Movement in the early American republic
Movement in the early American republic
A restless people
Americans have long been characterized as restless and constantly on the move. In the late 18th century, most people lived and died in the villages and towns where they were born, particularly in societies with limited social and physical mobility. Even to settle the new British colonies in North America in the 17th and 18th centuries required crossing the Atlantic Ocean to arrive in a sparsely populated new land boasting seemingly endless territories, albeit territories inhabited by a dizzying array of distinctive indigenous societies. As you have already learned, the first few centuries of American colonization, settlement, and independence involved repeated encounters, and often confrontations, with Native Americans and the subsequent dispossession of native lands by European colonists. As a result of the Treaty of Paris (1783), the boundaries of the United States extended north to Canada, south to Florida, and west to the Mississippi River, with many of these areas still containing thousands of Native Americans. Shortly after independence, Americans resolved to settle more of these newly acquired lands, essentially ensuring renewed conflict with indigenous societies.
Frontier wars
As Americans moved westward in the 1780s and 1790s, the **frontier **reached new areas, including Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio; enough settlers moved into Kentucky and Tennessee that they became states in 1792 and 1796, respectively. In the Ohio region of the Northwest Territory, conflicts with indigenous societies allied with the British resulted in the decisive Battle of Fallen Timbers, in August 1794 near modern Toledo, where General “Mad” Anthony Wayne’s forces defeated an alliance of Ottawa, Shawnee, and affiliated nations; this victory not only allowed Americans to move into the Ohio Valley but also to convincingly demonstrate to the British that Americans intended to settle the entire area and that the forts still held by the British, in violation of the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1783), would face increasing American pressure. To finally resolve these disputes about the remaining British fortresses, **President Washington **sent John Jay, one of the authors of the Federalist Papers, first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, former US minister to Spain during the American Revolution, and Secretary of Foreign Affairs during the Articles of Confederation, to negotiate a settlement with the British over these fortresses as well as unresolved debt payments by the United States to Loyalists from the American Revolution. The resolution of these issues, commonly known as Jay’s Treaty (1795), was widely criticized in the United States as being too generous and/or accommodating to the British and the Loyalists, but many historians have concluded that it probably represents the best outcome that the United States could have achieved at that time.
Slavery in federal territories?
An enduring question for the early United States, one that lasted through the Civil War and the ratification of the 13th Amendment, was whether newly organized federal territories would permit slavery. The most important early test of this fundamental question occurred during the summer of 1787, a period primarily associated with the Constitutional Convention. Simultaneously, though, Congress, still operating under the Articles of Confederation, convened to organize the Northwest Territory, an area now comprising the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota. The **Northwest Ordinance **of 1787 not only authorized the eventual creation of 5 new states but it established vital precedents in American law, including fundamental rights that would be included in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, including habeas corpus, the right to trial by jury, and freedom of religion. The **Northwest Ordinance **furthermore specified that **education **would be a priority for the government of the Northwest Territory and that “good faith” needed to be demonstrated towards indigenous peoples, including that their lands could not be confiscated without the direct consent of these same indigenous peoples. The population criteria for statehood was clearly delineated in the Northwest Ordinance; once a territory had “sixty thousand free inhabitants,” the territory could apply to the **Congress **for statehood - this threshold remains in effect today in the United States. The **Northwest Ordinance **also banned **slavery **from the Northwest Territory, a vital precedent that would be revisited throughout the succeeding 80 years of American history.
Northwest Ordinance, Article 6, July 13, 1787