Period 3: 1754-1800
3.1 – Contextualizing Period 3
1754–1800: Colonies → independent U.S.; debates over governance, economy, culture.
Key Developments:
British-French Wars: Britain stronger; colonists gain military experience; tensions rise.
Colonial Independence: Declaration of Independence, Revolutionary War.
Articles of Confederation: Weak national gov’t; no tax/trade power; struggled with disputes.
Constitution: Separation of powers, checks/balances; ratification debate.
Federalists vs Anti-Federalists: Federalists = strong central gov’t; Anti-Feds = Bill of Rights.
Economics/Politics/Culture: Immigration, westward expansion, slavery debates, women’s roles.
Significance: Birth of independence, Constitution, early debates on rights & federal power.
3.2 – Seven Years’ War (1754–1763)
Background: Earlier wars (King William’s, Queen Anne’s, King George’s); Treaty of Utrecht.
Ohio River Valley: Land conflicts → Washington’s defeat at Fort Necessity (1754).
Albany Congress (1754): Franklin’s “Join or Die”; rejected by colonies & Britain.
Key Battles: Braddock’s defeat, Louisbourg (1758), Quebec (1759), Montreal (1760).
Treaty of Paris (1763): Britain gains Canada & Florida; France loses nearly all NA territory.
Consequences:
Colonists gain confidence & military experience.
Native Americans lose leverage (Pontiac’s Rebellion 1763).
Proclamation of 1763: Westward expansion restricted → colonists defy.
French and Indian War
1754 - 1763
Caused by English encroachment onto French lands
Most Natives supported French
Iroquois supported English
Albany Congress 1754
Franklin’s Albany Plan of Union - calls for a centralized form of government for the colonies Fails
Britain wins - Treaty of Paris
Removes French from North America
Louisiana territory is given to Spain
Britain doubled their land holdings
Issues the proclamation line of 1763
Colonists upset - seek to expand
Ends salutary neglect
End of Salutary Neglect
England will attempt to reassert control over colonies, following French and Indian War (1754 - 1763) after period salutatory neglect
1763 - turning point begins to initiate a lot of policies
Enforcement of Navigation Acts
Royal Proclamation of 1763
Sugar act 1764
Stamp Act 1765
Quartering Act 1765
Declaratory Act 1766 - Britain says they have the right to pass any law they want
Townshend Acts 1767 - First direct tax on goods
Tea Act 1773 - Townshend act revoked but still taxes on tea
Intolerable (Coercive Acts) 1774 - Close Boston Harbor until all the tea thrown in the Boston Tea Party is paid for
Quebec Act 1774
Colonial Response
Stamp Act Riots (1765)
Tarring and feathering of British tax collectors
Sons of Liberty (1765)
Stamp Act Congress (1765)
Boston Massacre (1770)
Committees of Correspondence (1772)
Boston Tea Party (1773)
First Continental Congress (1774)
Didn’t ask for independence up until 1776
Inspired by
Enlightenment ideas
Social Contract, Checks and Balances
Colonial elites
Grassroots movements
Important documents reflect Republican ideals
Lexington and Concord (1775)
Second Continental Congress (1776)
Offering “olive branch” to the king
Common Sense (1776)
Thomas Paine
Declaration of Independence (1776)
Revolutionary War
Key revolutionary War takeaways
Continental Army - Washington
Defeated often
Saratoga - turning point
Yorktown
Reasons for victory
Home-field advantage
French assistance
Superior leadership
Ideological commitment
Steps to Constitution
Articles of Confederation
Weak -
1 vote per state, Congress can’t regulate state commerce, No executive branch to enforce, no judicial branch
Ex: Shay’s Rebellion - Farmers were unable to pay their debts due to inflation and
Calls to fix it - Constitutional Convention
Constitution
Great Compromise
Virginia Plan vs. New Jersey Plan
Virginia Plan - Base on population
New Jersey Plan - Make it equal, regardless of population
Connecticut Compromise - Bicameral legislature
Two houses
3/5 Compromise - representation and slavery
Enslaved people count as 3/5th to taxes and 3/5th to representation
Slave trdae
Limits on federal power
Separation of powers
Checks and Balnces
Federalism
Republicanism
Constitution
Fighting about how it, not everyone agreed
Federalists -
Federalist Papers - Why the constitution is a good idea
Anti-Federalists - More rule, state power
Will agree as long as Bill of Rights added
Impact of Revolution
Structure of Govt.
Based on Enlightenment principals
Fear of strong centralized power
Politically
Colonia elite in charge
Some states elimintae property requirements
Internationally
Inspires French revolution
Inspires revolutions in Latin America
Haitian revolution
Groups are impacted
Women - Republican Motherhood
African Americans - Gradual emancipation laws in the North and the Middle States
Native Americans -
Domestic Disagreements
Hamiltons Financial Program
Assumption Plan
Excise taxes
High tariffs
National Bank
Federalists
Strong central government
Favors manufacturing
Has a loose interpretation of the Constitution
Democratic Republicans
Favor weak central government
Favor agriculture
Strict interpretation of the Constitution
First Two Presidents
Washington
Adams VP
Created Cabinet
John Adams
Jefferson VP
French kept seizing American ships
led to XYZ affair
Alien and Sedition Acts
Democratic Republicans outraged
Responded with Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
Nullifications
Foreign Disagreements
French Revolution (1789)
Proclamation of Neutrality
Citizen Genet
XYZ Affair
Quasi War
Convention of 1800
Britain
Treaty of Paris Issues
Jay’s Treaty
Spain
Pickney’s treaty
Washington’s Farewell Address
Rise of Common Man - Age of Jackson
New state suffrage laws increase white men’s ability to vote
Election of 1828
Kills the bank of the United States
Leads to pet banks
Jacksonian Democracy
Fight over Tariff of Abominations
Increased power of Federal Govt
Chief Justice John Marshal
Last Federalist supreme court member
Marbury V Madison -
Gibbons V Ogden -
McCulloch V Maryland - Bank of the US is legal
Second GReat Awakening
Spirital reform from within
Religious revivalism
Charles Finney
Sweeps Frontier
Influences
Temperance
Prison REform
ABolition
Women’s rights
Education
Utopian Societies
Sectionalism
REgional interests more important than national concerne
North
Hartford Convention
Second Bank of the US
Manufacturers of North - protective tariff of 1816
South - nullification crisis
West
Missouri Compromise
Southern Identity
Eli Whitney’s Cotton gin increases cottoon production - mechanical reaper and steel plow aid in planting
Over cultivation and South forces plantations West of Appalachain Mountains
higher need for slavery
Owning slaves - higher status
Aristocratic class
25% of southerners owned slaves
Slavery defending in the South
Critics from the North
Slave revolts
Religious ideology
Georgr Fitzhugh’s arguement - slavery is a positive good
African American Identity
horrible lives but experience was dependant on where they lives
Second great awakening fused african religions with christianity
examples of slave rebllions
Sabotage
Running away
work slowdowns
rebellion
Leads to stricter slave codes
ABolitionism
Movement grows in the North
growing free black population in the north
David Walker - An Appeal to the Colord Citizens of the World
American Colonization Society
william lloyd garrison
American Anti-Slavery society
the Liberator
Frederick Douglass
Northern Identity
Rise of manufacturing - starts in the late 18th century
Sam slaters mill - 1791
Growth of cities - less reliance on subsistence agricultural
Eli Whitney creates his interchangeable parts
Steam engines, telegraphs, spinning jenny all increase efficiency
Erie Canal,
Lowell Factory system
Commonwealth V Wealth
Middle class emerges - expanded gap between wealthy elite and poor laborers
Immigration
Factory jobs in north attract the irish, germans, english
settle in
Ties that Bind
South grows material
North uses material for textiles, sells it back to south
West feeds them
Rise of Nationalism
Cultural Nationalism - artistic values
Hudson River valley school
john james audubon
Romantic styles influence art, literature, and architecture
Economic - American System
US National Bank
Protective tariff
internal developments
Political nationalism
American Culture
Noah Webster - American English Dictionary
Transcendentalism - influenced by European romanticism, emphasizes human passion
Ralph Waldo Emerson - Writre
Henry David Thoreau- Writer
Rights Denied
Women
Cult of Domesticity - A women’s place is in the domestic sphere, she is to make her home a place of refuge for her husband and children
Republican Motherhood - Women raise good young citizens
Seneca Falls
Native American Removal
Rapid loss to land
battle of TIppecanoe
First Seminole War
Indina REmoval ACt
Worchester V. GEorgia
Trail of Tears
Western Expansion
US land size doubles during this time
Population goes west due to
Natural population growth
immigration
Transportation improvements
Cotton gin
Threats to nation removed (French, English, Spanish)
Native American defeat
Foreign Policy
Barbary Pirates in 1801
Morocco and Tunisia demand payment
Louisian Purchas in 1803
Lewis and Clark expedition - Corps of Discovery
War of 1812
Rush-Bagot Treaty in 1817
British American Convention 1818
Adams Onis Treaty in 1819
1819
Monroe Doctrine
Other countries can not come to our country to mess around but we can
Lone Star Republic
Failed Neutrality
Chesapeak-Leopard Affair
Embargo ACt
Non-
3.3 – Taxation Without Representation
Key Acts: Sugar Act (1764), Quartering Act (1765), Stamp Act (1765), Townshend Acts (1767), Tea Act (1773).
Resistance:
Stamp Act Congress, nonimportation agreements, Sons/Daughters of Liberty.
Boston Massacre (1770), Boston Tea Party (1773), Committees of Correspondence.
Intolerable Acts (1774): Boston Port closed, gov’t control ↑, Quartering Act expanded, Quebec Act.
Significance: Resistance fosters unity; tensions escalate toward revolution.
3.4 – Philosophical Foundations
Enlightenment Ideas: Deism, rationalism, social contract.
Thinkers: Locke (life, liberty, property), Rousseau (popular sovereignty).
Revolutionary Writings: Paine’s Common Sense → independence, republicanism.
Significance: Provided moral justification for rebellion.
3.5 – American Revolution
First Continental Congress (1774): Suffolk Resolves, Declaration & Resolves, Continental Association.
Key Battles: Lexington & Concord (1775), Bunker Hill (1775).
Second Continental Congress: Continental Army, Olive Branch Petition, Declaration of Causes.
Independence Committee: Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Sherman, Livingston → Declaration of Independence.
3.6 – Patriots, Loyalists, African Americans, Native Americans
Patriots: Mostly middle-class; opposed Britain.
Loyalists: Wealthy, older, Anglican; ~80,000 fled/exiled.
African Americans: Fought both sides; Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation; Rhode Island regiment.
Native Americans: Mostly sided with Britain; land losses regardless of side.
3.7 – Articles of Confederation
State Governments: Bicameral, weak governors, property voting requirements.
Articles (1777–1781): Weak national gov’t, no tax/trade power, one vote per state.
Achievements: Won war, Land Ordinance (1785), Northwest Ordinance (1787).
Weaknesses: Debt, foreign threats, interstate conflict, Shays’ Rebellion → push for stronger gov’t.
3.8 – Constitutional Convention & Ratification
Key Events: Mt. Vernon (1785), Annapolis (1786), Philadelphia Convention (1787).
Major Compromises:
Representation → Great Compromise.
Slavery → Three-Fifths, Slave Trade ban 1808.
Trade → Congress regulates imports/exports.
Presidency → Electoral College.
Ratification: Federalists vs Anti-Federalists; key states: MA, VA, NY; Bill of Rights promised.
3.9 – Constitution
Federalism & Separation of Powers: Legislative, Executive, Judicial; checks & balances.
Bill of Rights (1791): 10 Amendments guarantee freedoms.
3.10 – Shaping a New Republic
Washington’s Presidency: Cabinet, Hamilton’s financial plan (funding at par, assumption, Bank of US).
Challenges: Whiskey Rebellion, French Revolution neutrality, British forts & Jay’s Treaty, Pinckney’s Treaty.
Adams Presidency: XYZ Affair, avoided war, Alien & Sedition Acts → Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions.
3.11 – Developing American Empire
Social/Cultural: No nobility, church-state separation, Republican Motherhood, slavery decline North.
Political: Federalists vs Democratic-Republicans; regional divisions.
Cultural Identity: Newspapers, literature, art (Brown, Peale, Stuart, Trumbull, Webster, L’Enfant).
3.12 – Early Republic Expansion
Western Expansion: Violated Proclamation Line; Northwest Ordinance; Battle of Fallen Timbers; Indian Intercourse Act.
Population & Labor: Immigration, birthrate, slavery (Cotton Gin ↑ production, slavery in South; North gradual emancipation).
Franklin: “Join, or Die” → early call for unity.
“No taxation without representation” → central grievance.
Crispus Attucks → first Boston Massacre victim.
Paine’s Common Sense: “Consent of the governed” → ideological foundation for independence.
Declaration of Independence: Jefferson → justified rebellion globally.
Republican Motherhood: Civic responsibility of women → influence on education & family.
Shays’ Rebellion: Highlighted Articles’ weaknesses → push for Constitution.
Federalist Papers: Persuaded ratification in NY, VA.
Hamilton vs Jefferson: Debate over Bank → strict vs loose interpretation.
Jay’s Treaty / Pinckney’s Treaty: Diplomacy solved frontier & trade issues.
XYZ Affair: Avoided war → established foreign policy precedent.
Key Battles/Events:
Lexington & Concord → start of armed conflict.
Bunker Hill → colonists’ resolve.
Saratoga → French alliance.
Treaty of Paris 1783 → independence & land gains.
African Americans: Lord Dunmore, Rhode Island Regiment, Phillis Wheatley, Prince Hall → participation & recognition.
Native Americans: Land loss despite loyalty → limited rights.
Notable Women: Abigail Adams, Molly Pitcher, Esther Reed → activism in war & society.
Cultural Figures: Charles Brockden Brown, Charles Peale, Gilbert Stuart, Trumbull, Noah Webster → nation-building identity.
Cotton Gin: 1793 → revives Southern slavery, boosts economy.