Unit 1
From Colonies to Independence
Chapters 1-4
I. The Great Convergence
American Colonies Emerge
• 3 Regions: New England, Middle, Southern
Colonial Characteristics
• New England colonies were settled by
Puritans seeking religious freedom.
• Middle colonies were culturally diverse
as many ethnic groups settled there
seeking religious freedom and economic
opportunity.
• Southern colonies were formed for
economic reasons in the form of land
ownership.
Economics of the colonies
• New England: shipbuilding, fishing,
lumbering, small scale farming.
• Middle: shipbuilding, small scale farming,
and trading. Seaports and commercial
centers.
• Southern: large plantations and grew
cash crops such as tobacco, rice, and
indigo.
Social Structure
• New England: based on religion and
connected it to government.
• Middle: skilled laborers,
entrepreneurs, and small farmers.
• Southern: Family status & land
ownership.
Political Life
• New England: Town Meetings (Direct
Democracy)
• Middle: Reflected the basic rights of
Englishmen.
• Southern: Strong ties to Britain, with
planters creating representative
government.
New England Colonies
• Massachusetts Bay: Founded by John
Winthrop with strong Puritan beliefs and
to be seen as “The city upon a hill.”
• Plymouth: Founded by William Bradford
and the Pilgrims. Set up as a “covenant
community” created under the Mayflower
Compact.
• Rhode Island: Founded by Roger Williams
for dissenters leaving Massachusetts
New England Events
• Salem Witch Trials: Religious fanaticism led
to multiple executions of individuals.
• Great Awakening: A religious movement
that swept both Europe and the colonies
during the mid-1700s. It led to the rapid
growth of evangelical religions, such as
Methodist and Baptist, and challenged the
established religious and governmental
orders. It laid one of the social foundations
for the American Revolution.
Middle Colonies
• Pennsylvania: Founded by William Penn as
a home to Quakers.
• New York: Settled as a haven for Huguenots
and Jews.
• New Jersey: Home to Presbyterians.
• Cities such as NY & Philadelphia became
commercial centers & seaports.
• Connecticut: 1st written Constitution
(Fundamental Orders)
Southern Colonies
• Jamestown: First permanent English
settlement, 1607. Created the House of
Burgesses as the first elected assembly in
the New World.
• North Carolina: Site of Roanoke
• Georgia: Penal Colony established by
James Oglethorpe.
Southern Events
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Eli Whitney: Cotton Gin increased slaves
Founders: John Smith
Tobacco: John Rolfe
Pocahontas
Indentured Servitude & Slavery
• The growth of a plantation-based agricultural economy in
the Southern colonies required warm weather & cheap
labor on a large scale. Some of the labor needs, especially
in Virginia, were met by indentured servants, who were
often poor persons from England, Scotland, or Ireland who
agreed to work on plantations for a period of time in return
for their passage from Europe or relief from debts.
• Most plantation labor needs eventually came to be satisfied
by the forcible importation of Africans. Although some
Africans worked as indentured servants, earned their
freedom, and lived as free citizens during the Colonial Era,
over time larger and larger numbers of enslaved Africans
were forcibly brought to the Southern colonies (the
“Middle Passage”).
Middle Passage
II. Steps Toward Independence
• Enlightenment: news ideas about the rights of
people and their relationship with their rulers.
• John Locke: Influenced American belief in selfgovernment the most. People have “natural
rights” and the government has a “social
contract” with the citizens. “Government power
is limited by the consent of the governed.”
• Thomas Paine: Published the “Common Sense”
pamphlets that promoted independence.
French & Indian War
• The rivalry in North America between Britain and
France led to the French and Indian War, in which
the French were driven out of Canada and their
territories west of the Appalachian Mountains.
• As a result of the war, Britain took several actions
that angered the American colonies and led to the
American Revolution. These included
• the Proclamation of 1763, which prohibited
settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains, a
region that was costly for the British to protect.
• new taxes on legal documents (the “Stamp Act”),
tea, and sugar, to pay costs incurred during the
French and Indian War and for British troops to
protect colonists.
July 4th, 1776
The Declaration of Independence
• The eventual draft of the Declaration of Independence,
authored by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, reflected the ideas
of Locke and Paine. Jefferson wrote:
• “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
• “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted
among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of
the governed,
• “That whenever any Form of Government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to
alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government….”
• Jefferson then went on to detail many of the grievances
against the King of England that Paine had earlier described
in Common Sense.
The American Revolution
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Resistance to British rule in the colonies mounted,
leading to war:
“No Taxation Without Representation”
The Boston Tea Party occurred.
The First Continental Congress was called, to which
all of the colonies except Georgia sent
representatives—the first time most of the colonies
had acted together.
The Boston Massacre took place when British troops
fired on anti-British demonstrators.
War began when the “Minutemen” in Massachusetts
fought a brief skirmish with British troops at
Lexington and Concord.
Colonial Thoughts
The colonists were divided into three main groups during the
Revolution:
Patriots
• Believed in complete independence from Britain
• Inspired by the ideas of Locke and Paine and the words of
Virginian Patrick Henry (“Give me liberty, or give me death!”)
• Provided the troops for the American Army, led by Virginian
George Washington
Loyalists (Tories)
• Remained loyal to Britain because of cultural and economic
ties
• Believed that taxation of the colonies was justified to pay for
British troops to protect American settlers from Indian attacks
Neutrals
• The many colonists who tried to stay as uninvolved in the war
as possible
Key Moments
• Trenton—Washington surprised the British with an attack on
Christmas night propelling the colonists to victory and another
in Trenton 8 days later.
• Saratoga—The British looked to isolate the New England
colonies, but was not able to move through the rough terrain.
The American defeated the British and as a result secured the
aid of the French. The British focused their remaining war
efforts on the south. This was the turning point of the war.
• Treaty of Alliance 1778: Secured by Benjamin Franklin. Deciding
factor in the war.
• Yorktown—General Charles Cornwallis was defeated by the
American & French forces. Cornwallis was cut off from the
North by Washington and blocked from the seas by the French.
Cornwallis surrendered the British army and the war was over.