Dbq, Changes After the American Revolution
APUSH DBQ
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America. After the American Revolution, Americans, who were free of British control, started to reevaluate politics, the economy and society. After breaking away Americans changed how they wanted to govern their society. The uneducated group of people didn’t experience a lot of change though the ideals from the revolution still guided some to seek better financial opportunities. Women, slaves, and loyalist experienced a good amount of change in society. Women gained more freedoms, some slaves were set free, and loyalist left America. Overall, America didn’t experience a lot of economic change, but it did experience some political and social change however not enough to say it was a radical change.
After first breaking away from Britain, Americans wanted their government to not resemble Britain’s at all. They did this by adopting the Articles of Confederation that had no national executive branch. However the government under the Articles was very weak and no power because it couldn’t raise money through taxes, the people who led the national government realized that a more centralized government was needed. As the constitution was written and it was in the process of being ratified by all the states, the federalist papers written mostly by Alexander Hamilton were written. In one paper by
James Madison talks about “the government being able to control itself and the governed” (Document I). This shows that the concept of checks and balances, could be used to keep the national government in line and not get out of control. The Constitution, finally ratified, was similar to Britain’s government but also different in its more active system of checks and balances. Another political change was the implementation that if a
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America. After the American Revolution, Americans, who were free of British control, started to reevaluate politics, the economy and society. After breaking away Americans changed how they wanted to govern their society. The uneducated group of people didn’t experience a lot of change though the ideals from the revolution still guided some to seek better financial opportunities. Women, slaves, and loyalist experienced a good amount of change in society. Women gained more freedoms, some slaves were set free, and loyalist left America. Overall, America didn’t experience a lot of economic change, but it did experience some political and social change however not enough to say it was a radical change.
After first breaking away from Britain, Americans wanted their government to not resemble Britain’s at all. They did this by adopting the Articles of Confederation that had no national executive branch. However the government under the Articles was very weak and no power because it couldn’t raise money through taxes, the people who led the national government realized that a more centralized government was needed. As the constitution was written and it was in the process of being ratified by all the states, the federalist papers written mostly by Alexander Hamilton were written. In one paper by
James Madison talks about “the government being able to control itself and the governed” (Document I). This shows that the concept of checks and balances, could be used to keep the national government in line and not get out of control. The Constitution, finally ratified, was similar to Britain’s government but also different in its more active system of checks and balances. Another political change was the implementation that if a