APUSH Ch. 5
The American Revolution
Characteristics of the American
Revolution
The initial stimulus for rebellion came from the
gentry who resented Parliament’s efforts to
curtail their rights within the British empire.
The farmers turned this rebellion into a mass
movement.
Ordinary folk became American soldiers,
willing to stand up to seasoned British troops.
Life after the French & Indian War
• A growing diverse population, young in age
• A high level of prosperity
• Wealth was not evenly distributed; it varied by
region. The Southern colonies enjoyed the
highest levels of personal wealth, partly
because of owning slaves. The Middle colonies
did not prosper as much because of their
inability to produce large amounts of exports.
Breakdown of Political Trust
• The responsibility for preserving the empire
fell to George III, who was ill-prepared to
become a king. (130-131)
• He clashed with the Whigs (British
policymakers) who had always set policy and
controlled patronage.
Who is to blame for England’s loss of
its British Empire in America?
• The king and Parliament
• Neither had ever visited America. No one
understood what it was like to live in the
colonies. There was a lack of communication
between the colonies and the Mother country.
• The main problem: parliamentary sovereignty.
(132) Parliament was the dominant element in
the British constitution. The Glorious
Revolution gave Parliament supreme authority
in matters such as taxation.
Examples of Colonial self-government
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Mayflower Compact
Fundamental Orders
VA House of Burgesses
(American) colonial assemblies
Salutary neglect enabled the colonial
assemblies/legislatures to pass their own laws
(taxes)
Representation
British believed in “virtual representation” – that
even though the colonists had not elected
members to Parliament, they were
nevertheless “virtually” represented by being
part of the British Empire.
The colonists did not agree. They argued the
British taxes were “taxation without
representation.”
John Locke
• See your notes on AP Topics #35
Commonwealthman tradition
• A body of political assumptions
• It persuaded colonists that power was
extremely dangerous, a force that would
surely destroy liberty unless it was countered
by virtue (morals).
• The colonists insisted on public virtue (civic
virtue) – sacrifice of self-interest to the public
good.
Effects of the French & Indian War
• Debt
• British troops remained in the colonies after the
war was over. George III maintained the largest
peacetime army in British history in the colonies.
Why? To protect the Indians from the settlers as
well as preserve order in Canada & Florida. This
added to the debt.
• There was also the added cost of maintaining a
larger empire.
• Pontiac’s Rebellion – the conflict between the
Native Americans & colonists on the land taken
from the French (around the Great Lakes) which
resulted in the Proclamation of 1763, which
forbid the colonists from moving onto this land.
George Grenville
• Had the task of reducing England’s debt
• How? TAXES
 Revenue/Sugar Act – passed to raise revenue for
Britain for the cost of Britain protecting the
colonies & to discourage smuggling & bribery
 Stamp Act – caused the most widespread anger
because it affected all 13 colonies – Patrick Henry
issued 4 resolutions (Virginia Resolves) protesting
this act. In MA, the Stamp Act Congress was held
& drafted petitions to the king and Parliament,
arguing no taxation without representation.
• Colonial response to the Stamp Act – boycotting
of British goods
• Boycotts mobilized colonial women to make the
boycott a success.
• Stamp Act was repealed and the Declaratory Act
was passed, a statement reminding the colonists
of Parliament’s supremacy over the Americans.
• Townshend Duties – import tax on paper, glass,
paint, lead, and tea – items the colonists
depended on Britain for; this revenue would pay
the governors, instead of the colonial
governments doing so. Colonial Response:
BOYCOTTING!
More taxes!!
• Townshend Duties were repealed except for
the tax on tea, a reminder of the Declaratory
Act.
• Quartering Act – required colonists to house
soldiers & to provide the army with certain
items such as firewood and beer!
Other events leading to the Revolution War
• Boston Massacre (141)
• The Gaspee Incident (143)
• Boston Tea Party – led to the Coercive Acts;
colonists believed Britain was trying to enslave
them
• Tea Act – would generate revenue to pay
judicial salaries, freeing the judges from
dependence on the colonial assembly; would
also save one of Britain’s largest businesses,
the East India Company from bankruptcy
• Quebec Act
Colonial Response to British actions
• Boycotting
• Forming a committee of correspondence to
communicate grievances to people
throughout Massachusetts, started by Samuel
Adams; an idea other colonies began to do
• Meeting of the First Continental Congress
• Suffolk Resolves – statement encouraging
forcible resistance of the Coercive Acts,
written in MA; created the “Association” – an
intercolonial agreement to stop trade with
Britain until the Coercive Acts were repealed
Shots Heard Around the World
• British attacked Lexington and Concord
• The British were met by ill-trained farmers at
Lexington as the British were on their way to
Concord where they thought the colonists and
guns and other supplies. This sparked the war.
• Battle of Bunker Hill – 1st major battle; took
the British 3 tries before defeating the
colonists
2nd Continental Congress
Actions taken:
• Formed a Continental Army & appointed
Washington as its commander
• Issued the Declaration of Independence – a
list of grievances against George III
More taxes!!!
• Prohibitory Act – prohibited the colonists from
trading with any foreign country; to
accomplish this the British Navy blockaded
their ports
Thomas Paine
• Wrote a political pamphlet called Common
Sense – No king is a good king.
• Encouraged people to sever their ties with
Great Britain
British Advantages
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Larger population
Strong manufacturing base
A well-trained regular army
Hessians – hired German troops
Most powerful navy in the world
Trained & experienced officers
money
British Disadvantages
• Distance away from America – had to
transport men and supplies
• Poor communication
• America was too vast a country
• Underestimated American commitment to a
political ideology – the protection of their
rights
American advantages
• Confidence that they could win
• A cause to fight for
• A militia in addition to the Continental Army
Battles
• Battle of Saratoga (NY) – the colonists’ victory
over the British brought the French into the
war on the side of the colonists; a turning
point battle
• The Treaty of Alliance – if England & France
went to war, the French agreed to reject a
peace treaty until Britain recognized US
independence; US agreed not to sign a treaty
with Britain without first letting France know
• Yorktown, VA – the final battle
Treaty of Paris 1783
• Officially ended the Revolutionary War
• Independence from Britain was obtained
• The US gained all the land east of the
Mississippi River except Spanish Florida
• American debts owed to Britain would be paid
• Loyalists would be compensated for land they
lost in the war