period 3 apush

French and Indian War (1754-1763)

• Causes: Competition between British and French for control of the Ohio River Valley

• Key Developments:

  • British victory resulted in France ceding Canada and lands east of the Mississippi

  • War doubled British national debt, leading to new taxes on colonies

  • Colonial militia gained military experience that would later be used against Britain

  • George Washington emerged as a military leader

Proclamation of 1763:

•  Prohibited colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains

  • Intended to reduce conflicts with Native Americans

  • Angered colonists who wanted western lands

• British Taxes and Colonial Resistance:

• Sugar Act (1764): First tax explicitly to raise revenue rather than regulate trade

• Stamp Act (1765): Tax on printed materials; led to widespread protests and boycotts

• Townshend Acts (1767): Taxes on imported goods; led to more boycotts

• Tea Act (1773): Gave British East India Company monopoly on tea trade

• Boston Tea Party (1773): Colonists disguised as Native Americans dumped tea into Boston Harbor

• Intolerable/Coercive Acts (1774): Punished Massachusetts for Boston Tea Party

  • Closed Boston Harbor

  • Restricted town meetings

  • Expanded quartering of troops

  • Moved trials of officials to Britain

• Colonial Resistance Organizations:

• Committees of Correspondence: Communication network between colonies

• Sons of Liberty: Secret organization that organized protests

• First Continental Congress (1774): Met to coordinate colonial response to Intolerable Acts

• Boycotts: Colonial refusal to import British goods

Key Intellectual Developments:

• "No taxation without representation"

• Natural rights philosophy

• Republicanism

• John Locke's influence (social contract theory)

The American Revolution (1775-1783)

• Military Aspects:

  • Early Battles: Lexington, Concord, Bunker Hill

  • Key American Victories: Saratoga (1777), Yorktown (1781)

  • British Surrender at Yorktown (1781): Effectively ended the war

• Key Military Figures:

  • George Washington: Commander-in-Chief of Continental Army

  • Marquis de Lafayette: French nobleman who volunteered to fight

• Foreign Assistance:

  • French Alliance (1778): Crucial for American victory

  • Spanish and Dutch: Provided indirect support

• Treaty of Paris (1783):

  • Recognized American independence

  • Set boundaries at Mississippi River to the west, Great Lakes to the north

  • Required Americans to restore Loyalist property (largely ignored)