1. American Society After the Revolution

2. What is a republic, anyway?
a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law

3. Striving to Achieve Equality
After the Revolution people reject anything aristocratic or related to privilege
The appearance of equality as important as its actual achievement
Elimination of primogeniture
Lowering of property requirements for voting in some states, but not universal manhood suffrage

8. African Americans
Slavery was the greatest contradiction to republicanism
They used the same rhetoric as whites reminding them constantly that they had the same natural rights as whites

11. Benjamin Banneker
A free and educated Black, He challenged the idea that African Americans were intellectually inferior
He was a great scientist and intellectual

12. Slavery: Demands vs. Reality
Some Southerners wanted to manumit their slaves, but the invention of the cotton gin in 1793, and the movement West, offered too much promise of profit
African Americans demanded the same rights and liberties as whites
By 1800 slavery was becoming non-existent in the North
Yet, even in states where they were “free” they were denied the rights to vote and serve on juries and in the army

13. Women during the Revolution
Volunteered
Raised money
Took care of farms and businesses in husband’s absence
Picture: Molly Pritcher – helped on the battlefield

14. Republican Mothers Women began to demand more equality in the home
More women were granted divorce based on cruelty of husbands
Women were charged with raising virtuous, future members of the American republic.
In light of this role, women demanded access to formal education
New schools developed, but they taught women how to be good mothers and wives, not how to be intellectuals and independent thinkers.

15. Articles of Confederation
Written by the various states, this became the form of government in 1781
The states did not want a national government that would limit their liberties
The Articles only provided for a legislative, not a judicial or executive branch
Each state had one vote
2/3’s of states required to pass laws
Amendments required a unanimous vote

16. Powers Under the Articles
Declare war
Make treaties
Manage indian affairs
Maintain an army and navy
Coin and borrow money
Establish a postal service
What is Missing??
The power to Tax
The power to regulate commerce/trade

17. Major Problems Under the Articles
No Money
Inflation (paper money with no hard currency)
Tariff wars between states
Jealousy and quarreling among the states (like they were countries)
Foreign affairs in shambles
Disrespect from other countries
Debtor-Creditor conflicts

18. Shays’ Rebellion,
The Rebellion started with petitions to the government for paper currency, lower taxes, and judicial reform.
People who were unable to pay their debts with hard currency were taken to court and then placed in jail.
Daniel Shays of Massachusetts assembled a group of about 1,500 other veterans from the Revolutionary War to prevent the court from sitting.

19. Shays’ Rebellion,
There were various skirmishes in Mass. From Sept – Feb
Shays’ men were put down – 20 were sentenced to death.
Only 2 hung for their role – the others were pardoned by the governor, John Hancock
Shays' Rebellion is considered the one of the leading causes in the formation of the United States Constitution.

21. "I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of the government.“
Thomas Jefferson, 1787