French and Indian War
• England claimed the eastern seaboard,
France held inland America from the
Appalachian to Rocky Mountains.
• England began to move west of the
Appalachians, leading to conflict.
– French and Indian War .
• Part of the Seven Years’ War.
• England won.

• French and Indian War hurt relations between England and colonists.
– English were fighting for the colonies, and felt the colonists did not fight hard enough.
– Colonists felt that English were weak militarily, and wanted to be led by their own colonial officers.
– England viewed this as treason.
– Colonists began to spread beyond the
Appalachian mountains, and did not want
English help.

Buildup to War
• After French and Indian War, colonists wanted to be equal members of the British
Empire.
– England did not feel colonists should have equal citizenship.
• England racked up a big debt in the war, and wanted colonies to help pay the cost.
• Started a series of taxes to help pay off the debt.

• Sugar Act – Tax on sugar, molasses, and rum.
• Quartering Act – Forced colonials to provide housing and supplies to English soldiers in the colonies.
• Stamp Act – Colonists must pay taxes, in the form of a stamp, on coffee, tea, glass, paper goods (legal documents).
• Colonists were very angry at being forced to pay taxes when they had no voice in
English government.
– “ No taxation without representation!!
”

Sugar Act Quartering Act

Stamp Act

• These tax acts led to a boycott of British goods.
– Boycott – Refusal to buy.
• As a result, the British repealed the Stamp
Act.
– Removed.
• In its’ place, Parliament passed the
Declaratory Act .
– Stated that Parliament could make any law it wanted applying to the colonies.

Declaratory Act

• Parliament then passed the Townshend
Act .
– Stamp Act under a new name.
• Colonists protested the Townshend Act in
Boston.
– British troops fired on the protesters, killing 5.
– Called the Boston Massacre .
• A rebel group called the Sons of Liberty dressed as Indians and attacked a British ship in Boston Harbor.
– Threw cargo of tea overboard.
– Boston Tea Party .

Boston Massacre
Obituary

• Colonists called the tax acts the
Intolerable Acts .
– It is intolerable to be taxed without representation.
• Colonies started the First Continental
Congress .
– Upheld boycott and begged King George III for representation in Parliament.
– George III refused to listen.
• Colonists began to arm themselves for war.

King George III

Revolutionary War
• Colonials stored weapons in Lexington and Concord .
• British found out and went to take it.
• Colonial Minutemen fought British soldiers.
– British destroyed weapons in Concord, then returned to Boston.
• “ The shot heard ‘round the world .”
• Opening battle of the American
Revolution .

• Thomas Paine wrote a pamphlet called
“ Common Sense ”.
• Said it was time for America to be free.
• People listened.
• Second Continental Congress met.
– Thomas Jefferson and the 2 nd CC drafted and signed the Declaration of
Independence .
– Copies were sent to all colonies and King
George III.
– July 4, 1776 .

Thomas Paine

• In England, this was just a colony in rebellion.
• In America, we were a free country fighting for survival.
• Revolutionary War lasted 1776 – 1781 .
• Advantages:
– England – More men, more supplies, better trained army, had a navy.
– America – Knew the land, fighting for their lives.

• Disadvantages:
– England – Far from home, long supply line.
– America – Outmanned, outgunned, outsupplied.

• 1781 – England surrendered at Yorktown.
• Treaty was negotiated in Paris.
– By Ben Franklin.
• 1783 – Treaty of Paris was signed.
– USA was now a free country.
– America got all land from the Great Lakes to the Florida border.
– From the Atlantic to the Mississippi River.

Articles of Confederation
• After the war, Continental Congress wrote a document to govern the USA.
– Articles of Confederation .
• Congress could make and enforce laws, declare war.
– Could not tax.
• States had their own court systems and printed their own money.
• “Strong states, weak federal”.

Articles of
Confederation

• Over time, it was realized that the Articles of
Confederation did not work.
• The states sent delegates to Philadelphia to the
Constitutional Convention to revise the A.o.C.
• Convention scrapped A.o.C. and wrote a whole new document called the Constitution of the
United States of America .
• Constitution was written in four months.
• Ratified in 1787 .
• “Strong states, strong federal.”

• Under the Constitution power was divided between federal and state gov’ts.
• Division of power between federal and state governments was called federalism .
• Federal gov’t had Delegated Powers .
– Declare war, print money.
• State gov’ts had Reserved Powers .
– Educational systems.
• Both federal and state had Concurrent Powers .
– Taxation.

• Constitution also included a separation of powers .
– Divide power to prevent dictatorship.
• Each branch of gov’t acts as a brake on the others.
• Executive Branch – Enforces laws.
– President.
• Legislative Branch – Makes laws.
– Congress.
• Judicial Branch – Interprets laws.
– Supreme Court.

Executive Branch

Legislative Branch

Judicial Branch

• The entire U.S. government is based on the idea of popular sovereignty , where the people have ultimate power.
– The government runs with the permission of the governed.

• Constitution could be changed, using
Amendments.
• First ten Amendments – Bill of Rights .
• Protects basic human rights from government abuse.
• Adopted with the ratification of the
Constitution.

1 st Amendment – Freedom of speech, religion, press, peaceful assembly, petition.

2 nd Amendment – Right to bear arms.

3 rd Amendment – No quartering of soldiers in private homes.

4 th Amendment – No unreasonable search and seizure without probable cause

5 th Amendment – No trial without Grand Jury indictment; freedom from self-incrimination

6 th Amendment – Right to a speedy and public trial.

7 th Amendment – Right to a trial by jury.

8 th Amendment – No cruel and unusual punishment.

9 th Amendment – Could have other rights besides those in Bill of Rights.

10 th Amendment – All powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved to the states.

• The Constitutional Convention of 1787 voted George Washington as the first
President of the United States.