American Revolution 1763-1783 Coach C Unit II American Revolution 1763-1783 Coach C

Slideshow Key *IT IS YOUR JOB TO CONNECT THESE FIVE ITEMS Vocab Term = RED Important Event = BLUE Important Location = GREEN Important Person = ORANGE Causes, Motivations and “Why’s” = PURPLE *IT IS YOUR JOB TO CONNECT THESE FIVE ITEMS

Pre Unit: Comparing Governments Great Britain Colonies King Bicameral legislature Inherited titles + Elected men Less than ¼ of men qualify to vote Governor (appointed by King; paid by colonies) Bicameral Legislature Inherited + Elected men Used Great Britain as gov’t model

Build-up to Revolution

Build-up Events Prior to 1776 several events spurred colonial resentment towards the British empire Taxation without Representation (Sugar, Quartering, Stamp Acts) Colonial Protests Boston Massacre Boston Tea Party The Intolerable Acts Townshend Acts

Build-Up: French + Indian War Recap Also called “7 Years War” Doubled England’s national debt Seen as unfair by many English citizens as war was fought to protect colonies, resulted in taxes imposed on colonies by Parliament

Build-Up: Taxation w/o Representation Sugar Act 1764- assigned customs officers/ courts to collect taxes on imported sugar Quartering Act 1765- Required colonists to house and supply British troops stationed nearby Stamp Act 1765- First direct tax within colonies Taxed almost all printed materials: Newspapers, books, court documents, etc.

Build Up: Colonists Outraged by Taxes Colonists felt Parliament had no right to tax them while the colonies were un-represented in British gov’t. Argument puzzled Parliament as all paid taxes, but the right to vote remained very exclusive in Britain

Build Up: 3 Types of Protest Intellectual Protest Sermons, Pamphlets, Published Articles Economic Boycotts Failure to pay taxes or boycott of certain goods Violent Intimidation Tarring and feathering, burning down homes and offices

Build Up: Enlightenment Ideas Lead to Protest Enlightenment Thinkers People have divine Natural Rights Life, Lib., Land (Happiness) Government exists for the good of the ppl. Gov’t exists for good of ppl (Locke) Ppl have right to protest gov’t John Locke (England) Social Contract Baron de Montesquieu Patrick Henry Wrote the “Virginia Resolves” (pg. 101)

Build Up: Virginia Resolves Written by Patrick Henry, 6 point document argued that only colonial assemblies had right to tax colonists. 4 of 6 adopted by Virginia H.O.B. 2 of 6 (including rejecting imperial taxation) were rejected, and seen as “too extreme” 8 other colonies adopted similar resolves

Build Up: Sons of Liberty Group formed to oppose Stamp Act Formed across colonies but prevalent in Boston led by Samuel Adams Violently assaulted and burned homes of Stamp tax collectors. By end of 1765 every stamp collector in colonies had resigned

Build Up: Boycott of British Goods Non-Importation Agreements In New York in 1765; 9 colonies resolved to boycott importation of British goods, severely hurting British merchants “Daughters of Liberty” : Women who supported boycott by making “homespun” cloth to replace boycotted British cloth Resulted in the repeal of Stamp Act in 1766

Build Up: Townshend Acts After repeal of Stamp Act, British gov’t decided to indirectly tax commerce with Townshend Acts Levied new import tax on everyday items such as: glass, lead, paint, paper tea, etc. Intended to pay salary of colonial governors and judges (previously paid by colonial legislature)

Boston Massacre Violent protest again erupts in Boston due to passing of Townshend Acts As a result Crown sends 4,000 troops to occupy Boston, a city of 16,000 people In March 1770 colonists assaulted British soldiers stationed at Customs House Red Coats responded by shooting and killing 5 protesters The incident was branded the “Boston Massacre” by Samuel Adams and his group of Patriots

Build Up: Committees of Correspondence After Boston Massacre Samuel Adams helped form network of local Committees of Correspondence Committees were formed across the country which helped build colonial unity Helped coordinate cooperation between protest groups Eventually led to British repealing majority of Townshend Acts and withdrawal of troops in Boston *BRITISH DID NOT REPEAL TAX ON TEA, THUS COLONIAL BOYCOTT ON TEA REMAINED IN EFFECT

Build Up: Boston Tea Party Colonial boycott of Tea specifically hurt British East India Trading Co. To help company British gov’t allowed BEI to sell directly, thus making it cheaper than substitute Dutch tea To prove the point, on December 16, 1773, Boston patriots snuck aboard B.E.I. ships dressed as Indians and dumped tea into Boston Harbor. Later came to be known as the Boston Tea Party

Build Up: The Intolerable Acts Coercive “Intolerable” Acts Colonial Response Passed in retaliation for Boston Tea Party Closed Boston port to trade until tea and tax was repaid Increased power of Governor at expense of elected assembly Enforced Act by placing British warships in Boston Colonists outraged that Britain would attempt to shut down trade and alter colonial government at will Sparked Tarring + Feathering of crown supporters Seen as grave threat to freedom of the colonies

Build Up: First Continental Congress To coordinate response to Intolerable Acts the First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in fall of 1774 Only state not to attend was Georgia Announced renewed boycott of all British imports Set up local provincial congresses to enforce boycotts (governing bodies independent of Parliament) Patrick Henry famously says: “Give me liberty, or give me death”

Road to Declaring Independence

Road to Independence: Provincial Congress In 1775 following Coercive Acts, England installed Gen. Thomas Gage as Governor of Mass. Displeased, John Hancock and Samuel Adams convened a Provincial Congress to govern the state without Gage Here Colonists chose to begin stockpiling arms and forming Militia

Road to Independence: Loyalists v. Patriots Colonists who remained loyal to the Crown (about 1/5 colony pop.) Saw Patriots as “uncivilized” and “uncoordinated” Feared war with greatest army on Earth at the time (Britain) Disliked taxes, but preferred British rule Sought freedom from Britain’s heavy handed rule Large part of army made up of Militia Militia- farmers or tradesmen who were untrained and fought part time

Road to Independence: Lexington + Concord I Redcoat Mission On April 19, 1775 Gov. Gage sent Redcoats to arrest Hancock and Adams Secondary mission to seize Patriot arms stockpiled in Concord Patriots tipped off to approaching Red Coats by Paul Revere and his men “Redcoats are coming!”

Road to Independence: Lexington + Concord II Redcoats + Loyalist Flee Lexington + Concord Around 70 Patriots gather in Lexington to defy Redcoats While Patriots disband someone fires “Shot heard round the World” Brief skirmish; 8 Patriots die Patriots line road to Concord and kill over 200 Redcoats First “battle” of Revolutionary War The Patriot resistance shocked British; as result Loyalists and Redcoats retreat to British controlled Boston

Road to Independence: Second Continental Congress Until this Congress only the Massachusetts colony was “at war” Congress voted to back the war George Washington granted control of Continental Army Washington considered French + Indian War hero Esteemed colonel from most powerful colony: Virginia

Road to Independence: Common Sense In 1776 an English immigrant, Thomas Paine, published a short book titled “Common Sense” The book resonated with colonists as it expressed what many of them believed in: The desire for an American government separate of British rule The popular publication emboldened Patriots and gave fight for Independence new life Suggested that all government officials should be elected (previously 1/3) Over 150k copies printed (total population of colonies around 2.5MM) Preached against class structure (meritocracy over monarchy)

Road to Independence: Common Sense II

Declaration of Independence

Declaration of Independence I After Paine’s “Common Sense”, public opinion favored Independence On July 2nd 1776 Congress approved America was free 2 days later the Declaration of Independence (drafted by Thomas Jefferson) was approved

Declaration of Independence: Arguments and Organization Preamble Re-iterates the Tyranny of the King States the reasons for the writing of the document Cites unjust uses of power against Colonists Stated grievances against the crown Emphasized “Natural Rights” Refusal of elected officials All men created equal; unalienable rights Unlawful quartering Ideas drawn from Paine, Locke, Montesquieu Attempted to stop immigration Unnecessarily brought on violence against colonists

Declaration of Independence: Thomas Jefferson

Revolutionary War This was covered in class by group projects, this information can also be found on pages 120-125 of your text book!

The Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation Original constitution for United States Called for loose confederation of 13 states (weak central gov’t) Rejected centralized power (more representative gov’t) 13 of 13 must agree to pass laws Set up gave equal power to small and large states (1 vote each) No President or Exec branch Only had Congress to enforce laws

Articles of Confederation: Plan for Governing Western Lands The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 presented a plan for governing newly won, western lands; based on Thomas Jefferson’s ideas.

Articles of Confederation: Weaknesses The Articles of Confederation created 13 independent colonies, this model of government was found to have the following weaknesses. No common currency (can’t fund debts) Too difficult to amend Too hard to regulate trade Uneven representation

Articles of Confederation: Shay’s Rebellion Revolution Vet. Daniel Shay led an uprising of farmers in western Massachusetts that interfered with the state courts in protest of unfair taxes that put farmers in debt. The responding debt relief programs offered by the state, and others with the same problem caused massive inflation and signaled the need for a stronger Federal Government that could regulate the states in such times

The Constitution

Constitution: Scrapping the Articles In 1787: 12 of 13 states (R.I. did not attend) agreed to create a new binding document that would allow congress to regulate trade and levy taxes to fund the government. Known as Federal Convention

Constitution: Virginia v. New Jersey Virginia Plan New Jersey Plan Va. largest and most powerful state Proposed bi-cameral legislature where: bigger pop.= more delegates Strong President 7 year term More closely resembled A.o.C. Legislature was always equal: 1 vote per person States would remain separate Only loose congressional oversight

Constitution: 3/5 Compromise Northern states wished not to count slaves as people. In doing so Southern states would have had fewer house rep’s Southern states wanted to count slaves to inflate population numbers. James Madison disagreed: “Slavery is the greatest oppression ever exercised by man over man” The compromise counted slaves as 3/5 of a citizen in a states counted population in H.O.R.