• by 1750 Britain and France had become serious rivals

  • both nations used mercantilism to expand colonial claims in order to increase their wealth

  • extension of 7 year war

  • land disputes along the Ohio River Valley led to the French and Indian War

  • French increased their alliances with Native Americans along valley

  • British colonists spread into the backcountry and across the App Mountains led to numerous Indian conflicts

The French and Indian War

• British and American colonist vs. French and Native Americans

  • French had: Canada, Miss River Valley, and LA

  • English had Atlantic coast

• most famous battle of the war was the French victory Fort William Henry in 1757 (New York)

  • french laid siege to the Fort

• England knew that war might be inevitable and suggested the colonies form an alliance with the Iroquois and unite for their own protection

  • in June 1754 delegates of the northern colonies and representatives of the Six Iroquois Nations met in Albany, NY

  • Pennsylvania delegate Ben Franklin drafted the Albany Plan of Union

    • plan failed because alliance was rejected by Iroquois and by Brits because they would lose power over colonies

• Treaty of Paris 1763 ends French and Indian War

  • Brits gained control of the area west of the 13 Colonies to the Mississippi River

  • French gave up all colonies in North America including Canada

  • Brits made Spanish give up Florida because they had sided with the French

• Lasting Effects

  • war ended French presence in NA

  • england had NA on lock down, strengthened its hold on the continent

  • relationships between English and Native Americans got worse

  • war plays a major role in straining the relationship between England and its colonies which would lead to Revolutionary War

• Proclamation of 1763 - restricted settlement to the east of a line drawn at the App Mountains; also sought to stop the exploitative sale of Indian land; purpose was to prevent further Indian frontier warfare after Pontiac’s Rebellion

Spark of The American Revolution

• Navigation Acts 1660 - prohibited the importing into or the exporting from the British colonies of any goods except for English

• Albany Plan of Union 1754 - to place British NA colonies under a more centralized government

  • never carried out, but it united colonies against government

• Writs of Assistance - legal document that serves as a general search warrant to all British officers; wanted to crack down on smuggling

Britain’s New Policy for Colonial America

• Goals:

  • place the colonies under strict British political and economic control

  • make the colonies respect and obey British laws

  • make the colonies pay their part in maintaining the British Empire

• Sugar Act of 1764 - tax on foreign refined sugar and increased taxes on coffee, indigo, and some wine

• Quartering Act 1765 - required colonists to provide basic needs of British soldiers; purpose to keep troops in the colonies and reduce the cost

• Stamp Act 1765 - put taxes on all printed materials like paper, newspapers, licenses, and playing cards

• Sons of Liberty - secret organization of American colonists formed initially to protest the Stamp act, motto of “no taxation without representation”

• Declaratory Act 1766 - one in a series of resolutions passed attempting to regulate the behavior of the colonies; Parliament had the right to make laws for colonies and they had to follow them

• Townshend Acts 1767 - taxes on paint, glass, lead, paper, and tea; money used to pay salaries of British officials in the colonies, but colonists boycotted taxed items

• Boston Massacre - March 5th 1770, five colonists were killed by British soldiers following a protest in Boston in which a group of colonists threw snowballs and harassed the soldiers

  • British fired into a crowd that was threatening them

  • fueled colonists to fight back

• Committees of Correspondence

  • spy network by Samuel Adams

• Tea Act 1773 - repeal all of Townshend except the Tea Act due to pressure from the British East India Company to sell its low-cost tea directly to the colonies, undermining colonial tea merchants by only allowing them to sell Brit EIC tea

• Intolerable Acts 1774 - series of British measures designed to punish MA colonists for Boston Tea Party

  • port of Boston closed until colonists paid for tea

  • brought British soldiers to England for trials

  • no town meetings allowed in MA

  • Boston became under military rule

  • Quebec Act - restored French common law and moved the southern boundary of Quebec to Ohio River

  • Currency Act - prohibited issuing of paper currency

• Delegates from 12 colonies (except Georgia) met to discuss the situation with Britain in 1774; became known as “First Continental Congress” to convince Parliament to repeal the Intolerable Acts

• Revolution inspired by Enlightenment ideas of Montesque, John Locke, and Thomas Paine

  • Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense had tremendous impact on Americans

• Colonists’ grievances against Great Britain and King George III

  • American colonists were unhappy with British rule for a number of reasons:

    • parliament passed laws that colonists considered unjust

    • colonists had no direct representation in Parliament

    • colonists were unable to sell products to any country except Britain

    • to force colonists to buy English products, Parliament placed high taxes on French and Dutch goods

• Battle of Lexington and Concord

  • 1775 Brit General Thomas Gage send 700 soldiers to destroy ammo the colonists had stored in Concord, just outside of Boston

  • Brits suffered extensive loss

• Bunker Hill

  • 1776 American forces fortified Breed’s Hill overlooking Boston Harbor threatening Brit control of the city

  • Brits attacked and seized hill, but suffered 40% casualties

• Second Continental Congress

  • Philly 1775 MA appealed for help - delegates decide to resist Brits

  • formed Continental Army w/ Washington as leader

  • issued call to colonies to raise troops and money for effort

  • at the same time sent “Olive Branch” petition to king, hoping to avert war

    • George III rejected Olive Branch and declared colonies in rebellion

    • sent more troops

  • colonists pushed closer to independence

• Declaration of Independence

  • written primarily by Thomas Jefferson and approved by the Second Continental Congress

  • four major components

    • new nation’s ideals about equality and rights

    • list of alleged abuses by King George III

    • description of attempts by the colonies to solve these problems before resorting to declaring independence

    • actual declaration by the signers that the colonies would be free and independent states from then

• Differing Military Strategies

  • Americans - outlast the Brits

    • defend colonial lands and drag out war

    • guerilla tactics

    • make an ally with France

  • British - divide and conquer

    • use Loyalists, seize property, encourage slave revolts

    • split the Northern and Southern colonies

    • Blockade port and prevent trade

• Battle of Saratoga

  • battle was turning point in the North

  • American forces stopped Burgoyne, ending Britain’s campaign to cut off New England

  • helped convince France to join America against Britain

• Battle of Yorktown

  • Washington vs. Cornwallis

  • Cornwallis marched to Yorktown to wait for resupply from Brit navy

  • Washington rushed his army south to lay siege to Brits

  • French navy captured the coast at Yorktown, preventing Cornwallis to resupply

• Treaty of Paris 1783 ended American Revolution and gave America freedom and territory

Impact of War on Society

• ideals of equality and freedom became more popular, but not for women, blacks, and loyalists

• impact of war on women:

  • took care of farms and businesses

  • felt more empowered and pushed for more equality

  • Abigail Adams - wife of future President John Adams asked him to “remember the ladies” during the revolution

• African Americans called out hypocrisy because America is keeping slavery

• Loyalists were discriminated against and most left America for Canada or Britain

New Political Ideas

• America created a republic, where power came from people through elections

• many states created written constitutions that included branches of gov’t and lists of rights

• Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom - first law that separated church and state gov’t and allowed religious freedom

• many states created written constitutions that included branches of gov’t and lists of rights

  • legislative powers to 2 house legislature

  • executive power to gov’t

  • judicial power to the courts

Articles of Confederation

• created during American Revolution 1777

• one branch of gov’t, the legislative branch

• unicameral, one house, and each state had one representative

• laws and amendments were almost impossible to pass

• Strengths: fed gov’t had power to declare war and raise an army, congress could control the western territories; banned slavery in Northwest

  • Land Ordinance 1785

  • Northwest Ordinance 1787

• Weaknesses: weak federal gov’t, no power to regulate trade or print money, no power to tax

Shays Rebellion

• farmers wanted lower taxes and an end to farm foreclosures and attacked courts

• Daniel shays led 1,000s of farmers with stolen weapons to rebel

• MA gov’t couldn’t collect a militia and exposed weakness of the AoC

• Philadelphia Convention and replaced AoC with Articles with the Constitution

Major Framers of the Constitution

• Framer - Washington

• Madison and Hamilton wrote Constitution and Bill of Rights

  • Hamilton pushed hardest for creating a stronger federal government

• Roger Sherman - came up with the Great Compromise

Principles of Constitution

• popular sovereignty - means that the people rule, and power comes from them

• republicanism - people use popular sovereignty by electing officials who represent them in gov’t

• separation of powers - gov’t is separated into 3 branches, the legislative, executive, and judicial

• checks and balances - branches of gov’t limit each others’ power through veto, impeachment, judicial review, etc.

• limited gov’t - Constitution lists certain powers and limitations for gov’t

• individual rights - Constitution lists freedoms of people

• federalism - gov’t is divided into a federal and state level; causes tension and disagreement over who has more power

• Conflicts and Compromise over Constitution:

  • Virginia Plan - called for state representation in Congress based on population; favored larger states

  • New Jersey Plan - called for state representation in Congress to be equal for all states; favored smaller states

  • Great Compromise - plan created a bicameral (2 house) legislature

    • House of Representatives - representation based on state populations

    • Senate - each state had 2 representatives\

  • Representation of Slaves in population of House of Representatives

    • 3/5 compromise - slaves would count as 3/5ths of a person for representation

• delegates announced 9 of 13 states had to agree to new Constitution for it to be put into place

• Federalists - supported Constitution as it was; from North; urban, wealthy, businessmen; wanted strong federal gov’t, weak states; wanted loose interpretation; no need for Bill of Rights

  • advantages - stronger leaders, better organized, published The Federalist Papers

  • Federalist No. 10 - said a large republic was the best form of gov’t, used elected representatives to make laws

• Anti-Federalists - opposed Constitution; from South and West; rural, less wealthy, farmers; weak federal gov’t, strong states; wanted strict interpretation; demanded Bill of Rights

• America became economically stable but politically divided under Washington, and it faced foreign policy challenges

Congress’s First Actions

• Cabinet - advisors to assist president

  • secretary of state - Jefferson

  • secretary of treasury - Hamilton

  • secretary of war -

  • attorney general -

• Judiciary Act of 1789 - created federal court system, est. district courts, appeals courts, Supreme Court

• Madison wrote first 10 amendments of Bill of Rights

• Hamilton’s financial plan:

  • tariffs and excised tax

  • pay back war bonds

  • assumption of state debts

  • bank of the United States

• Whiskey Rebellion 1794 - confirms constitution and federal power

Foreign Policy Issues

• French Revolution

  • France declared war on Britain

  • America trades with Britain and France

• Political Reactions:

  • Federalists supported Britain due to their strong central gov’t

  • Democratic-Republicans supported France due to their weak central gov’t

• Proclamation of Neutrality 1793

  • Washington declares to stay out of it

  • Genet makes a plea to general American public

• European Responses:

  • Britain - impressment, captured American trade ships and kidnapped sailors

    • also used their forts in western America to give Indians weapons to attack settlers with

    • Washington sent John Jay to Britain to avoid war

  • Jay’s Treaty

    • Britain could continue impressment

    • Britain agreed to give up forts in America (didn’t happen)

    • Britain gave America “most favored nation” trading status - low tariffs

    • Americans were furious with the terms

    • France and Spain worried that America was getting closer to Britain

  • Pinckney’s Treaty

    • settled boundary between American and Spanish Florida

    • Spain let America use Mississippi River and New Orleans for trade

    • relationship between Spain and America improved

    • Americans were happy due to new land and trade

Washington’s Farewell Address

• 1. Danger of Sectionalism

• 2. Danger of Political Parties

• 3. Danger of Foreign Alliances