This chapter concentrates on the events leading up to the American Revolution and on the war itself.
Beginning with the 1765 rioting at the home of Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson by an angry mob in response to the Stamp Act, the chapter explains how a crisis in Anglo-American relations grew from taxation policies rooted in Britain’s need for increased revenue as a consequence of the Seven Years’
War. Believing that the Stamp Act was a direct infringement on their liberty, many colonists reacted with indignation and violence. The ensuing decade was fraught with similar calls for an end to the British
“enslavement” of the colonists and the rise of opposition groups such as the Sons of Liberty. When war broke out in 1775, independence was not a clear goal of the Continental Congress. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, excerpted in “Voices of Freedom,” was crucial in educating the common people about their natural right to freedom and liberties that Britain denied. The Declaration of Independence, signed six months after the publication of Common Sense, forever changed the meaning of American freedom by proclaiming “unalienable rights” that no government could ever take away. The chapter concludes with an overview of the war. It gives attention to the role of free and enslaved blacks in the conflict as well as the arguments of Loyalists. Major battles and strategies of the war are also discussed, especially the pivotal Battle of Saratoga, which convinced
France to ally with the United States, and the Battle of Yorktown, where Lord Cornwallis’s surrender signaled the end for the British. The chapter concludes with a consideration of the 1783 Treaty of Paris, in which Great
Britain formally recognized American independence.
Points for Discussion
1. What problems did the British government face after the Seven Years’ War and what solutions did it propose? How reasonable were London’s solutions, and in what ways did the colonists view them as an attack on their liberty?
2. Discuss the debates that occurred over virtual/direct representation and taxation. How did the leaders in
London and the leaders in America view participation in the empire differently?
3. What unified the colonists and what divided them during this revolutionary era?
4. Explain the initial goals of the colonists in 1765 at the time of the Stamp Act and the evolution of their ultimate decision to declare independence in 1776. What were the political and social consequences of the
Revolution that emerged by 1783?
5. Compare the relative advantages of the American and the British militaries. How was George Washington able to secure a victory over the most powerful nation in the world?
6. Why did colonists who, for the most part, enjoyed the benefits of being in the British Empire – benefits unattainable by most of their European counterparts - rise in rebellion against the nation responsible for their circumstances?
Key Terms
Loyal Nine
Sugar Act
Sons/Daughters of Liberty
Boston Massacre
Virtual vs. direct representation writs of assistance
Proclamation Line Committees of Correspondence
First/Second Continental Congress Common Sense
Boston Tea Party Stamp Act
Townshend Duties
Quebec Act
Tea Act
Intolerable Acts
Dunmore’s Proclamation Olive Branch Petition
American exceptionalism The American Crisis
Trenton
Treaty of Paris (1783)
Saratoga
Loyalists
Declaratory Act
Suffolk Resolves
Declaration of Independence vice-admiralty courts
Yorktown
Valley Forge/Morristown

Key Concept 3.1: British attempts to assert tighter control over its North American colonies and the colonial resolve to pursue self-government 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.