American Revolution

Mercantilism (early 1700s)

• colonies exist to benefit the mother country

• supply raw materials and provide markets

• navigation acts

• colonies forbidden to manufacture

Salutary Neglect

1688-1763, period of relaxed enforcement of colonial laws and regulations by the english because they were able to smuggle trade / goods with other countries

French and Indian War (anytime after 1763)

• this was a turning point

• French and Indians vs British and colonists

• took place in the Ohio river valley (modern day Pittsburg area)

• this happened because both European nations were competing for trade routes and resources

Proclamation of 1763

• After the British defeated the french in the war, the British gained new territory and a massive debt. Due to this colonial settlements cannot extend past the Appalachian mountains

Quartering Act (1767)

Due to the massive debt from the French and Indian war, the British parliament decided to begin requiring colonial authorities to pay for the cost of housing and feeding all British troops sent to the colonies to enforce law due Britain attempting to end the salutary neglect that had been happening for so long. Indirect tax

Stamp Act (1765)

• Parliament passed this act to help pay for the British war debt. This act required the colonists to pay a tax on various forms of paper (legal documents, newspapers, pamphlets) this was a form of direct tax

• this created the sons and daughters of liberty bc they were trying to protest against the stamp act

• parliament ended up repealing the stamp act because it was affecting trade

Townshed Act (1767)

This was an act that placed a tax on all imported glass, paper, lead, paint, and most significantly tea (a part of their culture)

• this also caused a lot of protests just like the stamp act

• parliament repealed everything except the tax on tea

Boston Massacre (March 5, 1770)

• tensions between. the colonies and motherland were high du e to all the acts that were being passed at this time, increased British troop presence in Boston, and competition for jobs

• a fight between a colonial worker and a British soldier occurred and resulted in a small riot later that night people gathered in the streets of Boston to throw rocks and snowballs at British troops

• Three people were killed and two more were critically wounded

Tea Act (May 1773)

• this act was a law that was designed to aid the British East India company so the government taxed the tea in England, and when the tea got shipped to the colonies, they added a three penny tax.

Tea Party (December 16, 1773)

• Samuel Adam’s a leader of the Boston sons of liberty, organized a group of men disguised as Mohawk Indians to dump tea off of the tea ships that came from the motherland, that night they dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor

Intolerable acts

• these laws were crafted in reposes to the Boston tea party, these laws closed the port of Boston, required English officials accused of crimes to be returned to England for trial, removed elected members of the Massachusetts legislature by replacing them with officers by the royal governor

1st continental congress (September 1774)

• a meeting with delegates from 12 colonies, this meeting was intended for the colonies to begin preparing for war against England, the meeting took place in Philadelphia, PA, this meeting took place in response to the intolerable acts made by the British

Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775)

• this war/conflict marked the beginning of physical contact between the motherland and the 13 colonies, this conflict was between British Soldiers and Massachusetts militia

• this happened because the Brits tried to take away colonial weapons and arrest the sons of liberty leaders (Samuel Adams and John Hancock)

2nd continental Congress (May 1775)

• meeting with delegates from all 13 colonies, they appointed George Washington to be the Commander of the Continental Army, also in Philadelphia PA, they discussed should they try to reach peace or go to war and also the Olive Branch Petition

olive branch petition

• it was a petition to the king of England and they were basically saying sorry for misbehaving but they only did it bc of all unfair treatment the king was giving them

common sense (January 10th 1776)

• Colonists torn on the issue of independence

• Published after Lexington and concord

• 47 page persuasive pamphlet

• Argues the idea of monarchy

• Law is king

• a govt should provide natural rights

declaration of independence

• july 4th 1776

• purpose was to dissolve political ties w England

• asking for freedom and claiming themselves as a separate country

Articles of Confederation

• basically a representative democracy, first type of govt the US made after cutting ties with England

• people didn’t like this bc it gave state more power than the federal govt