• Geographic location allowed England to control trade
• Favorable business climate with fewer restrictions on trade
• Britain won many European battles in 1700s
• England and Wales united with Scotland to form the
United Kingdom

• Wanted to reassert royal power as king
• Chose his own cabinet ministers and forced
Parliament to follow his will
• Asserted his brand of leadership

• 13 colonies part of British empire
• Colonies were commercial centers for trade with other global areas
• Britain tried to export more than it imported
• Parliament passed laws to regulate colonial trade and manufacturing
• Many British laws were unenforceable

“ The Sun Never Set on the British Empire”
This phrase meant that the sun was always shining on the some part of the British empire around the world.

• England fought French-Indian war
• England felt colonists should pay for colonial defense
• Parliament passed revenue laws (Stamp Act, Sugar
Act) to raise money
• Colonists balked because of “taxation without representation”

• Boston Tea Party-protest tax on tea
• Colonies supported each other as Parliament tried to retaliate
• Boston Massacre – 5 protestors killed

• War began when British soldiers exchanged gunfire with
American minutemen at Lexington and Concord
• Continental army led by George Washington
• Declaration of Independence-written by Thomas Jefferson
•
People have right to overthrow a government that fails to protect the natural rights of citizens (life, liberty, and property-ideas of
John Locke)
• People have right to abolish unjust governments

• British had huge resources (soldiers, ships, and supplies)
• Colonists knew the terrain better
• France, enemy of Britain, offered military support

• Washington held troops together during despite low supplies, lack of food, and ammunition
• Continental Army with aid of France crushed the
British at Yorktown, Virginia
• Treaty of Paris ended the war and recognized the independence of the USA

• Articles of Confederation proved weak and ineffective
• Revolutionary leaders (Washington, Madison, Franklin,etc.) met to plan a new government with an improved constitution
• Framers of Constitution studied ideas of Enlightenment philosophers
• New Constitution divided powers between federal and state governments = federal republic
• Central feature of Separation of Powers is three branches of government – executive, legislative, and judicial (Montesquieu)

• Bill of Rights included in Constitution = people have basic rights that the government must protect
• Freedom of speech, religion, and the press
• The philosophe’s Enlightenment ideas were finally put into practice
• Constitution has been in place for more than 200 years and adopted by other democratic countries worldwide
• American Revolution inspired French to revolt against their monarchy in 1789

Click on the following link or copy into your Internet browser: http://www.virtualprofessors.com/14-lecture-courseworld-history
Scroll down the page until you arrive at the following video title.
Please watch the video:
Tea, Taxes, and The American Revolution: Crash Course
World History #28

• Answer the following questions on a sheet of paper.
• Bring to class tomorrow to correct for points.

• Who was the British monarch during the American
Revolution?
• Why did Britain rise to become a global power?
(four points)
• Why did the British parliament pass the Sugar and
Stamp Acts?
• What four words did the colonists shout in protest against the Stamp and Sugar Acts?

• Which European country helped the colonists defeat
Britain?
• Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
• What is a federal republic?
• What was the central feature of this federal republic?
• What did the Bill of Rights recognize?
• What is the relationship between the Bill of Rights and the Enlightenment?
• Who did the American Revolution inspire to also revolt?