The New NationThe New Nation

Essential Questions• What major arguments and discussions occurred with

regard to the roles the federal government should play?• How did the earliest presidents view their roles, and

what actions did they take to help establish the office of the presidency?

• How did the new nation’s relations with foreign countries affect its earliest years?

• In what ways did sectional differences influence the development of the new nation and its government?

• How were different groups of people affected by the events that occurred and decisions the government made during the early years of the nation?

An Overview of the New Nation

• Most Americans lived on farms

• Largest cities located on Atlantic harbors

• Growth of manufacturing and trade

• Sense of unity and optimism for many (mostly for whites)

Boston harbor in 1791

African Americans in the New Nation: Slaves

• Cotton gin caused expansion in slavery

• Slaves composed a third of the South’s population by early 1800s

• Attitudes in the North shifted after the Revolution

• Northern legislatures began to ban slaverySlaves using a cotton gin

African Americans in the New Nation: Free Blacks

• In the North:– Worked in factories

or trades– Discrimination

and segregation– Some set up separate

schools and churches• In the South, blacks risked

enslavement if they couldn’t prove their free status Many free blacks in cities found

work as musicians

Native Americans

• Land disputes with settlers• Tribes gave up some of their

land in exchange for protection, cash, and goods

• Treaties routinely broken• Native Americans

increasingly lost trust in the U.S. government

Women in the New Nation

• “Republican Motherhood”: women’s role in instilling American values in their children

• Practical, domestic education• Women discouraged from

becoming too educated

Women in the New Nation (cont.)

• “Cult of True Womanhood”: pious, chaste, domestic, submissive

• Domestic work seen as a divine calling

• Women lacked legal standing apart from their husbands

Illustration depicting many of the ideals of the “cult of true womanhood”

Discussion Questions

1. What made relations between the U.S. and Native Americans increasingly strained?

2. What was expected of women as part of Republican Motherhood?

3. How did American society define women’s roles?

Washington Becomes President

• Admired for intellect, good judgment, and integrity

• 1789 election; Adams as VP• Initially refused a salary