Apush review 5:6 periods

Ultimate Cram Sheet – Chapter 5: The American Revolution (1763–1783)

I. Introduction: Resistance Begins

Thomas Hutchinson’s House Attacked (1765)

Massachusetts lieutenant governor’s home destroyed during Stamp Act riots.
Significance: Shows intensity of resistance → elites (like Hutchinson) were targets.
Connections: Demonstrates class tension → ordinary colonists vs royal officials.

Age of Revolution Context

Revolution not isolated: part of global movement (Americas, France, Haiti, Latin America).
Trap: AP often wants you to connect U.S. Rev to wider Atlantic Revolutions.

II. The Crisis Begins: British Policy Shift

Salutary Neglect Ends

Before 1763, Britain loosely enforced trade laws.
After French & Indian War, Britain cracked down (Sugar Act, Proclamation of 1763).
Cause/Effect: Need revenue + control over colonies.

Navigation Acts & Mercantilism

Regulated colonial trade to benefit Britain.
Colonists tolerated until strict enforcement post-1763.
Significance: Colonists saw shift as attack on liberty, not just economics.

Proclamation of 1763

No settlement west of Appalachians → to prevent conflict w/ Natives.
Effect: Angered colonists hungry for land; ignored by settlers.
Connections: One cause of Revolution; also foreshadows later U.S.–Native conflicts.

III. Taxing the Colonies

Sugar Act (1764)

Tax on molasses, stricter smuggling enforcement.
Significance: First major attempt to raise revenue → merchants enraged.

Stamp Act (1765)

Direct tax on printed materials.
Response: Stamp Act Congress, boycotts, Sons of Liberty.
Effect: Unified colonial resistance for first time.
Wildcard: First real debate on “virtual vs actual representation.”

Declaratory Act (1766)

Parliament repealed Stamp Act but declared full authority to legislate colonies.
Significance: Colonists celebrated repeal, ignored warning of future taxes.

Townshend Acts (1767)

Taxes on imports (glass, lead, paint, tea).
Colonists respond with boycotts & nonimportation.
Trap: Know role of women (homespun cloth, tea substitutes).

Tea Act (1773)

Gave East India Company monopoly on colonial tea.
Effect: Boston Tea Party → direct challenge to Parliament.

IV. Liberty and Resistance

Liberty Tree / Liberty Pole / Liberty Hall

Public symbols of resistance to Stamp Act.
Significance: Ordinary colonists claiming politics in public spaces.

Committees of Correspondence (1772+)

Network to spread resistance info between colonies.
Significance: Laid groundwork for Continental Congress.

Sons of Liberty

Radical group enforcing boycotts, organized protests.
Effect: Pushed resistance into street-level politics.

V. Politics in the Streets

Boston Massacre (1770)

British soldiers kill 5 colonists.
Used as Patriot propaganda (Paul Revere engraving).
Significance: Symbol of British tyranny; heightened anger.
Trap: Soldiers defended by John Adams, showing colonial divisions.

Boston Tea Party (1773)

Protest against Tea Act, destruction of tea.
Effect: Britain passes Coercive Acts (1774).

Coercive/Intolerable Acts (1774)

Closed Boston Harbor, restricted assemblies, quartered soldiers.
Effect: Colonies unite → 1st Continental Congress.
Wildcard: Quebec Act passed same time → religious tolerance for Catholics angers colonists.

VI. From Protest to Revolution

1st Continental Congress (1774)

Coordinated resistance, adopted Continental Association (boycott).
Significance: First step toward intercolonial unity.

Lexington & Concord (April 1775)

First shots of Revolution (“shot heard round the world”).
Effect: Open war begins.

2nd Continental Congress (1775)

Created Continental Army, appointed Washington as commander.
Trap: Still not clear goal was independence until 1776 (Paine + Declaration).

VII. Independence & Justification

Common Sense (Paine, 1776)

Pamphlet calling for independence, denounced monarchy.
Significance: Mass appeal; shifted public opinion.
Trap: Don’t confuse w/ Jefferson’s Declaration → Paine was populist, Jefferson formal.

Declaration of Independence (1776)

Written by Jefferson, inspired by Locke’s natural rights.
Significance: Justified independence, appealed to world (esp. France).
Connections: “All men are created equal” = future civil rights claim.

VIII. Turning Points of War

Battle of Saratoga (1777)

American victory convinces France to ally.
Significance: Turning point → foreign aid essential.

Valley Forge (Winter 1777–78)

Harsh winter, training by Baron von Steuben.
Significance: Professionalized Continental Army.

Southern Campaign (1780–81)

Britain tried to rally Loyalist support in South.
Backfired: brutal civil war → strengthened Patriot cause.

Battle of Yorktown (1781)

Cornwallis surrenders to Washington + French.
Effect: Essentially ends war.

Treaty of Paris (1783)

Recognized U.S. independence; western boundary to Mississippi.
Trap: Did NOT resolve Loyalist property or Native lands fairly.

IX. Patriots vs Loyalists

Patriots

Mostly farmers, artisans, radicals.
Motivated by liberty + opposition to taxes.

Loyalists

~20–25% of colonists; elites, Anglicans, many Southerners.
Feared mob rule.
Connections: After war, many fled to Canada.

🔑 Quick Cause & Effect Chains

French & Indian War → Debt → Taxes → Colonial Resistance.
Stamp Act → Boycotts → Repeal + Declaratory Act.
Townshend Acts → Nonimportation → Boston Massacre.
Tea Act → Boston Tea Party → Intolerable Acts → Continental Congress.
Lexington & Concord → Open war.
Common Sense + Declaration → Independence.
Saratoga → French alliance.
Yorktown → Victory.
Treaty of Paris → Independence secured.

I. Democratizing Freedom

The Language of Liberty

Decl. of Independence universalized liberty: “all men are created equal.”
Significance: Rhetoric exceeded reality; sparked debates over slavery, women, property.
Trap: College Board often asks about contradiction between ideals vs practice.

State Constitutions (1776–1780s)

Pennsylvania: most radical (unicameral legislature, annual elections, no governor).
Massachusetts & others: bicameral, property qualifications → more conservative.
Significance: Early experiments in republican government → varied by state.

Voting Rights

Expansion for white men (less property-based in North).
Southern states retained strict property requirements.
Connections: Early step toward democratic participation → but only for white males.

II. Religion & Revolution

Disestablishment of Churches

Decline of state churches after Revolution.
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1786, Jefferson): ended established church, basis for 1st Amendment.
Significance: Separation of church & state = major legacy.

Christian Republicanism

Idea: morality from religion necessary for republic.
Trap: Don’t confuse → not a call for theocracy, but virtue as foundation for liberty.

III. Economic Freedom

Toward Free Labor

Apprenticeship, indentured servitude decline post-Revolution.
Wage labor & “free labor ideology” rose in North.
Significance: Laid groundwork for 19th c. free labor vs slave labor debates.

Inflation & Regulation

Wartime inflation led to mob protests against speculators/hoarders.
Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations (1776): argued for free markets → invisible hand.
Trap: Year = same as Declaration → common MCQ trick.

IV. Loyalists & Revolution as Civil War

Loyalists

20–25% of colonists stayed loyal to Crown.
Concentrated in South, New York, elites, Anglicans.
Fate: Property confiscated, many fled to Canada.

Significance:

Revolution = also civil war between neighbors.
Trap: Don’t assume Loyalists were all elites; many backcountry farmers feared Patriot domination.

V. Native Americans & the Revolution

Indian Revolution

Most tribes sided with Britain (who limited western settlement).
Effect: Treaty of Paris (1783) ignored Native claims → land loss accelerated.
Connections: Long-term dispossession continued under new U.S.

Pontiac’s Rebellion Echoes

Revolution revived frontier violence; Natives viewed Revolution as threat.
Trap: Iroquois Confederacy split (some w/ Britain, some neutral/Patriot).

VI. Slavery & Freedom

Revolutionary Rhetoric vs Slavery

Patriots used “slavery” metaphor for British rule.
Contradiction: Liberty rhetoric drew attention to hypocrisy of slavery.

Northern Emancipation

Gradual emancipation laws (1777–1804).
Usually freed children of enslaved women once adults.
Significance: First steps toward ending slavery → but slow.

Southern Response

Upper South: some voluntary emancipation.
Lower South (SC, GA): slavery expanded w/ cotton economy.
Trap: Revolution did not end slavery in the South.

Black Participation in War

Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation (1775): freedom for slaves who fought for British.
Washington eventually allowed black recruits (1777).
Significance: Thousands gained freedom, especially via British army.

VII. Women in the Revolution

Daughters of Liberty

Organized boycotts, homespun cloth, replaced imports.
Significance: Women politicized daily life.

Women in War

Roles: fundraising, camp followers, nurses, spies; Deborah Sampson disguised as soldier.

Republican Motherhood

Idea: women’s duty to raise virtuous sons → mothers as keepers of civic virtue.
Significance: Expanded educational opportunities, but reinforced domestic roles.
Trap: Expanded cultural role, NOT political equality.

Abigail Adams (“Remember the Ladies,” 1776)

Early feminist voice → urged John Adams to include women in laws.
Significance: Symbol of unfulfilled revolutionary potential for women.

VIII. Culture & Ideas

Phillis Wheatley

Enslaved African poet, published works praising freedom and challenging slavery.
Significance: Example of black intellectual life + revolutionary ideals applied to race.

Liberty’s Global Impact

U.S. Revolution inspired:
- French Revolution (1789).
- Haitian Revolution (1791).
- Latin American revolutions (early 1800s).
Trap: CB often tests chronology — American first, Haitian most radical in applying liberty to slavery.

IX. Quick Cause & Effect Chains (MCQ Gold)

Declaration of Independence → liberty rhetoric spreads → debates over slavery & women.
State Constitutions → democratization (radical PA) vs conservatism (MA).
War Needs → inflation, demand for free labor → economic shifts.
British/Patriot promises to enslaved people → gradual emancipation in North, deepened slavery in South.
Republican Motherhood → expanded female education, reinforced domestic ideology.

1. Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer (1767, John Dickinson)

Essays protesting Townshend Acts; argued Parliament could regulate trade but not tax without consent.
Significance: Moderate Patriot voice; spread colonial resistance.
Wildcard: Contrast with radical voices (Paine) vs elite (Jefferson).

2. Cultural Movement: Enlightenment

Emphasized reason, natural rights (Locke, Montesquieu).
Significance: Provided intellectual justification for independence.
Trap: Don’t confuse with Great Awakening (emotional, religious).

3. The Great Awakening (1730s–40s)

Religious revival, New Lights vs Old Lights.
Significance: Promoted individual choice, undermined authority, increased colonial unity.
Connection: Foreshadowed democratic spirit of Revolution.

4. Mercantilism / “Taxation without Representation”

Britain saw colonies as economic resource; colonists demanded actual representation.
Significance: Core grievance; tied economics → liberty.

5. Taxation

Sugar, Stamp, Townshend, Tea → direct colonial resistance.
Effect: Boycotts, smuggling, political mobilization.

6. Common Sense (1776, Thomas Paine)

Pamphlet denouncing monarchy, calling for independence.
Significance: Mass appeal, radicalized public opinion.
Wildcard: First broad argument for independence, not just rights as Englishmen.

7. French & Indian War (1754–63) – Cause & Effect

Britain wins but in debt → ends salutary neglect.
Effect: Taxes, Proclamation of 1763, colonial anger.
Connection: Turning point → Revolution.

8. Boycotts / Nonimportation Agreements

Colonial merchants, women (homespun cloth) resisted imports.
Significance: First mass political action across colonies.

9. Stamp Act (1765)

Direct tax on printed goods.
Response: Stamp Act Congress, Sons of Liberty, boycotts.
Significance: Unified colonies in resistance.

10. Loyalists

20–25% of colonists; elites, Anglicans, some farmers.
Fate: Persecuted, many fled to Canada after 1783.
Trap: Revolution = civil war as well.

11. Patriots

Revolutionaries, largely small farmers, artisans, radicals.
Motivation: Liberty + anti-taxation.

12. Quartering Act (1765, 1774)

Required colonies to house/quarter British soldiers.
Significance: Seen as violation of liberty & privacy.

13. Republican Motherhood

Women’s role: raise virtuous citizens for republic.
Significance: Expanded female education but reinforced domesticity.

14. Daughters of Liberty

Organized boycotts, spun homespun, replaced imports.
Significance: Politicized women’s everyday roles.

15. Women’s Contributions During the War

Fundraising, nursing, spying, camp followers, Deborah Sampson disguised as soldier.
Significance: Expanded women’s participation, foreshadowed reform demands.

16. Battle of Saratoga (1777) – French Alliance

Patriot victory → convinced France to ally.
Significance: Turning point; foreign aid essential.

17. Boston Tea Party (1773)

Dumped tea in protest of Tea Act monopoly.
Response: Britain passed Coercive/Intolerable Acts.

18. Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)

Frontier revolt vs VA Governor Berkeley → demanded protection from Natives.
Significance: Planters shift to African slavery.
Connection: Early tension between poor vs elites → foreshadows Rev. themes.

19. Jonathan Edwards

Great Awakening preacher; “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”
Significance: Emphasized emotional conversion, challenged church authority.

20. Salvation vs Predestination

Great Awakening challenged Calvinist predestination → salvation through choice/faith.
Significance: Shift toward individual agency.

21. New Lights vs Old Lights

New Lights = revivalists, emotional; Old Lights = traditional clergy.
Significance: Religious split mirrored political divisions.

22. French & British Native Relations

French: alliances (Huron, Algonquin), trade-oriented.
British: land-hungry, more conflict (Iroquois alliance fragile).
Significance: Fueled French & Indian War → Britain dominates → colonists restricted by Proclamation of 1763.

🔑 Connections for MCQs

Carryover Terms (18–22) = College Board’s curveballs → show continuity between Period 2 and Revolution.
Women (13–15) = Social Revolution → NOT full equality, but cultural/political involvement.
Religion (19–21) = Awakening → democratic spirit; Enlightenment (2) = intellectual foundation.
War Turning Point (16) = Saratoga + French aid = KEY.
Core Grievances (4–9, 12) = Taxation + representation issues drove unity.