George Washington on IBIack iLOiyalisis, 1783

During the war, General Washington lost a number of slaves to the British when Lord Dunmore sailed up the Potomac River. One of them, an African whom the general had renamed Harry Washington, fought with the loyalists and rose to the rank of corporal in the British army. The end of fighting found him in British-occupied New York City, and his fate rested with Sir Guy Carleton, who was responsible for negotiating the evacuation of the city. In this letter of May 6,

1783, George Washington made it clear to Carleton that the Americans wanted their property returned to them, including runaway slaves.

Sir: In my Letter of the 21st of April, I enclosed to your Excellency a Copy of a Resolution of Congress of the 15th, instructing me in three points, which appeared necessary for carrying into Effect the Terms of the Treaty between G B. and the United States of America; and informed you that such part as rested upon my Decision and which regarded the Release of prisoners, had been determined and was then ordered to be carried into Execution. Upon the other two points, as they respected the Receive possession of the Posts in Occupation of the British Troops and the carrying away any Negroes or other Property of the American Inhabitants, and both being within your Controul, I had the Honor to propose a personal Interview with your Excellency; that the subject might be freely discussed, and that measures might be agreed upon for carrying into Execution those Points of the 7th Article of Treaty, agreable to their true Intent and Spirit. . . .

Respecting the other point of Discussion, in addition to what I mentioned in my Communication of the 21st ulto. I took occasion, in our Conference to inform Your Excellency,

That in Consequence of your Letter of the 14th. of April to R R Livingston Esqr, Congress had been pleased to make a further Reference to me, of that Letter, and had directed me to take such Measures as should be found necessary for carrying into Effect the several Matters mentioned by you therein. In the Course of our Conversation on this point, I was surprized to hear you mention, that an Embarkation had already taken place, in which a large Number of Negroes had been carried away. Whether this Conduct is consonant to, or how far it may be deemed an Infraction of the Treaty, is not for me to decide. I cannot however conceal from your Excellency that my private opinion is, that the measure is totally different from the Letter and Spirit of the Treaty. But waving the Discussing of the point, and leaving its decision to our respective Sovereigns, I find it my Duty to signify my Readiness, in Conjunction with your Excellency, to enter into any Agreements, or take any Measures which may be deemed expedient to prevent the future Carrying away any Negroes or other property of the American can Inhabitants.

What does Washington's demand—to which Carleton refused to agree—suggest about the limits to American claims of liberty and democracy?

Roughly three-quarters of the Africans and African Americans who bore arms during the war fought with the British. How does that complicate Washington's claim, made elsewhere, that the British were "the enemy" of freedom?

How did Harry's actions help to weaken slavery in the country he was about to leave behind?

6| See our interactive eBook for map and primary source activities.

Manumission Freedom from slavery or bondage.

Free black Americans joined with white reformers to mobilize antislavery campaigns in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. In Boston and Philadelphia, slaves petitioned on their own behalf to be “liberated from a state of Bondage, and made Freemen of this Community." Of course, these states were home to few slaves, and the regional economy did not depend on unfree labor. Thus it was easier there to acknowledge the truth in the slave’s cry: “We have no property! We have no country!"

Manumission increased during the 1770s, especially in the North. In 1780, Pennsylvania became the first state to pass an emancipation statute, making manumission a public policy rather than a private matter of conscience. Pennsylvania lawmakers,

However, compromised on a gradual rather than an immediate end to slavery. Only slaves born after the law was enacted were eligible, and they could not expect to receive their freedom until they had served a twenty-eight-year term of indenture. By 1804, all northern states had committed themselves to a slow end to slavery.

Slavery was far more deeply embedded in the South, as a labor system and as a system that regulated race relations. In the Lower South, white Americans ignored the debate over slavery and took immediate steps to replace missing slaves and to restore tight control over work and life on their plantations. But individual manumissions did occur in the Upper South. Free black communities grew in both Maryland and Virginia after the Revolutionary War, and planters openly debated the morality of slavery in a republic and the practical benefits of slave labor. They did not all reach the same conclusions. George Washington freed all his slaves on the death of his wife, but Patrick Henry, who had often stirred his fellow Virginia legislators with his spirited defense of American liberty, justified his decision to continue slavery with blunt honesty. Freeing his slaves, he said, would be inconvenient.

When the colonies declared their independence, many people on both sides doubted they could win the war. The British outnumbered and outgunned the Americans, and their troops were better trained and better equipped. The Americans’ major advantage was logistic: they were fighting a war on familiar terrain. And Washington’s hit-and-run tactics made it impossible for the British to deliver a crushing blow.

The turning point in the war came in 1777 when British general John Burgoyne’s plan to isolate New England from the other rebel colonies failed. Burgoyne was forced to surrender at Saratoga, New York. The surprising American victory led to an alliance between France and the United States and the expansion of the war into an international conflict. The British invaded the South again in 1778, but despite early victories, their campaign ended in disaster. American victory was assured when French and American forces defeated Cornwallis at York-town, Virginia, in October 1781. Fighting continued for a time, but in March 1782, the British Parliament ended

The conflict. The Treaty of Paris was negotiated in 1783, and to the surprise of many European diplomats, the Americans gained important concessions.

Victory led to significant transformations in American society. Individual rights were strengthened for free white men. A republican spirit changed the outlook, if not the condition, of many Americans, as customs that fit a hierarchical society gave way to more egalitarian behavior. The wartime experiences of women such as Deborah Sampson led American intellectuals to reconsider women’s “nature" and their abilities. Although full citizenship was not granted, white women’s capacity for rational thought was acknowledged, and their new role as the educators of their children led to expanded formal education for women. Black Americans also made some gains. Fifty thousand slaves won their freedom during the war, thousands by serving in the Continental Army. Northern states moved to outlaw slavery, but southern slaveholders decided to preserve the institution despite intense debate.

Visit the website for Making America, Brief to access study aids such as Flashcards, Critical Thinking Exercises, and Chapter Quizzes: www. cengage. com/history/berkinbrief5e

CHAPTER OUTLINE

INDIVIDUAL CHOICES: Mercy Otis Warren

Mercy Otis Warren was the sister of one Massachusetts revolutionary and the wife of another. But she was a revolutionary in her own right. She never held elective office or donned a uniform to fight for independence, for these were male roles in the eighteenth century. Instead, she waged her revolution with pen and paper. During the 1770s, she wrote biting satirical plays that mocked royal officials and their supporters. In The Adulateur and The Group, she drew the imperial struggle in stark moral terms as a battle between tyranny and representative government, and between ambitions and virtue. Patriots like John Adams praised her as an effective propagandist for the revolutionary cause.

After the Revolution, however, Warren and Adams became political enemies. He believed the country needed a powerful federal government, but Warren continued to believe in local self-rule. When the Constitution was proposed, Warren, like the document’s other opponents, argued that a central government with taxing powers was the first step toward re-creating the tyranny of the British king.

Warren never changed her mind. In 1805 she published the first history of the Revolution. In it, she argued that “no taxation without representation" applied to any central government, not simply to the government of King George III. Adams never changed his mind either. He believed the Constitution saved the American experiment in representative government. Their disagreement would live on long after these two were gone.

On other issues, however, Warren found an ally in John’s wife, Abigail Adams. Both women urged the nation’s leaders to “remember the ladies" when they spoke of equality and liberty. Warren stressed the need for formal educational opportunities for women. She lived to see young ladies’ academies established in many states, but the first women’s college, Mt. Holyoke, was not founded until 1837, 23 years after her death.

America's First Constitutions

IT MATTERS TODAY: Having a Vision for the Future

The Articles of Confederation

Challenges to the Confederation

Depression and Financial Crisis The Northwest Ordinance Diplomatic Problems A Farmer's Revolt INVESTIGATING AMERICA: Mercy Otis Warren Criticizes Boston Citizens, 1780s

The Revolt of the "Better Sort"

Creating a New Constitution

Revise or Replace?

Drafting an Acceptable Document

Resolving the Conflict of Vision

The Ratification Controversy The Federalist Victory President George Washington

Mercy Otis Warren

Massachusetts playwright, poet, and historian Mercy - - Otis Warren penned some of the most popular and effective propaganda for the American cause. In her plays, she portrayed pro-British officeholders as greedy, power-hungry traitors, while she praised Boston radicals as noble heroes.

Mrs. James Warren (Mercy Otis) about 1763 John Singleton Copley, American, 1738 -1815 126.05 X 100.33 cm (49 5/8 X 39 1/2 in.) Oil on canvas. Bequest of Winslow Warren.© Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Competing Visions Re-emerge

Unity's Achievements Hamilton and Jefferson's Differences

INVESTIGATING AMERICA: Hamilton and Madison Debate Funding and Assumption, 1790 Foreign Affairs and Deepening Divisions

More Domestic Disturbances Jay's Treaty Washington's Farewell

Summary

ChronoLogy

Between 1776 and 1783, Americans fought to create an independent nation. But what kind of nation would that be? Most free white Americans rejected the notion of an American monarchy and embraced the idea of a republic. Yet, a republic could take many forms, and Americans who enjoyed a political voice disagreed on what form was best for the new nation. As a consequence, the transition from independence to nationhood generated heated debate.

The Articles of Confederation, which joined the states in a “league of friendship," was the nation’s first effort at republican government. It guided Americans through the last years of the war and the peace negotiations. It also organized the northwest territories and established the steps toward statehood for a territory. But many political leaders believed this government was too weak to solve America’s economic and social problems or set its course for the future.

In 1787 delegates to a Constitutional Convention produced a new plan of government: the Constitution. It was the result of compromises between the interests of small states and large ones, between southern and northern regional interests, and between those who sought to preserve the sovereignty of the states and those who wished to increase the power of the national government. The Constitution created a stronger national government with the right to regulate interstate and foreign trade, and the power to tax.

Antifederalists, who opposed the new government, argued that it threatened the basic ideals of the Revolution, especially the commitment to local representative government. Mercy Otis Warren and Patrick Henry insisted that state governments were the

Best guarantee that republican values would survive. Others feared the new government would be dominated by the wealthiest citizens. Federalists, who supported the constitution, argued that the new government would save America from economic disaster and domestic unrest. The Federalists carried the day.

1 America's First Constitutions

What were the major elements of the Articles of Confederation?

What problems arose in ratifying the Articles?

The writers of state constitutions were the first to grapple with troubling but fundamental issues—in particular, the definition of citizenship and the extent of political participation. Should women be allowed to vote? Could landless men, servants, free blacks, and apprentices enjoy a political voice? These were exactly the kinds of questions John Adams feared might arise in any discussion of voting rights, or suffrage. They raised the specter of democracy, which he considered a dangerous system.

The state constitutions reflected the variety of opinion on this matter of democracy within a republic. At one end of the spectrum was Pennsylvania, whose constitution abolished all property qualifications and granted the vote to all white males in the state. At the other end were states such as Maryland, whose constitution continued to link the ownership of property to voting. To hold office, a Marylander had to meet even higher standards of wealth than the voters.

Unicameral Having a single legislative house.

Bicameral Having a legislature with two houses.

Although constitution writers in every state believed that the legislature was the primary branch of government, they were divided over other issues. Should there be a separate executive branch? Should the legislature have one house or two? What qualifications should be set for officeholders? Again, Pennsylvania produced the most democratic answer to these questions. Pennsylvania’s constitution concentrated all power to make and to administer law in a one-house, or unicameral, elected assembly. The farmers and artisans who helped draft this state constitution eliminated both the executive office and the upper house of the legislature, remembering that these had been strongholds for the wealthy in colonial times. Pennsylvania also required annual elections of all legislators to ensure that the assembly remained responsive to the people’s will. In contrast, Maryland and the other states divided powers among a governor, or executive branch, and a bicameral legislature, although the legislature enjoyed the broader powers. Members of the upper house in Maryland’s legislature had to meet higher property qualifications than those in the lower house, or assembly. In this manner, political leaders in this state ensured their elite citizens a secure voice in lawmaking.

A state’s particular history often determined the type of constitution it produced. For example, coastal elites and lowland gentry had dominated the colonial governments of New Hampshire, South Carolina, Virginia, and North Carolina. These states sought to correct this injustice by ensuring representation to small farming districts in interior and frontier regions. The memory of high-handed colonial governors and elitist upper houses in the legislature led Massachusetts lawmakers to severely limit the powers of their first state government. The constitutions in all of these states reflected the strong political voice that ordinary citizens had acquired during the Revolution.

Beginning in the 1780s, however, many states revised their constitutions, increasing the power of the government. At the same time, they added safeguards they believed would prevent abuse. The 1780 Massachusetts constitution was the model for many of these revisions. Massachusetts political leaders built in a system of so-called checks and

Having a Vision for the Future

In 1791, Alexander Hamilton outlined his vision for the economic future of the United States. When Hamilton predicted that manufacturing would, and should, overtake agriculture as the basis for the American economy, he knew he would be setting himself against some of the most important people in the nation. Hamilton's Report on Manufactures was not adopted by Congress, but Hamilton's belief in a strong central government with broad economic powers would eventually become central to the economy of the United States.

Presidential candidates often outline their vision for the nation's future in their inaugural addresses. Select one such inaugural address and analyze the vision it offers.

In the nineteenth century, reformers established utopian communities. In modern times, minorities and women have put forward their plans for a more egalitarian society. Select one example of these social visions and analyze its contents and the historical circumstances in which it developed.

Bill of rights A formal statement of essential rights and liberties under law.

John Dickinson Philadelphia lawyer and revolutionary pamphleteer who drafted the Articles of Confederation.

Articles of Confederation The first constitution of the United States; it created a central government with limited powers and was replaced by the Constitution.

Proportional representation

Representation in the legislature based on the population of each state.

Balances among the legislative, judicial, and executive branches to ensure that no branch of the government could grow too powerful or overstep its assigned duties. Over the opposition of many farmers and townspeople, these newer state constitutions also curbed the democratic extension of voting and officeholding privileges. Thus wealth returned as a qualification to govern, although the revised constitutions did not allow the wealthy to tamper with the basic individual rights of citizens. In seven states, these individual rights were safeguarded by a bill of rights guaranteeing freedom of speech, religion, and the press as well as the right to assemble and to petition the government.

There was little popular support for a powerful central gov-The Articles of  ernment in the early years of the Revolution. Instead, as

Confederation  Adams later recalled, Americans wanted “a Confederacy of

States, each of which must have a separate government." When Pennsylvania’s John Dickinson submitted a blueprint for a strong national government to the Continental Congress in July 1776, he watched in wonder and dismay as his colleagues transformed his plan, called Articles of Confederation, into a government that preserved the rights and privileges of the states.

Members of the one-house Continental Congress agreed that the new government should also be a unicameral legislature, without an executive branch or a separate judiciary. Democrats like Tom Paine and Samuel Adams praised the Articles’ concentration of lawmaking, administrative, and judicial powers in the hands of an elected assembly, whereas conservatives like John Adams condemned the new government as “too demo-cratical," lacking “any equilibrium" among the social classes.

Dickinson’s colleagues agreed that the state legislatures, not the voters themselves, should choose the members of the Confederation Congress. But they did not agree on how many members each state should be allotted. The question boiled down to this: Should the states have equal representation or proportional representation based on population? Dickinson argued for a one-state, one-vote rule, but fellow Pennsylvanian Benjamin Franklin insisted that large states such as his own deserved more influence in the new government. This time, Dickinson’s argument carried the day, and the Articles established

That each state, large or small, was entitled to a single vote when the Confederation roll was called. Any amendment required the unanimous consent of the states.

Arguments over financial issues were as fierce as those over representation and sovereignty. How was each state’s share of the federal operating budget to be determined? Dickinson reasoned that a state’s contribution should be based on its population, including inhabitants of every age, sex, and legal condition (free or unfree). This proposal brought southern political leaders to their feet in protest. Because their states had large slave populations, the burden of tax assessment would fall heavily on masters and other free white men. In the end, state assessments for the support of the new federal government were based on the value of land, buildings, and improvements rather than on population. The Continental Congress thus shrewdly avoided any final decision on the larger question of whether slaves were property or people.

Ratification The act of approving or confirming a proposal.

When Congress finally submitted the Articles to the states for their approval in November of 1777, the fate of the western territories proved to be the major stumbling block to ratification. In his draft of the Articles, Dickinson had designated the Northwest Territory as a national domain. The states with colonial charters granting them land from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans protested, each claiming the exclusive right to portions of this vast region bounded by the Ohio River, the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi River (see Map 7. 1). New Jersey, Maryland, and other states whose colonial charters gave them

RHODE ISLAND coNNEcncxrr

Original thirteen states Areas claimed by states

MAP 7.1 Western Land Claims After American Independence

This map indicates the claims made by several of the thirteen original states to land west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the New England region. The states based their claims on the colonial charters that governed them before independence.

No claim to western territory disagreed. Maryland delegates dug in their heels, insisting that citizens of any state ought to have the right to pioneer the northwestern territories. Maryland’s ultimatum—no national domain, no ratification-produced a stalemate until Virginia, which claimed the lion’s share of the Northwest, agreed to cede all claims to Congress. The other states with claims followed suit, and in 1781 Maryland became the thirteenth and final state to ratify the Confederation government. Establishing this first national government had taken three and a half years. (The text of the Articles of Confederation is reprinted in the Documents appendix at the back of this book.)