http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/explorer.htm
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Despite his previous promise to award western lands to all colonial militiamen who fought in the French and Indian War, after the war King George III issued the
Proclamation Line of 1763 prohibiting all settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains.

George Grenville, British
Prime Minister, was in charge of increasing revenue for Great Britain after the French and Indian
War.
Because of the French and Indian
War was so costly to the British, they passed the 1764 Sugar Act.
This put a three-cent tax on all molasses and sugar imported by the colonies from the French and West indies. The British were determine to enforce the
Sugar Act. They sent inspectors to search warehouses and homes. Rewards were offered by the British to citizens who reported smuggling these products. When a smuggler was arrested, the judge who found him guilty received an award.
The colonists and merchants objected to taxation without representation. This was one of the first instances in which colonists wanted a say in how much they were taxed.
This is a port and behind it is a molasses plant.

Following angry protest by colonists,
Parliament eventually conceded and repealed the Stamp Act in
1766. Quietly, however,
Parliament also passed the
Declaratory Act to reserve
Britain's right to govern and
“bind” the colonies whenever and however it deemed necessary.
The Declaratory Act proved far more damaging than the Stamp Act had ever been, because it emboldened Britain to feel that it could pass strict legislation freely, with few repercussions. It was during the aftermath of the
Declaratory Act, from 1766 to
1773, that colonial resistance to the Crown intensified and became quite violent.

B RITISH A CTION
1763—Proclamation of 1763 forbids colonial settlement west of the Appalachians.
1764—Sugar Act cuts in half the import duty on foreign molasses but enforces law strictly.
C OLONIAL P ROTEST
Colonists protest; some ignore the law.
Colonists raise cry of “no taxation without representation” and boycott British products.
1765—Quartering Act requires colonists to furnish food and lodging for British troops.
Colonial assemblies pass resolutions. Colonists boycott
British products. Sons of Liberty attack Stamp
Agents. Stamp Act Congress sends Declaration of
Rights and Grievances to Parliament.
1765—Stamp Act passed
Boycott of British goods
1766—Repeal of Stamp Act. Parliament passes
Declaratory Act stating it rights to tax the colonists.
1767—Townshend Acts impose duties on paper, tea, lead, and other items.
Boycott ended; New York refuses to enforce Quartering
Act. Colonists ignore Declaratory Act.
Colonial assemblies pass resolutions challenging
Parliament’s right to tax them. Colonists boycott
British products. Sons of Liberty enforce boycotts.

In protest, the American public began to cry out against
“taxation without representation.” In reality, most colonists weren't seriously calling for representation in Parliament; a few minor representatives in
Parliament likely would have been too politically weak to accomplish anything substantive for the colonies.
Rather, the slogan was symbolic and voiced the colonists' distaste for paying taxes they hadn't themselves legislated.

British Soldiers Plundering an American
Colonist's Home under the Quartering
Act

The Townshend Acts 1767, British legislation intended to raise revenue, tighten customs enforcement, and assert imperial authority in America, were sponsored by Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles
Townshend. They levied import duties on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. Its purpose was to provide salaries for some colonial officials so that the provincial assemblies could not coerce them by withholding wages.
Americans protested the additional taxes with boycotts and violence-including "tar and feathering.” This led Parliament to altered the Acts in
1770. Taxes on all items except tea were repealed. The tea tax was retained because it brought in more money and to show Americans that
Parliament still had the right to tax them.

To prevent serious disorder,
Britain dispatched 4,000 troops to Boston in 1768—the soldiers' presence in the city only made the situation worse.
Bostonians, required to house the soldiers in their own homes, resented their presence greatly.
Tensions mounted until March
5, 1770, when a mob of angry
Bostonians began throwing rocks and sticks at the British troops who were occupying the city. The troops shot several members of the crowd, killing five. Patriots throughout the colonies dubbed the incident a
“massacre” and used it to fuel anti-British sentiment.

The Boston Tea Party had mixed results: some Americans hailed the Bostonians as heroes, while others condemned them as radicals. Parliament, very displeased, passed the Coercive Acts in 1774 in an effort to punish the colonists and restore order.
Colonists quickly renamed these acts the Intolerable Acts.

A meeting convened in Philadelphia in late 1774 that brought together delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies (Georgia abstained) in order to protest the Intolerable Acts.
Colonial leaders stood united against these and other British acts and begged Parliament and King George
III to repeal them. The Congress also created an association to organize and supervise a boycott on all British goods. Although the delegates did not request home rule or desire independence, they believed that the colonies should be given more power to legislate themselves.
This is the Carpenter's Hall, which was used by the local carpenter's guild. It was the site for the First
Continental Congress in 1774.

The Sons of Liberty tarring and featherings a tax collector underneath the Liberty Tree
Loyalists were about
1/3 of the colonists and did not support the
Declaration of
Independence.
They believed the colonies should stay loyal or faithful to the king.

At the time the Declaration of
Independence was written, about
1/3 of the colonists wanted independence. They were called
Patriots. They agreed with ideas and arguments in the Declaration of Independence. The Sons of
Liberty were Patriots.
Betsy Ross joined the
Fighting
Quakers after her husband died. Unlike the traditional
Quakers these were for the war--Patriots
One of the most well-known
Patriots of the Revolutionary War was Patrick Henry (1736-1799) whose legendary words, "Give me liberty or give me death," motivated the colonists into supporting the
Revolutionary War.

Mercy Otis Warren was born in
1728 into a family of all boys, and there were many of them.
She was born in
Massachusetts. Mercy became a Patriot writer, and she wrote plays, poems and lots of other writings that supported independence. She used her writing to display her ideas.
Her ideas and writings convinced many people in
Massachusetts to become
Patriots. Of all the people writing to support the patriotic cause, Mercy Otis Warren was the only woman who published plays, books, and poetry.
“
Our situation is truly delicate & critical. On the one hand we are in need of a strong federal government founded on principles of the colonies.
On the other we have struggled for liberty & made costly sacrifices at her shrine and there are still many among us who revere her name to much to relinquish (beyond a certain medium) the rights of man for the dignity of government.
”
Mercy Otis Warren

Virginian planter and lawyer who eventually became president of the United
States. Jefferson was invaluable to the revolutionary cause. In 1776, he drafted the Declaration of Independence, which justified American independence from Britain. Later, he served as the first secretary of state under President George Washington and as vice president to John Adams.
Jefferson then was elected president himself in 1800 and 1804.

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution in the Second
Continental Congress that said,
“These United colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.” A committee of 5--Benjamin
Franklin, John Adams, Robert
Livingston, Roger Sherman and
Thomas Jefferson-- were selected to write a formal declaration explaining the reasons for independence. Thomas Jefferson was the primary author.
Jefferson kept the Declaration relatively short and to explain why the colonists wanted to be free.
The document that he wrote describes the basic principles
(beliefs or rules) about how to behave.

t
– Life
– Liberty
– Pursuit of happiness

These complaints are based on the idea that government should protect the rights of the people and serve the common good.
1.
He refused to approve laws made by the colonists that were necessary for common good.
2.
He closed the colonists’ legislatures when the opposed his violation of the rights of the people.
3.
He kept a standing army in the colonies even though there was no war.
4.
He stopped the colonists’ trade with other countries
5.
He taxed the colonists without representation (consent)
6.
He took away the colonists right to a trial by jury.

Population
Money
Army
Leaders
Geography
Manufacturing
England Thirteen Colonies
Approximately 12,000,000 Approximately 2,800,000
Highly developed and flourishing
Practically none
Richest country in the world No money to support the war effort
Large, well-trained army plus mercenary Hessians
All-volunteer forces—willing to fight but poorly equipped
Many dedicated and able soldiers
Strange land with long distance to base of supplies
Few officers capable of leading
Familiar land with easy access to limited amounts of supplies

men, women, white colonists, free and enslaved
African Americans, and Native Americans

Men
When the Revolutionary War began,
Britain made a costly and fatal error in assuming that opposition to
British policies came only from a core group of rabble-rousing ringleaders such as Washington,
Jefferson, and the Adams cousins.
The British believed that if they arrested these men, the revolt would collapse. However, a significant majority of Americans disliked British rule. Historians estimate that the majority of eligible American men served at some point in the Continental Army, the militias, or both.
Women
Many American women supported the war effort as well as nurses, attendants, cooks, and even spies on the battlefields. Others, such as the famous “Molly Pitcher” (a woman named Mary Hays
McCauley, who fought in her husband's place) and Deborah
Sampson (who disguised herself as a man) saw action in battle. As more husbands and fathers left home to fight, more wives and mothers took to managing the farms and businesses. A majority of women helped by making yarn and homespun necessities such as socks and underwear, both to send to militiamen and to support the boycott of British goods.

Native Americans
They were fearful of future
American expansion into their lands and the majority chose to support Britain. In particular, the influential
Mohawk chief Joseph Brant convinced the Iroquois tribes to support the British. As a result of his efforts and others, thousands of Iroquois, Creek,
Cherokee, Choctaw, and other warriors joined forces with the
British and raided American arsenals and settlements along the western frontier.
This proved to be a fatal one decision. Most believed that the British were a sure bet and that the rebellious colonies stood almost no chance of winning. The ultimate British surrender was a huge loss for
Native Americans: white settlers were already pushing westward, and after the war, they felt justified in their taking of native lands.

Blacks, too, generally supported the
British because an American victory would only keep them in bondage. Although roughly 5,000 blacks did serve in militias for the
United States, most who had the opportunity chose to flee to British and Loyalist areas that promised freedom from slavery.
Consequently, colonies both north and south lost tens of thousands of slaves.
To some degree, blacks fared better after the war than before.
Faced with the somewhat embarrassing predicament of supporting the premise that “all men are created equal,” as stated in the Declaration of Independence, while at the same time practicing human bondage, many states, such as Vermont, eventually abolished slavery. Other states legislated more gradual forms of emancipation. As a result, the number of free blacks in the United
States skyrocketed into the tens of thousands by the end of the century. Slavery was by no means a dead institution (as the early 1800s proved), but these liberal decisions made during the war were significant steps forward on the road to equality.

Battle of Lexington and Concord
The shot heard around the world”
”Don’t fire unless fired upon”
Two battles, fought on April
19, 1775, that opened the
Revolutionary War. When
British troops engaged a small group of colonial militiamen in the small towns of Lexington and Concord,
Massachusetts, the militiamen fought back and eventually forced the British to retreat, harrying the redcoats on the route back to
Boston using guerrilla tactics. more unlikely.
The battle sent shockwaves throughout the colonies and the world, as it was astonishing that farmers were able to beat the
British forces. This battle marked a significant turning point because open military conflict made reconciliation between Britain and the colonies all the more unlikely.

“These are the times that try men’s souls.”
He was a famous writer whose words greatly influenced the leaders of the
American Revolution.
Born in England, he became friends with
Benjamin Franklin who encouraged him to go to America.
He wrote and published the pamphlet
“Common Sense" which demanded complete independence from Great
Britain. It also stated a strong case against the monarchy and inherited privilege. It was the most widely distributed pamphlet in American history at that time - popular with the highly educated as well as the common man.
•
After “Common Sense," he published a series of pamphlets called "The
Crisis," which begins with the words,
"These are the times that try men's souls." Washington read these pamphlets to his troops, which gave them great encouragement during the hardest times of the war.

A 1777 British defeat that was a major turning point in the
Revolutionary War—
The defeat allowed Ben
Franklin to convince the French to ally themselves with the
United States and enter the war against
Britain. France, eager to weaken the British, began to send supplies, money, and troops to help the
Continental Army.
British general John
Burgoyne earned the nickname "Gentleman
Johnny" for his love of leisure and his tendency to throw parties between battles. His surrender to American forces at the Battle of Saratoga marked a turning point in the
Revolutionary War.

Winter of 1777-1778
In Pennsylvania the Continental
Army suffered worst time of the war. 2,500 men died of starvation, cold, and disease.
With the British Army secure in Philadelphia, the American army settled into winter quarters at Valley Forge. It was a winter of hardship and suffering for the troops. It was also a winter of training, in which the American troops were taught how to be professional soldiers.

Virginia, 1781
Marked the end of the Revolution
Fortified by the Franco-American
Alliance, the Americans maintained an impasse with the
British until 1781, when the
Americans laid siege to a large encampment of British forces under Lord Charles Cornwallis at
Yorktown, Virginia. Scattered battles persisted until 1783, but the British, weary of the stalemate, decided to negotiate peace. This was the last major battle of the Revolutionary War.

Ends American Revolution
The Treaty of Paris was signed on
September 3, 1782 by American representatives Benjamin Franklin,
John Adams and John Jay. It was ratified on April 17, 1783. It officially recognized American independence.
Terms of the Treaty
• Britain recognized the independent nation of the
United States of America.
• Britain agreed to remove all of its troops from America.
• The treaty set new borders for the United States including all land from the Great Lakes on the north to Florida on the south, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River.
• The United States agreed to allow British troops still in
America to leave.
• The United States agreed to pay all existing debts owed to Britain.
• The United States agreed not to persecute loyalists still in
America, and allow those that left America to return.

The day that the Second Continental Congress met, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold had captured Fort Ticonderoga on Lake
Champlain in New York.
On May 15, 1776, they decided to completely break from Great Britain.
They organized the American Continental
Army
On June 14, 1776, they appointed George
Washington as commander-in-chief of the army
They organized the militia of the colonies called the American Continental Army
On June 14, 1776, they appointed George
Washington as commander-in-chief of the army He was elected unanimously
George Washington knew that this army would face great difficulty. He later wrote that Americans were "not then organized as a nation, or known as a people upon the earth. We had no preparation.
Money, the nerve of war, was wanting."
Great Britain was the most powerful nation on earth.
The Second Continental Congress was one of the most important government meetings in the history of the United
States of America.
It wrote and signed The Declaration of
Independence.
At the signing of the Declaration of
Independence, John Hancock wrote his name first and biggest on the
Declaration of Independence. He said,
"The British ministry can read that name without spectacles; let them double their reward."
He was talking about the reward offered by King George III offered a reward to anyone who could capture one of the
Sons of Liberty, especially Samuel
Adams and John Hancock.

This was the first plan of government for the United States. The Articles set up a loose union of states with equal powers.
We call such a union a confederation.
The Founding Fathers faced two problems when they wrote the Articles:
1. People feared a strong national government
2. People feared some states would have more power than others.
3 Solutions to people’s fears:
1. Set up a weak national government with limited powers.
2. Power to Congress but limited—no president
3. Each state had one vote in Congress--
Had to have approval of states to do anything important

Why did the Articles of Confederation fail? The primary answer to the question was that the federal government was given important responsibilities but no real power. The federal government was relatively weak because most of the law making power was given to the states.

King of Great Britain during the
American Revolution. George
III inherited the throne at the age of twelve. He ruled Britain throughout the Seven Years'
War, the French and Indian
War, the American Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, and the
War of 1812. After the conclusion of the French and
Indian War, his popularity declined in the American colonies. In the Declaration of
Independence, Thomas
Jefferson vilifies George III and argues that his neglect and misuse of the American colonies justified their revolution.
Anyone who does not agree with me is a traitor and a scoundrel!

Lord North (1732-1792), originally
Frederick North, held many elite
British offices before becoming Prime
Minister in 1770. North maintained that post until the British defeat at
Yorktown in 1781, after which he resigned his post.
North extended Parliament's version of an "olive branch" in early 1775, when the English government offered to desist from taxing any colony that made adequate provisions to support its civil and military government. But then Parliament proceeded to pass laws restraining trade and fisheries in
New England, and later in all the colonies. North's "olive branch" offer did not succeed and the first shots of the war were fired a few months later at Lexington and Concord.

A prominent Boston lawyer who first became famous for defending the British soldiers accused of murdering five civilians in the Boston Massacre.
Adams was a delegate from
Massachusetts in the
Continental Congresses, where he rejected proposals for reconciliation with Britain. He served as vice president to George
Washington and was president of the United
States from 1797 to 1801.

Samuel Adams was a fierce patriot, passionate, rebellious and rabble-rousing. He was an intelligent man, whose ideas are woven into the Declaration of Independence and the
Constitution. He was a founder and leader of the Boston Sons of Liberty, which included Paul
Revere and his second cousin
John Adams (who later became the second President).
The Sons were semi-secret groups that existed throughout the colonies with little or no central organization, and were known as radicals; they were among the earliest advocates of independence.

On the night of April
18/April 19, 1775, when
Paul Revere and William
Dawes were instructed by
Dr. Joseph Warren to ride from Boston to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams of the movements of the British
Army, which was beginning a march from
Boston to Lexington, ostensibly to arrest
Hancock and Adams and seize the weapons stores in Concord.

A Philadelphia printer, inventor, and patriot.
Franklin drew the famous “Join or Die” political cartoon for the
Albany Congress. He was also a delegate for the
Second Continental
Congress and a member of the committee responsible for helping to draft the Declaration of Independence in
1776.

A Virginia planter and militia officer who eventually became the first president of the
United States. Washington participated in the first engagement of the French and
Indian War in 1754 and later became commander in chief of the American forces during the Revolutionary War. In
1789, he became president of the United States. Although
Washington actually lost most of the military battles he fought, his leadership skills were unparalleled and were integral to the creation of the
United States.

Washington Marquis de Lafayette
Valley Forge Winter Camp
Lafayette was a 19 year old officer in the French Royal Army in
1775, when he first learned of the American Revolution. He was so inspired by the rebellion of the colonists against the
British that he left France to serve in the Continental Army saying that, “the welfare of
America is intimately connected with the happiness of all mankind.” He served without pay. He soon developed a close friendship with General Washington.
Lafayette, a Major-General, was at Yorktown in 1781 with
General George Washington when the British surrendered

The Hessians were mercenary soldiers-for-hire brought to
America from Germany to fight for the British during the
American Revolution. As in most armies of the eighteenth century, the men were mainly recruits, debtors, or had been forced into the army; some were also petty criminals. Pay was low; some soldiers apparently received nothing but their daily food. Some
Hessian units were respected for their discipline and excellent military skills.
Hessians made up about onequarter of the British forces in the Revolution.
Battle of Trenton

Battle of Camden
Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown
Lord Cornwallis is best remembered as one of the leading British generals in the
American War of
Independence. His surrender in 1781 to a combined
American and French force led by General Washington at the Siege of Yorktown ended significant hostilities in North
America. Cornwallis, apparently not wanting to face Washington, claimed to be ill on the day of the surrender, and sent another officer in his place.

An ordinance is an order or law made by a government. This government order was a plan for adding new states. It allow people living in the Northwest
Territories—the land between the Mississippi River and the
Great Lakes and the Ohio
River—to organize their own governments. When a territory had a large enough population, it could join the Union as equals of the original states, not colonies. They had to provide land for public schools and slavery was unlawful

Dramatic event in Massachusetts that convinced people of the need for a strong central government
Many farmers could not trade their products in other states or countries. They couldn’t pay their bills and lost their farms or went to prison as a result. People protested the unfairness. In November 1786 more than 1000 angry farmers led by Daniel Shays were ready to fight the Massachusetts government.
They tried to take weapons the arsenal in Springfield to use, but the State troops stopped Shays’ rebellion. The rebellion frightened many property owners who feared similar problems might arise in their states
Shays Rebellion shut down the courts to prevent the government from taking their property and jailing them.

1.
Made federal law the supreme law of the land when constitutional, but otherwise gave the states considerable leeway to govern themselves.
2.
Balanced power between large and small states by creating a Senate
(where each state gets two senators) and a House of Representatives
(with membership based on population).
3.
Placated the Southern states by counting the slaves as three-fifths of the population when determining representation in the U.S. House of
Representatives.
4.
Avoided a too-powerful central government by establishing three coequal branches—legislative, executive, and judicial—with numerous checks and balances among them.
5.
Limited the powers of the federal government to those identified in the
Constitution.

George Washington
President of the Convention
Washington presided at the
Convention and, although seldom participating in the debates, lent his enormous prestige to the proceedings.
Possessed of an extraordinary strength of character and a wealth of public virtues, he exhibited an integrity, selfdiscipline, and devotion to duty that made him the natural leader in the task of nation building.

James Madison
Father of the Constitution
Madison, a Virginian and a brilliant political philosopher, often led the debate and kept copious notes of the proceedings— the best record historians have of what transpired at the Constitutional
Convention.
At the Convention, Madison authored the
Virginia Plan, which proposed a federal government of three separate branches
(legislative, executive, judicial) and became the foundation for the structure of the new government.
He later authored much of the Bill of Rights.

• George Mason was one of the five most frequent speakers at the
Constitutional Convention of 1787.
He exerted great influence, but during the last 2 weeks of the convention he decided not to sign the document.
• His reasons: lacked declaration of rights; the House of Representatives was not truly representative of the nation; the Senate was too powerful; the federal judiciary would destroy the state judiciaries, render justice unattainable, and enable the rich to oppress and ruin the poor.
• Two of Mason's greatest concerns were incorporated into the
Constitution. The Bill of Rights answered his primary objection, and the 11th amendment addressed his call for strictures on the judiciary.
George Mason was a Virginia delegate to the Constitutional
Convention and author of the
Virginia Declaration of Rights, considered a blueprint for the
U.S. Bill of Rights.

Solution to Representation: Two Houses in Congress
Each state, large or small, would have two representatives in the
Senate.
The number of representatives from each state would be based on the number of people living in that state.

Three-fourths of the 13 states (9) had to agree to the
Constitution before it would become law.
Anti-Federalists
•
Opposed the ratification of the
Constitution
• Wanted important political powers to remain with the states
• Wanted the legislative branch to have more power than the executive
•
Feared that a strong executive might become a king or tyrant
• Believed a bill of rights needed to be added to the Constitution to protect people’s right
Federalists
•
Supported the ratification of the
Constitution
•
Wanted the voters to ratify the
Constitution
•
Supported removing some powers from the states and giving more powers to the national government
•
Favored dividing powers among three branches of government
•
Proposed a single person to lead the executive branch
Leaders:
George Mason Patrick Henry
Samuel Adams Mercy Otis Warren
Richard Henry Lee
Leaders:
George Washington James Madison
John Adams Ben Franklin
Alexander Hamilton

• The Federalist Papers were a series of
85 essays written by Alexander
Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, under the pen-name "Publius" urging
New York delegates to ratify the
Constitution. In 1788, the essays were published in a bound volume entitled the Federalist and eventually became known as the Federalist Papers.
• To address fears that the Constitution would give the central government too much power and would limit individual freedom, Hamilton, Jay, and Madison analyzed the Constitution in detail and outlined the built in checks and balances meant to divide power between the three branches of government and to preserve the rights of the people and states.
• The papers did not play a significant role in New York's decision to ratify the
Constitution (delegates voted in favor of the new government because New York
City threatened to secede if they did not).

The Bill of Rights is the name for the first ten amendments to the United
States Constitution and was adopted four years after the original
Constitution was adopted.
When the Constitution was written, many
Founding Fathers were worried that the rights of the people were not protected enough. They said a Bill of
Rights had to be added before they would help ratified the Constitution.
The Bill of Rights was introduced by
James Madison to the First United
States Congress in 1789 and came into effect as Constitutional
Amendments on December 15, 1791, through the process of ratification by three-fourths of the States .
First Ten Amendments
1.
Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition.
2.
Right to keep and bear arms in order to maintain a well regulated militia.
3.
No quartering of soldiers.
4.
Freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.
5.
Right to due process of law, freedom from self-incrimination, double jeopardy.
6.
Rights of accused persons, e.g., right to a speedy and public trial.
7.
Right of trial by jury in civil cases.
8.
Freedom from excessive bail, cruel and unusual punishments.
9.
Other rights of the people.
10.
Powers reserved to the states.

1.
To form a more perfect union.
States should work together as one united nation.
2.
To establish justice.
Laws and rights must be the same for all the people.
3.
To ensure domestic tranquility.
The national, state and local government needed the power to keep the peace.
4.
To provide for common defense.
Military power would prevent further attacks by foreign nations.
5.
To promote the general welfare .
The national government has the power to take care of the peoples’ needs.
6.
To secure the blessings of liberty.
Liberty is the freedom to live as you would like, as long as you follow and obey the laws of the country, and respect the rights of others.

• Form a more perfect Union
• Establish justice
• Insure domestic tranquility
• Provide for the common defense
• Create a nation in which states work together
• Make laws and set up courts that are fair
• Keep peace within the country
• Safeguard the country against attack
• Promote for the general welfare
• Secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity
• Contribute to the happiness and well-being of all the people
• Make sure future citizens remain free

The preamble is the introduction to the
Constitution.
It outlines the general goals of the framers: to create a just government , insure peace, provide an adequate national defense, and promote a healthy, free nation.
With its first three words, “We the People,” the preamble emphasizes that the nation is to be ruled by the people - not a king or dictator , not the president, Supreme Court
Justices, members of Congress or state legislators.
The Supreme Court held in 1905 (in Jacobson v.
Massachusetts) that the preamble is not a source of federal power or individuals’ rights.
All rights and powers are set out in the articles and amendments that follow.

Supreme Law of the Land
Principals of the Constitution
•
Popular Sovereignty
– the final power and authority of the government comes from the people.
• Republicanism – a system of government in which representatives are elected by the people.
• Federalism – the constitutional system that share power between the national and state governments.
Some powers are concurrent (ex: the ability to tax).
•
Separation of Powers
– the national government is divided into three separate branches, each with its own power : Executive, Legislative and
Judicial.
•
Checks and Balances
– the system that allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the other branches.
• Limited Government – The people are protected by a system of
Constitutional laws that limit the power of the government.
• Individual Rights – The Bill of Rights and laws insure personal freedoms , equality in treatment and protection to all individuals.

Three Branches of Government
The legislative branch is to write, debate, and pass bills, which are then passed on to the President for approval.
The judicial branch is made up of the court system. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. Courts decide the meaning of laws and whether they break the rules of the
Constitution.
The executive branch makes sure that the laws of the United
States are obeyed.

On January 20, 1801 President John
Adams nominated John
Marshall, then Secretary of
State, as chief justice of the
United States Supreme Court.
Served as chief justice for thirty-four years
Marshall heard cases and offered groundbreaking opinions that continue to guide the Supreme
Court and the United States government today.
4 th Chief Justice of the
U. S. Supreme Court
The Marshall Court
• Marbury v. Madison: Established the principle of judicial review, in which the court ruled that the Supreme
Court had the power to declare invalid any act of Congress that was in conflict with the U.S. Constitution.
• McCulloch v. Maryland: The Marshall court also ruled that state judiciaries could set aside state legislative acts if they conflicted with the federal
Constitution and that the U.S.
• Supreme Court could reverse a decision of a state court.
• By his opinions, Marshall increased the power of the Supreme Court as a branch of the federal government, emphasized the role of the judiciary in the states, and reinforced the national supremacy of the federal government.

Effects of the War of 1812
1. The attacks on Canada weren't as successful as originally planned by the
War Hawks because Canada didn't want to be free from Britain and Britain's army was much larger than that of the U.S.
2. Native American Armies Were Defeated
 When General Tecumseh died, the
Native Americans no longer had a leader to gather large armies against the U.S.
 The War of 1812 resulted in the Native
American's loss of land through the signing of government treaties.
3. It exposed American militarily weakness and made clear the importance of better transportation systems.
4. The end of the party of the Wealthy Business
People
 Three ways the United States became stronger after the War of 1812:
1. It proved its military power.
2. It increased its manufacturing ability.
3. The Federalist Party was ended .
5. Most importantly, the war stimulated domestic manufacture .

• The Monroe Doctrine was the declaration by President James Monroe, in December 1823, that the United
States would not tolerate a European nation colonizing an independent nation in North or South America. Any such intervention in the western hemisphere would be considered a hostile act by the United States, though the United States would respect existing
European colonies.
• What prompted Monroe’s statement: A fear that Spain would try to take over its former colonies in South America, which had declared their independence.
• The European powers took note of
Monroe’s declaration, but what kept the Spanish (and presumably the
French) from meddling in the western hemisphere was not so much Monroe’s statements as very real threats from the
British. It seemed apparent that the
Royal Navy would stop the Spanish involvement, as the British wanted to protect their interests in the Caribbean.

The Louisiana Purchase was one of the largest land deals in history. In 1803, the United States paid approximately $15 million dollars for over
800,000 square miles of land. This land deal was arguably the greatest achievement of Thomas
Jefferson's presidency.
Why was this deal was necessary?
In 1801, Spain and France signed a secret treaty ceding Louisiana to
France. France suddenly posed a potential threat to America.
There was a fear that if America did not purchase New Orleans from France, it could lead to war. The change of ownership of this key port resulted in its closing to Americans. Therefore,
Jefferson sent envoys to France to try and secure its purchase.
Instead, they returned with an agreement to buy the entire
Louisiana Territory. America did not have the money to pay the
$15 million outright so they instead borrowed the money from Great Britain at 6% interest.

• Also called the Transcontinental Treaty of 1819, the Adams-Onis Treaty was one of the critical events that defined the U.S.-Mexico border. The border between the then-Spanish lands and
American territory was a source of heated international debate. Spain’s western colonies were on the brink of revolution.
• So he wouldn’t lose Florida without any compensation, Spanish foreign minister
Onis signed a treaty with Secretary of
State John Quincy Adams. The treaty drew a definite border between Spanish land and the Louisiana Territory.
• The United States ceded to Spain its claims to Texas west of the Sabine River.
Spain retained possession not only of
Texas, but also California and the vast region of New Mexico. At the time, these two territories included all of present-day California and New Mexico along with modern Nevada, Utah,
Arizona and sections of Wyoming and
Colorado.
The treaty also mandated that Spain relinquish its claims to the country of
Oregon north of the 42 degrees parallel
(the northern border of California).