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UNIT 2: COLONIAL AND
REVOLUTIONARY AMERICA
UNITED STATES HISTORY (10)
MS. SMITH
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR
• In May of 1754 a small force of British colonists ambushed a French scouting
party in western Pennsylvania and then set up a fort in the region.
• Fort Necessity was commanded by George Washington. They were eventually
forced to surrender to the greater numbers of the French.
• This was the first skirmish of the French and Indian War.
• In turn, the French and Indian War was one theater of the Seven Years War.
• Britain and France had been rivals from the beginning in the colonies.
• The French built forts rather than farms, so they fared better in dealings with
the Natives.
• The war didn’t go well for the British at first. They were badly outnumbered
by the French and their Native allies.
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR
• One of the stunning victories for the French was on July 9, 1755 where they
surprised 1500 British troops and 450 colonial militia.
• Among the survivors of this battle were Daniel Boone and George
Washington.
• In 1757, William Pitt became Prime Minister of Britain. Believing that the
entire empire was at stake, he convinced Parliament to raise taxes and borrow
money to fund the war effort.
• These tactics paid off as better prepared and led British troops began to
overwhelm the French.
• In late spring 1759, the British began a campaign to invade New France and
take Quebec, the capital.
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR
• With the fall of Quebec, it only took another year or so of taking forts and cities for
the British to control New France.
• The war was formally ended by the Treaty of Paris (1763). This also ended the Seven
Years War in Europe.
• The treaty gave Britain what is now Canada and all lands east of the Mississippi
except for New Orleans which was a Spanish possession. Britain also traded Cuba for
Florida.
• The war also strained relations between the British and American colonies.
• The British thought the colonists had not provided enough support that was fought
to protect them.
• The Americans had lost respect for British military power and believed that they
weren’t being given the proper respect.
• The Americans also wanted to expand farther west now that Britain controlled the
land.
ISSUES BEHIND THE REVOLUTION
• At the end of the war, Americans wanted to start developing the Great Lakes
and Ohio River Valley regions, alarming the Natives that lived there.
• In order to keep the peace, King George issued the Proclamation of 1763
which closed the region west of the Appalachians to settlement by colonists.
• However, colonists ignored the Proclamation and continued to move west.
• This further undermined British authority in America.
• In 1763, the British were some of the most heavily taxed people in the world.
• The British planned to raise money with new forms of taxation in the colonies.
• The first of the new taxes was the Sugar Act of 1764. It actually cut the tax on
foreign molasses in the hope that colonists would stop smuggling and buy the
legal – and taxed – kind.
ISSUES BEHIND THE REVOLUTION
• The Quartering Act required colonies to provide housing and supplies to
British troops left after the French and Indian War.
• There were complaints from colonists, but most simply went along with these
acts even though they violated the colonists rights as British citizens.
• Next came the Stamp Act of 1765. This passed a tax on newspapers,
pamphlets, legal documents, and other printed materials.
• The law required that an official government stamp be placed on these
materials to show that the tax had been paid.
• This wasn’t a trade tax that would affect very few, instead it had an impact on
almost everyone in the colonies.
• In October 1765, delegates from nine colonies met in New York at a meeting
now known as the Stamp Act Congress.
ISSUES BEHIND THE REVOLUTION
• The Stamp Act Congress passed a series of resolutions that claimed colonists
should have the same rights as the people of Great Britain.
• The people of America also protested via boycott.
• Groups sprang up everywhere to organize boycotts, and they were known as
the Sons and Daughters of Liberty.
• By November 1765, most Stamp officials had resigned or fled due to pressure
from the Sons of Liberty.
• Between this and the pressures from the British merchants, Parliament
repealed the Stamp Act in 1766.
• The core problem the colonists had with all of these acts was that they had no
representation in the governing body that issued them
ISSUES BEHIND THE REVOLUTION
• Tensions surrounding these acts caused Britain to send troops to Boston,
where officials thought rebellion was at hand.
• On March 5, 1770 a small crowd began threatening a group of British soldiers,
who opened fire, leaving five dead.
• This incident is known as the Boston Massacre.
• In 1772, Samuel Adams, John Otis, and other Bostonians created a Committee
of Correspondence to coordinate resistance in the colony.
• By 1774 nearly all the colonies had such a committee.
• In order to help the struggling British East India Company, Parliament passed
the Tea Act in 1773.
ISSUES BEHIND THE REVOLUTION
• This act allowed the company to sell its tea at a lower price than the tea the
colonists smuggled, and would put colonial merchants out of business.
• When the tea arrived in 1773, several port cities didn’t allow it to be
unloaded.
• On December 16, 1773, colonists dressed as Indians boarded a ship in Boston
Harbor and dumped the tea into the water.
• This caused the British to clamp down on Boston with the Intolerable Acts in
1774.
• This in turn caused the Committees of Correspondence to call for the First
Continental Congress.
• The First Continental Congress took place on September 5, 1774 with 56
delegates from every colony but Georgia.
ISSUES BEHIND THE REVOLUTION
• The Congress adopted several measures including reinstating the colonieswide boycott of British goods, as well as sending a letter of grievances to the
king.
• The Congress also called for each colony to build militias, and for the people
to arm themselves.
• King George III decided that the “New England governments” were in a state
of rebellion.
• Massachusetts Patriots formed militias, and began to stockpile weapons, and
one center of this was Concord.
• Late at night on April 18, 1775, a force of 800 British troops marched toward
Concord to seize the stockpile.
ISSUES BEHIND THE REVOLUTION
• The plan was supposed to be a secret, but Boston Patriots were able to put
out a warning.
• At dawn on April 19, the British met a force of 70 militia on the village green
in the town of Lexington. This skirmish would be the first in the Revolutionary
War.
• It also ended badly for the colonists. The British continued on to Concord
where they destroyed what parts of the stockpile they found.
• On their way back, the British found themselves harried by about 4,000
Patriots all the way back to Boston.
• The British lost the Battles of Lexington and Concord with over 70 dead and
170 wounded. The Patriots had about 90 casualties all together.
IDEAS BEHIND THE REVOLUTION
• The Revolution was not just about power, it was also about ideas.
• One important publication that listed some of these ideas was Common Sense
by Thomas Paine.
• Paine listed reasons why the form of government used by the British was a
broken one, and why the Americans would be better off governing
themselves.
• The Second Continental Congress met in May 1775.
• The Second Congress learned in November of 1775 that their Olive Branch
Petition – a letter asking the king to halt the fighting until a solution could be
found – was rejected by the king.
IDEAS BEHIND THE REVOLUTION
• Common Sense appeared at about the time that the Second Congress began
to debate independence.
• In May 1776, the Virginia Convention instructed their delegates in the
Congress to propose independence.
• In June 1776, Congress finally decided it was time for the colonists to cut ties
with Britain.
• The committee charged with writing the Declaration of Independence
included Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston,
and Benjamin Franklin.
IDEAS BEHIND THE REVOLUTION
• Jefferson’s ideas were influenced by the Enlightenment, a movement that
emphasized reason and science. He was also influenced by the philosopher
John Locke.
• The document was adopted on July 4, 1776.
FIGHTING FOR INDEPENDENCE
• After Lexington and Concord, about 6000 Patriots surrounded Boston,
preventing General Thomas Gage from crushing the rebellion.
• The Patriots held two hills near Boston, and in June 1775, Gage decided to try
to take them.
• On June 17, 1775, the British attacked. They sustained heavy casualties –
1,100 out of 2,400 British were killed or wounded.
• In contrast, the American casualties at the Battle of Bunker Hill was about
400.
• The next nine months saw Gage still pinned down in Boston. He asked for
permission to leave, but was not allowed.
• When the Continental Army brought in cannons, the British finally moved
their forces out of Boston by boat.
FIGHTING FOR INDEPENDENCE
• The British were well equipped, disciplined, and trained. The British Navy was
the world’s finest, and could provide a great deal of military support.
• The British also had many Loyalists and Native American allies.
• In addition, the British also hired about 30,000 mercenaries known as
“Hessians” because many of their officers came from Hesse, an area of the
Holy Roman Empire.
• However, the war was unpopular with the British public.
• The British also were fighting in hostile territory and refused to adapt their
tactics to the conditions.
FIGHTING FOR INDEPENDENCE
• The Americans were fighting on home territory, and many of their officers
were familiar with tactics that worked well in the French and Indian War.
• The Americans lacked a well-supplied, stable, and effective fighting force for
most of the war.
• The British first tried to take the Middle Colonies.
• Washington’s army was pushed out of New York by October 1776. Many
troops deserted.
• This made Washington and his remaining troops more innovative.
• Abandoning the tradition that armies do not fight in the winter, Washington
went on the attack on Christmas night 1776.
FIGHTING FOR INDEPENDENCE
• His army crossed the Delaware River and surprised about 1400 Hessians on
the other side stationed in Trenton, New Jersey.
• Almost the entire force of Hessians were captured while the Patriots only lost
about 5 people in the Battle of Trenton.
• Washington tried the same tactic at the town of Princeton, and even though
the British commander General Charles Cornwallis spotted Washington
coming, the British still suffered heavy losses.
• However, by September 1777, the American capital of Philadelphia had been
captured.
• In June 1777, General John Burgoyne moved out of Canada with about 8,000
British troops. As he moved through New York towards Albany, the Patriots
burned bridges and felled trees in his path.
FIGHTING FOR INDEPENDENCE
• This action led up to the Battle of Saratoga where Burgoyne’s exhausted and
ill-supplied men were defeated by Washington’s forces.
• This battle convinced the French to become America’s ally.
• The French also brought in the Spanish and Dutch on the Americans’ side.
• Even before this, many Europeans had already come over to help the
Americans, such as the Marquis de Lafayette.
WINNING INDEPENDENCE
• In the second half of the war, much of the fighting moved to the South, and it
was especially vicious.
• In the South, the Loyalists did much more of the fighting than the British did.
• The British took Savannah in December 1778, and Charleston in May 1780.
• In August 1780, the Continental Army was defeated at Camden.
• The taking of South Carolina would see two British officers rise to prominence
– Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton and Major Patrick Ferguson.
• Tarleton became infamous to South Carolinians after he apparently ordered
his troops to not honor requests for “quarter” or surrender.
• Instead, the surrendering soldiers were cut down, and this action became
known as “Tarleton’s quarter.”
WINNING INDEPENDENCE
• This phase of the war would also see the heavy use of guerrilla warfare –
which at the time was a relatively new tactic. It involved hit and run tactics as
well as ambush tactics.
• Several guerrilla leaders would keep the war alive in South Carolina during
this time period – Thomas Sumter (aka the Gamecock), Francis Marion (the
Swamp Fox), and Andrew Pickens.
• The Battle of King’s Mountain took place on October 7, 1780. It pitted a group
of rebels from Tennessee, Virginia, and western North Carolina against
Loyalist troops under Major Ferguson.
• King’s Mountain was a victory for the Patriots and decimated Loyalist support
in the South. Major Patrick Ferguson was also killed.
• About four months later in January 1781, the Battle of Cowpens took place.
WINNING INDEPENDENCE
• Even though Cowpens was a defeat, Lord Cornwallis continued into North
Carolina.
• The Battle of Guilford Courthouse was a victory for the British, but came at a
high enough cost that it might as well been a defeat.
• Finally, tired and ill-supplied, Cornwallis would surrender at Yorktown on
October 19, 1781.
• The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783.
• This meant that in 1783, the British formally accepted the independence of
the United States.
• One of the biggest impacts of the revolution around the world was to spread
the idea of liberty and equality.
GOVERNMENT BY THE STATES
• In the beginning, almost no one wanted a strong national government.
• At this time, Americans considered themselves citizens of their state, rather than a nation.
• The first framework for a national government was the Articles of Confederation.
• The limited national government it created only had the legislative branch. This branch also took on
duties of the modern executive branch. There was no national judicial system.
• This limited government could declare war and raise an army, but it could not tax. The Congress had to
petition the states for money.
• Far more important were the state constitutions. At this time the state governments had far more
power than the national one.
• Americans agreed that their government should be democratic, and more a republic, but they tended
to disagree on how involved everyone should be.
• Democracy – government by the people
• Republic – government by the people through representatives
GOVERNMENT BY THE STATES
• Economic problems were rampant in the states. State governments actually would print
cheap paper money to help pay off debts.
• States would also impose huge taxes on neighboring states using their seaports, and this
upset interstate commerce.
• In the 1780s, a group called the Nationalists wanted to strengthen the weak government of
the Articles in order to rein in the unpredictable states.
• The reason the Articles stayed around as long as they did was that people truly feared a
tyrannical government. Supporters pointed out that the government they had was strong
enough to win independence from Britain.
• The Nationalists believed that America was a model for the world, didn’t want to fall into
political violence.
• Trying to mediate trade disputes between Virginia and Maryland showed the biggest
weakness of the Articles – only five states sent delegates to the convention on trade
regulations.
GOVERNMENT BY THE STATES
• The convention failed, but everyone present did decide to push for another convention in Philadelphia
to discuss the Articles.
• Meanwhile, the Nationalist cause would get a boost from an event in Massachusetts called Shays
Rebellion.
• The rebellion began when Massachusetts passed a law requiring its very high taxes be paid in specie.
• Specie – gold and silver coin
• This outraged the farmers on the western edge of the state.
• These farmers complained to the legislature, but were ignored. When their land began to be taken, they
grew desperate.
• In 1786, a farmer named Daniel Shays led the rebellion, driving off tax collectors and closing courts that
rejected their petitions.
• Shays even led an army to march on a federal armory in Springfield, Mass.
GOVERNMENT BY THE STATES
• Congress could do nothing, since they had no money to raise an army.
• It took Massachusetts raising its own army to put down the rebellion.
• Shays Rebellion showed the determination of the people to resist an unfair government.
• It also demonstrated that there needed to be a stronger national government.
• When the Philadelphia Convention opened in May 1787, twelve states (all but Rhode Island) sent
delegates.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
• The Philadelphia Convention is now known as the Constitutional Convention.
• The major decision was whether to amend the Articles or abandon them all together.
• The Convention did not have the authority to abandon the Articles, but it went ahead and overstepped it’s
authority.
• Several plans were put forth, but the Virginia Plan ended up dominating.
• The Virginia Plan called for a bicameral legislature, representatives were determined by population, added
powers such as the ability to tax, the national legislature had the power of veto of a state legislature, and a
three branch system.
• The New Jersey Plan was favored by small states. It called for a unicameral legislature where all states had an
equal vote. This plan also kept the state governments more power than national government.
• The Great Compromise solved it by creating a house with equal representation (Senate) and a house with
proportional representation (House).
• The Three-Fifths Compromise said that three-fifths of the slaves would be counted towards representatives.
• The final draft of the Constitution was approved on September 17, 1787.
• The Constitution created a federal system of government –a system where power is shared among state and
national authorities.
RATIFYING THE CONSTITUTION
• For the Constitution to be law it would need to be ratified by 9 of the 13 states.
• Ratification would be passed by special conventions rather than by the legislature.
• Federalists were Pro-ratification, wanted a strong national government, and included George
Washington, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton.
• Federalists Madison and Hamilton as well as John Jay of New York, wrote a series of essays collected
into a volume called The Federalist.
• This collection was aimed to help New York choose ratification, and today is recognized as the most
sophisticated explanation of the new political system.
• Anti-Federalists were anti-ratification and believed that the constitution posed a threat to state’s rights.
• They also believed that this Constitution was a betrayal of the Revolution.
• The Constitution was submitted for ratification on September 28, 1787.
RATIFYING THE CONSTITUTION
• The Federalists had several advantages on their side. The Articles’ weaknesses were one
major point in their favor.
• The Federalists were united around the Constitution but the anti-Federalists were only united
by their opposition.
• The Federalists were united and national while the anti-Federalists were scattered and local.
• Finally, the Federalists had George Washington’s support.
• The Constitution finally passed with the inclusion of the Bill of Rights.
• The Bill of Rights protects individual freedoms.
• The Federalists themselves didn’t see much need for the Bill, but finally gave in so that the
Constitution would be ratified.
THE NEW GOVERNMENT
• George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States on April 30, 1789. His
Vice President was John Adams.
• Washington’s first action was to begin selecting officials to head the major departments of the
executive branch. This group is called the Cabinet.
• Thomas Jefferson was chosen as Secretary of State and Alexander Hamilton was chosen as Secretary of
the Treasury.
• Jefferson was not a strict Federalist and was a supporter of the Bill of Rights.
• He was chosen as Secretary of State because of his experience in France.
• Jefferson was also not a career politician. He much preferred the life of a gentleman farmer in Virginia.
He relied on slave labor but knew it was wrong.
• Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, was an intellectually brilliant man who had served as
Washington’s secretary during the Revolution.
• He headed the largest department, and was convinced that governmental power could do great things
when used properly.
THE NEW GOVERNMENT
• The next thing was to find a capital. The first year of Washington’s administration was in New York, then
Philadelphia.
• The Residence Act of 1790 stated that the capital would be a 10 mile stretch of land on the Potomac
River on the Maryland-Virginia border.
• The new capital would be called the District of Columbia, but was renamed Washington upon
Washington’s death in 1799.
LIBERTY VERSUS ORDER IN THE 1790S
• From the beginning, Americans argued over the proper role of government.
• They wished to avoid rival political factions because in their era, those divisions usually led to civil war.
• Alexander Hamilton was a supporter of strong national government, and had to come up with a plan to
take care of the national debt.
• Hamilton’s plan had the national government assume the states’ debts, and to ensure Southern support
a compromise was made to have the capital located in the South.
• The logic of Hamilton’s plan was that the banks and speculators that money was owed to wouldn’t want
the government that owed the debt to fail.
• Two things would help raise money to pay off the debts – tariffs and a tax on distilled liquors.
• This money would both pay salaries and a little of the debt off at a time.
• Hamilton’s plan was not popular with everyone. Many saw this plan as being too similar to what the
British had tried in the 1760s.
LIBERTY VERSUS ORDER IN THE 1790S
• Jefferson was especially opposed to Hamilton’s plans.
• Jefferson believed that the government should only use the implied powers of the Constitution when
absolutely necessary. This is known as a strict construction.
• Hamilton believed that the Constitution was a loose framework for the government to build the nation as it
saw fit. This is a loose construction.
• Chart on page 202. Refer for differences between Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans
• The Whiskey Rebellion tested the new government’s dedication to its laws. When people began to revolt over
the whiskey tax, Washington sent 12,000 troops to put it down.
• Even though the Federalists had made great gains, their programs and treaties lost them support with many
Americans.
• Opponents of the Federalists are now known as Jeffersonian Republicans.
• Washington decided to retire in in 1796, and the election had John Adams for the Federalists and Jefferson for
the Jeffersonian Republicans.
• Adams won with Jefferson becoming his Vice President.
• Washington in his farewell warned against political parties and called for a foreign policy of neutrality.
THE ELECTION OF 1800
• The US ended up in an unofficial naval war with France after the XYZ Affair, where the American
delegation was told to pay a bribe before they could see the French foreign minister.
• This also led to the passing of the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798.
• The Alien Act gave the President the power to deport citizens of other countries.
• The Sedition Act made it illegal to criticize government officials unless all claims could be proven.
• The Republicans believed that the Sedition Act violated the Constitution, and passed the Virginia and
Kentucky Resolutions which said that a state had the power to declare a law null and void within the
state.
• John Adams had enjoyed much support with his hardline against France, but when he tried to end the
hostilities, he lost most of his Federalist support.
• Alexander Hamilton urged the Federalists to instead support Charles Pinckney, and Adams was further
undermined when a pamphlet written by Hamilton was distributed by Aaron Burr.
THE ELECTION OF 1800
• By 1800, Jefferson had become a clear leader of those who preferred local to national power.
• The Jeffersonian Republicans are the forerunners of today’s Democrats.
• Jefferson and his followers believed it was better to risk too much liberty than too much government.
• In the election of 1800 Jefferson ended up winning the popular vote but tied in the electoral college
with his running mate, Aaron Burr.
• This tie meant that the House of Reps would be choosing the new President.
• Some Federalists preferred Burr because he was seen as less of a threat, but Jefferson had an unlikely
supporter in Alexander Hamilton.
• Jefferson was finally chosen on February 17, 1801.
• On March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated as President. The transfer of power was peaceful
in a time when such transfers usually aren’t.
THE JEFFERSON ADMINISTRATION
• Jefferson’s goal in office was to reduce the influence of the national government.
• He also cut taxes and the size of the federal bureaucracy.
• The ruling in Marbury v. Madison established the power of judicial review, where the Supreme Court
could declare laws passed by Congress unconstitutional.
• The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established what territories had to do to become states. In the Land
Act of 1800, citizens were able to buy parcels of frontier on credit.
• In order to stop the French from controlling trade on the Mississippi, Jefferson appointed James
Monroe to go to France and buy New Orleans.
• Monroe ended up buying all of the French territory of Louisiana for 15 million dollars. This was the
Louisiana Purchase.
• The Purchase increased both the national debt and the size of the country.
• In the spring of 1804, the Lewis and Clarke Expedition explored the land purchased.
• Jefferson was popular enough to win reelection.
THE WAR OF 1812
• The war was touched off by tensions with Great Britain including their impressment of American sailors
and their alleged encouragement of Native American violence.
• President James Madison asked Congress declare war, and this became the conflict known as the War
of 1812.
• On August 24, 1814, the British took Washington D.C, and burned the city including the White House.
• From Washington, the British moved on to Baltimore, and their attack on Fort McHenry would inspire
the poem called “The Star Spangled-Banner”
• The war was ended by the Treaty of Ghent in 1814. The war ended because both sides didn’t want to
continue waged war.
• Ironically, the greatest victory of the Americans was the Battle of New Orleans that was waged after the
treaty was signed.
THE WAR OF 1812
• The end of the war heralded a period of growth economically, and by 1815 the Federalists had all but
faded out of existence.
• In 1819 this changed with the depression of 1819, also known as the Panic of 1819.
• The economy eventually rebounded.
• In 1819, the slave state Missouri asked to be admitted to the Union.
• Several Northern Congressmen objected to the admittance, but Southern members insisted.
• The root problem was that they were afraid that admitting Missouri would upset the balance of power.
• This led to the Missouri Compromise which said that Missouri would be admitted as a slave state along
with Maine as a free state, and that as the US expanded westward territory above a certain latitude
would be closed to slavery.