ohn Adams became president in 1797 after a bitter election. France, angered by Jay’s Treaty, seized American ships. American envoys reported that intermediaries had demanded payments before negotiationsthe XYZ Affair. Public outrage produced an undeclared […]
The French Revolution divided Americans. DemocraticRepublicans celebrated its republican promise; Federalists increasingly recoiled from its violence and feared radicalism at home. When Britain and revolutionary France went to war in 1793, the United States faced […]
Hamilton’s excise tax on distilled spirits fell heavily upon western farmers, for whom whiskey was a marketable form of grain and sometimes a medium of exchange. Many viewed the tax and distant federal collectors as […]
The new government inherited conflict in the Ohio country, where Indigenous nations rejected American claims based upon the Treaty of Paris-a treaty to which they had not consented. A Native confederacy, including Shawnee, Miami, Delaware […]
Hamilton envisioned a diversified economy of commerce, manufacturing and agriculture supported by public credit, national institutions and close trade with Britain. He believed energetic government could mobilize capital, build infrastructure and secure independence in a […]
The Revolution left the United States burdened with national and state debts. Hamilton believed public credit was essential to independence, prosperity and governmental authority. His program called for federal payment of the national debt at […]
Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson and the Test of Self-Government “The Constitution provided a framework. The first generation had to turn parchment into government.” INVENTING THE PRESIDENCY When George Washington took the oath of office in New […]
The Constitution is the world’s oldest written national constitution still in continuous operation, but continuity has required change. Twenty-seven amendments have altered elections, expanded citizenship and voting rights, abolished slavery, authorized income taxation, limited presidential […]
J ames Madison introduced amendments in the First Congress, drawing upon state declarations of rights and ratification proposals. Congress sent twelve amendments to the states in 1789; ten were ratified by 1791 and became the […]
The Convention signed the Constitution on September 17, 1787. It would take effect after ratification by nine state conventions. The decision bypassed the unanimity required to amend the Articles and launched an extraordinary public debate […]
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union… The Preamble begins not “We the States” but “We the People of the United States.” The words locate authority in […]
The Constitution avoided the words slave and slavery, but it protected the institution through structure and compromise. This was not an incidental imperfection. It was part of the price paid to secure agreement among states […]
The framers sought a national government strong enough to tax, regulate commerce, conduct foreign affairs, provide defense and enforce law. They also feared that power-even republican power-could be abused. Their solution divided authority horizontally among […]
Fifty-five delegates attended at various times; thirty-nine ultimately signed. They were lawyers, merchants, planters, physicians, soldiers and public officials-experienced and generally affluent men. Women, Native Americans, Black Americans and most ordinary laborers were absent from […]
The assertion that all men are created equal was revolutionary in scope and radically incomplete in application. The political community of 1776 largely excluded women. Slavery existed in every state and formed the economic and […]
The Declaration was read publicly in Philadelphia on July 8 and soon in towns, military camps, churches and meetinghouses across the states. Crowds cheered; bells rang; royal symbols were removed. In New York, troops and […]
1. THE RIGHT TO DECLARE The opening states that when one people separates from another, respect for the “opinions of mankind” requires an explanation. Independence would not be presented as a secret act or a […]
The Idea That Gave Birth to a Nation “The war won a nation. The Declaration gave the nation its soul.” By the spring of 1776, war had continued for a year, yet independence remained deeply […]
I n 1781, British General Charles Cornwallis established a base at Yorktown, Virginia. Washington and the French commander Rochambeau moved their armies south from New York. A French fleet under Admiral de Grasse defeated a […]
After failing to crush the Revolution in the North, Britain shifted its main effort southward, expecting substantial Loyalist support. Savannah fell in 1778 and Charleston in 1780, producing one of the worst American defeats. The […]
WOMEN Women managed farms and businesses, produced military supplies, raised funds, carried messages and cared for the sick. Camp followers performed essential labor. Deborah Sampson served disguised as a man; Margaret Corbin was wounded while […]
In 1777, Britain pursued a plan to isolate New England by advancing from Canada down the Hudson corridor. American forces slowed General John Burgoyne’s army and compelled its surrender at Saratoga in October. The victory […]
Britain returned in overwhelming strength to New York during the summer of 1776. Washington’s army suffered defeat on Long Island and narrowly escaped destruction. The Americans retreated through Manhattan, across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. […]
“Independence was declared in words. It had to be sustained by sacrifice, endurance, alliance and war.” AN ARMY BEFORE A NATION After Lexington and Concord, thousands of New England militia surrounded British forces in Boston. […]
By early 1775, Massachusetts resistance had become organized and armed. Provincial leaders gathered military supplies at Concord; militia companies trained as minutemen. General Thomas Gage, the royal governor, received orders to enforce imperial authority and […]
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