Test 1 American history

The Tea Act

The East India Company was a stock that many merchants & members of Parli bought, and it crashed; to save the company, the British decided to market its enormous holdings of Chinese tea in NA

• Once for the rich, now for everyone, Eng. offered the company rebates & tax reduction → reduced prices on tea

Resistance occurred as more shipments came, groups of colonists dressed as Indians bored 3 ships at anchor in the B. Harbor & threw more than 300 chests of tea (10,000 pounds or 4 mil.)

• Known as the Boston Tea Party

The Intolerable Acts

Port Act: Parli. closed Boston harbor until tea was paid off - Radically altered the Mass.

Charter of 1691

  • Parli. lodged military commanders in private homes (Quartering Act). Colonist saw this as direct threat to their freedom

  • Gov. Act - saying assemblies can only meet once a year

Quebec Act - extends Quebec along colonial borders (prevents expansion by colonies), seen as promoting Catholicism (major deal)

The Continental Congress

More resistance occurred throughout the colonies; to coordinate resistance to the Intolerable Acts, (1774 Suffolk Resolves was a series of resolutions that urged Americans to refuse obedience in the new laws) a Continental Congress convened in Phili brought the most prominent political leaders of 12 mainland colonies (not GA); not paying taxes either

• March 1775, Pat Henry concluded a VA convention w/ "Give me liberty or give me death"

The Continental Association

Congress endorsed the Suffolk Resolves and adopted the Continental Association → called a complete halt w/ trade w/ the British & East Indies

Congress allowed little COS to put in mandates & to take action against "enemies of lib."

COS trying to move power from established gov. whose auth. was away from Britain to the will of the ppl; sent a petition to the king to get rid of the Intolerable Acts

The Sweets of Liberty

Many people dreamt of liberty → are born w/ natural rights & universal freedom → all rule tg.

The Outbreak of War

May 1775 was when the 2nd Continental Congress met & war between British soldiers & American citizens w/ guns began

  • April 19, British moved toward Concord to seize arms there; riders from Boston (among them was Paul Revere) warned local leaders & they took up arms and defended themselves → Battles of Lexington and Concord (49 A & 73 B lay dead)

  • Captured Ft. Ticonderoga in May (VT)

People throughout the colonies sought to fight for their freedom

  • Farmers going to enlist in the army, militiamen in CN seize nearby forts

  • Battle of Bunker Hill where the arrival of the A. cannon make British forces leave Boston The 2nd Continental Congress authorized the raising of a Continental Army led by Washington Olive Branch Petition was trying to negotiate w/ King George's; when it gets there he has issues Proclamation of Rebellion without reading the petition

  • Lord Dunmore's Proclamation: gave freedom to slaves who join the British army

    Common Sense

    Advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies.

    Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine marshaled moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government.

    The Declaration of Independence

    A declaration w/ grievances directed to King William III and mentioning that all men are created equal w/ inalienable rights

    The Declaration and American Freedom

    Shifted the rights of Englishmen to all of mankind → became a universal enlightenment

    • Jefferson's argument on natural rights drew from John Locke → saw gov. resting on

    "social contract"; Americans could shape their own society.

  • An Asylum for Mankind

  • From Common Sense, Paine mentioned the new nation as an asylum for mankind expressed that the revolution was an event of global historical importance (MA first to sign - John Hancock)

    The Global Declaration of Independence

    Americans were more focused on gaining that independence from Britain

    • Ppl all around read the declaration & inspired many (French & German)

    Securing Independence

    The Balance of Power

    Britain was sure they were going to destroy the rebellion; Americans had to rely on local allies Many bore armes and fought in the War of Independence → British were going to try and seize all of the 13 colonies (very big task)

    Blacks in the Revolution

    Slaves saw the war as an opportunity to gain freedom (Washington did not accept Black ppl, until Lord Dunmore's 1775 proclamation saying ppl are free if they fight for the British)

    • Starting forming their own regiment promised freedom to whoever joined

    • Were promised freedom, not many received it tho

    The First Years of the War

    Sir William Howe, a British commander, did not that the war vigorously and would have destroyed the rebellion, Washington took many loses but still kept his army intact

    • Howe left Boston & went to NY & almost trapped Washington's army (many soldiers left)

    Washington's surprise attack on Hessian soldiers at Trenton, NJ 1776, & Princeton 1777

  • The Battle of Saratoga

    General John Burgoyne, another British commander, advanced from S. Canada to link w/ Howe & isolate New England. Howe, however, moved his forces to Phili → Continental Congress fled to Lancaster in Pen

    • Unint. left Burgoyne → was defeated at the Battle of Saratoga 1777→ boost to A. moral

    The War in the Borderlands

    used to follow the Proclamation Line of 1763 & colonists started moving their borders into

    Indian territory.

    Indians choose the side that would lead to their own ideas of liberty (A or B)

    • Britain encouraged Indians to burn farms & settlements → America burn theirs then

    The War in the South

    1778 British forces occupied Savannah, Georgia & 80 Clinton captured Charleston, SC, & an A.

    army of 5,000

    It was all a downhill in 1780 & the British looked like they were going to succeed → Benedict

    Arnold defected & almost defeated the British at West Point on the Hudson River

    • British forces failed to achieve victories & civil wars broke out in NC & SC & GA W/.

    patriots & loyalist.

  • Victory at Last

    Imperial rivalries helped to create the American colonies & soon their independence →

    • More frenchmen then Americans at the Battle of Yorktown 1781, Cornwallis surrendered his army of 8,000 men → when it reached England, peace agreements were being made

    1783 Treaty of Paris: John Adams, Ben Franklin, & John Jay (granted all land east of the Mississippi from Canada to Florida

    USA became the Western Hemisphere's first independent nation