|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
1780s During the 1780s, the country’s intellectual leaders; Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams among others focused their creative energies on the problem of how free people (thus did not include natives or blacks) ought to govern themselves. America had always been a country of the plenty, rich and promising with vast land waiting to be divided. Well, there was certainly enough to go around for all involved. The pie was big enough to provide slices for everyone of the European settlers. No! The American Revolution and the newest focus did not include the taking-away- from-the-rich and leading families in order to give equality to the less fortunate. The leaders focused on how to govern the riches of the country called United States. There was no thought about the little guy when it came to landownership. Surveyed land was auctioned off by the government at 640 acre minimum parcels with a minimum bid of a dollar each acre. Very few people had such huge amounts of money available. ** Looking forward to prosperity, issues like slave holding in the South were on purpose easily overlooked. Who in his right mind would have dared to tell Washington "You can’t have slaves!" Or who would have dared to tell Thomas Jefferson to live a live without any colored servant slaves? No the fathers of the new nation did not attempt to solve the slave problem but handed it down to the next generation. As colonists, most people had resented most privileges because of noble birth. Now states abolished laws of primogeniture and entail. Thomas Jefferson argued in favor of separating state and church, and talked about future problems with slavery, yet he too never freed any slaves during his lifetime. James Madison however did free his slaves and set an example for other southern settlers. It is said that James Madison , a rather unprepossessing Virginian was the most brilliant American thinker of his generation. He has to be credited with the idea, "that a republican form of government would work better in a large country than a small one and with this he helped to create the government we have." Hamilton, a dynamic young lawyer became the driving force who created the federal banking system and it was him who made sure that the old government debts were paid off. All Americans moving to the frontiers received full political representation in their state legislature (excluding women, blacks and natives) and because new districts tended to be poorer than the established settlements, their inhabitants often selected representatives who seemed less cultured and less well trained than those sent by eastern voters. *Yet already back then as people were speaking out their beliefs, arguments for and against slavery were formed. Abolitionist sentiment pointed out the most appalling contradictions of the republican principles. From Massachusetts to Virginia groups formed to end slavery, those groups included prominent American figures such as Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and Benjamin Franklin. As we know, the Revolution had confirmed many rights the American colonists had long enjoyed, including religious tolerance and freedom of movement. There was also little or no law along the frontiers and a superior attitude of the white settlers over the natives and non-whites was common. The ruling class in America was never attacked in the American Revolution, however as more and more immigrants streamed into the "New World" new classes were soon going to challenge the old leaders. "One wealthy Bostonian complained in 1779, ‘Fellows who would have cleaned my shoes five years ago have amassed fortunes and are riding chariots.’"(Source America Past and Present, by Divine). *Causes,** leading causes, ***immediate leading causes for a Civil War. last updated 02/19/07 |
|
|
|
