Part I: The Birth of the United States of America
Before the United States of America, there were 13 English colonies.
In the 17th century, the first wave of colonies was in Virginia, in the South. In 1607, James Town was the first colony to be founded in North America. The settlers/colonists/colonizers (colons) established in America for financial reasons. They used the new world to make profit. They wanted to become rich and then come back home. Basically, the English wanted to do like the Spanish previously. However, they didn’t find gold in Virginia. They made money with tobacco by selling it to Europe. They wanted to maintain their colonies. Escalating demand from Europe and Africa meant high prices and substantial profits. Tobacco cultivation made Virginia prosper and immeasurably altered (changer, modifier) life for everyone. So the aim was economic.
The second wave of colonies was in New England (Massachusetts), in the North. These colonies were established by the Puritans and their congregations became key institutions there. In 1620, Plymouth colony was the first permanent English settlement in New England to be founded. Separatists who thought the Church of England was too corrupt to be salvaged became the first religious dissenters to move to New England. They were looking for religious freedom as well as tolerance for faiths and behaviors they abhorred. Between 1620 and 1644, the Great Migration went on. In September 1620, more than one hundred people, only thirty of them Separatists, sailed from England on the crowded ship called Mayflower. In 1630, over one thousand English men and women moved to Massachusetts, most to Boston. In 1643, nearly twenty thousand more followed. Puritans embraced the doctrine of the covenant, believing God had made a contract with them when they were chosen for their special mission to America. In turn they covenanted with one another to work together. So the aim was religious.
About thirty colonies along the Atlantic wanted their idependance.
- The causes of the Revolution
- A Widening Cultural and Ideological Gap
- A better educated population is more receptive to the Enlightenment (les Lumières)
In 1677, the average American was better educated than the average European. Maybe that was because they wanted to be different to the savages who didn’t know how to read or write.
In New England, it was compulsory to have a school in each town. The presence of many children combined with the Puritan’s stress on reading the Bible led to concern for the education of youth. When the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed on the fourth of July 1776 (the national day), all the adult men could write as opposed to the women elsewhere in Europe. Nevertheless, only the free population went to school, not the slaves. Because they could read, the Americans were really well-informed of what happened in Europe through newspapers. The communication was reinforced by daily ships from Europe. Besides, universities were set very early there so people didn’t have to come back to Europe for their studies. Harvard was founded in 1636, William and Mary in 1693 and Yale in 1701.
As a conclusion, it was easier for the common men to be receptive to the new principles of the Enlightenment. It was very important for them because it finally influenced the Independence.
- An increasingly different social fabric (tissu)
The society was differently organized in America than in Europe. High birth (être bien né) was very important in the European society, much less in America. For example, Queen Elizabeth the first of England had achieved her power by birthright. It didn’t mean that all the Americans were equal because only some of them (the free people) were really wealthy/well-off/prosperous. The poorest were even more miserable there. Moreover, there were slaves in America, not in Europe. From a distance, America seemed to offer opportunities for advancement unavailable in England. Servants who fulfilled their indenture (contrat bilateral/synallagmatique) earned freedom dues consisting of clothes, tools, livestock (cheptel, bétail), casks of corn and tobacco, and sometimes land. Yet servants typically worked 6 days a week, 10 to 14 hours a day, in sweltering (étouffant) climates. Masters could discipline or sell them, and slaves faced severe penalties for running away. Laws did offer some protection. Masters were to supply them with sufficient food, clothing, and shelter and not beat them excessively. Cruelly treated servants could seek court assistance.
Only a minority of Americans worked for others (6 and 7%). Lots of them had their own business and their own land. They worked for themselves, grew their food and were more independent. That’s why the Americans are so used to individual freedom.
- Diverging conceptions of representative governments
The Americans believed that representation should be local, whereas representation was national in England. An American had to be represented in a local assembly called the house. In 1619, Virginia House of Burgesses was the first representative assembly in the English colonies to be established.
The Americans were opposed to be taxed by the English Parliament. “No taxation without representation” was their motto. According to them, the different interests should be taken into account.
- Opposite views of America’s place within the British Empire
The Americans wanted to be part of the British Empire only if it was decentralized. They wanted to have some autonomy and didn’t want to be ruled by London.
The King (James I then Charles I) wanted to centralize the Empire and didn’t want the colonies to extend. He was afraid that the colonies become too powerful. Basically, England wanted to make profit with the colonies and use them in the interest of London.
Besides, in 1608 the Quebec was founded by the French. Therefore, they had an Empire in America (Canada). During the war between the French and the English, the Americans helped the latter in order to spread their territory beyond the Mississippi. So the French were an obstacle.
- A series of intolerable acts
- Greenville’s search for revenue after the French and Indian War (1756-1763), also called Seven Years War
- In April 1764:
The Sugar Act imposed new duties on colonial imports of sugar, indigo, coffee, wine and textiles, to help defray the expenses (rembourser les frais) for the protection of the new American territories.
The Currency Act prohibited all the colonies from issuing (mettre en circulation) paper money. It was a trick (une astuce) used by colonies to alleviate (soulager, atténuer, réduire) their unfavorable balance of trade and shortage of species.
- In February 1765:
The Stamp Act imposed tax on printed items such as legal documents, newspapers, playing cards etc.), provided (stipuler) that the tax must be paid for in sterlings, and allowed admiralty courts (devoid of juries) to try violators.
- In May 1765:
The Quartering Act stated that any colony in which troops were stationed had to provide living quarters and other necessities of life.
Colonial reactions:
The Americans (who were still British citizens) thought that Greenville’s measures deprived them of their English rights by taxing them without representation, by allowing trials without juries (admiralty courts), by sending standing armies.
First, they denied the British Parliament the right to tax them. According to them, only their local Assembly could.
- In November 1765:
Patrick Henry, a lawyer from Virginia, presented a resolution not to enforce (appliquer, respecter) the Stamp Act, and other colonies followed Virginia.
- In June 1765:
Massachusetts proposed a general intercolonial meeting to discuss a concerted opposition to Parliamentary taxes.
- In summer 1765:
Most stamp distributors were threatened and resigned.
- In October 1765:
The so-called Stamp Act Congress met in New York.
- In March 1766:
The Stamp Act was repealed.
The colonies followed Locke’s writings about the natural right of a people to alter their government if it exceeded its authority. They united for the first time and discovered they did not share the same idea of representation with England (virtual vs. actual representation). Furthermore, American leaders such as James Otis, Samual Adams, John Adams and Patrick Henry became popular.
- Townshend Acts
Charles Townshend, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, took up the search for revenues.
- In 1765:
Another act imposed duties on colonial imports of lead (plomb), paint, paper, glass and tea, and reorganized customs service in America, sending special commissioners from England and providing special protection for them.
- In September 1768:
Two regiments of troops were sent to Boston.
- In March 1770:
“Boston Massacre”: British troops fired upon a threatening mob (foule) and killed 5 colonists.
- In April 1770:
The Townshend duties were repealed.
Colonial Reactions:
Previous arguments were repeated again.
- In 1767:
John Dickinson, a young lawyer from Philadelphia, wrote articles entitled “Letters from a Farmer.” They were printed in all colonial newspapers. More generally, newspapers gave wide publicity to those who denounced “Parliamentary tyranny.”
- In 1772:
Samuel Adams created a “Committee of Correspondence” to formulate statements of American rights and grievances (griefs, sujets de plaintes). These intercolonial rights and grievances would be formulated the following year.
- The “Intolerable Acts”
- In May 1773:
The Tea Act authorized the English East India Company to directly distribute tea in America, thus suppressing the role of American merchants.
- In March 1774:
The Massachusetts Government Act stated that the governor’s council had to be appointed by the king rather than by the local legislature. It also restricted town meetings to once a year.
- In April 1774:
The Administration of Justice Act provided that any government or customs officer indicted for (accusé de, poursuivi pour) murder could be tried in England rather than by local juries.
A new Quartering Act authorized the quartering of troops within a town.
General Gage, commander in chief of all North American troops, was sent to act as a governor in Massachusetts.
The Quebec Act gave the province a permanent government devoid of (dépourvu de) any representative assembly and annexed to it the whole region west of the Appalachians and north of the Ohio.
Colonial Reactions:
Previous arguments were repeated again.
- In 1773:
“Boston Tea Party” protested against the Tea Act.
- In summer 1774:
Two important pamphlets were written: James Wilson’s “Consideration on the Authority of the British Parliament” and Thomas Jefferson’s “A Summary View of the Rights of British America.”
- In September 1774:
The Committees of Correspondence arranged for an intercolonial Congress to meet. The 55 delegates to the First Continental Congress convened at Philadelphia, and adopted the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, which denied Parliament any authority in the colonies but agreed to submit to its acts for regulation of trade.
- In April 1775:
General Gage sent 7,000 men to Concord to seize a supply of arms: the “battle of Lexington and Concord” (73 British killed) followed by the “Boston siege.”
- In June 1775:
British troops tried to break the siege, they succeeded but 226 British soldiers were killed.
- In May 1775:
Second Continental Congress assembled at Philadelphia, assumed responsibility for the provincial militia besieging Boston, and ordered its transformation into a “Continental Army” under the leadership of General George Washington (who took command on July 3). The Second Continental Congress also issued paper money to support the troops and appointed a committee to negotiate with foreign countries. Yet, the delegates were reluctant to establish an independent nation.
- In January 1776:
As the English King, George III, did not answer the petition asking him to promote the repeal of the measures, Tom Paine’s pamphlet “Common Sense” urged Americans to stand against monarchy and establish independent republics. Within 6 months, sentiment in favor of independence grew.
- In March 1776:
South Carolina was the first among the former colonies to write/to draft a republican Constitution.
- On the fourth of July 1776:
As rumors spread that England was offering France and Spain to participation North America to forestall (devancer, anticiper, prévenir) foreign assistance to the colonies, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence written/drafted by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin (building on a resolution previously introduced by Richard Lee on the seventh of June).
- Independence and its ordeals (épreuves)
On the fourth of July 1776, the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed. It took the Americans seven years to win the war. Thomas Jefferson declared in this important text: “all men are created equal.”
In 1783, the Peace Treaty was signed in Paris. France had played a role on the seas against England which even so (pourtant) was a naval power. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and a few American pioneers were living in Paris at that time in order to prepare an alliance with the French. The former colonies have already begun to set their institutions.
- The Confederation Era (1777-1787)
- From colonies to Republics
After the Independence, the former colonies became republics but not immediately and not all at the same time. They wanted to be somewhat (un peu) united in order to fight the British. They believed it was possible to create stable and powerful republics in America. They had a sense of mission because they wanted to save the republicanism and make Northern America a kind of refuge for the Republicans in the world. They had access to land which were available in America, not in Europe.
Republicanism was the idea that governments had to be based on the consent of the people.
Three definitions of republicanism emerged in the new United States of America:
- The first (informed by ancient history and political theory) was chiefly held by the educated elite. The histories of popular governments in Greece and Rome suggested that republics could succeed only if they were small and homogeneous. According to classical republican theory, unless (à moins que) the citizens were virtuous men willing to forgo personal profit for the best interests of the nation, the government would collapse. In return for sacrifices, a republic offered equality of opportunity. Rank would be based on merit rather than inherited wealth and status. Society would be governed by members of a “natural aristocracy,” men whose talent elevated them from possibly humble beginnings to positions of power.
- The second (advanced by other elites and some skilled craftsmen) drew on economic theory. Instead of perceiving the nation as composed of people nobly sacrificing for the common good, this version of republicanism followed Scottish theorist Adam Smith in emphasizing individuals’ pursuit of national self-interest. When republican men sought to improve their own economic and social circumstances, the nation would benefit. Republican virtue would be achieved through the pursuit of private interests, rather than through subordination to communal ideals.
- The third was less influential but more egalitarian than the others. Men who advanced this version, among them Thomas Paine, called for widening men’s political participation. They wanted government to respond directly to the needs of ordinary folk, rejecting the “lesser sort” should defer to their “betters.” They were democrats in the modern sense. For them, the untutored wisdom of the people embodied republican virtue.
Republics were desirable but fragile government forms. They all were different concerning economies, religious traditions, ethnic compositions and polities.
When the Americans left the British Empire, they abandoned the idea that the best system of government balanced participation by the king, the nobility and the people. They embraced the idea that people was sovereign. During and after the war, they wondered:
- How to ensure political stability
- How to foster (entretenir, nourrir) consensus
- How to create and sustain a virtuous republic
The most important task facing Americans was constructing a unified national government. The Revolutionary War brought them together. They created a new nationalistic spirit that replaced loyalties to state and region.
However, the America’s first national government proved weak and decentralized under the Articles of Confederation.
Most of the colonies had assemblies which were finally used to write/draft the Constitution. At that time, there wasn’t any confederation because the political leaders believed republicanism (traditional and classical, from Greece and Rome) could only be successful on a small territory. That’s why only 13 republics were founded. The most important institution was the legislative power. The Americans didn’t want to have an executive power. The people elected their legislative representatives. A great part of the European countries were monarchies (more powerful than republics in Switzerland for example).
- From republics to confederation
Once the 13 republics were created, the political leaders thought it was necessary for them to unite against the British. Indeed, they were all waging a war against the powerful state of England.
The Continental Congress was created before the Declaration of the Independence. It made the decision to send delegations to France. It drafted the Articles of Confederation (1777) which were submitted to the 13 republics. The latter had to ratify them.
Each republic had its own assembly. The Continental Congress was over it. The legislative branch was the most important.
In May 1776, the Continental Congress directed states to devise (imaginer, concevoir) new republican governments. At the state level, the political leaders had trouble defining a constitution and concluded that legislative bodies shouldn’t write/draft their constitutions. They elected conventions exclusively to write/draft constitutions. States sought authorization from the people (the theoretical sovereign in a republic) before establishing new governments. After preparing new constitutions, delegates submitted them to voters for ratification.
Framers (encadreurs) of state constitutions concerned themselves with outlining (tracer le contour de) the distribution of and limitations on government power. If authority wasn’t confined within reasonable limits, states might become tyrannical, as England previously.
Under colonial charters, the Americans learned to fear the power of the governor and to see the legislature as their defender.
The First State Constitutions:
They provided for the governor to be elected annually; limited the number of terms he could serve; gave him little independent authority.
They expanded the legislature’s power.
They redrew electoral districts to reflect population patterns.
They included limitations on government authority to protect the inalienable rights of citizens. They guaranteed freedom of the press, rights to fair trials, protection against general search warrants (mandats de perquisition) and freedom of religion with a few restrictions.
They first retained a two-house structure. The members of the upper house had longer terms and met higher property-holding standards than the members of the lower house.
THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION: 1777
The national government was a unicameral (one-house) legislature in which each state had one vote. Its powers included:
- Foreign relations
- Mediating interstate disputes
- Controlling maritime affairs
- Regulating Indian trade
- Valuing state and national coinage (monnaie, système monétaire)
The Articles of Confederation required unanimous consent of state legislatures for ratification or amendment.
To complement: appliquer
To implement: mettre en oeuvre, exécuter
The Confederacy: les Etats fédérés
To apportion: répartir, partager
In 1781, all the Republics ratified the articles. All the 13 colonies had entered into the Confederacy.
Then, in 1783, after a negociation with France, there is no executive branch to impement deisions.
- From confederation to humiliation
The Confederation Congress was an important institution. However, the Articles of Confederation denied the power to establish a national commercial policy. Foreign trade exposed the new government’s weaknesses.
The British refused to leave their forts (forts militaires) after the war ended. There were still troops in North America. It was very difficult for the Americans to be respected and to negotiate commercial treaties. After the war, Great Britain, France and Spain restricted American trade with their colonies. The Confederation Congress watched helplessly as the British goods flooded the United States of America while the American produce couldn’t be sold in the British West Indies, once its prime market.
Besides, Spain closed the Mississippi River to the American navigation in 1784. The farmers couldn’t use it anymore to sell their goods. The Americans were obliged to ask for Spanish citizenship.
In 1783, Kentucky was the first state created behind the Apalachees.
Moreover, the American vessels were particularly attacked by pirates in the Mediterranean sea. Some passengers were then sold as slaves.
After that, the Americans were eager (empressés, impatients) to strengthen unification and gave more power to the Confederation Congress.
- The creation of a federation
Traditional republicanism advocated that a too strong executive power would threaten individual freedom but the Americans’ mind changed. An event played a great role in this evolution: Daniel Shays’ rebellion. This western farmer thought there were too many taxes. During the winter 1786, there was a riot in Massachusetts through which a majority of Americans saw/viewed a threat to law and order. The rebellion confirmed the need for a central and stronger federal government. In May 1787, 55 men representing every state assembled in Philadelphia (the political capital). George Washington was elected presiding officer. James Madison deserved the title Father of the Constitution. Most delegates to the Constitutional Convention were men of property: merchants, planters, physicians, generals, governors and especially lawyers. They wanted to:
- give the national government new authority over taxation and foreign commerce
- advance their states’ interests
The consequence of this convention was the Federal Constitution that didn’t change until nowadays.
There were two main plans to revise the Confederation:
- William Patterson’s plan:
It was in favour of a simple revision of the Constitution and of the existing system. It just gave more power to the Confederation Congress. It proposed a loose (lâche) union between the states and the national government’s polity (régime, administration politique/constitution politique/Etat).
- James Madison’s plan:
It was more ambitious and created the federal system as it exists today.
James Madison revealed his guiding belief that government had to be constructed so that it couldn’t become tyrannical or fall under the influence of a particular faction. Rejecting the notion that republics had to be small, he asserted that a large and diverse republic was preferable. Because the nation would include many factions, no one of them could control the government. Political stability would result from compromises among contending parties.
James Madison’s plan prevailed.
THE ARTICLES OF FEDERATION: 1787
The Congress should represent the people and not only the states. The national government should be a bicameral (2-house) legislature.
The legislative branch: There were a lower house (the House of Representatives) which represented the population and an upper house (the Senate) which represented the State. The people should be directly represented in at least one house. The lower branch of the Congress should be elected by the people. The upper branch of the Congress should be chosen by state legislatures. It was a clever means to fight against the sovereignty of the states. This new organization would check and balance one another (jouer le role de frein et contre pouvoir/courant).
There was a principle of representation proportional to population in the House of Representatives. However, small states wanted equal representation in the Senate which would give them relatively more power at the national level. Large states supported a proportional plan which would give them more votes in the Senate. There finally was a compromise which recommended equal representation in the Senate with a proviso (stipulation, condition) that all appropriation (appropriation, crédit budgétaires) bills originate in the House of Representatives. Delegates granted the Congress the “necessary and proper” authority to carry them out. The convention implied but didn’t explicitly authorize a national judicial veto of state laws.
The executive branch: There was a president at its head. It was a major change. The convention placed primary responsibility for foreign affairs with a new official, the president, who was designated commander-in-chief of the armed forces. With the Senate’s consent, the president could appoint judges and other federal officers. To select the president, delegates established the electoral college whose members would be chosen in each state by legislatures or voters. The chief executive would serve for four years but be eligible for reelection.
The judicial branch: There was a Supreme Court at its head.
The key to the Constitution was the distribution of political authority, that is, the separation of powers among legislative, executive and judicial branches of the national government and the division of powers between states and nation (called federalism). The president’s treaties and major appointments required the Senate’s consent. Congress could impeach the president and federal judges, but courts would have the final say on interpreting the Constitution.
In 1789, a federation and a first government were created (January 1789). From December 1787 to May 1790, the states ratified the Articles of Federation.
In April 1789, The first president George Washington (a military hero) was elected. His inauguration was a great and major event. He became the symbol of unity. He was loved because he was a model of what the USA used to be.
There weren’t defined parties in the United States of America. Debate frequently spilled into the streets.
- From National Unity to Political Dissent
Georges Washington didn’t like parties. He thought that they divided the nation. The individuals saw of what USA should be and created their parties in Georges Washington.
- Diverging interpretations of the Constitution
The Federalists were the Constitution’s supporters. They envisioned a virtuous, self-sacrificing republic led by a manly aristocracy of talent. They argued that when good men drawn from the elite were in charge, the carefully structured government would prevent tyranny. A republic could be large if the government’s design kept any one group from controlling it. The separation of powers among legislative, executive and judicial branches and the division of powers between states and nation would accomplish that.
The Antifederalists recognized the need for a national source of revenue. They feared a too-powerful central government. They saw the states as the chief protectors of individual rights. They thought weakening the states could bring the onset (début, commencement) of arbitrary power and potential abuses of government authority. They stressed the need for constant popular vigilance to avert oppression.
There was an opposition in the Congress/the Washington Cabinet (le cabinet ministériel) between those who supported Alexander Hamilton (the Federalists) and those who supported Thomas Jefferson (the Republicans). To some extends, this antagonism was quite surprising because both of them were for the creation of the federation. The Federalists and the Republicans exposed their different point of view in the newspapers.
Alexander Hamilton was the secretary of Treasury (ministre des finances) and Thomas Jefferson was the secretary of State (ministre des affaires étrangères).
- Disagreement over national and foreign policies
There was a polarization of the society between the Americans who were in favour of the French Revolution and the Americans who were opposed to the French Revolution.
Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were opposed concerning:
- The industrialization
Alexander Hamilton wanted to industrialize the United States of America and create a federal banking system. He recommended the chartering of a national bank modeled on the Bank of England. He argued that the Congress could choose any means not specifically prohibited by the Constitution to achieve a constitutional end. He reasoned if the end was constitutional and the means wasn’t unconstitutional, then the means was constitutional. He formulated a broad-constructionist view of the Constitution.
Thomas Jefferson was against the creation of a federal banking system. He referred to Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution which gave the Congress the power “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper.” According to him, the key word was “necessary”. The Congress could do what was needed but not what was merely desirable. He formulated a strict-constructionist interpretation of the Constitution.
- The expansion
Alexander Hamilton wasn’t an expansionist. According to him, if the United States of America wanted to become industrialized, the population had to be concentrated and not scattered (éparpillée).
Thomas Jefferson was an expansionist. According to him, the new immigrants would need more lands.
Foreign policy was really important and the United States of America had to take side. Through the war between the English and the French, the Americans supported the latter who were their ally. They had always protected each other. Alexander Hamilton disliked this idea and didn’t want to help them.
- The rise of a “Republican interest”
There was an opposition in the Congress between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Thomas Jefferson’s supporters found a “Republican interest.” They thought that Thomas Jefferson was a genuine (authentique, véritable) Republican.
Later on, the Republican Party was created in 1854 and gathered all the former Thomas Jefferson’s supporters.
Alexander Hamilton’s supporters were the Federalists.
Later on, the Federalist Party was created under the first term of Washington from 1789 to 1793.
Numerous newspapers were created and supported the “Republican interest.”