The American Revolution
The American Revolution
• 1215 - The Magna Carta
document is adopted in
England. Limited the power
of the King.
• 1492 - Christopher
Columbus makes the first
voyage to the New World
• 1607 - Jamestown is
founded in Virginia; first
permanent English
settlment.
• 1620 - Mayflower Compact
is the first form of selfgovernment established.
The American Revolution
Underlying Causes
• Spread of Enlightenment
Ideas
• the Great Awakening
What is the Enlightenment
• Write a short paragraph about the
Enlightenment—
– what was the Enlightenment?
– When did it occur?
– Why was it a radical idea?
The Nicene Creed
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We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all
things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father
before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not
made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who
for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by
the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us
under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again
according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right
hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and
the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from
the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped
and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe one holy catholic and
apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we
look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
The Enlightenment
• The Enlightenment was an 18th-century
philosophical movement of intellectuals who
were strongly influenced by the Scientific
Revolution.
• Reason: a key term of the Enlightenment that
meant the application of the scientific method to
understanding life and the universe.
• Reason, natural law, hope, and progress were
the most common words of the Enlightenment
Key Enlightenment Ideas
1. All humans possess and are capable of “reason,” i.e. “the
ability to think.”
– “Razón”
– “Gente de razón”
2. The universe consists and is shaped by “natural laws.”
Example: “universal law of gravitation”
3. Human beings can use their “reason” to understand (or
harness) these natural laws.
4. Belief in human “progress.”
– Human beings can use their understanding of the universe
and natural laws to gradually improve the world around
them.
Enlightenment Thinkers
• Two 17th century
Englishmen were the
most important figures
of the Enlightenment:
• Isaac Newton
– Born 1642
– Mathematical Principles of
Natural Philosophy
• Identified three laws of
motion
• Universal law of
gravitation: every object in
the universe is attracted to
every other object in the
universe
Enlightenment Thinkers
• John Locke (1632-1704)
• Locke believed that if
Newton could discover
natural laws of the
universe, intellectuals
could learn the natural
laws that govern human
society.
• Locke believed that
people are molded or
shaped by their
environment.
John Locke (1632-1704)
•
He wrote: Two Treatises of
Government, 1690.
•
Before the creation of society,
humans lived in a state of equality.
•
Humans were born with natural
rights—life, liberty and property
(pursuit of happiness).
•
Government was a “social contract”
between people and rulers; it was
formed to ensure people’s natural
rights.
•
If the government did not protect
people’s natural rights, they had the
right to form a new government.
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Argued against absolute rule of one
person.
Locke’s ideas were later used to
support the constitutional
governments formed after the
American and French Revolution.
John Locke (assignment notes)
• John Locke was born into
a Puritan family in Bristol,
England in 1602.
• Studied at Oxford
University
• Influenced by John Owen,
who introduced him to
the idea of religious
freedom and the idea
that people should not be
punished for having
different views on religion
(religious tolerance).
• Also influenced by Rene
Descartes, a French
philosopher and
mathematician.
• Descartes believed all
men had the ability to
“reason.”
• People can use reason to
find a “middle ground”
and settle their
differences by
compromising.
John Locke (assignment notes)
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John Locke fled to Holland in 1682
because his ideas were regarded as a
challenge to the authority of the king.
In 1689, the “Glorious Revolution” in
England placed a limit on the king’s
power and forced the king to accept
a Bill of Rights.”
Locke defended these events stating
that people have the natural ability
to govern themselves and to look
after the well-being of society.
Locke did not believe that God had
chosen a group or family of people to
rule countries.
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A limited monarchy should rule only
with the consent or approval of the
people.
Governments exists to protect the
right to life, the right to freedom and
the rights to property (pursuit of
happiness).
These rights are absolute
(inalienable).
If any government abuses the rights
of the people instead of protecting
them, the people have to right to
rebel and form a new government.
These ideas inspired the founders of
new democracies such as the writers
of the US Constitution.
Other Major Philosophes
• Montesquieu-promoted the idea of separating
governmental powers among branches
• Voltaire-penned Treatise on Toleration, reminded
governments that “all men are brothers under
God;” championed deism.
• Diderot-edited a 28-volume collection of
knowledge: the Encyclopedia; attacked religious
superstition and supported religious toleration.
Economics
Adam Smith (1776)
• wrote The Wealth of
Nations: laissez-faire
meaning “to let do”
(“hands-off”)
• Attacked mercantilism
• “To prohibit a great people,
however, from making all that
they can of every part of their
own produce, or from employing
their stock and industry in the
way that they judge most
advantageous to themselves, is a
manifest violation of the most
sacred rights of mankind.”
The Later Enlightenment
• Jean-Jacques Rosseau
• A social contract exists
between the
government and the
people.
• Through a social
contract, an entire
society agrees to be
governed by its general
will.
Causes of the American Revolution
The French and Indian War (or 7
Years War)
• The French and Indian War raged
from 1756-1763
• Ended with the Treaty of Paris.
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The French and English had been fighting for
control of Europe since the late 1600s;
three major wars were fought between 1689 and
1748
When these countries went to war, the colonies
went to war as well.
In North America, the two countries
fought for control over the Ohio River
valley
The French and Indian War
• Under the treaty,
France lost all claims to
mainland North
American.
French and Indian War
• After the French and
Indian War, England
acquired all French
territory east of the
Mississippi River,
except New Orleans.
• The Spanish give up
east and west Florida to
the English in return for
Cuba.
Rise of
Colonial Discontent
• Impact of the 7 Years War
(French and Indian War):
– French debt and the
French Revolution (1789)
• Great Britain’s victory in
1763 left the country with
a large financial debt.
• England’s George
Grenville (Prime Minister)
adopted new policies to
solve its financial
problems that angered
the colonists:
Rise of
Colonial Discontent
• Proclamation Act of
1763
– drew a line from
north to south and
declared that
colonists could not
settle any land west
of the line without
the British
government’s
permission
Rise of
Colonial Discontent
• Sugar Act of 1764:
– increased the tax rates
on imports of raw sugar
and molasses; also taxed
silk, wine, coffee and
indigo as well.
Rise of
Colonial Discontent
• Currency Act of 1764
– banned use of paper
money in the colonies
because it lost
Rise of
Colonial Discontent
• Stamp Act (1765)
– required stamps to be
bought and placed on most
printed materials, including
newspapers, pamphlets,
posters, wills, etc.
• Quartering Act (1765):
– “the colonists must pay”
for their own defense
– Required certain colonies
to provide food and
housing for British soldiers.
Rise of
Colonial Discontent
• Colonial responses to
the Stamp Act:
– Sons of Liberty:
formation of groups
that met and protested
the Stamp Act by
beating and intimidating
stamp act distributors
Rise of
Colonial Discontent
– Stamp Act Congress:
• Representatives from 9
colonies met and issued
the Declaration of Rights
and Grievances
– Stated that only the
colonists’
representatives , not
the British
Parliament, had the
right to tax the
colonists (no
taxation w/o
representation)
Rise of
Colonial Discontent
• Non-importation
agreement
• When the Stamp Act took
effect, the colonists began to
boycott all goods made in
Britain.
• 200 merchants from New
York signed a nonimportation agreement,
pledging not to buy and
British goods until Parliament
repealed the Stamp Act
• Britain repealed the Stamp
Act in 1766
Rise of
Colonial Discontent
• Declaratory Act (1766):
– Stated that the colonies
were subordinate to the
British Parliament who had
the power to tax them
• Townshend Acts:
– Revenue Act of 1767:
customs duties on glass,
lead, paper, paint, and tea
– Legalized writs of
assistance (general search
warrants w/o cause)
Rise of Colonial Discontent
• Tea Act of 1773
– East India Company
given monopoly for
colonial tea business
with small tax
– Made tea cheaper, but
imposed a small tax on
the tea
– Buying tea meant the
colonists accepted a
British tax
Rise of Colonial Discontent
• Colonists Response
– Boston Tea Party:
(December, 1773): 150
men boarded ships
carrying tea and dumped
342 chests of tea
overboard
– Destroyed 10,000
sterling worth of tea
The Colonists Must Pay!!
•
Coercive Acts (1774): Called the
“Intolerable Acts” by the colonists
– Boston Port Act: closed Boston’s
harbor until tea was re-payed.
– Massachusettes Government
Act: banned town meetings in
MA; all council members,
sheriffs, judges appointed by
colony’s governor (not elected)
– Administration of Justice Act:
trials of British officials and
soldiers in England
– Quartering Act: amended to
allowed soldiers in private homes
– Quebec Act: no elected assembly
in Quebec territory
The Revolution Begins
• First Continental Congress
(meets in Sept. 1774): all colonies
send representatives to decide
how to respond to the Coercive
Acts
– Passes the Suffolk Resolves: urged
colonists not to obey the Coercive
Acts
• Minutemen organized: a special
unit of the militia trained to fight
at a moment’s notice
• First shots at Lexington and
Concord (April, 1775)
– 73 British soldiers killed, 174
wounded
– 49 colonists killed, 46 wounded
The Second Continental Congress
• The 2nd Continental
Congress met in
Philadelphia in May,
1775 (three weeks after
the first shots at
Lexington and Concord)
• The 2nd Continental
Congress:
– created the Continental
Army (1775)
– Selected George
Washington as General
and Commander and Chief
of the new army
The Colonies Declare Independence
• In January, 1776, after
months of turmoil and
indecision, Thomas Paine
published a radical,
persuasive pamphlet
called Common Sense.
– Blamed the monarchy for
the colonists’ troubles.
– Declared that the time had
come for independence
• Sold 150,000 copies
• Convinced colonists to
declare independence.
The Declaration of Independence
• In July 1776, Thomas
Jefferson submitted a
landmark document he
had drafted in which the
colonists declared
themselves independent.
• On July 4th, 1776, the
Continental Congress
issued the Declaration of
Independence.
• The colonies now became
the United States of
America.
Articles of Confederation
• In November, 1777, the
Continental Congress adopted
the Articles of Confederation.
– This was the 1st Constitution of
the U.S.A.
• Established a weak central
government. Why?
– Each state sent one delegate to
the Confederation Congress.
– Had right to declare war and
raise armies
– Able to negotiate and sign
treaties
– Could not raise taxes or
regulate trade
Key Battles of the American
Revolution
• Lexington and Concord
– April, 1775; “first shots”
– 73 British soldiers killed; 174
British soldiers wounded
• Battle of Saratoga (October,
1777)
– “turning point”; 5,000 British
troops captured
– Convinces the French to join
the war against England
• Yorktown (May, 1781)
– British General Cornwallis
surrenders.
Treaty of Paris (1783)
• The British Parliament
voted to end the war
following the British defeat
at Yorktown.
• Signed on September 3,
1783
• Recognized the United
States of America as a new
nation.
• Established the Mississippi
River as the western border
of the USA.
• US acquired Florida
The New Nation
• When Americans declared
their independence and
founded the USA, they
sought to create an entirely
new system of government:
– rejected monarchy
• Sought to create a republic:
a form of government
where power resides with a
body of citizens entitled to
vote.
• “Self-government”
• “Rule of law”
• Popular sovereignty or
“Sovereignty of the people”
• Public good (subordination
of self-interest)
• Thomas Paine defined a
republic as “the public good
or the good of the whole”
• Independence and virtue
State Constitutions
• In 1776, the Continental
Congress called on states to
overthrow their royal
governments and create new
republican governments.
• The former colonies organized
state constitutional
conventions and drew up new
state constitutions
• The state constitutions they
created show us how
colonists struggled to define
the meaning of American
revolution and independence
State Constitutions
• When writing these
new state
constitutions, problems
emerged over a number
of issues:
– limits of popular
sovereignty and the
extent of democracy
each state would allow.
– the division of power
State Constitutions
• The American
Revolution politicized
the masses—
– mobs, committees
State Constitutions
• State constitutions
range from state to
state
• Some are radical
• Some are moderate
• Some are conservative
Pennsylvania’s State Constitution
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The most radical and fullest expression of
democratic-republicanism
moderates routed during war and radicals
took charge in the state
• no balance of power between
elite and people
• no limits on popular
participation
– based on direct will of people
– based on “common good “
• thus no soc div. not transplanted
to political division
Pennsylvania’s State Constitution
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No upper house
No Governor
One Assembly (unicameral)
–
elected Annually
– no property-owning
qualifications to vote or serve
– rotation of office only in 4/7 years
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bill of rights
• freedom of speech, religion, trial
by jury
• no debtors prison
• extensive educ. system
Massachusetts and New York’s
State Constitution
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•
This radical constitution concerned
and frightened many American
leaders
J. Adams sent copies of Thoughts on
Government to other states
– bicameral legislature with upper for
natural aristocracy ($, talent, sense)
– appointed judiciary
– governor with veto power
– divided power by function rather than
social lines (English)
– Judicial, administrative and lawmaking
bodies
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less democratic, but more familiar to
people
Mass basically this set up as well as
NY
•
John Adams remarked that the
Pennsylvania constitution of 1776
was "so democratic that it must
produce confusion and every evil
work." He would be elected to the
Presidency in 1796.
South Carolina’s
State Constitution
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flagrant property qualification: white
men had to possess a significant
amount of property to vote, and
they had to own even more property
to be allowed to run for political
office.
– candidates for governor required to
have debt-free estate worth 10k pounds
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2k for senate, 1k for assembly
ruled out 90% of white adult pop.
These property requirements were
so high that 90 percent of all white
adults were prevented from running
for political office!
Poor white men, all women, children,
and African Americans (whether free
or slave) were considered too
dependent on others to exercise
reliable political judgment.
•
John Rutledge served as both South
Carolina's president and governor.
The state's original constitution,
drafted in 1776, called for the
election of a state president. But
changes made to the document in
1778 saw the state's chief executive
become known as "governor."
A New Constitution
• For many years, the
weaknesses of the Articles of
Confederation worried some
Americans.
• Some felt that the US would
not survive without a stronger
national government.
• People who wanted to
strengthen the national
government came to be
known as “nationalists.” They
included:
– James Madison
– Alexander Hamilton
– John Jay
A New Constitution: Why
• Trade Problems
– Congress could not control
commerce and the states refused
to adopt a uniform tariff policy
• Specter of Anarchy
– Boundary and trade disputes
between the states
– Shay’s Rebellion
• Rebellion led by revolutionary war
captain Daniel Shays in Western
Massachusetts 1786
• Revolutionary war veterans were
losing their farms due to mortgage
foreclosures and tax deliquentcies.
• Demanded cheap “paper” money,
lighter taxes, and a suspension of
property takeovers
The Constitutional Convention
• In May, 1787, 55 men gather in
Philadelphia to “revise” the
Articles of Confederation.
• Two plans were forwarded to the
convention.
• The Virginia plan:
– A new central government with
power divided between three
branches of government:
executive, legislative and judicial.
– A bi-cameral legislature
– Representatives apportioned
according to a state’s population
– Favored large states: NY, Virginia,
and Massachusetts
The Constitutional Convention
• A counter-proposal was
offered known as the
New Jersey Plan.
– Proposed a single house
in which each state was
equally represented
– Gave the Congress the
right to tax and regulate
trade
The “Great Compromise”
• The delegates agreed to adopt
a new constitution based on
the Virginia Plan.
• They struck a “Great
Compromise” based on a
suggestion by Roger Sherman
of Connecticut.
• It established a bi-cameral
legislature including:
• A House of Representatives
based on the size of the state’s
population.
• A Senate, where each state
would have equal
representation.
Other Compromises
• The Three-Fifths
Compromise: every five
enslaved people in a
state would count as
three free persons for
determining
representation and
taxes.
• The new Congress could
not ban the slave trade
until 1808
Debating the Constitution
• The Confederation Congress
sent the new constitution to
the states for ratification
• Nine of the thirteen states
had to ratify the new
Constitution for it to take
effect.
• Supporters of the
Constitution called
themselves Federalists.
– They included: large
landowners, merchants and
farmers near the coasts and
rivers.
– James Madison, Alexander
Hamilton, and John Jay
Debating the Constitution
• Opponents of the
Constitution were called
Antifederalists.
• They believe that state
governments should remain
supreme.
• Major anti-federalists leaders
included: John Hancock,
Patrick Henry, and Sam
Adams
• They were supported by
western farmers who were
self-sufficient and who
distrusted and feared the
wealthy, powerful elite.
The Bill of Rights
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To overcome objections to the new
Constitution, Federalists promised to
attach a bill of rights to the
Constitution once it was ratified.
They also agreed to support an
amendment that would reserve for
the states all powers not granted to
the federal government.
These promises eventually led to the
first ten amendments to the
Constitution, which came to be
known as the Bill of Rights.
These ten amendments limit the
powers of the federal government.
They also protect the civil liberties of
individuals in the United States.
Amendment I
• no establishment of
religion,
• freedom of speech, or
of the press;
• right of the people
peaceably to assemble,
Amendment II
• A well regulated Militia,
being necessary to the
security of a free State,
the right of the people
to keep and bear Arms,
shall not be infringed.
Amendment III
• No Soldier shall, in time
of peace be quartered
in any house, without
the consent of the
Owner
Amendment IV
• No unreasonable
searches and seizures
Amendment V
• You shall not be
compelled in any
criminal case to be a
witness against himself,
nor be deprived of life,
liberty, or property,
without due process of
law
Amendment VI
• the right to a speedy
and public trial
• The right to face your
accusers
Amendment VII
• the right to a trial by
jury
Amendment VIII
• no cruel and unusual
punishments
Amendment IX
• All other rights not
listed are retained by
the people.
Amendment X
• Powers not delegated to
the United States by the
Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the
States, are reserved to the
States respectively, or to
the people.
• “Will the Justices defer to
the 10th Amendment and
the States thereby in
essence decentralizing and
fragmenting the legislative
authority for immigration
law?”
SEVEN BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE CONSTITUTION

Popular Sovereignty- the governments right to rule comes from the people

Limited Government- the government has only the powers that the
Constitution gives to it

Separation of Power-the Constitution divides the government into three
branches:
Congress-legislative branch makes laws
President-executive branch carries out the laws
Courts-judicial branch explains and interprets the laws

Checks and Balances- each branch of government has the power to check
or limit the actions of the other two

Federalism-division of power between the federal government and the
states.

Republicanism- citizens elect representatives to carry out their will

Individual rights-The Constitution protects individual rights such as
freedom of speech, freedom religion etc
• What event is
this political
cartoon about?