Study Guide 3
Hst 1
Nash, The American People, chapters 5-7
Chapter 5 Bursting the Bonds of Empire
1. Imperialist rivalry for Atlantic basin trade
2. French presence in North America
3. Ohio River valley
4. Seven Years War 1756-1763 --- This war between Britain and France “centered on control of
colonies, especially in North America, and of the trade that went with them. Britain defeated
France in the West Indies, took control of Bengal and conquered Canada, laying the basis for a
world empire. But there was a mighty bill to be paid for doing so.”
5. Pontiac’s Rebellion
6. British Proclamation of 1763
7. Colonies debt-ridden and weakened in man-power --- It was at this moment of crisis that Britain
imposed a series of taxes on the [North American] colonists --- a tax on molasses (raw sugar used
for making rum) in 1764, a ‘stamp tax’ on a range of transactions 1n 1765, a Quartering Act
which made the colonists pay for the cost of keeping British troops in America, and a tax on
imports in 1767.”
8. Stamp Act 1765
9. Stamp Act Riots --- “The anger against the British was intermingled with was intermingled with
bitterness against the elite which flaunted its wealth at a time of general hardship.”
10. Sons of Liberty --- “There was a tradition of popular protests and riots in the colonial towns. The
Sons of Liberty acted almost as a political party, directing such traditional crowd action toward
the British question and serving to generate new political consciousness among many ordinary
Americans.”
11. Stamp Act Congress --- “In Britain, colonists argued, the House of Commons could veto any
government proposal on finance. Surely the assemblies of the different colonies should have the
same power in the Americas. Otherwise, their fundamental ‘liberties’ were being trampled on.
The language of protest was not yet revolutionary. People saw themselves as defending their
‘liberties’ as ‘Britons.’ But it led them to unite and mobilize for the first time against Britain.”
12. Repeal of Stamp Act
13. Impact on populace --- “As any protest movement arises, action changes peoples ideas, and the
change in ideas leads to more action.”
14. Townsend Acts 1767
15. Boston Massacre 1770
16. Repeal of Townsend duties 1770 EXCEPT
17. Tea Act of 1773
18. Boston Tea Party
19. Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts) 1773 --- General Gage was appointed Governor of
Massachusetts, with a mandate to bring the colony to heel. He dispatched troops to Boston and
passed the Intolerable Acts which decreed that colonists breaking the laws would be hauled to
Britain for trial
20. First Continental Congress 1774 --- Jefferson exclaimed should we allow “160,000 electors in the
island of Great Britain give law to four million in the state of America’ (conveniently forgetting
that in his own Virginia, black slaves and many poor whites had no say whatever)”
21. Committees of Correspondence --- The severity of the measures taken by the British government
meant that [the boycotts] could not just be left to the merchants. It had to be reinforced by the
organization of mass resistance. In every ‘county, city and town,’ people had to elect committees
to agitate against buying or consuming British goods . . . the struggle only advanced because
people set up new institutions in opposition to the old elites: ‘Between 1774 and summer of 1776
those committees did in New York what similar bodies did in Paris between 1789 and 1792 and
Russia in 1917.”
22. Urban artisans
23. American farmers
24. Second Continental Congress 1775
25. Battle of Lexington-Concord 1775
26. Revolutionary ideology --- Pamphlets as weapons --- breaking the habits of deference “required
both mass agitation and mass propaganda. In 1776 alone more than 400 pamphlets appeared, as
well as scores of newspapers and magazines. But the decisive role was played by a 40 page
pamphlet written by a recent British immigrant, Tom Paine.”
27. Enlightenment thought
28. Common Sense --- The pamphlet was written in a popular style, using the language of the artisan
and trader rather than that of governors and assemblymen . . . Paine would have come across
some of the ideas of the Enlightenment by attending popular scientific lectures and debating clubs
in England. Now he translated these ideas into the language of the street and the workshop,
insisting that ‘of more worthies one honest man to society than all the crowned ruffians that ever
lived.’ He scorned George III’s alleged ‘right to rule’, derived from his descent from a ‘French
bastard’ leading a gang of ‘banditti.”
29. Declaration of Independence 1776 --- “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. — That to secure these rights, Governments
are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That
whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the
People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such
principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their
Safety and Happiness”
Chapter 5 A People in Revolution
30. British strategy --- “The British strategy was to separate the colonies from one another by seizing
New York, cause hardship by blockading coastal trade, and then march powerful armies to seize
strategic points and towns . . . [But this strategy] was eventually doomed for a single reason --the committees and the agitation had cemented [a significant] mass of people to the rebel cause.”
31. Slavery?
32. Lord Dunmore
33. Class tensions in American society --- “Just as there were sections of the upper class which sided
with the rebellion, there were many lower and middle class people who did not embrace the
struggle for independence.”
34. Rebellions in the ranks
35. American strategy
36. Plight of Native Americans
37. Slave system
38. Women
39. A soldiers life
40. British temporarily evacuate Boston
41. Washington’s early setbacks and strategy
42. Articles of Confederation (declare war, mediate boundary disputes, Indian relations outside of
state boundaries)
43. Disputes over western land claims
44. The Cherokee
45. The Iroquois
46. Role of the French and Dutch
47. Determination of a critical mass of Americans (e.g., militias)
48. American civilians and levels of politicization (the quest for “liberty”)
49. Republicanism
50. Who paid the price in blood?
51. Mel Gibson’s portrayal of the war’s intimacy (“The Patriot”)
52. American loyalists
53. African American slaves
54. Did the Americans win or did the British lose the Revolutionary War?
55. British and Indians at peace talks
56. Treaty of Paris (1783) and “all convenient speed”
57. Pennsylvania state constitution
58. Women, property and the vote (state of ___________ -- 1807?)
59. Hierarchy, order and control
Chapter 7 Consolidating the Revolution
60. Problems with Confederation government (e.g., debt, taxation, tariff, trade, national credit,
banking, money supply, western expansion, defense)
61. British goods and access to British markets
62. French manipulations
63. French, British and Spanish in the interior --- access to Mississippi
64. Putting the brakes on radical republicanism --- e.g., Pennsylvania
65. Shays Rebellion (similar uprisings in six other states)
66. Federalism (aristocracy of the “better sort” and private property) --- coercive power of the state
(saving the people from themselves?)
67. The Grand Convention: strong central government
68. Who are “the people”?
69. The lower house of Congress responsive to “the people”
70. Senators elected by state legislatures (two from each)
71. President (Hamilton’s view)
72. Electoral College (“wise and experienced leaders”)
73. Judiciary nominated by President and ratified by Senate
74. Key compromise with slavery (3/5 a human being?)
75. Other two compromises with slavery
76. What is the upshot? --- Congress can levy and collect taxes, regulate foreign commerce and
between states, create national bank, regulate money system, approve a national budget,
administer western lands, provide for common defense (against all enemies both foreign and
domestic) and PROTECT PRIVATE PROPERTY
77. Anti-Federalism (critique of “Republican empire” --- most likely person to be an anti-federalist)
78. Did most Americans support ratification? --- no national plebiscite (most likely person to support
Federalism and the Constitution)
79. Bill of Rights
80. Who’s out, who’s in?