The American Revolution

Preconditions

French & Indian War (1754-63)The Aftermath

• French: thrown off of the continent• Spanish: cedes Florida to the British in exchange for

being able to keep Cuba

British: • myth of invincibility is shattered, giving colonists

increased confidence in military• friction between officers & colonial soldiers & Indians• officials distressed at lack of common cause in colonists• debt complicates British ability to permanently defend

frontier

The Enlightenment (1720-90)

• the Scientific Revolution encourages leaders to use scientific method for everything

• a critical view of society

• philosophes apply reason to all aspects of life, not just science

Enlightenment Ideas• reason – the absence of intolerance or

prejudice

• nature – all that is good and reasonable in the laws of economics and politics

• happiness – well-being is possible on earth if one follows laws of nature

• progress – scientific method perfects

• liberty – reason sets society free

Enlightenment Liberties

• trial by jury

• right to be taxed by elected lawmakers

• right to control military by Parliament

• constitutional monarchy – England’s kings and queens are limited by law

• limited democracy – House of Lords is hereditary and House of Commons elected by a small wealthy group of males

The Enlightened Ones

• Lavoisier – discovered oxygen• Benjamin Franklin – electricity experiment• James Cook – mapped Pacific Ocean, Australia, New

Zealand, & Hawaii• significant composers include Bach, Handel, Beethoven,

Haydn, & Mozart• Adam Smith – discovered natural laws of economics• Montesquieu – advocated separation of powers• Rousseau – liberty is a birthright• Voltaire – raged against prejudice, superstition, and

intolerance

Destruction of Lower Town, Quebec, by English Bombardment by Richard Short, 1759

After fall of Quebec to British forces, France's defeat in North America was virtually certain. (National Archives of Canada)

George III by A. Ramsay, 1767Although unsure of himself and emotionally little more than a boy upon his accession to the English throne, George III possessed a deep moral sense and a fierce determination to rule as well as to reign. (Indianapolis Museum of Art, The James E. Roberts Fund)

The American Revolution

Aggravators

Stamp Act protestA Boston crowd burns bundles of the special watermarked paper intended for use as stamps. (Library of Congress)

• Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763)

• Proclamation of 1763

• Navigation Laws enforced (1763)

• Sugar Act (1764)• Stamp Tax (1765)• Stamp Act

Congress (1765)

Boston Massacre (1770)Shortly after this incident,

one Bostonian observed that "unless there is some great

alteration in the state of things, the era of the

independence of the colonies is much nearer than I once thought it, or now wish it."

(Library of Congress)

• Declaratory Act (1766)

• Townsend Tea Tax (1767)

• Committees of Correspondence

Boston Tea Party (1773)In this 1775 drawing of the Boston Tea Party, bare-chested Americans, their hair pulled back

Indian-fashion, pour tea into the harbor. The British lion appears as the figurehead of the tea ship, in case the true object of the protest was in doubt. The artist also added a large crowd of colonists

content to watch rather than do anything to prevent this destruction of private property. (Library of Congress)

Mr. Rivington, pro-British editor, hanged in effigyThe Sons of Liberty, an organization that united elite and working class protesters, first appeared in Boston but spread quickly to other American cities. In 1775 a pro-British editor in New York, James Rivington, used this illustration while reporting that a New Brunswick mob had hanged him in effigy. The New York Sons promptly made good on the threat to Rivington, attacking his office, destroying his press, and forcing his paper to close. (Mr. Rivington: Library of Congress)

• Intolerable Acts (1774)

• Quebec Act (1774)

• First Continental Congress (1774)

Thomas PaineHaving arrived in the colonies less than two years earlier, Paine became a best-selling author with the publication of Common Sense in 1776. (Art Gallery, Williams Center, Lafayette College )

George Washington's copy of Common SenseThat America's patriot leaders read Thomas Paine's inflammatory Common Sense soon after it was published in early 1776 is indicated by this first edition, owned by George Washington himself. (Boston Athenaeum)

A View of the Town of Concord, 1775In 1775 an unknown artist painted the redcoats entering Concord. The fighting at North

Bridge, which occurred just a few hours after this triumphal entry, signaled the start of open warfare between Britain and the colonies.

(Courtesy of Concord Museum, Concord, Massachusetts)

Trigger

Pulling Down the Statue of George III by William WalcuttA statue of George III, standing in the Bowling Green in New York City, was one of the first casualties of the American Revolution; colonists marked the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by pulling it down. Much of the metal was melted to make bullets, but in the

twentieth century the head--largely intact--was unearthed in Connecticut. (Lafayette College Art Collection, Easton, Pennsylvania)