DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: American Democracy: The Great Leap of Faith:
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SIAHA1_170629_015.JPG: Organizing Against Slavery
Quakers, evangelical Christians, and Enlightenment thinkers criticized the slave trade and slaveholding. Two dozen men founded an anti-slavery society in Philadelphia in 1775. The group grew and adopted this constitution in 1787. They worried that the U.S. Constitution's fugitive slave clause already endangered free people of color.
SIAHA1_170629_024.JPG: Slavery or Freedom?
Forced labor of Africans had long been an accepted part of European colonizing. The Revolutionary ideals of equality and rights threw such received practices into doubt, and some people on both sides of the Atlantic organized to combat slavery and the slave trade. The actions of enslaved Americans also had a deep impact. Many African Americans claimed liberty by enlisting in the British or Continental Armies during the war, running away, petitioning and negotiating for freedom, or rebelling. Their actions challenged the idea that enslavement was natural or acceptable to them. A growing community of free Africans demonstrated their capacities as citizens.
SIAHA1_170629_034.JPG: Great Debates
The Revolution was over and the Constitution was ratified. But debates about the meaning of government by the people were just beginning.
Would the new, representative form of government truly represent the interests and views of common men and women? How should those people participate to make their voices heard? What would limit the political influence of families of inherited wealth and social standing?
SIAHA1_170629_041.JPG: A Free Press?
Could the same free press that unsettled American loyalty to George III now undermine loyalty to the new constitutional government?
Newspapers free from government control seemed essential for citizens to be well informed about public affairs. But newspapers changed dramatically in the 1790s, when America became deeply divided over both foreign and domestic issues. Colonial papers had declared themselves to be above party politics. Now many newspapers became frankly partisan, presenting only one side of every issue, denouncing anyone who disagreed, sometimes printing rumors about the personal lives of the political opposition. What if privately controlled media misinformed the public about issues that voters needed to understand?
SIAHA1_170629_048.JPG: "Franklin" common press, about 1720
Benjamin Franklin identified this printing press as the one that he had used while learning his trade in England in the 1720s. The press became a historical icon through its association with the famous revolutionary. Franklin symbolized the powerful influence of patriot printers in spreading enlightened ideas and mobilizing American colonists toward revolution. Yet his grandson, Benjamin Franklin Bache, faced indictment for printing criticisms of the John Adams Administration in the 1790s.
SIAHA1_170629_060.JPG: The Place of Women
How would American women participate in public life?
Active in both the American and French Revolutions, many women saw themselves capable of a vital political role. During the 1790s, women attended speeches and parades, took sides in partisan disputes, and sometimes published opinions in the press. In New Jersey, women with property could even vote. Revolutionary ideals of universal rights led to challenges against women's subordinate status within marriage.
SIAHA1_170629_065.JPG: Ink drawing, "Image of the World," by M. A. S. Fornead
SIAHA1_170629_068.JPG: Female Education
Women persisted in seeking access to education as a route toward richer lives and fuller participation as citizens of their society. They founded schools throughout the country, but especially in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states, to teach girls many of the same disciplines taught to boys.
SIAHA1_170629_072.JPG: Nothing But a Newspaper can put the same thought at the same time before a thousand readers.
-- Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1848
SIAHA1_170629_076.JPG: Native American Rights
Some Native groups continued to live within the bounds of the United States, but they did not enjoy equal political rights. In this pamphlet William Apess, a Pequot and Methodist preacher, championed the cause of the Mashpee Indians of Massachusetts, who petitioned for self-government. Apess argued that state laws were "unconstitutional" when applied to the Mashpee, since they were not represented in the legislature.
SIAHA1_170629_083.JPG: Native American Rights
Some Native groups continued to live within the bounds of the United States, but they did not enjoy equal political rights. In this pamphlet William Apess, a Pequot and Methodist preacher, championed the cause of the Mashpee Indians of Massachusetts, who petitioned for self-government. Apess argued that state laws were "unconstitutional" when applied to the Mashpee, since they were not represented in the legislature.
SIAHA1_170629_086.JPG: Native American Nations
How would the U.S. deal with other free nations on the continent?
The new government assumed much the same position as European empires in the Americas. It viewed Indian nations as potential allies and buffers against Spanish, French, and British powers on the continent, but it also presumed the right to displace Native peoples when possible. America's reliance on extensive land use for economic growth and social stability created powerful pressure on the Native peoples who populated most of North America.
SIAHA1_170629_091.JPG: Actions
Revolutions
SIAHA1_170629_103.JPG: Toussaint L'Ouverture's cane
This cane b