Fasttrack to America's Past
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Background for the discussion questions  

1. Describe how each of these...

   The Tea Act:  This law passed by Parliament (1773) was mainly intended to help a British trading company - The East India Company - that had fallen into financial difficulties.  It gave the company financial advantages in trading tea to the colonies.  But the tea carried a British small tax, and the law would have hurt existing tea merchants in the colonies.  To many colonists, it was just one more example of England forcing laws, and taxes, on the colonies without the colonists' own consent.  The Boston Tea Party was a direct result of the law. 
   The Boston Tea Party:  Colonists in Boston and many other cities were determined to resist the Tea Act.  Bostonians raided the tea ships, and dumped the cargo of tea into the harbor.  This action strengthened resistance to England and led to the Intolerable Acts.
   The Intolerable Acts:  Among other things, these British laws (1774) ordered Boston Harbor closed until the colonists paid for the tea destroyed in the Boston Tea Party.  The other colonies immediately began sending supplies to the port city to help its residents.  This action tended to unite the 13 colonies in a common cause.  The First Continental Congress was held in Philadelphia to plan a response and promote the formation of citizen militia units for defense.
   The British march to Lexington and Concord:  When the British stationed in Boston learned that colonists were starting to stockpile weapons and gunpowder in Concord, they decided things were getting out of hand.  In the early spring of 1775 they marched toward Concord, meeting some armed resistance along the way at Lexington.  More fighting occurred at Concord.  Colonial minutemen rallied, and forced the British to retreat to Boston.  The fact that blood was spilled tended to harden the views of people on both sides of the question of resistance to British rule.
   The Second Continental Congress:  Meeting in Philadelphia in 1775, this Congress attempted to reach a compromise with King George III.  But frustration with the situation led many more Americans to accept the arguments for independence laid out in Thomas Paine's book, Common Sense, published early in 1776.  In July, delegates to the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.

2.  How did the geographic pattern...

   The British held some important advantages as the Revolution began, but these advantages disappeared the further inland the fighting spread.  For example, the British were far better equipped, and had a powerful navy.  As a result, they could take and control cities on the coast or easily accessible by water.  New York City and Philadelphia are good examples. 
   But further inland, the advantage shifted toward the colonists.  They knew the land well, were fighting to defend their own territory.  Hit-and-run tactics learned by the colonists from the Indians were very effective.  The British, however, required long lines of supplies to operate in the interior.  Important American victories like Saratoga and Vincennes came in areas away from the coasts.
   The victory at Yorktown (1781) came because the American alliance with France shifted the balance of advantages to the American side.  The French navy prevented British ships from reaching the Yorktown peninsula to help Gen. Cornwallis.  The French also supplied soldiers and cannons that combined with the American army to force Cornwallis to surrender.

3.  How revolutionary was...

   The American Revolution ranks among the most significant events in the history of the human race.  It was launched with a document declaring that all men are created, and that all men possess certain basic human rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  The Revolution established a political system that moved beyond the pattern of kings and classes of privileged nobility. 
   The Revolution also helped bring about a much broader tolerance for people of varied religious views.  States began declaring freedom of religion as a basic right of citizens.  In addition, voices that had spoken against slavery began merging into a much larger movement to abolish slavery.  Some states ended slavery during and just after the Revolution as a direct result.
   But the Revolution left many aspects of American life relatively unchanged.  Unlike many later revolutions around the world, it did not attack the basic economic system or the idea of private property.  For many people living on farms and in towns, day to day life after the Revolution was not very different than it was before.

4.  What were the main problems...

   The biggest problem that led to the decision to write the Constitution had to do with way the states were organized into the United States.  The document that spelled out the design of the government, called the Articles of Confederation, created a very weak national government.  Individual states were only loosely bound together under this system. 
   Soon after the Revolution, the mistake of the design rapidly became apparent.  Could states places taxes on products entering from another state?  Could they make treaties on their own with foreign countries?  Could they issue their own currency?  These were issues that threatened to leave the United States very disunited.
   The Convention at Philadelphia in 1787 was called to attempt to rewrite the Articles of Confederation.  The delegates decided instead to start over, and create an entirely new document, and a new design for American government.

5.  Describe several of the ways...

   The delegates to the Philadelphia Convention realized they needed to create a stronger system of government.  Their experience with King George and the British Parliament, however, taught them that placing too much power in distant hands was dangerous to liberty. 
   The Americans were aware of one very positive lesson from the British government.  It had, over the centuries, developed a system that balanced political power among different branches of the government. 
   The Constitution written in Philadelphia reflects these points.  The delegates did create a stronger national government, but they left much power at the state level, close to the citizens.  This split-layer system is called federalism, and has been an important safeguard to American  liberties. 
   At the national level, the Constitution created a government system with three branches:  the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial.  Each of these branches has certain specified powers, including certain "checks and balances" over the other branches.  For example, a law passed by Congress can be vetoed by the President.

6.  Describe the differences in...

   Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton had very different visions for the future of the United States, and very different ideas about the role of citizens in the American government. 
   Thomas Jefferson wanted America to remain a land of farmers and tradesmen whose dedication to liberty would preserve the ideals of the Revolution.  He had great faith in the ability of ordinary people to to govern themselves, aided by an open discussion of issues in a free press.  He feared that if America developed industry and commerce on a large scale like Great Britain, the democratic spirit might be impossible to maintain.
   Alexander Hamilton wanted America to develop into a commercial and manufacturing nation like Great Britain.  He supported the Revolution, but did not entirely embrace its democratic spirit.  His faith was in the upper classes, not the masses of people.  The government, Hamilton thought, should be closely tied to the wealthy, who would act wisely to preserve the prosperity of the nation along with their own wealth.
   Supporters of Jefferson became known as the  Republicans, and later, the Democratic - Republicans.  The party had wide support among farmers and tradespeople, as well as laborers in cities.  (This party, incidentally, eventually evolved into the modern Democratic Party.  The modern Republican Party formed shortly before the Civil War.)
   Supporters of Hamilton took the name Federalists.  (This was the same name given to those who supported the ratification of the Constitution some years earlier.)  This party found much of its support from merchants, bankers, business owners, and others at the top of the social ladder. 
   These early political parties were organized by the end of Washington's second term, although Washington himself was not a member of a political party.  (He had, in fact, expressed the hope that political parties would never get started in America.)






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   Copyright 2018 by David Burns.  All rights reserved.  Illustrations and reading selections appearing in this work are taken from sources in the public domain and from private collections used by permission.  Sources include: the Dover Pictorial Archive, the Library of Congress, The National Archives, The Hart Publishing Co., Corel Corporation and its licensors, Nova Development Corporation and its licensors, and others.  Maps were created or adapted by the author using reference maps from the United States Geological Survey and Cartesia Software.  Please see the home page for this title for more information.