The American Revolution
The founding of the United States of
America.
Early Colonization
I. English Colonization in America
A. What did England Colonize?
-10 colonies along the Northern Atlantic
-3 colonies that they seized from the Dutch
-These colonies are the basis of the United States today
II. Motives of the English Government.
A. World Power: Equating a colonial empire with world
power the government encouraged settlement.
B. Mercantilism: An economic theory that a country
should try to get and keep as much gold and silver as
possible by exporting more than they import. Under
this theory, colonies would assure raw materials and
markets for English manufactures, trade for
merchants, and revenues for the government
I.
Motives of the English Settlers
A.
B.
C.
D.
Religious Freedoms: Catholics, dissenting
protestants(ex: Quakers, Puritans, Pilgrims) suffered
discrimination in England.
Political Reasons: To escape government tyranny and
political unrest many English moved to the colonies.
Economic Reasons: Wealthy landowners began
fencing in land for use as sheep pastures and new
farming techniques. This enclosure movement
displaced tenant farmers.
To start anew with the possibility of acquiring their
own farms & businesses, many poor men began to
look to the New World.
QUESTIONS
1. What did England Colonize?
2. Why would people move to the New World?
3. Why would the government encourage
people to move to the New World?
4. What is Mercantilism?
5. Why would Mercantilism help England?
Factors Leading to Revolution
The Seven Years War (AKA: The French and
Indian War 1754-1763)
– War between France and Britain that started
when Virginia Militia clashed with French forces
for control of the Ohio Valley.
– Treaty of Paris ended the war and eliminated
France as a colonial power. Ceded all of Canada
and land east of the Mississippi except New
Orleans.
Effects of the French and Indian War
1. The colonies:
1. gained confidence and felt they should be full-fledged
citizens of a great empire.
2. Gained valuable military experience
3. Saw a need for colonial unity to solve a common problem
4. Had the danger of attack by the French and some native
American tribes removed.
2. England:
1. Determined to change policy of “salutary neglect” for the
colonies.
2. Felt that the colonies had gained much from the war and
that they should help pay some of the cost of the war.
Salutary Neglect
England’s policy of not interfering in the
American Colonies’ politics and economy as
long as such neglect served British economic
interests.
Questions
1. What is the Seven Year’s War?
2. What is the Treaty of Paris?
3. Did the French and Indian War have any
effect on the colonies?
4. How did the War effect England?
5. What is “Salutary Neglect?”
Britain’s New Policy for Colonial America
1. Enforce Existing laws
– The Navigation Acts: Laws requiring that colonists
•
•
•
Transport their goods ONLY on English ships
Export certain goods (i.e.: Tobacco, sugar, indigo, fur, etc.)
ONLY to England
Purchase their imports from Britain or when colonial ships
secured non-British goods, they stop at a British port and
pay duties or tariffs.
2. Writs of Assistance: allowed British officials to
enter and search colonial homes and merchant
ships they believed to be holding smuggled
goods.
Britain's New Policy for the Colonies
3. New Taxes
–
–
–
–
Sugar Act 1764: reduced the existing duties on sugar
imports and molasses but was strictly enforced.
Stamp Act 1765: 1st direct taxation of colonists. Required
the purchase of stamps to be put on ALL printed material.
Townshend Acts: new import taxes on lead, paper, glass,
paint, and tea.
Tea Act: created to save the British East India Company.
Allowed BEI to sell surplus tea in the colonies but
retained the tax on Tea.
4. New Laws
–
–
Proclamation of 1763: Prohibited colonists from settling
west of the Appalachian mountains
Quartering Act of 1765: required colonists to provide
food and living quarters for British soldiers.
Britain’s New Policy for Colonial America
5. Colonists accused of violating the new laws
were tried in Military courts where they were
denied a jury trial.
Colonial Opposition
Colonial Opposition
• Violated the laws-continued smuggling to avoid
import duties, settled beyond Appalachian
mountains.
• Committees of Correspondence-started by
Samuel Adams, provided an inter colonial
network of information
• Boycotts and Demonstrations
– Non importation Agreements: Pledges not to
import British goods until Stamp Act repealed
Colonial Resistance
• 1764 Sugar Act: colonists responded with written
protests, occasional boycotts, and cries of “NO
TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESNTATION!”
• 1765 Stamp Act: Violent protests. Stamp Act
congress called and devised a boycott of all
British goods.
• 1765 Quartering Act: Most colonial legislatures
refused to pay for supplies for the army as
required.
Colonial Resistance
• 1767 Townshend Acts: “letters from a Farmer in
Pennsylvania,” a widely read series of letters
protesting the act, were published in nine
colonial newspapers. Colonists resumed
boycotting British goods, cutting trade in half.
• March 5, 1770 The Boston Massacre:
– A mob gathered in from of the Boston Customs House
and taunted British soldiers standing guard. Shots
were fired and five colonists, including Crispus
Attcuks, were killed. <insert video>
Colonial Resistance
• 1773 The Boston Tea Party: A large group of
Boston rebels disguised themselves as Native
Americans and proceeded to take action against
three British Tea ships. They dumped 18,000
pounds of Tea into Boston harbor.
• 1774 The Intolerable Acts: Closed Boston Harbor,
until the tea was paid for. Other acts eliminated
self-government in Massachusetts and required
colonists to house soldiers in their homes.
OUTBREAK OF
REVOLUTION
• 1st Continental Congress
– Planned to present a united response to the
boycotting of British goods. All colonies but
Georgia represented.
• Lexington and Concord, April 18, 1775
– British troops moved under cover of night to seize
the weapons stockpiled in Concord and arrest
John Hancock and Samuel Adams. Warned by
Paul Revere, Minutemen were waiting and fighting
broke out.
The 2nd Continental Congress
• May 1775
– Two paths emerged
• Creation of a Continental army under Gen. Washington
• Olive Branch Petition reaffirming their loyalty and
seeking a halt to the fighting until a solution could be
reached. Was rejected in November 1775 by King
George.
• Meanwhile: The Battle of Bunker Hill, and a British
Naval Blockade went into effect spurring the Colonist to
action.
Declaration of Independence
• July 4, 1776
– The Continental Congress committee choose
Thomas Jefferson to draft a statement of reason
for the separation of the Colonies from England.
– Jefferson was heavily influenced by the
Enlightenment thinker John Locke.
• CLASS READING OF DECLARATION WITH
DISCUSSION
The Revolutionary War
• Important Battles of the Revolutionary War:
– Saratoga: The American Victory at Saratoga
convinced the French to help the Americans
– Yorktown: The final battle. Reinforced by French
troops and the French Navy moving in from the
Caribbean, Washington moved on the British
stronghold of Yorktown
Articles of Confederation
• Written in 1776, approved in 1781, the
Articles of Confederation were the 1st set of
laws to govern the U.S.
• Under the Articles:
– Consisted of just a congress with no judicial or
executive branches
– Each state had one vote, 9 votes needed to pass
anything, any amendments required all 13 states.
Articles of Confederation
• Congress did not have the power to tax-had to
beg for money from the states
• All law enforcement left to states
• Had no power to stop states from issuing their
own money.
• States would ignore the federal requests for
troops
• No power over interstate or foreign commerce
• No power to make the states do wheat they
wanted.
Articles of Confederation
•
•
•
•
Brought Revolution to a Successful Close
Negotiated the treaty of Paris
Kept States united in name if not in fact
Passed the Land Ordinance of 1785
– Provided western lands be surveyed and divided into
townships of 36 sections. Income from the land sold
no less than a $1 per acre
• Passed the Northwest Ordinance of 1787
– Declared the territory would be divided into no more
than 5 territories and forbade Slavery in the territories
and encouraged Public Education.
• Shay’s Rebellion
– Daniel Shay’s led a debtors in an armed rebellion
seeking to end imprisonment for debt, halve
foreclosures of farm mortgages, and compel the
stats to issue cheap paper money. The Congress
was helpless to act and had to rely on the
Massachusetts State Militia.
Constitutional Convention
• May 1787
– Delegates begin arriving in Philadelphia. They
were assembling to revise the Articles at first but
it soon became clear that dramatic changes were
in store.
• The convention had 55 delgates