1. Revolution!
CHY
Lesson 50

2. Revolution! Learning Goal:
Explain how the ideas of the Enlightenment led to drastic changes in governance
What do you think?
What did they think?
Mercantilism
Causes of the American Civil War

3. Mercantilism
A system by which governments intervened in the economy in order to increase the wealth of the state
Regulated economic activity
Economic success was measured in this time by actual wealth in hand- bullion
In order to do this, a balance of trade must exist

4. Self-sufficiency was the main goal the less dependent a state is on imports, the more wealth it would amass
Surplus wealth could then be used for war (which at the time remember was considered inevitable and peacetime was only used as time to prepare for war)
The only way to acquire such self sufficiency was to become an imperial power (colonies)

5. Merchants became prosperous
Both the state and the merchants encouraged manufacturing in the home country and export to the colonies and other states- however this means people must be discouraged from consuming too much in the home country
Therefore luxuries could not be imported- Louis XIV found industries of silk, china and tapestries- thus protecting their market and encouraging others to buy from them
The natural outcome of this system was the creation of private and national banks

6. Commerce encouraged the growth of new business- merchants banded together and offered stocks
Governments encouraged investing in businesses and gave property rights to governments businesses to establish monopolies in colonies (Hudson Bay Company, Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company)

7. Risks of Mercantilism
Economies would run cyclical depending upon a states fortunes in war
Success in colonial policy
Ability to manufacture goods
Status of agricultural sector
Speculation

8. Laissez-faire
The spirit of the enlightenment challenged and eventually defeated the mercantile system
The Physiocrats- Quesnay and Turgot- a science of economics
The economic system needed reform- more freedom- create a healthy competitive market free from regulation

9. Adam Smith
The Wealth of Nations (1776)- Capitalist Bible- created the concept of economic liberty
“Labour gave good value not bullion”
“consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer”

10. Adam Smith
Free trade and competition- the economy should be self regulating based upon the laws of supply and demand
“individuals should be able to pursue their own enlightened self interest according to natural laws”
The Division of Labour
The Invisible Hand- deist god of nature was also the guardian of the liberal economy

12. Adam Smith
Smith was also a moral philosopher- rid the restraints on individual action and permit people to determine their own self interest
“every man as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest, his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man, or order of men”
All the state should do is protect society in case of war, administer justice and maintain public works and institutions
The scientific method and enlightenment penetrated political and economic theory
A PLEA FOR LIBERTY

13. The Thirteen Colonies What were they like? Government system
Laws and customs
Traded with each other
Had been around for 150 years
Felt American rather than tied to Britain

14. Causes of the Revolution

15. Seven Years War (French and Indian War)
A proxy war in North America fought between France and Britain
British victory led to end of French control of N America
Cost of the war was debilitating to Britain
Since the American colonies were the beneficiaries of Britain’s victory, Britain taxed the colonies to get their money back.
Americans complained about ‘taxation without representation’
They had no representatives in British parliament

16. Stamp Act
1765
Colonists had to pay a tax (in the form of a stamp) on all printed documents (newspapers, legal documents, etc.)
Colonists fought back by terrorizing the British tax collectors
Was repealed eventually

17. Townshend Act
1767
Allowed Parliament to put taxes on many other goods including glass, lead, paper, and tea
Some colonies tried to negotiate a solution; others sent clear statements to British Parliament explaining that Br had no constitutional right to legislate for the colonies
British troops had to come into Boston (1768) to prevent an uprising… resistance made it impossible to collect the tax

18. Boston Massacre 1770 Tension over the presence of troops remained
Br troops fired on a crowd, killing 5 civilians
Publicized by Paul Revere in his engraving called, “The Bloody Massacre”
Got everyone riled up!

19. Boston Tea Party/ Intolerable Acts
1773
A tax on tea was levied (put in place)
‘Sons of Liberty’ boarded a tea vessel dressed as native people
Dumped all the tea in the harbour
Resulted in the ‘Intolerable Acts’ (1774)
Aimed at the colony of Massachusetts (where Boston is)
Called the ‘Coersive Acts’ by the British
Included the Quebec Act which gave land and freedom to the former French colonists that the thirteen colonies really wanted

20. First Continental Congress (1774) Second Continental Congress (1775)
Formed to draw consensus among the colonies
Attempted to prevent war
Knew that British occupation was coming
1st met in Philadelphia with 12 or 13 colonies represented
Demanded to be granted full rights of British citizenship
Would meet a year later if no changes had been made
April 1775, British tried to seize guns and gunpowder
Led to a skirmish with colonists

21. 2nd met in May 1775
They prepared for war

22. Thomas Paine and Common Sense
One of the most influential pamphlets in American history
Galvanized the American public to support the Revolution and condemn the monarchy in England.

23. Declaration of Independence