- •Early america
- •Native Americans
- •E uropeans Explore the New World
- •Causes of Exploration
- •Motives for Exploration
- •Spaniards in the New World
- •The English in the New World
- •The Old and New Worlds Meet
- •The colonial period
- •The Chesapeake Settlements
- •Cultural Focus: Setting up Slavery
- •The New England Colonies
- •The Mayflower Compact
- •Cultural Focus: Thanksgiving Day
- •The Southern Colonies
- •Colonial Life and Institutions
- •New England
- •The Middle Colonies
- •Southern Colonies
- •Colonial Culture
- •Fighting for independence Colonies on the Eve of the Revolution
- •The French and Indian War
- •Taxation without Representation
- •American Revolution
- •War Begins
- •Declaration of Independence
- •Fighting for Independence
- •Forming a republic
- •The us Constitution
- •Focus on Government
- •Westward expansion
- •Acquiring Western Lands
- •The War of 1812 and its Effect
- •Cultural Focus: Uncle Sam
- •Settling the Frontier
- •Life on the Frontier
- •Indian Resistance and Removal
- •The civil war and the reconstruction
- •New States: Free or Slave?
- •The South and the North
- •The Conflict Begins
- •Fighting for the Union
- •The After-War Period
- •The Reconstruction Period
- •2) Recruit, recruitment
- •Growth and transformation
- •The Last Frontier
- •Industrial Growth
- •Immigration in the Age of Industrial Growth
- •Labor Unions
- •The Progressive Era
- •Cultural Focus: National Parks in America
- •2) Annihilate, annihilation
- •3) Exterminate, extermination, exterminator
- •4) Magnify, magnification
- •Modern history the united states before, during and after world war I
- •Becoming an Empire
- •The usa before World War I
- •Entering the War
- •Cultural Focus: Veterans' Day
- •Post-War Years
- •The Booming Twenties
- •The Great Depression
- •Isthmus, annexation, collide, ultimatum, crucial, negotiate, armistice, consumerism, disparity, subsidy
- •World war II and its aftermath
- •Beginning of World War II
- •The usa in World War II
- •The usa after World War II
- •The Post-War Foreign Affairs
- •The Cold War at Home and Abroad
- •The post-war era
- •Changing Economic Patterns
- •New Patterns of Living
- •Cultural Focus: Levittown
- •The Culture of the Fifties
- •The Other America
- •1) Suburb, suburban, suburbanite, suburbia
- •2) Fertile, fertility, fertilize, fertilizer
- •3) Metropolis, metropolitan
- •Time of change
- •Cold War – 2
- •The War in Vietnam and Watergate
- •The Civil Rights Movement
- •Ethnicity and Activism
- •The Rise of Feminism
- •The Revolt Generation
- •Approaching the new era
- •From Recession to Economic Growth
- •The End of the Cold War
- •Information Age and the Global Economy
- •Terrorism
- •Bibliography
Forming a republic
Fighting for independence changed the life in the New World almost entirely – during the war Americans reshaped their political structures, their intellectual world, and their social interactions. The root of all changes was an idea to create a new society and a new republican government based wholly on the consent of the people.
By the end of the war, Americans had abandoned British idea of balanced monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy – now they believed in a state where people could rule. The most difficult question was, however, how to define "the people" – almost all white men agreed that women and black should be excluded from politics.
There were also many other questions to answer – the structure of people's government and its forms, the number of voters, and how often the representatives of people will meet. Americans replied to these questions in different ways. Opinions also differed in other important matters – about dealing with Indian tribes, constructing foreign policy, and, the most difficult, what to do with slaves, if "all men are created equal" according to the Declaration of Independence.
Many people saw the new republic as a unique type of government, which could be built only by especially virtuous people – very soon this idea became crucial for American life and shaped American culture for many years. After 1776, American literature, theater, art, and architecture all had moral goals – they intended to inspire audience to behave virtuously.
For the first time special attention was also given to American women – they were not looked upon as perspective voters, but as mothers of the republic's children, they played a very important role in their upbringing. This brought republican leaders to the conclusion that mothers of the rising generation had to be properly educated.
Creating National Government and Constitution
In May 1776, two months before the Declaration of Independence was passed, the Second Continental Congress directed the colonies to form new governments. They were to be based on principles of self-government exercised by colonies long before the Revolution. Between January 1779 and April 1777, ten of the thirteen new states adopted their own constitutions based on colonial experience, English practice, and new ideas of republicanism and democracy. All the constitutions were ratified by people, who theoretically were sovereigns in the republic. Most states had governors elected by the state legislatures. The state legislatures, in their turn, were elected by popular vote.
All state constitutions attempted to establish good governments by balancing the powers of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches against one another, to limit the number of terms officials could serve and make meetings of governing assemblies open to public. The process of forging final variants of state constitution was open to debate, almost everywhere it lasted for the next 10 years.
Meanwhile the USA was governed according to the compact that bound the states together as a nation. This compact – "The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union" – was signed in July 1778 and ratified in March 1781. The Articles of Confederation soon appeared to have many drawbacks – they set up a federal government with very limited powers. National government lacked authority to regulate taxes and trade, to control foreign affairs and western lands.
The Continental Congress (after 1781 its name was changed to the Confederation Congress) was too inefficient to govern effectively – there was no proper distribution of power, no independent income and no authority to compel the states to accept the ruling of the Congress.
Politically and economically, the new nation was close to chaos. The Articles of Confederation had to be revised because weak central government threatened the existence of the entire USA.
In May 1787, the Confederation Congress gathered in Philadelphia to revise the articles. The 55 delegates of all states but Rhode Island included most of the outstanding leaders, or Founding Fathers, of the nation. They represented a wide range of interests, backgrounds, and stations in life and their primary aim was to provide a constitution which could create a strong government for diverse society, and to make this government directly responsive to the will of the people.