Period3, Ch6-8 Study Guide
NAME: ____________________________
Building the U.S. (1754-1800), part1:
Revolution (Ch. 6-8)
...is about exploring roots of colonial discontent with British rule and the steps toward American
independence.
Objectives:
1. Compare French colonization of North America with British colonization.
2. Analyze the causes and effects of the French & Indian War.
3. Analyze the historical factors that caused America to move toward independence and the
justifications for revolution.
4. Analyze the outcomes and impacts of the American Revolution.
5. Analyze how broader global developments (ideas, migrations, politics) impacted the American
colonies between 1754 and 1783.
6. Evaluate the significance of colonies’ regional differences in the period 1754 and 1783. (Political,
Economic, Social, Geographic)
7. Analyze the roles and experiences of Native Americans and African slaves between 1754 and 1783.
8. Analyze the significance of trade and labor systems in the colonial American economy.
Key Concepts:
Explain the definition, role, and significance of…
Chapter 6
Edict of Nantes
Huguenots
Louis XIV
New France
Quebec
Seven Years’ War
French & Indian War
Albany Plan of Union
George Washington
Pontiac’s Rebellion
Proclamation of 1763
Paxton Boys
Chapter 7
Republicanism
Mercantilism
George III
George Grenville
Navigations Laws
Sugar Act
Quartering Act
Currency Act
Stamp Act
Virtual representation
No taxation w/o representation
Non-importation
Sons of Liberty
Declaratory Act
Townshend Acts
Letters from a Farmer in PA
Boston Massacre
Committees of Correspondance
Boston Tea Party
Intolerable Acts
First Continental Congress
Patrick Henry
Minutemen
Lexington and Concord
Mercy Otis Warren
Chapter 8
Second Continental Congress
Continental Army
Olive Branch Petition
Common Sense
Thomas Paine
Republicanism
Thomas Jefferson
Declaration of Independence
Loyalists
Patriots
Franco-American Alliance
Iroquois Confederacy
Ben Franklin
1783 Treaty of Paris
Unit Summary
British imperial attempts to reassert control over its colonies during the early to mid-1700s and the
colonial reaction to these attempts produced an increasing desire for independence.
As part of their worldwide rivalry, Great Britain and France engaged in a great struggle for colonial control
of North America, culminating in the British victory in the Seven Years War (French and Indian War) that drove
France from the continent. Before the Seven Years' War, Britain and its American colonies had already been
facing some tensions as can be seen in sporadic British efforts to enforce trade laws. During the Seven Years' War,
the relationship between British military regulars and colonial militias added to the tensions. The French defeat in
the Seven Years' War created conditions for a growing conflict between Britain and its American colonies. The lack
of a threatening European colonial power in North America gave the American colonists a sense of independence
that clashed with new British imperial demands such as stationing soldiers in the colonies and the Proclamation of
1763.
Migration within North America, cooperative interaction, and competition for resources raised questions
about boundaries and policies. English population growth and expansion into the interior disrupted existing
French–Indian fur trade networks. Various tribes attempted to forge advantageous political alliances with one
another and with European powers to protect their interests, limit migration of white settlers, and maintain their
tribal lands. As a result of Britain’s victory over France in the imperial struggle for North America, white–Indian
conflicts continued to erupt as native groups sought both to continue trading with Europeans and to resist the
encroachment of British colonists on traditional tribal lands. The French withdrawal from North America and the
subsequent attempt of various native groups to reassert their power over the interior of the continent resulted in
new white–Indian conflicts along the western borders of British colonial settlement.
During and after the imperial struggles of the mid-18th century, new pressures began to unite the British
colonies against perceived and real constraints on their economic activities and political rights, sparking a colonial
independence movement and war with Britain. Tension between the colonies and Britain centered around the
issues of mercantilism and its implementation. The British Empire attempted to more strictly enforce laws aimed at
maintaining a system of mercantilism while colonists objected to this change from the earlier "salutary neglect."
Great Britain’s massive debt from the Seven Years’ War resulted in renewed efforts to consolidate imperial control
over North American markets, taxes, and political institutions — actions that were supported by some colonists
but resisted by others. In the late 18th century, new experiments with democratic ideas and republican forms of
government, as well as other new religious, economic, and cultural ideas, challenged traditional imperial systems
across the Atlantic World. The colonists’ belief in the superiority of republican self-government based on the
natural rights of the people found its clearest expression in the ideas of the Enlightenment, Thomas Paine’s
Common Sense and in the Declaration of Independence.
The American Revolution occurred because the American colonists, who had long been developing a
strong sense of autonomy and self-government, furiously resisted British attempts to impose tighter imperial
controls and higher taxes after the end of the French and Indian War in 1763. The sustained conflict over political
authority and taxation, enhanced by American agitators and British bungling, gradually moved Americans from
asserting rights within the British Empire to openly warring with the mother country. The resulting independence
movement was fueled by established colonial elites, as well as by grassroots movements that included newly
mobilized laborers, artisans, and women. When hostilities began in 1775, the colonists were still fighting for their
rights as British citizens within the empire, but in 1776 they declared their independence, based on a proclamation
of universal, self-evident truths. Inspired by revolutionary idealism, they also fought for an end to monarchy and
the establishment of a free republic. Despite considerable loyalist opposition, as well as Great Britain’s apparently
overwhelming military and financial advantages, the patriot cause succeeded because of the colonists’ greater
familiarity with the land, their resilient military and political leadership, their ideological commitment, and their
support from European allies. American independence was recognized by the British only after the conflict had
broadened to include much of Europe. American diplomats were able to secure generous peace terms because of
the international political scene: Britain's recently reorganized government favored peace and France's inability to
make good on its promises to Spain.