Why did Washington advise the United States to pursue a policy of isolationism?

The newly founded United States of America had a great amount of debt as a result of the Revolutionary War. The young nation was still in the process of developing its institutions and solidifying its foundation for posterity. Furthermore, there were plenty of issues to deal with at home and President Washington was more concerned with Americaʻs issues than that of the French. This proved to be a risky move for Washington, as the French crown had funded, and equipped the colonists with the supplies necessary to stand a chance against the British. It was a matter of pragmatism, as America wouldnʻt get anything positive from helping them. President George Washington had been through many military conflicts over his career. He knew the toll war had over a countryʻs populace and its finances, and he did not want that for this nation. His neutral stance on the French Revolution and his farewell address set the tone for US foreign policy over the next century. He advocated for the development of commercial relations between America and other countries, and to have as little involvement in foreign politics as possible. That this is the “great rule of conduct”, and that we must strengthen present relations and follow them with good faith.

Why did the delegates to the Constitutional Convention find it necessary to draft the Bill of Rights?

On September 17th, 1787, twelve of the thirteen United States ratified the Constitution, replacing the Articles of Confederation. Two years later, on September 25, 1789, the Bill of Rights was passed. These were the first 10 amendments to the constitution (changes or addition to a piece of a legislature) with the purpose of establishing personal liberties and setting limits on government power over individuals. Consequently, this Bill of Rights has given us two of the most cherished rights of individual Americans 1) Freedom of Speech, and 2)The Right to Bear Arms. Amendments such as the right to public trial, prohibition of cruel & unusual punishment, and the sovereignty of states inside the Union.

The needs for these amendments stemmed from the fear Americans had of a centralized authority. The British, being a tyrannical monarchy that infringed the rights of the colonists had the ability to do so because they were comprised in a powerful, centralized state. The Bill of rights, according to the anti-federalists, was to protect the American people from any governmental entity that would seek to violate the rights of civilians.

The Constitution was ratified to give more power to the federal government, seeing as the states could not really operate as a nation because there was no single authority. The Articles of Confederation had worked to establish relations between sovereign states. The delegates agreed upon congress being the last measure to resolve disputes. Moreover, it possessed the authority to make treaties and alliances, maintain armed forces, and coin money. Apart from that, everything else was left to the states.

The necessity of the Bill of Rights was to quell the fear of citizens had of history repeating itself. While the constitution defended the rights of states under a federal government, there was nothing guaranteeing that the states or the Federal government could not infringe the rights of individuals. Passing the Bill of Rights gave the citizens of this country inalienable rights that would serve to protect their interests.

The Federalist Papers

The Federalist Papers (originally called The Federalist) is the most important set of documents in regards to political philosophy and pragmatic government ever written in the United States. Largely a product of Alexander Hamilton of New York, and James Madison of Virginia, it sought to promote the ratification of the United States constitution, explaining why it would be beneficial for the states of the union and its populace. This conglomerate of essays redefined federalism, as the authors were in no mood for an unrestrained, centralized regime, but realized thanks to the Articles of Confederation, that a certain level of centralized government should be upheld for the preservation of a perfect union. A number of Federalist Papers argued that a new kind of balance, never achieved elsewhere, was possible. Indeed, the Papers were themselves a balance or compromise between the nationalist propensities of Hamilton, who reflected the commercial interests of a port city, New York, and the wariness of Madison, who shared the suspicion of distant authority widely held by Virginia farmers.

Madison argued that instead of a state possessing total sovereignty over itself under the Articles of Confederation, the states would contain “residual sovereignty”, which means that they would posses their own institutions that would belong to the state and their people respectively (only in areas that did not require national concern), as defined in the 10th amendment. Hamilton suggested a concurrency of powers between the national and state governments. Each state would be individual and self-ruling in its own right, but would be united under a strong, but limited, federal government to ensure the survival and the well-being of the nation as a whole. The Federalist Papers also provide the first specific mention we have in political literature of the idea of checks and balances as a way of restricting governmental power and preventing its abuse. This made reference to the bicameral legislature, in which there is a house of representatives and a senate, in which each of them would revise and balance each other accordingly, and both would be kept in check by a chief magistrate.

Under the system proposed, the Supreme Court had a right to rule upon the constitutionality of laws passed by national or state legislatures. This was crucial, as judicial review was used to keep the legislature in check and prevent any faction inside the institution to take control, twist, pass or override laws based on their interests. Only the painstaking and difficult process of amending the Constitution, or the gradual transformation of its members to another viewpoint, could reverse the Supreme Court’s interpretation of that document. This was very different from the British system, in which parliament could override by majority vote any court decision they did not like. Under this subject of Checks and balances, the separation of powers is also incentivized and would lead to the prevention of concentrated power in one branch of government, and an increase of efficiency in each one as they are only responsible for their respective duties.

Excerpt from N.10

It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.

While Madison and Hamilton believed that man at his best was capable of reason, self-discipline and fairness, they also recognized his susceptibility to passion, intolerance and greed. In this section of the papers, Madison addressed the issue of factions, and the need to break down and control the violence of a faction, in this context he meant political parties.  These passions or interests that endanger the rights of others may be religious or political or, most often, economic. He argued that it is impossible to outlaw passion and self-interest, therefore a proper form of government must be able to prevent any faction, whether minority or majority, from imposing its will against the general good. As each representative is elected by its people, it is less possible that men of ill-will or poor preparation might be allowed into office, and the popular and geographic expansion of the Republic would secure that claim. This is because a larger group of people will make it more difficult for a corrupt candidate to win and will see through all their vicious practices.

 

The Articles of Confederation

http://www.ushistory.org/documents/confederation.htm

The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States of America, agreed upon by the thirteen states. It was put forth by the Second Continental Congress on November 15, 1777, and sent to the states for ratification. The Articles of Confederation came into force on March 1, 1781, after being ratified by all 13 states. This served to create a very limited centralized government that organized and set rules for the states but also put great emphasis on the rights of said states to have their own freedoms. It served as a rule-book as to how business, war, territorial, legal, banking, and other procedures were to be conducted inside the Confederacy. This document was a result of the very limited ability of the central government to enact authority, which rendered it ineffective. It was the first step to a more mature constitution, which would later reaffirm power by establishing an executive branch, courts, and taxing powers.

The first five articles of Confederation are the following and will give you an example as to how it worked.

Article I.
The Stile of this confederacy shall be “The United States of America.”

Article II.
Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every Power, Jurisdiction and right, which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.

Article III.
The said states hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defence, the security of their Liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretence whatever.

Article IV.
The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the different states in this union, the free inhabitants of each of these states, paupers, vagabonds and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several states; and the people of each state shall have free ingress and regress to and from any other state, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce, subject to the same duties impositions and restrictions as the inhabitants thereof respectively, provided that such restriction shall not extend so far as to prevent the removal of property imported into any state, to any other state, of which the Owner is an inhabitant; provided also that no imposition, duties or restriction shall be laid by any state, on the property of the united states, or either of them. If any Person guilty of, or charged with treason, felony, — or other high misdemeanor in any state, shall flee from Justice, and be found in any of the united states, he shall, upon demand of the Governor or executive power, of the state from which he fled, be delivered up and removed to the state having jurisdiction of his offence. Full faith and credit shall be given in each of these states to the records, acts and judicial proceedings of the courts and magistrates of every other state.

Article V.
For the more convenient management of the general interests of the united states, delegates shall be annually appointed in such manner as the legislature of each state shall direct, to meet in Congress on the first Monday in November, in every year, with a power reserved to each state, to recal its delegates, or any of them, at any time within the year, and to send others in their stead, for the remainder of the Year.
No state shall be represented in Congress by less than two, nor by more than seven Members; and no person shall be capable of being a delegate for more than three years in any term of six years; nor shall any person, being a delegate, be capable of holding any office under the united states, for which he, or another for his benefit receives any salary, fees or emolument of any kind.
Each state shall maintain its own delegates in a meeting of the states, and while they act as members of the committee of the states. In determining questions in the united states in Congress assembled, each state shall have one vote.
Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be impeached or questioned in any Court, or place out of Congress, and the members of congress shall be protected in their persons from arrests and imprisonments, during the time of their going to and from, and attendance on congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace.

The Declaration of Independence

http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/document/

After the initial military conflicts of Lexington & Concord between the Colonial militias and the British regulars, it was clear that what awaited North America was a full-on war. The second Continental Congress and its delegates had one vital question before them that would define the outcome of this nationʻs future. Would they fight to preserve and uphold their rights as Englishmen, or would they fight for their natural rights as free and independent Americans? The conservative delegates and colonists of the time Preferred making amends with the crown, while very few others such as John Adams and Thomas Jefferson advocated for independence. Yet there was no turning back, as King George III railed against the colonies and ordered the enlargement of the Royal army and navy. Once news of this reached the colonies, most people who were in favor of reconciliation abandoned those hopes as a whole.

Thomas Jefferson was a member of the Virginia Convention that passed the resolution instructing the Virginia delegates to make a motion for independence at the Continental Congress. He also ended up being elected one of the five Virginia delegates to the Continental Congress. They carried the Virginia Resolution with them to Philadelphia and presented it to the Continental Congress on June 7, 1776. Richard Henry Lee actually introduced the resolution before the Congress, so it is has come to be known as the “Lee Resolution. This was a precursor to what was soon to be the declaration of Independence.

In June of 1776, a five-man committee comprised of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin was tasked with drafting a statement of the coloniesʻ common intentions. A vote was held whereby nine colonies voted for independence. Two colonies, Pennsylvania and South Carolina, voted against independence. This motion of independence was put forth in the Continental Congress on June 30th of 1776. Thomas Jefferson was tasked with writing the Declaration of independence, which consisted of the grievances held towards the British and reasons as to why the colonies wanted to secede from the Empire. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in under three weeks. After he was through with the original draft, he gave it to Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, fellow members of the declaration drafting committee, for their comments.  Immediately after voting for independence, the delegates began to examine and debate Jefferson’s drafted declaration. They debated the various parts and the wording for the rest of the 2nd, the 3rd and into the morning of July 4th. Finally, after rewording certain parts and deleting others, they became satisfied with the document and voted to publish it as their official Declaration of Independence to the world.

The Battles of Lexington & Concord

The Colonists of Massachusets were more than done with the British ruling their lives, and to them, the intolerable acts were the final straw. War had become inevitable at this point, and even though there were peaceful resolutions made between representatives of each colony in the first continental congress, nothing would stop it. On April 19th of 1775, the battles of Lexington & Concord ensued and were marked down in history as the first military engagements of the American Revolution.

The British were on their way to disarm the rebels, as they got hold of information that provided them with the location of a stash containing large quantities of arms and ammunition. Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith gathered 700 British Army soldiers and marched to Concord, with the sole purpose of destroying the supplies. On April 18, Revere was warned that British Army regulars were making their way to the towns of Lexington and Concord. Having already warned the militia in Concord, which had secured the weapons supply, Revere rode quickly to Lexington to warn the townspeople of the expected British onslaught. The rebel intelligence network suggested that the British aim in Lexington was to capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock, two of the most prominent Patriot leaders.

British soldiers and rebel militiamen had confronted each other on the way to Lexington, and the British demanded that they disperse or surrender. A scrimmage ensued, and the British managed to kill 8 militiamen and only have one of theirs wounded. They continued on their route, but were then met by a larger force of minute men who were waiting for them, and would eventually force them to break rank and retreat. The militiamen proceeded to lay siege to Boston, where they were joined by militias from Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.

The Boston Tea Party

After covering events that escalated tensions between the colonists in North America and the British Empire, iʻve come to a conclusion that there was no real defining moment that led to the revolution of 1776. It was rather a set of events that gradually led to the said outcome, and the Boston Tea Party was one of them. The Mercantilist British Empire had not yet learned the lesson that the American colonists valued their rights and freedoms, and they would not stand idly by as attempts were made to control their way of life. Taxation without representation, wars fought over the right to monopolize a commodity, centralization of governmental authority were all valid reasons for the grudge the Americans had against the British.

In May 1773, British Parliament passed the Tea Act which allowed British East India Company to sell tea to the colonies duty-free and much cheaper than other tea companies – but still taxed the tea when it reached colonial ports. The reason the British taxed the tea was that the colonists drank so much of it that they could not afford to lose all that revenue, especially after the 7 Yearsʻ War. Tea smuggling became common, so frequent that the British East India Company nearly went bankrupt because they had a surplus of tea. Coalitions of Merchants and tradesmen such as the ʻSons of Libertyʻ protested the Stamp Act and other forms of taxation. Prominent historical figures such as John Adams and Paul Revere were among the sons of Liberty.

A British East India Company ship called the ʻDarmouthʻ, along with her sister ships Beaver, and Eleanor were loaded with tea from China on the 16th of December of 1773. On that morning, thousands of colonists had agreed not to pay the tariffs of the tea, or allow it to be unloaded, sold or used. That same night, a large group of men – many reportedly members of the Sons of Liberty – disguised themselves in Native American garb, boarded the docked ships and threw 342 chests of tea into the water. Ironically, revolutionary figures such as Benjamin Franklin and George Washington did not approve of this, as they believed that the destruction of private property was not the ideal way to handle the situation. Over a million dollars (current) in property was lost after the Boston Tea Party.

The Stamp Act

Britainʻs victory over its adversaries in the Seven Yearsʻ War was not without cost. A great toll of blood and treasure left them having financial difficulties, and measures such as the Stamp Act of 1765 were taken. It was an act which imposed a direct levy on the thirteen colonies, required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp. Everything from legal documents to playing cards and many other types of paper used throughout the colonies. The tax had to be paid with British currency, and not in colonial paper money.

The purpose of this tax was to pay for the British troops stationed in North America after the Seven Yearsʻ War. The issue here was that there was already a distaste towards the British from the part of the colonists. They argued that the French were not hostile towards them and had no intentions of invading their territories. It was the responsibility of the British back home in London to provide for these surplus troops. It was an insult to the colonists, seeing as they were being taxed without their consent and was in violation of their rights as Englishmen.

The slogan “No taxation without representation” resonated throughout the colonies and its assemblies which sent petitions and protested. The most politically active citizens of colonial society were the ones most affected by this act (newspaper printers, students, attorneys, and judges), and mobilized popular opposition through their means.  In October 1765, delegates from the colonies convened in New York City at the Stamp Act Congress, where they drew up formal petitions to the British Parliament and to King George III to repeal the act. In March 1766, the Stamp Act was repealed. But the stage for the American Revolution had already been set.

The Seven Yearsʻ War

The European powers of Britain and France have had a long-standing historical rivalry with each other, and things would not change even at the beginning of a new era in the Americas. Conflict arose between the two countries due to territorial disputes resulted from them wanting to expand their sphere of influence over the frontier regions. one of the borders between French and British possessions was not well defined, and one disputed territory was the upper Ohio River Valley. The French constructed a number of forts in this region to attempt to strengthen their hold on the territory. This was seen as an intrusion by the British, and colonial militia forces led by lieutenant colonel George Washington attempted to expel the French in 1754 from the aforementioned territories. The attacks failed, and once the news reached Britain it was already too late. This led to this distant frontier scrimmage into becoming the first global war in the history of man. The war extended throughout the Americas, Africa, and Asia because of the French, Spanish and British colonies found there. Tribes of Native Americans sided with different factions in the conflict as a way of engaging rival tribes or strengthening their position. Spain and France along with tribes of native Americans were allied against the British, but British naval strength and Spanish ineffectiveness led to British success. British forces seized French Caribbean islands, Spanish Cuba, and the Philippines. Fighting in Europe ended after a failed Spanish invasion of British ally Portugal. By 1763, French and Spanish diplomats began to seek peace. In the resulting Treaty of Paris (1763), Great Britain secured significant territorial gains, including all French territory east of the Mississippi river, as well as Spanish Florida, although the treaty returned Cuba to Spain.

This was all a result of mercantilist greed pushed by the European powers that sought to dominate and monopolize the trading of furs in North-eastern North America. This wasnʻt something the British colonists were fond of, seeing as they were already fed up with the British regulations and stranglehold over their lives, this only led to more distaste towards them. Even though Washington and the militia attacked the French forts in 1754, the war officially started in 1756, and the peace treaty that resolved it was signed in 1763. It is also called the French-Indian War due to the Native American involvement with the French against the British.

How important do you think the Navigation Acts were in solidifying anti-British sentiment in the North American colonies?

The Navigation Acts were a set of English Laws imposed upon the colonies that regulated commerce between other countries and its own colonies. These laws were enacted in 1651, reenacted and broadened in 1660 and further developed and tightened by the Navigation Acts of 1663, 1673, and 1696. Additional changes and subsequent amendments were added, along with changes of staff and enforcement methods. These laws limited the colonists to only be able to trade with the British Empire, only use English ships and required the employment of English and colonial mariners for three-quarters of the crews, including East India Company ships. The system would develop with the colonies supplying raw materials for British industry, and in exchange for this guaranteed market, the colonies would purchase manufactured goods from or through Britain. This led to a growing anti-British sentiment amongst the colonists and would hinder growth for small businesses inside the colony. The colonies were seen more as a source of revenue for the empire rather than a territory with its own private citizens. The colonies were supplying wealth to mainland Britain due to the devastation of the 80 years’ war. The Navigation Acts required all of a colony’s imports to be either bought from Britain or resold by British merchants in Britain, no matter what price could be obtained elsewhere. The Molasses Act was enacted in 1696, and levied heavy heavy duties on the trade of sugar from the French West Indies to the American colonies, forcing the colonists to buy the more expensive sugar from the British West Indies instead. A black market developed and the British tried controlling the flow of contraband, but this proved useless and only helped grow the resentment of colonists towards the British.