RF+-Question+Responses-

​ 1. The English colonists' amazing determination in the New World was in many ways motivated by England's competition with Spain for land, resources, and trade. However, there were other contributing factors driving the colonists. Some sailed to the New World in hopes to find gold, own land, or find other ways to make money to escape the depression going on in England. Others wanted to be independent from England because they did not agree with its government. An example of this would be the Virginians in 1619 when they established the House of Burgesses, creating a whole new government system and society apart from England. And some simply wanted to expand their already-attained wealth and indulge in what the New World had to offer them.

2. The French and Indian War was a major turning point between the British and the colonies because it showed the colonists that they were no longer Englishmen and that England depended on them for stability. The colonists may had come to North America as Englishmen, but that had changed over the years of being in a completely different place than England. They had aquired their own societies and government systems. Being exposed to so many colonists from other countries, they had developed their own, unique lifestyle. Because there were so many British soldiers in the colonies from the war, the colonists saw how different they were from current Englishmen. They were not the English counterpart they used to be. They only shared the same soverant leader, the King or Queen. What also made them notice that they were not Englishmen anymore was because they weren't treated like them. Citizens in England were represented in Parliment and the colonist were not. Yet, they were still required to follow Parliment's laws made for them. The colonists also realized after the war that England wouldn't have as mich as it does without them. The colonies supply England with raw materials and trade. The colonies were also England's solution for their massive debt from the war. George Grenville's Program is an example of how England unsuccessfuly taxed the colonies so that they could use the money to pay off their debt. The colonies were used more as a resourse rather than an extension of Britain, and the colonists saw that after the French and Indian War.

3. The colonists' disputes with their mother country since the day they settled there supplied them with reasons to fight for independence from Britain. One was because they were used for Britain's own personal profit and another was because they were unfairly taxed. Instead of being viewed as an extension of Britain, the colonies were seen simply as an endless supply of goods. The colonies were not recognized as a place with its own government or societies. When they started to try to show that more, Britain just turned its back to them with Salutory Neglect because it did not want to work with it, but yet still wanted its profit from them. When the colonies got too far from what Britain wanted them to do by the French and Indian War, Britain once again began to control the colonies. The Townshed Duties Crisis from 1767- 1770 made the colonies unallowed to manufacture their own products, only harvest raw materials and send them to Britain. This left the colonies with no money because everything they made from selling the raw goods to Britain went back to Britain when they had to buy the manufactured goods from them at a higher price. Not only was Britain running the colonies dry, but its King George passed a law allowing Parliment to pass and enforce any law they saw fit, the Declatory Act. This act leads even further into the unfair taxing of the colonies. The colonies had already been unfairly taxed through the years by being taxed by Britain with no representation in Parliment. Therefore, when the Declatory Act was established, the taxation in the colonies got increasingly worse. It all started when George Greenville's Program was put into action to pull Britain out of debt from the French and Indian War by means of the colonies. Greenville's program involoved taxing the colonists on what they use most in order to get the most money. It started with the Sugar Act in 1764, then the Currency Act in later 1764, then the Quartering Act in 1765, and its grand finale was the Stamp Act in 1765. All of these acts effected the daily lives of the colonists and they had no say in the matter.

5. The constitution allows enduring political debates because it is a living document that can be changed through amendments and the bill-making process. It also separates the powers between the states and the government so during the creation of the United States as a country this sparked debates as to which side should have control in order to maintain checks and balances. For example, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson went head-to-head during George Washington's presidency over the country's finances. Jefferson believed the states should have control of their own economies and Hamilton believed in a national bank. Because the constitution can be changed, it opened up opportunities for men with strong opinions, like Jefferson and Hamilton, to finally have a say in what goes on in their government by having representation, after years of being dictated by England. The constitution was created by debates in the constitutional convention in the first place. It was made to be an outline of how the government should run and the rest was to be decided by the people and these decisions can only be made by hearing all sides. It was not a list of laws to follow, but policies made to help guide the making of a fair democracy. With the freedom this leaves for the people and their government to challenge existing policies and laws, people are encouraged to have their own opinions on how rights are obtained and balanced is achieved in the constitution.

6. The Revolution of 1800 was not truely a revolution. A revolution requires some kind of revolt or overthrowing, which did not occur during the election of 1800. The election was simply a shift in political party power from Federalists in the Executive Manshion to Democratic Repuiblicans. Congress did not even need the persuation of a revolt to consider the shift in power; their votes were tied between two Democratic Republican conidates.