The Making of a Revolution 1754-1783 © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

The Making of a Revolution

1754-1783

© 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Preludes to a RevolutionThe French and Indian War, 1754–1763.



The French and Indian War, 1754–1763• The war changed the landscape of North America.• After the British victory, France ceded Canada and the land east of the

Mississippi River to the British.

North America Before and After the French and Indian War


Causes:

• Europe 1740: Great Britain attacks French and Austrians the British capture Nova Scotia. • The British Drama Spills over into North America • British & Iroquois vs. French & Huron• The British decide they want to expand their power westward• The French build Ft. Duquesne basically deep into British territory

Milestones: Albany Plan of Union

• Albany Plan of Union: Beginning of the American Republic in 1754. • A meeting of colonists & Indians to plan the war

• 1st time the colonists meet without the presence of the British Crown• Plan to elect a Grand Council Elected by the colonies to make decisions • Plan a defense system for the colonies • Plan a slef imposted tax system to raise money

• They sent their plan to the colonial assemply & to Great Britian • They BOTH shot down the plan

• Even though it was a failure it is the IDEA that they are meeting • It’s the IDEA or the CONCEPT that they could meet without the crown

Milestones continued

• Washington gets his butt kicked trying to capture Ft. Duquesne• William Pitt British secretary of state during the French and Indian War

and later served as Prime Minister of Great Britain. Named secretary of state in 1757, Pitt resolved to commit whatever resources were necessary to defeat the French in North America and on the European continent.• Under Pitt the British again attack and defeat the French and take Ft.

Duquesne. • The Battle of Quebec happens in 1759• 1763 Paris Peace Settlement basically gives North America to the

British

Effects:

• Colonists realize the British AREN’T AWESOME • Indian treatment & resentment • Proclamation 1763• British Raise Taxes

BIG IDEA!

• Conception of the Republic• WE COULD BE INDEPENDEDT• WE COULD UNITE • WE COULD BE SEPARATE


The Proclamation Line of 1763

• In October 1763, the king issued a proclamation that there should be no British settlement west of the crest of the Appalachian Mountains and that Indian rights to western lands would be protected forever.• The line infuriated the

British colonists.


Pontiac and Indian Responses• 1763 – Pontiac’s Rebellion: Pontiac and his followers

attacked British forts across the region.• Eight forts were destroyed, and hundreds of colonists

were killed or captured, with many more fleeing the region.

• Hostilities came to an end after British Army expeditions in 1764 led to peace negotiations over the next two years.

• In July 1766 Pontiac signed a treaty of peace.

• Native Americans were unable to drive away the British, but the uprising prompted the British government to modify the policies that had provoked the conflict.• **The Rebellion was a reflection of a growing divide

between the separate populations of the British colonists and Native Americans


The Paxton Boys and Rural White Responses

• The Paxton Boys decided to eliminate Indians.• In December 1763, the Paxton Boys attacked a Delaware village, killed

six people, and burned the town. • Hatred of Indians would haunt the inhabitants of North America for a

long time to come.


Threats of New Taxes

• Victory in the war had virtually drained the kingdom’s treasury.• In 1764, George Grenville and the

majority in Parliament asked Britain’s North American colonists to pay what the authorities in London thought was a fair share of the war’s cost.


“The Revolution Was in the Minds of the People”• According to John Adams, “The Revolution was in the minds of the

people, and this was effected from 1760 to 1775, fifteen years before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington.”• The revolutionary change took place for many reasons.ANTI-REVOLUTION: • Loyalists • African Slaves • Native Americans


Transition from the “Rights of Man” to Revolt

• Throughout the 1770s, Locke’s ideas guided some of the Revolution’s most articulate advocates• Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin.

• They also believed in the need to overthrow unjust authorities.

• Republicanism: A complex, changing body of ideas values, and assumptions that held that self-government by the citizens of a country or their representatives provided a more reliable foundation for the good society and individual freedom than ruled by kings or any other distant elite.

• “America has set the example and France has followed it, of charters of power granted by liberty.” – James Madison • Multiple revolutions are happening around the world: • French Revolution 1789 – 1799• Haitian Revolution 1791• Latin American Revolutions 1810 - 1826


The Accompanying Revolution in Religion• 1740 - Gilbert Tennant challenged the leaders of all Protestant

denominations to judge their ministers.• He was calling out to congregations that were not “pro-awakening” to

challenge their ministers

• It was not a great leap to challenge civil authority as well.


Seaport Radicalism—From the Stamp Act to the Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party

• British actions in the 1760s & 1770s escalated tensions in North American cities. • The gov’t needed to pay off the debt from the F&I war, and with each attempt the

resistance grew • 1764 – Sugar Act • 1765 – The Stamp Act (SON’S OF LIBERTY: formed an underground resistance to the acts) • 1767 – Townshend duties • 1773 – Tea Act

• Colonists saw each tax and act and an attack on their civil liberties. • March 5th 1770 – Boston Massacre (3 died) • 1773 – Boston Tea Party (probably the most famous act of resistance)

• Daughters of Liberty: Women’s response to the Sons of liberty, they opposed British measures, avoided British taxed tea, spun their own yarn and wove their own cloth to avoid purchasing British goods.


Revolts in the Back Country• Rural people on the frontier from New York to the

Carolinas were also taking matters into their own hands, but for different reasons.• They called themselves The Regulators• They violently opposed movements by the government

to implement courts and offices attempting to force and punish people who didn’t pay taxes

• Throughout the colonies the most contentious issue for inland communities was relationships with Indian tribes. • The ever increasing population of whites that demanded

more land and encroached onto Indian territory increased attacks by Indians.

• Colonists wanted more land than the 1763 Proclamation Line allowed.

Growing Unity in the Colonies—The First Continental Congress

• The colonies joined together in united action against British Tyranny• 1774 – Philadelphia, First Continental Congress: meeting

of delegates from most of the colonies held in Philadelphia in 1774 in response to the British efforts to tax the colonies.

• All colonies, except Georgia, sent representatives.• At the time, few were ready to break with Britain,

finding common ground wasn’t easy. • Agreements:

• Their natural rights should not be infringed upon • Ban on British imports • A ban on exports • A ban on the consumption of tea (symbolic) • Meet again in May 1775 if relations with Britain didn’t

improve


Talk of Freedom for Slaves

• Somerset Decision: 1772 ruling by Britain’s Lord Chief Justice in the case of James Somerset that set him free and essentially declared slavery illegal in England, though not in British colonies. • The Somerset decision caused a considerable stir in the colonies and in Britain.

• Whites on both sides of the Atlantic noted the absurdity of colonists protesting their own perceived enslavement by Parliament while those same colonists enslaved Africans.• “thousands of tens of thousands of their fellow creatures!”

• Quakers made it mandatory for members of their denomination to free their slaves or allow them to purchase their freedom

The War For Independence• British Courts and Troops Stationed in the Colonies as the Revolution

Began


Patriots (Colonists who fought for independence from Great Britain)Loyalists (Colonists who remained loyal to Great Britain during the Revolution)


From Lexington and Concord to Bunker Hill—Revolt Becomes War• April 1775 – Battles of Lexington and Concord• June 1775 - Battle of Bunker Hill• After that battle, however, the American forces became better

organized and gained support from all 13 colonies.


African-Americans in the Armies of Both Sides• The outbreak of war opened a new avenue to freedom for American

slaves. • Some heard the rumor that the British intended to help of free the

African’s • In Winter 1777-78, Washington finally embraced black volunteers.


Moving Toward Independence• May 1775 – Second Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia• Delegates from the thirteen colonies met in Philadelphia to create a

Continental army and prepare the colonies for war against Britain.• Thomas Paine’s Common Sense: Common Sense was a pamphlet that attacked the

British monarchy and provided a rationale for American independence from Britain. It was written in plain terms that all Colonial Americans could understand.


Declaring Independence, 1776

• Thomas Jefferson writes the first draft of The Declaration of Independence• On July 4, 1776, Congress adopted it.• 1777- Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation.


George Washington and His Victorious Patchwork Army• Washington understood that though his army could fight, they could

not withstand a direct battle with British regulars.• For much of the war, his goal was not a decisive victory, but avoiding a

decisive loss.• He knew the British would tire of war.

Two Significant Battles • Battle of Saratoga (New York), 1777• at attempt by the British to cut New

England and the South off from one another by seizing control of New York• the victory by the Continental Army

convinced the French to join the war on the side of the colonists

• Battle of Yorktown (Virginia), 1781• combined French and Continental

troops force the surrender of General Cornwallis and the British• the last major battle of the American

Revolution• Colonial American victory forced the

British to start negotiating a treaty to bring the war to an end

Treaty of Paris, 1783• the treaty officially ended the Revolution and recognized the United States as a free, sovereign, and independent nation• Terms of the Treaty

• The Great Lakes served as the northern border of the United States

• The Mississippi River served as the western border of the United States

• Spain retained control of Florida (obvious problems later)

• Britain retained control of Canada (obvious problems later)

• the United States agreed to treat the loyalists fairly in the post war years

• the British agreed to remove all troops from United States territory

Major Battles of the American Revolution.


VIDEOS

• F&I War: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ktkw7iSITkc

• CC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eytc9ZaNWyc&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtMwmepBjTSG593eG7ObzO7s&index=6

• School House Rock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-9pDZMRCpQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ktkw7iSITkc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eytc9ZaNWyc&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtMwmepBjTSG593eG7ObzO7s&index=6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eytc9ZaNWyc&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtMwmepBjTSG593eG7ObzO7s&index=6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-9pDZMRCpQ

Documents

The Making of a Revolution 1754-1783 © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved