Victory and Independence
US History/Napp Name: ______
Do Now:
“The first year of war was a desperate one for the largely untrained, disorganized troops led by General George Washington. Fighting a losing battle in defense of New York City (July 1776), Washington’s army barely managed to escape disaster by retreating across the Hudson River to New Jersey. By the end of the first year, British troops, as well as hired troops from Hesse in Germany, occupied two of the colonies’ most important cities, Boston and New York. The American capital, Philadelphia, fell to the British and Hessians the following year.
Desperately needing a victory to keep American hopes alive, Washington launched a surprise attack on Trenton, New Jersey, on Christmas Night, 1776. The Hessian defenders of Trenton were routed [fled]. A second turning point was a decisive American victory at Saratoga, New York, in October 1777, against a British army commanded by General John Burgoyne. Americans showed enough strength in this battle to convince France to give them military and naval assistance. This news came as a welcome relief to Washington and his men, who were suffering from inadequate food and clothing while camped at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania, during the severe winter of 1777-1778.
The last years of the war were fought in the South. Aided by French naval support and reinforced by French troops, Washington’s army forced Britain’s commanding general, Lord Cornwallis, to surrender his army at Yorktown, Virginia (1781). Two years later, in Paris, American and British diplomats signed a peace treaty ending the war. In the treaty, Great Britain recognized the existence of the United States as an independent nation. The western border of the new American nation was to be the Mississippi River.”
~ U.S. History and Government
1-Why was the first year of the Revolution a desperate year for the colonists? ______
2-Why did Washington’s army have to flee to New Jersey? ______
3-Who were the Hessians? ______
4-What important cities did British troops occupy? ______
5-Why did Washington desperately need a victory? ______
6-What happened on Christmas Night (1776)? ______
7-What happened at Saratoga and why did this battle change the war? ______
8-What happened at Yorktown, Virginia (1781)? ______
9-What happened two years after the Battle of Yorktown? ______
The Articles of Confederation
Both during and after the American Revolution, delegates from the 13 original colonies, which later became states, met as a congress to make laws for the United States. This congress drew up the Articles of Confederation in 1777. The states finally ratified the articles in 1781.
The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution for the United States. Government under the Articles soon proved unsatisfactory.
Principles / Strengths / Weaknesses- The U.S. government under the Articles consisted of a one-house lawmaking body, the Congress (or Continental Congress)
- There was neither a separate executive branch to enforce the laws nor a separate system of national courts to interpret them.
- Each state was equally represented in Congress by a delegation that could cast just one vote on each issue.
- The Congress was given the power to declare war, make peace, and conduct foreign affairs.
- Congress under the Articles had two major achievements:
2-Establishing a workable plan (the Northwest Ordinance, 1787) for governing the western lands between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River.
-A major feature of the Northwest Ordinance was the abolition of slavery in these lands.
-However, slavery existed in the southern colonies which depended on slave labor for plantations. / Congress lacked the power to collect taxes directly and relied upon grants of money from the states to pay its expenses.
Laws required approval by a two-thirds majority of the states for passage.
It could not regulate commerce between the states, and the paper currency it issued was nearly worthless.
The Articles could not be changed without the states’ unanimous agreement.
It created a weak central government.
-A violent protest by Massachusetts farmers (Shay’s Rebellion, 1786) against the collection of a state tax alarmed Americans.
1-What did the U.S. government consist of under the Articles of Confederation? ______
2-What did not exist in the U.S. government under the Articles of Confederation? ______
3-How was each state represented in Congress under the Articles of Confederation? ______
4-What power did Congress have under the Articles of Confederation? ______
5-What did Congress successfully conclude under the Articles of Confederation? ______
6-What was the Northwest Ordinance? ______
7-What was a major feature of the Northwest Ordinance? ______
8-Identify two weakness of the Articles of Confederation government. ______
9-What power did Congress lack under the Articles of Confederation? ______
10-What could Congress not due under the Articles of Confederation? ______
11-Describe the central government under the Articles of Confederation. ______
12-What incident particularly alarmed Americans? ______
13-Why did this incident particularly alarm Americans? ______
1. Critics of the Articles of Confederation argued that it(1) imposed unfair taxes on the states
(2) used a draft to raise a national army
(3) provided a strong system of federal courts
(4) placed too much power in the hands of the states
2. The writers of the Constitution corrected an economic weakness under the Articles of
Confederation when they
(1) granted Congress the power to levy and
collect taxes
(2) created an executive branch headed by the president
(3) granted the president the authority to
negotiate treaties
(4) created a two-house legislature
5. Which idea guided the development of the Articles of Confederation?
(1) A strong central government would threaten the rights of the people.
(2) All the people should be granted the right to vote.
(3) Most power should rest with the judicial branch.
(4) Only the central government would have the power to levy taxes.
6. Why did the authors of the Articles of Confederation create a weak central government?
(1) They lacked an understanding of state problems.
(2) They anticipated the threat of foreign invasion.
(3) They relied on advice from royal governors.
(4) They feared the kind of rule experienced under the British monarchy.
7. The main criticism of the Articles of Confederation was that they failed to
(1) Allow for the admission of new states
(2) Limit the powers of the president
(3) Provide adequate powers for the central government
(4) Prevent the development of military rule
8. The main reason the Articles of Confederation were replaced as the basis of the United States government was that they
(1) lacked provision for a national congress
(2) declared that political protests were
unconstitutional
(3) placed too many restrictions on the activities of state governments
(4) failed to give the central government enough power to govern effectively / 3. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established a model for later settlement by providing for the
(1) legal expansion of slavery
(2) creation of national parks
(3) distribution of free land to war veterans
(4) process for territories to become states
4. The primary purpose of the Articles of
Confederation was to
(1) provide revenues for the national government
(2) establish the basic framework of the national government
(3) give the national government the power to regulate interstate commerce
(4) guarantee a bill of rights to protect citizens from the national government
9. One accomplishment of the national government under the Articles of Confederation was the passage of legislation establishing
(1) a central banking system
(2) a process for admitting new states to the
Union
(3) the president’s right to put down rebellions
(4) the ability of Congress to tax the states effectively
10. A major criticism of the Articles of Confederation was that too much power had been given to the
(1) British monarchy
(2) House of Burgesses
(3) state governments
(4) national government
11. The United States Constitution corrected a weakness in the Articles of Confederation by
(1) providing for the abolition of slavery
(2) creating a process for territories to become states
(3) granting Congress sole control over interstate and foreign commerce
(4) banning the possession of guns by citizens during peacetime
12. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 set a
precedent for other western territories by
(1) allowing slavery
(2) including voting rights for women
(3) providing a method for the creation of new states
(4) setting aside land for churches
Adapted from dmshistory8.weebly.com and mrvanduyne.com
Analyze the following images regarding the Articles of Confederation:
1-What could Congress do under the Articles of Confederation? ______
2-What could Congress not do under the Articles of Confederation? ______
3-What does Uncle Sam represent in the images? ______
4-What are the representatives from New York, Delaware, and Virginia opposed to in the image? ______
5-What conflict has arisen between Maryland and Pennsylvania in the image? ______
6-Why must Uncle Sam have more power? ______
7-Understandably, the Americans feared a strong central government after the American Revolution. Why is it understandable that Americans feared a strong central government after the American Revolution? ______
8-Yet what problems arise in a society with a weak central government? ______
9-How can people ensure that the central government is strong enough to function but not strong enough to become a dictatorship? ______
10-Do you remember Montesquieu from your study of World History? Who was Montesquieu and what did he believe? ______
An Excerpt from Thomas Paine’s Common Sense:
Why? Because Thomas Paine believed that government must serve the people and not oppress the people. He encouraged the colonists to rebel against bad government.
So, in honor of Mr. Paine and the principles of good government, an excerpt from Common Sense is presented:
Primary Source:
Thomas Paine Argues for American Independence [McGraw-Hill]
*The following excerpt from Common Sense contains some of the modes of reasoning and the rhetorical strategies that made Paine such a successful propagandist for the cause of American independence.
The Excerpt:
But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families; wherefore the assertion, if true, turns to her reproach; but it happens not to be true, or only partly so, and the phrase parent or mother country hath been jesuitically adopted by the – and his parasites, with the low papistical design of gaining an unfair bias on the credulous weakness of our minds. Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America. This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still…Not one-third of the inhabitants, even of this province [Pennsylvania], are of English descent. Wherefore I reprobate the phrase of parent or mother country applied to England only, as being false, selfish, narrow and ungenerous.
In the publication Common Sense, Thomas Paine argued that(1) foreign nations would reject an independent American government
(2) the British government would be impossible to overthrow
(3) America was dependent on British trade and protection
(4) the American colonies should break away from England
In the publication Common Sense, Thomas Paine argued that the American colonies should
(1) end their political relationship with Great Britain
(2) support the policies of King George III / …I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation, to shew [show], a single advantage that this continent can reap, by being connected with Great Britain. I repeat the challenge, not a single advantage is derived. Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe, and our imported goods must be paid for, buy them where we will…
~ Thomas Paine, 1776
In this statement, Thomas Paine suggested that the American colonies should
(1) negotiate an end to the conflict with England
(2) form an alliance with England
(3) declare independence from England
(4) boycott goods from England