America’s
Beginnings
 Part II 
The Colonies
Revolt

English,
French, &
Spanish
Colonies in
1713
France in Canada
•1598
– Edict of Nantes issued – limited
toleration to French Huguenots
•King Louis XIV – interest in colonization –
1608 establishes Quebec
•Samuel de Champlain – “Father of New
France”
• Friendly with Hurons (against Iroquois)
“New France” expands
•Valuable
resource – the beaver – hunters
known as coureurs de bois (runners of the
woods)
•Antoine Cadillac – stop English settlers
in the Ohio Valley – founder of Detroit
(city of straits) in 1701
•Robert de LaSalle – halt Spanish
expansion – down the Mississippi –
claims/names Louisiana
Clash of Empires
•King
William’s War and Queen
Anne’s War
•
Colonial fights - Indians attack
Schenectady NY – Deerfield, MA
• British try/fail to capture Quebec &
Montreal
Utrech peace deal 1713 – gives Acadia
(Nova Scotia), Newfoundland &
Hudson Bay to England
Clash of Empires
•War
•
•
•
of Jenkin’s Ear
Caribbean & Georgia
Merged with War of Austrian
Succession (King George’s War)
France allied with Spain –
England vs. Prussia - - - -
Clash of Empires
•George
•
•
•
•
Washington
Encouraged by Governor Dinwiddie
of Virginia to protect the Ohio country
1754 – Washington to about 40 miles
from Fort Duquesne – encounter the
French (killed the leader)
Built Fort Necessity – French came
back – defeated Washington
**Technically 1st battle of war
War
erupts
between
French
&
British
in 1756
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuQ5SzExJNc
Global War & Colonial Disunity
•
•
•
•
French & Indian War – begins with
Washington
England & Prussia versus France,
Spain, Austria and Russia
Fredrick – repels French, Austrian &
Russians – becomes “the Great”
Ben Franklin – “Join or Die”
cartoon (effort for unification)
Global War & Colonial Disunity


Albany Congress – 7 of 13 colonies meet in
Albany, NY
Proposed –
Diplomacy with Iroquois – keep them loyal to
England – gave 30 wagon loads of gifts
 Raise an army
 Protect public territory
 Tax colonial citizens


States would not give up their sovereignty
The Acadians
British required all residents swear
allegiance to Britain or leave.
1755 – Acadians forcefully expelled
from the region
Fled as far as South Louisiana –
“Cajuns” - Catholic, sugar cane, sweet
potatoes, isolated in large families
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQTfMjW
a2p0
Braddock Blunders
•
•
•
•
General Edward Braddock – 60yo –
haughty
Ambushed by French using “Indian
tactics”
• GW – 2 horses shot out from under
him – 4 bullets through his coat
Braddock is killed – Washington’s
reputation is enhanced
Indians rampage – scalping everywhere
Pitt’s Victory
•
•
William Pitt – Secretary of War – the
“Great Commoner” – “Organizer of
Victory”
Changes - • Use the Navy to cut off supplies
• Attack Montreal and Quebec
• Replace old officers with young,
daring ones
Pitt’s Victory
•
•
Louisbourg falls – Arcadia – supply
lines cut off
James Wolfe – 32yo – organizes a
night attack scaling cliffs to Quebec
• Battle of Quebec - - Plains of
Abraham
***most significant English victory
of the war
French and Indian War Results





1756 - 1763
Paris Peace Treaty 1763
Britain gained all of New France east of
Mississippi River – except New Orleans
area (which Spain receives)
French retain small sugar islands in West
Indies
Britain – leading naval power
France gave up all claims east
of Mississippi River
Ceded
to Spain
Ceded to
Britain
Effects of the Seven Years’ War





Colonies had cooperated with one another
on an unprecedented scale
New corps of American military officers
were trained during the war
Colonists gained new perception of the
British as not quite so powerful as once seen
Colonists had traveled to the west during
fighting and became more aware of these
lands
Colonists form new sense of themselves as
“Americans” (language/tradition/ideals)
Effects of the Seven Years’ War


Friction between British officers and
Colonial “boors” “backwoodsmen”
British forbid export of supplies from New
England to Middle colonies (smuggling)

Colonists “free” to roam freely

Indians lost French allies
Pontiac’s War 1763

Ottawa chief – led brief and bloody
campaign through Ohio Valley – killed 2,000
 Whites quickly retaliated
 Blankets infected with smallpox given to
Indians (biological warfare)
 Violence convinced colonialists that
troops were needed along the frontier
 Expensive
 Parliament
says – Colonists have to pay for
protection (Colonists don’t like that!)
Proclamation of 1763
England feared clashes between the
colonists and the Indian tribes who had
helped them defeat the French.
King George III proclaimed that no new
settlements could be established west of
the Appalachian Mountains.
Colonists resented this obstacle to their
westward expansion.
Defiant – go anyway
Daniel Boone – Pioneer –
frontiersman – over the Appalachians
Proclamation
of 1763
Area reserved for Indians
England’s Economic
Problems
England’s huge debt from
the French and Indian War
caused them to levy new
taxes on their American
colonies.
Stamp Tax Uproar
Prime Minister George Grenville –
•
Enforce Navigation Laws
•
Sugar Act of 1764 – increased duty
•
Quartering Act of 1765 – provide food
and quarters
•
Stamp Act of 1765 – required on all
printed commercial and legal documents
•
Offenders to be tried in Admiralty
courts (guilty until proven innocent)
Taxation of the Colonies
1764
1765
1766
1767
1773
-
The
The
The
The
The
Sugar Act
Stamp Act
Declaratory Act
Townsend Acts
Tea Act
Salutary Neglect Ends
Quartering Acts
Colonists
have to provide
for British soldiers
England is broke (because
of the colonies)
Colonists mad
Salutary Neglect Ends
“No taxation without
representation.”
James Otis
from Massachusetts
Grenville – “virtual
representation” – NO NO NO!!
Committees of Correspondence
 To
spread propaganda and keep
rebellion going
 80
towns throughout the colonies –
letter-writers – eventually formal
committees
Repeal of all but tax on tea

British East Indian Company –
monopoly (17 milllion pounds of tea)

December 16, 1773 – “Sons of Liberty”
– Samuel Adams – dump 342 chests
into Boston Harbor – dressed like
Indians – Boston Tea Party
Intolerable Acts
 Port
of Boston closed
 Self-government banned (no town
meetings)
 Massachusetts charter revoked
 More
troops to Boston
st
1
Continental Congress
Actions –
1. Compact to boycott British goods (imports
would drop by 97% the next year)
2. Petition to the King calling for repeal of the
Coercive Acts – Declaration of Rights
3. Provisions made for a 2nd Continental Congress
if the Petition to the King and repeal of the
Intolerable Acts did not occur
12 Colonies (all but Georgia) Carpenter’s Hall –
Philadelphia, PA – Sep 5 to Oct 26, 1774
https://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=8OI7itQJpfE
NO
MORE KINGS!!!
Crash Course – Prelude to War

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eytc9ZaN
Wyc
“Shot Heard ‘Round the World”

Battle of Lexington – Concord

8 minute-men killed at Lexington (John
Parker)

To Concord - gathering
Declaration of
Independence
Philadelphia
July 4, 1776
Declaration of Independence
Addressed
to the civilized
nations of the world
Explained reasons for separating
themselves from the parent
country, England
Listed grievances against King
George III
Declaration of Independence
“When in the course of
human events, it becomes
necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands
which have connected them with
another,
continued
Declaration of Independence
and to assume among the
Powers of the earth, the separate
and equal station to which the
Laws of Nature and of Nature’s
God entitle them,
continued
Declaration of Independence
a decent respect to the opinions of
mankind requires that they should
declare the causes which impel
them to the separation.”
continued
Declaration of Independence
“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.
continued
Declaration of Independence
That to secure these rights,
Governments are instituted
among Men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the
governed,
continued
Declaration of Independence
That whenever any Form of
Government becomes destructive
of these ends, it is the Right of
the People to alter or abolish it,
continued
Declaration of Independence
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.”
Video: NFL players recite Declaration of
Independence – Super Bowl 42
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLpBQjTbv8o
Declaration of Independence
 Why
was justifying revolution so
necessary?
 The
American colonies were the
first every to revolt against a
mother country!
What other people had created a
climate for revolution among the
masses before 1776?
Patrick
Henry
Samuel Adams
Thomas Paine
What was the cause for issuing
the Declaration??
 Frustration
over Britain’s “long train
of abuses and usurpations”
 Gave colonists a “cause” for
fighting
 Raised the possibility of foreign aid
 Raised hopes that they would be
POWs – not traitors if caught
Justification?

Violation the colonists’ rights of life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Organization ?
 Listed ways the British had violated
the colonists’ rights
 Builds to a climax - generalizes
What rights of a independent
country did TJ list?
 Right to levy war
 Right to conclude peace
 Right to contract alliances
 Right to establish commerce
Short & Long term effects
Gave colonists a “cause” – gained
foreign support
 Served as a model for other countries
and later generations


(Ideal – not reality in 1776) – examples:
slavery – only men with property could
vote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=vrSeCYSnj5Y&list=PLEtkJpnQ
X_d88FF-JOGUPkRghKhmdTwsP
Schoolhouse Rocks!
Important
persons
of the
American
Revolution
King George III
George III
King of England who refused
to listen to the colonists’
complaints
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Delegate to the Continental
Congress from Virginia

33
years old
Wrote

Declaration of Independence
Founder of University of Virginia
 3rd
President of the USA
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Delegate
to the Continental
Congress from Pennsylvania
Helped
edit the Declaration
of Independence
American
Inventor
diplomat to France
and scientist
Benjamin Franklin
“We must all hang together, or
assuredly we will all hang
separately.”
John Adams
John Adams
Massachusetts farmer and lawyer
 Worked with Jefferson and Franklin
on final draft of Declaration of Ind.
 Vice-President under Washington
 2nd President of United States

Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
 Wrote
a pamphlet called
“Common Sense”
 Urged colonists to consider the
logical reasons for breaking
away from England
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry




1765 - Elected to the Virginia House of
Burgesses at the age of 28
1775 – Delegate to the Second Virginia
Convention
Delivered speech that persuaded the
delegates to prepare for war against
England
Elected as first Governor of the state of
Virginia
Patrick Henry
“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet,
as to be purchased at the price of
chains and slavery? Forbid it,
Almighty God! I know not what
course others may take; but as
for me, give me liberty or give me
death.”
March 23, 1775
Patrick Henry delivers speech to
the 2nd Virginia Convention
George Washington
George Washington
George Washington
 President of the Continental
Congress

Commander of the Continental Army

First President of the USA

Refused to serve more than 2 terms
GW “RAP”
Marquis de Lafayette
Marquis de Lafayette
French aristocrat sent to help
train the Continental Army
Did all colonial leaders
support a revolution
and a complete break
from England
Colonists Disagreed
Patriots – those who wished
to defend the colonies against
the abuses of the King
Loyalists (Torys) - those who
wished to remain loyal to
King George III
Important Battles
of
the Revolution
Battle of
Lexington-Concord
April, 1775
First battle of the
Revolutionary War
(The shot heard
round the world)
8 minutemen killed @
Lexington
To Concord – 1000s of
minutemen force them
back to Boston
Tories – about 1/3 of
population – remained
loyal to the King – many
fled to England or
Canada (NY, Carolinas,
Georgia)
Some joined British
Army
British Strengths & Weaknesses
• Strengths
– Population
– Money
– Professional Army
– Huge Navy
– Loyalist support
– Hired Hessian
mercenaries to
fight
• Weaknesses
– Enemies everywhere
• Ireland rebelling
• France “payback”
• Unwillingness to fight
“cousins”
• Whigs favored
American cause
• Supplies (15yo biscuits)
• Distance
• No central capital –
spread out – “how to
win?”
American Strengths & Weaknesses
• Strengths
– Leadership
• Washington,
Franklin, Adams,
Jefferson
– European recruits
• Marquis de
Lafayette
• Baron von Steuben
– Defensive war (own
terrain)
– Just Cause
– Willing allies
• Weaknesses
Lack of unity
• Many American
merchants actually
sold to the British???”
• Sectional jealousy
• Inflation
• Supplies
– Almost no industry
• Little military training
– Desertion huge problem
Battle of Bunker Hill
2600 Redcoats march up the hills to
dislodge 1600 fortified Colonials –
turned back 3 times
Hot, hot, hot!
British casualties – 226 dead/828
wounded
American 140/310
“Don’t fire until you see the white’s of
their eyes!”
2nd Continental Congress
During Siege of Boston
Actions –
1. Named militia – Continental Army
2. George Washington – Commanding General
3. Olive Branch Petition – Peace overture –
rejected by the King
4. Voted to attack the British in Canada
5. Declaration of Independence written
(Committee of 5 – including John Adams,
Franklin – Jefferson)
George Washington
Battle of Long Island (1776) – try to defend New
York – get crushed – sucessfully retreat
Battles of Trenton & Princeton (1776-1777)
Christmas surprise of Hessians at Trenton then
British at Princeton – victories are an inspiration
Winter at Valley Forge (1777-1778) – ill supplied
and fed – trained by Baron Von Stuben
Battle of Brandywine (1777) – defeat o/s
Philadelphia
Battle of Saratoga
Battle of
Saratoga
Turning point of the
Revolutionary War because
it is the battle that
convinces the French to side
with the Americans.
(Huge asset – Navy,supplies)
Diplomacy
•“Model Treaty”
•No political or military connection
•Only commercial connection
•Benjamin Franklin
•Master diplomat – dresses “homespun”
– a rock star in France
•America gets help
•France – Spain – Holland (declare war)
•Armed Neutrality – Passive hostility to
Britain
•Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Prussia,
Portugal
Battle of
Yorktown
1781 - Final battle of
the Revolutionary
War. Americans win !
Yorktown
•British General – Charles Cornwallis
•After a disasterous Southern campaign
(Nathanael Greene, Daniel Morgan)
•Retreats to Yorktown –
•Washington & Lafayette arrive with the
French Rochambleu
•Surrounded by the Americans/French and
the French fleet
•Under siege for 21 days – forced to
surrender (so “sick” gives his sword to a
junior officer – Washington has another
“junior” accept it)
http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=RUlJ6E4VQCY
Yorktown –
The Treaty of Paris
1783
Treaty of Paris (1783)

American negotiators -
John Jay – John Adams – Benjamin
Franklin
Treaty of Paris (1783)

Formally ends the Revolutionary War

Grants independence to the colonies
Fishing
rights off Newfoundland
Gives the US all the land from the
Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River

Treaty of Paris (1783)
More
Terms
Restore property to Loyalists
Pay back debts owed to British
debtors
Treaty of
Paris (1783)
African Americans
5,000 fought on the American side
Some fought with the British
Some escaped to freedom
AFTER THE WAR
Slavery is quickly abolished in the North
1787 – NW Ordinance bans slavery in the
NW Territory
Women and the War
Many women stayed and worked at
military camps
Provide food and laundry
Some disguised as men to fight
Impact of the Revolution
Abigail Adams “Remember the ladies”
Married women could still not –
Own Property/Get a Divorce/Vote
Women and the War
“Republican Motherhood”
Women should raise
virtuous children that will
become good citizens
Native Americans
Iroquois Confederacy –
divided over who to support
Challenges
Americans moving west
CONFLICT - ENCROACHMENT
Articles of
Confederation - 1777
First
national constitution
Weak
central government
No
executive branch
No
power to tax citizens
Articles of
Confederation - 1777
First
national constitution
Weak
central government
No
executive branch
No
power to tax citizens
http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=jSAJUncVv1A
AP Review