The American Revolution and Its Impact

1. The American Revolution and Its Impact Readings: Spodek, pp. 536-539

2. England was the exception to the Pyramid Shaped Societies • The English Civil War and the “Glorious Revolution” led to an increasing role of Parliament.

3. Puritan New England • Town Meeting • Wanted consensus • Kicked out dissenters • New Englanders

4. The South • Had Locke-inspired Constitution • 40 shilling freehold • Excluded Many poor Appalachia Farmers • County was the basic unit of Government • Many counties in the South were 50% slaves

5. All Colonies • Had minor legislative institutions • Were diverse • All happy to be English citizens • All had some rights

6. Grenville Plan – 1764 • Salutary Neglect • Grenville attempts to find old laws • Navigation Acts • Molasses Tax • Sugar Act • Stamp Act • Quartering Act

7. Committees of Correspondence • Propaganda makes it a Massacre • 3 years later was the Boston Tea Party • Punished for the Boston Tea Party • Had various names

8. First Continental Congress • September 4, 1774 • All colonies but Georgia • Refused to Import Goods • British angered by this and decided to destroy colonial stores in Concord

9. Declaration of Independence • Was signed in 1776, about a year after the war had started • It made the French realize that we were serious and they joined the colonists to fight the British

10. Key Points in Declaration . “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

11. Hamilton and Jefferson

12. The Constitution • Was written after the Articles of Confederation had failed. • It was a compromise but more Hamiltonian • Separation of Powers • Checks and balances • Bill of Rights added later

13. George Washington • Became president in 1789. • Did not become military dictator • Did not want to ever have a king again