Unit 2: Independence and Nation-Building (1754-1800)
(Enduring Vision Ch 5-7, College Board Period 3)
British imperial attempts to reassert control over its colonies and the colonial reaction to these attempts produced a new
American republic, along with struggles over the new nation’s social, political and economic identity.
Key Concept: 3.1 British attempts to assert tighter control over its North American colonies and the colonial resolve to pursue selfgovernment led to a colonial independence movement and the Revolutionary War.
Key Concept: 3.2 The American Revolution’s democratic and republican ideals inspired new experiments with different forms of
government.
Key Concept: 3.3 Migration within North America and competition over resources, boundaries, and trade-intensified conflicts among
peoples and nations.
Primary Themes for the Unit: Identity, Politics and Power, America & the World
Chapter 5 Terms and Guiding Questions: Chapter 5.1 pages 123-145 and Chapter 5.2 pages 145-156
William Pitt
Albany Plan of Union
Seven Years’ War/French and Indian
Pontiac’s Rebellion
Proclamation of 1763
Treaty of Paris (1763)
Paxton Boys
George Grenville
Currency Act (1764)
Sugar Act (1764)
Non-importation Associations
Stamp Act (1765)
Quartering Act (1765)
Vice-Admiralty Courts
Patrick Henry
James Otis
Stamp Act Congress
Sons of Liberty
Declaratory Act (1766)
Townshend Act (1767)
Radical Whig Ideology
Writs of Assistance
John Dickinson and Letters from a
Pennsylvania Farmer
Massachusetts Circular Letter
“Boston Massacre” (1770)
Sam Adams and Sons of Liberty
Regulator Movements
Committees of Correspondence
Tea Act (1773)
Boston Tea Party (1773)
Coercive Acts/Intolerable Acts 1774
Quebec Act (1774)
First Continental Congress
Suffolk Resolves
Continental Association
Declaration of Rights and Grievances
Second Continental Congress
Olive Branch Petition
Thomas Paine/Common Sense
Th Jefferson/Dec of Ind.
1. The Introduction to Chap 5 (p.123-124) sets up the major question of the chapter very well: how did Britain’s colonists change
from loyal British citizens to (somewhat reluctant) revolutionaries in the time period from 1750-1776? Keep this in mind as you
read Chapter 5 – it is the main idea.
2. What were the major causes and outcomes of the Seven Years War in America (up to 1763)?
3. Read the Intro to “Imperial Revenues and Reorganization” on p.128 carefully. At the end of it, Boyer gives you a heads-up
that different segments of colonial society are going to respond very differently to British actions. Keep this in mind as we analyze
the “revolution.”
4. What caused the British to end the policy of salutary neglect after the French and Indian War?
5. I highly recommend that you use the attached chart to help you understand the chain of events, cause-and-effect relationships,
actions/reactions described in Chapter 5. You can download the chart if you want a Word version, or write on this and put it in
your notes. Anything hand-written is use-able on quizzes. We will use the chart in class.
6. What were the core grievances of the British colonists? Which ones do you feel were justified? Which ones do you feel were
overreactions? Were the British actually being more reasonable than most Americans have traditionally believed?
7. Were the colonists very unified in 1764? What changed over time? How & why did they to become more unified? Provide
specific evidence to demonstrate a pattern of growing unity in between 1764-1775.
8. What arguments did Thomas Paine put forth in, Common Sense? Were these arguments valid? How did this work cut the
psychological ties to England for many?
9. Assuming there was a shift in identify over the course of the period in Chapter 5, what is the new identity? Do all colonists
share identity and interests?
THE ROAD TO REVOLUTION (1760-1775)
*Be sure to include the Social, Political and Economic effects of the Events.
Date
1760
Event
Writs of Assistance
-James Otis, Jr.
1763
Proclamation of 1763
-Pontiac’s Rebellion
1764
Sugar Act
-External, Indirect Tax
1765
Stamp Act
-Internal, Direct Tax
-Sam Adams
-Son’s of Liberty
-Stamp Act Congress
British (re)Action & Description of Policy*
Colonial Response & Results*
Date
1766
Event
Declaratory Act
1765
Quartering Act
1767
Townshend Acts
-External, Indirect Tax
-John Hancock’s Liberty
-“Spinning Bees”
1770
Boston Massacre
-Crispus Attucks
-Sam Adams
-Sons of Liberty
-Committees of correspondence
British (re)Action & Description of Policy*
Colonial Response & Results*
Date
1773
Event
Tea Act
-British East India Company
-Boston Tea Party
1774
Intolerable Acts
-Coercive Acts
-Quebec Act
-First Continental Congress
Suffolk Resolves
1775
Lexington & Concord
-General Gage
-Minute Men
British (re)Action & Description of Policy*
Colonial Response & Results*
Date
1775
Event
Second Continental
Congress
-Olive Branch Petition
GW
1776
Declaration of
Independence
British (re)Action & Description of Policy*
Colonial Response & Results*
Chapter 6 Terms & Guiding Questions:
Marquis de LaFayette
Baron von Steuben
Lexington & Concord
Bunker Hill/Breed’s Hill
Saratoga
Ben Franklin
Treaty of Alliance
Yorktown
Patriots (Whigs)
Loyalists (Tories)
Treaty of Paris (1783)
Articles of Confederation
John Locke
Land Ordinance of 1785
Northwest Ordinance 1787
Northwest Territory
Shays’s Rebellion
Annapolis Convention
Constitutional Convention
James Madison
Virginia Plan
New Jersey Plan
Connecticut or Great Compromise
3/5 Compromise
Federalists and Anti-federalists
The Federalist Papers
Alexander Hamilton
John Jay/Madison
1. It is said that even during the revolution, the colonists were split, more or less, into thirds: 1/3 Loyalists, 1/3 Patriots & 1/3
neutral. What were the reasons behind each of these perspectives?
2. What were the advantages and disadvantages of both the British and the Colonists during the Revolutionary War?
3. In the end, what forces combined to create victory for the United States of America in the war?
4. Considering the context of the times, in what ways were the Articles of Confederation the best possible form of government for
the new nation, at the time? What were its crowning achievements? In what ways was it an insufficient form of government?
5. What were the key issues that delegates to the Constitutional Convention grappled with? How were they resolved at the time?
6. Explain both the Federalist arguments for ratifying the new U.S. Constitution and the anti-Federalist arguments for not ratifying
the Constitution.
7. Why did Americans accept the Constitution with its strong national government and powerful executive after only a decade
earlier violently revolting against similar British institutions? Why did the Anti-Federalists not violently oppose the new
Constitution?
Chapter 7 Terms & Guiding Questions:
Judiciary Act of 1789
VA Declaration of Rights
VA Statute of Religious Freedom
Bill of Rights
Washington’s Cabinet
Report on the Public Credit
Report on Manufactures
Assumption Plan
National Bank
Strict and Loose Interpretation
“Necessary and Proper” clause
Tariffs
French Revolution
Proclamation of Neutrality
Jay’s Treaty
Whiskey Rebellion
Pinckney’s Treaty
Battle of Fallen Timbers
“Mad” Anthony Wayne
Treaty of Greenville
Neutrality Proclamation
Citizen Genet
Washington’s Farewell Address
John Adams
XYZ Affair
Quasi-war with France
Alien and Sedition Acts
VA & KY Resolutions
Election of 1800
Republican motherhood
1. What were George Washington’s biggest challenges as the first President of the United States of America? How did he do?
2. Why did Hamilton move so rapidly to create large financial commitments by the federal government? Why did he think of a
“reasonable” federal debt as something good and necessary for the national welfare?
3. Make sure you understand the emergence of the first two political parties: the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. How do
these relate (or do they?) to the federalist/anti-federalist debates during ratification?
4. Whose vision for the nation was better: Hamilton’s British aligned foreign policy that focused on the wealthy and well-educated, as
well as a strong manufacturing and banking underpinning to the economy, or Jefferson’s French-leaning foreign policy, his strong belief
in the common man, and an agricultural-based society and economy. Which one ultimately prevailed?
5. Why were political parties viewed as so dangerous by the Founding Fathers? Why did parties come into being at all?
6. What were President John Adams’ biggest challenges? How did he do with them?
Unit Questions (pay attention to these…)
1. Although the following words from the Declaration of Independence did not apply to women, African Americans (free or slave) and
Native Americans, “…that all men are created free and equal,” how did these groups participate, either for or against the Revolutionary
struggle? Did the revolution result in fundamental changes in their social or political status?
2. What did the American Revolution fundamentally change about American society and government? What was left unchanged?
3. Is the U.S. Constitution still a viable constitution for our present nation? Why or why not? What can we learn from the compromises
that were required for its ratification?
4. Thinking back over the whole unit, when did revolution happen? When did independence happen? When did a unified American
identity begin (if ever)?