AP US History Unit 3 Notes

From Colonies to Nation: 1754-1800

Overview

  • The transformation of British colonies into an independent nation with a distinct national identity.
  • Time period: 1754 to 1800.

French and Indian War (1754-1763)

  • Part of the larger Seven Years' War.
  • Conflict over British colonists encroaching on the Ohio River Valley, and French encroachment on British territory.
  • Early British defeats.
  • Albany Plan of Union:
    • Proposed by Benjamin Franklin.
    • Called for a more centralized government to coordinate Western defense.
    • Rejected due to concerns over taxation; set the stage for future revolutionary congresses.
  • British victory and the Peace of Paris (1763):
    • French ousted from North America.
    • Louisiana Territory given to Spain.
    • British gained land east of the Mississippi River, doubling their land holdings.

Consequences of the French and Indian War

  • Westward Expansion and Conflict with American Indians:
    • Colonists pushed westward into the Ohio River Valley.
    • Increased conflict with American Indians, e.g., Pontiac's raids.
  • Royal Proclamation of 1763:
    • Forbade colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains.
    • Aimed to reduce tensions with American Indians and maintain trade relations.
    • Frustrated colonists who sought land and felt entitled to it after fighting in the war.
  • British Debt and Taxation:
    • British debt doubled, and the cost of running the colonies increased fivefold.
    • Parliament decided to tax the colonies to help shoulder the financial burden.

Taxation Without Representation

  • End of Salutary Neglect:
    • Britain had previously allowed colonists to manage their own affairs due to the distance.
    • Salutary neglect gave colonists a sense of autonomy.
  • Stricter Enforcement of Navigation Acts:
    • Colonists had routinely avoided these laws through smuggling.
  • Quartering Act of 1765:
    • Imperial troops remained in the colonies to enforce new rules.
    • Colonists were responsible for feeding and housing soldiers.
  • Sugar Act:
    • Taxes on coffee, wine, and other luxury items.
    • Enforcement of existing tax on molasses.
  • Stamp Act of 1765:
    • Tax on all paper items, like newspapers, playing cards, and contracts.
    • Occurred during a time of declining wages and rising unemployment.
  • Debate over Representation:
    • Colonists argued that taxation without representation was unjust.
    • British leaders argued for virtual representation, where members of Parliament represented all British citizens.
  • Colonial Resistance:
    • Groups like the Sons of Liberty and the Daughters of Liberty opposed the Stamp Act.
    • Stamp Act Congress: 27 delegates from nine colonies assembled in New York.
    • Formal petition to Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act, arguing that taxation without representation was tyranny.
    • The congress still was rejecting the Stamp Act, they did so as loyal subjects to the British crown and to their country. This was not a bid for independence.
  • Repeal of the Stamp Act and Sugar Act:
    • Parliament repealed the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act, likely in response to colonial protests.
    • Declaratory Act: Parliament asserted its right to pass any law in the colonies.

Increased Tensions

  • Townshend Acts (1767):
    • New taxes on imported items like paper, glass, and tea.
    • Organized protests and boycotts of British goods.
    • Women played a crucial role in the boycotts, spinning their own cloth and brewing herbal tea.
  • Boston Massacre (1770):
    • British troops stationed in the colonies to enforce British law.
    • Group of colonists harassed soldiers, who then fired, killing four colonists.
    • Soldiers were put on trial, and six out of eight were acquitted.
    • Colonists viewed the massacre as a sign of British tyranny.
  • Boston Tea Party:
    • Response to the Tea Act of 1773, which gave the British East India Company exclusive rights to sell tea in the colonies.
    • Colonists disguised as American Indians dumped tea into Boston Harbor.
  • Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts):
    • Parliament passed the Coercive Acts in retaliation, closing Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for.
    • A new Quartering Act was approved.
    • Colonists organized into armed groups, vowing to resist further British tyranny.

Road to Independence

  • Continental Congress (1774):
    • Leaders from the colonies gathered to resist violations of their liberties.
    • Still sought to remain British subjects; independence was not yet the goal.
  • Enlightenment Thought:
    • Influence on colonial leaders, emphasizing natural rights, the social contract, and republicanism.
    • Natural rights: Rights endowed by God that cannot be taken away by government.
    • Social contract: The power to govern is in the hands of the people who willingly give over some of that power to create a government capable of protecting their natural rights, the government tramples upon the natural rights of its citizens, then it's their duty to overthrow that government.
    • Republicanism: Superiority of the republic form of government and especially the separation of powers in a government that enabled the various branches to check and balance the power of the others.
  • Thomas Paine's Common Sense (1776):
    • Argued for independence from Britain.
    • Used allusions to the Bible and Enlightenment principles.
    • Convinced the majority of colonists that independence was the only option.
  • Declaration of Independence:
    • Written by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by the Continental Congress.
    • Grounded in Enlightenment thought.
    • Examples:
      • Natural rights: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
      • Social contract: "That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it."
    • Adopted on July 2, 1776, and made public on July 4.

Revolutionary War (1775-1783)

  • Opposition to Independence:
    • Loyalists: Colonists who wanted to remain loyal to Britain.
  • Continental Army:
    • Approved by the Continental Congress, with George Washington as general.
    • Ill-equipped, ill-trained, and ill-paid.
  • Alliance with France:
    • Decisive victory at the Battle of Saratoga (1777) convinced the French to ally with the Americans.
    • Benjamin Franklin's diplomatic work in France secured French support.
    • French sent guns, ships, and the Marquis de Lafayette.
  • British Surrender:
    • After defeat at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, the British army surrendered.

Articles of Confederation (1781-1789)

  • State Constitutions:
    • Placed power in the legislative body.
  • Provisions of the Articles:
    • All power in the legislative body (no executive or judicial branch).
    • No national military force.
    • Limited power to tax (federal government had to request revenue from the states).
  • Northwest Ordinance of 1787:
    • Established a plan for territories to become states.
    • Abolished slavery in the Northwest Territory.
  • Shays' Rebellion:
    • Farmers in debt protested high taxes and foreclosures.
    • Daniel Shays led a rebellion in Massachusetts.
    • Exposed the weakness of the Articles of Confederation.
  • Constitutional Convention (1787):
    • Called to revise the Articles but resulted in a new Constitution.
    • Federalists (urban, commercial background) vs. Anti-Federalists (rural) over the power of the central government.
    • Virginia Plan (representation by population) vs. New Jersey Plan (equal representation for states).
    • Great Compromise: Bicameral Congress with the House of Representatives (representation by population) and the Senate (two votes per state).
  • Three-Fifths Compromise:
    • Counted three-fifths of the enslaved population for representation purposes.
  • New Constitution:
    • Established a robust central government with three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.
    • System of checks and balances.
  • Ratification:
    • Federalist Papers: Essays by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison to convince the public of the Constitution's merits.
    • Anti-Federalists opposed ratification without a Bill of Rights.
    • Federalists agreed to add a Bill of Rights, leading to ratification in March 1789.

Emergence of American Culture

  • Desire to define a distinct American culture after the Revolution.
  • Plans for public education.
  • Artists like Charles Wilson Peel and Samuel Jennings focused on historical themes.
  • Republican Motherhood:
    • Women could influence political realities by raising virtuous sons instructed in the principles of liberty.

First Government Under the Constitution

  • George Washington elected president, John Adams vice president.
  • Establishment of departments of the treasury, state, war, and justice.
  • Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury:
    • Plan for the federal government to assume state debts.
    • Creation of a national bank (Bank of the United States).
    • Elastic Clause: Congress has the right to make any law that is necessary and proper in order to carry out its other responsibility.
  • Opposition to Federalist Policies:
    • Neutrality during the French Revolution.
    • Whiskey Rebellion (1794):
      • Tax on whiskey led to protests by frontier farmers.
      • Washington federalized state militias to crush the rebellion.
    • Democratic-Republicans (Thomas Jefferson, James Madison) opposed federal overreach.
  • Washington's Farewell Address
    • Cautioned the nation against the formation of political parties and their divisive effects
    • Also cautioned America against getting entangled in foreign, especially European, alliances.
  • John Adams' Presidency:
    • XYZ Affair: French diplomats demanded a bribe before negotiations.
    • Alien and Sedition Acts:
      • Alien Acts: Made it easy to deport noncitizens.
      • Sedition Acts: Made it illegal to criticize the government publicly.
    • Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions:
      • Argued that states could nullify unconstitutional federal laws.
  • Thomas Jefferson elected in 1800.

Relations with Foreign Powers and American Indians

  • Concerns about threats to US sovereignty from Britain, Spain, and American Indians.
  • Indian Trade and Intercourse Act:
    • Regulated relationships between settlers and American Indians.
  • Tension with Spain on the southern frontier.
  • Pinckney Treaty:
    • Established the border between the US and Spain at the 31st Parallel.

Legacy of Slavery

  • Regional attitudes towards slavery:
    • Northern states: Rapid growth of free blacks, some with voting rights.
    • Southern states: Growing enslaved population, laws made it almost impossible to free slaves.
  • Expansion of slavery into Western territories.