American History Condensed

1
American History Condensed

• Revolutionary War to Constitution
• Henrichsen

2
Precursors to War

• Taxation
• High Rates
• Lower than any other part of the British Empire,
  including at home in London
• Without representation
• Virtual representation
• Acts
• Stamp, Sugar, Mutiny
• Tea Party
• Politics
• George III
• Parliament
• Impressment

• War
• 7 years War
• French Indian War
• King Georges War
• Buildup to the Rev
• Intolerable Acts
• Lexington/Concorde

3
Revolution

• 1775 1783
• Americans are really good at losing battles
• Different styles of fighting
• Guerilla tactics
• Propaganda
• Common Sense

• Declaration of Independence
• No legal weight
• States first write constitutions
• Loose alliance of states and people
• Americans are still really good at retreating

4
Declaration of Independence

• List of problems Americans had with England
• Specifically blamed King George III
• Most problems linked to actions of parliament

• Foundation of the Bill of Rights is in the
  problems they complain about
• No jobs without approval
• Habeas Corpus Suspended
• Force soldiers to stay in private homes

5
Rev part 2

• Alliance with the French
• Shift of war to the Southern Colonies
• 1781 Americans start winning some key battles
• Britain is tired of fighting way over here

• Violence against native Americans
• Had been promised independence by Britain
• Same problem with slaves
• Ratification of AoC
• War ends 1783 with the Treaty of Paris

6
Articles of Confederation

• First government of the US
• Weak central government
• No taxation ability
• Only works for adding new land to the country
• Each state is effectively a separate country

• Shipping and trade is almost impossible
• Economy sucks
• No political unity
• States fighting all the time amongst each other
• Looks like easy target to reabsorb into Britain

7
Constitutional Convention

• Illegal group action designed to make a better
  government
• The framers are committing treason and could be
  executed under US law
• Different groups want different things
• Large States
• Small States

• How to fight corruption and control
• Give out even more power
• Division of powers
• Legislative
• Senate
• House
• Executive
• Pres and VP
• Judicial not included

8
Constitution Cont

• Check and Balances
• Large vs Small
• Virginia Plan
• Each state gets reps based on the size of the
  state
• New Jersey Plan
• Each state gets the same number of reps
  regardless of size
• First Great Compromise
• We do both
• Senate follows the NJ plan
• House follows the VA plan

• Slave vs Free
• How are we going to deal with the population of
  slaves?
• There are more slaves than People in the
  Southern states
• This leads to the 3/5ths Compromise
• Each slave counts as 3/5 of a person for purposes
  of determining the number of reps in the House of
  Representatives
• Still have the slavery question
• Ban slave trade after 1808
• Ignore the problem until later

9
Constitution Final

• Notes were not allowed to be taken out of the
  convention
• Constitution was not allowed to be seen until
  finished
• Adoption of Constitution by at least 9 states of
  the original 13

• President is chosen and the person with the next
  most votes is the VP
• Adams Pres 2
• Doesnt like immigrants
• Alien and Sedition Acts
• Jefferson
• Loves the rural agricultural lifestyle
• Central Government should be weak
• Lets buy more land than we have already for 1M
  dollars
• No power to do so

10
Exceptions to the rules

• Judicial
• Marbury v Madison
• Judicial Review
• Determine if a law is unconstitutional
• Now a check on both branches of government
• Source of many arguments for the next 200 years

• Loose interpretation of the constitution or the
  constitution as a living changing document