Second American Revolution

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The Second American Revolution is a rhetorical or hyperbolic historiographical term that has been invoked on a number of occasions throughout the history of the United States. While it has been used as a metonym for past events, another ideological as well as political revolution has also been called for by some groups.

Contents

Interpretations

Attempted or proposed revolutions

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Articles of Confederation</span> First constitution of the United States of America (1781–1789)

The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 states of the United States, formerly the Thirteen Colonies, that served as the nation's first frame of government. It was debated by the Second Continental Congress at Independence Hall in Philadelphia between July 1776 and November 1777, and finalized by the Congress on November 15, 1777. It came into force on March 1, 1781, after being ratified by all 13 colonial states. A guiding principle of the Articles was the establishment and preservation of the independence and sovereignty of the states. The Articles consciously established a weak central government, affording it only those powers the former colonies had recognized as belonging to king and parliament. The document provided clearly written rules for how the states' league of friendship, known as the Perpetual Union, would be organized.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Revolution</span> 1765–1791 period establishing the US

The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1783. In the American Revolutionary War, which lasted from 1775 to 1783, the colonies secured their independence from the British Crown and established the United States as the first sovereign nation-state founded on Enlightenment principles of constitutionalism and liberal democracy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constitution of the United States</span> Supreme law of the United States of America

The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the national frame and constraints of government. The Constitution's first three articles embody the doctrine of the separation of powers, whereby the federal government is divided into three branches: the legislative, consisting of the bicameral Congress ; the executive, consisting of the president and subordinate officers ; and the judicial, consisting of the Supreme Court and other federal courts. Article IV, Article V, and Article VI embody concepts of federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of state governments, the states in relationship to the federal government, and the shared process of constitutional amendment. Article VII establishes the procedure subsequently used by the 13 states to ratify it. The Constitution of the United States is the oldest and longest-standing written and codified national constitution in force in the world today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Third Amendment to the United States Constitution</span> 1791 amendment restricting quartering of soldiers in private homes

The Third Amendment to the United States Constitution places restrictions on the quartering of soldiers in private homes without the owner's consent, forbidding the practice in peacetime. The amendment is a response to the Quartering Acts passed by the Parliament of Great Britain during the buildup to the American Revolutionary War, which had allowed the British Army to lodge soldiers in public buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shays' Rebellion</span> Armed uprising in the U.S.

Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in Western Massachusetts and Worcester in response to a debt crisis among the citizenry and in opposition to the state government's increased efforts to collect taxes on both individuals and their trades. The fight took place mostly in and around Springfield during 1786 and 1787. Historically, scholars have argued that the four thousand rebels who protested against economic and civil rights injustices by the Massachusetts Government were led by American Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays. However, recent scholarship has suggested that Shays' role in the protests was significantly and strategically exaggerated by Massachusetts elites, who had a political interest in shifting blame for bad economic conditions away from themselves. In 1787, the protestors marched on the federal Springfield Armory in an unsuccessful attempt to seize its weaponry and overthrow the government. The confederal government found itself unable to finance troops to put down the rebellion, and it was consequently put down by the Massachusetts State militia and a privately funded local militia.

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The Three-fifths Compromise was an agreement reached during the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention over the inclusion of slaves in a state's total population. This count would determine: the number of seats in the House of Representatives; the number of electoral votes each state would be allocated; and how much money the states would pay in taxes. Slave holding states wanted their entire population to be counted to determine the number of Representatives those states could elect and send to Congress. Free states wanted to exclude the counting of slave populations in slave states, since those slaves had no voting rights. A compromise was struck to resolve this impasse. The compromise counted three-fifths of each state's slave population toward that state's total population for the purpose of apportioning the House of Representatives. Even though slaves were denied voting rights, this gave Southern states more representatives and more presidential electoral votes than if slaves had not been counted. It also gave slaveholders similarly enlarged powers in Southern legislatures; this was an issue in the secession of West Virginia from Virginia in 1863. Free blacks and indentured servants were not subject to the compromise, and each was counted as one full person for representation. It is worthy of noting that although the compromise gave slave holding states more representation in Congress than they originally had, the compromise of counting only 3/5 of the slave population succeeded in reducing what would have been an overwhelming influence in Congress by slave states, had those states been able to send a larger complement of Representatives to Congress that reflected the entire slave populations of those states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the United States Constitution</span>

The United States Constitution has served as the supreme law of the United States since taking effect in 1789. The document was written at the 1787 Philadelphia Convention and was ratified through a series of state conventions held in 1787 and 1788. Since 1789, the Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times; particularly important amendments include the ten amendments of the United States Bill of Rights and the three Reconstruction Amendments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slave states and free states</span> Historical division of United States in which slavery was legal or not

In the United States before 1865, a slave state was a state in which slavery and the internal or domestic slave trade were legal, while a free state was one in which they were prohibited. Between 1812 and 1850, it was considered by the slave states to be politically imperative that the number of free states not exceed the number of slave states, so new states were admitted in slave–free pairs. There were, nonetheless, some slaves in most free states up to the 1840 census, and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 specifically stated that a slave did not become free by entering a free state.

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The Vermont Republic, officially known at the time as the State of Vermont, was an independent state in New England that existed from January 15, 1777, to March 4, 1791. The state was founded in January 1777, when delegates from 28 towns met and declared independence from the jurisdictions and land claims of the British colonies of Quebec, New Hampshire, and New York. The republic remained in existence for the next fourteen years, albeit without diplomatic recognition from any foreign power. On March 4, 1791, it was admitted into the United States as the State of Vermont, with the constitution and laws of the independent state continuing in effect after admission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Founding Fathers of the United States</span> Leaders who set up the first US government

The Founding Fathers of the United States, commonly referred to simply as the Founding Fathers, were a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, oversaw the War of Independence from Great Britain, established the United States, and crafted a framework of government for the new nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corwin Amendment</span> Proposed US constitutional amendment to protect slavery from federal power

The Corwin Amendment is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that has never been adopted, but owing to the absence of a ratification deadline, could still be adopted by the state legislatures. It would shield slavery within the states from the federal constitutional amendment process and from abolition or interference by Congress. Although the Corwin Amendment does not explicitly use the word slavery, it was designed specifically to protect slavery from federal power. The out-going 36th United States Congress proposed the Corwin Amendment on March 2, 1861, shortly before the outbreak of the American Civil War, with the intent of preventing that war and preserving the Union. It passed Congress but was not ratified by the requisite number of state legislatures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Conventions</span> Assemblies to establish constitutional law for Virginia

The Virginia Conventions have been the assemblies of delegates elected for the purpose of establishing constitutions of fundamental law for the Commonwealth of Virginia superior to General Assembly legislation. Their constitutions and subsequent amendments span four centuries across the territory of modern-day Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Constitution House</span> Historic house in Vermont, United States

The Old Constitution House is a historic house at 16 North Main Street in Windsor, Vermont. It is the birthplace of the Vermont Republic and the Constitution of the State of Vermont. A mid-18th century building built in a simple Georgian architectural style, the Old Constitution House was originally called the Windsor Tavern, and belonged to Elijah West at the time of the signing of the constitution. The house is a Vermont State Historic Site, and is administered by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation. It is also listed on National Register of Historic Places, separately since March 11, 1971 as well as a part of the Windsor Village Historic District since April 23, 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constitution of Colorado</span>

The Constitution of the State of Colorado is the foundation of the laws and government of the U.S. state of Colorado. The current, and only, Colorado State Constitution was drafted on March 14, 1876; approved by Colorado voters on July 1, 1876; and took effect upon the statehood of Colorado on August 1, 1876. As of 2020, the constitution has been amended at least 166 times. The Constitution of Colorado derives its authority from the sovereignty of the people. As such, the people of Colorado reserved specific powers in governing Colorado directly; in addition to providing for voting for Governor, state legislators, and judges, the people of Colorado have reserved initiative of laws and referendum of laws enacted by the legislature to themselves, provided for recall of office holders, and limit tax increases beyond set amounts without explicit voter approval, and must explicitly approve any change to the constitution, often with a 55% majority. The Colorado state constitution is one of the longest in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederation period</span> Era of United States history in the 1780s

The Confederation period was the era of United States history in the 1780s after the American Revolution and prior to the ratification of the United States Constitution. In 1781, the United States ratified the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union and prevailed in the Battle of Yorktown, the last major land battle between British and American Continental forces in the American Revolutionary War. American independence was confirmed with the 1783 signing of the Treaty of Paris. The fledgling United States faced several challenges, many of which stemmed from the lack of a strong national government and unified political culture. The period ended in 1789 following the ratification of the United States Constitution, which established a new, more powerful, national government.

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In the context of the United States, secession primarily refers to the voluntary withdrawal of one or more states from the Union that constitutes the United States; but may loosely refer to leaving a state or territory to form a separate territory or new state, or to the severing of an area from a city or county within a state. Advocates for secession are called disunionists by their contemporaries in various historical documents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mexican nationality law</span> History and regulations of Mexican citizenship

Nationality in Mexico is defined by multiple laws, including the 30th article of the Constitution of Mexico and other laws. The Constitution's 32nd article specifies the rights granted by Mexican legislation to Mexicans who also possess dual nationality. This article was written to establish the norms in this subject in order to avoid conflicts which may arise in the case of dual nationality. This law was last modified in 2021.

Virginia v. West Virginia, 78 U.S. 39 (1871), is a 6-3 ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States that held that if a governor has discretion in the conduct of the election, the legislature is bound by his action and cannot undo the results based on fraud. The Court implicitly affirmed that the breakaway Virginia counties had received the necessary consent of both the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States Congress to become a separate U.S. state. The Court also explicitly held that Berkeley County and Jefferson County were part of the new State of West Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Meckler</span> American political activist

Mark Jay Meckler is an American political activist, attorney, and business executive. He currently serves as President of Citizens for Self-Governance and Convention of States Action, and is an active proponent of a convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution. Meckler was a co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots before resigning from the organization in 2012. From February through May 2021, Meckler served as the interim CEO of social media platform Parler.

References

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