SSUSH3
The student will explain the primary
causes of the American Revolution
3.a- Explain how the end of Anglo-French imperial competition as
seen in the French and Indian War and the 1763 Treaty of Paris laid the
groundwork for the American Revolution
• The French and Indian War (1754-1763) refers to the
American phase of of a larger global struggle between
Britain, France and other European powers for supremacy
in Europe and domination of overseas empires. The British
and French fought three major wars between 1689 and
1748 and again went to war in 1754, in America. Two years
later the conflict erupted in Europe- The European phase is
called the Seven Years’ War.
• The most important results of the conflict to American
history are: the dispossession of the French of their North
American colonies and claims, and the beginnings of the
Anglo-American resistance to British rule that would
eventually fester into revolution, war, and independence
for the British colonies in North America.
French and Indian War
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The name of the war comes from the British perspective (who they were fighting) rather than the
combatants, i.e., British forces were fighting the French, and their Indian allies.
The conflict began as the two nations’ attempted to exert dominance over competing land claims in the
Ohio River Valley.
The French built a series of forts from Lake Ontario to the Ohio River- which provided them an easy route
from Canada to the Mississippi, and their southern realm of Louisiana. Meanwhile, British fur trappers and
land speculators had also began to establish a presence in the Ohio River region. The British governor of
Virginia, Robert Dinwiddie, ordered a fort built in western Pennsylvania to protect British claims. The
French overwhelmed and seized the fort, renamed it Ft. Duquesne, and set the stage for open conflict.
Dinwiddie then asked a young Virginia lieutenant, George Washington, to raise a force to expel the French
from the fort. Washington was defeated by a much larger French force, but his valiant attempt to resist the
French established him as something of a hero in the colonies- the first wide recognition of his long and
heroic career.
The following year, Britain sent a larger force of 1400 “regulars” under General Edward Braddock to secure
the Ohio River Valley. Overconfident, Braddock was ambushed by the French and their Native American
allies- Braddock was shot (dying soon after) and Washington averted total defeat by organizing a retreat.
The next several years saw intermittent fighting along the frontier, with few decisive victories for either
side- Finally, in 1757 the British sent a large force of infantry and warships to America to overwhelm the
French. The British forces eventually reclaimed the lands near Ft. Duquesne., but the most important
action toward securing victory came in 1759, when a British fleet sailed up the St. Lawrence River and
successfully laid siege to Quebec. Fighting elsewhere in the conflict continued until 1763, but the defeat of
the French at Quebec more or less ended the struggle in North America.
Albany Plan of Union
• An important aspect of the French and Indian War was the call for
inter-colonial cooperation.
• At the urging of the British, representatives from most of the
colonies met in Albany, NY in 1754 to discuss options for their
common defense against the French.
• A committee headed by Benjamin Franklin (delegate for
Pennsylvania) suggested the colonies unite into a federal system to
organize the war effort. Although the Albany Plan of Union was
ultimately rejected, it was the first attempt to bring the British
North American colonies into a formal cooperative agreement.
• The fact that it was rejected also pointed to the difficulties the
colonies would face in the coming decade as they attempted to
organize resistance to the British, on the road toward
independence.
Albany Plan of Union: “Join or Die”
1763 Treaty of Paris
• The 1763 Treaty of Paris officially ended the conflict
between Britain and France, and established the terms
of the post-war agreement between the nations.
• Except for a few offshore islands, the treaty ended
French power in North America. New France (Canada)
became part of the British Empire, as well as all of the
Louisiana claims east of the Mississippi River. Spain (an
ally of Britain in the war) agreed to cede Florida to the
British in exchange for the return of Cuba and the
Philippines. In a separate treaty, France then ceded
New Orleans, and all of Louisiana west of the
Mississippi to Spain.
3.b- Explain colonial response to such British actions as the
Proclamation of 1763, the Stamp Act, and the Intolerable Acts as seen
in Sons and Daughters of Liberty and Committees of Correspondence
• The French and Indian War, although clearly a great
victory for the British Empire in America, was very
expensive. The British Crown had borrowed heavily to
finance the war effort, and in an attempt to recoup
some of those funds initiated a series of new policies
and taxes that were intended to help pay for the
defense of Anglo-America.
• These policies and taxes angered the colonists in
America, and the organized resistance to these British
policies formed the basis for the American Revolution.
Proclamation of 1763
• In the same year as the Treaty of Paris (1763) a series of
skirmishes erupted on the frontier between the British and
various Native American groups led by the a Delaware
chief, Pontiac. “Pontiac’s War” war frightened the British
because they did not have the resources to fight yet
another war in America.
• In an effort to appease the Native Americans and help
prevent further clashes between them and the rapidly
expanding British colonies, the British issued the
Proclamation of 1763, which set the boundary for British
settlement along the spine of the Appalachian Mountains.
This enraged many American colonists who had expected
access to the newly acquired trans-Appalachian lands.
Stamp Act Crisis
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Following the Proclamation of 1763, a new British Prime Minister, George Grenville, attempted to
solve the Anglo-American financial problems by clamping down on smuggling, and by strictly
enforcing customs duties (taxes on imports and exports). Grenville arranged for smugglers to be
tried in vice-admiralty (naval) courts, instead of the usual colonial courts. This led to widespread
protests that the American colonists were being denied their basic civil rights as British citizens,
such as the right to trial by jury, (which was not required in naval courts) and the right to a speedy
trial- (because the court was held at Nova Scotia).
The following year Grenville issued the Revenue Act (Sugar Act) which significantly raised the duties
(tariffs, or import taxes) on foreign sugar, along with several other key commodities. Again the
merchants and colonists in America protested that their rights were being trampled. To add to the
growing discontent, Grenville also outlawed paper money in the colonies- alienating many farmers
and artisans who depended on the inflationary tendency of paper money to pay back loans.
In 1765, the British went a step further, initiating a much broader tax that angered nearly everyone
in the colonies. The Stamp Act of 1765 required a stamp (representing a tax paid) to be placed on
almost all printed materials- including newspapers, pamphlets, posters, deeds, licenses, wills, etc.
This was the first direct tax on the colonies (as opposed to the indirect customs duties like the Sugar
Act)- and the colonists responded with organized resistance.
In the furor that ensued, colonists began to assert the idea that became central to the impending
revolution: British citizens are guaranteed representation in Parliament and since the colonies had
no such representation, they could not be held to the taxes passed in Parliament. In other words,
“NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION”
Sons of Liberty
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Widespread discontent over the Stamp Act produced the first organized, large-scale
resistance to British policies in America. In the summer of 1765 mass meetings and
demonstrations were being held across the colonies. The Sons of Liberty was a group that
formed to help resist the Stamp Act and organize protests, and chapters quickly sprung up in
cities throughout the colonies, (including Savannah where the local chapter met at Tondee’s
tavern, then on the corner of Broughton and Barnard).
Some members terrorized the tax collectors with effigy hangings and burnings, as well as
actual violence visited upon the dwellings of a few.
Also of note, representatives from nine of the American colonies met for what became
known as the Stamp Act Congress. They issued a document- the Declaration of Rights and
Grievances- which attempted to spell out to the British the reasons for their resistance to the
Stamp Act.
Throughout much of the colonies, resistance to the Stamp Act tax turned into a general
boycott of all British goods. Many colonists refused to buy British tea, cloth, and many other
goods.
The boycott had the intended effect on the British market in America, and Parliament was
pressured to repeal the Stamp Act in 1766. However, the British soon issued yet another
series of customs duties known as the Townsend Acts- and the boycotts (along with some
official non-importation laws) continued. Women’s groups, like the Daughters of Liberty, also
arose to support the boycott by making and wearing “homespun” – instead of using Britishmade cloth.
Boston Massacre
• In the climate of protest and resistance following the
Stamp Act, Townsend Acts and the resulting boycotts,
the British sent troops to America to help maintain
order. Nearly 1,000 British “redcoats” (or “lobsterbacks” as they were derisively called), were stationed
in Boston, and on March 5, 1770, violence erupted
between colonists and troops that left five colonists
dead and six more wounded.
• As news of the “massacre” spread, full-scale revolution
seemed imminent, but the British repealed all of the
Townsend duties- except for the tax on tea- which was
kept as a symbol of Parliament’s ultimate right to tax
the British colonies.
Committees of Correspondence
• The repeal of the Townsend duties placated the colonists
temporarily, but in 1772, Britain sent several customs ships to patrol
the coast for smugglers. Irate colonists in Rhode Island seized and
burned one of these ships, the Gaspee, after it had run aground off
the coast. This, in turn, enraged the British who began forcing
accused smugglers to face trial in England.
• In response to the climate of increasing violence and uncertainty,
Thomas Jefferson suggested that each colony create a Committee
of Correspondence- which he hoped would keep one another
informed of news and events related to the developing crisis. Like
the Stamp Act Congress, these committees represented an attempt
to get some “official” cooperation and organization between
colonial governments.
The Boston Tea Party and the
“Intolerable” Acts
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As mentioned, the tax on imported tea was the only of the Townsend duties to remain in effect, and in
1773 the British reorganized its global tea trade, which cut out American merchants, and upset the already
tense situation in the colonies.
Committees of Correspondence kept each other informed of when British tea was en route. Some colonies
refused to receive shipments. In Charleston they refused to distribute the tea. And in Boston, a group of
colonists, dressed as Indians, boarded the ship and dumped the tea into the harbor.
From the British perspective, this was the last straw. To prove their point, they passed a series of punitive
measures that came to be known as the Coercive Acts, intended to punish Massachusetts for the Boston
Tea Party, and to bring the colonies under control once and for all.
The Coercive Acts included: 1) shutting down Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for. 2) a ban on town
meetings, and a provision to make key government posts (judges, sheriffs, council members, etc.)
appointed by the Royal governor, not elected, as they had been. 3) a provision to transfer British soldiers
to trial in England. 4) a law allowing British soldiers to quarter in private homes.
The British sent 2000 troops to New England to enforce the Coercive Acts.
From the colonial perspective, the Coercive Acts were (literally) the Intolerable Acts. It appeared that
Britain was attempting to not only denying the colonists their basic rights as British subjects, but were
prohibiting representative forms of government that the colonies had enjoyed all along. This was
“intolerable.”
From the inter-colonial associations formed through the Committees of Correspondence, and other
organized resistance to the British, twelve of thirteen colonies formed the First Continental Congress in
the summer of 1774, agreeing to meet again the following year if the crisis had not been resolved. The
Congress was fairly equally split between those that were ready to fight (patriots) and those that wanted
to remain loyal to the British Crown (loyalists). But in the meantime….
Lexington and Concord
• The first skirmishes of the American Revolution were
near Lexington and Concord, two small Massachusetts
towns, when a British regiment was ordered to march
on a patriot supply depot. Paul Revere and William
Dawes raised the alarm on horseback, and the British
soldiers happened upon a forming militia. Someone,
(not sure who) fired the “shot heard ‘round the world.”
The British killed eight American militia men- war had
begun.
• News of the fray spread like wildfire and patriot militias
from all over New England raced to the area. By May of
1775, the patriot militias had surrounded the British
forces in Boston.
Second Continental Congress
• As agreed, the Continental Congress that had formed in
1774 reconvened the following summer. They named the
patriot militias near Boston as the Continental Army and
appointed George Washington as general.
• Before Washington could reach his post, more fighting
erupted in Boston- the Battle of Bunker Hill- where the
patriot forces repelled a British advance to break the
patriot lines around Boston.
• The victory inspired confidence that the Americans could
succeed against the British.
• Isolated fighting spread to other regions of the colonies as
well- Despite this, many were still torn between making it a
fight for independence, or remaining loyal to the British.
3.c- Explain the importance of Thomas Paine’s
Common Sense to the movement for independence
• One of the most important turning points for the move towards
declaring independence was a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine.
In Common Sense, Paine argued that it was King George, not
Parliament, who was responsible for the tyranny in the colonies.
Paine further argued that independence was the only way to end
the tyranny. Selling more than 100,000 copies through the first half
of 1776, Common Sense convinced many colonists that
independence was the right choice.
• Soon, all of the provincial congresses had authorized their
Continental delegates to vote for independence, and a committee
composed of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman,
Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson submitted a document
written largely by Jefferson: The Declaration of Independence. On
July 4, 1776 the Continental Congress issued the Declaration- the
birth of the United States of America.
Thomas Paine