Colonial Empires and the
American Revolution
Colonialism spreads…

What is colonialism?
See overheads
The 16th Century

European countries establish colonies
all over the world
– Spread their culture, and in some
countries, their ethnicity
Colonial Empires in Latin
America

Portugal and Spain both dominate large
territories of Latin America
– Latin America is a multi-racial society
– Spanish rulers allow intermarriage between
native people and Europeans

Mestizos: Offspring of Spanish/Europeans and Native
Americans
– Slaves brought to work for Spanish and
Portugese in Latin America

Mulattoes: The offspring of Africans and Europeans
How to make $$$ in
Latin America


Abundant supplies of gold and silver
Farming/Agriculture
– Large landowners have huge estates
which Native Americans work on

Trade
– Sugar, tobacco, diamonds, animal hides
– Trade is closely regulated by Spain and
Portugal. Why?
RELIGION


Want to Christianize Native Americans
Role of Catholic Church
Britain and British North
America

What happens during the Seven Year’s
War?
– Britain adds India and Canada to its
already expansive empire
– British colonies are highly profitable
Many colonists don’t want to share their
power or their money with their British
colonizers
 What does this lead to?

The American Revolution

British want to collect revenue from
their colonies to pay for the Seven
Year’s War
– Stamp Act: Parliament imposes this act
on the colonies, which requires that
certain printed materials carry a stamp
showing that a tax has been paid to
Britain
– Eventually repealed because of colonist
opposition, but the seed is planted for
Revolution

September 1774: Congress sets up First
Continental Congress
– Urge revolt against British


April 1775: Fighting between British and
colonists erupts
July 4, 1776: Declaration of Independence
is approved
– Based upon the ideals of who?
The American Revolution


United States gets much support from
France and other foreign nations
Britain forced to surrender at Yorktown to
General George Washington in 1781--British accept defeat
After the War: The United
States is Born

Americans created a new social
contract in 1788.
– What is a social contract?

The creation of the Constitution
made Enlightenment concepts
of liberty and representative
government a reality for the first time
The Constitution and the
Bill of Rights
The Constitution

Used the
Enlightenment
concepts of
separation of
powers
– What are these?
– Who thought these
up?
The Bill of Rights


10 amendments
guaranteeing
certain natural
rights to all
Americans
Where did natural
rights come from?
The American
Revolution
-Seen
as the embodiments of the
Enlightenment’s political dreams
-France takes notice…