The Second Great Awakening had a major impact on America. For some it gave hope. For others it had a negative effect. For most it meant a new revival for religion. It effected all classes of society, all races, and all sexes.
The Second Great awakening affected what churches had the most members. Methodists and Baptist became the most popular of the religions. The American people started to prefer a religion with a more democratic system unlike the Catholic and Episcopal Churches who had hierarchies. Also predestination was greatly rejected and people repudiated the old Calvinist doctrines.
The African American population in the Second Great awakening saw God as a warrior who would free them. The compared themselves to the Jews who were saved from slavery in Egypt. This also led to slaves uprising and disobeying the elite planters.
The new forms of religion was disruptive to males in their household and the planter elites. Woman also began to take a greater part in the church. Evangelical religion offered salvation for. It didn’t matter whether you are black or white, male or female; you could be saved. This greatly effected the patriarchal household. Woman started to demand more equality in their houses. The planter elite was effected by having their slaves revolt and become more disobedient.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Northern and Southern Differences
Besides the geographical differences the northern and southern states had many economical and social differences. The northern states placed a much higher value on education than their southern counterparts. Almost all native born citizens in New England could read and write while nearly one-third of the southerners could not. According to a British visitor, the northern states had "better education, are more intelligent, and better informed".
The biggest difference was the slavery issue. The northern states thought slavery "corrupted society" and led to laziness while in the southern states it was a way of life. As Congress prohibited participation in the Atlantic slave trade and the northern states began to emancipate their slaves the southern states were expanding slave-based agriculture to the lower Mississippi Valley. This expansion caused a need for slave labor which could not legally be filled from outside the country and therefore led to the internal slave trade. This westward expansion led to three more slave states entering the union.
The biggest difference was the slavery issue. The northern states thought slavery "corrupted society" and led to laziness while in the southern states it was a way of life. As Congress prohibited participation in the Atlantic slave trade and the northern states began to emancipate their slaves the southern states were expanding slave-based agriculture to the lower Mississippi Valley. This expansion caused a need for slave labor which could not legally be filled from outside the country and therefore led to the internal slave trade. This westward expansion led to three more slave states entering the union.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was quite possible the most ludicrous American deal in history. It was not only the cheapest land, but it also gave poor farmers a chance to move west and give land to their sons and daughters in dowries. It had an affect on the Native American population as well. Native Americans were forced onto reservations where the land was not good and where game was scarce.
Thomas Jefferson also took over Native American lands by cheating them out of it. He would underprice things and sell too much of that item to the Native American population and then, when the end of the year came, the US would demand that the Native Americans pay off their debt. Since the Native Americans had no currency, the only thing that they could give to pay off their debts was their land. Naturally, they lost everything-even more game for hunting, and the lands that they were using for farming. Some Native Americans were forced by the white settlers to convert to Christianity.
After reading this, could things have been done differently than they were? How would these changes have affected both the past and the present?
Thomas Jefferson also took over Native American lands by cheating them out of it. He would underprice things and sell too much of that item to the Native American population and then, when the end of the year came, the US would demand that the Native Americans pay off their debt. Since the Native Americans had no currency, the only thing that they could give to pay off their debts was their land. Naturally, they lost everything-even more game for hunting, and the lands that they were using for farming. Some Native Americans were forced by the white settlers to convert to Christianity.
After reading this, could things have been done differently than they were? How would these changes have affected both the past and the present?
Thursday, September 27, 2007
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 set up the territories that would eventually become Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Slavery was prohibited in these territories, and certain funds from land sales were set aside for schools. Both of the latter were due to the Enlightenment ideals of Jefferson and other Patriots.
Congress was to set up a governor and judges for the new territory, but once the territory gained 5000 voters (free adult men, obviously), it could set up and elect their own territorial legislature. When the population reached 60,000, it could apply for statehood in the Confederation contingent upon having written a republican constitution, and if it reached statehood, would be on an even footing with the existing states.
This had major significance due to the fact that it established an orderly method of settling the west that did not have political wrangling at every step. It also set up a precedent for the federal government to manage land directly. When the Confederation became the United States, the law was passed on in a slightly revised form. Ohio was the first state admitted from the territory.
Congress was to set up a governor and judges for the new territory, but once the territory gained 5000 voters (free adult men, obviously), it could set up and elect their own territorial legislature. When the population reached 60,000, it could apply for statehood in the Confederation contingent upon having written a republican constitution, and if it reached statehood, would be on an even footing with the existing states.
This had major significance due to the fact that it established an orderly method of settling the west that did not have political wrangling at every step. It also set up a precedent for the federal government to manage land directly. When the Confederation became the United States, the law was passed on in a slightly revised form. Ohio was the first state admitted from the territory.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
The Philadelphia Convention
The Philadelphia Convention (also know as the Constitutional Convention) took place in May - September of 1787. Fifty-five delegates representing all states except Rhode Island had come to Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. This meeting would "forever decide the fate of Republican Government" as James Madison put it. The delegates were mainly merchants or "monied men" such as Benjamin Franklin (representing Philadelphia) , George Washington, Robert Morris, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. There was only one farmer, but there really was no "common people" like artisans or tenants at the convention. Would having more common people represent the states make any difference?
The delegates chose Washington to preside over the meeting, which was to be held in secret at the Pennsylvania State House. James Madison's Virginia Plan was what the delegates were to consider. It was different from the Articles of Confederation in three ways: It rejected state sovereignty in favor of the "supremacy of national authority", it called for a national government to draw authority from the people and to exercise direct power on them, and it created a three tier national government where the lower house of the legislature would be elected by the people. However it had two major flaws, one of them being that the lower house of the legislature would have more influence from the larger states because membership was based on population. Representatives from smaller states rejected this because they felt that the larger states would not listen to them and "crush" them. So the smaller states favored the New Jersey Plan because it treated the states equally by allowing each state to have one vote in a unicameral legislature. And the larger states opposed this provision. After much debate, the Great Compromise was accepted, allowing each state two representatives in the lower house while the House of Representatives would be based on population.
Slavery was also debated upon, but rarely. They decided that slaves would only count as three-fifths of a free person in determining a state's representation in Congress.
The Convention was over in September of 1787 when Benjamin Franklin urged the 41 delegates still present to sign the Constitution. All but three signed it.
The delegates chose Washington to preside over the meeting, which was to be held in secret at the Pennsylvania State House. James Madison's Virginia Plan was what the delegates were to consider. It was different from the Articles of Confederation in three ways: It rejected state sovereignty in favor of the "supremacy of national authority", it called for a national government to draw authority from the people and to exercise direct power on them, and it created a three tier national government where the lower house of the legislature would be elected by the people. However it had two major flaws, one of them being that the lower house of the legislature would have more influence from the larger states because membership was based on population. Representatives from smaller states rejected this because they felt that the larger states would not listen to them and "crush" them. So the smaller states favored the New Jersey Plan because it treated the states equally by allowing each state to have one vote in a unicameral legislature. And the larger states opposed this provision. After much debate, the Great Compromise was accepted, allowing each state two representatives in the lower house while the House of Representatives would be based on population.
Slavery was also debated upon, but rarely. They decided that slaves would only count as three-fifths of a free person in determining a state's representation in Congress.
The Convention was over in September of 1787 when Benjamin Franklin urged the 41 delegates still present to sign the Constitution. All but three signed it.
Shay's Rebellion
Shays’ Rebellion was an uprising in Massachusetts in 1786 and 1787 caused by excessive land taxation, high legal costs, and economic depression following the American Revolution. This rebellion was only one of many protests that took place during this period.
The dissatisfied, who were mainly poor farmers threatened with loss of their property and imprisonment for debt, were headed by Daniel Shays, a former captain in the American Revolution army. They demanded protective legislation, the abolition of the court of common pleas, and a radical reduction of taxes. In 1786, armed mobs prevented the sitting of the courts at Northampton, Worcester, Great Barrington, and Concord; and Shays, with his followers, broke up a session of the state supreme court in Springfield. Shays and his men marched into Springfield to seize the federal arsenal, but they were held back by a force of militia under the American general Benjamin Lincoln. The rebels fled toward Petersham, where they were finally defeated. Most of the men were pardoned later in the year; Shays, condemned to death, escaped to Vermont and was pardoned a year later.
Shays' rebellion and the other protests forced the leaders and politicians of the young nation to take note. The existing Articles of Confederation, which provided for the basic laws of the nation, were not an effective means of governing. How influential were these protests to the nation's leaders in their formulation and ratification of the Constitution?
The dissatisfied, who were mainly poor farmers threatened with loss of their property and imprisonment for debt, were headed by Daniel Shays, a former captain in the American Revolution army. They demanded protective legislation, the abolition of the court of common pleas, and a radical reduction of taxes. In 1786, armed mobs prevented the sitting of the courts at Northampton, Worcester, Great Barrington, and Concord; and Shays, with his followers, broke up a session of the state supreme court in Springfield. Shays and his men marched into Springfield to seize the federal arsenal, but they were held back by a force of militia under the American general Benjamin Lincoln. The rebels fled toward Petersham, where they were finally defeated. Most of the men were pardoned later in the year; Shays, condemned to death, escaped to Vermont and was pardoned a year later.
Shays' rebellion and the other protests forced the leaders and politicians of the young nation to take note. The existing Articles of Confederation, which provided for the basic laws of the nation, were not an effective means of governing. How influential were these protests to the nation's leaders in their formulation and ratification of the Constitution?
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
The Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation is the first national constitution created for the soon-to-be independent colonies. The Articles provided a very loose structure for the national government and put most of the power in that of the state governments. The Federal government could not levy taxes directly or control trade. This proved to be problematic after the Revolutionary War was over when the nation was left in a large amount of debt. The states retained their powers over "sovereignty, freedom, and independence" along with any powers not "expressly delegated" to the national government. Most Americans were in favor of this at the time because they did not want to see a strong, centralized national government turn into the same tyrannical authority they had been under with Great Britain.
While the national government was limited in most of its power, it could still declare war, borrow and print money and receive funds from states to benefit the nation. This made it possible for there to be some form of tax, but if states did not want to they did not have to contribute to the national government fund.
Could the United States have succeeded and continued to thrive under the power of the Articles of Confederation, or was revision necessary in order to maintain a stronger balance between the federal and state governments?
While the national government was limited in most of its power, it could still declare war, borrow and print money and receive funds from states to benefit the nation. This made it possible for there to be some form of tax, but if states did not want to they did not have to contribute to the national government fund.
Could the United States have succeeded and continued to thrive under the power of the Articles of Confederation, or was revision necessary in order to maintain a stronger balance between the federal and state governments?
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