From the
Revolution to
the Civil War
Part I:
The American
Revolution
The French and Indian War
• Britain helped the
colonists defeat
the French
• Britain needed
money to pay for
war expenses
• They taxed
colonists,
restricted
settlements and
limited self-govt.
Britain Passes New Laws
• The
Proclamation
of
1763
prohibited
settlement beyond the Appalachian Mountains.
• Prime Minister Grenville wanted colonists to
compensate for British troops through the
Sugar Act, which taxed sugar and molasses
imported from the French and Spanish West
Indies.
The Stamp Act
• Parliament passed the
Stamp Act as another way
to bring in money from the
colonies.
• Required a government tax
stamp on certain
documents: contracts and
licenses, newspapers,
almanacs, printed sermons,
and playing cards
Colonists Protest Openly
• The Stamp Act Congress was organized by the
Massachusetts Assembly to send a petition to
the king and Parliament.
• The Sons of Liberty, a group made up of
unskilled workers, artisans, small farmers,
merchants, and lawyers, organized a boycott of
British goods and put pressure on merchants
who did not join in.
• The Stamp Act was repealed after British
merchants saw sales drop because of the
boycotts.
The Townshend Acts
• Taxed lead, paint, paper,
glass, and tea that were
imported from Britain
• Smugglers increased their
activities to avoid the tax
leading to more troops in
Boston.
The Boston Massacre
In
Boston,
where
tensions were already
high, colonists began
throwing snowballs at a
British sentry guarding
the
customs
house.
After British solders
arrived to help, they
fired into the crowd,
killing five. This incident
was used as an example
of British cruelty.
The Colonists Respond
• Colonial boycotts left a British tea company
with millions of pounds of unsold tea. The Tea
Act (1773) enabled the company to sell tea
directly to colonists.
• Many colonists did not buy the tea.
• In December 1773 about 70 colonists boarded
British ships loaded with the tea and dumped
it into Boston Harbor. The event is known as
the Boston Tea Party.
King George III passes the
“Intolerable Acts”
• The Royal Navy
blockaded the Boston
Harbor so no colonial
goods could be sent
out until the tea was
paid for.
• Colonists had to
quarter the British
soldiers.
• The King assigned
British General Gage
to be Massachusetts
First Continental Congress meets in
Philadelphia
• Brought the colonists together as Americans
• All delegates agreed that Parliament was exerting
too much control
• It issued a Declaration of Rights protesting Great
Britain’s actions
• Agreed not to import or use British goods
• Agreed to stop exports to Britain
• Formed a force of minutemen, colonial soldiers who
would be ready to resist a British attack with short
notice
Conflict at Lexington and
Concord
In April, British troops were ordered to
Lexington and Concord to seize stores of
colonial gunpowder and to capture Samuel
Adams and John Hancock. At Lexington,
open
conflict
occurred
and
eight
Americans were killed. At Concord, the
British troops were forced to retreat and
lost 70 men. This was the first instance of
open warfare.
The Second Continental
Congress Takes Action
• Formed the Continental Army
• Appointed George Washington commander in chief
• Issued a Continental (national) currency
• Wrote A Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of
Taking Up Arms
• Proposed reconciliation with King George III in the
Olive Branch Petition
• King George III declared colonies to be in rebellion
• Parliament passed a law banning colonial trade outside
the British Empire.
The Declaration of Independence
Written primarily by
Thomas Jefferson,
the Declaration is a
formal explanation of
why Congress had
voted on July 2 to
declare independence
from Great Britain,
more than a year
after the outbreak of
the American
Revolutionary War.
The Treaty of Paris
In 1783, the Treaty
of Paris ended the
war and recognized
the sovereignty of
the United States
over the territory
bounded by what is
now Canada to the
north, Florida to the
south,
and
the
Mississippi River to
the west.
Part II: The Early
National Era
The Constitution
The United States
Constitution was written
in 1787, but it did not
take effect until after it
was ratified in 1789, when
it replaced the Articles
of Confederation. The
Constitution created a
much more powerful and
efficient central
government, one with a
strong president, and
powers of taxation.
Alexander Hamilton
Hamilton
was
the
primary author of the
economic policies of the
George
Washington
Administration,
especially the funding of
the state debts by the
Federal government, and
the establishment of a
national bank, a system
of tariffs, and friendly
trade
relations
with
John Adams
Adams was elected president
in 1796. He signed the
controversial
Alien
and
Sedition Acts, and built up
the army and navy especially
in the face of an undeclared
naval war (called the "Quasi
War") with France. The
major accomplishment of his
presidency was his peaceful
resolution of this conflict in
the face of Hamilton's
opposition.
The Louisiana Purchase
The War of 1812
The Americans declared war in 1812 for a number of
reasons, including a desire for expansion into the
Northwest Territory, trade restrictions because of
Great Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment
of American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy,
British support of American Indian tribes against
American expansion, and the humiliation of American
honor. The War ended in a draw after bitter fighting
that lasted until January 8, 1815, during the Battle of
New Orleans.
James Madison
As president (1809–1817),
he led the poorly prepared
nation into the War of 1812
against
Great
Britain.
During and after the war,
Madison reversed many of
his positions. By 1815, he
supported the creation of
the second National Bank, a
strong military, and a high
tariff to protect the new
factories opened during the
war.
The Monroe Doctrine
The
Monroe
Doctrine,
expressed
in
1823,
proclaimed the United
States'
opinion
that
European powers should no
longer
colonize
or
interfere in the Americas.
The Doctrine was adopted
in response to American
and British fears over
Russian
and
French
expansion
into
the
Western Hemisphere.
The Indian Removal Act
The
Act
was
signed into law by
President Andrew
Jackson on May
26, 1830. It paved
the way for the
reluctant—and
often
forcible—
emigration of tens
of thousands of
American Indians
to the West.
The Abolitionists
Part III: The
Civil War
US Secession map
Jefferson Davis
On February 18, 1861, after
he resigned from the U.S.
Senate, Davis was selected
provisional President of the
Confederate
States
of
America; he was elected
without opposition to a sixyear term that November.
During his presidency, Davis
took
charge
of
the
Confederate war plans but
was unable to find a strategy
to stop the larger, more
powerful and better organized
Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln was an outspoken
opponent of the expansion of
slavery. As a result, he secured
the Republican nomination and
was elected president in 1860.
As president he concentrated
on the military and political
dimensions of the war effort.
He issued his Emancipation
Proclamation in 1863, and
promoted the passage of the
Thirteenth Amendment to the
United States Constitution,
abolishing slavery.
The Emancipation Proclamation
The
Emancipation
Proclamation
is
an
executive order issued by
United States President
Abraham Lincoln during the
American Civil War under
his
war
powers.
It
proclaimed the freedom of
3.1 million of the nation's 4
million
slaves,
and
immediately freed 50,000
of them, with the rest
Robert Edward Lee
Robert
Lee
was a career
United States Army officer
and combat engineer. He
became
the
commanding
general of the Confederate
army in the American Civil War.
Lee distinguished himself as an
exceptional soldier in the U.S.
Army for 32 years. He is best
known for having commanded
the Confederate Army of
Northern
Virginia
in
the
American Civil War.
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses Grant was the
18th President of the
United States (1869–
1877) as well as military
commander during the
Civil War and post-war
Reconstruction
periods.
Under Grant's command,
the Union Army defeated
the Confederate military
and
ended
the
Confederate States of
Parlor of the (reconstructed) McLean House, the site
of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's surrender.
THE END