WEBVTT

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Prof: I now actually
want to move on to the topic of

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the real lecture today,
and I've titled the lecture

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"War and Society."

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And I mentioned on Tuesday's
lecture--

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at the very end of it--I
mentioned that although the

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Treaty of Paris formally ended
the fighting of the American

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Revolution,
that there were a lot of things

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obviously,
clearly undecided at that point.

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And I mentioned two things
which are very logical things to

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have mentioned.

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I said that,
who knew what kind of a society

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this new nation was going to
have,

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and who knew what kind of
government was going to be

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governing over this new nation.

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And in a way the remaining
lectures in this course--

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And it's kind of shocking that
there actually aren't all that

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many left--
I think they're all done by

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Powder House Day as a matter of
fact.

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But in a way,
the remaining lectures are

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going to be talking about
society,

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what kind of society would
emerge from the Revolution,

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and what kind of government
would govern over that society.

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So those two questions are
actually the very two questions

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that are in one way or another
going to be thematically linking

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together the rest of the
lectures in the course.

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And in a way,
those two questions relate back

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to some of what I talked about
at the very beginning of this

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course.

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Hopefully, you remember.

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If you don't,
I guess you can go look at the

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syllabus, but hopefully you
remember.

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I mentioned--I read quotes from
John Adams and from Benjamin

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Rush, both of them trying to
define what they thought the

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American Revolution was.

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Right? Was it the fighting?

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Was it before the fighting?

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Was it after the fighting?

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And in a way,
the next lectures,

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today and those to come,
are going to address those

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questions in a variety of ways.

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So today we're going to be
talking about society;

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what kind of society was
America going to have in this

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experimental,
brand new nation?

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Now there are any number of
ways to discuss this question,

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and the approach that I'm going
to take today is to look at some

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specific parts of American
society and see how the

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Revolution affected them,
to see how things looked for

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them--these parts of the
American population--

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how things looked for them in
the wake of the Revolution,

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because in one way or another
these populations all had a

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vital impact on the fighting of
the Revolution,

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and in one way or another they
were all dispossessed of power.

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So today we're going to look at
how the Revolution affected

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African Americans,
women, and Native

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Americans--and in a sense
looking at how these three

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populations fared in a
Revolution dedicated to

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defending rights and liberties
is a way of judging how radical

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the Revolution was.

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Now this is certainly what some
historians have argued,

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and in particular there was a
really interesting debate on

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this topic that broke out in the
wake of the publication of

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Gordon Wood's Radicalism of
the American Revolution,

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and I'm sure--I don't think
it's next week--

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I think maybe it's the week
after when you read the final

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section of Wood.

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And I'm sure that in that
discussion section when you get

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to the final chunk of that book,
this conversation will probably

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come up based on some of what
I'm talking about today.

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But when that book first came
out, a number of historians

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stepped forward and said:
No--basically--no,

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the Revolution was not all that
radical.

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And they argued that:
well, okay, Professor Wood,

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of course you consider it
radical.

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You don't really talk about
slavery.

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You don't talk very much about
women.

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And you really don't talk about
the South very much;

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you focus largely on the North.

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So these historians said:
Well, when you look at the

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Revolution that way it looks
radical,

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but what about when you include
slavery,

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women and the South?

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How does the Revolution look
then?

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Well, this debate ended up
being put into print in one of

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the leading academic journals of
early America.

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It's called The William and
Mary Quarterly and they

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actually published the whole
debate.

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So they published three or four
scholars arguing that the

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Revolution was not radical in
the way that Wood's book states,

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and then they let Wood have a
comeback,

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and so they have his reply to
the historians who just refuted

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his book.

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It's a really interesting
conversation.

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And the commentators brought up
the issues that I've just named.

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Right? What about slavery?

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What about the role of women in
society?

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What about the South?

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And here is a sample sentence
from Wood's response.

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He wrote that it is,
quote,

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"inconceivable,"
apparently,

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to his critics,
quote, "that any white

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males in the past,
unless they were sailors ...

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or very poor,
could ever have been oppressed

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or have felt oppressed.

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They imply that only those who
are oppressed or marginalized in

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our own time were capable of
being oppressed two centuries

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ago.

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If the Revolution did not
totally abolish slavery and

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fundamental--
fundamentally change the lot of

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women,
then it could not possibly have

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been radical."

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So clearly he's refuting them,
saying: Well,

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hey, can't white males also
have been oppressed and have a

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radical change?

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This debate is really
interesting in part because it

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gets very heated.

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You can really see the passions
of all the historians involved,

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Professor Wood included.

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They're very engaged in this.

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They have a lot at stake.

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You can kind of see how
passionate historical debates

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and arguments can get.

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But obviously,
also part of why they're get

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all heated is because the
Revolution in many ways is

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America's defining event.

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So it sort of--it matters for
us to think about what it means,

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what it meant,
what it meant to different

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people.

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What did the Revolution really
mean?

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And the debate over Wood's book
touches on these kinds of

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questions.

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Now one small part of the
problem in grappling with this

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question is a natural desire I
think that many of us have--

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and actually people even did
this in the eighteenth century--

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and that is to compare the
American Revolution and the

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French Revolution.

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Right?

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People did that at the time.

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Sometimes people do that today.

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So if you're thinking about:
well,

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was the American Revolution
radical,

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some people say:
Well, compared with France it

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wasn't very radical at all,
was it?

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Look at what they were doing
over there in France.

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And certainly when you compare
what happened here with some of

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the more radical,
extreme guillotine-based things

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that were happening in France,
it might look less radical here.

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And in comparison with the
really deep-seated changes in

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French society,
like the ousting of an

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established aristocracy and the
killing of a king and the

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initiation of a new social
order--

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right?--that's big,
big, big change.

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In comparison with that,
you might argue that changes in

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America seem tame in comparison.

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Some might argue that the
American Revolution,

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unlike its French counterpart,
was essentially a political

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protest against a distant
central government's

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interference in the local
affairs of a people who were

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long accustomed to govern
themselves--

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basically that the American
Revolution was not a social

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revolution.

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I'm not necessarily defending
this argument--

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and as you'll see I'm not
necessarily defending any

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argument--
but I'm certainly stating here

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a number of different things
that people have argued.

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And actually what I'm going to
try to do today--

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I'm going to discuss these
populations that are at the

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heart of this debate about the
radicalism of the American

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Revolution.

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I'm going to talk about African
Americans,

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women, and Native Americans and
how they fared,

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how the Revolution affected
them and how they experienced

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the Revolution.

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And part of the aim of this is
going to be that learning how

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these populations fared will
give us some insight into the

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formation of American society in
revolutionary and

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post-revolutionary America.

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But what I'm going to really
try to do as I talk about this

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today is,
I'm going to try really hard

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not to answer that question I
raised about was the Revolution

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radical or not--
the debate that I mentioned in

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The William and Mary
Quarterly.

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I'm actually not going to weigh
in on what these changes mean,

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and I'm not going to do that
very deliberately,

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because the section after next
when you discuss this,

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I really want you to debate it.

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I'm not going to tell you my
opinion.

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It might leak in.

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I hope not.

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I've tried really hard to
banish it.

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I don't want you to have my
opinion.

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I want you to really debate
this when you're reading the

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last chunk of Wood's book,
and thinking back over the

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course, thinking back over
lectures and readings,

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think to yourselves--what
do you think about the

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radicalism of the Revolution.

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And so the lecture today and
what I'm talking about today is

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going to be fodder that will
feed into that conversation.

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Okay.

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So, I want to start by talking
about African Americans.

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Now certainly the period of
conflict, of actual fighting

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during the Revolution,
really stirred things up in the

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realm of slavery in a number of
ways.

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For one thing,
on the sort of simple,

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basic level of logistics,
the war just created confusion

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and disorder,
and because things were

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disordered in wartime it
provided some opportunities for

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slaves to escape.

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So just the mass confusion of
war enabled some slaves to flee

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plantations and perhaps to pose
as free men.

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Equally important,
the Revolution spread its

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message to black Americans as
well as to white Americans.

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The message of the Revolution
or maybe the messages,

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plural, of the Revolution were
not invisible to black

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Americans--
free black Americans or

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enslaved black Americans.

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Regardless of whether they were
free or enslaved,

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people could hear these
messages, this rhetoric of

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liberty and freedom,
and translate it into their own

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lives.

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And you can see both of these
things;

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you can see the impact of the
confusion of war and you can see

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the impact of the messages of
the Revolution,

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in the actions of the
British--or actually,

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of Virginia's colonial
governor--but I'm calling him

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"the British"
because he's loyal to the

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King--
in 1775 in Virginia,

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and then the response of slaves
in Virginia.

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Now logically enough during the
war, the British--among the

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things that they're trying to do
is to--Creating chaos would be

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happy for them to do.

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Right?

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That would just sort of give
more of a disadvantage to the

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Americans.

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So the British are trying to
think of ways to make things

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difficult in America,
and certainly that's the case

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in Virginia.

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And one of the ways in which
they chose to do this concerned

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the institution of slavery.

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So specifically,
on November 7,1775,

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the colonial governor of
Virginia who,

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as I just mentioned,
was loyal to the Crown--

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his name was Lord Dunmore--he
passed a proclamation calling on

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slaves who belonged to
rebellious planters,

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and stating that any of these
slaves who were willing to bear

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arms in the service of the Crown
should flee their masters and

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come to the British encampment
at Norfolk and fight for the

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British.

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And any slave who fled from a
rebellious master and came to

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fight with the British,
this proclamation promised that

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he would earn freedom at the end
of the war in exchange for

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military service.

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And this becomes known as Lord
-- logically,

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Lord Dunmore's Proclamation,
November 7,1775.

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Now roughly 800 slaves actually
did reach Norfolk,

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and it's probable that there
would have been more,

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but it was not necessarily an
easy thing,

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despite the disorder of war,
for people to just flee from

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plantations,
and there probably was a good

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deal of vigilance on the part of
plantation holders.

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So it was not necessarily easy
to run to Norfolk,

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but roughly 800 slaves did
reach Norfolk.

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And with those black
volunteers, Dunmore established

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what he called his Ethiopian
Regiment.

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And his Ethiopian Regiment wore
uniforms with a badge that

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declared "liberty to
slaves."

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Okay.

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So the message is really clear.

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However, in a battle fought in
Virginia on--

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in December of 1775,
Virginian soldiers actually

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overwhelmed the British and the
Ethiopian Regiment and some

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white Loyalists,
all of them sort of fighting

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together there,
and Dunmore was forced to

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evacuate by sea,
and he took his black

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volunteers with him.

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Now sadly, in a variety of
ways, and I suppose in a way

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it's not unexpected,
Dunmore's proclamation

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ultimately contained a lot of
empty promises,

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sort of really amazingly sadly.

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Some British soldiers just
couldn't resist the temptation

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to sell some of these black
volunteers in the West Indies,

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which they did.

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Some actually went aboard ship
with Dunmore,

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were headed back to England and
apparently there was a smallpox

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outbreak aboard some of these
ships,

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and a number of these
volunteers died at sea of

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smallpox.

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So things didn't necessarily
end really well for these

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volunteers.

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Now, not necessarily these
volunteers,

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but looking a little bit more
broadly at what black Americans

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are doing during and in the wake
of the Revolution,

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some enslaved and free black
Americans who sided with the

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British,
instead of running to

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Norfolk--maybe they were in a
different state or in a

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different situation--
some of them actually,

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ultimately, sometimes at the
end of the war,

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made their way to Canada.

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Canada's back.

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Free Canada.

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Some made their way to Canada
and in particular Nova Scotia

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and Quebec among other places.

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Historians, generally speaking,
don't have precise numbers

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about the number of black
Americans who went to Canada,

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but probably we're talking in
the thousands.

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Now it's important to note here
that I've just been talking

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about people running to freedom
and free black Americans.

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I'm not meaning to suggest that
Canada is a slave-free zone,

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because it wasn't.

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And as a matter of fact,
Loyalists, white Loyalists who

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went to Canada after the war and
happened to be slave owners,

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brought their slaves with them.

14:44.918 --> 14:47.448
So it's not as though Canada
was this sort of happy freedom

14:47.453 --> 14:47.763
zone.

14:47.759 --> 14:50.469
For some people,
as I'll mention in a minute,

14:50.474 --> 14:53.074
it was somewhat,
but for many other people,

14:53.065 --> 14:57.675
they were slaves in America;
they were slaves in Canada.

14:57.678 --> 15:02.918
There were a number of free
black men who immigrated to

15:02.916 --> 15:08.206
Canada and once they were there,
they assumed logically that

15:08.211 --> 15:12.161
they deserved the same benefits
that white Loyalists were

15:12.158 --> 15:13.988
getting from the Crown.

15:13.990 --> 15:16.080
So these are free black men who
sided with the British,

15:16.080 --> 15:18.760
they go to Canada,
and the Crown had promised

15:18.763 --> 15:21.693
white Loyalists sort of any
number of things,

15:21.690 --> 15:24.080
including land grants,
as a reward for being loyal

15:24.078 --> 15:25.248
during the Revolution.

15:25.250 --> 15:29.130
These free black men also go to
Canada, assuming they've been

15:29.129 --> 15:32.169
loyal and they deserve land
grants in Canada.

15:32.168 --> 15:36.008
And there actually were some
free black men who did get land

15:36.011 --> 15:37.251
grants in Canada.

15:37.250 --> 15:40.780
However, of course this was not
an entirely fair process.

15:40.779 --> 15:45.359
So you have white Loyalists
being given grants of hundreds

15:45.355 --> 15:49.255
of acres of land;
you have black Loyalists being

15:49.255 --> 15:53.055
given sometimes as little as one
acre of land,

15:53.058 --> 15:56.068
sometimes as much as fifty
acres of land,

15:56.070 --> 16:00.360
nowhere near sort of parity,
nothing equal going on here.

16:00.360 --> 16:03.950
And apparently also,
areas in which black Loyalists

16:03.952 --> 16:07.262
were given land tended to be
segregated off.

16:07.259 --> 16:10.599
So we're not talking about
equality, we're not talking

16:10.601 --> 16:13.821
about a slave-free zone,
and we're not talking about

16:13.817 --> 16:15.707
sudden equality of status.

16:15.710 --> 16:20.350
Now of course,
slaves did not just serve in

16:20.350 --> 16:25.320
the British Army,
or only ally themselves with

16:25.322 --> 16:27.092
the British.

16:27.090 --> 16:31.820
Some joined the Continental
Army, as did some free black

16:31.821 --> 16:34.291
Americans,
though at the outset,

16:34.285 --> 16:37.685
the Continental Army forbade
the enlistment of African

16:37.686 --> 16:38.516
Americans.

16:38.519 --> 16:40.789
So at the beginning of the war,
this was not something being

16:40.788 --> 16:41.248
discussed.

16:41.250 --> 16:45.220
However, after the war had been
dragging on for a while,

16:45.220 --> 16:47.320
certainly longer than people
thought it would,

16:47.320 --> 16:50.100
and the Continental Army and
Congress really began to be

16:50.102 --> 16:53.002
desperate for manpower,
suddenly this issue was

16:53.000 --> 16:55.680
revisited, and at least in the
North,

16:55.678 --> 16:59.628
some states began to enlist
black soldiers to fight in the

16:59.625 --> 17:00.935
Continental Army.

17:00.940 --> 17:05.350
By the end of the war,
most of the states--

17:05.348 --> 17:08.278
some of the obviously Southern
states are holdouts here--

17:08.278 --> 17:11.928
but most of the states had
recruited some black soldiers.

17:11.930 --> 17:15.750
Roughly 5,000 black soldiers
served in the Continental Army,

17:15.752 --> 17:18.802
logically enough most of them
from the North.

17:18.798 --> 17:23.318
The majority were slaves
serving with their masters'

17:23.324 --> 17:26.344
consent in separate black units.

17:26.338 --> 17:29.958
Some hoped to be fighting
towards their emancipation,

17:29.960 --> 17:31.740
so again on a really personal
level,

17:31.740 --> 17:33.840
did feel like they were
fighting for freedom,

17:33.838 --> 17:37.628
not just American freedom but
personal freedom.

17:37.630 --> 17:43.320
And an example of this--just
this mentality--You can see this

17:43.315 --> 17:49.185
in the 289 identifiably black
men in the Connecticut forces.

17:49.190 --> 17:53.300
Of that--those 289 black men,
five of them when asked to give

17:53.301 --> 17:56.391
their surname,
reported that their surname was

17:56.385 --> 17:58.575
Liberty when they signed on.

17:58.578 --> 18:03.008
Eighteen when they signed on
reported that their last name

18:03.007 --> 18:04.947
was Freedom or Freeman.

18:04.950 --> 18:07.370
And I have to say,
speaking as Joanne Freeman,

18:07.371 --> 18:10.491
my Eastern-European ancestors
had the same impulse at Ellis

18:10.490 --> 18:11.840
Island I think:
[laughter]

18:11.836 --> 18:12.586
Freeman.

18:12.589 --> 18:14.809
So I understand.

18:14.808 --> 18:18.258
But you can see there,
you can get a sense there,

18:18.258 --> 18:22.208
of the mindset of what--behind
what people are doing.

18:22.210 --> 18:27.750
So we've seen in a variety of
ways here that the war shook up

18:27.752 --> 18:31.452
the system of slavery in several
ways.

18:31.450 --> 18:36.000
We've seen that the message of
the Revolution certainly had an

18:36.000 --> 18:38.910
impact on America's slave
population.

18:38.910 --> 18:44.140
The Revolution also changed the
views of some white Americans

18:44.136 --> 18:45.876
regarding slavery.

18:45.880 --> 18:49.400
Given the Revolution's message
of liberty and the ways in which

18:49.404 --> 18:52.984
Americans actually did regularly
use the rhetoric of enslavement

18:52.983 --> 18:55.773
to describe their relationship
with Britain--

18:55.769 --> 18:56.979
right? We are not slaves.

18:56.980 --> 19:00.410
They are treating us like
slaves--some white Americans

19:00.412 --> 19:03.782
were moved to take action on the
issue of slavery.

19:03.778 --> 19:06.628
Now of course,
some foreign observers were

19:06.625 --> 19:10.925
pretty quick to see the irony in
a slave-holding society crying

19:10.928 --> 19:13.148
out for liberty and freedom.

19:13.150 --> 19:15.170
And the most famous example of
this--

19:15.170 --> 19:16.940
many of you may have heard this
quote already--

19:16.940 --> 19:19.890
is from Samuel Johnson,
who said, "How is it that

19:19.890 --> 19:23.010
we hear the loudest yelps for
liberty from the drivers of

19:23.007 --> 19:24.007
negroes?"

19:24.009 --> 19:26.749
He just pins the point right on
its head.

19:26.750 --> 19:30.750
But some people were actually
moved to action.

19:30.750 --> 19:33.990
For example,
ideas early in the war that we

19:33.993 --> 19:38.473
talked about earlier in the
course about boycotting certain

19:38.473 --> 19:41.483
items of trade,
like the Continental

19:41.483 --> 19:45.583
Association, those ideas
inspired some Americans to seize

19:45.583 --> 19:49.613
the opportunity to prohibit
trade in slaves as well.

19:49.608 --> 19:53.628
And some of the more radical
colonies like Pennsylvania,

19:53.630 --> 19:56.430
Connecticut,
and Rhode Island--I want a

19:56.432 --> 20:00.792
rousing cheer for Rhode Island--
some of the more radical

20:00.790 --> 20:05.110
colonies actually passed acts
prohibiting the slave trade

20:05.111 --> 20:06.501
during the war.

20:06.500 --> 20:10.110
So Pennsylvania in 1773 did
that;

20:10.108 --> 20:14.898
Rhode Island and Connecticut in
1774 did that.

20:14.900 --> 20:20.420
Between 1777 and 1784,
five states actually ended

20:20.423 --> 20:22.813
slavery--
and I'm going to come back to a

20:22.806 --> 20:25.106
moment as to what I mean when I
say "ended slavery"--

20:25.108 --> 20:28.538
Vermont, Pennsylvania,
Massachusetts,

20:28.538 --> 20:30.488
Rhode Island,
and Connecticut,

20:30.487 --> 20:34.447
though in many cases they
proposed gradual emancipation--

20:34.450 --> 20:37.690
so again this is not instant
end of problem--

20:37.690 --> 20:42.460
for example declaring all
children born of an enslaved

20:42.460 --> 20:46.060
woman to be free after a certain
date.

20:46.058 --> 20:48.998
Quakers were also moved,
or at least some Quakers were

20:48.998 --> 20:51.048
also moved to act against
slavery,

20:51.048 --> 20:55.428
and certainly by the end of the
war some Quaker slave owners had

20:55.430 --> 20:56.890
freed their slaves.

20:56.890 --> 20:59.850
I think a pretty hefty
percentage of Quakers actually

20:59.846 --> 21:00.696
freed slaves.

21:00.700 --> 21:06.380
Sometimes black Americans were
spurred to action.

21:06.380 --> 21:09.370
So for example,
in states that considered

21:09.374 --> 21:14.244
slaves to be not only property
but also people before the law,

21:14.240 --> 21:17.050
like Massachusetts,
there were actually some slaves

21:17.049 --> 21:20.029
who brought suit against their
masters for freedom.

21:20.028 --> 21:24.528
Now these kinds of attempts may
not have often been successful,

21:24.528 --> 21:28.028
but they certainly had the
potential to force slave owners

21:28.032 --> 21:30.432
to grapple with the idea of
slavery,

21:30.430 --> 21:32.860
with its legality,
with its morality.

21:32.858 --> 21:36.168
So as far as slavery is
concerned in the North,

21:36.170 --> 21:39.620
the Revolution caused some
change, though there was still a

21:39.618 --> 21:43.128
general refusal to offer freed
blacks full membership in the

21:43.128 --> 21:46.458
political community or to raise
their social status.

21:46.460 --> 21:50.000
But in the South,
slavery emerged from the

21:50.000 --> 21:53.630
Revolution as a firmly
entrenched sectional

21:53.627 --> 21:55.007
institution.

21:55.009 --> 21:58.099
Now of course,
the South was economically

21:58.095 --> 22:00.945
dependent on the system of
slavery.

22:00.950 --> 22:04.380
In a way, the Revolution only
made this more obvious to

22:04.380 --> 22:05.270
southerners.

22:05.269 --> 22:08.019
Military occupation by the
British,

22:08.019 --> 22:10.839
British attempts--as in Lord
Dunmore--

22:10.838 --> 22:14.748
to use slavery as a tactic to
upset the American cause:

22:14.748 --> 22:19.308
those sorts of things seemed to
really threaten the social order

22:19.307 --> 22:22.927
of the South,
and many Southerners responded

22:22.928 --> 22:27.638
by deciding that the restoration
and regulation of slavery was

22:27.642 --> 22:31.352
indispensable for the
rehabilitation of the South

22:31.351 --> 22:32.821
after the war.

22:32.818 --> 22:35.828
So the result was the further
entrenchment of slavery

22:35.828 --> 22:38.778
throughout the South,
although I think a little less

22:38.779 --> 22:39.879
so in Maryland.

22:39.880 --> 22:43.550
So for example in some states
where a large percentage of the

22:43.545 --> 22:46.595
slave population had been lost
in various ways,

22:46.598 --> 22:50.368
planters began to import slaves
from Africa in earnest in mass

22:50.366 --> 22:51.166
quantities.

22:51.170 --> 22:53.900
So for example,
South Carolina lost a large

22:53.895 --> 22:57.595
percentage of their slave
population in one way or another

22:57.596 --> 22:58.826
during the war.

22:58.828 --> 23:01.918
Before 1800,
they had imported almost 20,000

23:01.916 --> 23:03.996
Africans to South Carolina.

23:04.000 --> 23:07.350
And obviously,
as we're going to see in future

23:07.346 --> 23:10.136
lectures,
given this divide over the

23:10.140 --> 23:12.950
issue of slavery,
it became a continual

23:12.951 --> 23:17.151
deal-breaker whenever any sort
of national initiative was being

23:17.151 --> 23:20.221
discussed,
like the drafting of a new

23:20.219 --> 23:21.359
Constitution.

23:21.358 --> 23:24.508
Again and again over the course
of the next few decades,

23:24.509 --> 23:28.489
the issue of slavery would be
raised and then dropped,

23:28.490 --> 23:32.760
sometimes immediately dropped,
always being sidestepped as

23:32.757 --> 23:37.247
just being too dangerous to
handle in a fragile new union.

23:37.250 --> 23:40.010
And obviously if you look far
down the road,

23:40.005 --> 23:43.715
this kind of behavior was no
solution, because way down the

23:43.721 --> 23:45.901
road we end up in a civil war.

23:45.900 --> 23:49.060
Now as I said at the outset,
I'm going to let you discuss

23:49.058 --> 23:51.258
for yourselves in a couple of
weeks,

23:51.259 --> 23:54.409
thinking back over the
semester, about the implications

23:54.410 --> 23:56.920
of the information that I just
gave you,

23:56.920 --> 24:00.000
about slavery and whether or
not this constitutes radical

24:00.003 --> 24:00.503
change.

24:00.500 --> 24:02.440
What does this mean?

24:02.440 --> 24:06.190
Now I want to turn to the
question of women and how the

24:06.192 --> 24:08.072
Revolution affected them.

24:08.068 --> 24:12.288
And I've already mentioned in
past lectures how women were

24:12.286 --> 24:15.316
politicized with the resistance
effort.

24:15.318 --> 24:17.888
Boycotting British goods is an
act of--

24:17.890 --> 24:21.180
It's a political act ,and women
are often the people who are

24:21.182 --> 24:24.222
purchasing goods--
that the need to spin and weave

24:24.223 --> 24:26.513
homespun cloth,
because British manufactured

24:26.505 --> 24:29.165
goods are being boycotted--
again, that's a really

24:29.173 --> 24:30.163
political act.

24:30.160 --> 24:35.560
So some of the daily actions of
women became politicized during

24:35.558 --> 24:37.038
the Revolution.

24:37.038 --> 24:40.428
And there were some women who
were even more overtly

24:40.434 --> 24:44.504
political: drafting petitions,
participating in mass political

24:44.497 --> 24:45.227
events.

24:45.230 --> 24:48.980
In North Carolina in 1774,
as an example of some very

24:48.981 --> 24:53.101
politically activated women,
fifty-one women wrote out a

24:53.103 --> 24:56.733
resolution declaring their
allegiance to the American

24:56.731 --> 24:57.361
cause.

24:57.358 --> 25:01.208
In 1780 in Philadelphia,
thirty-six women apparently

25:01.211 --> 25:05.441
created and ran an amazingly
successful campaign to raise

25:05.441 --> 25:10.341
money to equip American troops,
and supposedly in a matter of

25:10.343 --> 25:14.413
weeks these thirty-six women
raised roughly $300,000.

25:14.410 --> 25:18.020
Those are sort of active,
amazingly effective women.

25:18.019 --> 25:21.019
So there are some women that
are really explicitly sort of

25:21.019 --> 25:24.019
campaigning politically,
but this doesn't mean that

25:24.021 --> 25:27.191
women were wholeheartedly
welcomed into the political

25:27.188 --> 25:27.978
community.

25:27.980 --> 25:33.800
Of course, they didn't have the
franchise, except briefly in New

25:33.798 --> 25:34.628
Jersey.

25:34.630 --> 25:36.340
This is a New Jersey moment.

25:36.339 --> 25:38.929
Is anyone here from New Jersey?

25:38.930 --> 25:40.930
Oh, we have many New Jersey
people.

25:40.930 --> 25:43.130
New Jersey shines right here,
well, at least for a little

25:43.125 --> 25:43.435
while.

25:43.440 --> 25:44.960
We have a shining New Jersey
moment.

25:44.960 --> 25:46.860
Believe it or not,
[laughter]

25:46.862 --> 25:49.922
for a little window of time in
New Jersey,

25:49.920 --> 25:53.600
women had the vote during this
time period,

25:53.598 --> 25:57.918
in direct consequence of the
principles of the Revolution.

25:57.920 --> 26:01.790
And the way that this worked is
that basically as a new state,

26:01.791 --> 26:04.271
New Jersey created its own
constitution,

26:04.268 --> 26:06.298
a new constitution,
in 1776.

26:06.298 --> 26:09.398
And apparently that
constitution had gender-neutral

26:09.402 --> 26:12.772
language in it,
and it referred to inhabitants

26:12.772 --> 26:15.252
voting,
inhabitants who could meet a

26:15.253 --> 26:17.513
fifty-pound property
requirement,

26:17.509 --> 26:21.019
so any inhabitant who had those
fifty pounds could vote.

26:21.019 --> 26:23.939
Now obviously,
that did not explicitly mention

26:23.943 --> 26:25.453
women,
but in 1790,

26:25.450 --> 26:29.900
state legislators in New Jersey
passed an electoral statute

26:29.895 --> 26:33.035
explicitly affirming female
suffrage,

26:33.038 --> 26:34.778
and used the word
"he"

26:34.779 --> 26:37.639
and the word "she"
in discussing this,

26:37.640 --> 26:39.600
so they were very
straightforward about it.

26:39.598 --> 26:42.578
Now in point in fact,
only small numbers of women

26:42.579 --> 26:46.429
voted because except for a small
number of wealthy widows there

26:46.429 --> 26:49.779
were not that many women who
could satisfy the property

26:49.781 --> 26:50.901
requirement.

26:50.900 --> 26:56.850
Still, beginning roughly in
1797, small numbers of women,

26:56.848 --> 26:59.038
probably a few hundred in any
given election,

26:59.038 --> 27:04.388
did vote in New Jersey in both
state and national elections.

27:04.390 --> 27:07.170
It's a little happy New Jersey
moment.

27:07.170 --> 27:14.710
However, in 1807 some election
fraud and I suppose,

27:14.710 --> 27:17.270
lingering and persistent
anxiety about exactly what

27:17.269 --> 27:20.579
female suffrage meant,
led the New Jersey legislature,

27:20.580 --> 27:24.120
people of all parties in the
New Jersey legislature,

27:24.118 --> 27:28.288
to pass a law explicitly
prohibiting women from voting.

27:28.288 --> 27:31.688
So literally it's this little
window, a couple of years,

27:31.688 --> 27:33.788
and then suffrage is taken
away.

27:33.788 --> 27:36.328
Interestingly,
historians have not found much

27:36.327 --> 27:38.807
protest on the part of New
Jersey women,

27:38.808 --> 27:41.728
and there was not actually a
lot of response as to what it

27:41.728 --> 27:44.888
meant to lose the vote,
but again that might be because

27:44.888 --> 27:47.248
we're talking about such small
numbers.

27:47.250 --> 27:49.950
Interestingly,
during roughly that same little

27:49.945 --> 27:52.635
window of time,
a few states experimented with

27:52.643 --> 27:55.883
black suffrage in their first
state constitutions.

27:55.880 --> 27:58.830
So New York,
New Jersey, and Pennsylvania

27:58.833 --> 28:03.563
for at least a time in their new
constitutions allowed free black

28:03.557 --> 28:04.737
men to vote.

28:04.740 --> 28:07.030
This did not last for a very
long time,

28:07.028 --> 28:08.768
and as a matter of fact New
Jersey,

28:08.769 --> 28:11.849
when they took the vote away
from women also took it away

28:11.848 --> 28:13.058
from free black men.

28:13.058 --> 28:15.918
So there's a little window when
some states are willing to

28:15.923 --> 28:18.993
experiment with this idea and
then that experiment is ended at

28:18.989 --> 28:21.199
the beginning of the nineteenth
century.

28:21.200 --> 28:26.440
So, window of opportunity,
not a long-standing change.

28:26.440 --> 28:31.180
Even so, women post-Revolution
did have something of a more

28:31.175 --> 28:35.745
established political role in
the community-at-large,

28:35.750 --> 28:39.480
and it's as wives and mothers,
but it's not just:

28:39.479 --> 28:41.499
'go be a wife,
go be a mother,

28:41.500 --> 28:43.970
thank you very much,
that's good for the polity.'

28:43.970 --> 28:46.760
It's actually a little bit more
complicated than that.

28:46.759 --> 28:50.319
Basically, as the republic got
under way,

28:50.318 --> 28:54.598
it was assumed that women would
have an important political role

28:54.602 --> 28:56.562
to play,
and this has to do with the

28:56.556 --> 28:57.536
nature of a republic.

28:57.538 --> 29:01.328
A republic is supposedly
grounded on a populace that

29:01.334 --> 29:04.314
understands its liberties and
rights,

29:04.308 --> 29:07.118
is vigilant to protect those
liberties and rights,

29:07.118 --> 29:10.368
knows what it's supposed to be
doing as citizens,

29:10.368 --> 29:12.698
knows how to act as a good
citizen.

29:12.700 --> 29:17.160
A republic is grounded on its
citizens, the activities and the

29:17.161 --> 29:19.211
vigilance of its citizens.

29:19.210 --> 29:22.090
So in a republic,
it's really important for

29:22.085 --> 29:24.885
people to understand what it
means to be a

29:24.893 --> 29:27.293
small-"r"
republican.

29:27.288 --> 29:31.648
So women, as the people who are
literally mothering new little

29:31.651 --> 29:34.441
republicans being born all the
time,

29:34.440 --> 29:37.980
were seen to have an important
role to play as the people who

29:37.984 --> 29:41.534
were literally schooling their
children to be good republican

29:41.530 --> 29:42.300
citizens.

29:42.298 --> 29:46.208
And there is a historian named
Linda Kerber and--

29:46.210 --> 29:48.080
she is actually in your
Major Problems--

29:48.078 --> 29:50.798
There's an excerpt of what
I'm talking about here that's in

29:50.795 --> 29:52.455
your Major Problems
textbook.

29:52.460 --> 29:55.800
This historian named Linda
Kerber came up with a phrase to

29:55.801 --> 29:58.791
describe this politicized role
and she used the term

29:58.792 --> 30:00.672
"republican
motherhood"

30:00.669 --> 30:03.049
to describe it,
and historians really liked

30:03.053 --> 30:05.163
that phrase and they took it and
they ran with it,

30:05.160 --> 30:07.790
so now you see republican
motherhood all over the place.

30:07.788 --> 30:09.868
A lot of people talk about
republican motherhood.

30:09.868 --> 30:11.638
A few people said,
'Well, actually,

30:11.640 --> 30:14.560
I think it's more like
republican wife,' but one way or

30:14.558 --> 30:17.798
another the idea was one that
was popular with historians and

30:17.804 --> 30:18.944
they ran with it.

30:18.940 --> 30:21.890
Now I mention republican
motherhood partly because I

30:21.886 --> 30:25.526
think it's a nicely descriptive
phrase that kind of sums up what

30:25.527 --> 30:27.597
I just said,
partly because historically

30:27.597 --> 30:28.967
it's significant and
historians--

30:28.970 --> 30:30.400
if you read about women in the
Revolution,

30:30.400 --> 30:32.490
you're going to see that phrase
all over the place--

30:32.490 --> 30:35.280
but I do want to note here,
having just mentioned it,

30:35.279 --> 30:37.819
it's not like people in early
America were walking around

30:37.824 --> 30:39.464
claiming to be republican
mothers.

30:39.460 --> 30:41.500
That's--Actually,
it's not something from the

30:41.503 --> 30:41.833
time.

30:41.828 --> 30:46.408
It's a modern idea that's being
imposed back to explain behavior

30:46.414 --> 30:48.094
from an earlier time.

30:48.088 --> 30:51.638
So it's not like people were
sort of using that phrase in the

30:51.644 --> 30:53.664
period that we're talking about.

30:53.660 --> 30:57.170
Now to be a good republican
mother, a woman needed to be

30:57.173 --> 30:59.983
well-educated,
obviously so she could educate

30:59.983 --> 31:01.073
her children.

31:01.068 --> 31:03.878
So in essence,
if you were going to raise

31:03.878 --> 31:07.318
solid republican citizens,
they needed to be good,

31:07.320 --> 31:09.640
solid republicans themselves.

31:09.640 --> 31:14.310
So logically enough female
education got something of a

31:14.313 --> 31:18.513
boost after the Revolution,
and throughout the country

31:18.512 --> 31:22.342
there were a number of women's
academies and schools formed for

31:22.336 --> 31:26.156
advanced learning for women that
had not been there before.

31:26.160 --> 31:28.920
There was a lot of attention
being paid to female education.

31:28.920 --> 31:32.240
You see it in public
discussions at the time.

31:32.240 --> 31:35.850
People are actually talking
about--Men are actually talking

31:35.854 --> 31:38.974
about what is the proper
education for a woman,

31:38.970 --> 31:42.600
what should be happening,
where should things be going,

31:42.598 --> 31:46.838
what should we be doing,
what's best for the republic.

31:46.838 --> 31:49.248
Now I've already talked about
how with the issue of slavery,

31:49.250 --> 31:53.890
thanks to anxieties raised by
the Revolution and fears about

31:53.885 --> 31:57.685
social disorder,
some Southern states responded

31:57.691 --> 32:02.161
by focusing even more deeply on
more deeply entrenching the

32:02.161 --> 32:03.781
system of slavery.

32:03.778 --> 32:05.568
Not surprisingly,
in the case of women,

32:05.568 --> 32:08.628
there were some anxieties
raised by the implications of

32:08.634 --> 32:11.874
the Revolution regarding their
status and their actions as

32:11.868 --> 32:12.378
well.

32:12.380 --> 32:14.950
It can be a little harder to
see but it is there.

32:14.950 --> 32:18.650
And one of the interesting
places where--Gosh.

32:18.650 --> 32:20.180
It's been a number of years.

32:20.180 --> 32:22.340
A number of years ago I
stumbled across newspaper

32:22.343 --> 32:24.603
essays, and I thought they were
really fascinating,

32:24.596 --> 32:26.036
and they bear light on this.

32:26.038 --> 32:29.768
Eighteenth-century
newspapers--We've seen them.

32:29.769 --> 32:30.399
They're short.

32:30.400 --> 32:31.590
They're a couple of pages.

32:31.588 --> 32:34.938
Sometimes--in the newspaper we
looked at I don't think there

32:34.935 --> 32:36.905
was one--
but sometimes they would have

32:36.909 --> 32:39.639
little satirical essays,
usually with some sort of

32:39.641 --> 32:43.171
political commentary or maybe
social commentary attached to

32:43.172 --> 32:43.662
them.

32:43.660 --> 32:47.620
And what I stumbled across--and
I think both of these examples

32:47.616 --> 32:50.186
are from 1789 or 1790,
so the government has just

32:50.186 --> 32:53.316
gotten under way--
I found these little satirical

32:53.317 --> 32:55.937
essays,
both of which were kind of

32:55.938 --> 32:59.928
showing anxieties about women
having political power and

32:59.932 --> 33:03.132
making fun of women with
political power.

33:03.130 --> 33:06.600
So I found one essay that pokes
fun at women who are so informed

33:06.596 --> 33:09.896
politically that they know the
identity of all the people who

33:09.897 --> 33:12.317
write with pseudonyms in the
newspapers.

33:12.318 --> 33:17.768
And so it was this little sort
of sarcastic essay,

33:17.769 --> 33:20.269
sort of: well,
you women, you bad mothers who

33:20.268 --> 33:22.878
read the paper and you know who
Publius is,

33:22.880 --> 33:26.030
but you don't know where your
child is.

33:26.028 --> 33:29.878
It's sort of--It was meant to
be funny, but that was the tone:

33:29.876 --> 33:32.646
bad mother, good politician,
bad mother, bad,

33:32.653 --> 33:34.233
bad, bad for America.

33:34.230 --> 33:38.020
And there was another one that
was using satire to poke fun at

33:38.022 --> 33:41.692
the idea of women applying for
the position of Doorkeeper of

33:41.691 --> 33:42.501
Congress.

33:42.500 --> 33:44.430
No symbolism there.

33:44.430 --> 33:47.500
And it was an essay that was
well: what does that mean,

33:47.500 --> 33:50.310
a woman applying to be the
Doorkeeper of Congress,

33:50.308 --> 33:53.668
acting as though that had
happened and then kind of making

33:53.673 --> 33:57.153
fun of the implications of what
it would mean if a woman had

33:57.154 --> 34:01.054
sort of a political role with an
actual political institution.

34:01.048 --> 34:03.628
So both of those things were
really interesting to me because

34:03.625 --> 34:05.485
they--
they're not directly saying,

34:05.494 --> 34:08.494
'Wow, we're really anxious
about the implications of the

34:08.490 --> 34:11.400
Revolution regarding women,
so we're going to write really

34:11.402 --> 34:13.562
anxious little essays,' but
that's basically what they

34:13.563 --> 34:16.403
were--
was showing some anxieties,

34:16.402 --> 34:21.042
showing awareness of change,
and not necessarily being all

34:21.039 --> 34:24.039
that happy about what that
change might mean.

34:24.039 --> 34:24.429
Okay.

34:24.427 --> 34:28.697
So we've seen some ways in
which the Revolution affected

34:28.699 --> 34:29.399
women.

34:29.400 --> 34:32.370
I want to turn,
before I run out of time here,

34:32.369 --> 34:36.389
to Native Americans as a final
sort of test case on the bounds

34:36.393 --> 34:38.443
of the American Revolution.

34:38.440 --> 34:42.970
Now, Native Americans had a
complicated experience of the

34:42.974 --> 34:47.674
American Revolution and it was
complicated in many ways.

34:47.670 --> 34:51.650
For one thing,
they were being courted by the

34:51.646 --> 34:55.106
British,
and the British have long had a

34:55.110 --> 34:58.540
presence in Western frontier
territories,

34:58.539 --> 35:03.279
so they had experience dealing
with Native Americans.

35:03.280 --> 35:06.950
Obviously, also,
Native Americans were living on

35:06.952 --> 35:11.252
land that was constantly,
deeply desired by Americans of

35:11.253 --> 35:12.663
various sorts.

35:12.659 --> 35:16.799
And even before the Revolution,
white American settlers didn't

35:16.795 --> 35:20.655
need much of an excuse to wage
an attack on Indians to get

35:20.661 --> 35:22.801
land,
so that's even before the

35:22.795 --> 35:24.305
impact of the Revolution.

35:24.309 --> 35:28.039
Not surprisingly,
Native Americans that sided

35:28.039 --> 35:32.529
with the British really
complicated their relationship

35:32.530 --> 35:34.650
with white Americans.

35:34.650 --> 35:37.220
Americans basically struck back.

35:37.219 --> 35:41.529
So for example in 1776 and
1780, even as the Revolution is

35:41.527 --> 35:44.997
still going on,
you had Americans attacking the

35:45.003 --> 35:46.593
Cherokee Indians.

35:46.590 --> 35:50.330
In 1779, Americans attacked the
Iroquois.

35:50.329 --> 35:53.799
In 1780 and '82,
they attacked the Shawnee.

35:53.800 --> 35:56.400
So even as the Revolution is
going on,

35:56.400 --> 35:59.550
Americans are acknowledging
that they're--

35:59.550 --> 36:01.220
they feel threatened by Native
Americans,

36:01.219 --> 36:03.139
they understand that there's a
link somehow between British and

36:03.139 --> 36:05.059
Native Americans,
and they're waging attacks

36:05.063 --> 36:06.773
there as well as everywhere
else.

36:06.768 --> 36:11.348
The Treaty of Paris did not
help matters.

36:11.349 --> 36:15.859
The treaty ceded to the United
States British holdings east of

36:15.856 --> 36:17.626
the Mississippi River.

36:17.630 --> 36:21.930
But given that logically enough
there were no Native American

36:21.929 --> 36:25.869
representatives at the treaty
negotiations in Paris,

36:25.869 --> 36:29.509
Native Americans were stunned
to discover later that their

36:29.514 --> 36:33.484
territory had just been signed
away by the British and given to

36:33.478 --> 36:34.628
the Americans.

36:34.630 --> 36:38.450
One member of the Iroquois told
a British commander who was

36:38.445 --> 36:42.295
posted out on the frontier that,
quote, "If it was really

36:42.300 --> 36:45.610
true that the English had basely
betrayed them by pretending to

36:45.614 --> 36:48.344
give up their Country to the
Americans Without their

36:48.340 --> 36:50.240
Consent"--
I like the fact that it's

36:50.244 --> 36:52.264
"pretending"--
"without their Consent or

36:52.260 --> 36:54.610
Consulting them,
it was an act of Cruelty and

36:54.608 --> 36:57.648
injustice that Christians
only were capable of

36:57.652 --> 36:58.532
doing."

36:58.530 --> 37:00.740
A really strong statement.

37:00.739 --> 37:05.539
Even so, when American
commissioners went west after

37:05.543 --> 37:10.353
the treaty had gone into effect,
they were operating under the

37:10.349 --> 37:13.259
idea that in defeating the
British they had also defeated

37:13.264 --> 37:15.144
Britain's Native American
allies;

37:15.139 --> 37:18.429
they were the conquerors,
they had been given the land,

37:18.429 --> 37:21.449
and they actually assumed when
they headed west and were

37:21.451 --> 37:24.861
treating with Native Americans
that they were being generous by

37:24.856 --> 37:27.926
giving back to the Native
Americans some of what had been

37:27.931 --> 37:30.021
theirs but was no longer theirs.

37:30.018 --> 37:33.648
This was a really nice theory,
but in fact,

37:33.650 --> 37:37.280
as Americans would discover
over the course of the 1780s and

37:37.275 --> 37:40.625
even into the 1790s,
as much as they could claim

37:40.634 --> 37:43.734
that they had conquered Native
Americans,

37:43.730 --> 37:47.480
the new United States and
Americans in the new United

37:47.483 --> 37:50.953
States had no ability to act
like conquerors,

37:50.949 --> 37:52.919
no physical ability to act like
conquerors.

37:52.920 --> 37:55.630
They just didn't have the
military power.

37:55.630 --> 38:00.540
And throughout this period as
American settlers moved west,

38:00.539 --> 38:03.969
Native Americans went to
battle, defended their land,

38:03.969 --> 38:07.889
and often American attempts to
quash these attacks were

38:07.889 --> 38:10.139
disastrous for the Americans.

38:10.139 --> 38:14.009
And as an example of what we're
talking about here,

38:14.014 --> 38:17.584
in 1789 the national Army of
the United States,

38:17.579 --> 38:20.989
whatever was of it,
had roughly 700 men.

38:20.989 --> 38:25.849
The Creek Indians alone had
between 3,500 and 6,000

38:25.849 --> 38:26.919
warriors.

38:26.920 --> 38:27.270
Okay.

38:27.269 --> 38:31.409
We're not really powerful as
far as being a sort of national

38:31.411 --> 38:34.571
presence demanding or commanding
anything.

38:34.570 --> 38:38.320
For the Native Americans,
the disastrous impact of the

38:38.322 --> 38:42.642
Revolution inspired many of them
to become more united and not

38:42.643 --> 38:46.333
just as individual tribes,
but it actually united

38:46.329 --> 38:50.389
different tribal groups together
explicitly based on the idea

38:50.391 --> 38:54.521
that they were different from
white people and needed to unite

38:54.521 --> 38:55.741
against them.

38:55.739 --> 38:59.239
Tribe and tribe and tribe and
tribe together needed to form

38:59.239 --> 39:02.739
unity in a way in which they
hadn't necessarily done before

39:02.737 --> 39:04.787
to unite against white people.

39:04.789 --> 39:08.629
Now this wasn't true for all
Native Americans,

39:08.634 --> 39:13.764
nor did all of them assume that
their only option was war.

39:13.760 --> 39:19.350
Some did decide to try to blend
in to communities--

39:19.349 --> 39:20.719
black communities,
white communities--

39:20.719 --> 39:23.659
and white Americans throughout
this period,

39:23.659 --> 39:26.699
some of them at least,
also were busily trying to

39:26.695 --> 39:30.545
convince some Native Americans
to just take up agriculture and

39:30.552 --> 39:31.882
sort of blend in.

39:31.880 --> 39:35.290
If they could take a little
plot of land and begin farming,

39:35.289 --> 39:37.659
some Americans thought that
maybe that would be an

39:37.661 --> 39:40.391
alternative to warfare,
that native Americans could

39:40.385 --> 39:42.605
kind of become part of American
society.

39:42.610 --> 39:46.150
Thomas Jefferson talks about
this some in Notes on the

39:46.146 --> 39:47.406
State of Virginia.

39:47.409 --> 39:50.499
And for many white
Americans, this was the only

39:50.498 --> 39:53.958
option that they could envision
that might prevent future

39:53.958 --> 39:57.318
warfare and--
bloody, nasty future warfare.

39:57.320 --> 40:03.020
But as you can tell by a lot of
what I just said there,

40:03.018 --> 40:06.618
in the end generally speaking
the Revolution brought nothing

40:06.623 --> 40:10.353
but trouble to North America's
native peoples and that trouble

40:10.349 --> 40:12.669
would persist for decades to
come.

40:12.670 --> 40:13.930
It's interesting.

40:13.929 --> 40:16.609
I--I'm going to give a little
shout-out here.

40:16.610 --> 40:19.500
I have a senior essay
writer--Senior essays are on my

40:19.503 --> 40:23.013
mind, since all I'm doing is
reading drafts of senior essays.

40:23.010 --> 40:27.030
But I have a senior essay
writer who is writing his essay

40:27.032 --> 40:29.692
on the fact that there's a
little,

40:29.690 --> 40:31.970
tiny window--we're talking
about a lot of little,

40:31.969 --> 40:34.819
tiny windows--a little,
tiny window at the beginning of

40:34.817 --> 40:37.187
the new government under the
Constitution,

40:37.190 --> 40:40.680
and there was a brief period in
which the national government

40:40.679 --> 40:43.219
thought well,
maybe we can actually have

40:43.221 --> 40:46.011
sincere diplomacy with the
Native Americans;

40:46.010 --> 40:49.640
we can sort of treat them like
a foreign nation and do

40:49.643 --> 40:52.663
something that will maybe waylay
problems.

40:52.659 --> 40:54.779
It's not a window that lasts
very long,

40:54.780 --> 40:57.790
and when that window is over,
there is more nasty warfare,

40:57.789 --> 41:00.629
but that's what this senior
essay is about,

41:00.630 --> 41:03.950
that little window that this
essay argues is often not

41:03.952 --> 41:07.652
recognized because people look
to sort of Jackson wiping out

41:07.650 --> 41:10.550
Native Americans,
and they just transpose that

41:10.548 --> 41:12.538
back across time,
and they don't really

41:12.543 --> 41:15.483
acknowledge that this little bit
of diplomacy here was serious.

41:15.480 --> 41:18.410
They sort of assume--Some
historians assume that it was

41:18.405 --> 41:21.545
just a delaying measure while
Americans built up troops.

41:21.550 --> 41:26.160
So anyway, in one way or
another the Revolution brought

41:26.164 --> 41:29.674
nothing but trouble to native
peoples,

41:29.670 --> 41:33.790
and that trouble obviously
continued and in a way got worse

41:33.789 --> 41:35.139
in years to come.

41:35.139 --> 41:35.549
Okay.

41:35.552 --> 41:40.262
So we've looked at the impact
of the Revolution on African

41:40.257 --> 41:43.887
Americans, on women,
on Native Americans.

41:43.889 --> 41:46.559
We've seen their experiences of
the Revolution.

41:46.559 --> 41:51.109
We've seen some of the impact
of those experience--experiences

41:51.106 --> 41:52.446
and the outcome.

41:52.449 --> 41:56.209
We've seen some change,
some of it for the better,

41:56.211 --> 42:00.591
some of it long standing,
some of it maybe not so much.

42:00.590 --> 42:05.570
We've seen also how change
doesn't happen in a predictable,

42:05.572 --> 42:07.552
linear kind of a way.

42:07.550 --> 42:09.970
I think there is an assumption
when you think about the history

42:09.969 --> 42:11.899
of almost anything,
but certainly maybe in the

42:11.896 --> 42:14.926
history of your own country,
that things are always getting

42:14.929 --> 42:15.409
better.

42:15.409 --> 42:17.949
They started out sort of
primitive, but they're always

42:17.945 --> 42:18.755
getting better.

42:18.760 --> 42:21.630
And I think in particular when
you look at the sort of subject

42:21.628 --> 42:23.698
we look at today,
what you see is that things

42:23.699 --> 42:24.639
sort of do this.

42:24.639 --> 42:24.929
Right?

42:24.925 --> 42:26.735
Things are not always getting
better.

42:26.739 --> 42:30.819
History is actually actions and
reactions, and sometimes the

42:30.815 --> 42:32.675
reaction is not so great.

42:32.679 --> 42:35.179
So, things get better,
they get worse,

42:35.179 --> 42:36.959
they kind of stay the same,
maybe they're a little better,

42:36.960 --> 42:38.900
maybe they're even better,
and then they get worse again.

42:38.900 --> 42:42.720
And I think taking the long
view of American history,

42:42.719 --> 42:45.469
I think that's a more realistic
way to think about how things

42:45.472 --> 42:48.502
change over time,
than to assume that everything

42:48.496 --> 42:49.896
always gets better.

42:49.900 --> 42:53.290
I think these three populations
show that really dramatically.

42:53.289 --> 42:56.579
However, I'm not going to tell
you whether I think that means

42:56.583 --> 42:58.783
that the Revolution is radical
or not.

42:58.780 --> 43:01.350
I think I successfully did not
do that in that lecture;

43:01.349 --> 43:02.059
I hope I did.

43:02.059 --> 43:03.749
And I'm going to be really
interested,

43:03.750 --> 43:07.100
after you meet and have that
discussion,

43:07.099 --> 43:10.969
to hear what you discussed,
what you think,

43:10.969 --> 43:13.959
what your thoughts are,
how radical was the American

43:13.958 --> 43:14.718
Revolution.

43:14.719 --> 43:18.779
And I will end there and I will
see you next week.

43:18.780 --> 43:24.000