Subordinate People in Early American History

This research paper discusses the power of subordinate people over their lives and society during the colonial period and the changes in that power which were brought about by the changes in governance during the Revolutionary War and Constitutional eras. For most people in the colonies, life was hard during the colonial period which lasted almost as long as the life of the Republic since its founding in 1787. The great mass of people had little control over their lives or society, but substantial autonomy was enjoyed by the colonies and their legislatures from their colonial overlords which was a function of distances and different conditions in the harsh wilderness. A burgeoning middle class characterized all but the plantation economy of the South. And even the poorest freemen enjoyed liberties unknown in the mother country because of labor shortages, greater social mobility, and traditions of religious dissent.

The Revolution involved more a change in national loyalties than a social revolution. The Revolution generated a republican spirit and a spirit of common sacrifice for the cause of independence. However, republican ideals and privileges were never intended to apply to Native Americans, black slaves, the poor or other members of the so-called dangerous classes. Women and white males who did not own property remained disenfranchised. The Constitutional era brought about strong central

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ania was the first Western government to outlaw slavery in 1780, which it claimed was contrary to nature. While all the northern states eventually followed suit, slavery became a critical mainstay of the economy and social structure of the pre-Civil War South by the end of the 18th century. Hall mentions that some free blacks fought in the Revolutionary Army but that by the late 1780s the spirit of abolition, which briefly flowered during the war, had been replaced by a general spirit of anti-black prejudice in the North. Hall says "the American Revolution was an ambiguous affair as revolutions go," with home rule the issue, not political, social or economic equality (49). While John Adams and others repeated the complaint of the English Whigs and political philosophers such as John Locke, that "republican government had its origin in the people," and justified revolutionary violence as an expression of popular sovereignty and the will of the majority, Hall says "an elite class . . . remained firmly in control" (49-50 & 59). He cites the peaceful and non-revolutionary character of the transfer of power in the fact that all American Tories were permitted to take their possessions and leave the country for England or Canada, as ten
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Bill Rights, War Constitutional, Governor Massachusetts, Neither Colonial, Native Americans, Northwest Territory, North Carolina, Indian War, French Enlightenment, John Locke, power subordinate, black slaves, constitutional era, revolutionary war, common law, colonial period, power subordinate people, subordinate people, middle class, 18th century, checks balances, system checks balances,
Approximate Word count = 2036
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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