BEFORE THE WAR:

• Importance of Enlightenment & Great Awakening (1730s-40s)

  • All people are sinners but can be saved through God’s grace

  • All people can have a direct and emotional connection with God

  • Religion should be casual and personal

  • NO NEED FOR CLERGY

  • Locke: People have Natural Rights (L.L.P.), People can overthrow gov’t that doesn’t support these

  • Rosseau: People should give up some autonomy for gov’t protection

  • Montesquieu: Gov’t powers should be separated w/ checks and balances

• Mercantilism

  • Economic policy where a nation exports more goods than it imports

• Navigation Acts: British trade laws that that said:

  • the colonies HAD to send valuable goods (tobacco) to England FIRST 

  • The colonies had to import goods ONLY from English ports 

  • EX. French wine had to be imported into an English port → England collected taxes on them 

  • CREATED A SMUGGLING CULTURE 

• Salutary neglect

  • British policy to allow self-rule in the colonies as long as they were profitable

• Iroquois

• French and Indian War (The Seven Years’ War)

  • British was originally losing when braddock died but Wahington came in clutch at Fort Duquesne (Western Pennsylvania)

  • Causes/effects of French and Indian War

  • details of the F&I War

• 3 Phases of the F/I War:

  • Phase 1: British struggle against the Native Americans and French 

  • Phase 2: British cut off French shipping to the Americas 

    • Capture Montreal and force the French to surrender 

  • Treaty of Paris (1763) ends the war 

    • British kept Canada, Florida, and west up until the MI River 

• Treaty of Paris in 1763: ended war and left canada/great lakes/ohio river valley/florida to Great Britain.

Problems After F/I War:

• Proclamation of 1763:

  • Issue King George III’s Proclamation of 1763, which would close lands West of the Appalachian Mountains for settlement. Colonists would not be allowed to move into this area.

• Trade Regulations:

  • Pass strong laws to enforce existing trade regulations, i.e. eliminate jury trial for people accused of smuggling and eliminate the need for search warrants. 

• Finances:

  • Create sales taxes on things colonists use every day and use the money to pay off debts and run the governance of the colonies.

• Pontiac’s Rebellion - conflict between the British Empire and Algonquian, Iroquoian, Muskogean, and Siouan-speaking Native Americans following the Seven Years' War

• Albany Conference & Plan

  •  a proposal to create a centralized government for the colonies in 1754. Proposed by Benjamin Franklin and adopted by representatives from seven of the colonies at the Albany Congress. The plan was intended to help the colonies defend themselves against the French and Indian War.

  • Join or Die

  • Colonies didn’t join bc they didn’t want to lose their independence

• King George III

• Somerset v. Stewart

  • Somerset sues Stewart in England

  • Freed enslaved laborers if they arrived in England 

  • Sets precedent that Britain is more anti-slavery than the American colonies = cause of the revolution

• Currency Act

  • Prohibited the printing paper money by Colonial legislatures

  • Significance: Colonists believed they were underpaid and couldn’t support their economy without printing money 

• Declaratory Act

  • Declared that Parliament had the authority to make laws and tax the American colonies 

  • Significance: Passed same day that Stamp Act was repealed - show of power

• Circular letters - The document that claimed the British had no right to tax without representation

• Samuel Adams - One of the founders of the Sons of Liberty

• Sons of Liberty - a group of rebellious colonists who opposed British taxation, later organized the Boston Tea Party

• Committees of correspondence - an intercolonial committee organized 1772 by Samuel Adams in Massachusetts to keep colonists informed of British anticolonial actions and to plan colonial resistance 

• Minutemen - Soldiers who had the ability of gathering in a formation at a minutes call

  • Minutemen (militia members) defended Colonial arms that the British wanted to take 

• Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts) (Spring 1764)

  • meant to punish boston by closing the port to trade until colonials paid for the destroyed tea + tax

  • increased power of governor at expense of elected assemblies and town meetings

    • left colonists raging

  • intolerable acts

    • rejected the idea the british could shut down trade

• Stamp Act (March 1765) 

  • required colonists to pay a tax on almost all printed materials  (newspapers, books, court documents, contracts, and land deeds). first time that Parliament had imposed a direct tax within the colonies.

  • Also had sugar tax: for sugar and molasses (INDIRECT TAX)

    • argued colonies had no representation in parliament and had no right to tax them

      • type of tax resistance: intellectual protest, economic boycotts, and violent intimidation

• Sons of Liberty (Summer 1765)

  • colonists opposed stamp act leading to work together and unify to become patriots

    • eventually became the Sons of Liberty

    • extremely violent; damaged house of stamp tax collector

    • hutchinson (massachusetts gov) denounced the riot and they have to do it (got rioted too)

  • no one was left to collect taxes

• Stamp Act Congress (Oct. 1765) 

  • didn’t like the violence/ addressed the issue civilly / congress encouraged consumer boycott of goods imported from Britain

• Non-Importation Acts (Oct. 1765) 

  • threatened british merchants/manufacturers to economic ruin

• Quartering Act (early 1766)

  • required colonies to provide housing and supplies for british troops stationed after french and indian war.

    • colonists were not happy and complained but went along because they accepted parliament's right to regulate trade/provide defense

• Townshend Acts (1767)

  • british government needed money still so charles townshend thought they would accept indirect taxes on commerce

  • levied new import duties on everyday items like glass/paint/paper/tea

    • colonist insisted they won't pay anything to Parliament

• Daughters of Liberty (1768-1769)

  • gave up comforts to pledging to not buy any british goods, winning respect for their efforts in political struggle

    • spun home (Homespun Movement) made cloth rather than british manufactured ones

• Boston Massacre (1770)

  • revived protest/violence where biggest riots occurred in boston

  • officers seized merchant ship for smuggling

  • British were stationed at docks

    • Resulted in lost jobs for people

  • Low income threw stuff at them because of this

• Committees of Correspondence (1773)

  • promoted leadership and promoted cooperation 

    • parliament backed down

    • kept tea taxes

• Tea Act (1773)

  • allowed company to sell directly to colonists for tea

  • British thought they would be happy bc they lowered taxes for tea

    • British east india company: going out of business bc of competition

    • Women bought a lot of tea (they got mad bc they like other teas)

      • Significant bc not a lot of boycotts were led by women

• Boston Tea Party (1773)

  • boston patriots dumped tea into harbor from british ships

  • Response to Tea Act

  • Angered the British → Intolerable/Coercive Acts

• Quebec Act (July 1774)

  • extended canada's southern border 

• 1st Continental Congress (July 1774) @ Philadelphia

  • “give me liberty or give me death”

  • ““The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American.”

    • presents unity and nationality

  • meant to pressure parliament to boycott all british imports

  • patriots established local committees to enforce them

  • Coordinated effort of the colonies to boycott British imports and expanded political activism to common shopkeepers, artisans, and farmers

  • Only state that didn’t join: Georgia - fear of losing protection from Native Americans

CHRONOLOGICAL BATTLES OF REVOLUTION

• Lexington and concord 1775

  • Minutemen attack british troops via geruilla warfare

  • ⭐

• Battle of Bunker Hill

  • British saw colonists as unthreatening enemy

  • Patriots fortified hills overlooking Boston to drive out British from port

  • Lord Howe ordered troops to march straight up hill → major defeat

    • Howe wanted to prove that the trained Brit. troops would beat the untrained colonists

    • British lost 2 more times and won bc Patriots ran out of ammo

  • Brit. had higher casualties → Patriots had moral victory

• Battle of Trenton/Washington Crosses the Delaware River 1776

  • BACKGROUND:

    • British captured NYC and cut off New England from other colonies

      • Washington forced to retreat in NJ

  • DURING:

    • Dec. 26 Washington counterattacks Hessians 

    • Modest victory raised Patriot spirits

• Battle of Princeton 1777

  • Attack on General Charles Cornwallis’s troops

  • 1777 initially started well (Battle of Trenton + Battle of Princeton)

  • The rest of 1777 = defeats for washington, lost Philadelphia to Howe’s army

• Battle of Saratoga

  • Showcase that patriots can hold off on their own against britain// led to french supporting the US

• Battle of Yorktown (Final battle) - 1781

  • French navy helped the Patriots to win the war

  • British were on a peninsula and assumed their Navy would come for reinforcements, then George Washington lead the troops around the edge of the land 

  • Lead to the end of the war in 1783, with Treaty of Paris

• Treaty of Paris (1783)

  • 1783 Peace Treaty

  • Ended the Revolutionary War

  • Affirmed American independence from Britain

  • Main writers and negotiators: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay

• The declaration of independence will be adopted on July 4th 1776 (roughly a year after the second continental congress)

  • ⭐:Second Continental Congress - 1775, finally agreed on something, which was to make George Washington commander in the chief of the Continental Army

  • Jessferson took inspiration from

    • John Lock: natural rights | Life liberty and property

    • Thomas Paine: “Common Sense”  - Complaints

REASONS WHY AMERICA WON (POSSIBLE FRQ)

AFTER THE WAR:

• Loyalists:

  • Mob violence and laws prevented their  return home after the war was over 

  • 90,000 became refugees 

  • Many moved to Canada 

IMPORTANT PEOPLE:

• Locke

  • People have Natural Rights (L.L.P.)

  • People can overthrow gov’t that doesn’t support these

• Abigail Adams

• Samuel Adams

  • Cousin of John Adams

  • One of the founders of the Sons of Liberty

  • Organized the Committees of correspondence 

    • intercolonial committee organized 1772 in Massachusetts to keep colonists informed of British anticolonial actions and to plan colonial resistance

• Thomas Paine

• Thomas Jefferson

• George Washington

• Benedict Arnold

  • Tried taking back fort form the british (Fort Ticonderoga)

  • Won, attacked at night with no resistance

  • Wasn’t given recognition for his strategies that lead to victory in certain battles and was seen as pro-british bc of marrying a lady who had connections w/ the british → eventually switched over to British side

• Marquis de Lafayette

• James Lafayette

  • Double agent

  • enslaved man

    • Ppl assumed bc he was enslaved he sided with the Brit and wasn’t smart enough to do anything big to help the war

  • joined the Continental Army and served under the Marquis de Lafayette

HELPFUL RESOURCES:

• The American Revolution - OverSimplified (Part 1) 

• The American Revolution - OverSimplified (Part 2) 

KEY IDEAS:

• What did it take for the colonies to declare independence?:

  • A minority favored independence early on 

  • Lexington and Concord (1775) 

  • Olive Branch petition = IGNORED 

  • Common Sense reaches the masses

• Long Term vs. Short Term Causes of the War

  • Long Term Causes:

    • Great Awakening

    • French and Indian War 

    • Enlightenment Ideas

  • Short Term Causes:

    • Taxes 

    • New Laws/Regulations

    • Violence

• Who aligned with whom?

• Georgia = strong loyalist

  • Southern colonies = cash crops and needed to sell them to make money

  • Needed Britain’s protection from Native American conflicts