Seven Years' War is a global conflict between Britain and France.
The French and Indian War is the part of that war that takes place in The Americas.
Tension was growing between Britain and France over the Ohio River Valley.
British were looking to expand, but the French had forts there.
Belligerents:
British and American colonists
French
Natives fighting on both sides
War lasted from 1754 to 1763, ending in a British victory.
British perspective:
They have to protect the colonists from other countries and Native Americans.
Frustrated because it's expensive and they will probably have to protect the colonists in the future.
Colonists' perspective:
Sense of pride that they served and fought alongside the British.
They feel like they can defend themselves.
Proclamation of 1763
British draw a line along the western boundary of the colonies and tell the colonists that they are not allowed to expand west past this line.
Colonists wanted to expand west, but the British government doesn't want them coming into contact with natives because the British Army would have to defend them, which is more expensive.
Connection to Bacon's Rebellion: Colonists wanting to expand west, and the British government telling them no because they didn't want to defend them against the natives.
End of Neglect
British had created navigation acts to force the British colonies to only trade with them.
American colonists were smuggling goods from other countries because they were looking to make some extra money.
The British didn't really care because they were still making money.
After the French Indian War ends, the British are going to crack down on smuggling and have people tried by royal judges rather than juries of their peers.
The colonists feel like they were doing well on their own, and they are upset by the king cracking down on them.
War is expensive, and the British government lost a lot of money fighting the French and Indian war.
British start taxing the colonies to make that money back.
Taxation and Growing Tensions
1764 and 1765: Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, and the First Quartering Act
Early 1770s: More acts and more responses from the colonists, including the Boston Massacre in 1770 and the Boston Tea Party in 1773.
Focus on understanding the theme and having one or two examples that would support that theme.
Example thesis : Discuss how the colonists shifted towards a desire for independence between 1763 and 1775.
Taxation builds over time
Tensions increased over that time period
Examples: Coercive Acts and the Stamp Act of 1765.
Intolerable Acts
1774: The Intolerable Acts (including the Coercive Acts) are largely a response to the Boston Tea Party, closing the Port Of Boston.
Revolutionary War
Spring of 1775: First battles of the Revolutionary War in Lexington and Concord.
Colonists sent the Olive Branch Petition to King George III proposing that they rectify the situation and asking for better treatment and representation.
Chant: "No taxation without representation."
The Continental Congress first met in 1774 to represent the colonies as a whole.
King rejects petition, which leads to declaring independence in 1776.
Rhetoric in 1776: Thomas Paine's Common Sense and Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty, or give me death" pushed the colonies towards independence.
War battles to know:
Saratoga: Turning point because the French become much more involved after this.
Yorktown: Decisive victory in 1781, and that is the last major battle of the war.
Treaty of Paris: Americans have won this war, and they are now an independent nation.
Articles of Confederation
Created in 1781.
Very weak, purposefully.
Created weak central government because they just rebelled against a king.
Core weaknesses:
Central government couldn't levy taxes, leading to economic struggles.
Could not create a militia.
Shays' Rebellion
Mid 1780s in Massachusetts.
Economic situation was dire, and the state was in debt.
The state started taxing their people to try to get out of this debt.
Farmers felt that they had traded one form of oppression for another.
The central government, the Articles government, couldn't help because they didn't have the power to raise a militia.
Massachusetts, with help from their neighbors, was able to put the rebellion down.
Shays' Rebellion identifies the weaknesses of the articles and shows that they need to be overhauled.
US Constitution
1787: Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia to fix the Articles of Confederation.
Delegates decided to throw out the Articles and create a new government.
Two political factions:
Federalists: Pro-strong government. They wrote the Federalist Papers, primarily Alexander Hamilton.
Antifederalists: Scared about the Federalists being that strong. Eventually, many of them will become Democratic Republicans.
Debate over power led to compromise:
Bicameral government.
The House is based on population.
The Senate is everybody gets two representatives.
Three-Fifths Compromise determined how slaves would count towards population.
The Constitution was not ratified until the addition of the Bill of Rights, which are the first ten amendments or changes made to the Constitution.
Bill of Rights protect the rights of the people, such as:
The right to have a lawyer.
The right to not self-incriminate.
Freedom of speech.
George Washington's Presidency
Elected first president in 1788.
Unanimously selected by the electoral college.
Ran for four years, ran again in '92, and then stepped down in 1796.
Precedent he set is very important, such as a cabinet of advisers.
The basis for the two-term limit is in Washington's precedent.
Whiskey Rebellion
In 1791, Alexander Hamilton taxed whiskey to make money.
In 1794, distillers in Pennsylvania rebelled.
Washington took the army up to Pennsylvania and shut this rebellion down right away.
The Whiskey Rebellion showed the strength of the Constitution and how it was a much better document compared to the Articles of Confederation.
Washington's Farewell Address
No political parties.
No foreign intervention, especially in Europe.
John Adams' Presidency
Second US president.
XYZ Affair:
Tensions growing with France.
US sent delegates to meet with French diplomats, who were identified as X, Y, and Z.
French diplomats asked for a bribe before they would even speak with the US delegates.
US Diplomats left, leading to a short undeclared war between the two countries and brief naval battles.
Alien and Sedition Acts
Elongated the period of time you had to be here before being a citizen from five to fourteen years.
Gave the president the power to deport any noncitizen who he deemed to be dangerous to our government.
Sedition Acts cracked down on people who were speaking out and criticizing the government, especially newspapers who were publishing sentiments against the government.
Midnight Judges and Marbury vs. Madison
Election of 1800 was the first time power would transfer between two presidents who disagreed.
Peaceful transfer of power even between parties becomes a hallmark of democracy.
John Adams elects a bunch of different judges at the end of his time in office, known as the midnight judges.
Judiciary Act created the Supreme Court and lower court systems.
Adams did this so late that not all of the commissions could be delivered before he had to leave office.
Jefferson elected president and tells James Madison not to deliver those commissions.
The Supreme Court decides that:
James Madison, you really should actually have to give out these commissions.
The judiciary act was unconstitutional.
Because it was unconstitutional, you actually do not have to give out these commissions.
This creates the Supreme Court's power for judicial review, the power to determine if a previous law was constitutional or not.
Louisiana Purchase
1803: America doubles in size almost overnight.
More opportunity for westward expansion.
Jefferson expanded the powers of the government, but the constitution didn't explicitly give him the power to do this.
War of 1812
In 1808, Congress prohibits the importation of slaves, the international slave trade.
Relationship with Britain was growing worse and worse.
British had broken many aspects of the Treaty of Paris, especially with the forts that were located around the Ohio River Valley.
They were impressing British American sailors.
Members of congress called Warhawks were trying to push the US into this war.
War started in 1812.
After this, it kind of confirms the US's independence worldwide.
The US really start to develop one kind of identity as a nation.