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CHAPTER 7

Forging a National Republic, 1776–1789

Learning Objectives

After you have studied Chapter 7 in your textbook and worked through this study guide chapter, you should be able to:

1. Examine the varieties of republicanism that emerged in the new American republic.

2. Examine the impact of revolutionary ideology on:

a. literature and the fine arts.

b. educational practice.

c. gender roles and the family.

d. African Americans.

e. the development of racist theory.

3. Discuss the growth of the free African American population and the reaction of black Americans to life in a racist society.

4. Examine the evolution of constitutional theories of government at the state level during the republic’s early years.

5. Discuss the problems faced by the Confederation Congress, and assess its handling of those problems.

6. Examine the forces that led to the calling of the Constitutional Convention.

7. Discuss the characteristics of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention, and examine the role played by James Madison.

8. Discuss the major disagreements that emerged in the drafting of the Constitution, and indicate how those disagreements were resolved.

9. Explain the basic provisions and the underlying principles of the Constitution of the United States.

10. Discuss the debate over ratification of the Constitution, and explain why the Federalist forces prevailed.

Thematic Guide

After the Revolutionary War, the Americans began shaping their society to the ideals and principles of the Revolution itself. These ideals were intellectual notions, not tangible realities. They provided a visionary basis for a more nearly perfect society, but they did not automatically make such a society a reality. Therefore, the ideals had to be defined, and such definitions are born out of the frame of reference—the perceptions and prejudices—of a people existing at a particular historical time and place. In Chapter 7, we focus on the theme of ideal versus reality and examine the defining and shaping process that occurred in postrevolutionary American society.

The first section, “Creating a Virtuous Republic,” presents the ideal of building a republican society and the reality of disagreement over how to define republicanism; the ideal of a “virtuous” republic and the reality of disagreement over what virtue means; the ideal of literature, painting, and architecture instilling virtue and the reality that some perceive those arts as luxuries to be avoided. Then, after dealing with educational reform, we turn to the role of women in postrevolutionary America and the interaction of the ideal of equality with the reality of sexism. From this interaction there emerged a perception that denied women a legitimate power-sharing role and stressed the differences between men and women. According to this view, men and women contributed to a republican society equally but in different ways. Moreover, it was through this perception that Americans were able “to resolve the conflict between the two most influential strands of republican thought.” (See page 114 in the textbook.)

The theme of the ideal versus the reality recurs in the next section, “The First Emancipation and the Growth of Racism.” Concurrent with the abolition of slavery and the dramatic growth of the free black population in the North, economic, political, and societal realities were imposed on the revolutionary ideal of equality. Consequently, a “formal racist theory developed in the United States,” (see pages 115–116 in the textbook) with race replacing enslavement as the determinant of the status of blacks.

In designing republican governments, the ideal called for written constitutions designed to prevent tyranny by properly distributing and limiting governmental power. At first, it seemed that the ideal could be achieved by concentrating power in the hands of the legislature, but this led to the reality of weak political units. From this reality new ideas emerged, such as the concept of a balance of power among three coequal branches of government.

In the Confederation Congress, the ideal of weak central government was juxtaposed against the reality of monetary and diplomatic problems. The interaction of the two produced political impotence against which even the one “accomplishment” of the Congress, the Northwest Ordinances, must be judged.

This impotence, further emphasized symbolically by Shays’s Rebellion, led to the Constitutional Convention and the writing of the Constitution. A new realism, evident in the debates among the delegates and in the compromises they reached, was present at this convention. But idealism was not dead. The delegates retained the ideal of the sovereignty of the people and embodied that ideal in the opening words of the document they wrote: “We the people of the United States.” They also accepted new ideals that had emerged from experience, and these became the “key to the Constitution.” However, a new realism tempered these ideals, and that, too, is apparent in the first sentence of the Constitution: “in order to form a more perfect union.” This phrase suggests the delegates’ realization that they had not created the perfect society—a realism also seen in the ratification debates.

Building Vocabulary

Listed below are important words and terms that you need to know to get the most out of Chapter 7. They are listed in the order in which they occur in the chapter. After carefully looking through the list, (1) underline the words with which you are totally unfamiliar, (2) put a question mark by those words of which you are unsure, and (3) leave the rest alone.

As you begin to read the chapter, when you come to any of the words you have put question marks beside or underlined, (1) slow your reading; (2) focus on the word and on its context in the sentence you are reading; (3) if you can understand the meaning of the word from its context in the sentence or passage in which it is used, go on with your reading; (4) if it’s a word that you have underlined or a word that you can’t understand from its context in the sentence or passage, look it up in a dictionary and write down the definition that best applies to the context in which the word is used.

Definitions

presage

inculcate

perpetual

homogeneous

egalitarian

frugality

lurid

fervent

foment

irony

ardent

abolition

emancipation

circumvent

vestige

augment

coherent

miscegenation

tandem

congenitally

promiscuous

specter

subjugation

antagonist

tangible

sovereignty

portend

decry

exigencies

proportional

expedient

euphemism

enumerate

circumscribe

preclude

approbation

vigilance

avert

promulgate

denigrate

licentious

vicissitudes

Identification and Significance

AFTER STUDYING CHAPTER 7 OF A PEOPLE AND A NATION, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY AND EXPLAIN FULLY THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF EACH ITEM LISTED BELOW.

1. Identify each item in the space provided. Give an explanation or description of the item. Answer the questions who, what, where, and when.

2. Explain the historical significance of each item in the space provided. Establish the historical context in which the item exists. Establish the item as the result of, or as the cause of, other factors existing in the society under study. Answer this question: What were the political, social, economic, and/or cultural consequences of this item?

1. the Carlisle riots

a. Identification

b. Significance

2. self-sacrificing republicanism

a. Identification

b. Significance

3. economic republicanism

a. Identification

b. Significance

4. democratic republicanism

a. Identification

b. Significance

5. The Power of Sympathy

a. Identification

b. Significance

6. The Contrast

a. Identification

b. Significance

7. Life of Washington

a. Identification

b. Significance

8. Gilbert Stuart, Charles Wilson Peale, and John Trumbull

a. Identification

b. Significance

9. the Society of the Cincinnati

a. Identification

b. Significance

10. public elementary schools

a. Identification

b. Significance

11. Judith Sargent Murray

a. Identification

b. Significance

12. Abigail Adams

a. Identification

b. Significance

13. revolutionary ideology vs. slavery

a. Identification

b. Significance

14. “the first emancipation”

a. Identification

b. Significance

15. growth of the free black population

a. Identification

b. Significance

16. the Brown Fellowship Society

a. Identification

b. Significance

17. the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church

a. Identification

b. Significance

18. postrevolutionary racist theory

a. Identification

b. Significance

19. Benjamin Banneker

a. Identification

b. Significance

20. postrevolutionary state constitutions

a. Identification

b. Significance

21. the Articles of Confederation

a. Identification

b. Significance

22. Robert Morris

c. Identification

d. Significance

23. Articles Four and Five of the 1783 Treaty of Paris

a. Identification

b. Significance

24. the treaties of Fort Stanwix and Hopewell

a. Identification

b. Significance

25. the Northwest Ordinances

a. Identification

b. Significance

26. Little Turtle

a. Identification

b. Significance

27. the Battle of Fallen Timbers

a. Identification

b. Significance

28. the Treaty of Greenville

a. Identification

b. Significance

29. the Annapolis Convention

a. Identification

b. Significance

30. Shays’s Rebellion

a. Identification

b. Significance

31. the Constitutional Convention

a. Identification

b. Significance

32. James Madison

a. Identification

b. Significance

33. “Vices of the Political System of the United States”

a. Identification

b. Significance

34. the principle of checks and balances

a. Identification

b. Significance

35. the Virginia Plan

a. Identification

b. Significance

36. the New Jersey Plan

a. Identification

b. Significance

37. the three-fifths compromise

a. Identification

b. Significance

38. the Constitution’s slave-trade clause and fugitive-slave clause

a. Identification

b. Significance

39. the electoral college

a. Identification

b. Significance

40. the separation of powers

a. Identification

b. Significance

41. Federalists

a. Identification

b. Significance

42. Antifederalists

a. Identification

b. Significance

43. Letters of a Federal Farmer

a. Identification

b. Significance

44. The Federalist

a. Identification

b. Significance

Organizing, Reviewing, and Using Information

Chart A

Print out the chart on the pages that follow. Then, in the appropriate blanks, enter brief notes to help you recall key information in Chapter 7 and class lectures relevant to the chart’s subject. Use your completed chart to review for your next test, to identify potential essay questions, and to guide you in composing mock essays answering the questions you think you are most likely to be asked.

|African Americans in Postrevolutionary America, 1776–1790 |

| |

|Legal Status of Slavery |

| |State Laws |State Constitutions |Northwest Ordinance |U.S. Constitution |

| | | |(1787) | |

|Slavery | | | | |

|Bans | | | | |

|Gradual abolition | | | | |

|Manumissions | | | | |

|Slave Trade | | | | |

|Bans | | | | |

|Limitations | | | | |

|Fugitive Slaves | | | | |

|Overall result | | | | |

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Chart A continued on next page.

|African Americans in Postrevolutionary America, 1776–1790 (cont’d from prev. page) |

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|Ideas and Efforts to Use them To Influence Slavery’s Future |

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| |Groups Interpreting the Ideas To |Kind, Methods, and Specific |Results |

| |Influence Slavery’s Future |Targets of Influence | |

|Republicanism | | | |

|Race Theory | | | |

|Egalitarian theology/morality | | | |

|Property Rights | | | |

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|Free Blacks in a Society Dominated By Euro-Americans |

|Who Free Blacks Were |Illustrative Types of Discrimination Free |Examples of Ways Free Blacks Responded to |

| |Blacks Faced |Discrimination |

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Chart B

Print out the chart on pages that follow. Then, in the appropriate blanks, enter brief notes to help you recall key information in Chapter 7 and class lectures relevant to the chart’s subject. Use your completed chart to review for your next test, to identify potential essay questions, and to guide you in composing mock essays answering the questions you think you are most likely to be asked.

|The Constitution of the United States: Debates and Decisions, 1787 |

| |

|The Office of President |

|Selection Process |Term of Office |Possible Checks on Presidential Power |

|Mechanism |

| |Provision in Virginia Plan | |Checks on Presidential Power Or Special |Means of Countering Check|Effect |

| |(if any) |Completed |Limitations |on Its Power | |

| | |Constitution | | | |

| | | |Congressional |Judicial | | |

|Foreign Affairs | | | | | | |

|Treaties | | | | | | |

|War | | | | | | |

|Appointments | | | | | | |

|(U.S. judges, high officials) | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | |

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Chart B continued on next page.

|The Constitution of the United States: Debates and Decisions, 1787 (cont’d from previous page) |

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|The Legislature: Structure and Selection of Legislators |

|Decisions Delegates Needed To Make |Alternative Proposals |Decision Made |Primary Reason for Decision |Effects of Decision |

| |Virginia Plan |New Jersey Plan | | | |

|Number of houses | | | | | |

|How elected | | | | | |

|Lower house | | | | | |

|Upper house | | | | | |

|How Apportioned | | | | | |

|Lower House | | | | | |

|Relation to Popula-tion | | | | | |

|Way of determining | | | | | |

|population | | | | | |

|Free | | | | | |

|Slave | | | | | |

|Indian | | | | | |

|(non-tax paying) | | | | | |

|Upper House | | | | | |

|Provisos | | | | | |

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Chart B continued on next page.

|The Constitution of the United States: Debates and Decisions, 1787 (cont’d from previous page) |

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|The Legislature: Responsibilities and Powers |

| |Provision in Virginia Plan| |Checks on Congressional Power, Special |Means of Countering Check |Effect |

| | |Completed |Limitations |on | |

| |(if any) |Constitution | |Its Power | |

| | | |Presidential |Judicial | | |

|Overall scope | | | | | | |

|(taxation and commerce legislation) | | | | | | |

|Authority over | | | | | | |

|State Laws | | | | | | |

|Role in Amending | | | | | | |

|the Constitution | | | | | | |

|Role in Appointing U.S. Judges , | | | | | | |

|Important | | | | | | |

|U.S. Office Holders | | | | | | |

|Role in Finalizing Treaties | | | | | | |

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Chart B continued on next page.

|The Constitution of the United States: Debates and Decisions, 1787 (cont’d from previous page) |

| |

|The Judiciary: Responsibilities and Powers |

| |Provision in Virginia Plan | |Checks on Judicial Power, Special Limitations |Means of Countering Check |Effect |

| |(if any) |Completed | |on | |

| | |Constitution | |Its Power | |

| | | |Presidential |Congressional | | |

|Courts | | | | | | |

|Powers | | | | | | |

|Terms of Office | | | | | | |

| | | | | | | |

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Chart C

Print out the chart on the pages that follow. Then, in the appropriate blanks, enter brief notes to help you recall key information in Chapter 7 and class lectures relevant to the chart’s subject. Use your completed chart to review for your next test, to identify potential essay questions, and to guide you in composing mock essays answering the questions you think you are most likely to be asked.

|Important Firsts in American Government, 1776–1800 |

| |Year |Document(s) or Event |

|Fugitive slave law | | |

|Source of independent revenue for national government | | |

|Deliberate attempt to broaden the electorate | | |

|Federal aid to education | | |

Chart D

Print out the chart on the pages that follow. Then, in the appropriate blanks, enter brief notes to help you recall key information in Chapter 7 and class lectures relevant to the chart’s subject. Use your completed chart to review for your next test, to identify potential essay questions, and to guide you in composing mock essays answering the questions you think you are most likely to be asked.

|Relations Between Indians and European Americans, 1783–1800 |

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|European American Treaties with Others That Affected Indians |

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| |Relevance to Indians |Consequences |

|Treaty of Paris | | |

|(1783) | | |

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|European American / Indian Negotiations about Ceding Territory |

| |Tribes Involved |Cause and Kind of Opposition|Immediate Effects, |Significance |

| | | |Consequences | |

|Fort Stanwix, N.Y. | | | | |

|(1784) | | | | |

|Hopewell, S.C. | | | | |

|(1785-1786) | | | | |

| | | | | |

| | | | | |

|Congressional Legislation Outlining Western Land Policies |

| |Effects on European American |Short-Term Effects |Consequences |

| |Settlement | | |

|Northwest Ordinances | | | |

|(1784–1787) | | | |

Chart D continued on next page.

|Relations Between Indians and European Americans, 1783–1800 |

|(cont’d from previous page) |

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|Conflict Between European Americans and the Miami Confederacy |

| |Cause |Outcome |Treaty, Concessions |Significance |

|Gen. Josiah Harman’s | | | | |

|Expedition (1790) | | | | |

|Gen. Arthur St. Clair’s | | | | |

|Expedition (1793) | | | | |

|Battle of Fallen Timbers | | | | |

|(1794) | | | | |

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| | | | | |

| | | | | |

Ideas and Details

OBJECTIVE 1

1. Which of the following is a characteristic of the type of republicanism based directly on ancient history?

a. It was based on the belief that republics should be large in size and diverse in population.

b. Its adherents questioned the ability of the upper classes to speak for all people.

c. It was based on the belief that individuals acting selfishly in their own best interest would benefit the nation.

d. Its supporters held that in a republic individual interests should be subordinated to the good of the whole community.

Objective 2

2. American architects in the early republic were generally guided by three principles. Two of those principles were simplicity of line, and harmonious proportions. What was the third?

a. The use of pointed arches

b. A feeling of grandeur

c. A horizontal emphasis

d. Rich and luxurious texture

Objective 2

3. Schooling for girls improved during the early republican period primarily because of the belief that

a. girls had to be taught independence.

b. girls should be prepared for jobs in the same way boys were prepared.

c. men and women had equal intellectual abilities.

d. would-be mothers should be properly educated so that, in turn, they could adequately instruct their children.

Objective 2

4. The fact that qualified women regularly voted in New Jersey in the 1780s and 1790s supports which of the following conclusions?

a. Married women began to demand more of a voice in the making of laws.

b. Most women actively pursued the right to vote in the early republican period.

c. New ideas about the role of women in a republic had their greatest impact in the political arena.

d. Some women believed they had a place in the political life of the state.

Objectives 1 and 2

5. Which of the following was true of the “ideal” republican woman during the early republican period?

a. She was free to pursue her own economic self-interest.

b. She was to pursue a public life as she aided the community.

c. She was to subordinate private interests to the good of the community.

d. She was to pursue higher education for the purpose of self-fulfillment.

Objective 3

6. The formation of the Brown Fellowship Society provides evidence that

a. in some cases slaves worked covertly to organize abolitionist societies.

b. free blacks often responded to life in a racist society by developing their own separate institutions.

c. free northern blacks organized lobbying efforts to gain repeal of discriminatory laws.

d. in the early republic some people worked to further the ideal of racial equality.

Objective 2

7. The new racist theories that developed in the postrevolutionary years

a. emerged as a result of over ten thousand blacks having fought on the British side.

b. were a reaction to the increasing number of slave rebellions.

c. were an attempt to defend slavery against the revolutionary idea of equality.

d. were an attempt to refute new scientific evidence proving blacks to be genetically equal to whites.

Objective 4

8. The first state constitutions

a. broadened the base of government by extending the right to vote to more people.

b. embodied the principle of checks and balances.

c. seldom contained a written guarantee of rights.

d. placed more power in the hands of the governor than in the legislature.

Objective 5

9. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787

a. allowed slaveowners to reclaim runaway slaves seeking refuge in the Northwest Territory.

b. provided a means by which settlers could immediately apply for statehood.

c. established the Anglican church as the favored church in the region.

d. provided for the free distribution of land to settlers.

Objective 6

10. Which of the following is true of Shays’s Rebellion?

a. For the only time in the history of the republic, a state government was overthrown.

b. Poor whites and blacks successfully forged an alliance against the property-owning elite in Massachusetts.

c. The rebels attempted to associate their struggle with the earlier struggle against the British.

d. It represented an antidemocratic counterrevolution by the elite of Massachusetts.

Objective 7

11. James Madison is considered the most important delegate to the Constitutional Convention because

a. he consistently argued in favor of limiting the size of the republic.

b. he provided the delegates with a conceptual framework for the Constitution, based on his analysis of past confederacies and republics.

c. he refused to compromise on the idea of proportional representation in the Senate.

d. he consistently argued in favor of a written guarantee of the basic rights of the American people.

Objective 8

12. A breakdown at the Constitutional Convention over the issue of apportionment of representation in the Senate was prevented by the recommendation that

a. states be equally represented in the Senate.

b. senators be appointed by the state legislatures.

c. a state’s representation in the Senate be based on population.

d. a state’s two senators vote individually rather than as a unit.

Objective 9

13. Which of the following is considered the “key” to the Constitution?

a. The three-fifths compromise

b. The distribution of political authority among the three branches of government and between the state governments and the national government

c. The inclusion of the concept of direct democracy at all levels of the new government

d. The establishment of an elected judiciary

Objective 10

14. The Antifederalists

a. believed that individual rights could best be protected at the state level.

b. believed that the national government should be more powerful.

c. were generally much younger than their opponents.

d. were led by Thomas Jefferson.

Objective 10

15. Which of the following became the most important issue in the debate over ratification of the Constitution?

a. The powers of the chief executive

b. The absence of a bill of rights

c. The extension of the vote to women

d. The absence of any prohibitions on the powers of Congress

Essay Questions

OBJECTIVES 1 AND 2

1. Discuss the similarities and differences between the notions concerning the “ideal” republican woman and those concerning the “ideal” republican man.

Objective 3

2. Identify the factors responsible for the dramatic growth of the free African American population during the postrevolutionary years, and discuss the response of blacks to emancipation.

Objective 2

3. Examine the growth of racist theory in the late eighteenth century.

Objective 7

4. Discuss James Madison’s role at the Constitutional Convention.

Objectives 8 and 9

5. Discuss the debate within the Constitutional Convention about the functions and structure of Congress, and explain the resolution of the disagreements that arose among the delegates on this issue.

Answers

MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS

1. d. Correct. The definition of republicanism based on ancient history and political theory, also called self-sacrificing republicanism, stressed the idea that individuals within a republic should be willing to sacrifice their private interest for the good of the whole. Notice that this is similar to the Puritan notion of the godly commonwealth. See page 111.

a. No. None of the three definitions of republicanism specifically held that republics should be large and have a diverse population. In fact, the definition of republicanism based on ancient history and political theory specifically held that republics had to be small and have a homogeneous population. See page 111.

b. No. Democratic republicanism, rather than “Adamsian” republicanism, tended to be egalitarian in its approach. Therefore, it advocated widespread political participation and questioned the notion that the upper classes could speak for all people. See page 111.

c. No. Economic republicanism, rather than “Adamsian” republicanism, emphasized the idea that individuals actively pursuing their own economic self-interest would enrich not only themselves but the nation as well. See page 111.

2. b. Correct. In an attempt to convey the ideals of the young republic, American architects adopted the guiding principles suggested by Thomas Jefferson: simplicity of line, harmonious proportions, and a feeling of grandeur. See page 112.

a. No. The use of pointed arches was not one of the three principles that guided American architects in the early republic. See page 112.

c. No. The use of horizontal emphasis was not one of the three principles that guided American architects in the early republic. See page 112.

d. No. The display of rich and luxurious texture was not one of the three principles that guided American architects in the early republic. See page 112.

3. d. Correct. Eighteenth-century Americans believed that women were primarily responsible for teaching the virtues necessary for the new republic’s survival. As a result, more emphasis was placed on properly educating future mothers. See page 114.

a. No. Judith Sargent Murray’s belief that girls should be taught to be economically independent was not a belief held by most Americans and cannot be said to have been the primary reason that schooling for girls improved during the early republic. See page 114.

b. No. Most Americans of the late eighteenth century did not believe that girls should receive the same education as boys. Nor did they believe that young women should be prepared for jobs in the same way that young men were prepared. See page 114.

c. No. Judith Sargent Murray’s belief that men and women had equal intellectual abilities was held by few Americans and cannot be said to have been the primary reason that schooling for girls improved during the early republic. See page 114.

4. d. Correct. Although most women believed they could best serve the republic in their roles as wives and mothers, some women actively sought a more public role. The fact that some New Jersey women successfully claimed the right to vote in the 1780s and 1790s is evidence of this. See page 114.

a. No. The New Jersey law that allowed some women to claim the right to vote applied only to unmarried white women who met certain property qualifications. See page 114.

b. No. The information about voting rights for women in New Jersey in the 1780s and 1790s does not provide evidence that most women actively pursued the right to vote. See page 114.

c. No. The reevaluation of the role of women in American society that occurred during the early republican period had more of an impact on women’s private lives than on their political role in society. See page 114.

5. c. Correct. The “ideal republican woman” was to be the perfect embodiment of self-sacrificing republicanism. In other words, she was to sacrifice her individual will to the common good. See page 114.

a. No. The “republican man,” rather than the “republican woman,” was free to pursue his own economic self-interest. See page 114.

b. No. Although the “republican woman” was supposed to aid the community, she was also supposed to remain primarily a private being, bound to home and family. See page 114.

d. No. This would be seen as far too selfish a notion for the “ideal republican woman.” See page 114.

6. b. Correct. Free blacks continued to face the political, social, and economic discrimination that accompanied white racism. To help themselves, they often formed separate institutions such as the Brown Fellowship Society. See page 115.

a. No. This society was not formed by slaves and was not an abolitionist society. See page 115.

c. No. Although there were instances of free northern blacks working to gain repeal of discriminatory laws, the Brown Fellowship Society is not an example of such efforts. See page 115.

d. No. Although some people did work to advance racial equality during the years of the early republic, most notably the Quakers, the Brown Fellowship Society is not an example of such efforts. See page 115.

7. c. Correct. The questioning of slavery that accompanied the American Revolution led to the gradual abolition of slavery in the North. However, southern slaveholders, in order to defend the practice of holding blacks in bondage, developed new racist notions that made the concept that “all men are created equal” inapplicable to blacks. See page 116.

a. No. The exact number of slaves who left their masters to fight for the British is not known, but it was considerably less than ten thousand. Furthermore, British recruitment of slaves led to acceptance of blacks in the Continental Army and in most state militias (Georgia and South Carolina were exceptions). See page 116.

b. No. There is no evidence in the text to suggest that the number of slave rebellions increased in the period immediately after the Revolutionary War. See page 116.

d. No. Although such evidence is available today, the scientific community of the late eighteenth century presented no such evidence and had little knowledge of genetic theory. See page 116.

8. a. Correct. Most states lowered property qualifications for voting and, as a result, broadened the base of American government. See page 117.

b. No. The first state constitutions did not attempt to control governmental power through a system of checks and balances. Such an idea developed in response to the failures of the first constitutions, was included in some revised constitutions during the 1780s, and was finally included in the national constitution drafted in 1787. See page 117.

c. No. As is stated in the text: “Seven of the constitutions contained formal bills of rights, and the others had similar clauses.” See page 117.

d. No. During the colonial period Americans had learned to fear colonial governors as agents of the king. This fear led them to put little power in the hands of governors in the first state constitutions. See page 117.

9. a. Correct. Although the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 discouraged the future importation of slaves into the region, it provided that slaveowners could reclaim runaway slaves who sought refuge in the territory. See page 120.

b. No. A process was established by which settlers in the Northwest Territory could eventually apply for statehood, but first they had to go through successive stages of territorial government. See page 120.

c. No. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 guaranteed freedom of religion to settlers in the Northwest Territory and did not create an established church. See page 120.

d. No. The Ordinance of 1785 established that each township would be divided into thirty-six sections of 640 acres each. Price per acre was one dollar, and the minimum sale was 640 acres. See page 120.

10. c. Correct. The rebels asserted that since they did not have adequate representation in the Massachusetts legislature they had not been afforded the “right of consent to taxation.” Therefore, since the rebels viewed the Massachusetts government as tyrannical, they claimed the right to “disturb government.” This was essentially the claim that Jefferson made in the Declaration of Independence in his justification of the American Revolution. In that document, Jefferson said that if government becomes destructive of the rights of the people, the people have the right to rise in rebellion against that government, overthrow that government, and institute a new government. See page 122.

a. No. The rebels involved in Shays’s Rebellion were able to halt court proceedings briefly, but they never seriously threatened the Massachusetts government and were dispersed by militiamen in 1787. See page 122.

b. No. Shays’s Rebellion did not involve an alliance between poor whites and blacks. See page 122.

d. No. The rebellion was undertaken by farmers in Massachusetts angered by the state’s fiscal policies and was not a counterrevolutionary movement by the Massachusetts elite. See page 122.

11. b. Correct. Madison’s thorough analysis of past confederacies and republics led him to advance the principle of checks and balances as the route to political stability. This principle, to a great extent, was the conceptual framework from which the delegates to the Constitutional Convention worked. See pages 123–124.

a. No. Madison rejected the prevailing idea that republics had to be small to survive. Instead, he contended that in a large republic there would be so many interest groups vying for power that no one group would be able to control the government. See pages 123–124.

c. No. Madison agreed to the compromise by which each state had equal representation in the Senate, and he was one of the 42 delegates to sign the Constitution. See pages 123–124.

d. No. Madison did not insist on a bill of rights during the Constitutional Convention. It was only during the ratification campaign in New York that he promised in the Federalist Papers that a bill of rights would be added. See pages 123–124.

12. d. Correct. Even though a partial compromise over the issue of representation in the Senate had been worked out in committee, the key to breaking the deadlock was Roger Sherman’s suggestion that a state’s two senators be allowed to vote individually and not as a unit. See pages 123–124.

a. No. Even after a committee created to work out a compromise suggested equal representation of the states in the Senate, the deadlock continued. See pages 123–124.

b. No. It was generally agreed that members of the House would be popularly elected and senators would be elected by the state legislatures. Therefore, this suggestion did not break a deadlock at the convention. See pages 123–124.

c. No. The committee appointed to work out a compromise concerning the question of whether the states would be equally represented or proportionately represented in the Senate recommended equal representation. See pages 123–124.

13. b. Correct. This distribution of political power, with its elaborate system of checks and balances, is considered the key to the Constitution. What are the strengths and weaknesses of this system? See page 124.

a. No. The three-fifths compromise was important in resolving a potentially divisive issue, but it is not considered the “key” to the Constitution. See page 124.

c. No. The Constitution did not embody the concept of direct democracy at all levels of government. The only part of government to be elected directly by the people was the House of Representatives. Why do you think the founding fathers made this decision? See page 124.

d. No. The Constitution does not provide for an elected federal judiciary. Federal judges are appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. What was the rationale for this? See page 124.

14. a. Correct. The Antifederalists believed that constant vigilance by the people was necessary to prevent oppression by the government. They believed that such vigilance was possible at the state level but that it was considerably more difficult at the national level. See page 125.

b. No. The Antifederalists were fearful of a powerful central government. See page 125.

c. No. The Antifederalists tended to be older Americans whose political ideas had been shaped during the earlier period of the resistance movement against Great Britain. See page 125.

d. No. Thomas Jefferson favored ratification of the Constitution and was not the leader of the Antifederalists. See page 125.

15. b. Correct. The absence of a bill of rights became the most important issue in the debate over ratification of the Constitution. Why did the founding fathers not include a bill of rights in the original document? See page 125.

a. No. The powers of the chief executive were not the most important issue in the debate over ratification of the Constitution. See page 125.

c. No. The Constitution did not extend the vote to women, and those wanting such an extension were a decided minority. Why do you think they were a minority? See page 125.

d. No. By enumerating the powers of Congress, the Constitution did place restrictions on Congress’s powers. How does such an enumeration of powers place restrictions? In what way was the “necessary and proper” clause important? See page 125.

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