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Explore the impact of Enlightenment ideas on American independence and the relationship between Great Britain and the colonies. Analyze key events, figures, and policies from 1607 to 1800.
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American Revolution Unit 2A AP U.S. History
Think About It • To what extent did the French and Indian War maintain continuity and foster change in the relationship between Great Britain and the 13 Colonies? • To what extent did colonial politics, economics, and culture from 1607 to 1754 influence the development of the American independence movement?
1650-1800 Laws of Nature applied to society Rationalism “Dare to know! Have the courage to use your own reason!” – Immanuel Kant Liberalism Deism “The Clockmaker” Absent of human affairs The EnlightenmentThe Age of Reason
The EnlightenmentJohn Locke • Second Treatise on Government • “The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind … that, being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions” • “Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free, equal, and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent.” • “Whensoever therefore the legislative shall transgress this fundamental rule of society; and either by ambition, fear, folly or corruption, endeavour to grasp themselves, or put into the hands of any other, an absolute power over the lives, liberties, and estates of the people; by this breach of trust they forfeit the power the people had put into their hands for quite contrary ends, and it devolves to the people, who have a right to resume their original liberty, and, by the establishment of a new legislative, (such as they shall think fit) provide for their own safety and security, which is the end for which they are in society.”
The EnlightenmentAdam Smith • An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations • Laissez-faire • Free trade • “the invisible hand” • Three Laws • More production from self-interest • Economic competition • Supply and demand
The EnlightenmentThe Philosophes • Voltaire • Candide • Baron de Montesquieu • Spirit of the Laws • Separation of powers • Checks and balances • Jean-Jacques Rousseau • The Social Contract • “the general will” • Mary Wollstonecraft Voltaire Mary Wollstonecraft
Salutary Neglect/Benign Neglect • British absenteeism • Distance between England and America • Political turmoil and relative peace • English Civil War (1642-1651) • Glorious Revolution (1688) • Colonies virtually on their own • Developed unique economies based on region • Economic growth • Colonial GNP was 25 million pounds ($2.25 billion) • 1/3 of the Great Britain’s GNP • GDP per capita was highest in the world by 1775 • Self-government • Proud British loyalists • High life expectancy and literacy rates
Britain Exerts More Control • Navigation Acts strengthened • Increased concept of mercantilism • Vice-admiralty courts • Merchant courts, juryless, “corrupt judges” • Board of Trade • Develop mercantilist policies over colonies • Molasses Act (1733) • Tax on non-British import of sugar
French and Indian War (1754-1763) • England vs. France • Washington, Fort Duquense, and Fort Necessity • Most Natives allied with French • William Pitt • Increased British troop activity in America • Colonists contributed to effort • Albany Plan of Union (1754) • Benjamin Franklin • Results/Consequences • British victory • Acquisition of French Canada and land east of Mississippi • War debt • 72M pounds (1755) • 129M pounds (1764) • British believed more control necessary • Colonial pride
Proclamation of 1763 • Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763) • Extensive Native alliance to deter colonists • Purpose • Avoid conflicts • Colonial Reaction • Denial of land
Preliminary Rebellions • Paxton Boys (1764) • Pennsylvania Scots-Irish upset with Quaker government and toleration of natives • Massacred Susquehannock • Regulators (1764-1771) • NC frontiersmen upset with eastern corruption
British Prime Ministers Believed colonies should foot the bill for wars and defense Encouraged unrestricted development of colonies Robert Walpole 1721-1742 George Grenville 1763-1765 Charles Townshend Chancellor of Exchequer 1766-1767 Enforced Parliament’s power but defended colonies and desire for representation Supported taxation of the colonies and ran Parliament during Revolution William Pitt 1766-1768 Frederick North 1770-1782
Sugar Act of 1764 Revenue tax Quartering Act of 1765 Stamp Act of 1765 First direct tax Declaratory Act of 1766 Parliament’s right to tax whatsoever Townshend Acts of 1767 Pay royal colonial officials Writs of assistance Tea Act of 1773 Support British East India Company “Intolerable Acts” Coercive Acts of 1774 Massachusetts Government Act (royal appointments) Port Act (Boston closed) Administration of Justice Act (trial of royal officials moved) Quebec Act of 1774 Appointed government; Catholicism recognized Prohibitory Act of 1775 Colonies in open rebellion Timeline of Parliamentary Acts
Parliamentary ActsThe Sugar Act (1764) • Purpose • Increased regulation of colonial trade • Raise revenue for war debt • Lowered tax rate • Sugar, spices, lumber • Vice-admiralty courts • Colonial Reaction • Colonial merchants and shippers • Boycotts • Repealed in 1766
Parliamentary ActsStamp Act (1765) • Purpose • First direct tax • Generate revenue for troops in America • Colonial Reaction • “No taxation without representation.” - James Otis • Stamp Act Congress • Sons and Daughters of Liberty • Committees of Correspondence
Parliament is Abusing the Rights of Americans; Parliament is Not Abusing the Rights of Americans Stephen Hopkins, The Rights of Colonists Examined (1764) Martin Howard, A Letter from a Gentleman at Halifax, to His Friend in Rhode Island… (1765) Our personal rights, comprehending those of life, liberty, and estate, are secured to us by the common law, which is every subject’s birthright, whether born in Great Britain, on the ocean, or in the colonies… The political rights of the colonies or the powers of government...are more limited, and their nature, quality, and extent depend altogether upon the patent or charter which first created and instituted them. As individuals, the colonists participate of every blessing the English constitution can give them: as corporations created by the crown, they are confined within the primitive views of their institution...for when they accepted of their charters they tacitly submitted to the terms and conditions of them. The colonies have no rights independent of their charters; they can claim no greater than those give them... It is the opinion of the House of Commons, and may be considered as law of Parliament, that they are the representatives of every British subject, wheresover he be... the freedom and happiness of every British subject depends not upon his share in elections but upon the sense and virtue of the British Parliament, and these reciprocally upon the snese and virtue of the whole nation. When virtue and honor are no more, the lovely frame of our constitution will be dissolved. • … it will appear beyond a doubt, that the British subjects in America, have equal rights with those in Britain; that they do not hold those rights as a privilege granted them, nor enjoy them as a grace and favor bestowed; but possess them as an inherent indefeasible right, as they, and their ancestors, were free-born subjects, justly and naturally entitled to all the rights and advantages of the British constitution… If the colonies are not taxed by parliament, are they therefore exempted from bearing their proper share in the necessary burdens of government? This by no means follows. Do they not support a regular internal government in each colony, as expensive to the people here, as the internal government of Britain is to the people there? Have not the colonies here, at all times when called upon by the crown, raised money for the public service…? What necessity to fall on an invidious and unconstitutional method, to compel them to do what they have ever done freely? Are not the people in the colonies as loyal and dutiful subjects as any age or nation ever produced? And are they not as useful to the kingdom, in this remote quarter of the world, as their fellow subjects are who dwell in Britain?
Parliamentary ActsTownshend Acts (1767) • Purpose • Raise revenue for administration of colonies • Glass, tea, paper, lead, paint • Colonial Reaction • Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania - John Dickinson • “If they may be legally deprived… of the privilege of legislation, why may they not, with equal reason, be deprived of every other privilege? Or why may not every colony be treated in the same manner, when any of them shall dare to deny their assent to any impositions that shall be directed?” Engraving by Paul Revere, 1768
Parliamentary ActsTea Act (1773) • Purpose • Support British East India Company • Reaction • Boston Tea Party
Parliamentary Acts“Intolerable” Acts (1774) • Purpose • Boston Port Act • Quartering Act • Administration of Justice Act • Massachusetts Government Act • Quebec Act • Colonial Reaction • Suffolk Resolves • “Liberty will reign!” • First Continental Congress Bostonians paying the exciseman Tar and Feathering
Fought and died in wars with Natives and European enemies Risk life and health in a new environment Proud and loyal English subjects entitled to rights Developed economies which benefit the Empire Familiar with life in colonies more so than in England God-given liberty Provide protection from Natives and Europeans Benefit exceptionally well from success of British Empire with little contribution Abide by the rule of law Colonists as second-class citizens “virtual representation” Britons pay 2-3 times taxes than colonists Which Side Are You On? Colonies British Empire/Parliament
Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775) • Organization of militia (Minutemen) compels Governor Gage to send 700 British soldiers to arrest rebel leaders and confiscate arms • William Dawes and Paul Revere • 8 Minutemen die and 1 Redcoat wounded at Lexington • “Shot heard ‘round the world” at Concord (about from FIU to South Beach)
Second Continental Congress • Delegates from 13 colonies begin meeting in May of 1775 • Battles of Breed’s Hill and Bunker Hill (June 1775) • Olive Branch Petition (July 1775) • Proclamation of Rebellion (August 1775) • Prohibitory Act (December 1775) • Continental Army and George Washington • State Constitutions • Virginia Declaration of Rights (May 1776) • Independence Hall Debate • John Dickinson • John Adams • Declaration of Independence (July 1776)
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense (January 1776) • “But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families; wherefore the assertion, if true, turns to her reproach; but it happens not to be true, or only partly so and the phrase PARENT or MOTHER COUNTRY hath been jesuitically adopted by the king and his parasites, with a low papistical design of gaining an unfair bias on the credulous weakness of our minds. Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America. This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from EVERY PART of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still.” • “As to government matters, it is not in the power of Britain to do this continent justice: The business of it will soon be too weighty, and intricate, to be managed with any tolerable degree of convenience, by a power so distant from us, and so very ignorant of us; for if they cannot conquer us, they cannot govern us. To be always running three or four thousand miles with a tale or a petition, waiting four or five months for an answer, which when obtained requires five or six more to explain it in, will in a few years be looked upon as folly and childishness--There was a time when it was proper, and there is a proper time for it to cease. Small islands not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something very absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island. In no instance hath nature made the satellite larger than its primary planet, and as England and America, with respect to each other, reverses the common order of nature, it is evident they belong to different systems; England to Europe, America to itself. “ • “Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms to be long at peace, and whenever a war breaks out between England and any foreign power, the trade of America goes to ruin, BECAUSE OF HER CONNECTION WITH ENGLAND. The next war may not turn out like the last, and should it not, the advocates for reconciliation now, will be wishing for separation then, because, neutrality in that case, would be a safer convoy than a man of war. Every thing that is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, 'TIS TIME TO PART. Even the distance at which the Almighty hath placed England and America, is a strong and natural proof, that the authority of the one, over the other, was never the design of Heaven. The time likewise at which the continent was discovered, adds weight to the argument, and the manner in which it was peopled increases the force of it. The reformation was preceded by the discovery of America, as if the Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctuary to the Persecuted in future years, when home should afford neither friendship nor safety. “
Declaration of Independence (1776) • Applies laws of Nature • People’s right to revolution • “self-evident” • “all men are created equal” • Endowed…with certain unalienable rights…life, liberty, pursuit of happiness” • List of grievances against the British Empire, specifically toward George III • WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE IN REGARDS TO AMERICAN SOCIETY?
American Advantages/Tactics Militia’s guerilla tactics Familiar with the territory and environment Prolong the war Hope for support from Britain’s enemies (France, Spain) American Disadvantages No well-trained regular army or officers Insufficient funds and supplies Small support among population (1/3 loyalists, 1/3 neutral, slaves) British Advantages/Tactics 11 million Britons to America’s 2.5 million (1/3 slaves or loyalists) World’s largest navy Disciplined and experienced army Support from Loyalists, Natives, and slaves Entrenched forts and garrisons in America British Disadvantages War debt and war fatigue American privateers (pirates) hounded British ships Unpopular home support Spread thin around the world America vs. Great Britain
Patriots, Loyalists, Neutrals • Patriots (aka Whigs) • Supported independence, but may disagree on course of action (war, petition, boycott, etc.) • Advocated independence based on rhetoric and education on rights and liberties • Loyalists (aka Tories) • Loyalty to the Crown • Agreed about excess taxes, but against separation • Fear of a possible American victory • Recent British immigrants • Some neutral due to ignorance, apathy, or economic reasons
Foreign Assistance Marquis de Lafayette Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben
In the North Boston and New York under British control and conquest Battles of Trenton (1776) and Princeton (1777) Battle of Saratoga (Oct 1777) Valley Forge (Winter 1777-78) In the South Lord Cornwalis’s strategy Battle of Camden (1780) Battle of Cowpens (1781) Battle of Yorktown (1781) The War
Treaty of Paris (1783) • John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay • British recognition of USA • USA granted all lands east of the Mississippi • Natives left out of the treaty • States applying own interests led to British remaining in Northwest forts • Brand new and bigger nation… What now? Treaty of Paris by Benjamin West
Liberalism and egalitarianism Civil rights and private property Republicanism and the common good Representative government Merits over Inheritance/Heredity More and more self-made men participate in political leadership Despite a new perception, the small upper class retained its status as owners of most of America’s wealth A “Revolutionary” Society
Upper-class women promoted cause through correspondence Participated against Stamp Act and Townshend Acts Spinning bees Ran households and estates during husband’s absence Formed campaigns to promote war and funds Abigail Adams “…Remember the Ladies.” Women of the Revolution
Blacks and Slaves During the Revolution • Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation (1775) • Limited participation in Continental Army • Slavery as “necessary evil” • Northern states and abolition • Limited civil rights
Natives of the Revolution • Half of the population from 1754 to 1783 wiped out • New land acquisitions led to increased hostilities • Adapted lifestyle by incorporating European goods • Appealed to Congress on recognizing territories; little to no support Thayendanega (Joseph Brant)