Revolutionary history: causes, impacts, and major movements

Revolutionary History

Describe details of the negotiations between England, France, and the American states that culminated in the treaty of Paris.

On September 3, 1783, The Treaty of Paris was signed by U.S. And British Representatives. This ended the American Revolution War. This agreement afforded the U.S. independence and established them significant western territory. The 1783 Treaty was one of a series of treaties that were signed in Paris that also established peace between Great Britain and the allied nations of France, Spain, and the Netherlands (Treaty of Paris, n.d.).

victory in 1781at the Battle of Yorktown allowed peace talks with British negotiators to begin that were willing to consider independence for the U.S. The British parliamentary governments in the Eighteenth-century were unstable and depended on both a majority in the House of Commons and the good favor of the King. When the news of the victory at Yorktown reached London, the parliamentary resistance succeeded in overthrowing the tormented government that had been led by Frederick North, Lord North (Treaty of Paris, n.d.).

The negotiations had been delayed, due to internal conflicts in the British government and the British refusal to recognize the U.S. independence as an element of the peace settlement. In July of 1782, Lord Shelburne surrendered on the issue of independence. He hoped that a generous peace settlement with the United States would bring about peace with France, the Netherlands, and Spain. But, John Jay objected to the British refusal to acknowledge the United States as already independent during peace negotiations, and so the negotiations were once again put on hold (Treaty of Paris, n.d.).

The negotiations began their final stage in October and November of 1782. The United States had managed to obtain a western border that extended to the Mississippi with rights of navigation and the British acknowledgement of their independence along with the peaceful withdrawal of the British forces (Treaty of Paris, n.d.).

Discuss in detail the Articles of Confederation. Show their strengths as well as their weaknesses. Include the problem of balancing local autonomy with the virtues of centralized authority.

Before the Constitution existed there were The Articles of Confederation. These articles were in effect, the first constitution of the United States. They had been drafted in 1777 by the same Continental Congress that had passed the Declaration of Independence. These articles established a sense of friendship and comradely between and among the 13 states (The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, 2009).

The Articles reflected the wariness by the states of having a strong central government. They were afraid that their individual needs would be ignored by a national government that had too much power. Because of this the articles purposely established a constitution that gave the largest share of power to each individual state. Under the Articles each of the states retained their independence, freedom and autonomy. Instead of setting up executive and judicial branches of government, they set up committee of delegates that was comprised of representatives from each state (The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, 2009).

The U.S. found that there were some challenges with trying to govern using the Articles of Confederation. The following were some of those challenges: 1)Congress was made up of delegates chosen by each state and could conduct foreign affairs, make treaties, declare war, maintain an army and a navy, coin money, and establish post offices, but these things had to be approved by 9 of the 13 states, 2) Congress found its powers very limited. It could not raise money by collecting taxes; it had no control over foreign commerce; it could pass laws but could not force the states to comply with them. This meant that the government was dependent on each state to carry out its measures, and often the states didn't want to cooperate, and 3(they found that the articles were virtually impossible to amend, so problems could not be corrected (The Articles of Confederation, 2003).

Discuss ways that the Constitution remedied the flaws in the Articles. Include the protections written into the Constitution.

The Congress was responsible for conducting foreign affairs, declaring war, maintaining an army and navy and a variety of other functions. But the Articles did not give Congress the power to collect taxes, regulate interstate commerce or enforce laws. Eventually, these deficiencies would lead to the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. But during the years that they 13 states struggled to achieve their independence, the Articles of Confederation accomplished what they had been intended to. Adopted by Congress on November 15, 1777, the Articles became operational on March 1, 1781 when the last of the 13 states signed the document (The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, 2009).

During the debates that took place regarding the adoption of the Constitution, the opponents argued that the Constitution would open the way to tyranny by the central government. With the memory of the British violations of their civil rights before and during the Revolution, they insisted that a bill of rights be used that would spell out the protections of the individual citizens. During the state conventions that were held to ratify the Constitution, several states asked for these amendments (Bill of Rights, n.d).

On September 25, 1789, the First Congress of the United States put before the state legislatures 12 amendments to the Constitution that dealt with the things that had most frequently been argued against it. "The first two proposed amendments, which concerned the number of constituents for each Representative and the compensation of Congressmen, were not ratified. Articles 3 to 12, however, ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures, constitute the first 10 amendments of the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights "(Bill of Rights, n.d).

How revolutionary was the Revolution? Explain what was changed, what the same remained, and how this revolution compares with other movements of liberation.