6-7 AP Insider

New France:

• France's North American empire centered on Canada and the St. Lawrence River.

• This French settlement relied heavily on fur trade for economy.

• Built forts and depended on alliances with many Native American nations to protect its territory.

• French claims in the Ohio Valley increased conflict with west moving British colonists.

George Washington as he relates to the F&I war’s beginnings in 1754:

• In 1754, Virginia sent 21 year old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington with about 150 men into the Ohio Valley.

• Washington encountered a small French army near Fort Duquesne and his men fired on them, helping begin the French and Indian War.

• The French leader was killed, and Washington later built Fort Necessity.

• French forces surrounded Fort Necessity and forced Washington to surrender on July 4, 1754.

• The fighting in North America eventually expanded into the Seven Years' War.

The Seven Years’ War:

• 1756-1763

• Known in North America as the French and Indian War.

• Became a global war involving fighting in North American, Europe, the Caribbean, Africa, India, and the Philippines. 

• Britain, Prussia, and Iroquois fought against France, Spain, Austria, Russia, and other Native tribes.

• Britain won and France lost almost all of its mainland in North America.

• The war left Britain with a larger empire but also a massive debt, which became crucial in the American Revolution.

Albany Congress and the Albany Plan:

• Held in Albany, New York, in 1754 as war with France approached.

• Representatives from seven colonies attended. 

• Main goal: keep the Iroquois Confederacy allied with Britain.

• Benjamin Franklin proposed the Albany Plan of Union, creating an intercolonial government for defense and other concerns.

• The colonies rejected it because they did not want to surrender power, and Britain also thought it gave the colonies too much independence.

• Franklin's "Join, or Die" cartoon promoted the idea of cooperation.

William Pitt...why nicknamed the “Organizer of Victory”:

• Took control of Britain's war effort in 1757.

• Redirected British strategy toward defeating France in North America, especially Quebec and Montreal.

• Used Britain's resources more effectively while funding Prussia to fight France's allies in Europe.

• Sent major British forces against French Canada and helped reimburse colonial governments for military expenses.

• His strategy produced major victories, including Louisbourg and Quebec, earning the title "Organizer of Victory."

Battle of Quebec & the Plains of Abraham (1759):

• British General James Wolfe led an attack on Quebec in 1759.

• British soldiers secretly climbed the cliffs protecting Quebec and assembled on the Plains of Abraham.

• Wolfe's troops defeated the French army under Marquis de Montcalm. They were both mortally wounded.

• Quebec surrendered and Montreal fell in 1760.

• The battle essentially ended French political and military power in Canada.

Pontiac’s Rebellion/Uprising:

• After France's defeat, Native nations could no longer play France and Britain against each other. 

• British policies toward Native Americans were harsher than French policies, including reduced gift-giving and trade restrictions.

• In 1763, Native forces led in part by Ottawa chief Pontiac attacked British forts and settlements around the Great Lakes.

• They captured most British posts west of the Appalachians and killed around 2,000 soldiers and settlers.

• Britain eventually suppressed the uprising.

• The conflict helped convince Britain to issue the Proclamations of 1763, restricting colonial settlement west of the Appalachians.

Explain the F & I War as a major factor in sparking the American Revolutionary War:

The French and Indian War helped cause the American Revolution because Britain's victory left it with a huge war debt and a larger empire to defend. Britain began taxing the colonies and enforcing imperial laws more strictly through acts such as the Sugar and Stamp Acts. Colonists also resented the Proclamation of 1763, as it restricted western settlement after they had helped defeat France. At the same time, removing France from Canada made the colonies less dependent on British protections.

Mercantalism:

• Economic system where colonies existed to benefit the mother country.

• National wealth was associated with accumulating gold and silver and exporting more than importing. 

• Colonies supplied Britain with raw materials and provided a guaranteed market for British manufactured goods. 

• Navigation Laws restricted colonial trade and required certain goods to pass through Britain.

• Colonists benefited from British protection and access to British markets, but increasingly resented the restrictions and economic dependence.

• The biggest issue eventually became less the economic burden than Britain's claimed right to control colonial affairs.

George Grenville:

• British prime minister after the Seven Years' War.

• Believed colonists should contribute toward the cost of defending the empire. 

• Began stricter enforcement of Navigation Laws.

• Supported the Sugar Act, Quartering Act, and Stamp Act.

• His policies helped transform colonial complaints into the constitutional question of whether Parliament could tax Americans without representation.

Sugar Act 1764:

• Designed to raise revenue from the colonies.

• Placed duties on imported goods, especially foreign sugar.

• Especially controversial because it was intended to raise money for Britain.

Stamp Act 1765:

• Required official stamps on many paper products including: newspaper, legal documents, licenses, playing cards, and bills of sale.

• First major direct internal tax Parliament imposed on the colonies.

• Produced the slogan "No taxation without representation."

• Colonists argued only their own elected legislatures had the right to tax them.

The Stamp Act Congress:

• Met in New York City in 1765.

• Included 27 delegates from nine colonies.

• Issued statements defending colonial rights and petitioned the king and Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act.

• Important because it brought different colonies together around a shared political grievance.

• Helped build intercolonial unity.

Non-importation agreements:

• Colonial agreements to boycott British goods.

• Intended to pressure British merchants and manufacturers into demanding repeal of Parliamentary taxes.

• Colonists substituted American-made goods, especially homespun clothing. 

• Brought ordinary men and women into political resistance.

• Economic pressure helped persuade Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act.

Sons of Liberty:

• Organized colonial resistance to British taxation.

• Enforced non-importation agreements.

• Intimidated stamp agents and sometimes used mob violence against British officials and their supporters.

Daughters of Liberty:

• Women who supported resistance through boycotts.

• Produced homespun cloth and avoided imported British products.

• Helped turn resistance into a broad social movement rather than one limited to politicians.

Declaratory Act:

• Passed in 1766 at the same time Parliament repealed the Stamp Act.

• Declared Parliament had the right to "bind" the colonies "in all cases whatsoever."

• Essentially said Britain still possessed full sovereignty over the colonies.

• Colonists celebrated Stamp Act repeal but underestimated the importance of the Declaratory Act.

Townshend duties:

• Passed in 1767 under Charles Townshend. 

• Placed duties on imports including: glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea.

• Revenue would help pay colonial royal governors and judges, making them less dependent on colonial legislatures.

• Colonists again organized non-importation agreements. 

• Parliament eventually repealed most Townshend duties in 1770, but retained the tax on tea to preserve the principle of Parliamentary taxation.

The Boston Massacre:

• March 5, 1770.

• A Boston crowd taunted and threw objects at British soldiers.

• These nervous soldiers opened fire, killing or wounding several colonists.

• Crispus Attucks was among those killed and became a famous Patriot martyr.

• Patriots, especially Samuel Adams, portrayed the incident as evidence of British tyranny.

• John Adams defended the British soldiers in court, only two were convicted of manslaughter.

• Became an effective piece of Patriot propaganda.

Committees of Correspondence:

• Organized first on a major scale by Samuel Adams in Massachusetts in 1772.

• Towns exchanged letters about British actions and colonial resistance.

• Virginia later created an intercolonial committee system.

• Allowed information and resistance strategies to spread quickly between colonies. 

• Helped create a communication network that produced the Continental Congresses.

Tea Act 1773:

• Gave the struggling British East India Company special access to the American tea market.

• Allowed it to sell tea cheaply while keeping the existing tea tax.

• Colonists feared both the monopoly and precedent that buying the tea would accept Parliament's right to tax them.

Boston Tea Party 1773:

• Roughly 100 colonists, some disguised as Native Americans, boarded British ships.

• Dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor.

• Protested Parliamentary taxation and the Tea Act.

• Britain responded with the Intolerable Acts.

Intolerable/Coercive Acts:

• Parliament's punishment of Massachusetts following the Boston Tea Party.

• Closed Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for.

• Restricted Massachusetts self-government.

• Allowed certain British officials accused of crimes to be tried elsewhere.

• Strengthened quartering requirements.

• Intended to isolate and punish Massachusetts. Instead, other colonies rallied around Massachusetts.

• Helped trigger the First Continental Congress.

Quebec Act:

• Not originally intended as punishment for the Boston Tea Party.

• Allowed French Canadians to retain Catholicism and many French customs.

• Did not create a representative assembly or guarantee jury trials in civil cases.

• Expanded Quebec south into the Ohio Valley.

• Colonists disliked this because: some were anti-Catholic, land speculators wanted western territory, and it seemed to show that Britain could govern Americans without representative institutions.

• Colonists grouped with the Intolerable Acts.

First Continental Congress:

• Met in Philadelphia in 1774.

• Delegates from 12 colonies attended, Georgia was absent.

• Major figures included George Washington, John Adams, Samuel Adams, and Patrick Henry.

• Issued a Declaration of Rights and petitions to Britain.

• Created The Association to organize economic resistance.

• Most delegates were still seeking reconciliation and restoration of colonial rights, not independence.

• They agreed to meet again if grievances were not solved.

The Association:

• Created by the First Continental Congress.

• Established a boycott involving: non-importation, non-exportation, and nonconsumption.

• Local committees enforced the boycott.

• Increased political organization throughout the colonies.

• Represented a major step toward coordinated colonial resistance.

Lexington and Concord:

• British troops marched from Boston toward Lexington and Concord.

• Their mission was to seize colonial weapons and possibly capture Patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock.

• At Lexington, fighting killed eight Americans. At Concord, colonial militia confronted the British and forced them to retreat to Boston.

• Marked the beginning of open warfare between Britain and the colonies.

• Emerson called it the "shot heard round the world."

Olive Branch Petition:

• Adopted by the Second Continental Congress.

• Expressed continued loyalty to King George III.

• Asked the king to intervene and prevent further fighting.

• Shows that even after all the battles, many Americans still hoped for reconciliation.

• George III rejected the effort and declared the colonies to be in rebellion.

Common Sense:

• Written by Thomas Paine.

• One of the most influential pamphlets of the Revolution.

• Argued openly for complete independence from Britain. Also argued that the government derived legitimate authority from the people.

• Attacked monarchy and hereditary government.

• Famously challenged the logic of a small island ruling an entire continent.

• Helped turn public opinion from reconciliation toward independence.

Battle of Trenton:

• Washington secretly crossed the icy Delaware River and surprised Hessian troops at Trenton the morning after Christmas.

• Turned many Americans against Britain since Britain did not send British soldiers to fight, they sent outsiders instead.

• Captured roughly 1,000 Hessians.

• Followed with another American victory at Princeton.

• These battles revived American morale after disastrous defeats around New York.

• These battles proved to the soldiers of success and helped enlistment 

Battle of Saratoga:

• British General John Burgoyne attempted to move south from Canada through the Hudson Valley.

• His goal was to isolate New England from the other colonies but American forces surrounded his isolated army (7,000 troops).

• One of the Revolution's most important turning points.

• Proved to France that the Americans might win and helped produce the Franco-American alliance of 1778.

• French involvement transformed the Revolution in a larger international war.

Battle of Yorktown:

• British General Charles Cornwallis established his army at Yorktown expecting British naval support.

• A French fleet under Admiral de Grasse defeated/blocked British naval forces in the Chesapeake.

• Washington and French General Rochambeau rapidly moved American and French troops south.

• Cornwallis became trapped between the American/French troops on land and French naval forces. He surrendered about 7,000 troops.

• Last major battle of the Revolution since it destroyed political support in Britain.

Treaty of Paris (1783):

• Formally ended the American Revolution War.

• Britain recognized the independence of the United States.

• U.S boundaries expanded west to the Mississippi River, north to the Great Lakes, and south to Spanish Florida.

• The United States agreed that: Congress would recommend restoration of confiscated Loyalist property, Loyalists would no longer be persecuted, and legitimate British debts should be paid.

• Britain gave generous terms because it hoped to rebuild trade with America and weaken the American relationship with France.