?
Only President of the United States who
was never be President of the United States
THE FRENCH &
INDIAN WAR
The Seven Years War (Europe)
British vs. French


Competition over Ohio
country
1740s – English began to
build forts in Ohio
territory
 Mass.,
Conn., VA, Penn.,
and NY
 Trading

with Natives
1752 – French drive Pennsylvania traders from area
 VA
governor sends George Washington
French & Indians vs. British & Colonists

United & Disciplined
 Numbered


90,000
Controlled territory
 Defensive

Divided & Unorganized
 Numbered

1.5 million
Struggle early on
conflict
Aided by most Indians
• Conflict spread to Europe
• Seven Years War
France & Austria vs. Great Britain & Prussia
Tide Turns in War

1754 – George Washington
takes 150 men to oust French



1763 – Treaty of Paris

France abandons claims in
North America

Spain ceded Florida to
Great Britain in separate
treaty

Spain controlled land west
of Mississippi and New
Orleans port
Forced to fall back to Fort
Necessity
1758 – King George turns
campaign over to William
Pitt
Pitt pours all British resources
into conflict


Navy plays major role
Proclamation of 1763



Followed French & Indian
War
Frontier settlers continued to
clash with Native tribes
Britain attempts to divide
groups


6,000 soldiers placed along
frontier
Banned all settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains
 No
purchasing of Indian lands
 Only licensed traders could pass into territory
COLONISTS MOVE
TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE
CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING

WILL THESE RULES/PROCEDURES WORK?

ARE THE RULES/PROCEDURES FAIR


WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF THEY ARE
IMPLEMENTED?
ADDRESS SPECIFIC CONCERNS YOU HAVE
WITH THE RULES/PROCEDURES
Colonial Trade Disrupted

Colonists had been
trading goods with
countries other than
Britain
 Salutary

Britain passed
Navigation Acts - 1651
 Restricted
colonists
 Colonists
could only trade
with Great Britain
Neglect
colonies to
operate independently of
Britain (economically &
politically)
trade of
 Allowed

Developed their own
identity

Not enforced strictly until 1763


After the French and Indian War
 Why?
Stricter enforcement = Smuggling
Sugar Act - 1764

Tariff on sugar, wine, and
coffee imported into
America
 Mostly
brought in from the
West Indies
 Also focused on stopping
the smuggling of goods
Colonists respond:
 Protests and Boycotts
British response:

Strengthened
enforcement of laws
 No more juries
 British naval officers
 Guilty
until proven
innocent
Stamp Act - 1765

Tax on all printed
materials
 Newspapers,
legal
documents, licenses,
playing cards, etc.
 Required
colonists to
purchase special
stamped paper
 “Kings’
stamp”

Colonists Response:
 June
 “no
1765 – Stamp Act Congress
taxation without representation”
 Formation
of Sons of Liberty
 Refused to do any business
involving stamped paper
 Later

began using unstamped paper
Threatened mob action against British
officials
 Refused
 Stamp
to import British goods
Act repealed in March 1766
Declaratory Act - 1766

Britain declares
Parliament’s right to
enact any law it wished
(tax colonies)

Colonists protest

Creates greater tension

Britain responds to
protests with
Townshend Acts
Townshend Acts - 1767

Taxed the imports of the
colonists
Lead
 Paint
 Paper
 Glass
 Tea


Colonists boycott imported
British goods

Smuggling continued
British response:

April 1770 – Townshend
Act repealed
 Tax on tea remains
• Engraving by Paul Revere
• Widely circulated after
event
• How might colonists respond to
the image and title?


March 5, 1770
British soldiers guarding
Customs House
 Shoot
into crowd of protestors
 5 killed
Boston
Massacre
“The Bloody Massacre”
Townshend Acts
Later repealed
 Except for the Tea Act


Boston Tea Party
 Members
of the
Sons of Liberty
 Disguised
as Indians
 Dumped 342 chests
of tea into the Boston
Harbor
Tea Act - 1773

East India Trading Company
had been granted a
monopoly on tea trade


Colonists saw this as a threat
to future trading
Colonists respond:
 Boston Tea Party – Dec.
1773
 Members
of the Sons of
Liberty


Disguised as Indians
Dumped 342 chests of tea
into the Boston Harbor
Britain responds:

Britain punishes the
colonists for rebellion

Coercive Acts – aka
“Intolerable” Acts
“Intolerable” Acts – 1774
(British called the Coercive Acts)

Boston Port Act



British closed Boston Harbor until
tea paid for
Blockade on imports
Administration of Justice Act

Moving cases outside of Mass. For
impartial jury


Massachusetts Government Act



Concerned over sympathizers
Strengthened power of governor
Weakened town councils – no
longer elected (appointed instead)
New Quartering Act

Much Stricter

Colonists respond:
Form militias
 1st Continental Congress
 Held meeting to protest
Intolerable Acts
 Want representation in
Parliament


“no taxation without
representation”
British respond:
• British troops march to Lexington
& Concord to get seize guns
“PATRIOTS”
SONS OF LIBERTY
Initially “The Loyal Nine”
 Notable members include:




DAUGHTERS OF LIBERTY

Samuel Adams, John Hancock,
Paul Revere, Patrick Henry, &
Benedict Arnold
 Provided
support to wives
of Sons of Liberty
Formed after passage of
Stamp Act 1765
Actively opposed actions of
“the Crown”
Methods of disruption:
Published pamphlets or
newspaper articles
 Organized boycotts
 Tarred and feathered tax
agents

“Friends” of Sons of
Liberty


Boycotted British goods
Produced consumer
goods to replace those
being boycotted
 Textiles
“PATRIOTS” cont’d
COMMITTEES OF
CORRESPONDENCE



First formed in Boston 1764
New York formed a
committee in 1765


Virginia - 1773


THOMAS PAINE
House of Burgesses proposed
committee in each colony
First Continental Congress
1774

Published January 1776
 47-page pamphlet
 500,000 copies sold
One of the most influential
pamphlets in American
history
Advocated
independence
from Great
Britain

Townshend
Acts
(1767)
Boston
Tea
Party
(Dec. 16, 1773)
First
Continental
Congress
(Sept. – Oct. 1774)
1775
1770
Stamp
Act
(1765)
Second
Continental
Congress
(May 1775)
Intolerable
Acts
(Coercive Acts)
(Mar. 1774)
Declaration of
Independence
Adopted
July 4, 1776
1776
Battle of
Bunker Hill
June 17, 1775
Lexington &
Concord
(Apr. 1775)
First Continental Congress
(Sept. – Oct. 1774)

Response to British Parliament’s enactment of the
Coercive Acts (“Intolerable” Acts)
Meeting of delegates from all colonies
 Georgia – only colony not to send delegate
Colonies split on separation vs. resolution
Drafted Declaration of Rights and Grievances
 Condemnation of British actions since 1763
Lexington & Concord
“the shot heard round the world”
 New Englanders began
preparing defenses

 Minutemen
 Civilian soldiers
 Began stockpiling weapons
 Weapons believed to be in Concord (town outside Boston)
 John Hancock and Samuel Adams believed to be Lexington
 Paul Revere and others ride out to spread word of the
coming British regulars – “Midnight Riders”
Lexington &
Concord

cont’d
 British regulars come upon roughly 70 minutemen in
Lexington
 British outnumber minutemen by 10 to 1
 “shot heard round the world”
 British soldiers find no weapons in Concord
 Are attacked on return to Boston by over 3,000 minutemen
Second Continental
Congress
 First met in May 1775

 John Hancock presides over Congress
 Olive Branch Petition
 Urging a return to “the former harmony”
 Blamed “his Majesty’s ministers”
 King rejects petition
 “Colonies are in rebellion”
 Presses Parliament for a naval blockade
 Committee assigned to work on a declaration – June 1776
 George Washington
 Named commander of continental army
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
Drafting Committee:

Thomas Jefferson (VA)




Considered main author
1st Secretary of State
3rd President of U.S.

John Adams (Mass.)



Where did the ideas come from?
 Enlightenment (17th & 18th centuries)
1st Vice President
2nd President of U.S.
Benjamin Franklin (Penn.)

You Know!!!

Robert Livingston (New York)

Roger Sherman (Conn.)

Later - a Great Compromiser

Philosophers:
 John Locke – natural rights of man;
social contract
 Jean Jacques Rousseau –
government conceived upon a social
contract
Social Contract Theory

Concerns relationship between
government and people
A compact (agreement) between individual
men who are willing to hand over power of
government to those who will submit
themselves to the will of the people.
Main Parts of the Declaration

Preamble


Declaration of Natural Rights


“Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”
List of Grievances


“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume
among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of
Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of
mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the
separation.”
Complaints against the King
Resolution of Independence by the United States

“That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent
States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all
political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be
totally dissolved”
Signers of Significance

Pennsylvania
 Ben


Franklin
Massachusetts

Georgia
 George Walton
New Hampshire
 Josiah Bartlett
Adams - 2nd U.S. President
 John Hancock - Presided over Continental Congress
 Samuel Adams - Leader of the Sons of Liberty
 John

Virginia
Jefferson - 3rd U.S. President
 Benjamin Harrison V
 Thomas
William Henry Harrison (9th U.S. President)
 Grandfather of Benjamin Harrison (23rd U.S. President)
 Fathered
Random Declaration Facts

John Dunlap printed 200 copies to distribute throughout the
colonies

“Dunlap Broadsides” – 26 remain today


Last one sold for $8 million
Independence declared on July 2, 1776; Final copy approved
on July 4th; Signed on August 2

Housed in the National Archives in Washington D.C.

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on July 4th, 1826

50th Anniversary of Declarations approval