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 Britain’s victory over France in the imperial struggle for North America led to new conflicts among the British
government, the North American colonists, and American Indians, culminating in the creation of a new nation, the United States.
Key Concept: 3.2 In the late 18th century, new experiments with democratic ideas and republican forms of government, as well as other
new religious, economic, and cultural ideas, challenged traditional imperial systems across the Atlantic World.
Key Concept: 3.3 Migration within North America, cooperative interaction, and competition for resources raised questions about
boundaries and policies, intensified conflicts among peoples and nations, and led to contests over the creation of a multiethnic, multiracial
national identity.
Primary Themes for the Unit: Identity, Politics and Power, America & the World
Chapter 5 Terms and Guiding Questions:
5.1: KC 3.1.I A-C and 3.1.II A-B
5.2: 3.2.I B
William Pitt
Albany Plan of Union
Pontiac’s Rebellion
Proclamation of 1763
Treaty of Paris (1763)
Paxton Boys
Regulator Movements
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
Committees of Correspondence
Lord North
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. What caused the British to end the policy of salutary neglect after the French and Indian War?
2. 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?
3. 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.
4. 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?
Chapter 6 Terms & Guiding Questions:
Marquis de LaFayette
Baron von Steuben
Lexington & Concord
Bunker Hill/Breed’s Hill
Saratoga
Yorktown
Patriots (Whigs)
Loyalists (Tories)
Treaty of Paris (1783)
Articles of Confederation
John Locke
Land Ordinance of 1785
Northwest Ordinance 1787
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
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
Alien and Sedition Acts
VA & KY Resolutions
Election of 1800
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. Whose vision for the nation was better; Hamilton’s British aligned foreign policy that focused on the wealthy and welleducated, 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?
4. Why were political parties viewed as so dangerous by the Founding Fathers? Why did parties come into being at all?
5. What were President John Adams’ biggest challenges? How did he do with them?
Unit Questions
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 this 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?