APUSH Ch. 5

The American Revolution

Characteristics of the American Revolution

The initial stimulus for rebellion came from the gentry who resented Parliament’s efforts to curtail their rights within the British empire.

The farmers turned this rebellion into a mass movement.Ordinary folk became American soldiers, willing to stand up to seasoned British troops.

Life after the French & Indian War

• A growing diverse population, young in age• A high level of prosperity• Wealth was not evenly distributed; it varied

by region. The Southern colonies enjoyed the highest levels of personal wealth, partly because of owning slaves. The Middle colonies did not prosper as much because of their inability to produce large amounts of exports.

Breakdown of Political Trust

• The responsibility for preserving the empire fell to George III, who was ill-prepared to become a king. (130-131)

• He clashed with the Whigs (British policymakers) who had always set policy and controlled patronage.

Who is to blame for England’s loss of its British Empire in America?

• The king and Parliament• Neither had ever visited America. No one

understood what it was like to live in the colonies. There was a lack of communication between the colonies and the Mother country.

• The main problem: parliamentary sovereignty.(132) Parliament was the dominant element in

the British constitution. The Glorious Revolution gave Parliament supreme authority in matters such as taxation.

Examples of Colonial self-government

• Mayflower Compact• Fundamental Orders• VA House of Burgesses• (American) colonial assemblies• Salutary neglect enabled the colonial

assemblies/legislatures to pass their own laws (taxes)

Representation

British believed in “virtual representation” – that even though the colonists had not elected members to Parliament, they were nevertheless “virtually” represented by being part of the British Empire.

The colonists did not agree. They argued the British taxes were “taxation without representation.”

John Locke

• See your notes on AP Topics #35

Commonwealthman tradition

• A body of political assumptions• It persuaded colonists that power was extremely dangerous, a force that would

surely destroy liberty unless it was countered by virtue (morals).

• The colonists insisted on public virtue (civic virtue) – sacrifice of self-interest to the public good.

Effects of the French & Indian War• Debt• British troops remained in the colonies after the

war was over. George III maintained the largest peacetime army in British history in the colonies. Why? To protect the Indians from the settlers as well as preserve order in Canada & Florida. This added to the debt.

• There was also the added cost of maintaining a larger empire.

• Pontiac’s Rebellion – the conflict between the Native Americans & colonists on the land taken from the French (around the Great Lakes) which resulted in the Proclamation of 1763, which forbid the colonists from moving onto this land.

George Grenville• Had the task of reducing England’s debt• How? TAXESRevenue/Sugar Act – passed to raise revenue for

Britain for the cost of Britain protecting the colonies & to discourage smuggling & bribery

Stamp Act – caused the most widespread anger because it affected all 13 colonies – Patrick Henry issued 4 resolutions (Virginia Resolves) protesting this act. In MA, the Stamp Act Congress was held & drafted petitions to the king and Parliament, arguing no taxation without representation.

• Colonial response to the Stamp Act – boycotting of British goods

• Boycotts mobilized colonial women to make the boycott a success.

• Stamp Act was repealed and the Declaratory Act was passed, a statement reminding the colonists of Parliament’s supremacy over the Americans.

• Townshend Duties – import tax on paper, glass, paint, lead, and tea – items the colonists depended on Britain for; this revenue would pay the governors, instead of the colonial governments doing so. Colonial Response: BOYCOTTING!

More taxes!!

• Townshend Duties were repealed except for the tax on tea, a reminder of the Declaratory Act.

• Quartering Act – required colonists to house soldiers & to provide the army with certain items such as firewood and beer!

Other events leading to the Revolution War

• Boston Massacre (141)• The Gaspee Incident (143)• Boston Tea Party – led to the Coercive Acts;

colonists believed Britain was trying to enslave them

• Tea Act – would generate revenue to pay judicial salaries, freeing the judges from dependence on the colonial assembly; would also save one of Britain’s largest businesses, the East India Company from bankruptcy

• Quebec Act

Colonial Response to British actions• Boycotting• Forming a committee of correspondence to

communicate grievances to people throughout Massachusetts, started by Samuel Adams; an idea other colonies began to do

• Meeting of the First Continental Congress• Suffolk Resolves – statement encouraging

forcible resistance of the Coercive Acts, written in MA; created the “Association” – an intercolonial agreement to stop trade with Britain until the Coercive Acts were repealed

Shots Heard Around the World

• British attacked Lexington and Concord• The British were met by ill-trained farmers at

Lexington as the British were on their way to Concord where they thought the colonists and guns and other supplies. This sparked the war.

• Battle of Bunker Hill – 1st major battle; took the British 3 tries before defeating the colonists

2nd Continental Congress

Actions taken:•Formed a Continental Army & appointed Washington as its commander•Issued the Declaration of Independence – a list of grievances against George III

More taxes!!!

• Prohibitory Act – prohibited the colonists from trading with any foreign country; to accomplish this the British Navy blockaded their ports

Thomas Paine

• Wrote a political pamphlet called Common Sense – No king is a good king.

• Encouraged people to sever their ties with Great Britain

British Advantages

• Larger population• Strong manufacturing base• A well-trained regular army• Hessians – hired German troops• Most powerful navy in the world• Trained & experienced officers• money

British Disadvantages

• Distance away from America – had to transport men and supplies

• Poor communication• America was too vast a country• Underestimated American commitment to a

political ideology – the protection of their rights

American advantages

• Confidence that they could win• A cause to fight for• A militia in addition to the Continental Army

Battles• Battle of Saratoga (NY) – the colonists’ victory

over the British brought the French into the war on the side of the colonists; a turning point battle

• The Treaty of Alliance – if England & France went to war, the French agreed to reject a peace treaty until Britain recognized US independence; US agreed not to sign a treaty with Britain without first letting France know

• Yorktown, VA – the final battle

Treaty of Paris 1783

• Officially ended the Revolutionary War• Independence from Britain was obtained• The US gained all the land east of the

Mississippi River except Spanish Florida• American debts owed to Britain would be paid• Loyalists would be compensated for land they

lost in the war