Turbulent Virginia: Pirate Base...Royal Colony: Social and Economic Status of England in the 16th Century, The
England in the 16th century is a country caught in a web of social and economic upheaval. Battles with its European neighbors, religious clashes at home, and the dual curse of unemployment and unbridled population growth..
Turbulent Virginia: Pirate Base...Royal Colony: Virginia Company Investments Spawn New Colony
London investors are now becoming interested in financing overseas ventures. Initially they were looking to make money by establishing trading posts like the French or privateering They turn to colonization only as a las..
Vision for a Nation: Apportionment of Slave Populations
The separate economic interests of Northern and Southern states becomes the basis for the second major debate. The South seeks some credit for its slaves and make it known that there will be no union without recognition ..
Vision for a Nation: Controlling Federal Power
Historian Bernard Bailyn characterizes the construction of the Constitution as "something of a miracle." Delegates to the Constitutional Convention create a system for governing the country's large geographic area while ..
Vision for a Nation: Debate over Representation
A major challenge for the delegates is how to devise a system of representation that will work effectively over country of such vast size. There is no model to follow in the 18th century. Madison and other large-state de..
Vision for a Nation: Delegates Gather for Constitutional Convention
By the mid 1780s, the United States is a young nation in trouble. It is impossible to get all 13 states to agree on issues of national policy. Even the Annapolis convention to modify the Articles of Confederation fails t..
Vision for a Nation: Power Struggle Between Federalists and Republicans
For twelve years, control of the new government remains firmly in the hands of the Federalists, but gaining strength in the 1790s is a group that favors a more modest central government. Both points of view are represent..
Vision for a Nation: Ratification Strategy
It is one thing to get Convention delegates to agree on the Constitution; it's quite another matter to get states and opponents to go along with it. Perhaps the most revolutionary move of the Convention is the adoption o..
Vision for a Nation: States Consider Constitutional Ratification
On September 17, 1787 thirty-nine delegates sign their names to the Constitution of the United States. All but one of the states hold ratifying conventions in which more than 1200 people examine the details and the princ..
Vision for a Nation: Testing the Design of the Constitution
The first election under the Constitution is scheduled for the early months of 1789. The newly-elected Congress, says historian Bernard Bailyn, is a "creative force in our constitutional life" for two reasons: the Bill o..