1. How did the revolutionary American ideas of natural human rights, equality, and freedom from
governmental tyranny affect developments in the immediate post-Revolutionary period (1783-
1789)?

2. How were women and African-Americans affected by the ideas of the American Revolution?
Why was slavery abolished in the North but not in the entire nation?

3. Which problems of the post-Revolutionary period and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation lead to the adoption of a new Constitution?

4. What were the basic features of the new Constitution, and how did they differ from the government under the Articles of Confederation?

5. Who were the federalists and the anti-federalists, what were the issues that divided them, and
why did the federalists win?

6. Should the Constitution be seen as a conservative reaction to the Revolution, an enshrinement
of revolutionary principles, or both? What was most truly original about the Constitution?

7. In Chapters 4 and 5, the basic structure of early American society and economy was described.
How was that structure changed by the political developments during the period after the
Revolution? How did the Constitution itself reflect issues concerning social structure, economic equality, and the distribution of power?