Do you want a Revolution??

DAY 1Roots of Self-Government

England’s Colonies Prosper Target of the day: To understand that the

colonial system of self-governing colonies was the forerunner of our modern system of self-governing states

England’s Colonies Prosper (mid-1600s) Because of the terrain, land, and industries

that arose in the Colonies, the Colonies prospered

And so did Britain… Mercantilism: a theory that holds that a

country’s ultimate goal was self-sufficiency and that all countries were in a competition to acquire the most gold and silver “Gold and silver…silver and gold!”

Parliament and the Navigation Acts The colonists exported a

lot of goods to France, England, Holland:

Britain saw this exchange with foreign markets as a threat…

So they (Parliament, Britain’s legislative body), passed a series of laws restricting colonial trade called the Navigation Acts…

(TAXES, restrictions on trade, goods pass through English port)

The Navigation Acts… Caused colonists to

engage in illegal trade Eventually (1684),

King Charles II acted to stop these violations, and punished the leaders and merchants of MASSACHUSETTS.

And England revoked the Charter, making Massachusetts a Royal Colony, under strict control of the crown.

Then England gets a new King… “The King is dead…long live

the King!” King James, a Roman

Catholic, takes the throne, and threatens Protestantism at home and abroad.

In response, the British Parliament enacted laws to establish its authority over the Monarch by voting to offer the throne to James’ protestant daughter, Mary and her hubby William. No, not the butterfly… And no, not this guy… This is known as the

Glorious Revolution

Salutary Neglect

1688, England turned attention away from the colonies.

They attempted to increase control…strengthening the Navigation Acts. But they failed to enforce.

Called “salutary neglect”—beneficial relaxation of enforcement of most regulations.

Seeds of self-government planted… Salutary neglect had an

effect on colonial politics and economics…

In almost all colonies, had a governor (with an assumed wide range of power) who presided over political structure: Advisory council

Even though the governor was not as powerful as he seemed, IN ESSENCE, THEY GOT A TASTE OF SELF-GOVERNMENT…that would eventually pave the way to rebellion and WAR…

Then why didn’t they just rebel? Many colonists maintained

their loyalty to Britain. They “identified” with Britain. They considered themselves “loyal British subjects.”

What do you identify with? The colonies actually had

very little in common with one another around 1700…especially the Northern and Southern colonies, which had distinctly difference ECONOMIES…

NORTHERN MANUFACTURE PROSPERS

SOUTHERN PLANTATION ECONOMY RISES

THE SOUTH… Plantation life… Cash crops (purpose = Indentured servants Immigration (Germans, Scots-Irish [hills of

Western North Carolina])

The Commercial North… Urban centers for commerce and trade…

Great Awakening 1730s -1740s (series of religious revivals)

The Enlightenment (ideas about nature and rational thinking) Benjamin Franklin…

Some slavery existed in the North

Influx of immigrants…(Scandanavians, Jews, Scots-Irish, Dutch)

FRENCH A ND INDIAN WAR

7 years war, 1754-1763

French & Indian War France is Britain’s largest

rival Technically, France was

there first (1534) In 1682, France claims

entire Mississippi Valley, and names is Louisiana in honor of King Louis XIV

The population was less than 1/10 of its North American British counterpart (1,000,000)

However, New France had friendlier relations with the Native Algonquian peoples of North America, trading furs and such

British and French empires collide… The French built a fort in land already

“claimed” by the British near the Ohio River…

The Virginia governor sent a militia—a group of ordinary citizens who performed military duties—to evict (or kick out) the French… They were led by GEORGE WASHINGTON!

BritishBritish FrenchFrench

Fort Necessity Fort DuquesneFort Necessity Fort Duquesne ** George Washington George Washington ** Delaware & Delaware & ShawneeShawnee Indians Indians

The The Ohio ValleyOhio Valley

1754 1754 The First The First ClashClash

1754 1754 The First The First ClashClash

French soldiers & Native American Allies vs. Britain, who gains support from Iroquois tribes…

The Treaty of Paris, 1763… The French & Indian

War comes to a close…

Great Britain claims all of North America east of the Mississippi River, which includes Florida (Britain acquired it from Spain)

The Colonies and Britain Grow Apart… British policies anger colonists…

Problems resulting from the war…

Smuggling of goods cause Britain to enforce a series of acts on the colonists that pave way to war…

1754 1754 Albany Plan of Albany Plan of UnionUnion

Benjamin Franklin’s early attempt to join colonies together.

Causes of the Revolution

DAY 2

The stirrings of rebellion…

So it begins…

Proclamation of 1763Settling west of

the Appalachian Mountains was forbidden by the British.

Sugar Act 1764 Halved the duty on foreign-made molasses Placed duties on certain imports Strengthened the enforcement of certain laws

Currency Act 1765

Stamp Act

Stamp Act 1765Required colonists to purchase

special stamped paper for every legal document. License, newspaper, pamphlet, and almanac, and imposed “stamp duties” on packages of playing cards and dice

The Colonists React…When word of the Stamp Act reached the

colonists, they united! Shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers formed what was called the “Sons of Liberty”

They harassed customs workers, stamp agents, and even royal governors.

Colonial protest prevented any stamps from ever being sold…

Sons of Liberty: One of the

founders was Samuel Adams

Townshend Acts… These acts, thought up by Charles

Townshend (the leading government minister of England at the time) imposed indirect taxes, or duties, on the colonists (The Stamp Act was a direct tax).

They also imposed a three-penny tax on tea. “How dare they!”

Pretty sneaky, if I do say so myself…

Townshend Acts

NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION

“Furs, feathers, rich sattins…capes”

Tea, sugarWomen boycotted British luxuries and partook in “spinning bees” or public displays of spinning and weaving of colonial-made cloth

Colonists begin boycotting British goods:

The Boston Massacre The Boston Massacre ((March 5,1770March 5,1770))

Boston Massacre 1770… Where? A shipyard in Boston When? A cold afternoon in March What? A fist-fight breaks out over jobs. A

mob gathers that evening in front of the Customs House to taunt guards—they (colonists) are angry because they have to compete for jobs with poorly paid soldiers.

Who? A man named “Crispus Attucks” and several dockhands appear, an armed clash takes place, and Attucks and four others lay dead in the snow.

Committees of Correspondence

Committees of Correspondence… After the colonists burned a British ship down

near Providence, Rhode Island, King George named a special commission to seek out the suspects and bring them to England for trial.

This plan caused widespread alarm among the colonists.

Virginia & Massachusetts set up these committees to communicate with other colonies about this & other threats to American liberties.

Were their fears warranted (legitimate)?

Boston Tea Party Boston Tea Party (1775)(1775)

Boston Tea Party… Remember, the colonists had been boycotting

tea. This hit the British East India Company, which

held an official monopoly on tea imports, hard. To save the company, Lord Frederick North,

British Prime Minister, devised the Tea Act, which granted the company the right to sell tea to the colonies free of the taxes that colonial tea sellers had to pay.

1773, in the evening, a large group of Boston rebels disguised as Native Americans, dumped 18,000 lbs of tea off of 3 British East India Company Ships into the waters of the Boston harbor.

Tea Act

Writs of assistance

KING GEORGE III WAS INFURIATED BY THE BOSTON TEA PARTY, and imposed a serious of acts that seriously infringed upon the colonists’ rights.

Intolerable Acts

Quartering ActColonists forced to quarter British soldiers in their homes. Imagine that…

Tar and Feathering

First Continental Congress… The Sons of Liberty were furious, and

immediately assembled in September, 1774 in Philadelphia.

They drew up a declaration of colonial rights, and supported the protests in Massachusetts. They stated that if the British used force against the colonies, the colonies would fight back.

They decided to meet again in May 1775 if their demands were not met.

Paul Revere… After the First Continental Congress, the colonists

stepped up military preparations. Minutemen, or civilian soldiers, stockpiled

firearms and gunpowder. They stored their supplied near Concord, a town

outside of Boston, . John Hancock and Samuel Adams, two of the

most prominent leaders of the resistance, were in hiding near Lexington (close by)

Rumor had it that the British (led by General Gage) were coming—and a source informed the proxy leader, Joseph Warren who told Paul Revere (member of the Sons of Liberty) to notify Adams & Hancock.

First Continental Congress (STOP HERE)

THE WAR

DAY 3

The British Are The British Are Coming Coming . . .. . .

Paul ReverePaul Revere & & William DawesWilliam Dawes make make their midnight ride to warn the their midnight ride to warn the

MinutemenMinutemen of approaching British of approaching British soldiers.soldiers.

April 19, 1775 The King’s troops reached Lexington 70 minutemen were there waiting British commander ordered them to leave Someone FIRED! British followed suit. Eight Minutemen killed The British marched on to Concord. Nothing

there, so they march back to Boston. Quickly became a slaughter—3,000-4,000

Minutemen had assembled, and they fired at the marching troops.

Adams and Hancock were fleeing deeper into the woods, but heard the gunshots.

The Shot Heard The Shot Heard ’’Round the WorldRound the World!!

LexingtonLexington & & ConcordConcord – April – April 18,177518,1775

Second Continental Congress

To revolt, or not to revolt? As promised, in May 1775 the Americans

reconvened for the Second Continental Congress.

Here, they devised a radical plan—that each colony set up its own government and that Congress declare the colonies independent!

American citizens were deeply divided... Debates carried on into June Colonial militia-men stationed in Boston;

Congress appointed Continental Army. George Washington appointed as commander

Battle of Bunker Hill… British General Thomas Gage strikes

militiamen near Bunker Hill (actually near Breed’s Hill), close by Boston

Colonists shot down advancing “redcoats,” as British soldiers were called.

450 colonists lost, 1,000 British casualties

Olive Branch PetitionThe colonists were still

divided, and just wanted peace, so they sent the king the Olive Branch Petition, urging a return to the “former harmony” between Britain and the colonies.

KING GEORGE REJECTED THE PETITION

Revolutionary Ideas… In the months after the Olive Branch Petition, a thin document

called Common Sense containing the powerful words of an angry citizen began to circulate through the colonies and change public opinion.

In this pamphlet, Thomas Paine attacked King George III.

Paine declared that the time had come for colonists to proclaim an independent republic!

He stated that independence would give Americans a chance to create a better society—one free from tyranny, with equal social and economic opportunities for all!

Common Sense 50 page pamphlet attacking King

George III Independence was our American

destiny Sold 500,000 copies Got the colonist stirred up!!!

Thomas PaineThomas Paine: : Common SenseCommon Sense

John Locke’s revolutionary ideas… Jefferson’s masterful Declaration of

Independence drew upon concepts of English philosopher, John Locke: People enjoy “natural rights” to life, liberty,

and property. Jefferson called them “Life, liberty, and the

pursuit of happiness.” Jefferson kept with the spirit of Locke’s

writings: governments derive their power from the

people, All men are created equal.

Jefferson & the Declaration of Independence

By summer of 1776, Congress pushed colonies to declare independence

Congress appointed a committee to prepare a formal declaration explaining the reasons for the colonies’ actions to break away from Britain

Virginia lawyer, Thomas Jefferson, was chosen to express the committee’s points.

The Declaration was adopted July 2, 1776.

Declaration of Independence

July 4th 1776Written by

Thomas Jefferson

Let the British know we were our own country

Declaration of Declaration of Independence Independence

(1776)(1776)

George Washington Lead the

American Army to victory in the Revolutionary War

Military StrategiesMilitary Strategies

Attrition [the Brits had a long supply line].

Guerilla tactics [fight an insurgent war you don’t have to win a battle, just wear the British down]

Make an alliance with one of Britain’s enemies.

The American

s

The British

Break the colonies in half by getting between the No. & the So.

Blockade the ports to prevent the flow of goods and supplies from an ally.

“Divide and Conquer” use the Loyalists.

Washington Crossing the Washington Crossing the DelawareDelaware

Painted by Emanuel Leutze, 1851

Which side would you be on? Loyalists: People who stayed loyal to

the British during the war Patriots: wanted their independence

from Britain

Cornwallis’ Surrender at Cornwallis’ Surrender at Yorktown:Yorktown:

Painted by John Trumbull, 1797

““The World Turned Upside The World Turned Upside Down!” Down!”

Treaty of Paris 1783 Confirmed US

independence and set boundaries

Peace treaty

North America After theNorth America After theTreaty of Paris, 1783Treaty of Paris, 1783

Shays’ Rebellion: 1786-Shays’ Rebellion: 1786-77Farmers angry about

coming back from war and being in debt because of taxes.

Significance: Made Founding Fathers realize they needed to write some kind of constitution.

What is a constitution?