The Constitution paid attention to the irregularities in the Declaration of Independence and replaced all direct mentions of slavery. The Great Compromise drew an end to the disagreements among the states and set congressional representation upon population on an equal basis. The Bill of Rights was introduced by James Madison to the first United States Congress on August 21, 1789 and was used by the House of Representatives. John Dickinson proposed an outline to the Articles of Confederation in 1776. The first establishment of a formal government in the colonies was introduced in this.
KING GEORGE III REFUSED TO RECEIVE THE OLIVE BRANCH PETITION. EVEN THOUGH A MONTH EARLIER CONGRESSS HAD AUTHORIZED THE CREATION OF THE FIRST CONTINENTAL ARMY, AND HAD ISSUED PAPER MONEY TO PAY FOR THE TROOPS (DAVIDSONP-123). PARLAMENT HAD ORDERED ALL TRADE WITH THE COLONIES STOPPED, AND SEIZURE OF ALL COLONIAL MERCHANT SHIPS ON THE HIGH SEAS. ON JUNE 7TH VIRGINIA’S RICHARD HENRY LEE OFFERED A MOTION TO CONGRESS “THAT THESE UNITED COLONIES ARE, AND OF RIGHT OUGHT TO BE FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES…AND THAT ALL POLITICAL CONNECTION BETWEEN THEM AND THE STATE OF GREAT BRITAIN, IS AND OUGHT TO BE TOTALLY DISSOLVED.” AFTER LEE’S MOTION, CONGRESS DECIDED TO DRAFT A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. THE MAN, WHO WAS GIVEN THE JOB TO UNDERTAKE THE DRAFTING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, WAS A YOUNG 33 YEAR OLD PLANTER, AND LAWYER NAMED THOMAS JEFFERSON.
When analyzing the social structure of the American society during and after the Revolution it was clear that the American Revolution was very revolutionary. Fortunately some changes evolved and they would be felt immediately. Although slavery wasn’t abolished until another 100 years after the revolution it soon became the rising action of an organized abolishment movement. An example of this would be found in Document 5. Document 5 states the years that gradual abolition acts were passed in each of the U.S states.
Leading up to the American Revolution in 1775 there were several events and turning points in the late 1760s that the colonists executed which marked a change from simple protesting the British parliament to the beginning of the American Revolutionary War leading to American independence. The Boston Tea Party occurred on December 16th, 1773. It is often considered a key turning point towards the start of the American Revolution. According to document A, a group of male colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians boarded tea ships in the Boston Harbor and dumped massive tea chests into the water. The point of this was to show Britain that the colonists will not continue to follow the British Parliament and be forced to but Britain’s goods.
Later on, the Navigation Laws of 1650, and Sugar and Stamp acts of 1764 and 1765 began to frustrate the colonists as economic problems were being faced at this point. Tensions got worst as the Townshend Acts in 1767 caused colonists to smuggle tea, which was later stopped by British troops; foreshadowing the Boston Massacre in 1770. The Boston Tea Party of 1773 was also another act by the colonists, boycotting against the British and showing them that they are tired of British’s ridiculous acts. The colonists then send delegates to the meeting of the First Continental Congress meeting in 1774. Boycotting and petitions were organized and eventually by the time the Second Continental Congress meeting of 1775, a continental army was established and the Declaration of Independence was adopted.
There were many causes and consequences of the American Declaration of Independence in 1776, some more important than others. On June 7th, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia-made a motion in the 2nd Continental Congress that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states…”, this motion was adopted nearly a month later on July 2, 1776. Thomas Jefferson, a thirty-three year old Virginia lawyer wrote the draft, along with other members such as John Adams, Ben Franklin, Roger Sherman, and C. Livingston. The Declaration was based on Enlightenment Thinking, an expansion of why the colonists desired independence. The document was written like a legal brief stating the violations of colonial rights and liberties
United States Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion of independence of an aspiring state or states. The United States declaration of independence was first approved on 4th of July 1776, at Philadelphia, in the Pennsylvania State House, now known as the Independence Hall, severing the colonies’ ties with the British crown. It has been included among the most important documents ever written in the history of Untied States of America. There were 13 colonies in America which belonged to Great Britain. The ones that did not wish to remain British subjects called themselves patriots and those who remained faithful to England called themselves loyalist.
“The Revolutionary War” The conflict that began as a fight for the rights of English people in the 13 colonies and ended in the creation of a new nation, the United States of America. This war is also called the American Revolution or the American War of Independence. The American Revolutionary War began in 1775 and ended when the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783. On April 19th the first shots of the war were fired at Lexington, MA and six and a half years later, on October 19th, British forces surrendered to America at Yorktown, VA. . During the 1760's, Great Britain passed several laws that created high taxes for the colonists.
It also served as a political propaganda piece for the American people. It was eventually widely distributed and read to the public in an effort to energize the nation. It was meant to be a reminder to the people that many years of oppression had led up to this point, and that the actions being taken were justified and necessary. It was a formal explanation of congress as to what had brought them to this defining moment. Thomas Jefferson said of the declaration: “Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion”
Many states had bill of rights and also required to have annual election of legislators. While the U.S. had to create a new government system, the people were far from the united. The new states chose a confederation as their first government, which was a loose union of state where the federal level and state level exist. The Articles of the Confederation was finished in 1777, and was finally completed by the last state, Maryland, on March 1, 1781. The articles of the confederation were America’s first constitution.