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The american revolution essays
Prompts on the alien and sedition acts
Prompts on the alien and sedition acts
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The time period in American history from the end of the Revolution to about the 1830s or so is characterized by nationalism. The Revolution had just been won and now it was time to establish a viable, strong country with its own cultural heritage. American writers and painters created works reflecting distinctly American features and reflecting the growing sense of Nationalism of the time. In order to survive and thrive, the founders of this country fortified its political institutions, its economic relationships, and its place in the world both internally, through amassing territory, and internationally by standing up to those would interfere with the growth of the new country. Once the foundation had been laid in the Constitution for a strong …show more content…
Although the treaty was ultimately a failure, it helped to mend the bonds between the two nations and it lead to the American sovereignty over the entire northwest without any problems. The Alien and Sedition Acts were four bills passed by President John Adams and were also important regarding American foreign policy because of the amount interest from foreigners who wanted to become citizens of the new United States. The Sedition Act allowed the government to prosecute those who engaged in overtly negative speech or conduct against the government and the purpose of the Alien Act was that it placed a lot of obstacles in the way of potential American citizens. The immigrants could potentially become citizens but it was difficult. The United States had faced issues concerning foreign policy because of the risk of losing parts of the continent or their new states to the larger, more powerful European countries, who could claim parts of the land as colonies of their own. The Monroe Doctrine was crucial in preserving the nationalism in the United States because it strengthened their standing and saved them from losing their progress. President Monroe, along with the help of John Quincy Adams, created the treaty known as the Monroe Doctrine in order to solidify the United States and make …show more content…
Hamilton’s plans were to initiate a national bank and create an existing public debt in order to inaugurate a powerful and enterprising economy with a strong standing within the world. The Whiskey Rebellion and Shays’ Rebellion are similar because they are examples of how taxes were unfair to the farmers in the society and how in both cases they lashed back at the tax collectors. During the Whiskey Rebellion, settlers from Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee wanted to separate from the Union and because the government was also under construction and repair raised these issues and caused even more conflicts. During the Whiskey Rebellion the farmers refused to pay Whiskey excise taxes, there were angry mobs to protest and the farmers even started to terrorize the tax collectors. During Shay’s Rebellion, angry farmers rioted primarily in Boston along with other parts of New England because they were unhappy with the taxes. Daniel Shays issued a set of requests, which included, paper money, tax relief and the relocation of the capital; which was in Boston at the time. Shays Rebellion was a disappointment and did not work out as planned however it helped the farmers find compromise and helped the nation move in a better direction in regard to the debts
Shays’ rebellion originated from a small group of farmers from Massachusetts fighting against high taxes. These farmers organized their resistance in ways similar to the American Revolutionary War. They called special meetings of the people to protest conditions. They even agreed on coordinated protests involving themselves and other people. The rebels closed courts by force in the fall of 1786 and liberated other imprisoned farmers who would be sympathetic to the rebels’ cause. Later on, the petty revolts flared into fully fledged revolts once the rebels came under the leadership of Daniel Shays. Shays was a general in the Continental Army that fought against the British during the American Revolutionary War; this is why the rebels had similar tactics that were used against the British. The...
The Alien and Sedition acts hurt John Adams’ image of a patriot and his chances of a another presidency. The Alien and Sedition Acts were signed into law by John Adams in 1798. They, among other
In “Becoming America: The Revolution Before 1776”, Jon Butler argues that there was massive economic and a political transformation occurred in the era of 1680 and 1770 which had been less examined to the American colonial history. In this book, Butler makes a strong argument for the early modernism of American society which helps to define the growth of American identity. The transformation improved the American socioeconomic character and demonstrated itself almost in every aspect of colonial life. I totally agree with the Jon Butler’s argument that the victories and defeats of the revolutionary war would not define America; it was the middle years of the colonial period that would. And his arguments in this book also challenge the existing history. Butler supports his argument from his own note which he collected from by researching huge amount of specialized history books.
The Hamiltonians favored a strong central government, with the elastic clause allowing whatever power “needed” to the government. The elastic clause had a very loose construction. The government should use power to control and help with large trade. The high class people should have control over the people. People in lower classes were not trusted and could not make decisions for the nation. The Whiskey Rebellion was unconstitutional, rude masses of people did not understand the democratic ways, and think they can form a rebellious group every time a law they do not like gets passed. It showed that they need a strong government to prevent that from happeni...
The reason that Shays’ led Shays’ rebellion is because that poor farmers could not pay their debts and the government kept on raising taxes so more people were put into to debtors prison. That caused problems with the farmers causing Shays’ Rebellion. Those are also some reasons that Daniel Shays’ had his rebellion which had been caused to solve those problems but had also shown the weakness of the articles of confederation
Subsequently during the Quasi War, President Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798 (Gevinson). The idea of the acts was to suppress any French sympathizers in America and contain the growth of Republicans (Magill 48). Immigrants mainly became Republicans. The Republicans were were not only enraged by the signing of the Alien and Sedition Acts, in the Republican’s response, they created the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions that “challenged the legitimacy of federal authority over the states” ( “John Adams: Life in Brief”). It argued that the acts were unconstitutional (Magill 48). In 1800, Adams’ signed the peace treaty with France, it enraged his own party the Federalists who were anti-French (Smith 20). In 1800, Adams’ second reelection was difficult for him because his party: the Federalists were divided over his foreign policy (“John Adams: Campaigns and Elections”). Though Adams came to close winning, the victory went to Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson became the Third President of the United States of America (Magill
The most important issue prompting Americans to rebel in 1776 is clearly parliamentary taxation. The first time a Parliamentary imposed tax threatened the livelihood of the colonies was in 1733 with the Molasses Act, stemmed from the loss of profit for the British West Indies under the Navigation Act. However, this act was avoidable and rarely paid. Following the long and harrowing French and Indian War, Britain was deep in debt and George Grenville was appointed British Chancellor. He was determined to pay off the debt by brutally taxing the colonies. He not only reinforced the ignored Navigation Acts, but he placed the new Sugar Act which was similar to the Molasses Act which put a tax on rum and molasses imported from West Indies, but this Act would be enforced. Needless to say, the colonists were not used to this intrusion of Parliament and felt that it was wrong because there were no members in Parliament to represent the colonies. They felt it was a direct violation of their civil liberties and the first whiff of resentment was beginning to spawn. Next was the Currency Act which disregarded the colonies paper money, forcing the colonist to pay in only silver and sending their economy into chaos. Perhaps the most important and controversial acts were the Stamps Acts that placed a tax on legal documents, almanacs, newspaper, pamphlets, playing cards and dice.
The United States was a recently forged nation state in the early 1800’s. Recently formed, this nation state was very fragile and relied on the loyalty of its citizens to all work collectively toward the establishment and advancement of the nation states. Many members of the nation state gave great sacrifices, often their lives, to see that the united states was a successful and democratic. However, the United States, was fundamentally a mixing pot of all foreign people (excluding marginalized Native Americans). This early 1800 's flow of new “Americans” continued as people sought new opportunities and escaped religious or political persecution and famine. One notable
Primarily, the United States foreign policy behind the Monroe Doctrine was introduced by President James Monroe in the midst of many Latin American countries gaining their independence from Spain. The doctrine stated that attempts by European countries to colonize or interfere with states in the Western Hemisphere would be viewed as acts of aggression and U.S. intervention would be necessary. The Monroe Doctrine set the precedent for various foreign policies that would result in U.S. involvement in Latin America.
The rebellion’s fact and information is very important to help understand American History. The Whiskey Rebellion is viewed now as the make or break situation for which was then the newly uprising government system, American Constitution, right after the American Revolution when the federal government was trying to make itself strong and powerful. So, for the Whiskey Rebellion to take place during this time was what lots of people call, “perfect timing”. This is said because had the Whiskey Rebellion not happened during this time and the government had not acted the way it did against the rebellion, we probably would never know how the government would be in today’s day and how America would be in this day. Washington was trying to stop the rebellion peacefully and with no violence whatsoever. However, by 1794 the protests became violent. In July, nearly 400 whiskey rebels near Pittsburgh set fire to the home of John Neville, the regional tax collection supervisor. This made Washington upset and furious he ordered the military to go up to Pennsylvania and destroy the rebellion and this horrifying event even made Washington put his military uniform once again to defeat the Whiskey Rebellion. Once Washington and his armed military arrived at Pennsylvania every protester in town disappear and basically surrender to Washington and his militia. With the surrender from the protesters this made the American government along
Alan Trachtenberg, professor of American studies at Yale and author of The Incorporation of America, argues that the system of incorporation unhinged the idea of national identity that all American’s had previously shared. As a result, incorporation became the catalyst for the great debate about what it meant to actually be American, and who was capable of labeling themselves as such. Throughout his work Trachtenberg consistently tackles the ideas of cultural identity and how those ideas struggled against one another to be the supreme definition of Americanism. This work not only brings to life the issue of identity, but it attempts to synthesize various scholarly works into a cohesive work on the Gilded Age. It demonstrates that concepts developed during the incorporation of the time period have formed the basis for the American cultural, economic, and political superstructure.
Rhode Island which is the only one state adopted a new state constitution that all white men had the right to vote. Tocqueville, who was French writer, identified democracy as an essential attribute of American freedom, but the democracy was limited. Blacks and women still had low status. Despite increased democracy in America, blacks were seen as a separate group. The War of 1812 revealed that United States still was not a truly integrated nation. “In 1815, President James Madison put forward a blueprint for government-promoted economic development that came to be known as the American System” (Foner P286). This plan based on a New national bank, Tariffs and Federal financing for better roads and canals. However, the Bank of the United States didn’t regulate the currency and loans effectively. The Panic of 1819 disrupted the political harmony of the previous years. Fearing that Spain would try to regain its colonies, Adams drafted the Monroe Doctrine in1832. It reflected American nationalism, but “sectionalism seemed to rule domestic politics” (Foner P291. Andrew Jackson was the only candidate in the 1824 election to have national appeal, but None of the four candidates received a majority of the electoral votes. Henry Clay supported John Quincy Adams and helped him to win the voting. During the Age of
The American Revolution marked the divorce of the British Empire and its one of the most valued colonies. Behind the independence that America had fought so hard for, there emerged a diverging society that was eager to embrace new doctrines. The ideals in the revolution that motivated the people to fight for freedom continued to influence American society well beyond the colonial period. For example, the ideas borrowed from John Locke about the natural rights of man was extended in an unsuccessful effort to include women and slaves. The creation of state governments and the search for a national government were the first steps that Americans took to experiment with their own system. Expansion, postwar depression as well as the new distribution of land were all evidence that pointed to the gradual maturing of the economic system. Although America was fast on its way to becoming a strong and powerful nation, the underlying issues brought about by the Revolution remained an important part in the social, political and economical developments that in some instances contradicted revolutionary principles in the period from 1775-1800.
Whereas Nationalism did emerge following the war of 1812, it was quickly squashed down and overshadowed by the growing sectionalism and tension in the United States. Tariffs, the National Bank, and slavery all played a role in further dividing the nation and securing that sectionalism would prevail. Even though the period was traditionally labeled as the “Era of Good Feelings”, it was anything but, thanks to the emergence of sectionalism and the division of the North and South.
At this time Americans resorted to nationalism which is as Merton E. Hill stated in 1931