*
*
*
*
Unrest in England
* King Charles I insisted that people should worship
his way
* Puritans- member of an English religious group
The Great Migration
* Great Migration- Puritans left in 1630s to the
Americas because of persecution.
* The leader of the Great Migration was John
Winthrop.
* The Puritans believed that the Bible was the
source of truth and disapproved of dancing and
playing games
*
Massachusetts Bay Colony
*
*
*
Commonwealth - a community in which
people work together for the whole.
Winthrop was the governor of the colony.
Settlers had a supposed “agreement”
with God to have a holy city.
*
*
*
*
*
Challenges to Puritans
Dissenter- someone who challenges the generally
accepted views of a Church or society.
Puritans got mad at William Penn (dissenter who
founded Pennsylvania for the Quakers) because
he said the King had no right to sell Indians land.
*
Quakers faced Persecution
Quakers believed that you found God through
your soul and that neither the Bible nor ministers
were needed.
Quakers were hanged and tortured for their
beliefs.
Class Discussion Question: Would
you follow the your parent’s rules if
they were out of town? What would
you do different?
*
*2 Systems of government formed:
*House of Burgesses - Virginia
*Jamestown – established 1607
*Indirect or representative democracy
*By 1619, each of the 22 areas surrounding the
Jamestown colony elected 2 representatives to the
House of Burgesses
*Mayflower Compact – Massachusetts
*Plymouth Colony – established 1620
*Direct democracy
*Members signed the compact
*Still active today in New England in the form of Town
Hall meetings
*Both are examples of Locke’s Social Contract Theory
*
*
*
"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten,
the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by
the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King,
Defender of the Faith, e&. Having undertaken for the Glory of
God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour
of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in
the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly
and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another,
covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body
Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and
Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to
enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws,
Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time,
as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General
good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission
and obedience. In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed
our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign
of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and
Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno
Domini, 1620."
*
*By 1733 all 13 colonies had established governments
*All had a governor & legislature
*Most legislatures were bicameral (2 houses)
*Colonists began to separate themselves from England
& rule themselves
*Mid 1700s – Britain began to tighten control over the
colonists under King George III – needed money to pay
debts from the French & Indian War
*Wanted to maintain control of resources & markets
*Class Discussion: Do you think England had a right to
tax the colonists?
* The French and Indian War
*French empire collided w/ British empire
*Competing over the Ohio River Valley
* Treaty of Paris
Proclamation Line of 1763
• Britain claimed land
east of the Mississippi
River
• Proclamation Line of
1763: banned all
settlement west of
Appalachian Mts. (to
ease tensions w/ N.A.)
*
* Early American
Government and
Revolution
*
*
*Salutary Neglect – British government left us
alone for almost 200 years and Americans began
governing themselves (relaxed enforcement for
continued loyalty)
*British citizens left to settle in America –
government & laws were set up similar to Britain
but because Britain was so far away citizens
began governing themselves
*1. Mercantilism
*Policy of encouraging exports and
discouraging imports
pushes imperialism – Policy of
extending a country’s power and
influence through diplomacy or military
force.
*
*Writs of Assistance
*British Action:
*Designed to crack
down on colonial
smuggling
*Search warrants
that allowed British
officials to search
any place, seize
anything at any
time
*Colonial Response:
*Outraged the
merchants of
Boston
*1660: The Navigation Acts
*British Action:
*Designed to keep
trade in England and
support mercantilism
*Colonists could only
trade goods with
England
*All colonial ships must
stop in a British
harbor before going to
another country
*Colonial Response:
*Ignored them
(profitable to trade
with other countries)
*
*2. Taxes
*Used to pay war debts from the French &
Indian War
*Virtual Representation – colonists had no
representation in parliament so argued “no
taxation without representation” – British
government argued the colonies were a part of
the British empire and parliament made laws
for the good of the empire therefore the
colonists were virtually represented
*
1765 Stamp Act –
tax on virtually
everything paper
(newspapers, wills,
cards, etc)
Colonists began
boycotting goods
under the Stamp
Act until repealed
*
*Townshend Acts – 1767 – a tax on all imports
*“Boston Massacre” in 1770
*Tea Act 1773 – led to the Boston Tea Party
*After the Boston Tea Party, King George III enacted
the Coercive Acts – 1774
*Colonists called these The Intolerable Acts
*Restricted colonists rights including fair trial by
jury
*Allowed soldiers to search homes
*Allowed quartering of soldiers
*
Class Discussion: Why would quartering
soldiers make colonists angry?
*
*
What side is
this cartoon
supporting?
How are the
colonists being
treated
according to the
political
cartoon?
*
*Colonists response to the Coercive Acts
*September 1774 – 12 colonies sent delegates to
Philadelphia
*Georgia did not – governor was loyal to the King
& colonists wanted support of British soldiers to
fight Creeks
*Sent a letter to King George III demanding
restoration of their rights.
*Representatives voted a ban on all trade with
England till the Intolerable Acts were repealed.
Also, colonies to start training soldiers.
*This is the 1st time colonies acted together
*
*
Site of the 1st Continental Congress
*British response – sent more soldiers
which set off the
Revolutionary War
*Parliament also did not repeal the Intolerable Acts,
but added more restrictions
*Colonist began to get ready to fight and formed
militias.
*Militias- an army of ordinary citizens.
*Colonial militias were called Minutemen because they
needed to be ready to fight in a minute’s notice.
*Patrick Henry’s famous speech “Give me liberty, or
give me death!”
*
*
*Colonists started a spy network to get
information on the British.
*English spies found out that Minutemen were
hiding guns and ammo at Concord and
headed there on April 18, 1775
*Paul Revere and his Midnight Ride warned
the Minutemen that the British are coming.
*Revere was captured in Lexington, but let go
without his horse thus ending his ride.
*
*
*
*Regarded as the first battles of the Revolutionary
War
*Lexington – 70 minutemen waited for 750 British –
resulting in 18 American casualties and 1 British
casualty
*Concord – minutemen began firing on the British –
250 British casualties & 100 American casualties
*Shot heard around the world!
*British retreated to Boston and the Revolutionary
War began April 19, 1775.
*Americans divided on two sides.
*Loyalists- colonists who supported the British
(Tories)
*Patriots- colonists who supported freedom from
British rule
*
* Second
*May 1775 – Philadelphia – deliberated on next steps
*January 1776 – Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense –
influenced many colonists to join the side for independence
*It is only common sense that we be independent
*Taxation without representation
*Ability to self rule – Self Determination
*Economically hurt colonies – Mercantilism & Navigation
Acts
*King George III is 3000 miles away – Salutary Neglect
*Revolutionary propaganda – ideas spread deliberately to
help a cause
*By 1776, more than half of the members of Cont. Congress
agreed with Paine on breaking away from England
*Halifax Resolves – April 12, 1776 - North Carolina becomes
the first colony to call for independence (pg. 783 in book)
*
Site of the 2nd Continental Congress and
the Constitutional Convention
*
*Thomas Jefferson wrote the document
*Influenced by Thomas Paine – reasons for independence
*Influenced by John Locke – Natural Rights
*Influenced by Jean Jacques Rousseau – All men are
created equal
*4 parts
*Preamble – Introduction
*Declaration of Rights – explained rights that all people
should have
*List of Grievances – all that King George III did to the
colonists
*Formal Declaration of Independence
*Approved on July 4, 1776
*A nation is born with war to follow
*
*
Break Up Letter
You are a colonist and are writing a break up letter to King
George III. Using the causes of the Revolution you just
learned about, tell George why your relationship isn’t working
out.
1. Give at least 4 reasons
2. Explain why those reasons are
leading you to make this decision
3. Your letter should demonstrate
that you understand why the
colonists declared independence from
Great Britain.
*
*Revolution was unavoidable
*1st Battles – NY & NJ
*British plan – separate the New England states
*Well led troops, well equipped & well trained
*Enough money
*Large Navy & extra help through German
mercenaries - Hessians
*Americans – defending their homes
*No navy
*Little experience, not equipped
*Well led – General George Washington
*No clothing/uniforms/food
*
*Colonists – surprise attacks & ambushes
*British – wait for supplies & unpopular war
*Valley Forge – tough winter before the
French joined
*Turning Point of war – Battle of Saratoga
*Surrender of 6,000 British soldiers
*More importantly was that the French
joined the American effort
*
*
*
*1/3 of Americans supported the war
*1/3 were indifferent
*1/3 were Loyalists
*African Americans – controversial to allow them
to fight – slaves were recruited in the end
*Native Americans – urged to attack settlers by
the British
*Women – while active in the war, could not
participate politically in the new nation.
*
*British couldn’t win the loyalty of Southerners
*Spain entered the war on American side
*British General Cornwallis surrenders at
Yorktown, Virginia in October 1781
*Treaty of Paris, 1783 – Officially ended the
American Revolution