Colonization to Revolution

By Mr. G

Timeline

• American events-– 200’s-Mayans are using hieroglyphic writing.– 1492-Columbus lands in the Americas.– 1521-Cortes conquers Mexico.– 1620-Pilgrims land at Plymouth, Massachusetts.– 1776-Declaration of Independence is signed.– 1781-Last battle of the American Revolution-

Americans and French defeat British at Yorktown.– 1783-Treaty of Paris ends the Revolution.

Timeline (con’t)

• World events– 476-Roman Empire ends. Europe splits into small

kingdoms.– 1481-Portugese traders begin to build a fort near

Benin in Africa.– 1588-English navy defeats Spanish Armada.– 1774-Reign of Louis XVI (16th) begins in France.

The First Americans

• Scientists believe the first peoples on this continent, came here from 30,000 to 12,000 years ago.

• The Bering Straits is the route used by most.• Most came following the movements of food

sources (animals migrating following food)

The First Americans (con’t.)

• By 1500, the peoples of North American had divided into hundreds of cultural groups, speaking over 2,000 languages.

• Dwellings differed, too. • The Pueblo of the Southwest lived in many-

storied houses of adobe.• In the Eastern Woodlands, the Iroquois lived in

300-foot long houses.

Early Pueblo Dwellings

Early Iroquois Dwellings

Societies of West Africa and Europe

• From the 700’s to the mid 1000’s, complex societies in Ghana and Mali, became powerful due to their control of gold and salt trading.

• In Europe, after the fall of the Roman Empire, Europeans created many different societies.

• Most turned to feudalism-a system in which a king allows lords to use lands that belong to him- to survive.

Societies of West Africa and Europe (con’t.)

• As feudalism grew, many serfs (common people), moved to towns, away from farms, to find work.

• This weakened feudalism because not as many resources (crops for food, cows for leather) were being grown/raised.

• In 1348, the bubonic plague (the Black Death) killed about one out of every four people in Europe.

• The Black Death (The Bubonic Plague) • Lords, fighting for workers to help, began to pay wages to workers.• During the Renaissance- a time of increased interest in learning

and reading began to take over much of Europe.• The Renaissance was a reaction to the terrible times during the

Great Plague.

European Exploration

• As Europe recovered from the feudal system and the effects of the Plague, many countries sent explorers out to find new lands to colonize.

• Christopher Columbus, Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco De Gama, and Amerigo Vespucci were some of the explorers that soon found new land in the Americas.

Competition for Empire

• European countries had three main goals during the age of exploration– The spread of Christianity- find new “converts” to

their religious ideas– The expanding of their empire-more land means

more resources means more wealth for the empire

– Empires wanted to gain more wealth from the new colonies

Competition for Empire (con’t.)

• One of the effects of this expansion was the start of the slave trade.

• Slavery- the practice of holding a person in bondage for labor.

• When European explorers came to the Americas, they brought disease, such as smallpox, that killed millions of the native peoples living here.

• The African Diaspora- the forced removal of people from Africa, which resulted in about 12 million Africans being forced to come to the Americas as slaves. This took place from around 1600 until the late 1800’s.

Native American Holocaust/African Slave Trade

• Native American Holocaust • African Slave Trade

The English Colonies

• Jamestown– Virginia Company of London starts this colony in

1607.– 1st permanent English settlement in America.– They learned to grow tobacco to make more

profits.– After getting angry over control of King’s governor,

in 1619 they form the House of Burgesses- the first representative assembly in America.

The English Colonies- (con’t.)

• New England Colonies– Settled by the Pilgrims start in 1620.– People on board the Mayflower signed an

agreement called Mayflower Compact-they vowed to obey laws agreed upon for the good of the colony. The Compact created the idea of self-government for the first time in America.

– Puritans-a religious group from England who wanted to “purify”, or fix, the Church of England, came to America.

Middle and Southern Colonies

• Located between New England and the Chesepeake region.

• Mostly Dutch immigrants.• William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, led a

group of Quakers, people who welcomed different religions into their colony and wanted Native Americans to be treated fairly.

Colonial Economies

• Most New Englanders relied on fishing to make money.

• Middle Colonies relied mostly on manufacturing-making products from natural resources.

• Southern Colonies mostly grew tobacco and cotton.

• Southern Colonies began to use slaves to help with all the work involved.

Colonial Economies- (Slide 2)

• Many colonial merchants used the triangular trade-– New England ships took rum and iron to Africa,– This was traded for slaves,– The slaves were taken to the West Indies and traded

for sugar and molasses which was then taken back to New England.

• Roots- Part 1• Roots- Part 2

Colonial Economies- (Slide 3)

Roots of Representative Government

• American colonists expected certain rights that came from living under English rule.

• One right was the voting for representatives in the English gov’t.

• Many of the colonies created their own version of the English government.

• After England took away the colonists’ government, it took years for the colonists’ to retake their rights to self-government.

• This caused a conflict to start between England and the colonies.

The French and Indian War

• France and England began to fight over much of North America.

• Parts of Canada and land east of the Mississippi River was rich with natural resources that both countries wanted.

• When a British trading post was taken by the French, a war broke out between the French and the English.

• The French and Indian War (1754-1763) was fought by England against the French and several Native American groups.

• England eventually won this war and took control of most of North America when the two countries signed the Treaty of Paris. This treaty ended French control in North America.

The American Revolution-Tighter British Control

• England gained a lot of debt to pay for the French and Indian War.

• To pay for the war, England created new taxes for the Colonies.

• Some of the taxes included:– The Sugar Act (1764)– The Stamp Act (1765)-All legal and commercial

documents (newspapers, mail, etc.)– The Townshend Acts (1767)-NY colonists had to house

British soldiers and pay for various goods from England.

The American Revolution-Tighter British Control (Slide 2)

• To the colonists, these taxes, without anyone in England to represent their concerns, were illegal.

• One protest against these taxes was called the Boston Tea Party-colonists, dressed as Native Americans, dumped 342 cases of tea in Boston Harbor rather than pay the British Tax.

• Colonists protested by stating, “No taxation without representation”-they felt England should not be able to tax the colonies unless colonists could become members of Parliament (the English government).

The Road to Lexington and Concord

• England set more penalties and taxes against the colonies to punish them for the Boston Tea Party.

• The colonists began to feel that only a revolution would settle this problem.

• The First Continental Congress- (1774)-the first time the colonies joined together to decide what would be done to England. The colonies decided to begin to train troops for war.

• The Revolutionary War

The Road to Lexington and Concord (Slide 2)

• As more British troops were sent to the colonies to end the rebellion, Paul Revere rode through most of New England, warning colonists about British troop movements.

• 700 British troops moved to Lexington, Mass. and fought with about 70 colonists.

• They moved to Concord, Mass. where they faced about 4000 colonists.

• The Battles of Lexington/Concord were the first battles of the American Revolution.

Declaring Independence

• May 10, 1775, Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, PA, and decided to form the Continental Army to fight the British.

• It would be led by George Washington.• After several battles (Bunker Hill, Breed’s Hill)

were fought with the British, a resolution was written, telling the British King that the colonies were “free and independent states”.

Declaring Independence (Slide 2)

• Leaders such as: Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, John Adams, etc. began to write the Declaration of Independence-a document that declared that people have unalienable rights, or rights that government cannot take away.

• *July 4, 1776, The Declaration of Independence was adopted (agreed on).

The War Continues

• About 20% to 30% of the colonists were loyal to Britain (Loyalists).

• 40% to 45% supported the Revolution (Patriots).

• The rest of the colonists were neutral-they were on neither side.

• Native American tribes (Iroquois) and African-Americans fought on both sides.

The War Continues (Slide 2)

• Raising an army was hard, and most men only signed up to fight for one year.

• Getting supplies to the soldiers became a problem.

• Although the British won many battles at the start, the Continental Army won victories at Trenton and Princeton.

• Colonial victory at Saratoga, New York was the turning point of the war.

The War Continues (Slide 3)

• By 1778, France signed an alliance with the Colonists and sent many supplies, soldiers, and money.

• The Marquis de Lafayette, a French nobleman, took command of an army division, and helped the colonists win many battles.

• Washington, and his men, had a bad winter in Valley Forge, PA.

• About ¼ of his men died from starvation, disease, and exposure to freezing weather, but they still continued to fight.

The War Continues (Slide 4)

• Britain controlled trade routes on the Atlantic Ocean.

• Privateers, private ships allowed to attack British ships, were able to help sink many enemy boats.

• John Paul Jones, Commander of the Continental Navy, won a major sea battle against the British in 1779.

The Path to Victory

• The British moved south, thinking southerners were loyal to them.

• The French navy blocked all supplies from coming to the British.• Washington’s army surrounded the British in Yorktown, Virginia.• On October 19, 1781, British general Cornwallis surrendered to

the Americans at Yorktown, the last major battle of the Revolution.

• The British signed over rights to the colonies with the Treaty of Paris of 1783.

• America was now a free country!