Period 3: A Revolutionary Era Reading Notes

International Conflict Causes Colonial Tension

• The French and Indian War (7 Years War) had cost Britain a great amount of money and lead to them attempting to raise money from their North American colonies

• Impressment and quartering, the Proclamation of 1763 and the Sugar Act in 1764 would draw protests from many colonists

• However many would also support the British and those who did protest sought greater liberty

• Violence would eventually occur as colonists were faced with threats of British troops

• Victory would not lead to happiness for all, as the newly established Untied States owed a great deal of money to citizens and other governments

  • Continental soldiers would also not be paid for their service

• Slaveholders and new settlers would also take advantage of the newly gained land and begin to expand and lead into conflict with Native Americans

• Many problems would also remain unaddressed under a weak federal government composed by the Articles of Confederation

• Some political leaders would turn to new political ideas, draft the Constitution and accept it

• George Washington would take office and begin to use the powers of a greater Federal government and Alexander Hamilton would suggest Federalist policies, such as paying off war debts and promoting trade and industry

• These policies would draw criticism from Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who would form the Republican party to represent ordinary frontiersmen

• Jefferson would become president with power being transferred peacfeully to a Republican controlled Congress

7 Years War (French and Indian War)

• George Washington would be an young officer in the French and Indian war

  • Born to a moderately wealthy family, he would inherit a large estate

  • Would be appointed Lieutenant colonel in the Virginia militia

  • Sent to warn off the French about encroaching on British territory in the Ohio River Valley

  • French would capture a British outpost named Fort Duquesne, which Washington would later recapture

  • Governors would provide more troops before Washington surrendered to the French

• British attempted to protect colonies preemptively by forming an alliance with the Iroquois Confederacy

  • British would invite a Iroquois delegation along with colonial representative to Albany

  • Benjamin Franklin would use this meeting to introduce an Albany Plan of Union to establish a council of representatives from various assemblies to handle defence, trade and territorial disputes

  • Such deliberation would be overseen by a president general appointed by the British

  • The meeting would succeed in creating ties among colonial leader but fail to esablish an alliance with the Irqoquois

  • British rejected Franklin’s plan believing it would undermine royal authority

  • Some colonies would reject it due to loosing their independence

  • Iroquois delegation would leave being angered by such a plan without their input

• Native Americans would still hold considerable leverage in European Warfare

  • Delaware, Huron, Miami, and Shawnee nations would ally with the French, hoping to stop British expansion into the Ovio River valley

  • Iroquois would attempt to win concessions from the British

  • Creek, Choctaw, and Cherokee would all bargain with alternate power (British in Georgia and the Caronlinas, French in Louisana, and Spaniards in Florida)

  • Some nations (Abenaki) would launch attacks on colonies, ships and seek to establish power in the region

• General Edard Braddock would arrive to reinforce the colonies

  • Braddock would capture Fort Duquesne, with Washington joing as his personal aid

  • Militias would also be dispatched to fight along the New York and New England frontiers

  • British would fail due to French having extensive trade networks and powerful native allies

  • Guerilla tactics mixed with conventional warfare allowed the capturing of several forts and moving troops deep into British territory

  • Raids would also be encouraged in the New England territory, capturing hundreds of British colonial subjects

Costs of Victory

• Britain would impress new policies to meet demands

  • Sailors were required for naval warfare int he Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans

  • Royal Navy would force young colonial men in port cities into military service via impressment (forcing men to join)

  • Many colonists and cities would resist such tactics, and powerful people found it in the best interest to show disdain for such tactics and redirect anger towards British policy

  • Quartering also became a new policy, in which troops and officers had to be housed in private dwellings, as there were not enough public buildings and harsh winters made camping intolerable

  • Those who resisted quartering were threatened with violence, further uniting colonists

• Prussia would hold the line in Europe while Britain fought the North American War

  • British troops were able to recapture many critical forts including Duqusne (renamed Fort Pitt)

  • French efforts would falter as Prussia seized victory in Europe and Britain gained control of Canada

• War would continue to drag on

  • King George 3 would open peace negotiations with france

  • Peace of Paris would be finalized conceding some British territories

  • Spain would give up Florida to maintain Cuban and Phillipine colonies, while France would grant Spain everthing West of the Mississippi River

  • Britisan would establish its control over India, Canada, North America east of the Mississippi, and a number of Carribbean Islands

Unresolved Issues in the Colonies

• British victory would encourage 1000s of colonists to move further west into once French lands that were occupied by Native American nations, ignoring their customs and practices

  • Neolin, a Native American visionary and prophet, preached that contact with Europeans had corrupted them and they must return to their ancient traditions and reclaim their lands

  • Pontiac would heed such a message and when French retreat began, he would convene a council of Native American leaders stating they must push back the British

  • Pontiac and his forces would attack Detroit and Fort Pitt along with various other outposts and settlemts

  • French support never came for such a conflict and efforts to push the British back failed

  • British would issue that a buffer zone be created on the Appalachian mountains to prevent further conflict

  • Proclamation Line of 1763 denied the rights of colonists to settle west of the Appalachian mountains, which would frustrate colonists after a long and bloody war

    • Speculators like Washington would buy up such land stating that it was only meant to appease the Native Americans

• Tensions between colonists between England and colonists would increase as a global empire that had been involved in many conflicts and still had to defend new colonies required a lot of money and had a lot of debt

Resistance to Britain Intensifies

• British officials and their colonials subjects coexisted in harmony

• Economic growth lead Britain to ignore much of the illegal activities

• Local control over political decisions and other things, due to salutary neglect, lead to some Americans seeing