?
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