America, the land of the free, and the home of the brave, united we stand, as one. Although America has been a united country for quite a while, it’s unity formed 254 years ago, even though it was not set in stone, during the American Revolution. During this time period of 1763-1789, the Americans faced many problems putting roadblocks in their journey to establishing present day America. The main problem the American people faced in the Revolutionary Period was becoming more united. Unity was critical to colonial success against the British because it allowed the colonist create a bond over unequal power which gave them a leg up against Britain. Edmund Morgan, an early American historian and professor at Yale, describes the feelings of the …show more content…
colonists during the taxation period: “...every duty...was felt to be an attack on the security of property because it was levied without consent. If Parliament succeeded in collecting the stamp tax, there was no telling how much would be demanded in the future…” . At this time, Britain still controlled their government. The colonists did not agree with England’s decision of taxing them because the British were using them to raise revenue for Britain after the war they just fought. Colonists felt targeted and fearful of the future because of the amount of power England was showing by putting the Stamp Act into place. As individual colonies, the settlers did not have the power to go against Britain to fight for their rights and repeal the Stamp Act. They felt as though challenging Europe would be pointless, due to their lack of manpower and support, they continued to pay taxes when they were against it. Since the colonists did not want to pay taxes that were in no way beneficial to them, they eventually stood up for themselves. Morgan points out the bold decision of the colonists: “... there was a pause in business... as people made up their minds which way to nullify the act: by doing nothing that requires the use of stamps or by proceeding without them” . When the colonists noticed that the British were relying on them for revenue, they decided that every colony should come together to nullify the Stamp Act by boycotting British Products. The British would would then lose money that they desperately needed, putting the colonists in a better position to get the Stamp Act repealed. If a large amount of colonists participated in the boycott, Britain would be forced to repeal their taxes as they would no longer be making a profit. Even though their efforts to repeal the Stamp Act were an obstacle for the colonists, they allowed the settlers to come together with a common goal: breaking away from England. Morgan furthermore acknowledges how unity changed the mindset of the colonists as they took action in breaking away from England: “...the people of Boston gathered in town meeting and declared their belief that the keeping of a standing army...“without their consent in Person or Representatives...would be an infringement of their natural constitutional and Charter Rights…’” . With Boston’s decision to call the town meeting, the colonist had a platform to spread their message all the way to England. In the meeting, the colonist established a mindset of determination, which helped them achieve separation from Britain and breaking away from tyranny. As the colonists united, they were able to have more man power over the British army that resided in America. This lead to the colonists becoming more confident in their attempt to break away from the British once and for all. Even after becoming independent, the Americans needed unity to start their own government and eventually become their own country. Morgan explains the plan the states had in mind to approach their new government: “... to design a government containing all the virtues of the British constitution but with added safeguards to prevent the kind of deterioration they had just witnessed” . Even though the point of the revolution was to separate from the British and their style of government, the Americans saw that the central government that the British had was not a poor way to run a government. Because all of the states did not want to resort back to the tyranny, the Americans decided one aspect of their new government was to install safeguards which allowed the people to receive the rights they wanted. Although the main goal of the new government was to eliminate tyranny, Abigail Adams, the wife of John Adams, noticed flaws that came when any man was put in charge: “Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could” . While congressmen and the people of the states finally had power, Abigail saw the future problems with giving men power because she was looking at the new government from a more rational perspective. This later led her to warn her husband about the potential fears that came along with the new government. Abigail saw that unity was necessary in the creation of the new government because of the idea of the states coming together under a set of laws that all would abide under, instead of going back to the concept of tyranny. Keeping unity in mind, congressmen wrote a new government called Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation states the freedom the Americans got with the new government: “Each state remains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled” . The Articles of Confederation enabled the states to maintain their rights with safeguards to prevent any one state from overpowering the others. This created unity between the states because all states were now equal in power. On the other hand, this caused the national government to have the same amount of power as the state governments which caused problems because the states were still independent and did not value the federal laws before their own laws. Getting the states to agree to ratify the Constitution was important because it created a strong country and required unity because of the common values all of the people had to abide by.
In order to make the Constitution more effective, the Americans had to revise the Articles of Confederation. Morgan notes the process the Americans had to go through when fixing the problems within the Articles of Confederation: “Their work has often been described as a bundle of compromises...They could afford to give and take where they disagreed, because there were so many important things about which they did agree” . Even though disagreement occurred, this did not stir much controversy within the convention. The states had to agree more than disagree in order to fix the equal power distribution between state and central government the Articles of Confederation provided. The new Constitution would make the states less separated from the national government and unite them under a set of federal laws in which all Americans valued. Morgan identifies the unity the Americans felt was necessary when creating the Constitution: “If the Revolution was built upon the principle that all men are created equal, the Constitution gave men a more equal share in the national government than the Confederation did” . The Constitution tightens the gaps in the Articles of Confederation because the old Constitution proved not enough unity, made unity an essential. The ratification of the Constitution formed unity between the states and the national government because the states agreed to value the federal laws first, and then value their state laws after. The preamble of the Constitution provides a glimpse of the unity the Americans forced into their new country: “We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility...the Blessings of Liberty... ” . The Constitution was the final document to officially make America a united
country. The preamble represents unity because it states that America, as a whole, agreed to value the laws in the Constitution. This lead to states receiving the liberty they never got with England, which caused an outcome of a new and strong united country to be formed. The Americans went through thick and thin to finally become their own country, but what ultimately helped them achieve that was the mindset of being united as one. A common phrase, the changes starts with you, only depicts a starting point to making a difference. As we saw with the Americans, sometimes working alone does not always get you the result you want, in which forming unity with a person with a common interest can have a bigger effect. The outcome the Americans had by coming together was a brand new country, united as one.
In chapter eleven, The Age of Democratic Revolutions: The North Atlantic World “Turn Upside Down”, Wells discusses the American and French Revolutions. Both of these revolutions shook the world and turn the world around. After the Enlightenment, there were many revolutions across Europe; however, the American and French Revolution had more power in them to change the world. Because of the books, pamphlets, and sermons, the idea of rationalism moved from philosophes to many of other people. With these new ideas, the people started to believe in change which led to stress and upheaval. In America, the revolution was not like other revolutions. There was no reigns of terror, no mass deportations, or forced labor camps. However, the American
On the brink of revolution, the colonies were divided amongst themselves. Two factions with different ideologies “The Patriots” & and the “The Loyalist”, to know these factions we must first know another. Because both parties played a pivotal role in the “American Revolution”.
Before the Constitution was drafted, the United States’ budding government, now independent from Great Britain, acted under a dysfunctional constitution called the Articles of Confederation. Although this constitution kept the new nation running, there were still flaws that needed to be fixed. The Articles of Confederation lacked a developed executive or judicial branch and a method for the main government to collect taxes from state governments, according to the background essay of the DBQ Packet. An assembly of fifty-five men eventually gathered for a Constitutional Convention in order to write a new constitution that would better satisfy the people’s needs. The trouble of creating another constitution lied behind creating a document
The year of 1776 was a time of revolution, independence, and patriotism. American colonists had severed their umbilical cord to the Mother Country and declared themselves “Free and Independent States”.1 The chains of monarchy had been thrown off and a new government was formed. Shying away from a totalitarian government, the Second Continental Congress drafted a document called the Articles of Confederation which established a loose union of the states. It was an attempt at self-government that ended in failure. The Articles of Confederation had many defects which included a weak central government that lacked the power to tax, regulate trade, required equal representation and a unanimous vote to amend the Articles, and had only a legislative branch. As a result the United States lacked respect from foreign countries. These flaws were so severe that a new government had to be drafted and as a result the Constitution was born. This document remedied the weak points of the federal government and created one that was strong and fair, yet still governed by the people.
Gordon S. Wood, in The Radicalism of the American Revolution, discusses what it means to be truly revolutionary. In this work, Wood shares his thoughts on the Revolutionary War and whether or not it was a movement radical enough to be considered an honest revolution. Wood discusses the reasoning behind the views of those in favor of the war being considered radical, as well as the views of those who believe the American Revolution to be unfortunately misnamed. He claims that “the Revolution was the most radical and most far- reaching event in American history.” Wood’s work is a valuable source for those studying the revolution because it redefines what it means to be radical, but the piece is also limited by the lack of primary information
The Articles of Confederation was America’s first constitution. The Articles of Confederation failed to create a strong central government, however. With the demise of the states in sight, the need for a stronger and more structured central government became apparent. An invitation was sent to all thirteen states in February 1787 by the Confederation Congress to resolve the matter. The events that took place over the next several months would create the United States Constitution. Going down in history as a revolutionary form of government, the U.S. Constitution would give life to a country that is still running strong over 200 years later.
In conclusion, without struggle and without sacrifice this country would not have gained the independence and prove that united we stand and divide we fall. Thomas Paine quite elegantly put it “however strange it may appear to some, or however unwilling they may be to think so, matters not, but many strong and striking reasons may be given to shew, that nothing can settle our affairs so expeditiously as an open and determined declaration of independence” (Paine 111).
America was born and survived, its rough road into a nation, through a series of events, or moments in history. The founding brother’s book is about a few important figures during and after the American Revolution. These important figures consisted of Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, John Adams, George Washington, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson. Each of these men, contributed to the building of America in one way or another. The book breaks these contributions into a few short stories, to help understand what these important figures did.
In the making of the United States, there were many events that are important. This paper intends to highlight a few of those events including; Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation and the Federalist Papers. Many events in America’s history helped to establish the United States as a free and independent country. The Declaration of Independence in particular explains the rights and freedoms that Americans. Each document is like a stepping stones that leads to the next and building upon the pervious document.
The American Revolution (1775-1783) was a war between England and the colonies which were settled earlier by the English. There were many factors and events that led to the American Revolution. The Revolution was mainly an economic rebellion that was fueled by taxation without representation following the French and Indian War. The English Parliament was more often than not considered cruel and unfair by the colonists. With conflicts over trade, taxes and government representation, the colonies were at a starting line of a revolution that would later transform into the basis of the United States of America.
A constitution is the system of fundamental principles according to which a nation is governed. Our founding fathers created the US Constitution to set specific standards for our country. We must ask ourselves why our founding fathers created the Constitution in the first place. America revolted against the British due to their monarchy form of government. After the American Revolution, each of the original 13 colonies operated under its own rules of government. Most states were against any form of centralized rule from the government. They feared that what happened in England would happen again. They decided to write the Articles of Confederation, which was ratified in 1781. It was not effective and it led to many problems. The central government could not regulate commerce between states, deal with foreign governments or settle disputes. The country was falling apart at its seams. The central government could not provide assistance to the state because there wasn’t a central army. When they realized that the Articles of Confederation was not up to par, they held a convention, known as the Constitutional Convention of 1787. As a result of t...
“Is there a single trait of resemblance between those few towns and a great and growing people spread over a vast quarter of the globe, separated by a mighty ocean?” This question posed by Edmund Burke was in the hearts of nearly every colonist before the colonies gained their independence from Britain. The colonists’ heritage was largely British, as was their outlook on a great array of subjects; however, the position and prejudices they held concerning their independence were comprised entirely from American ingenuity. This identity crisis of these “British Americans” played an enormous role in the colonists’ battle for independence, and paved the road to revolution.
The Articles of Confederation was the first government of the United States. The Articles had created a very weak national government. At the time the Articles were approved, they had served the will of the people. Americans had just fought a war to get freedom from a great national authority--King George III (Patterson 34). But after this government was put to use, it was evident that it was not going to keep peace between the states. The conflicts got so frequent and malicious that George Washington wondered if the “United” States should be called a Union (Patterson 35). Shays’ Rebellion finally made it evident to the public that the government needed a change.
In regards to unity, during 1774 and 1775, there were 17 contributors of Donations for the Relief of Boston. This astonishing number of contributors reflects the desire and willingness for unification. It shows that from anywhere as north as Massachusetts and as south as South Carolina, the colonies wanted to help each other out when another was in need. This fact is clearly evident that indeed America was slowly but surely trying to unite and fight as one (G).
The American Revolution stirred political unity and motivated the need for change in the nation. Because many Americans fought for a more balanced government in the Revolutionary War, they initially created a weak national government that hampered the country's growth and expansion. In the Letter from Abigail Adams to Thomas Jefferson, Mrs. Adams complained about the inadequacy of power that the American government had to regulate domestic affairs. The Articles of Confederation was created to be weak because many had feared a similar governing experience that they had just eliminated with Britain. The alliance of states united the 13 local governments but lacked power to deal with important issues or to regulate diplomatic affairs. Congress did not have the power to tax, regulate trade, or draft people for war. This put the American citizens at stake because States had the power to refuse requests for taxes and troops (Document G). The weakened national government could not do anything about uprisings or small-scale protests because it did not have the power to put together an army. The deficiencies of the confederation government inspired the drafting of the American Constitution. The document itself embodied the principle of a national government prepared to deal with the nation's problems. In James Madison's Federalist Paper, he persuades the American public to adopt the Constitution so that the government can protect humans from their nature and keep them out of conflicts.