Period 3 1754-1800 APUSH

French and Indian War (1754-1763)

French and Indian War (1754-1763)

• Tensions broke out between British and French as British began encroaching on French trading territory, especially in the Ohio River Valley

• Expanded into the Seven Years War in Europe

• Officially ended with the 1763 Treaty of Paris where France gave up most of North American territory

• Led to the end of Salutary Neglect

Pontiac’s Rebellion

• As colonists continued moving into the Ohio River valley, Chief Pontiac of Ottawa tribe led a rebellion against settlers, and British Army had to intervene

• Led to Proclamation of 1763, the end of salutary neglect, and crippling war debt

Proclamation of 1763

Forbid colonists from moving west of the Appalachian mountains

Stamp Act (1765)

• First direct tax on American colonies

• Intended to recover war debt but failed

• Was met with boycotts

• Led to the formation of the Stamp Act Congress who formed the idea of “no taxation without representation”

• Controversy forced Parliament to repeal act a year later

Declaratory Act (1776)

• Passed immediately after stamp act repeal

• Declared that Parliament had the absolute right to rule and tax colonies

Tea Act

• Forced colonists to buy tea from British East India Company

• Led to the Boston Tea Party

Coercive/Intolerable Acts

• Closing of Boston port and Massachusetts legislature

• Quartering Act

• Caused 12/13 colonies to meet in the First Continental Congress to discuss concerns over British rule

Sons of Liberty

• Formed in response to the Stamp Act

• Included Sam Adams, Paul Revere, Patrick Henry, and John Hancock

• Resisted British laws through petitions, assemblies, and tarring and feathering tax agents

• Non-importation agreements - effectively boycotting British goods and putting economic pressure on Great Britain

Committees of Correspondence

• Each colony had its own committee, exchanging letters and information about British policies, grievances, and plans for resistance

• Promoted unity and fostered a shared sense of identity and purpose

• Helped choose delegates to send to First Continental Congress

Abigail Adams

• Early advocate for women’s rights, education, and abolition

• Wrote to John Adams “Remember the ladies” while he served on the committee drafting the Declaration of Independence

Women in War

• While women couldn’t fight in the Revolutionary War, some served as nurses and cooks

• Mary Hayes/Molly Pitcher followed her husband onto the battlefield to serve water and took his place at a cannon when he was injured

• Deborah Sampson disguised herself as a man and enlisted in a Massachusetts regiment where she served for almost a year

Republican Motherhood

Women were expected to maintain traditional gender roles within the household and raise children with patriotic and democratic values

Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer by John Dickinson (1767-8)

Aimed to rally colonists against British taxation

Declaration of the Causes and Necessity to Take up Arms (1775)

• Second Continental Congress wrote reasons for taking arms against British oppression

• Argued that arms were a last resort to protect rights and liberties

• Reaffirmed that colonists really wanted peace but were willing to fight

• When the King refused to recognize the petition, congress turned to the Declaration of Independence

Olive Branch Petition (1775)

• Drafted by 2nd continental congress as a last-ditch effort for peace sent to King George

• Inspired by enlightenment ideas like peaceful resolution of conflict and diplomacy

Common Sense by Thomas Paine (1776)

• Passionately argued for independence from British rule

• Made complex ideas accessible and convinced many

Declaration of Rights & Grievances

• Declared loyalty to the king but questioned Parliament’s right to tax colonists

• Created by the First Continental Congress

Articles of Association

• Threatened to boycott British goods if they didn’t repeal the intolerable acts

Second Continental Congress

• Not just resisting British oppression but shaping the future of the colonies

• Essentially the governing body during the Revolutionary war

• Established continental army, appointed Washington as commander, and raised finances to fund the war

• Sent delegates like Ben Franklin to conduct diplomacy with France

• Wrote Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation

Battle of Lexington and Concord (1775)

• British troops went to take weapons and take down colonial resistance but shots were fired

• Paul Revere was essential in warning colonial militias about British troops and giving them time

• “Shot heard around the world” as the opening battle of the American Revolution

• British tactical victory, but convinced many colonists to take up arms and pursue independence

Battle of Saratoga

• American forces beat British, boosting colonial morale

• Paved the way for France to provide vital economic and military support

Valley Forge (winter 1777-1778)

General Washington gains help of Prussian general von Steuben who taught drills and discipline to the Continental Army

Battle of Yorktown

• French navy was helpful

• Led to the Treaty of Paris of 1783 - formally recognized American independence

• Represents the culmination of the American Revolution and the birth of a new nation

Enlightenment

Promoted the use of reason, human progress, and individual liberties

• John Locke’s natural rights declared all humans the rights to life, liberty, and property

• Rousseau’s social contract - individuals and government willingly come to gether to help each other for the common good, popular sovereignty, government based on the consent of the governed

• Montesquieu’s Separation of Powers - splitting government into 3 branches (executive, legislative, and judicial)

Shay’s Rebellion (1786-1787)

• Led by dissident farmers in western Massachusetts (many Revolutionary war vets) from high taxes with harsh punishments for not paying them

• Tried to petition the Massachusetts government, then took up arms and went to the courthouse

• Protesting the taxation policies of the eastern elites who controlled the state government under the Articles of Confederation and showed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation

Government under Articles of Confederation

• unicameral legislature with equal representation

• Focused power in the states

• 9/13 states approval to pass a law, unanimity to amend the Articles

• Could only really declare war, sign treaties, and conduct diplomacy

• No judicial or executive branches

• Government couldn’t tax the states directly so economy suffered and couldn’t regulate trade between states

Land Ordinance of 1785

Created a system to divide and sell land in the Northwest Territory

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Established a process for creating new states and guaranteed rights to its settlers and banned slavery there

The Great Compromise

• Made a bicameral legislature of population-based House of Representatives and equal Senate to balance interests of big and small states

• Combined the Virginia Plan that proposed representation on state population/wealth with the New Jersey Plan tht proposed basing representation on an equal number of representatives

Three-Fifths Compromise

• Valued slaves as 3/5 of a person for tax/population interests

• Boosted political power of Southern states with large populations of enslaved people and helped prolong the institution of slavery

Commerce Compromise

• Northern states wanted more control over trade than the Articles had allowed while Southern states were concerned about their economic interests

• Allowed Congress to regulate interstate trade but prevented Congress from interfering with the slave trade for 20 years

The Constitution’s principles

• “We the people” establishes popular sovereignty

• Separation of powers

• Checks and balances

• Federalism + balance of power

• “necessary and proper” clause - allows Congress to carry out implied powers

Whiskey Rebellion 1794

• Response to a tax on distilled spirits, especially whiskey to pay off Revolutionary War debt

• Farmers in Western Pennsylvania felt unfairly targeted as whiskey was a huge part of their economy and felt that the government had overstepped its boundaries

• Refused to pay taxes and attacked federal tax collectors, burning down their houses

• Washington led a massive force of soldiers into Pennsylvania, causing them to disperse quickly

• Showed the success of the Constitution against the Articles

Hamilton’s Financial Plan

• Prioritized paying back the war dept from European nations, especially to let the US be viewed as equal globally

• Federal government should assume state war debt

• National bank - would help federal government collect taxes and have a national currency

• Led to the first two-party system (federalists + democratic-republicans)

Washington’s farewell aderess

• Set a precedent for peaceful transfer of power

• Warned against political parties

• Warned against entangling permanent alliances which led to a continuity of isolationism and neutrality

Alien and Sedition Acts 1798

• Tightened restrictions on foreign-born Americans and limited speech critical of the government

• Virginia and Kentucky Resolves condemned this as unconstitutional