Your text begins this section with some very important questions: “No areas of American life were more powerfully changed than politics and government. Who would have a voice in revolutionary politics, and who would be excluded? How vigorously would political equality be pursued, or how tenaciously would people
cling to the traditional belief that citizens should defer to their political leaders? And how would the new state governments balance the need for order and the security of property against demands for democratic openness and accountability?” All of these questions need to be answered for a complete understanding of the political developments of this period to take place. Let’s begin.
MOBILIZING THE PEOPLE (209) Once the genie is out of the bottle, it can’t be put back in. This is an old story with a powerful message for the revolutionaries. It’s also something that comes in many different forms. Its true that there was a lot of revolutionary talk, but who was directing it? What shape was it taking? What were its short and long term goals? Was it impulsive and evolving, or something planned and deliberate? Your text also says something very direct in its position on this issue (which is uncommon in your book) and needs to be pointed out. Here’s the passage: “The belief that God sanctioned their revolution strengthened Americans’ resolve. It also encouraged them to equate their own interests with divine intent and thus offered convenient justification for whatever they believed necessary to do. This was not the last time Americans would make that dangerous equation.” Think about this. Monarchs used this often to sanction their actions. What’s different in this case? Do individuals need to rationalize their radical actions before they can accept them? It’s an interesting psychological question that can be related to different events in our history. Finally, your text tells you about the rise in crowds and committees. It was the ‘will of the people’. With so many competing interests, is it any wonder that some of the founders were worried about the direction of change?
REPUBLICAN IDEOLOGY (211) Back to that ‘ideology of revolutionary republicanism’ that your book talks about so much… Here’s an important passage, “Basic to republican belief was the notion that governmental power, when removed from the people’s close oversight, threatened to expand at the expense of liberty.” Who do you trust? No one. Who do you represent? Everyone. Welcome to republican government. This formed the heart of the struggle later between the Anti-Federalists and the Federalists. Your text goes on to explain something else very important here, and that is this new system, “Order was not to be imposed from above through traditional agencies of central control such as monarchies, standing armies, and state churches. In a republic, political discipline had to emerge from the self-regulated behavior of citizens, especially from their willingness to put the public good ahead of their private interests.” Hm. How do you get there? It’s an interesting balance of power in a country that had nothing directly to base it on – only the absence of liberty and political equality from British rule.
FORMING NEW GOVERNMENTS (212) You know, these sections have some good ideas in them. It touches on political philosophies that guide individual’s actions and for me, it is fun to write about. In this section, your text touches on how and why the states all scrapped their old constitutions for new ones. It also lays out some basics on Constitutions 101: “that sovereignty resides in the people rather than government; that written constitutions embody the people’s sovereign will; and that governments must function within clear constitutional limits.” Those definitely need to be memorized and understood. They come up again and again in US History.
DIFFERENT PATHS TO THE REPUBLICAN GOAL (213) How radical should these new constitutions be? Some were pretty advanced for their time. One even began to look at not just political equality and rights, but economic ones – specifically taking land from the rich and spreading it among the rest. That was revolutionary indeed. You know, one of the important developments of this era is touched on here, but not mentioned – Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. It is probably one of the most important documents in the world – and it lays the foundation for capitalism as an economic system. It was published in 1776 coincidentally. The bottom line here in the text is that you can see that the revolution brought different ideas to different groups. It was clearly an inspired period of change.
WOMEN AND THE LIMITS OF REPUBLICAN CITIZENSHIP (214) Finally, the women. Remember, we talked earlier about the lenses of history. Should women be evaluated as components of male history or separate actors in their own context? Think about it. Your text puts them in the male context but expresses that some women desired liberty from that role. One of the questions that we have to ask as students of history, though, is whether we are viewing the past through our lenses or theirs. Are characteristics of freedom and equality universal through different time periods, or specific to one period and not another? What role were women expected to play? Be good mothers and raise democratic children, raise money for soldier’s shirts, spin cotton and do not mix the message of the country’s freedom with your own. That would not change for a while in America.
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