Unit 2 Study Guide ch. 5-7
Discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages for the patriots in rebelling against England.
Advantages: Advantages included the enthusiasm of the patriots, the patriots' diffuse distribution over a large geographical area, their ability to fight within their home country, and Britain's reluctance to follow through militarily when they had the advantage. Disadvantages: The patriots' disadvantages included their inexperienced militias, lack of unification behind the patriot case in the colonies, and little money to command and supply an army.
Discuss several of the advantages and disadvantages for the British in fighting a war against the colonists.
Advantages: The most significant advantage for Britain was its standing as the mightiest military power in the world. In addition, it faced inexperienced colonial militias, and many colonists remained loyal to Britain. Disadvantages: Disadvantages included the difficulties associated with supplying an army stationed three thousand miles away, across the Atlantic; the need to put down the colonial rebellion without destroying the buildings, farms, and other resources and infrastructure of the colonies in the process; and the absence of a single colonial political nerve center for the British to capture.
Although the societies of New England, the middle colonies, and the southern colonies grew increasingly differentiated during the eighteenth century, colonists throughout British North America shared certain unifying experiences. Identify three of these experiences and briefly explain how they unified the colonists.
Agriculture: Agriculture was one experience that unified colonists from the three different regions. All of these colonists grew distinctive crops that they could sell in markets in return for British goods such as mirrors, silver, spices, linens, clocks, and books. These goods built a certain material uniformity among colonists and gave them the idea that they, as individuals, could make decisions that influenced the quality of their lives. Religion: The declining importance of religion was a second unifying experience. Most colonists focused less on religion and more on the affairs of the secular world than they had in the seventeenth century. The religious revivals of the Great Awakening spread across the colonies and briefly refreshed thousands of colonists' spiritual energies. Revivals contributed to a set of common experiences that bridged colonial divides of faith, region, class, and status, although they did not substantially boost church membership Identity with England: Third, white inhabitants throughout British North America—whether English, German, or Scots-Irish—became aware that they shared a distinctive identity as British colonists. Colonists from all ethnic origins expected that British power would defend them from foreign enemies, interact with their colonial assemblies, and trade with them. England's policies gave the colonists a common framework of political expectations and experiences.
Eighteenth-century colonial America was characterized by a rapidly growing, diverse population. Identify the two major sources of this growth and diversity and the major ethnic and racial groups that contributed to this diversity. Explain the way in which this population shift changed the demographic profile of the American colonies from 1670 to 1770.
Answer would ideally include: Natural Increase: Natural increase was a significant contributor to the dramatic population increase in the eighteenth century. It accounted for three-fourths of the population growth and both added to and was spurred on by the colonies' economic growth. Immigration: Although many ethnic groups immigrated to the colonies during this period, two of the largest were the Scots-Irish, who came by choice, and Africans, who came by force. Germans and Scots also came in significant numbers. Immigration shifted the ethnic balance among the colonists, so that by 1770, they were fewer English and fewer whites than ever before. In 1770, only about half the colonists were of English descent, and more than 20 percent descended from Africans.
Why did Bostonians throw tea overboard into Boston harbor in December 1773?
Boston Tea Party: The Tea Act, passed in 1773, was intended to lower the price of East India tea below that of smuggled Dutch tea, motivating Americans to buy legal tea rather than smuggled tea. Americans saw the act as part of an insidious plot to trick them into buying larger quantities of the dutied tea in order to increase British revenue to pay royal governors and judges. The tea trade was too lucrative for merchants to voluntarily give it up, and colonists knew that in this case a boycott would be ineffective. The Sons of Liberty persuaded local tea agents to resign their posts, which made it impossible for shippers to unload the tea. With tea-laden ships sitting in the harbor and no other solution apparent, Bostonians threw the tea into the harbor to resist the Tea Act.
What were the conflicting interests in the Ohio Valley before the Seven Years' War, and what was the outcome of the war for each participant?
Conflicts in the Ohio Valley: Land in the Ohio Valley was inhabited by more than a dozen Indian tribes. Pennsylvania traders began to infringe on the area, as did Virginians, who wanted to sell the land to other colonists for settlement. The French also claimed the land in the Ohio Valley because they had strong alliances with Indians and profitable trade routes there. Indians claimed that the land was their own; some tribes became allied with the French and others with the British. Outcome of the Seven Years' War: After the war, Britain won control of the Ohio Valley from France but issued the Proclamation of 1763 forbidding colonists to settle there. Colonists felt like they had made sacrifices in the war and were angry that they did not have legal access to the land. Land speculators, in particular, were concerned about loss of profits from claims they had already staked. Indians, having lost their French allies, were in a vulnerable position. Their land was now in the hands of the British and, despite British efforts to prevent it, colonists were encroaching on that land.
What impact did the French alliance have on the Revolutionary War's outcome?
Consequences of French Involvement in the War: The French alliance with the infant United States was critically important for its victory over the British. The Continental army depended on the French government for aid in the form of cannons, muskets, gunpowder, and highly trained military advisors. After the patriots' victory at Saratoga, French troops also arrived to provide direct military support to American troops. The participation of the French navy, with its infusion of troops and moral support for the patriot cause, made the American victory at Yorktown possible.
What role did religion play in eighteenth-century American society? Explain how the role of religion was shaped by the Enlightenment. How was it also shaped by the Great Awakening?
Religion: As commerce and trade became more central in American society in the eighteenth century, religion became less important. Most colonists were Christians in name only and went to church seldom or not at all. Many educated colonists—who were influenced by Enlightenment ideas that encouraged them to study the world around them, think for themselves, and look for natural order—became deists. For them, religion was a way to better understand nature and to think about ways to improve society. Great Awakening: Deism and religious indifference led, in part, to the Great Awakening, which attempted to revive religion as a central aspect of American life by emphasizing the importance of salvation. Revivalist preachers did not substantially boost the total number of church members, but they did use religious ideas to express democratic and egalitarian ideas that brought diverse colonists together.
Discuss the terms of the Treaty of Paris. Which issues were left unresolved?
Terms of the Treaty of Paris: The Treaty of Paris acknowledged the sovereignty of the United States, set its western boundary at the Mississippi River, and guaranteed that creditors on both sides could collect debts owed them in sterling money. Britain agreed to withdraw its troops quickly but was prohibited from taking "Negroes" or other property of the Americans. Unresolved Issues: The treaty failed to recognize the Indians as players in the conflict. Indian lands were assigned to the victors as though they were uninhabited. For the Indians, the Treaty of Paris brought no peace at all. Despite the treaty provision regarding property, Britain aided the emancipation of perhaps 10,000 slaves.
Briefly describe the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act, two of George Grenville's attempts to generate income for Britain in 1764 and 1765. Why did the colonists object to these measures?
The Sugar Act: The Revenue Act of 1764, also called the Sugar Act, both lowered the duty on French molasses to make it more likely that shippers and customs officials would pay that tax and raised the penalties for smuggling. It was essentially a toughening of duty and enforcement policies on the importation of French molasses. The Stamp Act: The Stamp Act was another revenue program that imposed a tax on all paper used for official documents, including newspapers, pamphlets, court documents, licenses, wills, and ships' cargo lists. These documents required an affixed stamp as proof that tax had been paid. To minimize conflict with the colonists, Grenville delegated the administration of the act to Americans. Objections: Colonists objected to the Sugar Act because British supervision of the molasses tax was perceived as a disturbing intrusion into the long colonial practice of centering taxation powers in colonial assemblies composed of elected representatives. They objected to the Stamp Act for similar reasons, arguing that taxes should be freely given with the consent of the people, not levied by a distant political body that did not represent the people required to pay.