Age of Revolution

American Revolution

American Revolution

• England established 13 colonies between 1607 and 1733.

• The first permanent English settlement was Jamestown, settled in 1607 in Virginia.

• In 1620 the colony of Plymouth was settled by Pilgrims seeking freedom of religion.

Jamestown

• Founded in 1607• Created by the Virginia

Company (joint- stock company)

• Goal: Make $$$• 1st Permanent English

Settlement in New World

Jamestown

• Tobacco: Virginia Gold• John Rolfe• Plantations (large

farms) created– Cash Crop economy

Jamestown

• Indentured Servants• Plantation Workers:– 5-7 year service

agreement– Pay for voyage– Food & shelter– Land after contract

completed

Slavery• Slaves replace

indentured servants• Middle Passage: Journey

from Africa to America– Part of the Triangular

Trade • Slave Codes: Harsh laws

against slaves• Slave Response: – Suicide, vandalism,

revolts

Pilgrims

1620: Arrive @ Plymouth

Separatists: Believed Church of England was corrupt. Never to return to England.

William Bradford: Pilgrim leader

Life in America

• Land was cheaper in the New World than England

• People could earn money and not be poor.• For more than 150 years, England pretty much

left the colonists alone. All that changed in 1763 after the end of the French and Indian War.

England & Colonial America

Salutary Neglect: English policy of leaving the colonies to develop on their own.The main goal of England: To make money

MercantilismEconomic idea

Colony

Mother Country

Raw Materials

& Gold/Silver

Finished Products

French & Indian War(1754 – 1763)

• The first major step in the road to Revolution

Causes

• Desire to control the Ohio River Valley• Lingering hostilities between the

French and British & the Indians and Colonists• George Washington’s attack @ Fort

Duquesne

Treaty of Paris(1763)

• Ends the War• France removed from North America• Great Britain emerged as dominant world

power• Colonies have an increased confidence in

military strength

George Grenville

• British Prime Minister (1763-1765)

• Tax colonists to pay debt

• Sugar Act & Stamp Act

Stamp Act

• Tax applied to all paper documents

• Colonists should pay their fair share of colonial defense

Boston Massacre(March 5,1770)

• British soldiers fire on an unruly mob

• Crispus Attucks

What is a massacre?

Tea Act (1773)

• British East India Co: Monopoly on American tea trade

• Lowers the price of tea

• Colonists reaction: –Boston Tea Party

Massachusetts Defies Britain

• In December 1773, tea ships from the East India Company arrived in Boston Harbor

• Colonists boarded the ship and dumped the tea into the harbor

• This became known as the Boston Tea Party• The Boston Tea Party led to the British

passing four new laws called the Coercive Acts.

Massachusetts Defies Britain

• These acts were an attempt to stop colonial challenges of British authority

• The Coercive Acts violated several English rights, including the right to trial by a jury of one’s peers and the right not to have troops quartered in one’s home

• The Quebec Act gave more territory to Quebec and stated that a governor and council appointed by the king would run Quebec.

Massachusetts Defies Britain

• The Coercive Acts and the Quebec Act became known as the Intolerable Acts.

• The First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in 1774.

• The congress wrote the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, which expressed loyalty to the king but condemned the Coercive Acts and announced that the colonies were forming a nonimportation association

Intolerable Acts (1774)

• Closed Boston harbor

• Massachusetts charter revoked

• Colonists must house troops

The Revolution Begins

• The town of Concord created a special unit of minutemen, trained and ready to fight the British at a minute’s warning.

• The American Revolution was not just a war between Americans and British but a war between Loyalists and Patriots.

• Americans called Loyalists, or Tories, remained loyal to the king and felt British laws should be upheld.

The Revolution Begins

• The group included government officials, prominent merchants, landowners, and a few farmers.

• The Patriots, or Whigs, thought the British were tyrants.

• Patriots included artisans, farmers, merchants, planters, lawyers, and urban workers.

Lexington & Concord

• Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Doctor Samuel Prescott rode from Boston to warn Lexington and Concord.

• Paul Revere and William Dawes was stopped in Lexington, but Dr. Prescott was able to continue to Concord and warn the Minutemen

Lexington & Concord

• British search for: colonial weapons, Sam Adams and John Hancock• Casualties: –8 colonists killed–70 “Redcoats” killed, 300 injuries

total

Lexington and Concord

• This was the first shots of the American Revolutionary War. “The shot heard ‘round the world.”

• There was no turning back now and the world would take notice of what occurred here.

Americans Win Independence

• The Influence of the Enlightenment– Colonial leaders push for independence, rely on

Enlightenment ideas– Declaration of Independence—document

justifying colonial rebellion– Leader Thomas Jefferson writes Declaration, uses

ideas of John Locke

Declaration of Independence

• Main author: Thomas Jefferson

• 3 Parts: Preamble, grievances, formal declaration

Declaration of Independence

• Goal: Tell colonists and other countries of our plans

• Gain support from more colonists and countries (France and Spain)

Concepts of the Declaration

• John Locke• British philosopher• Two Treatises on

Government

Natural Rights

• Life, Liberty, Property• Rulers cannot take these rights away

Social Contract

• People = Power• People create

government• protect their rights

Social Contract

…….People should break their contract

If rights are not protected……..

Battle of Saratoga 10/17/1777

• Turning point of war• France give full

support to colonists

Yorktown (1781)

• Last major battle of the war• French naval blockade• Washington’s army forced General

Cornwallis to surrender

Americans Win Independence

• Success for the Colonists– Despite British military might, colonists have

advantages:• Motivating cause of freedom• French assistance• War’s expense for Britain

– British surrender at Yorktown in 1781; colonists win the war

A World Turned Upside Down

• The Declaration of Independence said that “all men are created equal.”

• The declaration also said that people had a right to choose their own form of government.

• In 1789, the people of France followed the lead of the Americans.

• The French also turned their world upside down.