Tensions begin

• 1763 - Peace of Paris ends French and Indian War

  • Effects - England needs money to keep troops in colonies, and wants more control over colonial governments

• Proclamation of 1763 upsets colonists looking to move west

• Colonists realize British army is not invincible

• 1764 - Sugar Act taxes sugar and molasses

“No Taxation Without Representation”

• Committees of Correspondence coordinate intercolonial opposition to Britain

• Stamp Act of 1765 - all documents, newspapers, pamphlets, and books are taxed

  • Sons of Liberty organize to fight the new tax by protesting, boycotting, and violence

  • 1766 - Stamp Act repealed

• Parliament passes Declaratory Act, emphasizing that it can tax the colonies at will and Townshend Acts (1767) tax imports of paper, paint, lead, glass, and tea

Boston Massacre

• 1770

• British soldiers fire into the crowd

  • Sam Adams and Paul Revere use event to ignite hatred against British

  • John Adams defends the solid in court

Boston Tea Party

• 1773

• Sons of Liberty dump English tea into the harbor in protest of taxes

Intolerable Acts

• 1774

• Close Boston Harbor

• Cancels Massachusetts Bay Colony charter

• Quebec Act offered toleration to French Catholics

• Force colonists to house British soldiers

Toward War

• First Continental Congress in 1774

  • Delegates from all colonies except Georgia meet to discuss tension

    • Write “Declaration of Rights” to King George III expressing colonial grievances

    • Colonial militias were told to prepare

• April 1775 - “Shot Heard ‘Round the World

  • Minutemen vs. General Gage’s troops at Lexington

  • British retreat after Concord

Independence Declared

• Second Continental Congress - 1775

  • Appointed George Washington as Commander of the Continental Army

  • Signed Olive Branch Petition as one last chance for peace

• Thomas Paine’s Common Sense rallies the people for independence

• July 4th 1776 - after much debate the Declaration of Independence was signed

Declaration of Independence

• Thomas Jefferson drafted the formal Declaration of independence

• Goals

  • Justify independence by listing grievances against King George III

    • Took out the part that Jefferson wrote about abolishing slavery

  • To rally support against the colonists

  • To get assistance from foreign nations

  • Broad appeal by declaring “unalienable rights” and the power of government to rest with the people

• 56 men signed the Declaration

  • John Hancock was the first to sign

• The Declaration of Independence showed England and other countries that Americans were determined to become a free nation

• Took over a year for it to written

Washington crosses the Delaware and captures Trenton

• December 26, 1776

• On Christmas Eve, they crossed the ice Delaware River to attack a group of Hessians (Germans) at Trenton, New Jersey

• The Hessians were celebrating the holiday with strong drinks

  • Taken by surprise

• The Hessians surrendered themselves with all their weapons and equipment

Battle of Saratoga

• Turning point in the war

• September 19 - October 7, 1777

• France joins the war on the Patriot’s side

• Ended British General John Burgoyne’s attempt to control the Hudson River Valley

• American General Benedict Arnold was hailed as a hero for his bravery on the battlefield, a reputation lost with his later betrayal and defection to the British

• Forced British to focus on the South

  • Loyalist and high slave population

Winter at Valley Forge

• December 1777

• After Saratoga, Washington’s army suffered defeats at Brandywine, Paoli, Germantown, and Philadelphia

• By the time the army marched into Valley Forge on December 19th, they were suffering not only from cold, hunger, and fatigue, but from low morale

• The lack of clothing, shoes, socks, and coats lefts as many as 3,000 of Washington’s troops unfit for service, creating the image of starving, wearied soldiers leaving bloodied fingerprints in the snow and ice

• Many women and children were with the soldiers

• Washington’s continued with visits, kept men from deserting and proved their unwavering loyalty

Battle of Yorktown, Virginia

• September 28 - October 19, 1781

• Final battle of the Revolution

• General George Washington with French ally, Lieutenant General Rochambeau and the French Naval Fleet defeat the British

• British General Charles Lord Cornwallis surrendered

  • British gave guns and Washington gave them back

Treaty of Paris

• 1783

• Ben Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay headed to Paris to negotiate an end to the war

• Treaty of Paris

  • England recognized the United States’ independence

  • The boundary of the U.S. would extend to the Mississippi River to the Great Lakes to Spanish Florida

  • American concessions

    • Must respect rights of loyalists

    • Debts owed to British creditors would be paid

Creating a New Government

• Growing demand to address the problems facing the nation

  • Trade, finances, interstate commerce, foreign relations, and internal unrest

• Annapolis Convention

  • 1786

  • Held at Washington’s home

  • 5 states attend to discuss trade and commerce

  • Will meet in Philadelphia in one year

• Constitutional Convention

  • Purpose: revise Articles of Confederation

  • Every state attends except Rhode Island

    • 55 delegates

  • Kept talks a secret with windows closed shut

  • George Washington is the President of the Convention

  • James Madison is the Father of the Constitution

  • Decide to create a new stronger central government

Constitutional Plans

• Big issue at the Convention

  • Representation in Congress

• Virginia Plan

  • Favored by large states

  • Asked for strong national government

  • Created by Edmund Randolph and James Madison

  • Bicameral - 2 houses

    • Both houses of the legislative branch based on population

  • Small states didn’t approve

• New Jersey Plan

  • Favored by small states

  • Created by William Patterson

  • Unicameral - 1 house

    • Each state has one vote regardless of population

  • Large states didn’t approve

Compromises

• Great compromise

  • Created by Roger Sherman from Connecticut

• Bicameral - 2 houses of Congress

  • Upper House - Senate

    • 2 senators per state regardless of population

  • Lower House - House of Representatives

    • Elected by popular vote based on population

Slave Compromise

• ⅗ Compromise

  • Northern and Southern states compromise

• Big Question: Would slaves be counted as part of the state’s population?

• Issue - taxation without representation

  • Southerners wanted to include slave is population, but could not vote

  • Northerners say if slave can’t vote, then they don’t count

• Compromise - Only ⅗ of the slaves would be counted

  • Ex: 5,000 slaves would count as 3,000

• By 1787 most northern states banned the slave trade

• Northerners agreed that Congress wouldn’t outlaw slavery from at least 20 years

  • Article I, Section 9

Signing the Constitution

• September 17, 1787

• 39 out of 42 delegates signed the CO