6.3 APUSH
What did the Second Continental Congress urge regarding royal authority?
They urged people to abandon royal authority and establish republican governments.
Name some states that ratified new constitutions after the American Revolution.
Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania.
What was unique about the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776?
It granted all taxpaying men the right to vote and hold office, created a unicameral legislature with full power, had no governor veto, mandated elementary education, and protected citizens from imprisonment for debt.
Why did John Adams criticize the Pennsylvania Constitution?
He thought it was too democratic and wanted to restrict office-holding to men of learning, leisure, and wealth.
What was Adams’ solution to “too much democracy”?
He published Thoughts on Government, promoting a theory of mixed government with three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial, and an elected governor with veto power.
Which states created the most democratic institutions after the Revolution?
Pennsylvania and Vermont.
How did women seek a public voice during this period?
Upper-class women engaged in political debate, expressed opinions in letters, diaries, and conversations, and advocated for reforms.
What did Abigail Adams demand?
Equal rights for married women, including property ownership, contract rights, and the ability to initiate lawsuits.
What was Judith Sargent Murray’s argument in her essay On the Equality of the Sexes (1779)?
Women had equal memory capacities and superior imaginations, but were inferior in judgment due to lack of training.
What changes occurred for women in the 1790s and by 1850?
Massachusetts declared girls had equal schooling rights; by 1850, women and men in New England were equally literate, challenging subordinate legal and political status.
How many Loyalists left America after the Revolutionary War?
About 100,000.
What hardships did Loyalists face after the war?
They suffered severe financial losses.
How did Patriots treat Loyalists after the war?
They demanded Revolutionary justice, seizing Loyalist property.
Who replaced Loyalists at the top of the economic ladder?
Patriot merchants.
What happened to Native American land claims after the war?
They were extinguished quickly.
Why were Native American land claims a problem for Washington’s vision?
They stood as a barrier to the natural advantages he imagined for western expansion.
How did Southern slaveholders respond to calls for emancipation?
They met them with violent objections and defended slavery using revolutionary principles.
How did the Revolution affect yeoman, middling planters, and small entrepreneurs?
It encouraged them to believe that new republican governments would protect their property and ensure widespread access to land.
What did former regulators in western regions demand from new governments?
They demanded that governments be more responsive to their needs.
What did Carter Braxton of Virginia believe about Congress’s powers?
Congress should regulate trade, war, peace, and alliances but not interfere with the internal governance of any colony.
What was the Articles of Confederation?
A written document (1781–1788) defining a government of equal states, with no executive, limited powers, mainly for common defense.
When were the Articles of Confederation approved and ratified?
Approved by Continental Congress in November 1777; formally ratified in 1781.
How did voting work under the Articles of Confederation?
Each state had one vote regardless of size; important laws required 9 of 13 votes; changes required unanimous consent.
What powers were missing in the Articles of Confederation?
No chief executive, no judiciary, could not enforce treaties, and lacked the power to tax states or people.
What was the fiscal situation under the Articles?
By 1780, the central government was nearly bankrupt; Washington called for a national tax system.
Who was Robert Morris and what did he do?
Superintendent of Finance (1781); persuaded Congress to charter the Bank of North America, created a central bureaucracy, and urged a 5% import tax.
How did Congress try to raise revenue besides taxes?
By selling western lands acquired in the Treaty of Paris (1783), which extinguished Native American claims.
What was the Land Ordinance of 1785?
Mandated a rectangular-grid surveying system, set land prices ($1/acre), required large blocks for sale to speculators, smaller parcels to well-to-do farmers.
What did the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 do?
Created territories for Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin; prohibited slavery; funded schools from land sales; set population requirements for governance and statehood.
How did the Northwest Ordinance handle territorial government?
Congress appointed governors and judges until 5,000 free adult men; territorial legislature could be elected; at 60,000 population, territories could draft a republican constitution and apply for statehood.
What was the significance of the Northwest Ordinance regarding slavery?
Banned slavery north of the Ohio River and defined a division between free and slave areas.
What future conflict did western land claims foreshadow?
The enormous territorial claims of the U.S. would soon contribute to war.
What were postwar economic conditions like for Americans?
Shipping was crippled, exports were cut, and British Navigation Acts barred trade with the West Indies, hurting urban artisans and wartime textile firms.
How did well-to-do merchants and landowners profit after the war?
They invested in state bonds and speculated in debt certificates, demanding full redemption from the government.
How did Massachusetts attempt to pay off wartime debts?
Taxes were increased fivefold; 90% from property and poll taxes, 10% from imports, all paid in hard currency; paper currency decreased.
Who led the protests against taxes and property seizures?
Captain Daniel Shays and dissenting farmers in western Massachusetts.
What was Shays’s Rebellion (1786–1787)?
A revolt by farmers and Revolutionary War veterans protesting taxation policies of eastern elites controlling Massachusetts government.
How did Shays’s Rebels symbolize their connection to the Revolution?
They placed pine twigs in their hats like Continental troops.
How was Shays’s Rebellion suppressed?
Governor James Bowdoin equipped wealthy bondholders to form a fighting force that dispersed Shays’s army
What was the Riot Act in Massachusetts?
A law preventing people from gathering in large groups to prevent riots or rebellions.
What did Shays’s Rebellion reveal about postwar America?
Many middling patriot families felt that new American oppressors had replaced British tyrants.
What political impact did Shays’s Rebellion have?
It helped turn Governor Bowdoin out of office and forced local governments to provide economic relief to farmers.