American History: Unit 2
Battle of Lexington
"shot heard around the world". Paul Revere captured. The Minute Men (militia) were not "uniformed trained" soldiers that showed up and fought against the British. They weren't fighting for independence, but rebelling against British Parliament.
Royal Proclamation Line of 1763
During the war, the British Crown issued the Royal Proclamation Line of 1763, which marked the Appalachian Mountains as the boundary between Indian country and the British colonies. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was Britain's first major postwar imperial action concerning North America. The King forbade settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains in an attempt to limit costly wars with Native Americans. Colonists, however, protested and demanded access to the territory for which they had fought alongside the British
John Locke
Enlightenment- People like John Locke, Ben Franklin, etc... Secular thought comes out of both the scientific revolution and the enlightenment period. Had a great impact on colonial thinking.Locke argued that the mind was originally a tabula rasa (or blank slate) and that individuals were formed primarily by their environment. The aristocracy then were wealthy or successful because they had greater access to wealth, education, and patronage and not because they were innately superior. Locke followed this essay with Some Thoughts Concerning Education, which introduced radical new ideas about the importance of education. Education would produce rational human beings capable of thinking for themselves and questioning authority rather than tacitly accepting tradition. These ideas slowly came to have far-reaching effects in the colonies and, later, the new nation.At the same time Locke's ideas about knowledge and education spread in North America, the colonies also experienced an unprecedented wave of evangelical Protestant revivalism
George Washington
France and Britain feuded over the boundaries of their respective North American empires. The feud turned bloody in 1754 when a force of British colonists and Native American allies, led by young George Washington, killed a French diplomat. This incident led to a war, which would become known as the Seven Years' War or the French and Indian War.
Seven Years' War
France and Britain feuded over the boundaries of their respective North American empires. The feud turned bloody in 1754 when a force of British colonists and Native American allies, led by young George Washington, killed a French diplomat. This incident led to a war, which would become known as the Seven Years' War or the French and Indian War. In North America, the French achieved victory in the early portion of this war. They attacked and burned multiple British outposts, such as Fort William Henry in 1757. In addition, the French seemed to easily defeat British attacks, such as General Braddock's attack on Fort Duquesne, and General Abercrombie's attack on Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga) in 1758. These victories were often the result of alliances with Native Americans.The Seven Years War and Troubled British Imperial Finances- Known as the French and Indian war. The British and Spanish took over the land belonged to the Indians. The British stopped settlers from settling westward which was land reserved for the Indians. They had so much land in North America that they had to station troops over there which was very expensive leading to British debt (nearly doubled at the end of the war). The Seven Years' War ended with the peace treaties of Paris and Hubertusburg in 1763. The British received much of Canada and North America from the French, while the Prussians retained the important province of Silesia. The Seven Years' War pushed the thirteen American colonies closer together politically and culturally than ever before. The Seven Years War was tremendously expensive and precipitated imperial reforms on taxation, commerce, and politics. Britain spent over £140 million, an astronomical figure for the day, and the expenses kept coming as new territory required new security obligations
Natural Law
Humans have rights that are not granted by the government-they can be violated or protected, but they are not given to us by the government.
Tea Act of 1773
In 1773, the Parliament passed the Regulating Act, which effectively put the troubled company under government control. It then passed the Tea Act, which would allow the Company to sell its tea in the colonies directly and without the usual import duties. This would greatly lower the cost of tea for colonists, but, again, they resisted. he Sugar Act, it only affected a small, specific group of people. The widespread support for resisting the Tea Act had more to do with principles. By buying the tea, even though it was cheaper, colonists would be paying the duty and thereby implicitly acknowledging Parliament's right to tax them. The Tea Act stipulated that the duty had to be paid when the ship unloaded. Newspaper essays and letters throughout the summer of 1773 in the major port cities debated what to do upon the ships' arrival. In November, the Boston Sons of Liberty, led by Samuel Adams and John Hancock, resolved to "prevent the landing and sale of the [tea], and the payment of any duty thereon" and to do so "at the risk of their lives and property."26 The meeting appointed men to guard the wharfs and make sure the tea remained on the ships until they returned to London. This worked and the tea did not reach the shore, but by December 16, the ships were still there
Committees of Correspondence
In New York, citizens elected committees to direct the colonies' response to the Coercive Acts, including a Mechanics' Committee of middling colonists. By early 1774, Committees of Correspondence and/or extra-legal assemblies were established in all of the colonies except Georgia. And throughout the year, they followed Massachusetts' example by seizing the powers of the royal governments. Committees of Correspondence agreed to send delegates to a Continental Congress to coordinate an inter-colonial response.
Articles of Confederation
In the 1780s, Americans would shape and then re-shape that nation-state, first with the Articles of Confederation, ratified in 1781. The Articles allowed each state one vote in the Continental Congress. But the Articles are perhaps most notable for what they did not allow. Congress was given no power to levy or collect taxes, regulate foreign or interstate commerce, or establish a federal judiciary. These shortcomings rendered the post-war Congress weak and largely ineffectual. The states created the confederation not the people which is different than the constitution "we the people.." not the states.
Thomas Paine
January 1776. He wrote that Americans should fight for independence....he was the first to make that first call for independence....but it is not called yet. Summer of 1776- Declaration of Independence. voted for the declaration of July 2nd...printed and released to the public on July 4th.
Liberalism
John Locke and Natural Law: Like people are republican they are also liberal. Humans are distinct and exceptional- we have God given rights (natural law thought)
Declaration of Independence
On May 10, 1776, nearly two months before the Declaration of Independence, the Congress voted a resolution calling on all colonies that had not already established revolutionary governments to do so and to wrest control from royal officials. The Congress also recommended that the colonies should begin preparing new written constitutions. In many ways, this was the Congress's first declaration of independence. The passage of Lee's resolution was the official legal declaration of independence, but, between the proposal and vote, a committee had been named to draft a public declaration in case the resolution passed. Virginian Thomas Jefferson drafted the document, with edits being made by his fellow committee members John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, and then again by the Congress as a whole. The Congress approved the document on July 4, 1776. However, it was one thing to declare independence; it was quite another to win it on the battlefield. Declaration of Independence, helped highlight some of those inequalities and became a shared aspiration for future social and political movements, including, among others, the abolitionist and women's rights movements of the nineteenth century, the suffragist and civil rights movements of the twentieth century, and the gay rights movement of the twenty-first century.
Benjamin Franklin
Philadelphia's rise as the printing capital of the colonies began with two important features: first, the arrival of Benjamin Franklin in 1723, equal parts scholar and businessman. Franklin was a one-man culture of print, revolutionizing the book trade in addition to creating public learning initiatives such as the Library Company and the Academy of Philadelphia. Enlightenment- People like John Locke, Ben Franklin, etc... Secular thought comes out of both the scientific revolution and the enlightenment period. In 1754, Benjamin Franklin suggested a plan of union to coordinate colonial defenses on a continental scale. Tens of thousands of colonials fought during the war
Declaratory Act of 1766
Pressure on Parliament grew until, in February of 1766, they repealed the Stamp Act. But to save face and to try to avoid this kind of problem in the future, Parliament also passed the Declaratory Act, asserting that Parliament had the "full power and authority to make laws . . . to bind the colonies and people of America . . . in all cases whatsoever." However, colonists were too busy celebrating the repeal of the Stamp Act to take much notice of the Declaratory Act.
Coercive Act
Put in place by prime minister Lord North. Also known as the "intolerable acts." Collection of laws that crack down on Massachusetts and make them pay for all of the tea that happened. This shut down the port where tea came in, town meetings so freedom of assembly was limited. The governor was replaced with a military governor (Thomas Gage). Local government was appointed by royal authority which cause parliament to step in and ultimately inflamed the rebellion happening. The fear was that what was happening with Massachusetts was going to happen to the other colonies. Parliament passed four acts known collectively, by the British, as the "Coercive Acts." Colonists, however, referred to them as the "Intolerable Acts." First, the Boston Port Act shut down the harbor and cut off all trade to and from the city. The Massachusetts Government Act put the colonial government entirely under British control, dissolving the assembly and restricting town meetings. The Administration of Justice Act allowed any royal official accused of a crime to be tried in Britain rather than by Massachusetts courts and juries. Finally, the Quartering Act, passed for all colonies, allowed the British army to quarter newly arrived soldiers in colonists' homes. Boston had been deemed in open rebellion, and the King, his Ministry, and Parliament acted decisively to end the rebellion.
John Adams
Radical Massachussets delegate implored the Congress to support the Massachusetts militia, who without supplies were laying siege to Boston.
Paul Revere
Revere became a Freemason in 1760, and soon joined two more overtly political groups-the Sons of Liberty and the North End Caucus. Through them, he participated in Samuel Adams's gradually accelerating movement toward independence, serving primarily as a courier and an engraver of propaganda pictures, the two best-known examples of which are a "view" of British ships landing troops in 1768 and a wildly inaccurate cartoon depicting the Boston Massacre of 1770. The highlight of his Whig activity came the night of April 18-19, 1775, when on Joseph Warren's orders he crossed the Charles River and rode to Lexington to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops were coming through on their way to Concord. Revere got the word to the radical leaders, but a British patrol prevented any further progress. Once hostilities began, Revere once again joined the artillery, serving without note until the disastrous expedition to Castine, Maine. In the aftermath of the American rout there, he faced charges of disobedience and incompetence that, although ultimately refuted, permanently ended his service.
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was the killing of five colonists by British regulars on March 5, 1770. It was the culmination of tensions in the American colonies that had been growing since Royal troops first appeared in Massachusetts in October 1768 to enforce the heavy tax burden imposed by the Townshend Acts.
Stamp Act of 1765
The Stamp Act Congress of 1765 brought colonial leaders together in an unprecedented show of cooperation against taxes imposed by Parliament and popular boycotts of British goods created a common narrative of sacrifice, resistance, and shared political identity. A rebellion loomed. In March 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp Act. The act required many documents be printed on paper that had been stamped to show the duty had been paid, including newspapers, pamphlets, diplomas, legal documents, and even playing cards. The Sugar Act of 1764 was an attempt to get merchants to pay an already-existing duty, but the Stamp Act created a new, direct (or "internal") tax. Unlike the Sugar Act, which primarily affected merchants, the Stamp Act directly affected numerous groups throughout colonial society, including printers, lawyers, college graduates, and even sailors who played cards. This led, in part, to broader, more popular resistance. Resistance to the Stamp Act took three forms, distinguished largely by class: legislative resistance by elites, economic resistance by merchants, and popular protest by common colonists. Colonial elites responded with legislative resistance initially by passing resolutions in their assemblies. The most famous of the anti-Stamp Act resolutions were the "Virginia Resolves," passed by the House of Burgesses on May 30, 1765, which declared that the colonists were entitled to "all the liberties, privileges, franchises, and immunities . . . possessed by the people of Great Britain. While the Stamp Act Congress deliberated, merchants in major port cities were preparing non-importation agreements, hoping that their refusal to import British goods would lead British merchants to lobby for the repeal of the Stamp Act. In New York City, "upwards of two hundred principal merchants" agreed not to import, sell, or buy "any goods, wares, or merchandises" from Great Britain. In Philadelphia, merchants gathered at "a general meeting" to agree that "they would not Import any Goods from Great-Britain until the Stamp-Act was Repealed."14 The plan worked. By January 1766, London merchants sent a letter to Parliament arguing that they had been "reduced to the necessity of pending ruin" by the Stamp Act and the subsequent boycotts.15 The third, and perhaps, most crucial type of resistance was popular protest. Violent riots broke out in Boston. Croweds burned the appointed stamp distributor for Massachusetts, Andrew Oliver, in effigy and pulled a building he owned "down to the Ground in five minutes." By November 16, all of the original twelve stamp distributors had resigned, and by 1766, groups who called themselves the "Sons of Liberty" were formed in most of the colonies to direct and organize further popular resistance. These tactics had the dual effect of sending a message to Parliament and discouraging colonists from accepting appointments as stamp collectors. With no one to distribute the stamps, the Act became unenforceable.
Molasses Act of 1733
The molasses from france was extremely expensive so there was a tax put on it coming into the country which made it harder for consumers to get. There was a crack down on smuggling with increased military spending even more because there were officers placed at import stations on the boarder to control smuggling.
Sugar Act of 1764
The most important tax within the sugar act was lowered- tax on french molasses was lowered coming into the Empire. The Sugar Act sought to combat widespread smuggling of molasses in New England by cutting the duty in half but increasing enforcement. Also, smugglers would be tried by vice-admiralty courts and not juries. The Sugar Act of 1764 was an attempt to get merchants to pay an already-existing duty, but the Stamp Act created a new, direct (or "internal") tax.
Whigs vs Loyalists
Whig history- The first histories that was written about the revolution were the people in the actual revolution. The sons of liberty- whigs. The whigs supported the revolution. Whigs in England were apart of the party that opposed the King...When Americans rebelled against the kind they were called whigs. This is the dominate way the story is told- makes it sound like we were patriots and standing up for our rights??? The radical (or Patriot) Whigs based their imperial vision on trade and manufacturing instead of land and resources. They argued that economic growth, not raising taxes, would solve the national debt. Instead of an authoritarian empire, "patriot Whigs" argued that the colonies should have equal status with the mother country. There were occasional attempts to reform the administration of the colonies, but debate between the two sides prevented coherent reform. Loyalists- the patriots. For the King. The interpretation of the Revolution wasn't flattering (they said the Americans were over reacting and being paranoid).
Townsend Duties
Women, too, became involved to an unprecedented degree in resistance to the Townshend Acts. They circulated subscription lists and gathered signatures. The first political commentaries in newspapers written by women appeared. Also, without new imports of British clothes, colonists took to wearing simple, homespun clothing. Spinning clubs were formed, in which local women would gather at one their homes and spin cloth for homespun clothing for their families and even for the community. Homespun clothing quickly became a marker of one's virtue and patriotism, and women were an important part of this cultural shift. At the same time, British goods and luxuries previously desired now became symbols of tyranny. Non-importation, and especially, non-consumption agreements changed colonists' cultural relationship with the mother country. Committees of Inspection monitored merchants and residents to make sure that no one broke the agreements. Offenders could expect to be shamed by having their names and offenses published in the newspaper and in broadsides. methods of resistance against the Townshend Acts became more inclusive and more coordinated. Colonists previously excluded from meaningful political participation now gathered signatures, and colonists of all ranks participated in the resistance by not buying British goods, and monitoring and enforcing the boycotts.
Greenville Program
the cost of collecting colonies was more than they were bringing in. They started thinking of taxes as a revenue. The changes to the taxes is called the Grenville program ending salutary neglect. The purchasing of goods within the empire was meant to discourage the purchase of French products and use the money made to pay off dept. Americans were smuggling products in because the taxes were so high (black market).