The Birth Of A Nation

The Northwest Ordinance is considered if not, one of the most important legislative acts of the Confederation Congress. Officially titled “An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States North West of the River Ohio” the Northwest Ordinance was a document adopted by the Confederation Congress. Sometimes known as the Ordinance of 1787, adopted July 13, 1787, by the Second Continental Congress established a government for the Northwest Territory. This ordinance outlined the process for admitting a new state into the Union, and guaranteed that the newly created states would in fact be equal to all original thirteen states, the Northwest Ordinance also focused on protecting civil liberties and completely outlawed slavery within the new territories. Adopting the Northwest Ordinance ended a long bitter period of debating how to organize the western territories of the United States.

After the Revolutionary War, the Articles of Confederation were created to govern the new nation. The states were loosely tied together by a weak national government that had little applicable power. The states were left to individually find ways to pay for their war debts. Massachusetts did so by heavily taxing its people. The taxes were so heavy that in many cases people were paying more than they had paid under British rule. Daniel Shays, feeling outraged and betrayed, helped to organize the already present groups of fellow angry farmers into a rebel army. His army numbered close to 2,000 men. January 25, 1787 was to be the day that Shays would lead his men to attack the federal arsenal at Springfield. Due to communication difficulties, about 400 of Shays men were not

In the making of the United States, there were many events that are important. This paper intends to highlight a few of those events including; Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation and the Federalist Papers. Many events in America’s history helped to establish the United States as a free and independent country. The Declaration of Independence in particular explains the rights and freedoms that Americans. Each document is like a stepping stones that leads to the next and building upon the pervious document.

(5) In Massachusetts, Daniel Shay led many farmers who were in debt to the courthouse to protest. Many of these farmers had fought in the war and when they came back they were in debt from all the taxes. This was later known as Shay’s Rebellion and since these farmers were in almost every state, state officials were afraid that this uprising would spread. Because of Shay’s Rebellion, the officials wanted to preclude further rebellion from occurring throughout the states. For if it did up rise, they knew their government would look even more unstable from other countries point of view. George Washington’s repartee was that their enemies would be happy to see that they were not able to govern themselves.

In addition to defining the government’s powers, the Declaration of Independence helps to define America’s nationhood. The Declaration of Independence was the first document composed. It declared the colonies’ independence from Great Britain which meant that it was the beginning of a new free nation. “Lincoln used the Declaration of Independence to construct national identity” (Farber, 2007). He says that the Declaration of Independence is the foundation on which the United States was formed which

The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are two significant documents that transformed the history of the United States. The people of the “New World” went from being ruled by British law and living in the thirteen colonies, to becoming an independent nation with a democratic government. The Declaration was written to ensure that all official ties with its mother country, Great Britain, were suspended indefinitely. It then went on to describe the concepts and ideologies behind a just and fair government. The Constitution, however, outlined how the newly democratic government would operate. In 1776, after the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, a verdict was made that the only constructive way to ensure independence as a nation would be to declare independence from King George III, Parliament, and Great Britain. The colonists sought to fashion a clear, detailed document, known as the Declaration of Independence, which stated why the people chose to move in this direction as well as providing several arguments to support their case. This world-renown document is a symbol of the unity between the 13 colonies during their fight for independence during the American Revolutionary War.

History is the framework of every nation. It describes what life was like in a nation, hundreds perhaps thousands of years previously. With history, many citizens are able to examine what lead to a crisis in a nation such as the Stock Market Crash of 1929 or the Civil War in the 1800s in the United States of America. Likewise, the moments of growth and economic success are looked at. From these past endeavors, the people can examine what went wrong and what went right and determine how they can stop themselves from making similar mistakes or act in a way that has been proven to work. In Eve Kornfeld’s “Creating an American Culture 1775-1800,” many different areas of national identity are discussed, including the beginnings of documenting the history of America as an independent nation. This was especially hard for Americans to create a singular national identity because there was bias in the early works, the different colonies or states were extremely diverse, and many intellectuals had different perspectives on the American identity.

The outcomes of the Revolutionary war paved the way towards an expansion of territory sought out to respect civil liberties by outlawing slavery , reforming the education platform and is considered one of the most important legislative acts of the confederation congress. Thomas Jefferson was a key player as he created a vision with an empire based on principles novel at the time. On July 13, 1787 the Northwest Ordinance came into place, a new legislation which expanded the original 13 states westward not only acquiring land, but provided a framework for educational organization and political incorporation in the new territories.

Because the states also had post-war dept, they had to rely on taxation to get payed back. The increase of taxation caused Nationalists to became outraged toward the government who felt that they were being treated unfairly (and in some cases felt that the government was being tyrannical). The burdened farmers demanded paper money to fulfill the obligations. The effect of the increased burdens of debt and taxation caused farmers to riot periodically in various parts of New England in the late 1700s. The Dissidents from Connecticut Valley and Berkshire Massachusetts rallied behind Daniel Shay who was a former captain of the Continental army.

To help with the war debts the confederations turned to the states to assist in funding the war debts. However, the states having their own personal debts, while establishing ,were reluctant to tax their people, feeling it would inhibit growth and sales of properties. The state of Massachusetts, however, instated a huge tax on their occupants and took great measures to enforce them. Provided that, the Massachusetts residence were infuriated and sought revenge. Massachusetts citizens decided to take actions, after a series of civil conventions to settle the tax issue ended in futility. At first, they targeted the courthouses forcing them to shut down. The military refused to get involved due to pity for the citizens. The rebels were not poor people they just wanted justice. One of those farmers and former army captain was Danial Shay. Daniel Shay was disparaged by the Massachusetts governor, James Bowdoin. Bowdoin was formerly a strong advocate against

In the two hundred and forty-one years that the United States has been a nation, many important events have occurred. The American Revolution, the Constitution, and the Civil War being some of the most influential. Within each of these times there were significant events that helped to make the meaningful occurrences monumental.

In their American history, the period between 1787 to 1849 was the beginning of the improvements of the nation. They went to the 13 little colonies to an independent country to a transcontinental country. It wasn’t just overnight a lot had to happen to get where they are today. The upcoming of the United States to a transcontinental nation was due to the fact of economic improvements, war of 1812, and the westward expansion.

The articles have several problems. There was no executive branch, judicial branch, President, and Supreme Court. They could not regulate any commerce or trade. They ran into problems when they couldn’t tax. America was left with debt after the war. Additionally, states had more power. If a state disagreed with something they could block it out. They also land issues. We see expansion after the war but in their own self-interest certain states wanted more land and power. Other states were trying to hinder that so before the articles were going to be ratified there 's going to be certain rules. The first being the land ordinance. Congress essentially split off lots of land, newly acquired land and sold it. This was a great way to settle the land. They won the war and to pay off a debt, acres were given to the family in the town of which costs about a dollar an acre. A security on the land or a very simple serving of land that allows new lands acquired to be settled. The Northwest Ordinance of was a little bit more complicated. It’s set up essentially how to govern the new Northwest Territory between the Ohio and Mississippi and the Great Lakes. Rules were set on how to become a state so each territory had to acquire people. They could set up a temporary Constitution but they weren 't being done. Once they got people in the state they could create a

by seeing how what worked we decided what we wanted to be in it. That Northwest Ordinance Many Southern people focused on cash crops and desired more land to grow their economy. Therefore, Georgia passed

The birth of a nation does not happen overnight nor with one word. One can clearly see how words and ideas have an impact on people’s thoughts and writing by examining “The Declaration of Independence” and Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense.” Basically, the two documents echo principles stated in John Locke’s “Second Treatise of Government,” and share a style of expressing their feelings on national issues; the authors examine and give reasons for colonial problems with the government and offer a solution. The tone and audience might vary, but the overall message is similar in its principles, showing the impact Locke and Paine had on such a vital document in our history as the “Declaration of Independence”.