The glorious cause, p.98
The Glorious Cause, page 98
42. Staughton Lynd, Class Conflict, Slavery, and the United States Constitution (New York, 1967), 63–77
43. Quoted in Mary Beth Norton, The British-Americans: The Loyalist Exiles in England,1774–1789 (Boston, 1972), 124
44. Pauline Maier, “The Charleston Mob and the Evolution of Popular Politics in Revolutionary South Carolina, 1765–1784“ PAH, 4 (1970), 176.
45. This paragraph and the one following are based on Benjamin Quarles, The Negro in the American Revolution (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1961), 19–32
46. Ibid., 80.
47. Winthrop D. Jordan, White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550–1812 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1968), 3– 98, For a brilliant argument about the importance of English attitudes toward the laboring poor in the development of racial slavery, see Edmund S. Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia (New York, 1975).
48. Jordan, White Over Black, 345–46
49. John Richard Alden, The South in the Revolution, 1763–1789 (Baton Rouge, La.,1957), 346–48.
50. The most persuasive statement I know about matters discussed in this paragraph is William W. Freehling, “The Founding Fathers and Slavery,” AHR, 77 (1972), 81–93
51. John D. Daniels, “The Indian Population of North America in 1492” WMQ, 3d Ser., 49 (1992), 298–320 is an incisive review of the demographic studies.
52. Colin G. Calloway, The American Revolution in Indian Country (Cambridge, Eng., 1995), XVI, 1–25. See also Richard B. White, The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815 (Cambridge, Eng., 1991).
53. Calloway, American Revolution, 85–107
54. For a summary of these attitudes, see Daniel K. Richter’s essay “Native Peoples of North America and the Eighteenth-Century British Empire,” in Peter Marshall, ed., The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Eighteenth Century (Oxford, 1998), 347–71. The books cited in fn. 52 (above) by White and Calloway are also helpful.
55. Don Higginbotham, The War of American Independence (Bloomington, 1971), 319–31. See Calloway, American Revolution, 182–212 for the Cherokees.
56. Higginbotham, War of American Independence, 322, for Gnadenhütten.
57. Ibid.,322–325
58. For the Iroquois, see Daniel K. Richter, The Ordeal of the Longhouse: The Peoples of the Iroquois League in the Era of European Colonization (Chapel Hill, 1992) and Calloway, American Revolution, 108–157, passim. Higginbotham’s account, cited above, also deals with Sullivan’s campaign.
59. James H. Merrell, The Indians New World: Catawbas and Their Neighbors from European Contact Through the Era of Removal (Chapel Hill, 1989), for this paragraph and the next three. See especially, 192–225.
60. Ibid., quoted on 215.
1. Quoted in Willcox, Portrait of a General, 386.
2. Wickwires, Cornwallis, 326–27.
3. Willcox, Portrait of a General, 373–76.
4. Many of Clinton’s letters to Cornwallis are in Stevens, ed., Clinton-Cornwallis Controversy, II.
5. Willcox, Portrait of a General, 392–404.
6. Stevens, ed., Clinton-Cornwallis Controversy, II, 57–58.
7. Ward, II, 876–77.
8. Wickwires, Cornwallis, 347–53.
9. Freeman, GW, V, 284 –96.
10. Ibid., 287–88.
11. Ibid., 309–21, for this paragraph and the one preceding.
12. The quotation is from a letter of Sept. 7, 1781, in GW Writings, XXIII, 101. For other instructions, see ibid., 38, 51–63,98–101,102–3.
13. To Grasse, Sept. 17, 1781, ibid., 123–25. Willcox, Portrait of a General, 414–24
14. GW Writings, XXIII, 136–39, 160–65, 169; Freeman, GW, V, 322–44.
15. For the town and approaches to it, see Freeman, GW, V, 345–50, and Ward, II, 887–88. There is an excellent contemporary description in Evelyn M. Acomb, ed., The Revolutionary Journal of Baron von Closen, 1780–1783 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1958), 139–41.
16. Wickwires, Cornwallis, 366. The Wickwires and Ward point to the existence of many small redoubts constructed by Cornwallis; the important point is that Cornwallis’s defenses were not completed.
17. For Washington’s comment, see GW Writings, XXIII, 210.
18. “Diary of Captain James Duncan . . . in the Yorktown Campaign, 1781,” in William H. Egle, ed., Pennsylvania Archives, 2d Ser., 15 (Harrisburg, Pa., 1890), 748.
19. Ibid., 749; for Rochambeau’s order, see Acomb, ed., Journal of von Closen, 146.
20. Acomb, ed., Journal of von Closen, 143–46; Samuel C. Cobb, ed.,“Diary of General David Cobb,” MHS, Procs., 19 (Boston, 1882), 68–69; Ebenezer Denny, Military Journal (Philadelphia, 1859), 41; Henry P. Johnston, ed., Memoir of Lieut. Col. Tench Tilghman (Albany, N.Y., 1876), 104; GW Writings, XXIII, 210; Edward M. Riley, ed., “St. George Tucker’s Journal of the Siege of Yorktown, 1781,” WMQ, 3d Ser., 5 (1948), 384.
21. [Steven] Popp’s Journal, 1777–1983,” PMHB, 26 (1902), 41 (”hastily contrived shelters”); “The Doehla Journal,” trans. R. J. Tilden, WMQ, 2d Ser., 222 (1942), 251, 245, for the two other quotations. For the artillery exchanges described in the three preceding paragraphs, see the accounts cited above, fn. 20.
22. For the French assault on No. 9, see “Journal of Jean-Baptiste-Antoine de Verger,” in Howard C. Rice, Jr., and Anne S. K. Brown, eds., The American Campaigns of Rochambeau’s Army, 1780, 1781, 1783 (2 vols., Princeton, N.J., 1972), I, 142; for the American attack on No. 10, see Hamilton to Lafayette, Oct. 15, 1781, in Syrett and Cooke, eds., Papers of Hamilton, II, 679–81.
23. Wickwires, Cornwallis, 382–84; “Doehla Journal,” tr. Tilden, WMQ, 2d Ser., 22(1942),253.
24. Wickwires, Cornwallis, 384–85. –85; Freeman, GW, V, 378–91.
25. John Brooke, King George III (New York, 1972), 219–20.
26. For peace negotiations, see the accounts by Samuel Flagg Bemis, The Diplomacy of the American Revolution (1935; reprint ed., Bloomington, Ind., 1957); and Richard B. Morris, The Peacemakers: The Great Powers and American Independence (New York, 1965).
27. Bemis, Diplomacy,194–95.
28. Ibid., 203; Morris, Peacemakers, 376 –77.
29. The text of the “Preliminary and Conditional Articles of Peace” is reprinted in Bemis, Diplomacy, 259–64.
30. For two newspaper reports on the celebration of the peace, see the Gazette of the State of Georgia (Savannah), May 1, 1783; and Connecticut Gazette (Hartford), May 9, 1783.
31. Piers Mackesy, The War for America, 1775–1783 (Cambridge, Mass., 1965), 4–7.
32. W. W. Abbot, ed., The Papers of George Washington: Revolutionary War Series (Char–lottesville, 1985, 9 vols. to date),159–62. Quotation on 160.
33. The Massachusetts line mutinied on Jan. 1, 1780; in all, about 100 soldiers began to march from camp at West Point, heading home. They were quickly brought back, and a few were punished. In January 1781 Pennsylvania regulars at Morristown, New Jersey, mutinied; New Jersey Continentals at Pompton, New Jersey, rose a few days later. The Pennsylvania mutiny was especially serious and probably involved 1000 troops. Both mutinies were rapidly put down. For full accounts, see Carl Van Doren, Mutiny in January: The Story of a Crisis in the Continental Army . . . (New York, 1943). There is a short, revealing report on the Pennsylvania mutiny in the Pennsylvania Gazette (Phila.), Jan. 24, 1781.
1. Much surrounding the events at Newburgh is shrouded in mystery. One of the best studies of the “conspiracy” is Richard H. Kohn, “The Inside History of the Newburgh Conspiracy: America and the Coup d’Etat,” WMQ, 3d Ser., 27 (1970), 187–220, though Kohn probably exaggerates Horatio Gates’s part in the affair. On Gates, see Paul David Nelson, “Horatio Gates at Newburgh, 1783: A Misunderstood Role,” ibid., 29 (1972), 143–51, with Richard H. Kohn’s reply, ibid., 151–58.
2. GW Writings, XXVI, 226–27
3. Freeman, GW, V, 428–37; TJ Papers, VI, 402–14
4. GW Writings, XXVII, 284.
5. TJ Papers, VI, 413. There is a fine account of Washington’s meeting with Congress in Freeman, GW, V, 472–77.
6. Burnett, Continental Congress, 568.
7. JM Papers, VI, xvi–xvii.
8. E. James Ferguson, The Power of the Purse: A History of American Public Finance, 1776–1790 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1961), 239–40.
9. Samuel Flagg Bemis, Pinckney’s Treaty: America’s Advantage from Europe’s Distress, 1783–1800 (rev. ed., New Haven, Conn., 1960), 44.
10. For the quotations in this paragraph, and the intructions to Jay, see JM Papers, IX, 71n, fn. 5; 70; 73n, fn. 13.
11. For the vote on Jay’s instructions and much else in the negotiations, I have drawn on Bemis, Pinckney’s Treaty, esp. chap. 3.
12. TJ Papers, VI, 571.
13. This discussion of policy toward western lands is based on the documents and editorial notes in TJ Papers, VI, 571–617; and Merrill Jensen, “The Creation of the National Domain, 1781–1784” Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 26 (1939), 323”42
14. TJ Papers, VII, 145.
15. Merrill Jensen, The New Nation: A History of the United States During the Confederation, 1781–1789 (New York, 1950), 354–55.
16. Ibid., 355–56.
17. Ibid., 358–59.
18. Gordon G. Bjork, “The Weaning of the American Economy: Independence, Market Changes, and Economic Development,” Journal of Economic History, 24 (1964), 541–60.
19. Ibid., passim, esp. 545.
20. Ibid., passim
21. Ibid., 559; James F. Shepherd and Gary M. Walton, “Economic Change After the American Revolution: Pre- and Post-War Comparisons of Maritime Shipping and Trade,” Explorations in Economic History, 13 (1976), 397–422.
22. Rakove, Beginnings of National Politics, 354–55, points out, however, that Congress was rarely discussed in the newspapers.
23. Ferguson, Power of the Purse, 3–24.
24. Ibid., 29–31.
25. Ibid., 31–45.
26. Ibid., 46–47.
27. Ibid., 48–56.
28. Ibid., 65–66.
29. Ibid., 220–45, esp. 234–38.
30. Ibid., 223–29, and passim.
31. Ibid., 226.
32. Merrill Jensen’s New Nation provides the first full statement of this view.
33. Ferguson, Power of the Purse, 70–81, 172–74
34. Ibid., 116–68.
35. Ibid., 171–79.
36. Irving Brant, James Madison: The Nationalist, 1780–1787 (Indianapolis, Ind., 1948), 376–78. The standard biography of Madison is Brant, James Madison (6 vols., Indianapolis, Ind., 1941–61). I have cited this work by the full title of each volume.
37. Brant, Madison: The Nationalist, 375–76.
38. TJ Papers, IX, 206.
39. Syrett and Cooke, eds., Papers of Hamilton, III, 689.
40. On public policy in Massachusetts in the 1780s, see Van Beck Hall, Politics Without Parties: Massachusetts, 1780–1791 (Pittsburgh, Pa., 1972); for Shays’s Rebellion, Robert J. Taylor, Western Massachusetts in the Revolution (Providence, R.I., 1954), 128–67.
1. Rakove, Beginnings of National Politics, 3–62.
2. Ibid., 164–65.
3. Jack P. Greene, “Society, Ideology, and Politics: An Analysis of the Political Culture of Mid-Eighteenth-Century Virginia,” in Richard M. Jellison, ed., Society, Freedom, and Conscience: The Coming of the Revolution in Virginia, Massachusetts, and New York (New York, 1976), 14–76
4. Edmund S. Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia (New York, 1975), 295–387.
5. S.E. Morison, ed., Sources and Documents Illustrating the American Revolution (2d ed., Oxford, 1929), 149–51, for the Declaration of Rights.
6. TJ Papers, I, 377–83, for the constitution; the quotation is from 379.
7. Ibid., 292. Merrill D. Peterson, Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation (New York, 1970), 97–100, provides an excellent account of Jefferson’s hopes for a Virginia constitution.
8. For Jefferson’s draft constitutions and his comments to Pendleton, see TJ Papers, I, 337–64, 503, 504. Pendleton’s ideas may be followed in his letters to Jefferson in ibid.,296–97, 484–85, 488–91
9. Ibid., I, 503.
10. Notes on the State of Virginia, ed. William Peden (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1955), 120.
11. TJ Papers, I, 560–64, for the bills on entail and the revision of the laws.
12. Boyd’s account of the revisal of the laws is in ibid., II, 305–24.
13. For a catalogue of the bills and the texts of the bills, see ibid., 329–657.
14. Notes on the State of Virginia, ed. Peden, 138.
15. TJ Papers, II, 470–73.
16. Ibid., 492–507 (498, 497 for quotations).
17. Ibid., XI, 152.
18. Ibid., II, 526–35 (531 for quotation).
19. Ibid., XI, 152.
20. Ibid., II, 527.
21. Peterson, Jefferson, 133–34.
22. Ibid., 134 for the quotation.
23. JM Papers, VIII, 295–306, for Madison’s “Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments”; quotations are on 300. Perhaps even more important than Madison’s petition was one that charged that the General Assessment Bill violated the spirit of the gospel. This petition received 4899 signatures, most perhaps of dissenters.
24. TJ Papers, II, 546.
25. Notes on the State of Virginia, ed. Peden, 161.
26. For information about the men mentioned in this paragraph I have drawn on: Eric Foner, Tom Paine and Revolutionary America (New York, 1976); David Freeman Hawke, Paine (New York, 1974); Richard Alan Ryerson, The Revolution Is Now Begun: The Radical Committees of Philadelphia, 1765–1776 (Philadelphia, 1978); Brooke Hindle, David Rittenhouse (Princeton, N.J., 1964).
27. I have learned much about American ideas about the “Senate” and mixed government from Gordon S. Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1969),206–22 and passim. Jackson Turner Main, The Upper House in Revolutionary America, 1763–1788 (Madison, Wis., 1967) contains valuable information on the changes in the composition of the upper houses in the state legislatures of the 1780s.
28. Morison, ed., Sources and Documents, 167, for the quotation, and for the text of the Pennsylvania constitution.
1. Irving Brant, James Madison (6 vols, Indianapolis, Ind., 1941–61
2. Washington to Knox, March 8, 1787, in GW Writings, XXIX, 171. See also ibid., 193–95, 208–10
3. The delegations are listed in Charles C. Tansill, ed., Documents Illustrative of the Formation of the Union of American States (Washington, D.C., 1927),85– 86. William Pierce’s sketches of delegates in ibid., 96–108, are useful.
4. Forrest McDonald, We The People: The Economic Origins of the Constitution (Chicago, 1958), chaps. 2–3, contains much on the delegates.
5. This assessment of Morris is based on my reading of the Convention proceedings.
6. Charles Page Smith, James Wilson (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1956) is the most reliable biography.
7. For Morris, see Max M. Mintz, Gouverneur Morris and the American Revolution (Norman, Okla., 1970)
8. For other sorts of divisions, see McDonald, We The People. I have found Irving Brant,James Madison: Father of the Constitution, 1787–1800 (Indianapolis, Ind., 1950), 55–70, especially helpful
9. Brant, James Madison: Father, 62, 65; Richard P. McCormick, Experiment in Independence: New Jersey in the Critical Period, 1781–1789 (New Brunswick, N.J., 1950), chap. 9, passim.
10. Farrand, I, 2–13
11. ibid., 18–23; ibid., III, 593–94
12. Ibid.,.33–38
13. For discussions of the Virginia Plan, ibid., 45–239 (quotations are on 88, 96).
14. Ibid., 235–37.
15. Ibid., 156, 235.
16. For Sherman’s comments, ibid., 133, 48.
17. Ibid., 48.
18. Ibid., 242–45; ibid., III, 611–16.
19. Ibid., I, 250.
20. For Wilson’s speech, ibid., 254–55 (quotations on 253, 254).
21. Ibid., 255, 314–22 (for Madison’s speech)
22. Ibid., 322.
23. Ibid., 335–44 (Sherman quotation on 343).
24. Ibid., 358–60.
25. Ibid., 383–443.
26. Ibid., 446–49.
27. Ibid., 448, for the quotations. See also ibid., 463–65 (Madison), 467 (Gerry)
28. See, e.g., ibid., 450(Sherman), 468–69 (Ellsworth)
29. Ibid., 490–92, 500–502 (Bedford), 484–85 (Ellsworth).
30. Ibid., 468.
31. Ibid., 447, 482–84.
32. Ibid., 471–72.
33. For Madison’s later comments on his language in this speech, see Brant, James Madison: Father, 85–87.
34. Farrand, I, 490–93 (Bedford and King), 510, 511–16.
35. Ibid., 516.
36. Ibid., 524–26.
37. Ibid., 527–29 (Madison), 529–31 (Morris), 531–32 (Bedford).
38. Ibid., 550.
39. Ibid., 548–606, passim; Ibid., II, 203 (on Gerry and King’s motion).
40. Ibid., I, 15–16.
41. Ibid.,25–27.
42. Ibid., 29–32, 33–128
43. Ibid., 74 (quotation).
44. Ibid., 85, 95–96, 97.
45. The report is in ibid., 177–89.
46. Ibid., 202–3 (Morris), 202 (Dickinson).
47. Ibid., 203–4 (Madison), 204–5 (Franklin)
48. Article VII [VI], Sect. 4, 6, in ibid., 183.
49. ibid., 370 (Mason), 372–73 (Dickinson), 373 (King); Ibid., III, 254 (Pinckney).
50. Ibid.,II, 415(Madison and Morris); ibid.,III,211–12 (Martin), 325 (Madison).
51. Ibid., II, 367.
52. Ibid., 497.
53. Ibid., 515, 527.
54. Ibid., 547, 553.
55. Ibid., 644–45 (Randolph); George Athan Billias, Elbridge Gerry: Founding Father and Republican Statesman (New York, 1975), 200–205, is a fine account of this matter and others.
1. This interpretation is based on my reading of a variety of sources and studies. Perhaps the most influential interpretation of the drafting of the Constitution—and the most harmful to understanding—is Charles Beard’s An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States (New York, 1913).
