign country.  Went from a Confederation to a Federation: the power to rule is shared. A central or federal authority has some of it & the rest is in the rest of local authorities. The individual state gov still have a lot of power but the federal gov is stronger than ever: can collect taxes, create an army, male treaties. The president is in charge of the federal Gov. Constitution drafted mostly by James Madison in 1787. Presence of the Bill of Rights helped to be signed.

1. The Young Republic

• The failure of the Article of Confederation led to the drafting of the Constitution & its implementation in 1789 but many disagreed. 13 indep states: fear of losing their state power.  + Article 6: Federal law above state law. Fear of oppression: remember Eng bc Congress far away from people & local pb. Represent people or state? Feat of a tyrant gov, that he will become king > at the beg created a rep not a democracy bc dangerous. Fear of a central gov: of losing their economic specificity so in the South fear of losing slavery so if the Fed has the power to control trade > can end it.
• Solution cf today: House of Representatives (based on the nb of people in a state) & the Senate (represents people) & The Bill of Rights: protect people from the gov.
• The federalists ( Alexander Hamilton) vs the Democratic republicans (Jefferson)

• The federalists: industrialization = the future, the US need to be prepared!  Need federal regulation of trade & tariffs, a central bank & a strong central federal system – Pro British
• The Democratic republicans: believe in agric. The Yeoman farmer (owns his land) as the safeguard of Rep. To keep a Rep from being a dictator ship  you need citizens & if everybody is a farmer you are careful when you have to vote = agrarianism & states’ rights & no federal banks bc led to inequality & no federal trade regulation bc products will cost more  - Pro French

• Foreign Affairs: US surrounded by Europe & Europe is at war. Democratic are pro French even with Napoleon. Both political movement have different vison & deeply pro Fr or Br. G Washington is afraid that it might split the country in 2 & drag the US into the Eur affairs > Leaves his office. No more alliance, just for trade. Am signed a treaty with Fr but not with N so did not enter in war + cf isolationist.
• 1803 : The Louisiana Purchase / 1804 : The Lewis & Clark expedition / the war of 1812

• A constant need for new land – The West moving constantly

1. New natives Am policies

• Political opposition: After the war of 1812 the Federalists became the Whigs bc they couldn’t support the Eng anymore. Gov aid for canals & roads –high tariffs – high land price – industrial & urban growth > they are afraid it will grow too fast, people in the W & E are too different. Expansion not wanted by everyone. But the Dem Rep did not want Gov Aid > + & + land
• Csq : Sectionalism : division of the country following economic interest

N = industrial / S = farmer W = farmer but less urbanized > little by little Democ & Fed = N & S

For John O’ Sullivan : Manifest destiny to spread over the continent – expansion is good – Mission is to spread Rep Dem and its institution

• The Oregon Trail & the North West “Pioneer”:  Treaty of 1818 with End: Border w/ Canada set & North East border designed but nor the North West border > Part of Am or Eng? Right to vote?

• Csq: The Oregon Trail: the pioneers will be setting on the Oregon country financed the Am gov – people traveling will be + & + different & dvp other values: no gov, infrastructure, depend on their selves, bear, diseases... > 1846 : Border on the 49th //

• Texas annexation & Mexican War: T & M part of the Spanish Empire. Am citizens do not really care of the border, more & more person in Texas but was ruled by Mexico. 1835: Texan revolution.  Defeated a much larger Mexican army & Texas became an Indep Rep but most Texans wanted to join the US > 1845 but the border was not defined & often in war. The president declared war with Mexico (opportunity to seize it). Treaty of peace in 1848 & Mexican concession & annexation: today: California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico & Colorado.
• The Golden Rush : 300 000 person from all over the world to calif : motivation, to cross the country

• A lot of pressure on Native Am

1. Slavery & the road to the Civil War

• Do these new territories entered the union as free or slave states? How does this change the balance in Congress? Congress divided in 2 – nb of people & nb of states! Do we count slaves? N = Yes & S = No
• The 3/5th compromises: In the house of representation 1 slave = 3/5 of a citizen. But with the growth of the nation & new states pb also in the Senate : 1789 : 8 slaves states vs 5 free / 1800 : 9 vs 7 / 1820 : 11 for both
• 1820 Missouri compromise: South worried Congress will ban slavery. Thus, slavery will be permitted in the Missouri & Arkansas territories but banned in lands to the west & north of Missouri &  creation of Maine to create a balance in the congress (create a free & a slave state)
• Mexican secession : South wanted + states
• Louisiana  purchase & Jefferson’s promise on private propriety

• Democ vs Federalist (the Whigs)

• Nullification crisis & “tariff of abomination”: in 1828 tariff + 30% to protect industry in the northern United States. If it’s not in the Constitution a state cannot listen to it > the federal gov voted it / South no way!  But if secession is possible, not a nation….. cf civil war South want to leave, North refuse! To win the war the need to invade them & S need to prevent them….
• 1850 compromise: Calif & Washington = free / Utah, New Mexico: join as slaves states nut calif refuse...
• North & middle colonies against slavery for religious, political & economic reasons. Many people in the North helped slaves to escape.
• Fugitive Act made it illegal to help & made people free – could pay a fined! Fuelled by the existence of newspaper & the existence of the Underground Railroad > slave went from 1 house to another to arrive in a free states.
• After the civil war no more slavery but segregation….
• A rise of violence: Kansas & Nebraska Act: could be states will vote if they want to be free & slave states > open fight btw pro & anti – 1850 compromise broken. Bf the vote people went in these states to vote! +2/3 people pro!
• 1856: Supreme Court ruling: AF Am could not become citizens & were considered as slaves in this territory unless they could prove otherwise with a paper! (cf Dred Scott & his masta’ Sanford)
• John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry: God talked to him – his mission to free the slaves in the South – wanted to take the gun in a military depo & give them to the slaves but arrested before!
• Election of a Lincoln: against slavery but does not want to make it illegal but the fear was enough for the South to declare war & secession!!

1. Populating the continent : immigration

• Old immigration: continual arrival from the British / revolution in Europe failed so, many pro democ arrived / Scandinavians; building off ethno communities in Minnesota!

• Arrived with skill labour, enough money to work, buy land, know how to write ≠ “Native Am” (white any protestant in the 19th) but not the Irish! Flee to the US to survive BC of the Potato Famine (anti Irish sentiment bc unskilled & poor labour & poor > racism, excluded > Irish communities and a growing of influence in municipal gov bc can be elected!

• Nativist: mvt anti-immigration: Irish = catholic & Ger. = protestants – + Pb with catholic BC own allegiance to the pope so more to the Pope or their country? / All the president = protestant except Kennedy (had to say that he owns allegiance to his country) & anti German’s sentiment : tried to pass a law to make it illegal to speak German on Sunday after school (also communities – goes against the freedom of religion)

• The bigger the difference is the bigger the rejection is (Af am, Irish Germ)

• New immigration (1860s – 1910s): Southern Europe & Russia (fleeing poverty pogroms). When the Italians arrived Pb with Germ over & Irish went down. It: look different, another language, Catholic > refusal of New Immig BC not like the Scandinavian. Wages went down BC don’t need to pay them!

Nativism & Racism explained in social Darwinism: poor BC biologically inferior

Anti-Chinese: Chinese exclusion – Illegal for them to arrive in the US

• Destruction of the Am dream – slowdown in conservative – the fourteenth amendment  : to protects children born in the US

1. Migration – Closing the frontier

• From Slaves to Freemen and Citizens : Need to help with emancipation of slaves but South would not let them go easily- Reconstruction by Federal Army in the South (1865-1877) and Federal Amendments - 1865: 13th (Slavery Illegal – became free men)  but to have the right to go need the 14th (Citizenship for Native born), the 15th give them the right to vote –

• End of Reconstruction and the slow adoption of Jim Crow Laws, segreg°. Before this law a lot of AA politician; by 1910, 10 of the former 11 confederate states had disenfranchised African-Americans and poor whites with poll taxes and literacy tests. 1896: Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and the constitutionality of segregation, also called "separate but equal."

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