American Civilisation:

I. Introduction (General Information about Modern USA):

Name: The United States of America (U.S.A.)
Motto: In God We Trust
President: Joe Biden
Vice President: Kamala Hariss.
Area: 3,796, 742 sq mi
Capital: Washington D.C.
Largest City: New York
National Language: English
Population: 333,468,970 inhabitants
Independence: July 4th, 1783
Currency: United States Dollar $
The American Flag: The national flag of the United States of America, which is also known as ‘The Stars and Stripes’, ‘The
Old Glory’ and ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ consists of:
- 13 equal horizontal strips of red alternative with white (they represent the 13 colonies that declared independence from the
Kingdom of Great Britain and became the 1st states of the U.S.)
- A blue rectangle in the canton referring to the union bearing 50 small white stars arranged in 9 offset horizontal rows (the
50 stars on the flag represent the 50 states of the USA)
Joe Biden’s Biography:
As the 46th president of the United States of America, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr assumed the office on January 20 th 2021.
He was born in November 20th, 1942 (78 y.o.) in Pennsylvania. He belongs to the Democratic Party from 1969 till today. He
was the 47th U.S. vice president from January 20th, 2009 to January 20th 2017 along with Barak Obama. He was preceded by
Dick Cheny and succeeded by Mike Pence.

II. The Formation of A New Nation:

A. Early Attempts to form a Union:
The war between the Great Britain and the 13 American colonies ended with signing a peace treaty in Paris on April 15 th,
1783, where Great Britain and other countries recognized and acknowledged the independence, freedom and sovereignty of
the former 1” colonies.
Before the end of the war, the 13 colonies ratified a framework for their common efforts called the Articles of
Confederation. The latter provided for a union, but extremely loose and fragile one; therefore, George Washington called it
“rope of sand”.

B. Why were the Articles of Confederation Written? (The Need of the Articles of Confederation):
With the United States’ transition from being colonies to a successful independent nation, the American colonists grew to
despise being treated as the children of Great Britain. Therefore, they vowed that when they win their independence, their
government would be nothing like that of the Great Britain. As a matter of fact, they made their first constitution, which is
called “The Articles of Confederation. This constitution bound the states in a loose ‘league of friendship’ that permitted the
states to retain nearly all government power.

C. The Fledging America:

Once the war was over, the league of friends quickly became a league of impoverished quibblers. The founders had been so
concerned with making sure the central government couldn’t become too powerful that they neglected to make it powerful
enough to solve the issues facing the new nation.
The Articles of Confederation comprised the United States’ first constitution, lasting from 1776 until 1789. It established a
weak central government and placed most powers in the hands of the states. In fact, the central government was given certain
rights, but it had never the power to make those rights effective.

D. The Flaws of the Articles of Confederation:

Under the Articles of Confederation, the US economy faltered, since the central government lacked the power to enforce
tax laws or regulate commerce. The following are the weaknesses of the articles of Confederation:
 Congress could vote to set up a United States’ army and navy, but it could only obtain soldiers and sailors by asking the
states for them. So, there was no national military force; many states still had their own armies and navies. In other
words, the Congress had the power (jurisdiction) to raise an army, but didn’t have the power to oblige the state to send
soldiers to the national army. At that time, there were no aircrafts, airplanes, jets, drones, etc. Therefore, the military
forces were composed of two main forces: the land forces (soldiers) and the Navy (sailors). To obtain these soldiers and
sailors, the Congress had to ask its 13 states to provide the US army with those sailors and soldiers. But, it couldn’t oblige
them to do so (Imagine a country with no army to protect it from external conflicts).
 Each individual American state had its own government and behaved very much like an independent country.
Furthermore, each state had made its own laws and its decisions about how to run its affairs. Simply put, in the aftermath
of the independence, the 13 states forgot that they belong all to the USA and each state starts to behave as an independent
country rather than a state belonging to a union. This caused a big problem for the unity of the USA.

 Politically speaking, there was little centralized control over foreign policy; states negotiated directly with other
countries. It means that these states, instead of consulting the national government, the Congress, they started concluding
treaties, for instance, with France, Britain, and the neighboring countries alone without resorting or getting the permission
of the national congress. Thus, this created a big problem for the USA, which led foreign countries to despise and
disrespect it.

 Economy:
 One of the biggest problems was that the national government had no power to impose taxes. To avoid any perception
of taxation without representation, the Articles of Confederation allowed only states governments to levy taxes. Hence,
to pay for its expenses, the national government had to request money from the states. The states; however, were often
neglecting this duty, and so the national government was underfunded (out of money). Without money, the US
government could not pay debts owed from the Revolution or easily secure new funds (to run their own affairs).
Foreign governments were reluctant to loan money to a nation that might never repay it. The fiscal problems of the
central government meant that the currency it issued, called the continental, was largely worthless.

In other words, at that time, the national government represented in the congress had to impose taxes but the 13
Articles of Confederation lacked the power to impose them. As it is known, the main reason behind the American
Revolution was the taxation without representation, which means that Americans said that since they are not
represented in congress, they won’t pay taxes to the government which does not represent them. In the Articles of
Confederation, the power of taxation was given to the local 13 states and their local government and not to congress.
So, each state will impose taxes on its own citizens. Therefore, the money collected during the Revolutionary war
borrowed from France and other countries couldn’t be repaid as promised after independence because the National
Treasury (where the money of the government is kept) was not provided with taxes from the states. The states didn’t
cooperate with the national government.

 The country’s economic woes were made worse by the fact that the central government also lacked the power to
impose tariffs on foreign imports or regulate interstate commerce. Thus, it couldn’t protect American products from
foreign competitors. Compounding the problem. The states often imposed tariffs in items produced by other states and
otherwise interfered with their neighbors’ trade.

Simply put, economic problems were made worse by the fact that the government had to protect its economy from
being destroyed by imported goods as any government would do (competitors) especially the economy in the North
which used to manufacture many goods. Hence, Northern states who relied on industry wanted the government to
impose tariffs to protect their industry whereas the southerners refused because along with the fact that they relied on
agriculture, if tariffs were to be imposed on imported goods, they wouldn’t be able to buy them.

E. The Effects of these Flaws:

These weaknesses of the central government led to:
 The congress lost the respect of many great powers.
 King George 3 of UK at that time was sure that Americans would soon come back begging to rejoin the British Empire.
 Even France, which was the Ally of the Americans during the war of independence refused to recognize congress as a real
government because it lacked the power to execute or enforce laws and decisions.
 Therefore, the ultimate issue the United States had faced in the aftermath of the independence was how to unify and join
together ‘little countries’ into one united nation (to join the 13 states together as a strong and united nation.

III. The Constitutional Convention (From May 25th to September 17th, 1787) (The Philadelphia
Convention):
In view of the chaotic situation that followed their independence, it was clear that the Americans had to reconsider the
articles of confederation. To this end, in February 1787, Congress asked each state to send delegates to a meeting or a
“convention” in Philadelphia. The smallest state, Rhode Island, refused to attend but the other 12 states agreed. Indeed, 55
delegates met in Philadelphia. These delegates had experience in colonial and state governments. They were knowledgeable
in history, law, and political theory.

In other words, the founding fathers called for a meeting in Philadelphia in February 1787 (4 years after the independence)
to fix the problems facing the US. George Washington said that he considered the articles of confederation as being a rope of
sand. Now that they found the problems in the articles of confederation, they decided to find a solution for it. Historians say
that the fact that Rhode Island refused to send its delegates to the meeting is because it feared to lose its sovereignty and
independence. Most of the delegates were lawyers and knowledgeable in different fields so that they would represent their
states properly.

A. George Washington:
Regarded as the country’s first citizen because of his integrity as well as his military leadership of the continental army
during the revolution, the delegates elected George Washington to chair the convention.

The Congress had authorized the delegates to amend the Articles of Confederations; however, the delegates put them aside
because they considered them inadequate to the needs of the new nation. Instead, they proposed a constitution describing a
new form of government based on separate legislative, executive and juridical authorities. Accordingly, the meeting became
known as the Constitutional Convention.

To sum up, the first point that was discussed in this convention was to decide about the chairman or the chair, and since
George Washington was considered as being the first citizen for his military leadership and his wisdom, the delegates elected
him to lead the meeting. After that, they discussed the problems that they faced as a result of the articles of confederation in
order to find solutions to them. Thus, they decided to put the articles of confederation aside because they were no longer
suitable to build a nation. They wanted to establish a new document proposing a new form of government based on separate
legislative, executive and juridical authorities. The convention was named ‘the Constitutional Convention’ because after 4
months, the product was the US Constitution.

IV. Problems and Compromises:

1. The Great Compromise:
The Articles of Confederation under which the United States operated from 1781 to 1787 provided that each state would be
represented by one vote in Congress. When changes were being discussed for how states should be represented during the
creation of a new Constitution, two plans pushed forward:
A. The Virginia Plan provided for representation to be based on the population of each state. It was supported by larger states
such as Virginia, New York, South and North Carolina, etc.
B. The New Jersey Plan proposed equal representation for every state. It consisted of the idea of the bigger the population,
the more number of representatives the state is granted. It was supported by smaller states.
The Great Compromise combined both plans. It was decided that there would be two chambers in Congress: the Senate and
the House of Representatives. The Senate would be based on equal representation for each state (2 senators for each state)
and the House would be based on population (1 representative for each 30 thousand inhabitants; if the state has less, it is still
granted 1 representative such as the state of Alaska). This is why each state has two senators and varying numbers of
representatives. This compromise also solved the problem of the split between Northerners (large states) and Southerners
(small states).

2. Three-Fifth Compromise:
Once it was decided that representation in the House of Representatives was to be based on population, delegates from
Northern and Southern states saw another issue arise: how slaves should be counted?
Delegates from Northern states, where the economy did not rely heavily on slavery, felt that slaves should not be counted
toward representation because counting them would provide the South with a greater number of representatives. Southern
states fought for slaves to be counted in terms of representation because it struggled to secure a higher number of
representatives. The compromise between the two became known as the Three-Fifth Compromise because every five slaves
would be counted as three individuals in terms of representation. (As a middle solution, 5 slaves were considered as 3 free
white men.)

3. The Trade Compromise:

At the time of the Constitutional Convention, the North was industrialized and produced many finished goods; however,
the South still had an agricultural economy, and used to import many finished goods from Britain.

Northern states wanted the government to be able to impose:

- Import tariffs on finished goods to protect their commerce from foreign competition and encourage the South to buy goods
made in the North
- Export tariffs on raw goods to increase revenue flowing into the United States.
However, the southern states feared that export tariffs on their raw goods would hurt the trade upon which they heavily
relied.

The compromise mandated that tariffs were only to be allowed on imports from foreign countries and not exports from the
US. This compromise also dedicated that interstate commerce would be regulated by the federal government. It also required
that all commerce legislation be passed by a two-thirds majority in the Senate, which was a win for the South since it
countered the power of the more populous Northern states.

Let’s put it more simply, the Northern states which depended on industry wanted to protect their industry from foreign
manufactured goods coming from Britain, Germany, France, which were actually more advanced at that time. This is why
they supported the idea of imposing tariffs. Thus, they put pressure on the government in order to impose tariffs on the
imported goods. But, the Southerners refused because they relied on agriculture and the tariffs will make the price of the
imported goods very high and they won’t be able to afford buying those goods and products. As a result, the compromise
consisted of the government imposing tariffs only on the imported goods but the no tariffs will be imposed on exported
goods (if an American company wants to export any goods, it won’t pay tariffs.)
Taxes are imposed on local factories and companies whereas tariffs are imposed by the government on imported goods.

4. The Slave Trade Compromise:

Since the southerners wanted to count the number of slaves as part of the population, the Northern states wanted to bring an
end to the importation and sale of slaves. They thought that it was high time to stop the slave trade. Otherwise, the population
of the Southern states won’t cease increasing and by this the number of representatives in Congress will continue going
higher and higher.

In this compromise, Northern states agreed to wait until 1808 for Congress to ban the slave trade in U.S. (In March 1807,
President Thomas Jefferson signed a bill abolishing the slave trade taking effect on January 1st, 1808.) Also, part of this
compromise was the fugitive law, which required Northern states to deport any runaway slaves, another win for the South.

5. Electing the President and the Electoral College:

The Articles of Confederation did not provide for a chief executive of the United States. Therefore, the delegates discussed
the core stone of their constitution: deciding that a president was necessary since they didn’t want to be under another
tyrannical king and since, at that time, no other country in the world directly elected its chief executive (most of the systems
were monarchical). In addition, there were no means of communication to know the abilities of the candidates.

There was a disagreement over how he should be elected to office. While some delegates felt that the president should be
popularly elected, others feared that the electorate would not be informed enough to make that decision (they said that most
Americans were illiterate and cannot know who is the right person to lead the USA)

In the end, the two sides compromised with the creation of the ‘Electoral College’, which is made up of electors (electoral
intermediaries that aren’t picked by Congress). Citizens actually vote for electors who then votes for the president.

The number of electors of each state depended on its number of representatives in Congress (representatives in the House
of Representatives + Senators from the Senate). For instance, the state of California has 55 electors (53 representatives and 2
Senators.)

Counting all the states, the number of representatives is 435 representatives + 100 senator + 3 representatives from
Washington D.C (the capital –District of Columbia- which is not a state, but since there are people living there, it is granted 3
representatives in the Electoral College) = The electoral college is composed of 538 electors.
 The electors are not part of the House of Representatives or the Senate. They are people who served USA but not as part of
the Congress. It is only that their number depends on the number of representatives in Congress; Each 4 years, new electors
are elected to be part of the Electoral College. Each state is free in the way of selecting its electors.

The total number of the representatives is fixed to 435. If the number of the population increases in a state, another state
will lose 1 representative for its favor.

The president who has just been elected is called ‘The President Elect’ whereas the already have been president is called
‘The President in Office’ like Donald trump who has been elected in November and after taking the official oath, the
president Obama should leave the office On January 20 th.

6. The Federal System:

The constitution gave the United States of America a ‘federal system of government’. It is a system in which the power to
rule is shared. The central or federal authority had part of it and the rest of it is in the hands of the local authorities in the
separate regions that make up the country.
Consequently, the national government would have full power to issue currency, levy taxes, grant patents, conduct foreign
policy, maintain an army, establish post offices, and wage wars.

In other words, the founding fathers of America managed to create a new system for the US, which is the federal system in
which the power is shared between the national government (led by the president, the vice president and the cabinet) and the
state governments (local governments led by a governer for each state)). The government (whether the national or the local)
was divided into 3 equal parts or branches:
 The Legislative Branch: It is represented by the Congress with its two chambers (the House of Representatives and the
Senate). It creates/enacts/legislates/makes laws.
 The Executive Branch: It is led by the president, the vice president and its cabinet (15 senators). It applies/executes laws.
 The Juridical Branch: It is represented by the Supreme Court, which checks the constitutionality of law (if they contradict
with the constitution or not.) and other federal courts.

Each part works to ensure that the other parts would not take the power that belongs to others. It is the system of “check
and balance”, i.e., the 3 branches are separated and each one has its own jurisdictions (powers) and to maintain balance
between the 3; therefore, the system of ‘Check and Balance’ was created.

 The president can make executive orders. When the Congress is on vacation. These executive orders must be checked
by the juridical branch (if they comply with the US constitution, the juridical branch will give the green light. If not, it
will veto law and declare it as unconstitutional so it won’t be applied.
 The president can also veto laws made by Congress and appoint judges but only with the approval of the Senate.
 7. Ratifying the Constitution:
The result of the Constitutional Convention was a 1. Delaware: December 7th, 1787.
draft of the US Constitution. This draft was first 2. Pennsylvania: December 12th, 1787.
signed by the 39 delegates (out of 42 who were 3. New Jersey: December 18th, 1787.
present) and then sent to the 13 states to be ratified 4. Georgia: January 2th, 1788. (to
be voted for). The article 7 of that constitution 5. Connecticut: January 9th, 1788
provided that the new Constitution would be 6. Massachusetts: February 6th, 1788.
official after being ratified by 9 states out of the 13 7. Maryland: April 28th, 1788.
states. Each state was given 6 months to ratify it. 8. South Carolina: May 23rd, 1788.
-Delaware was the first state that voted in favor of it. 9. New Hampshire: June 21st, 1788 (Making the
-New Hampshire was the 9th on June 21st, 1788, which Constitution legal.)
officially ended government under the Articles of 10. Virginia: June 25th, 1788.
Confederation. 11. New York: July 26th, 1788.
-Rhode Island ratified the Constitution on May 29th, 1790 12. North Carolina: November 21st, 1789
being the last one to ratify it. 13. Rhode Island: May 29th, 1790.

8. The Bill of Rights:

What was the reason that many states didn’t want to ratify the US Constitution?
 The large states of Virginia and New York had not ratified the constitution after the first 9 did. Most people felt that
without their support the Constitution would never be honored.

 The Americans wanted to establish a government that would make them forget the brutality of the British rule;
therefore, some delegates refused to ratify the US Constitution for the simple reason that the Constitution didn’t guarantee
civil rights for all the American citizens. According to them, the US Constitution tackled only the jurisdictions and
organization of the government. After receiving guaranties as what is called ‘The Bill of Rights’, they agreed to ratify it.

 This issue of the lack of civil rights led to the rise of two political parties: the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists.
A. The Federalist Party: It represents those who favored and made pressure on the Congress to create a strong central
government that may protect and insure order in all USA and to avoid what happened under the Articles of
Confederation. It was led by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison who pushed for the ratification in a
series of essays known as The Federalist Papers. This influenced New York to ratify the Constitution. It was mostly
supported by the Northern states that depended on industry.

B. The Anti-Federalist Party: As led by Thomas Jefferson, the founding father of the American foreign affairs, it
represents those who preferred a loose association of separate states, i.e., a weak federal government and strong local
governments (giving more power to the states) in order to protect the civil rights of the ordinary people. It was mostly
supported by the Southern states depending on agriculture.

The Examination of the Bill of Rights (The 10 Amendments):

As a result, by December 1791, the Congress added 10 amendments ratified by enough states to make them part of the
Constitution. These were called, The Bill of Rights. These amendments ensured the protection of the individual liberties:
 Amendment 1: US. Citizens have the freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition.
This means that the US. Constitution guarantees to all the citizens the freedom of religion, speech, assembly and
petition. In other words, the Congress shall make no law that prohibits the American citizens from practicing religion,
exercising freedom of speech or press or the willingness of people to assembly peacefully. For example, the founders saw
the ability to speak and worship freely as a natural right protected by the 1 st amendment. If the Congress wants to pass a
law that contradicts with this amendment, the president or the Supreme Court should veto.

 Amendment 2: US. Citizens have the right to keep and bear arms, or own guns.
First, at that time, American citizens faced many crimes which made them feel unsafe. Therefore, for their security, they
were given the right to bear arms. Second, many businessmen manufactured arms, so this amendment was added in order
to protect their activities (more than 30 states manufactured guns and weapons).

 Amendment 3: The government may not force US. Citizens to shelter soldiers in their homes.

 Amendment 4: US. Citizens are protected from unreasonable searches of a person’s property.
American citizens are protected from unreasonable government intrusion (searching) in their homes without a warrant
(an official paper from the court to search houses.)

 Amendment 5: The government may not force US. Citizens to testify against themselves in court.
The US government has not the right to oblige an eye witness to testify against himself.
 Amendment 6: US. Citizens have the right to a fair and speedy trial.
Some suspects when they are detained, they stay in jail for a long time before their trial. Therefore, this amendment
prohibit the court from detaining suspects for long periods (sometimes, it takes years). As soon as they are detained, they
have the right for a speedy trial.

 Amendment 7: US. Citizens have the right to a trial by jury.

This means that if the judge is related to one of the parts of the court, he should not take part in the trial.

 Amendment 8: US. Citizens are protected from cruel and unusual punishment.
All the punishments should be prescribed by the law. If the punishment doesn’t belong to the criminal law, the suspect
should not be punished in that way.

 Amendment 9: US. Citizens may have rights that are not listed in the Constitution.
Some rights that are not exactly mentioned in the US Constitution, individuals could still enjoy them.

 Amendment 10: Powers not given to the federal government by the US. Constitution belong to the state or to the
people.
The Congress divided the power between the federal government and the local governments; therefore, powers and
jurisdictions that belong to the central government don’t belong to the local one. But, what is not mentioned as rights for
the central government automatically the state and people can enjoy these rights because they are not proper to the central
government.

V. The Electoral of George Whashington:

After the ratification of the US Constitution in 1789, the delegates of the convention started preparing the US Presidential
election applying the content of the US Constitution. The first step was to elect the US President.
George Washington, at that time and till now, was known as the main figure during the formation of USA. He was the
commander-in-chief of the army during the revolution, and he is the one who chaired the constitutional convention.
Therefore, all the delegates of the states approved and agreed upon him to be the 1 st US President, and indeed, in 1789, he
became the first president of the United States of America.

Since America was a young nation at that time and they didn’t count the number of their population, the Article 1, Section
2, Clause 3 of the US Constitution provided that:
The number of representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one
representative, and until such enumeration shall be made, the state of:
 New Hampshire should be entitled to choose 3,
 Massachusetts 8,
 Rhode Island 1,
 Connecticut 5,
 New York 6,
 New Jersey 4,
 Pennsylvania 8,
 Delaware 1,
 Maryland 6,
 Virginia 10,
 North Carolina 5,
 South Carolina 5,
 Georgia 3.
Therefore, the number of representatives was set to 65 + 2 electors for each state. The US Constitution provided that the
state legislature (local Congress) should decide the manner in which their electors were chosen. For instance, in the state of
Virginia and Delaware, the state is divided into electoral districts, with one elector from top two candidates.
During the election of 1789, 3 states didn’t participate in the election:
 North Carolina and Rhode Island hadn’t yet ratified the US Constitution, so they didn’t participate in the election.
 New York had failed to appoint its electors in time. So, it was impossible for it to take part in the elections.
At that time, electors used to have 2 votes; one for the US President (the one who has the majority of votes) and the other
for the Vice President (the running-up – the one who comes in the second place.) George Washington was the winner and
John Adams was the Running-Up.

Later in 1800, during the election of Thomas Jefferson, a problem was faced and later solved by adding 12 Amendments to
the US Constitution because the founding fathers of the US Constitution wanted the president to belong to a different state
than the vice-president in order to divide power between the states, and avoiding the idea of having the country led by one
state.
Obama (president from Elenoise) ----- Biden (Vice president from Maryland)
Trump (president from New York) ----- Pens (vice president from Indiana)
Biden (president from Maryland) ----- Harris (vice president from California)

1. The Cabinet:
The first Congress under the new Constitution created the executive departments:
 The Department of State (led by Thomas Jefferson as appointed by the President).
 The Department of Treasury (led by Alexander Hamilton as appointed by the President.)
 The Department of War (led by Henry Knox as appointed by the President.)

The head of the departments were acting like George Washington’s advisors; he used to consult them before taking any
decision. This is what gave birth to the presidential Cabinet. All this was achieved in just 6 months, from April to September
1789. It also created The Federal Judiciary and passed The Bill of Rights.
 The Judicial Branch: The Judiciary Act of 1789 organized a Supreme Court with a chief of justice (John Jay) and 5
associates; 3 circuit courts of appeal; and 13 district courts. It also established the office of attorney general (Edmund
Randolf.

Obama’s Cabinet: Beside the vice president, the cabinet consisted of the heads of 15 executive departments: Department of
State, Dep of Treasury, Dep of Defense, Dep of Justice, Dep of Interior, Dep of Agriculture, Dep of Commerce, Dep of
Labor, Dep of Health and Human Service, Dep of Housing and Urban Development, Dep of Transportation, Dep of Energy,
Dep of Education.

2. George Washington’s Foreign Policy:

During the American Revolution, the United States and France signed a treaty of perpetual alliance in 1778, known as the
Franco-American treaty of Alliance. After the outbreak of war between France and England in 1793, France asked the help
of the United States according to the terms of the Franco-American treaty of Alliance. In order to keep USA away from
European wars, President George Washington issued the Proclamation of Neutrality on April 22 nd, 1793.
The Proclamation of Neutrality abrogated the terms of the Franco-American Treaty that made the US independence
possible. His motives were that America was military and economically very weak; it needed to be at peace with both of
them (neutrality); and he urged all Americans to avoid any action that would jeopardize American neutrality.

3. The Genet Affair:

In 1793, France sent Edmund-Charles Genet to USA to promote American support to the French war with England and
Spain. When he arrived in Charleston (South Carolina) on April 8th, 1793, he didn’t travel to then-capital of Philadelphia to
present himself to the President George Washington. Instead, he stayed in South Carolina where he was cheered and greeted
by the people of Charleston who didn’t comply to Washington’s wish because they still remembered that France helped them
in getting their independence from Great Britain. His goals there were to recruit American privateers who would join the
French against the British. However, unpleased with the US attitude, he took the cause directly to the people endangering the
United States neutrality in the war between France and Great Britain. He started capturing and rearming British ships as
privateers (the British ships that used to go to America for trade were captured by Genet and his followers to become battle
ships used by the French against Britain. Automatically, Great Britain would take action against the USA for not being able
to protect their ships.)
Washington’s first response was sending Genet a letter of complaint on Jefferson’s and Hamilton’s advice. Thereafter,
President Washington along with his cabinet demanded that France recall (retreat) Genet as its ambassador.

Why did Genet take the cause directly to the people instead of the President?
America at that time was very weak and even with a president, this latter couldn’t enforce his attitude all over the
American states. Therefore, because Genet thought that the US President deserted France by abrogating the Franco-
American Treaty of Alliance, he tried to cause problems to the president.

4. The Jay Treaty:

Both France and Britain stopped U.S. merchant ships bound for the opposing countries.
Britain escalated these assaults in 1793, straining relations with America to the breaking point.
British troops still occupied forts in the West.
Property carried off by British soldiers during the Revolution had not been restored or paid for.
The British Navy was seizing American ships bound for French ports.
The two countries seemed to be drifting toward war.

VI. The Westward Expansion:

1. The Treaty of Paris (1783):
In 1782, the newly elected British Prime Minister (Lord Shelburne) saw American independence as an opportunity to build
a lucrative trade alliance with the new nation without the administrative and military costs of running and defending the
colonies. As a result, the terms of the Treaty of Paris were favorable to the United States with Great Britain making major
concessions.
Simply put, during the American Revolution in 1782, the British started losing battles against the Americans; therefore,
they started negotiating with the American leaders. These leaders started negotiating to get their independence. At first, Great
Britain refused, but the newly elected British Prime Minister favored their independence. He saw that his government would
save a lot of money by giving the 13 colonies their independence in which they won’t cost them administrative and military
costs.
The treaty signed by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay was finalized on September 3 rd, 1783 and ratified by
the Congress on January 14th, 1784. The terms of the treaty included:
 Great Britain acknowledged USA as an independent and sovereign nation.
 Great Britain granted the Northwest Territory to the USA and the borders of the 13 colonies were moved from the
Appalachian Mountains till the Mississippi River which doubled the size of the USA territory (the Northwest Territory
now include Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota.)
 It granted both the United States and Great Britain the permission to navigate in the Mississippi River.
 Provided for fair treatment of American Citizens who had remained loyal to Great Britain during the war.
 Resolved issues with American debts owed to British creditors.

2. The Louisiana Purchase (1803):

The land from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains was known as Louisiana. At that time, Louisiana belonged to
France led by Napoleon Bonaparte. Americans feared that Napoleon might send French soldiers and settlers to Louisiana in
order to fight Britain in Canada, and therefore, he would block the way for the Americans to grow westward of the United
States (they wanted to rule America from coast to coast).
Robert Livingstone, the US minister, was ordered by Thomas Jefferson to negotiate with French minister, Maurice de
Talleyrand for the purchase of New Orleans, which was part of Louisiana. HE also sent James Monroe to Paris to help
Livingstone in the New Orleans purchase. Before his arrival, the French asked Livingstone if the United States was
interested in purchasing all of Louisiana Territory. Napoleon Bonaparte was in need of money in order to wage war against
Great Britain, he favored to sell the whole territory of Louisiana to the USA. Therefore, the Americans seized the
opportunity and offered 15 million dollars to purchase the land, which now include 15 states (Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa,
Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, large portions of North Dakota and South Dakota, and a small
portion of Alberta) and two Canadian provinces.

3. The Red River Basin Cession (1818) (also known as: The London Convention, The Anglo-American
Convention, Convention of 1818, and Treaty of 1818):
A portion of the Canadian Territory was inside USA. Thus, USA and the UK wanted to settle this problem once and for all
by concluding a treaty between the two (the convention of 1818). This convention stated that the USA and UK would jointly
occupy the Oregon Territory (which lasted until 1846) and they both agreed to a boundary line (the 49 th parallel). What is
above belongs to UK and what is below belongs to USA. The land that was acquired by the USA in the treaty is known as
the Red River Basin, which today includes the states of Minnesota and North Dakota.

4. The Florida Purchase (The Adams-Onis Treaty) (1819):

In Europe, Spain was facing the Peninsular War beside the movement of freedom and independence in Latin America.
Thus, it was better for Spain to focus on its larger colonies rather than the small ones. In addition, Seminoles in Florida
started to move to American villages and kill Americans especially in Georgia, and slaves used to flee to Florida and started
attacking the white people. This caused many problems to the USA that had repeatedly offered Spain to purchase Florida
from it. Therefore, the 5th US President, James Monroe, ordered the leader of the army, Andrew Jackson to invade Florida.
Thus, Spain was obliged, in 1819, to negotiate; otherwise, America would take the land by force. The negotiation ended by
Spain agreeing to sell Florida to USA in return of 5 million dollars on February 22 nd, 1819, which is known as The Florida
Treaty or the Adams-Onis Treaty because it was signed by John Quincy Adams and Luis DeOnis in Washington D.C.
Florida was taken as an organized territory in 1819 but it became considered as a state of the USA in 1845.

5. The Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842):

Many disputes had arisen from different interpretations of the Treaty of Paris about disputed areas. The territory was an
object of argument between the USA and the UK (the territory that is now known as the state of Maine).
Americans were struggling about the problem of slavery, the Northern and the Southerners had disagreements; they had to
have equal pro-slavery and against-slavery states). Thus, they had to add the state of Maine. In 1838/9, there was a war (the
Aroostock War) between those who actually lived in Maine and those who lived over-borders in the British territories.
Hence, both USA and UK (Webster –the US foreign minister- and Ashburton –the British foreign minister-) agreed to have a
negotiation in order to put an end to the disagreement and the dispute. As a result, they agreed to divide the territory into two
parts: one for USA and one for Great Britain.

6. Texas Annexation (1845):

Mexican used to belong to Spain but got its independence in 1831; their hope to establish a democratic republic was not
achieved, that’s why Texans decided to revolt against their Mexican government. Eventually, they took their independence in
1836. After that immediately, the US President, Andrew Jackson, recognized (acknowledged) Texas as an independent
country although Mexico did not.
As a second step, President Martin Van Buren (from the Democratic Party, like Andrew Jackson) feared and couldn’t
annex Texas to the Union because this would lead to the outbreak of a war between the USA and Mexico.
In 1844, President John Tyler, on his last day in Office, offered the statehood to Texas. Even though Texas was in favor,
the US Congress refused at that time because John Tyler didn’t secure the majority of the votes in the Senate.
With the support of the President Elect, James Knox Polk, Tyler managed to get the joint resolution passed on March 1845,
(2/3 of the Senate accepted) and Texas was officially annexed on December 29 th, 1845).

7. The Manifest Destiny:

The idea of the Manifest Destiny emerged around the 1820s when the President John Quincy Adams spoke to millions of
Americans convincing them that America was destined to be a great nation through announcing that “It was God’s will that
a large and powerful United States would encompass the entire North American continent” and that as believers they only
had to execute God’s will. For them, it included a moral virtue and a God-given mission to expand their territories and to
develop their continent. Therefore, they didn’t hesitate to kill the Indians and later they didn’t hesitate to wage war against
the Mexicans because they were not Americans and because they despise them. The president claimed that it was nothing but
the pursuit of happiness promised in the Declaration of Independence.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”.

8. The Latitudes and Meridians:

9. The Oregan Treaty (June 18th, 1846):
The Oregan Territory was occupied by both USA and UK and according to the agreement of The Red Basin of 1818; they
jointly occupied the territory of Oregan. Therefore, the Oregon Treaty settles the matter between the United States and Great
Britain. As borders were fixed between the United States and Canada at the 49 th Parallel (from the Lake of the Woods –
Minnesota) west to the Rocky Mountains), the United States had proposed to extend the border along the same parallel to the
Pacific Ocean while Great Britain insisted that the northern border should be drawn west to the Columbia River and then
follow that river to the Ocean. However, in 1843, America started to claim to take the whole territory as the jingoists in
Congress (people who don’t like other people from outside territories) raised the slogan of 54 degrees 40 minutes or fight.
The President, James Polk negotiated a treaty settling the boundary of the Oregan Territory proposing a settlement on the
49 degree line to Great Britain. Therefore, he sent his minister, James Buchanan to work out a compromise with some minor
modifications, which includes leaving the Island of Vancouver to British Canada instead of dividing it between the two of
them. The Senate ratified the treaty on June 18th, 1846.

10. The Mexican-American War (1846):

After acquiring Texas as an American state, James Knox Polk was eager to expand the American territories through
acquiring California and buying it from Mexico. However, Mexico refused to sell it and also refused to negotiate with the
United States the problem of boundaries between the two nations after the annexation of Texas. While Americans claimed
that the real boundary between the two was the Rio Grande River, Mexico maintained that it was the Nueces River.
In July, 1845, James Knox Polk ordered the commander of the US Army in Texas, Zachary Taylor, to move to the disputed
area (between the Nueces and the Rio Grande River). In November 1845, he sent the Congressman, John Slidell to Mexico to
negotiate the purchase of the disputed area in addition to the territory which today refers to New Mexico and California.
On the other hand, Mexico, under the leadership of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, also moved his troops into the disputed
area where they fought each other. Sixteen American soldiers died and consequently, the USA declared war on Mexico on
April 25th, 1846.
After two years of war, it ended with the defeat of Mexico and the two parts signing the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (The
Treaty was names –the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits band Settlement between the United States of America and the
Mexican Republic.) on February, 2nd, 1848 in the villa of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This treaty included:
 The treaty added 525,000 square miles to the US territory including today parts of Arizona, California, Colorado,
Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
 Mexico acknowledging the Rio Grande to be the right border between Mexico and USA.
 The United States paid 15million $ to Mexico.

11. The Gadsden Treaty (1848):

The Gadsden Purchase was a strip of territory that the United States purchased from Mexico following negotiations in 1853
and it was the last parcel of land acquired by the USA to complete the 48 mainland states.
In 1853, the US President, Franklin Pierce, backed the beginning of building a railroad that starts from the American south
till California to welcome immigrants. However, it was quite impossible to build it along the Mexican land as it was a
mountainous land. As a result, the Gadsden territory represented a good route for the railroad to be built (it is found in
southern Arizona and the southwestern part of New Mexico).
Therefore, the president Franklin Pierce sent the American minister, James Gadsden to Mexico to purchase as much
territory in northern Mexico as possible. He was encouraged to spend up to 50 million $ to buy about 250,000 square miles.
However, he managed to purchase about 30,000 square miles for 10 million $. The treaty between the USA and Mexico was
signed on December 30th, 1853 by James Gadsden in Mexico City, and ratified by the US Senate in June 1854.

12. The Alaska Purchase (1867):

The purchase of Alaska in 1867 marked the end of the Russian efforts to expand trade and settlements to the Pacific Coast
of North America and the beginning of the USA to rise as a great power in the Asia-Pacific region.
By the late 1850s, Russia and USA negotiated the sale of the territory. However, the talks were cut short by the outbreak of
the American Civil War.
 After the end of the Civil War, negotiations were resumed by Senator, William H. Seward, who later served as secretary of
state during both the Lincoln and Johnson administrations. He brought up the issue if Alaska with the Russian minister,
Edouard de Stoeckl, to the USA. Negotiations between the two started on March 11 th, 1867, and they signed a treaty on
March 30th, agreeing that the United States would purchase Alaska for 7.2 million $ in gold. The senate approved the treaty
on April 9th, while the president, Andrew Johnson, signed it on May 28th.
Alaska was formally transferred to the USA on October 18 th, 1867. And because Alaska was seen by journalists and
politicians as a wasteland, it became known as “Seward’s Folly” or “Seward’s Icebox”. However, it was no longer the case
when a major gold deposit was discovered in the Yukon in 1896.
The strategic importance of Alaska was finally recognized in WW2, and it became a state on January 3 rd, 1959 during the
presidency of Dwight Eisenhower.

Hawaii Annexation (1898):

Since the 1840s, keeping the European powers out of Hawaii became a principal foreign policy goal for Americans. In
1849, the United States and Hawaii concluded a treaty of friendship that served as the basis of official relations between the
two countries. In 1875, another treaty linked the two where sugar plantation owners from the USA came to dominate the
politics and economy of the Hawaiian Islands.
A turning point in US-Hawaiian relations occurred in 1890, when Congress approved the McKinley Tariff (The Tariff Act
of 1890), which raised import rates on foreign sugar. Hawaiian sugar planters became undersold in the American market, and
as a result, a depression swept the islands.
As the queen Liliuokalani wanted to establish a stronger Monarchy, Americans under the leadership of Sanford Dole
deposed her in 1893. The administration of President Benjamin Harrison encouraged the takeover, and dispatched sailors
from the USS Boston to the islands to surround the royal place. Stanford Dole sent a delegation to Washington in 1894
seeking annexation, but the new president, Governor Cleveland, opposed the annexation and wanted to restore the queen.
Thus, he declared Hawaii as an independent republic. However, the United States still annexed Hawaii in 1898. Linked to
Alaska through a compromise, both Hawaii and Alaska became states in 1959.