History of American Government

HIST156 Section 6311 Semester 0802

Damian Niolet
4/15/2008

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................3 Body............................................................................................4 Early Tribal-Governance..........................................................................................4 The Arrival of Europeans........................................................................................6 Ideals of Freedom...................................................................................................7 Origins of American Government...........................................................................7 After the Revolution................................................................................................8 Issues that Shaped American Government.............................................................9 Bibliography..............................................................................17 Conclusion................................................................................13

Introduction When writing a term paper, no matter what the class and subject matter, it is important to have a clear starting point. In determining the starting point for this paper, which concerns the origin and rise of American Government, a difficulty arose. Arguably, one could suggest that a paper recounting the history of American Government should begin with tribal governance, as Native Indians are without question the first Americans. But tribal governance in the Americas is far removed from the American Government that we know today. A paper that recounts both would likely leave a reader feeling as though they were on a train that just jumped tracks. The difference is that vast. Completely disregarding early American Government when writing an American Government term paper, however, would be like writing a paper on philosophy and leaving out the Greeks. It truly cannot be done without consequence of some form; most likely the consequence would be a paper that was bereft of any true historical and intellectual merit. An American Government term paper must include all forms of American Government if it is to be exemplary1. Since tribal governance cannot be left out of an American Government term paper and since the difference between tribal governance and American Government as we know it today is so very different, something has to be done to bridge the gap between the two, to make the transition between the two less abrupt. To that end, a commonality between the two must be presented and carried throughout the paper. This I have done in this term paper, effectively

eliminating the difficulty. However, more care need be taken in writing an American Government term paper. Because, a term paper with American Government as its chosen topic cannot, in an effort to shed light on early tribal governance, neglect the rich and altogether tumultuous history surrounding the American Government that we know today. While tribal governance is important and demands attention when writing an American Government term paper, to suggest that it holds greater import in the formation of todays American Government the American Government that everyone first thinks of when the words are spoken, that holds more sway than any other government in this age of globalization by focusing on it too much would be just as impossible. As such, this term paper seeks to recount, in as complete yet concise a manner as possible, the history of American Government, in all its forms from its origins to today. It will examine the history in terms of three issues that arose in the process of shaping the country and the milestones or events, which addressed those issues head on and thus, had the greatest impact on the formation of American Government, making it what it is today. Body
Early Tribal-Governance

Having established that a study of American Government must not overlook Native American forms of government prior to the arrival of Europeans, it follows that one must also take care not to oversimplify or stereotype tribal governance. But one also cannot in all cases devote the time necessary to recount the varied forms of tribal governance that existed, especially when writing a term paper of a specified length. The abundance of cultural identities in the Americas prior to European settlement is astounding. James Wilson, writer of The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native

America explains in the second chapter of the book how the population of Native Americans that existed before 1492 has been highly disputed. He cites the work of H.J. Spinden, who wrote in 1924 regarding the matter, as the authoritative voice in the dispute. Wilson summarizes Spinden by saying, the evidence from Indian burial mounds in the eastern woodlands suggested a population for that area alone of several millions.2 Contrast this to a view held by some that suggests that the total Indian population in North America was just one million. At the end of the fifteenth century there were probably more than six hundred autonomous societies in what is now the United States and Canada, each following its own way of life3 Wilson goes on to explain how Indian society depended greatly on the area, or ecology, in the midst of which they lived. If conditions in a particular area were such that agriculture was not a viable means for survival, then tribes in that area were hunters and gatherers. This type of living entailed smaller nomadic groups that tended to be based on kinship, and thus did not grow very large. In more humid regions, where agriculture was prevalent, much larger populations were formed in permanent villages and complex, hierarchical societies with a rich ceremonial life.4 Historians have segmented the Americas at the time just before the arrival of Columbus into eleven cultural areas based on the type of land they occupied5. Examples of hunter gatherers were the Iroquois, the Huron, and the Ottawa. These tribes lived where there were harsh winters every year. Examples of large scale societal groups were the Aztec and the Inca, who resided in Mesoamerica and South America respectively. Evidence of the extent to which these groups of Native Americans built their society exists in the form of great cities complete with pyramids of a sort.

Important to note is not just the area in which these early Americans lived and how the surroundings defined their societies, but how they lived in relation to each other within each tribe and in relation to each tribe to another tribe. The Cambridge History of American Theatre, written by Don B., and C. W. E. Bigsby has this to say about the core of Indian society: Much of life in Native American societies centered on prestige, rather than on property or power. This partly accounts for the many rituals in which gift-giving played a significant role; the more one could give away, the more prestige one acquired. Enhancing prestige through gift-giving was an important part of a larger cultural system in most tribes that centered on reciprocity. The mutual exchange of gifts, or conversation, of articles of trade, and of performance techniques helped tribes to maintain solidarity despite often great differences in power and status among individual tribal members.6 This idea of reciprocity was wholly unfamiliar to Europeans. This is evidenced by the fact that when the Spanish sought to conquer the Aztec empire and plunder its wealth in gold, they were stunned when the emperor offered his gold to them outright. Instead of accept the offer they plundered the city and imprisoned the emperor. Perhaps it was because the Spanish understood that with reciprocity came a sense of obligation on the part of the recipient to the giftgiver. The giving of gifts is believed to have been a way of subjecting individuals and entire tribes under the gift-giver. The Arrival of Europeans Having arrived in the Americas, Europeans quickly contorted Indian ways even in the most civilized areas as being barbaric mostly due to pre-conceived notions from a range of sources, such as religion and European social norms. Europeans, however, liked the idea of

freedom, which the Indians enjoyed, freedom in particular from a ruling class that dictated everything in life from religion to social class. Here is the common thread that ties the two types of governments that have existed in the Americas, freedom, or self-governance. Ideals of Freedom Ideas of freedom and self-governance were being expressed in many forms during the 17th century. The ideas were most notably expressed in the work of John Locke, which American Revolutionaries are believed to have projected into the Declaration of Independence.7 Another person who had much to do with influencing the idea of freedom and inciting the American Revolution was Thomas Paine. Paines pamphlet entitled Common Sense was written to speak to the common man and give credence to the idea of liberty from British tyranny. In the opening section he explains how society and government must live together in a state of natural liberty. To build on the idea, he first begins by indirectly presenting the freedom that the Indians were experiencing when he talks about a group of isolated people living in nature.8 Origins of American Government The settlers of America were influenced by many things; one factor not often cited is exiting tribal governance of the time. The early settlers saw the ideals of freedom and selfgovernance being acted out by Indians in the new land that was America. Of course, Europeans could not adapt to an Indian lifestyle, instead they adapted the Indian lifestyle to their own. They civilized Indian ways of life. They melded the preferable aspects of the Indians ways of a life with the preferable aspects of their own ways of life to form a new and vibrant cultural landscape. However, the civilizing of Indians ways of life in turn caused Europeans to try to civilize Indians themselves by making them convert to Christianity and take on other Western

ways, such as shifting the center of family units towards fraternal authority, agriculture, and house building.9 Indian ways of life were on the whole thought to be inferior to European ways by Europeans. Indians felt much the same way about European ways of life. But Europeans were by far the more domineering culture; therefore, much of what was a truly inspired and effective form of grassroots self-governance would become null and void with the unyielding expansion of Europeans across the Americas. In a way, the torch of freedom was filched from Indians by Europeans to be carried onward in time to the extent that it would not burn out, which it has yet to do, only the flame was of a very different color than what was once known by the Native Americans. After the Revolution Once British America won the right through war with Britain to conduct the great experiment of a truly democratic government, it became necessary to lay out the precise form and structure that government would take. This was accomplished in the Constitution and through the twenty-seven amendments to the Constitution that would follow over the centuries. Amendments were necessary because so many events throughout American history would cause political bodies to realize that self-governance was not without its own complications. Dissention in the form of varied ideals regarding religion, authority, the economy, etc., spurned conflict among the settlers and resulted in circumstances that, having been left unresolved over centuries, ultimately brought about often times violent quasi-revolutions. Out of these quasi-revolutions were brought into being the Amendments to the Constitution, effectively putting an end to conflicts in most cases. I will present many of those events now. The will be presented by way of the issues themselves and not in chronological order. For instance,

considering federal authority, I will explain how the issue of federal authority was left to be answered for future generations and how those future generations resolved the issue, before moving on to the next issue. Issues that Shaped American Government The first issue I will address is federal authority. During the forming of the constitution there was much debate over how much power should be vested in a centralized federal government. The issue was the most contested at the time, even being the issue that drew party lines. On one side were the Federalists; on the other were the Republicans. At issue was whether the Federal Government could/should dictate laws that state governments had to follow and if so to what extent could the federal government intervene in state affairs.10 The first event which sprang from this unresolved issue was the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. The Whiskey Rebellion involved a tax collector who was tarred and feather because of a superfluous tax on whiskey, which the Federal Government had enacted and expected states to adhere to. Pennsylvania wanted no part of the tax; many Republicans wanted such matters left to the state to revoke. Federalists saw this as nothing more than mob rule.11 The issue would go unresolved for some time and see many more events occur demanding a decision one way or the other. Most notably was the final decision by the Supreme Court in Dred Scott v. Sanford in 1857. Dred Scott was a slave whose master had passed away while they were residing in the free territory of Wisconsin. Dred Scott sued for his freedom. The Supreme Court had decided that Dred Scott, as a slave, could not sue for his freedom. Further, the Supreme Court decided that no slave or descendant of a slave could become a citizen. And finally, that the Missouri Compromise, which prohibited slavery in the Wisconsin

Territory, was unconstitutional. This decision undermined Federal authority and gave credence to any state contemplating ignoring Federal power.12 The issue would not truly meet a decisive end until after the Civil War which ended in 1865. Mark Noll, author of Americas Two Foundings had this to say: the decisive event . . . was the unequivocal triumph of national authority over local authorities though the Union victory in the Civil War.13 A period of reconstruction followed the Civil War. Essentially the North as trying to civilize the South in much the same vain as Europeans and later Americans were trying to civilize Indians. David Hackett Fischer sums it up thusly, . . . northern war aims changed from an intention merely to resist the expansion of southern culture to a determination to transform it. As this attitude spread through the northern states the Civil War became a cultural revolution.14 While transforming southern culture was eventually found to be a lost cause, exerting federal authority was not. Though it took a decent amount of time, the issue of Federal authority was finally answered. The Federal Government was able to pass sweeping laws that sates were required to follow. This was most notably seen with the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Once freed by the Federal Government, slaves could no longer be enslaved. Southern states could not ignore this law for fear that the Federal Government would exert its power in the form of military might once again. Southern disapproval of the ending of slavery would be exhibited for many years to come, however, in the form of racial discrimination. This brings me to the next issue, slavery. Slavery existed before the founding of the Americas. However, it had not existed at nearly the same scale and on nearly the same level of human degradation. The Atlantic slave trade, which brought as many as twelve million Africans across the sea to the Americas, is

rivaled in history only by the Romans in terms of scale and treatment. Whatever the reason, the early founders of the nation left the issue of slavery altogether open for interpretation for later generations. There is both ambiguity and contradiction throughout government records and documents including this nations founding document, The Declaration of Independence. One need not look far to find an example. We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men (except slaves) are created equal . . . I have inserted my own interpretation for emphasize sake. The number of events the occurred after the revolution in connection with the issue of slavery are too numerous to figure out here. Suffice it to say that the nations formation is intricately tied to the slavery issue, and just about all of the other issues at one point of another were conjoined to the issue of slavery. Take Federal authority as an example, for decades leading up to the Civil War Federal powers sought to restrict slavery from spreading beyond certain areas. Just as the forefathers had, however, political bodies could only address the issue so much, resulting in compromises, but the issue continued to aggravate tensions. Along with various other issues, slavery was a major factor in bringing about the Civil War.15 Slavery and its subsequent offspring, race discrimination affected a certain change within American Government. In the most simple of words, slavery and race discrimination forced the Federal Government to practice what it preached. Noll makes a clear explanation of the significance of both the issue of Federal power and slavery by relating them to each other, saying: . . . a strong argument can be made from American history that, without a large and active federal government, the United States greatest moral problems could never have been resolved. I regard the first of these problems as slavery and the second as the pervasive racial discrimination that long survived the formal end of slavery. For these two

intractable political problems, which were also pressing moral problems, there was no solution without exercise of active federal power, first in the Civil War and then in the civil-rights laws and judicial decisions of the 1950s and the 1960s.16 The key to his statement is the phrase, civil-rights laws and judicial decisions. As stated, the experiment that was self-governance was not without its complications. It took revision to make it work at its best. Slavery was one issue that took more time to be resolved than others. One final issue I will look at is the separation of church and state. Several of the founding fathers were deists, including Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. Deism is the notion that while there is a Creator, that Creator, having established the world and all of its laws, then left the world to its own devices.17 This belief may have influenced many to promote the separation of powers. Sullied experiences with former religious groups, such as Puritans, and British religious imperialism before the Puritans may also have greatly attributed to the idea of separation of church and state, which many of the founding fathers wanted to instill into their new visionary government. Noll writes: . . . the early United States could not entirely divest itself of the habits of Christendom, even as patriots of all kinds denounced the institutions, mental habits, and traditions of Christendom as among the most corrupt and most corrupting legacies of the benighted European past.18 That is just one of many possible reasons for the onset of the idea of separation of church and state. Fischer presents another theory which focuses on the aims of the founding fathers from a more practical perspective. In the days following the revolution, when the American governmental experiment was just taking shape, the aim of the founders, when considering ideas of separation of church and state, was not necessarily to keep religion out of politics, but to

propose a compromise for participation in the new politics by existing religions in the colonies. The problem was not that religion would sully politics, but that politics, such as those acted out in Britain would sully religion by creating a national religion that all must adhere to. Fischer says it best when referring to the First Amendment: This deceptively simple statement was another regional compromise of high complexity. Its intent was to preserve religious freedom of Virginia and Pennsylvania and at the same time to protect the religious establishments of New England from outside interference. As time passed its meaning was enlarged; a measure which was written to protect regional pluralism became a basis for national libertarianism.19 The matter of separating church and state has been left wholly undecided for future generations to resolve, yet again. This issue, though not as volatile as slavery, has taken even more time to come to a decided end than slavery. To this day debate rages over where the dividing line should be drawn. What was once simply a regional compromise has snowballed and now holds global implications. This is due impart to the fact that today more religions than simply Christian denominations are involved in politics. The myriad of religions requires not a regional compromise, but a global compromise. For a government that was founded in part by one religion, that is a monumental task. We shall see which direction the branches decide to take the country in once there are more occurrences that propel the issue to the forefront of the countrys political stage. Conclusion In conclusion, anyone who attempts to write a term paper recounted the history of American Government has their work cut out for them. From the outset the writer is faced with a problem. That problem is whether to include the early tribal governance of Native Americans.

Though their form of government was nothing like the Government that we know of today in America, it nonetheless demands a certain amount of attention because to ignore it would be nearly unforgivable and would result in an unbalanced paper. Native American Heritage is integral to American History. Though many things influenced the early founders of America, one thing less often cited is Indian self-governance. But even William Penn looked to the Indians for inspiration of a sort when he began his argument for revolution against Britain by presenting to the readers of Common Sense an earthy people much like the Indians. Once the revolution was concluded, Americans won the right experiment with their new form of government, which pursued a freedom not unlike that lived by Native Americans. The experiment was not without its troubles. The founders realized early on that because of the many groups of people that settled in the new world, compromises in law needed to be made. But compromises rarely solve problems. Contentious issues exist the moment the new American Government was formed and were left unresolved for decades sometimes centuries. This fact entailed many a quasi-revolution as people demanded that laws be changed and issues decided one way or the other, rather than in compromise. Three issues that this paper looked at were: (1) Federal authority (2) Slavery and (3) Separation of Church and State. Each took many years to come to a decisive end; the last one has yet to be fully concluded. Each issue incited struggles throughout American history; the first two of which were swiftly rectified with the outbreak of the Civil War and the subsequent end. American Government is a strong and healthy organization with a rich and vibrant history, however wrought with trouble it may be. In fact those troubles are what have made

American Government what it is today. I hope that this paper has shed some light on the history that has brought us to this time.

Ned Blackhawk, Recasting the Narrative of America: The Rewards and Challenges of Teaching American Indian History, The Journal of American History (2007): 1168 2 James Wilson, The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America (New York: Grove Press, 2000), 19 3 Ibid., 21 4 Ibid., 22 5 Ibid., 23 6 Don B. Wilmeth and C. W. E. Bigsby, The Campbridge History of American Theatre (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998) 115 7 Willis Mason West, American History and Government (Norwood: Norwood Press, 1913), 58 8 Ibid., 67 9 James Wilson, The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America (New York: Grove Press, 2000), 46 10 Willis Mason West, American History and Government (Norwood: Norwood Press, 1913), 97 11 Ibid., 261 12 Ibid., 320 13 Mark Noll, "America's Two Foundings," First Things (2007): 29-30 14 David Hackett Fischer, Albion's Seed (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), 861 15 Willis Mason West, American History and Government (Norwood: Norwood Press, 1913), 153 16 Mark Noll, "America's Two Foundings," First Things (2007): 34 17 Willis Mason West, American History and Government (Norwood: Norwood Press, 1913), 204 18 Mark Noll, "America's Two Foundings," First Things (2007): 3 32
1

David Hackett Fischer, Albion's Seed (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), 830 19

Bibliography
Blackhawk, Ned. "Recasting the Narrative of America: The Rewards and Challenges of Teaching American Indian History." The Journal of American History, 2007: 1165-1170. Fischer, David Hackett. Albion's Seed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Noll, Mark. "America's Two Foundings." First Things, 2007: 29-34. West, Willis Mason. American History and Government. Norwood: Norwood Press, 1913. Wilmeth, Don B., and C. W.E. Bigsby. The Campbridge History of American Theatre. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Wilson, James. The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America. New York: Grove Press, 2000.