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Founding a Nation: Challenges and Triumphs

Oct 30, 2024

A New Nation | THE AMERICAN YAWP

I. Introduction

  • July 4, 1788: Grand federal procession in Philadelphia for the new national constitution.
    • Symbolic activities: Blacksmiths beating swords into tools, religious leaders marching together.
  • Celebrations marking government establishment, e.g., George Washington's oath, Thanksgiving 1789.
  • The actual unity of the nation was complicated; the Constitution was controversial.

II. Shays's Rebellion

  • Post-Revolution economic hardships for farmers in Massachusetts.
  • Farmers' debts and weak economies blamed on the Articles of Confederation.
  • Daniel Shays led a protest movement against foreclosures.
  • Government response: Governor Bowdoin called militia; rebellion highlighted need for a stronger central government.

III. The Constitutional Convention

  • Prompted by Shays's Rebellion, delegates met in Philadelphia, 1787.
  • Key issue: Federal government's inability to levy taxes.
  • James Madison's Virginia Plan proposed a new government framework with a strong central authority.
  • Debates over representation led to the Great Compromise: bicameral legislature, population-based lower house, equal representation upper house.
  • Executive branch structure was contentious; decided on a single president elected by an electoral college.

IV. Ratifying the Constitution

  • Constitution required state ratification; debates were intense.
  • Absence of a Bill of Rights was a major contention.
  • Federalist Papers by Hamilton, Madison, Jay promoted ratification.
  • Massachusetts, Virginia ratified with promises of future amendments.
  • Ultimately, all states ratified amid ongoing debates about potential tyranny.

V. Rights and Compromises

  • Bill of Rights added in 1791, mainly due to pressure and compromise.
  • Persistent issues: gender inequality, slavery.
  • Dirty compromise on the slave trade, protected until 1808.

VI. Hamilton’s Financial System

  • Alexander Hamilton's vision: industrial, commercial society.
  • Proposed federal assumption of state debts, creation of the Bank of the United States.
  • Bank's role: stabilize currency, promote commerce, establish government-creditor ties.
  • Whiskey tax led to regional unrest (Western farmers).

VII. The Whiskey Rebellion and Jay's Treaty

  • Western farmers protested whiskey tax, saw it as a sectional divide.
  • Washington dispatched troops to quash rebellion, showing federal strength.
  • Jay’s Treaty with Britain: maintained neutrality, favored Northern interests, controversial.

VIII. The French Revolution and the Limits of Liberty

  • Initially supported by Americans, the French Revolution’s radical turn worried Federalists.
  • Division over French Revolution shaped Federalist and Republican parties.
  • Alien and Sedition Acts (1798) aimed to curb dissent, viewed as oppressive by Jeffersonian Republicans.

IX. Religious Freedom

  • Gradual disestablishment of state churches; debate on federal vs. state religious freedom.
  • Jefferson and Madison promoted separation of church and state.

X. The Election of 1800

  • First peaceful transfer of power between parties: Federalists to Republicans.
  • Jefferson's victory perceived as a "revolution" against aristocracy.
  • Marbury v. Madison established judicial review, complicating Republican agenda.

XI. Conclusion

  • The Constitution established strong federal government but could not reconcile all societal divisions.
  • Political parties and regional differences tested national unity.
  • Ongoing debates about the balance of liberty and government power.