AP US HISTORY UNIT 3
WARS OVER EMPIRE/ REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD/ CONSTITUTION 1754-1800
AP COLLEGE BOARD KEY CONCEPTS
3.1: Britain’s victory over France in the imperial struggle for North America led to new conflicts
among the British government, the North American colonists, and American Indians, culminating in
the creation of a new nation, the United States.
3.2: In the late 18th century, new experiments with democratic ideas and republican forms of
government, as well as other new religious, economic, and cultural ideas, challenged traditional
imperial systems across the Atlantic World.
3.3: Migration within North America, cooperative interaction, and competition for resources raised
questions about boundaries and policies, intensified conflicts among peoples and nations, and led to
contests over the creation of a multiethnic, multiracial national identity.
PEOPLE/TERMS/EVENTS
PART ONE
READING = OUT OF MANY CH6 “FROM EMPIRE TO INDEPENDENCE 1750-1776”
Colonial Unrest (NAT, POL)
Patrick Henry
Stamp Act Congress
Sons & Daughters of Liberty
Samuel Adams
Massachusetts Circular Letter
Committees of Correspondence
Intolerable Acts
Empire (POL, GEO)
Seven Years War (aka French & Indian War)
Albany Plan of Union/Ben Franklin
Rulers & Policies (WXT)
King George III /virtual representation
Whigs / Loyalists / Patriots
Salutary neglect
Economic Policies (WOR)
Sugar Act (1764)
Quartering Act (1765)
Stamp Act (1765)
Declaratory Act (1766)
Townshend Acts (1767)
Writs of Assistance
Tea Act (1773)
Coercive Acts (1774)
Quebec Act (1774)
Philosophy (CUL)
Enlightenment re: rights & government
John Locke
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
American Indians (MIG)
Pontiac’s Rebellion 1763
Proclamation of 1763
BIG QUESTIONS
PART ONE
1.Why did the British go to war against the French and Indians in 1754? And how did the British
victory help bring on the American Revolution?
2.Which single action between 1763 and 1776 was most damaging to British-colonial relations?
Defend your answer.
3. Which three individuals were most responsible for the rupture between Britain and the colonies?
Defend your answer.
PART TWO
PEOPLE/TERMS/EVENTS
READING = PART TWO OUT OF MANY CH7 “THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1776-1786”
Separation (NAT)
John Adams
John Dickinson
John Jay
1st Continental Congress (1774)
Declaration of Rights & Grievances
2nd Continental Congress (1775)
Olive Branch Petition
Declaration of the Causes & Necessities
for Taking Up Arms
Thomas Jefferson
Declaration of Independence
George Washington
Expansion (MIG, POL)
Land Ordinance of 1785
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Final Break (WOR)
Prohibitory Act (1775)
Treaty of Paris (1783)
A New Nation (CUL)
Thomas Paine; Common Sense
Minutemen
Valley Forge
Abigail Adams
Shays Rebellion
War (POL)
Paul Revere
William Dawes
Lexington
Concord
Battle of Bunker Hill
Battle of Saratoga
Battle of Yorktown
Articles of Confederation
Unicameral legislature
BIG QUESTIONS
PART TWO
1. Chronicle the events of the revolution ending with the Treaty of Paris 1783.
2. Militarily, why did the British fail to win the Revolution? How could one argue that the colonists did
not win their independence but rather that the British lost the colonies?
3. Why did France help the colonies? How did this assistance cause problems between the two in
1783? What was the impact on other nations in settling the Revolution in 1783? And What was the
impact of the loyalists” exodus on the colonies and Britain?
4. What were the Articles of Confederation? Detail the elements of the articles and what American
leaders thought about them.
5. In what ways was the Revolution revolutionary? In what ways was it not?