Revolutionary Changes after 1776

1. Section 4-10 New Political Ideas(cont.) • In 1786 Virginian Governor Thomas Jefferson asked Congress to pass the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. • It declared that Virginia no longer had an official church and the state could no longer collect taxes for the church. (pages 100–102) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

2. Section 4-11 New Political Ideas(cont.) What ideas did John Adams promote for the country’s new republican government? Adams argued that government needed checks and balances to stop any group from getting too strong and taking away minority rights. Adams wanted a mixed government with a separation of powers with separate executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Adams said that the legislature should have two houses. (pages 100–102) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.

3. Section 4-12 The Revolution Changes Society • Although African Americans and women had helped with the Revolutionary War effort, greater equality and liberty after the war applied mostly to white men. (pages 102–103)

4. Section 4-13 The Revolution Changes Society (cont.) • Women played an important role in the Revolutionary War at home and in battle.  • Some women ran the family farm during the war.  • Others traveled with the army to cook, wash, and nurse the wounded.  • Molly Pitcher carried water to Patriot gunners during the Battle of Monmouth. • Margaret Corbin accompanied her husband to battle, and after his death she took over his place at the cannon and held the position until the battle ended. (pages 102–103) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

5. Section 4-14 The Revolution Changes Society (cont.) • After the Revolution, women made some advances.  • They could more easily obtain a divorce.  • They also gained greater access to education. (pages 102–103) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

6. Section 4-15 The Revolution Changes Society (cont.) • Thousands of enslaved African Americans obtained their freedom during and after the war.  • Many American leaders felt that enslaving people conflicted with the new views on liberty and equality.  • Southern leaders were uninterestedin ending slavery because they relied heavily on enslaved labor to sustain their agricultural economy. (pages 102–103) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

7. Section 4-16 The Revolution Changes Society (cont.) • Virginia was the only Southern state to take steps to end slavery.  • In 1782 the state passed a law encouraging the voluntary freeing of enslaved persons, especially those who had fought in the Revolution. (pages 102–103) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

8. Section 4-17 The Revolution Changes Society (cont.) • After the war, Loyalists were often shunned by their friends and occasionally had their property seized by state governments.  • Many fled to England, the British West Indies, or Canada. (pages 102–103) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

9. Section 4-18 The Revolution Changes Society (cont.) • The Revolution created nationalist feelings because all Americans were fighting a common enemy.  • This feeling gave rise to many patriotic symbols and American folklore. (pages 102–103) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

10. The Achievements of theConfederation • In November 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. • This was a plan for a loose union of the states under Congress. (pages 103–105) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

11. The Achievements of theConfederation(cont.) • The Articles of Confederation set up a weak central government.  • The Confederation Congress met just once a year.  • It had the power to declare war, raise armies, and sign treaties.  • It, however, did not have the power to impose taxes or regulate trade. (pages 103–105) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

12. Section 4-23 The Achievements of theConfederation(cont.) • The only way the Confederation Congress had to raise money to pay its debts wereto sell its land west of the Appalachian Mountains.  • Congress arranged this land into townships to make it easier to divide, sell, and govern.  • It set up the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 as a basis for governing much of this territory. (pages 103–105) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

13. Section 4-24 The Achievements of theConfederation(cont.) • The ordinance created a new territory north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River.  • When the population of the territory reached 60,000, it could apply to become a state.  • The ordinance guaranteed certain rights to the people living there, andit banned slavery. (pages 103–105) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

14. Section 4-25 The Achievements of theConfederation(cont.) • The Confederation Congress negotiated trade treaties with European countries.  • By 1790 the trade of the United States was greater than the trade of the American colonies before the Revolution. (pages 103–105) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

15. Section 4-26 The Achievements of theConfederation(cont.) Why was the Northwest Ordinance set up? The Northwest Ordinance was set up to divide, sell, and govern the territory north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River. (pages 103–105) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.

16. Section 4-27 Weaknesses of the Congress • After the Revolutionary War, British merchants flooded American markets with inexpensive British goods.  • This drove many American artisans and manufacturers out of business.  • American states set up customs posts on their borders and levied taxes on other states’ goods to raise money.  • The inability of the Confederation Congress to regulate commerce threatened the union of the states. (pages 105–106) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

17. Weaknesses of the Congress (cont.) • The Confederation Congress had other problems with foreign policy.  • Since the federal government had no powers over the states, it could not force the states to pay their debts to Britain or to return property to Loyalists as stated in the Treaty of Paris.  • Also, the Congress had no way to raise money to pay these debts.  • So the British retaliated by refusing to evacuate American soil as promised in the treaty. (pages 105–106) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

18. Weaknesses of the Congress (cont.) • Also, the limited powers of the Confederation Congress prevented it from working out a diplomatic solution with Spain when that country stopped Americans from depositing their goods in Spanish territory at the mouth of the Mississippi River. (pages 105–106)

19. Weaknesses of the Congress (cont.) • The end of the Revolutionary War and the slowdown of economic activity with Britain caused a severe recession in the United States.  • States did not have the gold and silver to back paper money, but many of them issued it anyway.  • The paper money greatly declined in value. (pages 105–106) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

20. Weaknesses of the Congress (cont.) • Shays’s Rebellion broke out in Massachusetts in 1786.  • It started when the government of Massachusetts decided to raise taxes to pay off its debt instead of issuing paper money.  • The taxes were worst for farmers, especially those in the western part of the state.  • Those who could not pay their taxes and other debts lost their farms. (pages 105–106) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

21. Weaknesses of the Congress (cont.) • So farmers in western Massachusetts rebelled by shutting down county courthouses.  • The rebellion, led by Daniel Shays, included about 1,200 followers.  • They went to a state arsenal to get weapons.  • A government militia defended the arsenal against the rebels. (pages 105–106) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

22. Weaknesses of the Congress (cont.) • Many Americans began to see the risk of having a weak central government.  • They argued for a stronger central government. (pages 105–106) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the information.

23. Weaknesses of the Congress (cont.) What weaknesses of the Confederation Congress led to an argument for a stronger United States government? (pages 105–106) Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.

24. Weaknesses of the Congress (cont.) The Confederation Congress could not regulate commerce, so the states set up customs posts on their borders and levied taxes on other states’ goods to raise money. The federal government had no powers over the states, so it could not force the states to pay their debts to Britain or to return property to Loyalists as stated in the Treaty of Paris. Congress had no way to raise money to pay these debts. The limited powers of the Confederation Congress prevented it from working out a diplomatic solution with Spain. (pages 105–106)

25. Checking for Understanding Define Match the terms on the right with their definitions on the left. C __ 1. an economic slowdown __ 2. form of government in which power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote __ 3. formal approval __ 4. the loss of value of money A. republic B. ratification C. recession D. inflation A B D Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answers. Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answers.

26. Checking for Understanding (cont.) Summarize the conditions that led to Shays’s Rebellion. Raising taxes on poor farmers forcing farm foreclosures led to Shays’s Rebellion. Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.

27. Reviewing Themes Geography and History How did the Confederation Congress provide for the division, sale, and eventual statehood of western lands? Land was divided into townships, sections, and parcels, then sold at auction. Rights to self-government grew with the population. They could apply for statehood with 60,000 residents. Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.

28. Critical Thinking Analyzing How did fear of tyranny shape new state constitutions andthe Articles of Confederation? New state constitutions and the Articles of Confederation provided many individual freedoms to prevent tyranny. Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.

29. Close Describe the major changes in American society following the War for Independence.