Vocab
Democracy- a government in which citizens hold the power to rule.
Direct democracy- a form of democracy in which the people vote firsthand
Representative democracy- a government in which citizens choose a smaller group to govern
on their behalf.
Republic- a government based on representative democracy.
Limited government- the principle that a ruler or a government in not all -powerful.
Legislature- a group of people that makes laws.
Social contract- an agreement among people, in a society with their government.
Natural rights- a freedom people posses relating to life, liberty, and property.
Compact- an agreement, or contract, among a group of people.
Indentured Servant- a worker who contracted with American colonists for food and shelter in
return for his or her labor.
Dissenter- one who opposes official or commonly held views. They go against what is
normally thought to be correct or true.
Economy- a system for making choices about ways to use scarce resources to make and
distribute goods and services to fulfill people’s needs and wants.
Cash Crop- a crop produced mainly for sale or to make money, like tobacco.
Plantation- a large estate
Liberty- the quality or state of being free
Proclamation- an official, formal public announcement
Boycott- to refuse to purchase certain goods or services
Repeal-to cancel a law
Duty- a tax on imported goods
Smuggling- the act of importing or exporting secretly, in violation of law and especially
without paying duty on goods.
Delegate- a representative to a meeting
Debate- to discuss or argue
Constitution- a detailed or written plan for government. A plan on how a government will be
set up and run.
Bicameral- a legislature with two parts, or houses.
Confederation- a group of individuals or state governments.
Articles of Confederation- the first constitution of the United States.
Ordinance of 1785- a law that set up a plan for surveying western lands.
Northwest Ordinance 1787- a law that set up government for the Northwest Territory and a
plan for admitting new states to the Union.
People to know:
John Locke- people have rights to life, liberty, and property that the government must protect for the
common good. People give their consent to be governed by a ruler or government. The government is
suppose to protect the rights of the people or the people have the right to rise up or elect new
leaders. This thinking was the basis for the Declaration of Independence.
Baron de Montesquieu- Separate the parts of government so that on won part can become all
powerful.
Thomas Paine- published a pamphlet called Common Sense. Used John Locke’s ideas of social
contract to give validation to a revolt. He stated that the King’s abuse of power gave the right to the
people to revolt due to him breaking his end of the social contract with the colonies.
Items to know:
Magna Carta- limited the king’s power and established the principle of limited government.
Established Rule of Law, which states that know one is above the law, even the King.
English Bill of Rights—gave citizens the right to a fair trial, stated that citizens could not be taxed
unless Parliament agreed, gave people the right to bear arms, petition the king, freedom of speech in
Parliament, no imprisonment without due process of law, no cruel punishment, no standing army in
times of peace.
Mayflower Compact- Men aboard the Mayflower had a meeting while still at sea and set up their
own government and drew up a compact which all the men signed. They agreed to choose leaders
and work together to make their own laws for the colony. They also agreed to obey the laws that
were made. The signing of the Mayflower Compact established a direct democracy in colonial
America. FIRST DIRECT DEMOCRACY YA’LL
Common Sense- a pamphlet written and published by Thomas Paine (T. Paine)which argued that
the king had broken his end of the social contract giving the colonies the right to revolt. It inspired
the Declaration of Independence.
The French and Indian War- Otherwise known as the 7 Year War which actually went on for 9
years. The colonies expanded westward as they grew, which led people into land which both the
English and the French claimed to own. This led to small conflicts then into a full-blown world war.
The French had a lot of Native American Allies, which helped to drive the British colonists from the
land west of the Appalachian Mountains. The English sent reinforcements and eventually won the
war in 1763. The important factor in this war was that the British could not have won it
without the help of the Colonial Army which was made up of the colonists. To get them to fight
they promised land west of the Appalachians. Also, when the war was over, British troops still
remained on North American soil, which the colonials did not like.
New Laws and Taxes- The French and Indian war had been long and costly. The British won but
were now deep in debt. King George needed to raise money and knew that English Citizens in Europe
would not stand for taxes being raised. Because of the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rites, we
know that the King could not raise taxes without the consent of Parliament, which is elected by the
people in England. So the King and Parliament decided to raise and create new taxes in the colonies,
which had no representatives in Parliament to vote against them. The English justified this with the
following arguments; the colonists actually started the war by their greed to move westward thus
creating the debt and the Colonists now had the most to gain because there was all this new land and
no French to take it from them. So, the colonists should be grateful right?
In exchange for the Native American’s help in fighting against the French some secret deals were
made. Land that originally was promised to the colonists was now to be given to the Indians. The
King did not want another long and expensive fight with the natives so he issued a proclamation, or
an official statement, which forbade the colonists from settling in the land, which was won in the war.
The official borderline which was the cut off for the colonists was called the proclamation line. He
knew there was going to be a public outcry and backlash so he kept 10,000 troops in the colonies to
keep order.
Next King George went to Parliament and asked them to tax the colonies so that they could repay
the war debt. The following taxes were passed:
The Sugar Act (1764)-put a 3 cent tax on foreign sugar and increased taxes on coffee, indigo, and
certain kinds of wine. This was huge because sugar was made to make Rum which was used to sell
and trade for slaves.
The Stamp Act (1765)- Imposed the first direct British tax on the American colonists. It required
them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship’s papers, legal forms, liscenses,
newspapers, and other publications were all included. This really affected the wealthy individuals
who used a lot of paper in their businesses.
Declaratory Act (1766)- The colonists were up in arms and claimed that the King and Parliament
did not have the legal rite to tax them without a representative in Parliament. So Parliament just
passed a law which stated that Great Britain had full rights to tax and govern the colonies as they saw
fit.
Townshend Acts (1767)- So to revolt against the taxes, without actually fighting, the colonists took
to smuggling so they didn’t have to pay the taxes on items. To fight against this the British passed
these laws, which included a law which allowed officers to enter homes, businesses, and ships to
search for goods which may have been smuggled. Basically it allowed officers to enter places
without a warrant to search for evidence. These acts also put taxes on glass, lead, paints, paper, and
tea.
Tea Act (1773)- This act required American colonists to buy tea only from the British East India
Company. This lead to the infamous Boston Tea Party, in 1773. Colonists dressed like Native
Americans, to hide their identities, and threw $3 million dollars worth of tea overboard. This
angered the British even more which led them to place even more soldiers within city districts.
The Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts) (1774)
1. The Boston Port Act- closed Boston’s harbor until the tea was used in the Boston Tea Party
was paid for in full.
2. The Massachusetts Government Act- Made town meetings illegal except by the written
consent of the colony’s British governor. This law was stretched though allowing soldiers to
arrest people of standing together in a group. The justification was that small groups of
people were getting together and plotting terrorism and sabotage. Combined with the
Townshend Act which allowed for illegal search and seizure, soldiers could enter homes and
arrest people for just getting together and having a dinner party.
3. Quartering Act- required the colonists to provide room and board for British soldiers. In
other words, soldier could enter and stay in people’s homes, eat their food, and sleep in their
beds. Certain levels of accommodations were required for the soldiers so if there were no
other beds, colonists had to give up theirs to accommodate the soldier’s needs.
4. Impartial Administration of Justice Act- Allowed trials of British officials from
Massachusetts to be held in other colonies or in Great Britain.
5. The Quebec Act- extended the Canadian boarder southward to the Ohio River, eliminating
the colonies’ claim to land.
The Coercive Acts were important because they were the final straw for most of the colonists.
These acts directly violated the English Bill of Rights which they held so dear. Even more so, It
violated John Locke’s ideas of natural rights, which they believed allowed them to have the
freedom to life, liberty, and property. All of which England was now taking in some form or
another.
After the Coercive Acts
The Intolerable Acts did not frighten the colonists into submission. Instead it banded them together.
When the acts were passed the people’s resentment toward the British soldiers and government
increased to a melting point. In September, 1774, delegates from 12 colonies met in Philadelphia to
plan a united response. This meeting was of course illegal because of the Massachusetts Government
Act. This Group was called the Continental Congress. It was decided that they would send a letter
to the King and ask that England respect the rights of the colonists. They also organized the a total
boycott and a ban on all trade with Great Britain. The King did not respond well to this letter or the
boycott declaring that the colonies were in a state of rebellion.
The first armed conflict happened at Lexington and Concord. British troops were marching to seize
weapons, which they heard colonists were storing illegally. They was a fire fight which resulted in
then the British soldiers losing and running for their lives. The British saw this as a declaration of
war.
The Second Continental Congress-This meeting took place in May 1775. Because of what
happened, at Lexington and Concord, the delegates had to decide whether to try and talk it out with
England or split. This time the Congress acted as a governing body for the colonies with each of the
representatives speaking for their people. Not all the members favored a split with England. Some
still held their loyalty to the king and others feared that colonies could not defeat the British in a war.
For months the delegates debated. While this was going on, support for independence grew as
people’s everyday lives continued to be disrupted. Thomas Paine published Common Sense in
January 1776 and it sold 500,000 copies. Here he stated that “common sense” called for a rebellion
against the King’s violent abuse of power. By spring more than half the delegates favored
independence.
The Declaration of Independence
So there was more then a 50% majority vote amongst the delegates in the Second Continental
Congress. That meant that over 50% of them wanted to declare themselves independent from Great
Britain. So now they had to write a letter to the King of England, and Parliament, to state how they
felt and their intentions. To do this they had to choose a committee and someone to actually write
the letter, or document. They chose Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was greatly influenced by John
Locke. An example of this can be seen in the following passage:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit
of Happiness.
This passage shows Locke’s natural rights and how Jefferson agreed with Locke. The next statement
shows Jefferson’s views about social contract:
To secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their powers from the
consent of the governed, That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these
ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government.
In the Declaration Jefferson offered proof that the social contract had been broken, citing actions of
the English Government passing laws, which infringed upon the natural rights of the colonists. The
Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4 th, 1776. John
Hancock, the president of the Congress, was the first to sign it. The Declaration was a
revolutionary document. No other government, at that time, was based on the principles of
government by the consent of the governed (people).
The Declaration of Independence- Has 4 Parts
Preamble- Explains why the Continental Congress wrote the declaration.
Declaration of Natural Rights- lists the rights of the citizens and explains that in a republic, people
form a government to protect their rights.
List of Grievances- Lists the colonist’s complaints against the British Government. It also singles
out King George III and places blame on to him. This is the longest section because they wanted it to
be clear why they were doing what they were doing and needed to state their claims and proof of
wrong doing.
Resolution of Independence- The final part of the document. This kind of sums the whole thing up
and makes sure that England now knows that the colonists consider themselves to be an
independent nation and no longer subject to British rule. This was a huge deal because this final part
makes the situation real and there is no going back. There were only two courses of action for
England after reading this. They could either withdraw their troops and leave, not looking back, or
send more troops to squash the rebellion.
Off to war we go 
So the colonies were now are war with England. The Continental Congress sent a message out urging
the colonists to form governments that would best serve their voters. In January 1776, New
Hampshire became the first colony to organize as a state. (Live free or Die!!!) Their leaders wrote a
constitution, which is a written plan for government. Over the next few years all of the other colonies
formed states and wrote their own constitutions. Most of these constitutions had a Bill of Rights
which had the citizen’s rights listed. This list guaranteed the basic freedoms and legal
protections that the state’s citizens would enjoy. All of these were based on Locke’s principles,
“life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, and items found in the Magna Carta and the
English Bill of Rights.
State Governments
All of the state governments had a very similar form of government where there was a legislature to
make laws. Most of these legislatures were bicameral. This means they were divided into two parts,
or houses. Each state had its own governor. They were responsible for carrying out the laws. In
other words they were in charge of enforcing the laws. Finally, each state had courts with judges,
which would decide what the laws meant and how to apply them to everyday situations.
The Articles of Confederation
So as we learned, each colony was very different from the others. Some were more tolerant about
things then others. Because of this each colony set up their own constitution and sets of laws. So
each colony was essentially its own nation. This was all fine and good but the colonies began to run
into some trouble when it came to certain things. For example, a single state could not raise and
support a large army to say fight off the British who were coming to retake the land and put down the
rebellion. They realized that 13 small separate forces could not fight the British army. They needed
a single strong army under central control.
The Second Continental Congress proposed a solution. They planned a confederation of states. A
confederation is a group of individual state governments that unite for a common purpose, like
winning the war. How all of this was going to work was written out in a plan called the Articles of
Confederation. This was the first constitution of the United States. The Articles of confederation set
up a “league of friendship” between all 13 of the new states. By 1781 all 13 states had ratified, or
approved, the Articles.
The Articles set up a national government, or Federal Government, which would act on the behalf of
the 13 states. It would make decisions on deals with foreign countries and controlled the Army.
The Confederation Congress passed two laws that we need to look at. Both these laws affected The
US today. First of all, an ordinance is another name for a law.
Ordinance of 1785- set up a plan to surveying western lands. This law also described how western
lands were to be sold.
Northwest Ordinance 1787- Set up a government for the Northwest Territory. This later was used
as a model to set up new governments for new territories. This plan also included details on how
new states would be admitted into the Union.
Weaknesses of the Articles.
Lack of Power and Money
Congress had no power to collect taxes.
Congress had no power to regulate trade.
Congress had no power to enforce its laws.
Lack of Central Power
No single leader or group directed government policy.
No national court system existed.
Rules to Rigid
Congress could not pass laws without the approval of 9 states.
The Articles could not be changed without the agreement of all 13 states.