The Super Summary of World History - Alan Dale Daniel [88]
It was still a long haul, but in 1781 a French fleet bottled up an English army at Yorktown where American and French forces already had them surrounded on land. After a siege of some weeks the English surrendered, losing yet another army, this time under General Cornwallis. Still it did not end. Negotiations in Paris drug on until 1782 when Parliament at last voted for peace with the new United States of America (US, USA, or America).
The American Frontier
The United States of America eventually developed into a world power, but in the beginning it was just a few sparsely populated colonies on the eastern seaboard of the great North American continent. On the frontier, the Native Americans were trying to hold up the advance of the Europeans (now Americans). During the nearly seven years of the American Revolutionary War, more colonists were killed on the frontier in the ceaseless “Indian Wars” than were killed fighting the Revolution. This frontier of scattered settlements and lone men tracking through the wilderness was an important part of the American mystique. Those fitting in nowhere else could travel west for land or some other opportunity. Those arriving with nothing could go west to clear land and establish ownership of something. The frontier was a way to let off society’s steam because those without hope could go west and obtain, through hard work and unending danger, something of their own. There was little law in the west, and that is how those in the west liked it. Those born in the west often hated the impositions of civilization and continued west when civilization started creeping in. On the western frontier the same family names appear repeatedly. This was near total freedom from the law or the obligations of society. A person could do what he wanted when he wanted, and that developed into a way of life and thought still coveted by many in the United States. “Leave me alone” are extremely important words in the United States of America.
The Constitution of the United States of America
1789
America had finally won its freedom. Each state had its charter or constitution providing for governance. The American states had been jointly governing themselves under the Articles of Confederation since 1775, but this weak document failed to pull the nation together. Now facing the task of coming up with their own national governmental system, the Americans carried a few powerful ideas into the process that we should remember:
1. Each state wanted to keep its individual identity. States were set up as separate colonies, and grew up very differently because of American geography. No colony wanted another colony telling them how to govern in their jurisdiction. This was an unstated assumption in the Constitutional debates seldom talked about, but it underlies many disagreements between Revolutionary era Americans.
2. Fear of a powerful central government was fervent. This is another given, although expressed in many different ways. One of the Constitutional Convention’s main goals was to prevent the central government from overpowering state governments and individual citizens. In this central task the convention failed.
3. The colonials believed revolting against an oppressive government was a God given right. The Declaration of Independence says so. This is a key reason for the Second Amendment to the US Constitution (the right to keep and bear arms) and the Bill of Rights (first 10 Amendments to the Constitution). The Bill of Rights entered the Constitution as an additional measure to keep the central government in check by giving rights directly to individuals; however, the ultimate weapon was always rebellion. In the 21stst Century, we may forget that revolutionaries who overthrew a powerful central government by force of arms founded our nation. The US Constitution reflects this fact.
4. Protecting private property was considered a key element to economic and political freedom.
5. Colonist did not want taxes levied on everything that moved. They wanted to be left alone.