George Henrring Chapter Summary

“Despite the view of some historians that the conflict between Great Britain and its thirteen North American colonies was economic in origin, in fact the American Revolution had its roots in politics and other areas of American life.” Great Britain and the American colonies had a relationship impacted with many hardships. I believe that there was a political struggle between the two groups, but that Great Britain and the American colonies used economics as a chance to show how much control they had. Multiple Acts written by Parliament, the colonies' Committees of Correspondence and Continental Congress created political friction between Great Britain and the American colonies.

In the books The Quartet and Thomas Jefferson, Joseph Ellis and Joyce Appleby discuss their thoughts on two important moments in American history and how they believe them to be revolutionary. The Quartet describes the political situation of the United States immediately following the American Revolution and how it made the transformation from a confederation into a republic. To do this, it follows the actions of four prominent men – George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison – as they work toward their goal of bringing about a new national government and discusses nationalism, issues such as economics and expansion, and arguments about personal, state, and federal powers. He argues that the debate over the Constitution was between “nationalists” and “confederationists”, that the second Revolution was a by-product of the first in that it took the systems of the newly-independent states and reworked them into a coherent national collective, and that without this change, the United States couldn’t have become a modern model of government.

In, 1777 the continental congress drafted the Articles of confederation. This has become a significant change. The Articles of constitution became the government's plan under leadership of John Dickenson of Pennsylvania, the Articles were a confederation o thirteen colonies that had very little problems given to the federal government. The United States used the thirteen colonies to defeat the British during the American Revolution. The British during the American Revolution. The Articles thought it was their only option to build unity at that time but unfavorable during this period of

Through the years of 1775 to 1783 the American colonies had secured their separation from Great Britain and created ambitions they hoped to achieve for a better government and society. Many figureheads emerged from this vivid period in time whose beliefs and ideas shaped the outcome of many of these events. If George Washington had never been appointed Colonel to lead the Southern and Northern armies America would never have had the unity and strength to seek solutions from unsuccessful attempts to govern themselves.

In the period of the seventeenth and eighteenth century, there were ways that the colonies united together, and those were through religion, unity, and through Great Britain. Through religion, they either united upon God’s presence, and others united to please and join by his word. Through unity, it was due to events where they work better together than alone, such as the revolutions, and make themselves independent. Through Great Britain’s actions, they triggered the Navigation Acts which limits the colonists on what they can do while also unifying to create their own government. Through the course of history, even though a great deal of citizens died to protect their country, this was all to make America independent and they were able to achieve this through their similarities and differences from religion, unity, and Great Britain.

Shortly after the Declaration of Independence was written and signed America had only one problem at the time that did not involve England. America had no form of government to fill the hole that was made when the separated from Parliament. This led to America creating the first republic ever seen in the whole world. Why did the not just follow in the footsteps of the Europeans country and have a monarchy? Because they did not want the new fund nation to collapse within itself like what was happening at the time and also to try and fix problems that were obvious with Parliament. This lead them to the Articles of Confederation. This document had 13 articles which gave the young America its government. The Articles of Confederation promoted state

The English Colonies was a hard place to live in with the Sugar Act, the Stamp act, and the monarchy trying to rule our every move . England was trying to pay for all their previous debts in other wars and took it out on the colonist. The English Colonies decided to revolt against England and won their independence, this war was known as the American Revolution. The United States was starting to look like a place where people would want to live, because there was no monarchy and a government that all white men can vote on. After the United States established independence the government ruled under the Articles of Confederation, and this was better than being ruled by England but was not what everyone thought it would be. Then after work and thought by the country leaders we now live under the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. There have been had rough times for the people of the United States and still is more to come.

“…thirteen powerful, independent, disunited States are in the habit off…refusing to obey our national Congress…I pray that we can act in time to prevent the bad things we fear may happen.” George Washington wrote this in a letter to John Jay (Doc 3). Even the man who is immediately thought of when talking about the start of our nation thought that without a new set of guidelines to run our country by, the young country would eventually break apart and the fighting of the higher powers would begin again. The reasons George thought this way was because of how week the Articles of Confederation actually were, also because all the different foreign problems that the country as a whole faced, and another big

After the Revolutionary War that was from 1776 to 1783, Great Britain's thirteen colonies began a period of unfortunate circumstances. They were finally free from the “motherland’ and the Founding Fathers of the United States were facing the challenges of of a small populated land with low resources and an unstable core. At the time it was unclear for the colonies to see how they would create New World order, most of the leaders agreed on a single thought- they needed a balance of power in their new government. In the time the writing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the Spanish-American War in 1898 had been happening, the nation has rejected all of the balance it had agreed on. It focused on its objectives and growth as a new government. At the end of the 19th century the country had a turning point with foreign relations, which had gradually gained strength on the international stage. Europe began to accept the “balance of power” politics, the United States spent their first century as a country they slowly began to develop themselves as a global strength.

The Quartet by Joseph Ellis was a novel to provide detail of the years following the American Revolution, and how the Quartet of George Washington, James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton each provided a quality in guiding America toward the right direction. Ellis creates a theme almost as if the reader is on a tour guide, because he explains the perspective on how America was being created between the “Second Revolution” of the years 1783-1789. But, the main goal Ellis wanted to make clear was this time period was the process of how America became a Nation. After finishing the book, Ellis was effective in making the case that the Quartet of Washington, Jay, Hamilton, Madison, as well as other major influences, greatly affected the “transition from confederation to nation.” Each Quartet presented a value in help transitioning America into a Nation, and Ellis provides excellent examples to solidify that claim.

During the time of the Revolutionary War, the American Colonies were upset about the England’s tyrannical rule and exploitation through harsh taxes. Eventually, the colonists revolted and split from England. They wrote the Declaration of Independence and created a new government whose outlines were written in the Articles of Confederation. Unfortunately, the Articles of Confederation had an overall negative impact, as it created a weak central government, a poor financial system, and inadequate militias. There are more disadvantages than advantages to this document.

Thirteen colonies, united strong and firm to bring down the King of Great Britain, who had been controlling them for a period of time. In these colonies, various people gathered together and formed a document known as The Declaration of Independence, that broke them free from the king and made them a nation, America. But before becoming America, they were held captive by the King of Great Britain, who did no good for the people and brought them nothing but misery. America slowly, but eventually evolved itself since the mid 1700’s and has become one of the strongest nations even till this day. With all these changes and history this nation has become of, so has it’s actions changed and outgrown throughout these years. The nation created in 1776 can be represented in various characteristics, as when the Age of Reason occurred. The Age of Reason focused on reason, individualism, and skepticism, impacting the society in a variety of ways, creating the colonies to react and show several emotions. During this period of time, people were convinced the reason held by humans could make the discovery of natural laws of the universe and natural rights of mankind. And this conflicted with the religious beliefs because people based on their life from the word of God and didn’t believe a discovery like this would prove God wrong. Above all, the two most important characteristics that best represent America during the Age of Reason are inquisitive

During the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries, piracy was rampant in the Atlantic, specifically in the West Indies. Piracy has existed since the earliest days of ocean travel, for a range of personal and economic reasons. However, one of the major reasons why piracy was wide spread and rampant in the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries was Great Britain’s endorsement and usage of piracy as an asset; in wars fought in the New World. Great Britain with its expanding power and conflicts with other nations would make piracy a lifestyle and lay down the foundation for the Golden Age of Piracy and eventually bring what it created to a screeching halt.

In the late 1700's, America faced difficult times. Wars such as the American Revolution left the country in debt, havoc, and fear. Finally realizing the many weakness of the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution for the nation, the founding fathers immediately went to work seeking a new stance on government. Despite the efforts, the clock was ticking and the colonists were being anxious to see the next move. As a result, the nation started to divide with the problems becoming an irritating lifestyle.

Whenever people ask me for a short book recommendation, I almost always answer with one title : George, by Alex Gino (and if I don't, it's because I've already recommended it to that person, and I don't want to be a boring old record – which never happens anyway because they always end up reading it. But I digress.).