Great Awakening (1730s-40s):

• Whitefield and Edwards are two important people in the Great Awakening

• Religion became emotional. Religion was connected with people’s emotions

  • Religious and Emotional

• Events

  • Traveling preachers

  • Many people came and gather together

• More variety in religion

  • In a “good” way

  • Laymen were able to preach and lead if they wanted to

    • Laymen were your average day people

  • More variety in who preached

  • Democratization - the act of making something more available

    • Available to more people

    • Independent thought

    • Colonial unity

Enlightenment (1700s-1800s):

• Franklin, Paine, and Jefferson were some important people in the Enlightenment

• Logic and Reasoning were very important to Enlightenment thinkers

• Ideas:

  • Textbooks

  • etc.

• Locke

  • Social Contract (1776)

• Montesquieu

  • Separation of power (1707)

Imperial Wars:

• French and Indian War (1754-1763)

American Revolution:

Was it about money?:

• Mercantilism means money wealth = more power

  • How the British saw the American colonies. They used mercantilism as a reason why for the taxes and other things.

• Navigation Acts (1660s)

  • Created to protect mercantilism

  • Dominion of NE

    • Put all the New England colonies under 1 guy named Edmund Edothe. The king took their constitution away because their leaders were not reinforcing the Navigation Acts

    • The rule of the New England colonies by war

• Imperial Wars

  • King Philip’s War (1689-1697)

  • Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713)

    • Attempted to capture Quebec

    • French destroyed the British settlement

    • Britain did gain Nova Scotia and rights in Spanish America

  • King George’s War (1744-1748)

    • French and Spanish attacked British America

Was it ideology:

• Great Awakening and the Enlightenment

  • Promoted Independence

    • Get to choose my religion or if I wanted a religion

    • Equality within religion

      • There was no one person really in charge

      • Anyone could decide they wanted to get up and preach

    • Colonial unity

      • People started to unity with other colonies because of similar beliefs

Was it about self-determination/self-government:

• Self-determination is something you try to achieve with your own ability

• Self-government examples were…

  • Virginia House of Burgesses

  • Fundamental Orders

  • Act of Toleration

  • Mayflower Compact

• French and Indian War

  • This leads to the Americans wanting to go against England

• Proclamation of 1763

  • Americans say we don’t like how England is governing

French and Indian War (1754-1763):

• War begins over the Ohio River Valley

  • The Ohio River Valley was contested land and the French built Fort Duquesne there

  • Washington took people out of Fort Necessity and lose to the French

  • The British sent troops under the command of Gen Braddock but suffered multiple defeats

    • The Americans see the British as weak militarily because of those defeats

Albany Plan of Union:

• British government’s goals

  • To get back control and influence in the colonies

• Franklin’s goals

  • That the Americans will be strong together

  • That if we don’t join together we won’t have an effect

  • “Join or Die”

• The Treaty of Paris, 1763

  • Ended the French and Indian war

• Outcomes

  • Britain

    • All of North American east of the Mississippi River

  • Spain

    • Gets land west of the Mississippi River

  • France

    • Gets small islands in Canada and West Indies

Pontiac’s Rebellion:

• Ottawa, Delaware

• Pontiac don’t easily allow the Americans to move into the Ohio River Valley

• Americans vs. Pontiac/Native Americans

• Amherst, germ warfare

  • Americans give blankets that are infected with smallpox by saying it is a truce offering

• The Native Americans were supplied by the French and used Guerrilla Warfare which is why their rebellion was able to last for some time

Proclamation of 1763:

• Says that the Americans can not settle west of the Appalachian Mountains

• Makes the colonies mad and have colonial resentment

English Colonial Laws ( to pay the debt for the French and Indian War):

• British feels it is OK to tax the American colonies because being taxed less than anyone else

• Sugar Act (1764)

  • Indirect Tax is a hidden tax

  • Most offensive/ mostly affected the New England colonies, Boston, and Merchants

    • To avoid paying taxes people became smugglers

  • Vice-admiralty courts

    • If someone is accused of smuggling or not paying taxes, you are not tried at the colonies by a jury. You are sent overseas to England and tried by a single judge.

      • Makes Americans feel that they are having their rights taken away

• Quartering Act (late 1764-early 1765)

  • Where the troops have been sent, the colonies have to either raise money to house the soldiers or allow them to live in their homes

  • Only made New England colonies really angry

• Stamp Act (1765)

  • Unified all the Americans against England

  • Says that all the paper used must be stamped and taxed properly

  • Affects everyone and everywhere

  • Used to pay soldiers’ salaries

  • Direct tax is a known tax/ not hidden tax

  • England put this up about 5 months beforehand and creates/leads to Stamp Act Protests

• Stamp Act Protest

  • Sons of Liberty

    • Led by Sam Adams and John Hancock

    • “No taxation without representation”

      • Actual vs. Virtual Representation

        • Actual Representation is you vote for someone and they represent you

        • Virtual Representation is the people in England and colonies need the same exact needs

  • Congress

    • Declaration of Rights and Grievances

  • Boycott

    • Effectively caused the British to repeal the Stamp Act

    • Sense of victory to the Americans

• Declaratory Act (1766)

  • Says that the Parliament has the right to pass any law they see fit for the colonies

  • The British see the English as indentured servants/step above slaves

  • Britain has the power to pass laws that the American colonist have to follow

Townshend Act (1767):

• The British Prime Minister keeps changing which shows the instability

• Townshend made this act to raise money for England

  • Taxed lead, glass, paint, paper, and tea

    • Because the Americans can’t make it on their own and it is not a necessity

• The Americans boycotted

Liberty:

• Ship used to smuggle in wine

• Owned by John Hancock

• British came on the ship to take away the smuggled goods

• This shows influential Americans who are willing to go against the British

  • British don’t follow through with their threats

Boston Massacre:

• Happened in Boston

• An exchange between British soldiers and Americans

  • 4-7 Americans died

    • Carpus Attucks dies

• British Soldiers shot at unarmed Americans

• Tensions increased

  • Americans anger increased and insight the Boston Massacre

    • The Americans antagonized the situation

    • Newspapers, etc. blamed it all on the British

• Governor Hutchinson sides with the Britain

• John Adams

  • Becomes a lawyer for the British soldiers to show that a patriot can help the other side ad give them (British soldiers) a fighting chance

  • The overall guilty party is given to 2 people and they are branded on the hand

• Townshend Act is repealed in 1770

  • Not because of the Boston Massacre

• Crispus Attucks was a free black man

Tea Act (1773):

• East India Company

  • Employed a lot of English

  • Started going bankrupt

• Created the Tea Act to stop the East India Company from going bankrupt. Believed it was a good idea to tax the American colonies because they were barely being taxed

• Passed to make sure the East India Company did not go bankrupt

• Was an indirect tax and was not a big tax

• Act was not intentionally designed to punish colonies

Boston Tea Party:

• Intentional criminal act by the Americans that they would not bow down to any British laws

• British ships arrived at the end of November

• The Sons of Liberty tossed the tea into the ocean and destroy it

• Dressed up as Native Americans because it was a shared moment (solidarity) and menacing

Coercive/Intolerable Acts:

• The British called them the Coercive Acts because the acts were suppose to bring them back

• The Americans called them the Intolerable acts because they felt that they could not tolerate the acts

• Boston Port Act-

  • Closed Boston harbor until Americans paid back all the tea they destroyed

• MA Government Act

  • Stripes the colonies rights of having town meetings

    • Government get togethers

• Quartering Act

  • British send more troops and say that the colonies either have to house the soldiers or raise money to pay for a place for the soldiers to live

• Quebec Act

  • Two people do the same thing and one gets a reward and the other gets punishment. This is how the Americans felt

  • The British allowed the French to speak french on official documents, religious freedoms, and gave them more land

  • The British take away the land from the Americans that they earned. Felt like they were getting punished

• Colonist (mainly in NE and middle) were outraged

• Increased propaganda

  • Pamphlets

  • Newspapers

  • Posters

  • Committees of Correspondence

    • Purpose was to record what offenses are being put on the Americans by the British and Make sure all colonies know

    • Focused on what the British were doing wrong

• Royal governs are charged to disband the assembles but colonies met anyway

First Continental Congress (1774):

• Met in Philadelphia

• 12 of the 13 colonies attended

  • Georgia was the only colony that did not attend

• Radicals called for Independence

  • Sam Adams was the leader of the Sons of Liberty

  • Richard Henry Lee

  • John Adams

  • Patrick Henry

• Officially endorsed big resolves that they were supporting Massachusetts

• Massachusetts called for a boycott until the Intolerable Acts were repeal

• The Name suggests unity

Patrick Henry:

• In Virginia he said, “Give me liberty or Give me death”

  • He is telling them they will be like slaves to Britain if they don’t do anything

  • What they are doing could actually lead them to death

  • Genuine possibility

  • Designed to convince people to get on board

• Virginia is one of the most populated places and is the oldest, so if they get them on board other colonies will follow. That is why it is so important for Virginia to be on the Americans side

Lexington and Concord:

• Happened in Massachusetts

• Happened in April

• Minute Men was a volunteer army also known as militia

• General Gage lead the Minute Men

• General Gage’s mission is to go and get the American guns, but the weapons were not there because the Americans moved it

• Americans used Guerrilla Warfare

• Americans pushes the British back in to Britain

• The British tried to capture John Adams and Hancock

• Shot heard round the world is the quote for the Lexington and Concord Battle

  • The phrase is important to remember

  • It is awake call to the other British colonies

• Americans win the Lexington and Concord Battle

Second Continental Congress:

• Happened in Philadelphia

• All 13 colonies attended

• Purpose was to figure out what they are doing and fighting for

  • A lot of arguing and negotiating

• At the Second Continental Congress, Washington was made the Commander

Bunker Hill:

• “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes” was the phrase during the Bunker Hill Battle because the Americans were running out of ammo

• June 1775

• It was fought on a hill

• Who will have the higher ground was important

• The British won, but the Americans claimed it as a win because of how long they were able to hold off the British

Declaration of Independence:

• Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence

• The Committee of 5 helped including John Adams and Franklin

• Declaration of Independence was wrote on July 4, 1776

• Key points

  • Talked about Americans wanting to separate from Britain and why

  • Americans felt that the crown was not protecting their life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness

  • Declaration of Independence serves as an explanation for why they were breaking up with the British

    • List evidence

  • The Americans believed that they had the right to separate when the government was not protecting their unalienable rights

    • Unalienable rights were life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness

  • American colonies was not trying to get rid of all ideas of government

  • The Americans colonies respected the idea of government and wanted to create a government that they felt was protecting their unalienable rights

  • The Americans colonies united together in order to create their new government

  • The Americans believed that the government was made for the people and by the people, so they had the right to abolish it if the government was not protecting their rights

• Richard Henry Lee says he thinks that they should investigate if they should and why they should separate from the British then Thomas Jefferson writes the Declaration of Independence and then the people (such as John Hancock and others) signed it

  • Olive Branch Petition

    • Asks the king to restore the peace and forget the war and protect the rights/ treat them better, but the king rejects it

      • Also a reason the Americans wanted independence from the British

Trenton:

• Battle of Trenton happened on December 1776

• George Washington was the leader for the American troops

  • He leads the troops across the Delaware River and surprise attacks the British

• George Washington is someone people would follow

• George Washington convinces people to cross the Delaware River

• The Americans needed this win because they needed more people to sign up for the war and needed people to send money for more supplies

• In the Battle of Trenton, Washington attacks during Christmas

  • Attacks Hessians: German people who were so good that they were paid to fight

• Washington surrounds the Hessians and captures them & their supplies

• The Battle of Trenton was a morale booster

Saratoga (1777):

• Happened in 1777

• Burgoyne was the British commander

  • He is tasked to take his troops to Saratoga, New York and bring supplies and help out

  • Burgoyne packs up all his things and takes it with him. This slows the British down and gives the Americans time to know where they are, surround them, and win

• Americans win the Battle of Saratoga

Franco-American Alliance:

• The French were willing to sign an alliance that says they will help the Americans out in war, supply, and financially because the Americans won the Battle of Saratoga

Financial Concern:

• France and Spain help provide Americans money

• Americans are in bad financial issues

  • Paper is Continental and is almost worth nothing. That is why there is a phrase “Not worth a continental”

Battle of Yorktown:

• Britain side was loyalist and slaves

• Charles - Savannah, Charles Town

  • Southerns fight harder because the British say that they will give slaves freedom if they fight on their side

• Battle of Yorktown

  • Happened in 1781

  • Battle of Yorktown happened at Cowpens, Yorktown

  • George Washington is the commander and is supported by Rushboo and Lafayette

  • Cornwallis is the commander for the British side

  • The Americans surround Cornwallis and Cornwallis surrendered officially ending the American Revolution

  • The British band played “The World Turned Upside Down”

Treaty of Paris 1783:

• The Treaty of Paris 1783 officially ended the American Revolution

• Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay refuse to agree to anything until the British officially recognizes the Americans freedom

• Violation of 1778

• Boundaries of Americans

  • The Americans Eastern Boundary was the Atlantic

  • The Americans Western Boundary was the Mississippi River

  • The Americans Southern Boundary was Southern Georgia also known as Northern Florida

  • The Americans Northern Boundary was Canada