APUSH Period 3 (1754-1800) Notes

Contextualizing Period 3 (1754-1800)

  • Historical Context: Understanding the context of Period 3 involves examining changes from preceding historical developments and comparing contemporaneous developments in different regions.
  • Key Concepts: The unit focuses on America gaining independence and developing a national identity.
    • British attempts to control North American colonies and colonial desires for self-government led to the Revolutionary War.
    • Competition among the British, French, and American Indians for economic and political advantage culminated in the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War), where Britain defeated France and allied American Indians.
    • Colonial desires for self-government clashed with British imperial efforts, leading to the independence movement and war.
  • KC-3.2: The American Revolution’s democratic and republican ideals inspired experiments with different forms of government.
    • Revolutionary ideals reflected beliefs about politics, religion, and society that developed during the 18th century.
    • After independence, American leaders created constitutions and declarations of rights, defining the roles of state and federal governments while protecting individual liberties and limiting centralized power.
    • New national culture and political institutions emerged alongside regional variations and differences over economic, political, social, and foreign policy issues.
  • KC-3.3: Migration and competition over resources intensified conflicts among peoples and nations.
    • Post-independence, interactions among different groups led to competition for resources, shifting alliances, and cultural blending.
    • The presence of European powers challenged the U.S. to safeguard its borders, maintain neutral trading rights, and promote its economic interests.

The Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War)

  • Thematic Focus: America in the World (WOR) - Diplomatic, economic, cultural, and military interactions shape America’s development and its global role.
  • Learning Objective: Explain the causes and effects of the Seven Years’ War.
  • KC-3.1.I.A: Colonial rivalry intensified between Britain and France as British colonies expanded into North America, threatening French-Indian trade networks and American Indian autonomy.
  • KC-3.1.I.B: Britain expanded its territory by defeating the French but incurred tremendous expenses, leading to efforts to raise revenue and consolidate control over the colonies.
  • KC-3.1.I.C: After the British victory, officials attempted to prevent westward expansion by colonists, while native groups sought to trade with Europeans and resist colonial encroachment.

Taxation Without Representation

  • Thematic Focus: America in the World (WOR) - Examines diplomatic, economic, cultural, and military interactions between empires and their impact on America.
  • Learning Objective: Explain how British colonial policies led to the Revolutionary War.
  • KC-3.1.II.A: Imperial struggles and British efforts to collect taxes without colonial representation united colonists against perceived constraints on their economic activities and political rights.
  • KC-3.1.II.B: Colonial leaders based resistance on the rights of British subjects, individual rights, self-rule traditions, and Enlightenment ideas.
  • KC-3.1.II.C: Leaders like Benjamin Franklin and popular movements involving laborers, artisans, and women energized the independence effort.
  • KC-3.1.II.D: Men and women mobilized to provide financial and material support to the Patriot movement amidst economic shortages and British military occupation.

Philosophical Foundations of the American Revolution

  • Thematic Focus: American and National Identity (NAT) - Explores the development of democracy, freedom, citizenship, diversity, and individualism in shaping American identity.
  • Learning Objective: Explain how and why colonial attitudes about government and the individual changed.
  • KC-3.2.I.A: Enlightenment ideas inspired American political thinkers to emphasize individual talent over hereditary privilege, while religion reinforced the view of Americans as blessed with liberty.
  • KC-3.2.I.B: Colonists believed in republican government based on natural rights, as expressed in Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence.
    • These documents have shaped Americans’ understanding of the nation’s ideals.

The American Revolution

  • Thematic Focus: America in the World (WOR) - Diplomatic, economic, cultural, and military interactions.
  • Learning Objective: Explain how various factors contributed to the American victory in the Revolution.
  • KC-3.1.II.E: Despite loyalist opposition and British advantages, the Patriot cause succeeded due to colonial militias, the Continental Army, George Washington’s leadership, ideological commitment, resilience, and European allies.

The Influence of Revolutionary Ideals

  • Thematic Focus: Social Structures (SOC) - Social categories, roles, and practices shape American history.
  • Learning Objective: Explain the various ways the American Revolution affected society.
  • KC-3.2.I.C: Increased awareness of inequalities motivated calls for the abolition of slavery and greater political democracy.
  • KC-3.2.I.D: Women's participation led to the ideal of “republican motherhood,” emphasizing women's role in teaching republican values within the family.
  • KC-3.2.I.E: The American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence inspired future independence movements in France, Haiti, and Latin America.

The Articles of Confederation

  • Thematic Focus: Politics and Power (PCE) - Debates about the role of government shape policy and institutions.
  • Learning Objective: Explain how different forms of government developed and changed.
  • KC-3.2.II.A: Many new state constitutions placed power in the legislative branch and maintained property qualifications for voting and citizenship.
  • KC-3.2.II.B: The Articles of Confederation unified the newly independent states but created a central government with limited power. Problems led to calls for a stronger central government.
  • KC-3.3.I.C: The Northwest Ordinance (designed for settlers moving westward in the 1780s) promoted public education, protected private property, and banned slavery in the Northwest Territory.

The Constitutional Convention and Debates over Ratification

  • Thematic Focus: Politics and Power (PCE) - Examines debates about the role of government in American life.
  • Learning Objective: Explain the differing ideological positions on the structure and function of the federal government.
  • KC-3.2.II.C.i: Delegates proposed a constitution through negotiation, collaboration, and compromise.
  • KC-3.2.II.D: The Convention compromised over representation of slave states and the federal government’s role in regulating slavery and the slave trade, allowing the prohibition of the international slave trade after 1808.
  • KC-3.2.II.E: Anti-Federalists opposed ratification, battling Federalists (Alexander Hamilton and James Madison) who articulated their principles in the Federalist Papers. Federalists ensured ratification by promising a Bill of Rights to protect individual rights and limit federal power.

The Constitution

  • Thematic Focus: Politics and Power (PCE) - Debates about the role of government.
  • Learning Objective: Explain the continuities and changes in the structure and functions of the government with the ratification of the Constitution.
  • KC-3.2.II.C.ii: The Constitutional Convention created a limited but dynamic central government embodying federalism and providing for a separation of powers between its three branches.

Shaping a New Republic

  • Thematic Focus: America in the World (WOR) - Diplomatic, economic, cultural, and military interactions.
  • Learning Objective: Explain how and why competition intensified conflicts among peoples and nations from 1754 to 1800.
  • KC-3.3.II.A: The U.S. government pursued diplomatic initiatives to deal with the British and Spanish presence in North America as settlers migrated beyond the Appalachians.
  • KC-3.3.II.B: War between France and Britain created challenges for the United States regarding free trade and foreign policy.
  • KC-3.3.I.E: The Spanish expanded their mission settlements into California, providing opportunities for social mobility and cultural blending.
  • KC-3.3.I.D: An ambiguous relationship between the federal government and American Indian tribes led to problems regarding treaties and land claims.

Shaping a New Republic (Continued)

  • Thematic Focus: Politics and Power (PCE) - Debates about the role of government.
  • Learning Objective: Explain how and why political ideas, institutions, and party systems developed and changed in the new republic.
  • KC-3.2.III.A: During the administrations of George Washington and John Adams, political leaders created institutions and precedents to put the Constitution into practice.
  • KC-3.2.III.B: Political leaders in the 1790s held varying positions on issues such as the relationship between the national government and the states, economic policy, foreign policy, and the balance between liberty and order. This led to the formation of political parties, the Federalists (led by Alexander Hamilton) and the Democratic-Republican Party (led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison).
  • KC-3.3.II.C: George Washington’s Farewell Address encouraged national unity and cautioned against political factions and permanent foreign alliances.

Developing an American Identity

  • Thematic Focus: American and Regional Culture (ARC) - creative expression, demographic change, philosophy, religious beliefs, scientific ideas, social mores, and technology shape national, regional, and group cultures.
  • Learning Objective: Explain the continuities and changes in American culture from 1754 to 1800.
  • KC-3.2.III.ii: New forms of national culture developed alongside regional variations.
  • KC-3.2.III.D: Ideas about national identity increasingly found expression in works of art, literature, and architecture.

Movement in the Early Republic

  • Thematic Focus: Migration and Settlement (MIG) - Push and pull factors shape immigration to and migration within America.
  • Learning Objective: Explain how and why migration and immigration to and within North America caused competition and conflict.
  • KC-3.3.I.A: American Indian groups evaluated and adjusted their alliances with Europeans, other tribes, and the United States to limit migration and maintain control of tribal lands.
    *British alliances with American Indians contributed to tensions between the United States and Britain.
  • KC-3.3.I.B: Increasing numbers of migrants from North America and other parts of the world continued to move westward, fueling social, political, and ethnic tensions.

Slavery in the Early Republic

  • Thematic Focus: Social Structures (SOC) - Social categories, roles, and practices.
  • Learning Objective: Explain the continuities and changes in regional attitudes about slavery as it expanded.
  • KC-3.2.III.C: Expansion of slavery in the deep South and adjacent western lands and rising antislavery sentiment created distinctive regional attitudes toward slavery.

Continuity and Change in Period 3

  • Learning Objective: Explain how the American independence movement affected society from 1754 to 1800.
  • KC-3.1: British attempts to assert tighter control over its North American colonies and the colonial resolve to pursue self-government led to a colonial independence movement and the Revolutionary War.
    • The competition among the British, French, and American Indians for economic and political advantage in North America culminated in the Seven Years’ War (the French and Indian War), in which Britain defeated France and allied American Indians.
  • KC-3.2: The American Revolution’s democratic and republican ideals inspired new experiments with different forms of government.
    • The ideals that inspired the revolutionary cause reflected new beliefs about politics, religion, and society that had been developing over the course of the 18th century.
    • After declaring independence, American political leaders created new constitutions and declarations of rights that articulated the role of the state and federal governments while protecting individual liberties and limiting both centralized power and excessive popular influence.
  • KC-3.3: Migration within North America and competition over resources, boundaries, and trade intensified conflicts among peoples and nations.
    • In the decades after American independence, interactions among different groups resulted in competition for resources, shifting alliances, and cultural blending.
    • The continued presence of European powers in North America challenged the United States to find ways to safeguard its borders, maintain neutral trading rights, and promote its economic interests.