Unisted States History Flashcards
(34 cards)
Native American Cultures in North America: Overview
- before the arrival of the Europeans in the 15th century
- came into the Western Hemisphere from Asia via the Bering Strait or along the N Pacific coast in a series of migrations
- first contacts with Europeans many died from smallpox, influenza, measles, and other diseases
- Major Culture Areas: Northwest Coast, Plains, Plateau, Eastern Woodlands, Northern, and Southwest
Native American Cultures in North America:
The Northwest Coast Area
- extended along the Pacific coast from S Alaska to N California
- Nadene in the north
- Wakashan and the Tsimshian in the central area. *Typical tribes were the Kwakiutl, the Haida, the Tsimshian, and the Nootka. T
- used wood to build their houses and had cedar-planked canoes and carved dugouts, totem poles
- famous for artwork of masks, rattles, weaving, and basketry
- society consisted of chiefs, nobels, commoners, and slaves
Native American Cultures in North America: Plains Area
- The Plains area extended from just N of the Canadian border S to Texas and included the grasslands area between the Mississippi River and the foothills of the Rocky Mts.
- tAlgonquian-Wakashan, the Aztec-Tanoan, and the Hokan-Siouan.
- In pre-Columbian times there were two distinct types of Native Americans there, sedentary and nomadic.
- The horse, 18th cent. and revolutionized the life of the Plains Indians, left their villages and joined the nomads.
- Native Americans from surrounding areas came into the Plains
- The system of coup was a characteristic feature of their society. Other features were rites of fasting in quest of a vision, warrior clans, bead and feather art work, and decorated hides.
- These Plains Indians were among the last to engage in a serious struggle with the white settlers in the United States.
Native American Cultures in North America: Plateau Area
- above the Canadian border through the plateau and mountain area of the Rocky Mts. to the Southwest and included much of California.
- Spokan, the Paiute, the Nez Percé, and the Shoshone.
- area of great linguistic diversity.
- Living in brush shelters or more substantial lean-tos, they had partly buried earth lodges for ceremonies and ritual sweat baths.
- The Native Americans there underwent (c.1730) a great cultural change when they obtained from the Plains Indians the horse, the tepee, a form of the sun dance, and deerskin clothes.
- They continued, however, to fish for salmon with nets and spears and to gather camas bulbs. They also gathered ants and other insects and hunted small game and, in later times, buffalo
Native American Cultures in North America: The Eastern Woodlands Area
- covered the eastern part of the United States, roughly from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River, and included the Great Lakes.
- The Natchez, the Choctaw, the Cherokee, and the Creek were typical inhabitants
- The northeastern part of this area extended from Canada to Kentucky and Virginia.
- The deerskin clothing, the painting of the face and (in the case of the men) body, and the scalp lock of the men (left when hair was shaved on both sides of the head), were typical.
- The myths of Manitou the hero who remade the world from mud after a deluge, are also widely known.
- The region from the Ohio River S to the Gulf of Mexico, with its forests and fertile soil, was the heart of the southeastern part of the Eastern Woodlands cultural area.
- There before c.500 the inhabitants were seminomads who hunted, fished, and gathered roots and seeds.
- Between 500 and 900 they adopted agriculture, tobacco smoking, pottery making, and burial mounds (see Mound Builders).
- By c.1300 the agricultural economy was well established, and artifacts found in the mounds show that trade was widespread.
- Long before the Europeans arrived, the peoples of the Natchez and Muskogean branches of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic family were farmers who used hoes with stone, bone, or shell blades.
- Since warfare was frequent and intense, the villages were enclosed by wooden palisades reinforced with earth.
- There were temples for sun worship; rites were elaborate and featured an altar with perpetual fire, extinguished and rekindled each year in a “new fire” ceremony.
- The society was commonly divided into classes, with a chief, his children, nobles, and commoners making up the hierarchy.
Native American Cultures in North America: The Northern Area
- The Northern area covered most of Canada, also known as the Subarctic, in the belt of semiarctic land from the Rocky Mts. to Hudson Bay.
- The main languages in this area were those of the Algonquian-Wakashan and the Nadene stocks. Typical of the people there were the Chipewyan. Limiting environmental conditions prevented farming, but hunting, gathering, and activities such as trapping and fishing were carried on.
- Nomadic hunters moved with the season from forest to tundra, killing the caribou in semiannual drives. Other food was provided by small game, berries, and edible roots.
- Not only food but clothing and even some shelter (caribou-skin tents) came from the caribou, and with caribou leather thongs the Indians laced their snowshoes and made nets and bags.
- The snowshoe was one of the most important items of material culture. The shaman featured in the religion of many of these people.
Native American Cultures in North America: The Southwest Area
- The Southwest area generally extended over Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado and Utah.
- The Uto-Aztecan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock was the main language group of the area.
- Here a seminomadic people called the Basket Makers, who hunted with a spear thrower, or atlatl, acquired (c.1000 BC) the art of cultivating beans and squash, probably from their southern neighbors.
- They also learned to make unfired pottery. They wove baskets, sandals, and bags. By c.700 BC they had initiated intensive agriculture, made true pottery, and hunted with bow and arrow.
- They lived in pit dwellings, which were partly underground and were lined with slabs of stone—the so-called slab houses.
- A new people came into the area some two centuries later; these were the ancestors of the Pueblo Indians. They lived in large, terraced community houses set on ledges of cliffs or canyons for protection (see cliff dwellers) and developed a ceremonial chamber (the kiva) out of what had been the living room of the pit dwellings. *This period of development ended c.1300, after a severe drought and the beginnings of the invasions from the north by the Athabascan-speaking Navajo and Apache.
- The known historic Pueblo cultures of such sedentary farming peoples as the Hopi and the Zuñi then came into being.
- They cultivated corn, beans, squash, cotton, and tobacco, killed rabbits with a wooden throwing stick, and traded cotton textiles and corn for buffalo meat from nomadic tribes.
- The men wove cotton textiles and cultivated the fields, while women made fine polychrome pottery. *The mythology and religious ceremonies were complex.
Native American Cultures in North America: Contemporary Life
- The Southwest area generally extended over Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado and Utah.
- The Uto-Aztecan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock was the main language group of the area.
- Here a seminomadic people called the Basket Makers, who hunted with a spear thrower, or atlatl, acquired (c.1000 BC) the art of cultivating beans and squash, probably from their southern neighbors.
- They also learned to make unfired pottery. They wove baskets, sandals, and bags.
- By c.700 BC they had initiated intensive agriculture, made true pottery, and hunted with bow and arrow.
- They lived in pit dwellings, which were partly underground and were lined with slabs of stone—the so-called slab houses.
- A new people came into the area some two centuries later; these were the ancestors of the Pueblo Indians.
- They lived in large, terraced community houses set on ledges of cliffs or canyons for protection (see cliff dwellers) and developed a ceremonial chamber (the kiva) out of what had been the living room of the pit dwellings.
- This period of development ended c.1300, after a severe drought and the beginnings of the invasions from the north by the Athabascan-speaking Navajo and Apache.
- The known historic Pueblo cultures of such sedentary farming peoples as the Hopi and the Zuñi then came into being.
- They cultivated corn, beans, squash, cotton, and tobacco, killed rabbits with a wooden throwing stick, and traded cotton textiles and corn for buffalo meat from nomadic tribes.
- The men wove cotton textiles and cultivated the fields, while women made fine polychrome pottery.
- The mythology and religious ceremonies were complex.
Interactions between the Native Americans and the Europeans
- When English settlers arrived, Native Americans still regarded the islands as their home and remained there until Euro-American settlers started encroaching on their land.
- Beginning in 1675 American colonists engaged in a major war with the Native Americans. It came to be known as King Philip’s War. (King Philip was the name the English called Metacom, the Wampanoag sachem.)
- King Philip’s War had far-reaching and long-lasting effects on Native American communities in the region and on the relations between Native Americans and Europeans.
- As the Native American resistance intensified, and more colonial villages were attacked and burned, the English fear of the Native Americans grew.
- The significance of the islands during the period of King Philip’s War is not due to battles fought there but because of the forced removal of Native Americans to the islands.
- Prior to the start of the war, a number of “praying towns” had been established within Massachusetts Bay where natives were tolerant of, and living amongst, their European neighbors. As colonial settlements expanded, many Native Americans were displaced to the Indian praying villages and towns.
- During the winter of 1675-76, the Massachusetts Bay Colony decreed that the inhabitants of the “praying towns,” such as Natick, be relocated. On October 30, 1675, a large body of Christian Indians was forced in shackles to the Charles River and, on three vessels, transported to islands in the harbor. The majority of those relocated were taken to Deer Island where they were incarcerated.
- Later some Native Americans were forced to other islands, probably Peddocks Island, Long Island, and one of the Brewster islands.
- Accounts vary widely as to how many Native Americans were removed to the islands. Historians, using written records, give the range as between 500 and 1,100. Some Native Americans now believe that traditional (non-Christian) Native Americans were not counted by the Colonists and so the numbers were much higher. Historical records indicate that as many as one-half of Native Americans died of starvation, exposure, and lack of appropriate medicines in what has been called a concentration camp. The General Court of Massachusetts, referring to Native Americans on the islands, proclaimed “that none of the sayd indians shall presume to goe off the sayd islands voluntarily, uponn payne of death . . . .
- After the war, those who survived the island internment continued to face dire relations with the colonies.
- Records indicate that the colonial government sold some Native Americans into slavery, or indentured them to English families. Other praying Indians, who were released, moved into and strengthened Christian Native American settlements.
- Praying Indians also dispersed to other Native communities including the Nipmucks, Nipmucs, Wampanoags, and Abenakis (Penobscots) and to communities farther south, west, and north in Canada.
- The scope of King Philip’s War extended west, beyond the Berkshire Mountains, south to Long Island Sound, and north into present-day Maine. However, the events referenced above are those most directly associated with Boston Harbor Islands. The island focus stems from the park’s enabling legislation which highlights the importance of understanding the history of Native American use and involvement with the islands, and calls for protecting and preserving Native American burial grounds, particularly those connected with King Philip’s War.
- This Congressional recognition of the importance of Native American history and of King Philip’s War has raised public awareness around these topics. It has also raised park managers’ sensitivity to the complex issues surrounding the management and interpretation of island resources associated with Native American use of the islands. This recognition and awareness complements a broad range of federal and state initiatives to protect Native American sacred, cultural, and historic sites in collaboration with Indian tribes. The establishment of the park has also brought a new focus for tribes with cultural affiliation to the islands and their resources. Paramount among the many concerns expressed by Native American people is that any burial grounds or sacred sites be protected and treated with respect by all.
- Presently, Native Americans return to Deer Island every year in October to solemnly commemorate their ancestors’ suffering.
Contrast and comparisons of the English, French and Spanish colonies
a) Generally all three were looking for profit; Spanish in gold/silver; French in furs; English in crops
b) French treated the Native American Indians more fairly than the others (Indians did not understand land ownership)
c) French and Spanish gave few incentives to settlers to relocate in North America
d) English offered some freedoms, chance to own land, and self-government
e) French and Spanish tried to control a large area of land (maybe too large)
f) English located along a smaller area of land between the Atlantic Ocean and the Appalachian Mountains
Colonial communities
A. Colonial communities were the center of social, economic and political life; colonial
communities tended to develop along their accustomed European pattern
1) Variations between and among the different colonial communities
a) religious based
b) slave and free black communities
c) places of national origin
2) Social structure of the colonial communities promoted interdependence
a) no single group could survive without help from other
3) Social goals promoted community consciousness over individual rights
a) good of the community came first
4) Survival in the communities demanded cooperation and a strong work ethnic
a) hard work by every colonial member was necessary to make colony work
5) Role of religion in different communities
a) Puritans, Quakers, Catholics, Anglicans, Jews, etc.
6) Importance of waterways to the communities
a) fastest, cheapest method of travel and transportation
7) Hierarchical social order created social inequity
a) land owners, wealthy merchants, lawyers, doctors, and ministers
b) farmers and shopkeepers who owned land but were not rich
c) unskilled laborers, tenant farmers
d) indentured servants
e) slaves
Structure and role of the colonial family
1) Nuclear families made up the basic social and economic lines
a) usually a household contained three generations
b) people needed to work together to support the household
2) Authority and obligation followed kinship lines
a) father was responsible for the well-fare of the family
b) fathers and grandfathers had to be obeyed
c) family members in need received help from other family members
3) Role of family members
a) fathers managed the finances and did most of the work outside the house
b) mothers might work along side of fathers, but main responsibility was to
make soap, candles, weave cloth, sew clothes, and prepare food
c) children worked on the farm or helped at home in addition to going to
school
d) servants and slaves worked on the farm and helped raise any children
C. Life in the colonial communities was a reflection of the geographic and social conditions
1) Impact of physical environment
a) travel was slow (lack of roads, bridges, thick forests)
2) Consequences of social conditions
b) few colonists traveled far from where they were born
c) communication was slow (receiving a letter was a major event)
3) Impact of geographic and social conditions can be seen in the divergent
landholding system which developed in New England (individual ownership),
New Netherland (patroonship system), and Southern colonies (plantations)
4) Consequences of social conditions
a) different forms of government (town meetings, House of Burgesses)
b) religion (Catholic, Protestant, Jewish)
c) economic conditions (merchant, farmer, plantation owner, slave)
d) treatment of blacks (full slavery in South, less in North)
Causes of American Revolution
*1754-1763 - French and Indian War
*This war between Britain and France ended with the victorious British deeply in debt and demanding more revenue from the colonies.
*With the defeat of the French, the colonies became less dependent on Britain for protection.
•1763 - Proclamation of 1763
This prohibited settlement beyond the Appalachian Mountains. While Britain did not intend to harm the colonists, many colonists took offense at this order.
•1764 - Sugar Act
This act raised revenue by increasing duties on sugar imported from the West Indies.
•1764 - Currency Act
Parliament argued that colonial currency had caused a devaluation harmful to British trade. They banned American assemblies from issuing paper bills or bills of credit.
•1764 - Committees of Correspondence
Organized by Samuel Adams, these helped spread propaganda and information through letters.
•1765 - Quartering Act
Britain ordered that colonists were to house and feed British soldiers if necessary.
•1765 - Stamp Act
This required tax stamps on many items and documents including playing cards, newspapers, and marriage licenses. Prime Minister George Grenville stated that this direct tax was intended for the colonies to pay for defense. Previous taxes imposed by Britain had been indirect, or hidden.
•1765 - Stamp Act Congress
In 1765, 27 delegates from nine colonies met in New York City and drew up a statement of rights and grievances thereby bringing colonies together in opposition to Britain.
•1765 - Sons and Daughters of Liberty
Colonists tried to fight back by imposing non-importation agreements. The Sons of Liberty often took the law into their own hands enforcing these ‘agreements’ by methods such as tar and feathering.
•1767 - Townshend Acts
These taxes were imposed to help make the colonial officials independent of the colonists and included duties on glass, paper, and tea. Smugglers increased their activities to avoid the tax leading to more troops in Boston.
•1770 - Boston Massacre
The colonists and British soldiers openly clashed in Boston. This event was used as an example of British cruelty despite questions about how it actually occurred.
•1773 - Tea Act
To assist the failing British East India Company, the Company was given a monopoly to trade tea in America.
•1773 - Boston Tea Party
A group of colonists disguised as Indians dumped tea overboard from three ships in Boston Harbor.
•1774 - Intolerable Acts
These were passed in response to the Boston Tea Party and placed restrictions on the colonists including outlawing town meetings and the closing of Boston Harbor.
•1774 - First Continental Congress
In response to the Intolerable Acts, 12 of the 13 colonies met in Philadelphia from September-October, 1774. One of the main results of this was the creation of The Association calling for a boycott of British goods.
•1775 - Lexington and Concord
In April, British troops were ordered to Lexington and Concord to seize stores of colonial gunpowder and to capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock. At Lexington, open conflict occurred and eight Americans were killed. At Concord, the British troops were forced to retreat with the loss of 70 men. This was the first instance of open warfare.
•1775 - Second Continental Congress
All 13 colonies were represented at this meeting in Philadelphia beginning May. The colonists still hoped that their grievances would be met by King George III. George Washington was named head of the Continental Army.
•1775 - Bunker Hill
This major victory for the Colonists resulted in George III proclaiming the colonies in rebellion.
Major Ideas in the Declaration of Independence and their impact
- The Declaration of Independence can be broadly classified into four sections.
- The first section, or the introduction, states the purpose of the document.
- The second part explains the theory of a good government and the individual rights each person is entitled, and that the government must respect those rights.
- The third section is a list of grievances against King George III, and the final part of the document asserts sovereignty of United States of America.
- The opening sentence of the Declaration explains the reasons for declaring independence from the government of Great Britain.
- The Declaration asserts as a matter of Natural Law, the people’s ability to declare political independence.
- The second part, or the preamble, includes the ideas and ideals of the Declaration. According to the Declaration, all individuals have “certain unalienable rights,” which are inherent to everyone, therefore, the government should protect these rights. Moreover, it is the duty and the right of the people to elect the government.
- The third section lists numerous charges against King George III. These grievances are examples of actions that violated the rights of the Americans and therefore declared him unfit to rule. The final section of the Declaration affirms the determination of Americans to defend and maintain their independence and rights.
Articles of Confederation (1781-1789)
The representatives of the thirteen states agree to create a confederacy called the United States of America, in which each state maintains its own sovereignty and all rights to govern, except those rights specifically granted to Congress.
As these thirteen states enter into a firm “league of friendship” for the purpose of defending each other, there are standards that the states should follow to help maintain good relationships. Each state must recognize the legal proceedings and official records of every other state, and that the citizens of one state have the rights of citizenship in any state. Additionally, a state must help return runaway criminals to the state in which the crime was committed.
States have the right to select and send two to seven delegates to Congress each year. Each state has one vote in congress, and delegates can only serve for a period of three years in any interval of six years. Delegates have certain privileges while serving in Congress. They are guaranteed the right to freedom of speech and are immune from arrest for most petty crimes.
States are not allowed to conduct relationships with foreign nations without the permission of congress. They cannot wage war, negotiate peace, raise an army or navy, conduct diplomacy, or make an alliance with another state. However, they can make imposts on goods, as long as they do not interfere with foreign treaties. States must keep a local militia, and they may wage war if they need to quickly defend themselves.
During war, states have the right to appoint officers of colonel rank and below. Congress pays for war from a treasury that states contribute to relative to the value of land in their state.
Congress has the sole power to deal with foreign nations, including making war and peace, and to deal with Indian (Native American) affairs. Congress must maintain uniform standards of coins and measures, make the rules for the army and navy, and run the post office. Congress will help resolve interstate disputes only as a last resort, and has the sole right to hold trials for crimes committed at sea.
Congress can appoint a provisional Committee of the States to serve when Congress is not in session. Congress can appoint other committees made up of civilians to help run the nation, and a president who can serve for one year every interval of three years.
Congress determines the budget and will publish it regularly, along with the proceedings of its meetings. When Congress must request troops, it will do so relative to the number of white inhabitants in each state, and the states must provide those troops on the date indicated.
On the most important issues of foreign affairs, nine of thirteen delegates must agree.
If Canada chooses to join the United States, it will be admitted as an equal state.
Congress takes full responsibility for all debts from the American Revolution.
All states agree to follow the rules of the Articles and the decisions of Congress and to never violate the union.
Any changes to the Articles of Confederation must be agreed to in congress and approved by every state.
John Adams
John Adams (October 30 [O.S. October 19] 1735 – July 4, 1826) was the second president of the United States (1797–1801), having earlier served as the first vice president of the United States. An American Founding Father,[2] Adams was a statesman, diplomat, and a leading advocate of American independence from Great Britain. Well educated, he was an Enlightenment political theorist who promoted republicanism, as well as a strong central government, and wrote prolifically about his often seminal ideas, both in published works and in letters to his wife and key adviser Abigail Adams, as well as to other Founding Fathers.
Adams came to prominence in the early stages of the American Revolution. A lawyer and public figure in Boston, as a delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress, he played a leading role in persuading Congress to declare independence. He assisted Thomas Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and was its primary advocate in the Congress. Later, as a diplomat in Europe, he helped negotiate the eventual peace treaty with Great Britain, and was responsible for obtaining vital governmental loans from Amsterdam bankers. A political theorist and historian, Adams largely wrote the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780, which together with his earlier Thoughts on Government, influenced American political thought. One of his greatest roles was as a judge of character: in 1775, he nominated George Washington to be commander-in-chief, and 25 years later nominated John Marshall to be Chief Justice of the United States.
Adams’ revolutionary credentials secured him two terms as George Washington’s vice president and his own election in 1796 as the second president. During his one term, he encountered ferocious attacks by the Jeffersonian Republicans, as well as the dominant faction in his own Federalist Party led by his bitter enemy Alexander Hamilton. Adams signed the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts, and built up the army and navy especially in the face of an undeclared naval war (called the “Quasi-War”) with France, 1798–1800. The major accomplishment of his presidency was his peaceful resolution of the conflict in the face of Hamilton’s opposition.
In 1800, Adams was defeated for re-election by Thomas Jefferson and retired to Massachusetts. He later resumed his friendship with Jefferson. He and his wife founded an accomplished family line of politicians, diplomats, and historians now referred to as the Adams political family. Adams was the father of John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States. His achievements have received greater recognition in modern times, though his contributions were not initially as celebrated as those of other Founders. Adams was the first U.S. president to reside in the executive mansion that eventually became known as the White House.[3]
George Washington
The Federalists made him the symbol of their party but for many years, the Jeffersonians continued to distrust his influence and delayed building the Washington Monument. As the leader of the first successful revolution against a colonial empire in world history, Washington became an international icon for liberation and nationalism, especially in France and Latin America.[7] He is consistently ranked among the top three presidents of the United States, according to polls of both scholars and the general public.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Paine was born on the twenty-ninth of January 1737 at Thetford, Norfolk in England, as a son of a Quaker. After a short basic education, he started to work, at first for his father, later as an officer of the excise. During this occupation Thomas Paine was an unsuccesfull man, and was twice dismissed from his post. In 1774, he met Benjamin Franklin in London, who advised him to emigrate to America, giving him letters of recommandation.
Paine landed at Philadelphia on November 30, 1774. Starting over as a publicist, he first published his African Slavery in America, in the spring of 1775, criticizing slavery in America as being unjust and inhumane. At this time he also had become co-editor of the Pennsylvania Magazine On arriving in Philadelphia, Paine had sensed the rise of tension, and the spirit of rebellion, that had steadily mounted in the Colonies after the Boston Teaparty and when the fightings had started, in April 1775, with the battles of Lexington and Concord. In Paine’s view the Colonies had all the right to revolt against a government that imposed taxes on them but which did not give them the right of representation in the Parliament at Westminster. But he went even further: for him there was no reason for the Colonies to stay dependent on England. On January 10, 1776 Paine formulated his ideas on american independence in his pamphlet Common Sense.
In his Common Sense, Paine states that sooner or later independence from England must come, because America had lost touch with the mother country. In his words, all the arguments for separation of England are based on nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments and common sense. Government was necessary evil that could only become safe when it was representative and altered by frequent elections. The function of government in society ought to be only regulating and therefore as simple as possible. Not suprisingly, but nevertheless remarkable was his call for a declaration of independence. Due to the many copies sold (500.000) Paine’s influence on the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776 is eminent. Another sign of his great influence is the number of loyalist reactions to Common Sense.
During the War of Independence Paine volunteered in the Continental Army and started with the writing of his highly influencial sixteen American Crisis papers, which he published between 1776 and 1783. In 1777 he became Secretary of the Committee of Foreign Affairs in Congress, but already in 1779 he was forced to resign because he had disclosed secret information. In the following nine years he worked as a clerck at the Pennsylvania Assembly and published several of his writings.
In 1787 Thomas Paine left for England, innitialy to raise funds for the building of a bridge he had designed, but after the outbreak of the French Revolution he became deeply involved in it. Between March 1791 and February 1792 he published numerous editions of his Rights of Man, in which he defended the French Revolution against the attacks by Edmund Burke, in his Reflections on the Revolution in France. But it was more then a defence of the French Revolution: An analysis of the roots of the discontent in Europe, which he laid in arbitrary government, poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and war. The book being banned in England because it opposed to monarchy, Paine failed to be arrested because he was already on his way to France, having been ellected in the National Convention. Though a true republicanist, he was imprisoned in 1793 under Robespierre, because he had voted against the execution of the dethroned king Louis XVI. During his imprisonment the publication of his Age of Reason started. Age of Reason was written in praise of the achievements of the Age of Enlightment, and it was om this book that he was acussed of being an atheist.
After his release he stayed in France until 1802, when he sailed back to America, after an invitation by Thomas Jefferson who had met him before when he was minister in Paris and who admirred him. Back in the United States he learned that he was seen as a great infidel, or simply forgotten for what he had done for America. He continued his critical writings, for instance against the Federalists and on religious superstition.
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706. He was the tenth son of soap maker, Josiah Franklin. Benjamin’s mother was Abiah Folger, the second wife of Josiah. In all, Josiah would father 17 children.
Josiah intended for Benjamin to enter into the clergy. However, Josiah could only afford to send his son to school for one year and clergymen needed years of schooling. But, as young Benjamin loved to read he had him apprenticed to his brother James, who was a printer. After helping James compose pamphlets and set type which was grueling work, 12-year-old Benjamin would sell their products in the streets.
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine (January 29, 1737 [1] (NS February 9, 1737) – June 8, 1809) was an English-American political activist, author, political theorist and revolutionary. As the author of two highly influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution, he inspired the Patriots in 1776 to declare independence from Britain.[2] His ideas reflected Enlightenment era rhetoric of transnational human rights.[3] He has been called “a corsetmaker by trade, a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination”.[4]
Born in Thetford, England, in the county of Norfolk, Paine emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 with the help of Benjamin Franklin and he arrived in time to participate in the American Revolution. His principal contributions were the powerful, widely read pamphlet Common Sense (1776), the all-time best-selling American book that advocated colonial America’s independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and The American Crisis (1776–83), a pro-revolutionary pamphlet series. Common Sense was so influential that John Adams said, “Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain.”[5]
Paine lived in France for most of the 1790s, becoming deeply involved in the French Revolution. He wrote the Rights of Man (1791), in part a defence of the French Revolution against its critics. His attacks on British writer Edmund Burke led to a trial and conviction in absentia in 1792 for the crime of seditious libel. In 1792, despite not being able to speak French, he was elected to the French National Convention. The Girondists regarded him as an ally. Consequently, the Montagnards, especially Robespierre, regarded him as an enemy.
In December 1793, he was arrested and imprisoned in Paris, then released in 1794. He became notorious because of The Age of Reason (1793–94), his book that advocates deism, promotes reason and freethinking, and argues against institutionalized religion in general and Christian doctrine in particular. He also wrote the pamphlet Agrarian Justice (1795), discussing the origins of property, and introduced the concept of a guaranteed minimum income. In 1802, he returned to America where he died on June 8, 1809. Only
The Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America.[1] The Constitution originally consisted of seven Articles. The first three Articles embody the doctrine of the separation of powers, whereby the federal government is divided into three branches: the legislature, consisting of the bicameral Congress; the executive, consisting of the President; and the judiciary, consisting of the Supreme Court and other federal courts. The fourth and sixth Articles frame the doctrine of federalism, describing the relationship between State and State, and between the several States and the federal government. The fifth Article provides the procedure for amending the Constitution. The seventh Article provides the procedure for ratifying the Constitution.
The Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and ratified by conventions in eleven States. It went into effect on March 4, 1789.[2]
Since the Constitution was adopted, it has been amended twenty-seven times. The first ten amendments (along with two others that were not ratified at the time) were proposed by Congress on September 25, 1789, and were ratified by the necessary three-fourths of the States on December 15, 1791.[3] These first ten amendments are known as the Bill of Rights.
The Constitution is interpreted, supplemented, and implemented by a large body of constitutional law. The Constitution of the United States was the first constitution of its kind, and has influenced the constitutions of many other nations.
The origin of political parties in the U.S
This article presents the historical development and role of political parties in United States politics, and outlines more extensively the significant modern political parties. Throughout most of its history, American politics have been dominated by a two-party system. However, the United States Constitution has always been silent on the issue of political parties; at the time it was signed in 1787, there were no parties in the nation. Indeed, no nation in the world had voter-based political parties. The need to win popular support in a republic led to the American invention of political parties in the 1790s.[1] Americans were especially innovative in devising new campaign techniques that linked public opinion with public policy through the party.[2]
Political scientists and historians have divided the development of America’s two-party system into five eras.[3] The modern two-party system consists of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Several third parties also operate in the U.S., and from time to time elect someone to local office.[4] The largest third party since the 1980s is the Libertarian Party.
Since the 1930s, the modern American political spectrum and the usage of left–right politics have basically differed from the rest of the world. For example, among the two major parties, economic liberalism and classical liberalism’s central principle of limited government is generally supported by modern American Conservatism and the right-leaning Republican Party, rather than modern American Liberalism and the left-leaning Democratic Party.[5]
Name some ways the constitution affects our lives today
In our daily lives the Commonwealth Constitution affects
• our taxes;
• the way we are defended;
• how we can marry and divorce;
• what pensions we are due;
• how we can post a letter or make a telephone call;
• what customs and excise we must pay if we are in business; and
• what sort of money we can use.
It even affects the access we have to television and the sorts of programs we can watch.
