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03 UNIT: 06 CHAPTER
The Duel for North America, 1608–1763
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Like Britain, France entered late into the American colonial scramble, eventually developing an extensive though
thinly settled empire economically based on the fur trade. During much of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, Britain and France engaged in a bitter power struggle that frequently erupted into worldwide wars. In
North America, these wars constituted an extended military duel for imperial control of the continent.
The culminating phase of this struggle was inaugurated by young George Washington’s venture into the sharply
contested Ohio country. After early reversals in the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War), the British, under
William Pitt, revived their fortunes and won a decisive victory at Quebec, finally forcing the French from North
America.
The American colonials, who had played a large part in Britain’s imperial wars with France, emerged with
increased confidence in their own abilities. The removal of the French and Spanish threat to British control of
North America kindled increasing tensions between the colonists and Britain. The Ottawa chief Pontiac’s
unsuccessful uprising in 1763 convinced the British of the need to continue stationing troops in America. But with
foreign threats gone, the colonists were unwilling to pay taxes for British protection and increasingly resented
Britain’s authority over them.
FOCUS QUESTIONS
1.
Where did France colonize in the New World? What was the focus of French colonization?
2.
What region in the North America did both France and Britain view as critical to their colonial empires?
3.
What nations were the principal adversaries in the Seven Years’ War in Europe?
4.
How did the Albany Congress portend the American Revolution?
5.
What were the significant military engagements in North America of the Seven Years’ War and what was
the outcome of each?
6.
In what ways did British policy during and after the Seven Years’ War upset and unite the colonies?
7.
Why was the French Empire ultimately so much less successful than either the Spanish or the British
Empires?
8.
If France, instead of Britain, had won the “duel for North America,” would the thirteen colonies ever have
become independent of Britain, or would they have been forced to stay within the empire for protection
against France? Would Detroit, St. Louis, and New Orleans now be cities in Canada rather than in the
United States?
9.
How did the treatment of Americans by British officers and the military, during the war, contribute to
simmering resentment against the mother country? Do the attitudes and behavior of the colonists during the
war suggest that Americans felt less real patriotic loyalty to Britain and that the ties had become largely
practical ones?
10. How important was William Pitt’s leadership in winning the Seven Years’ War? Is strong political
leadership essential to military victory? Is strong political leadership or strong military leadership more
important to winning a war? What about during revolutions?
11. From Britain’s perspective, were stationing soldiers in the New World permanently and issuing the
Proclamation of 1763 good colonial policies? What problems were these policies trying to address? How
else might have Britain solved those problems while limiting colonial contempt?
12. Should the French and Indian War be considered one of the major causes of the American Revolution? Why
or why not?
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03 UNIT: 07 CHAPTER
The Road to Revolution, 1763–1775
CHAPTER SUMMARY
The American War of Independence was a military conflict fought from 1775 to 1783, but the American
Revolution was a deeper transformation of thought and loyalty that began when the first settlers arrived in
America and finally led to the colonies’ political separation from Britain.
One source of long-term conflict was the tension between the considerable freedom and self-government the
colonists enjoyed in the American wilderness and their participation in the British Empire’s mercantile system.
While British mercantilism actually provided economic benefits to the colonies, along with certain liabilities, its
limits on freedom and patronizing goal of keeping America in a state of perpetual economic adolescence stirred
growing resentment.
The short-term movement toward the War of Independence began with British attempts to impose higher taxes
and tighter imperial controls after the French and Indian War. To the British these were reasonable measures,
under which the colonists would simply bear a fair share of the costs of the empire. To the colonists, however, the
measures constituted attacks on fundamental rights.
Through well-orchestrated agitation and boycotts, the colonists forced repeal of the Stamp Act of 1765 as well as
the Townshend Acts that replaced it, except for the symbolic tax on tea. A temporary lull in conflict between 1770
and 1773 ended with the Boston Tea Party, conducted by a network of Boston agitators reacting to the
Massachusetts governor’s attempt to enforce the law.
In response to the Tea Party, the British imposed the harsh Intolerable Acts, coincidentally passing the Quebec
Act at the same time. These twin actions aroused ferocious American resistance throughout the colonies and led
directly to the calling of the First Continental Congress and the clash of arms at Lexington and Concord.
As the two sides prepared for war, the British enjoyed the advantages of a larger population, a professionally
trained militia, and much greater economic strength. The greatest American asset was the deep commitment of
those Patriots who were ready to sacrifice for their rights.
FOCUS QUESTIONS
1.
What role did mercantilism play in creating discord between British authorities and the colonists?
2.
How did the colonies respond to Grenville’s laws, specifically the Stamp Act?
3.
What events resulted in British soldiers landing in Boston and being involved in the Boston Massacre?
4.
How did the British respond to the Boston Tea Party?
5.
Where did the British soldiers and American colonists clash in April 1775?
6.
What were the advantages and disadvantages of Britain on the eve of the American Revolution?
7.
What were the advantages and disadvantages of the American colonists on the eve of the American
Revolution?
8.
Evaluate the system of mercantilism. What were the benefits for Britain and for the colonies? What were
the costs to Britain and to the colonies? Is the system of mercantilism sustainable or will colonies inevitably
revolt?
9.
Was the American Revolution inevitable? Could America have gradually and peacefully developed
independence within the British Commonwealth, as Canada later did, rather than engaging in a violent
revolt? At what point in time, if any, was a violent revolt inevitable? What could the British have done to
stop the Revolution?
10. Were all the American grievances really justified, or were the British actually being more reasonable than
most Americans have traditionally believed?
11. What was the Revolutionary movement, at its core, really all about? Was it about the amount of taxation,
the right of Parliament to tax, the political corruption of Britain and the virtue of America, the right of a
king to govern America, or the colonies’ growing sense of national identity apart from Britain? Was the
Revolution truly a radical overturning of government and society—the usual definition of a revolution—or
something far more limited or even conservative in its defense of traditional rights?
12. In 1775, which side would a neutral observer have expected to win—Britain or the colonies? Why?
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03 UNIT: 08 CHAPTER
America Secedes from the Empire, 1775–1783
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Even after Lexington and Concord, the Second Continental Congress did not, at first, pursue independence. The
Congress’s most important action was selecting George Washington as military commander.
After further armed clashes, George III formally proclaimed the colonists in rebellion, and Thomas Paine’s
Common Sense finally persuaded Americans to fight for independence as well as liberty. Paine and other leaders
promoted the Revolution as an opportunity for self-government by the people, though more conservative
republicans wanted to retain political hierarchy without monarchy. Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence
deepened the meaning of the struggle by proclaiming its foundation in self-evident and universal human rights.
The committed Patriots, only a minority of the American population, had to fight both Loyalist Americans and the
British. Loyalists were strongest among conservatives, city-dwellers, and Anglicans (except in Virginia), while
Patriots were strongest in New England and among Presbyterians and Congregationalists.
In the first phase of the war, Washington stalemated the British, who botched their plan to quash the rebellion
quickly at Saratoga. When the French and others then aided the Americans, the Revolutionary War became a
world war.
American fortunes fell badly in 1780–1781, but the colonial army in the South held on until Cornwallis stumbled
into a French-American trap at Yorktown. Lord North’s ministry collapsed in Britain, and American negotiators
achieved an extremely generous settlement from the Whigs.
FOCUS QUESTIONS
1.
What were some of the military engagements that occurred before independence was declared by the
colonists and what was the outcome of each?
2.
How did Thomas Paine convince colonists to fight for independence?
3.
What were Thomas Paine’s views on government?
4.
Why was Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence so inspiring at the time and for future
revolutions?
5.
Who were likely to be Loyalists? What types of people favored Britain? How were Loyalists treated during
the war?
6.
What were the major military campaigns after the colonists declared independence?
7.
How was French aid secured by American diplomats?
8.
How did Old World tensions contribute to the success of American diplomats in securing the Treaty of Paris
and its generous provisions?
9.
Why have the Loyalists been largely forgotten in American historical memory? Do they deserve to be better
known? Do you agree with the text that they were often tragic figures?
10. Did the Loyalists act primarily out of conviction and feelings of patriotism toward Britain, or out of selfinterest?
11. If you had been an African American, free or slave, in 1776, would you have tried to back the Patriot cause
or the Loyalist cause? Why?
12. What was radical and new in the Declaration of Independence and what was old and traditional? What did
statements like “all men are created equal” mean in their historical context and what did they come to mean
later?
13. Was military strategy or politics the key to American victory in the war? How did the two coincide?
14. If the “Model Treaty” that John Adams authored had been the basis for the American alliance with France,
would the results of the Revolution have been the same? Do you agree that Benjamin Franklin’s French
alliance is an example of “practical self-interest trumping idealism,” as the authors state? In what other
situations during the Revolutionary War does practical self-interest trump idealism?
15. Did the Loyalists deserve to be persecuted and driven out of the country? What difference does it make to
understand the Revolution as a civil war between Americans as well as a war against the British?
16. How important were the diplomatic relations between European nations in determining the success of the
American Revolution? How significant a role did the French play in securing American independence?
How significant a role did the rest of Europe play? How did the American Revolution change diplomatic
relations in Europe?
17. What has the Revolution meant to later generations of Americans, including our own? Do we still think of
the United States as a revolutionary nation? Why or why not?
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03 UNIT: 09 CHAPTER
The Confederation and the Constitution,
1776–1790
CHAPTER SUMMARY
The American Revolution did not overturn the social order, but it did produce substantial changes in social
customs, political institutions, and ideas about society and government. Among the changes were the separation of
church and state in some places, the abolition of slavery in the North, written political constitutions, and a shift in
political power from the eastern seaboard toward the frontier.
The first weak national government, the Articles of Confederation, was unable to exercise real authority, although
it did successfully deal with the western lands issue. The Confederation’s weaknesses in handling foreign policy,
commerce, and the Shays rebellion spurred the movement to alter the Articles.
Instead of revising the Articles, the well-off delegates to the Constitutional Convention created a permanent
charter for a whole new government. In a series of compromises, the convention produced a plan that provided for
a vigorous central government, a strong executive, and protection for property, while still upholding republican
principles and states’ rights. The pro-Constitution Federalists, generally representing wealthier and more
commercial forces, frightened other groups who feared that the new government would undermine their rights and
their interests.
The Federalists met their strongest opposition from Anti-Federalists in Virginia and New York, but through
effective organization and argument, as well as promises to incorporate a bill of rights into the document, they
succeeded in getting the Constitution ratified. By establishing the new national government, the Federalists
checked the Revolutionary movement, but their conservative regime embraced the central Revolutionary values of
popular republican government and liberty.
FOCUS QUESTIONS
1.
How did the principle of equality influence American society after the adoption of the Declaration of
Independence?
2.
What distinguishes constitutions in America from a constitution in the British tradition?
3.
What were the shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation?
4.
What events and situations motivated a desire for a stronger central government in some Americans?
5.
What compromises were required to produce the Constitution?
6.
How did the Anti-Federalists view the proposed Constitution?
7.
What was the ratification process for the Constitution, and how did the Federalists eventually triumph?
8.
Which of the social changes brought about by the Revolution was the most significant? Could the
Revolution have gone further toward the principle that “all men are created equal” by ending slavery or
granting women’s rights?
9.
Was the United States in a crisis under the Articles of Confederation, or was the crisis exaggerated by the
Federalists to justify their movement? Could the United States have survived if the Articles had stayed in
effect? What successes did the Articles of Confederation achieve? Was the Constitutional Convention a
second American Revolution?
10. Why was the United States so uniformly held in contempt by European governments after the Revolution?
Was it due more to the Articles of Confederation or to being a recently created nation?
11. What would have happened to the Constitutional Convention if Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Thomas
Paine, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Patrick Henry all attended?
12. Should the Founding Fathers’ general elitism and indifference to the rights of people, women, African
Americans, and Indians be held against them? Or should they be viewed with more understanding in their
historical context?
13. What was really at stake in the debate between Federalists and Anti-Federalists? Did the Federalists win
primarily because of their superior political skills or because they had a clearer view of the meaning of the
Revolution and the future of the United States? What role did the ratification process play in the fight
between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists (and did it favor one side or the other)?
14. Why did Americans accept the Constitution, with its strong national government and powerful executive,
after, only a decade earlier, violently revolting against similar British institutions? Why did the AntiFederalists not violently oppose the new Constitution?
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03 UNIT: 10 CHAPTER
Launching the New Ship of State, 1789–1800
CHAPTER SUMMARY
The fledgling government faced considerable difficulties and skepticism about its durability, especially since
traditional political theory held that large-scale republics were bound to fail. But President Washington brought
credibility to the new government, while his cabinet, led by Alexander Hamilton, strengthened its political and
economic foundations.
The government’s first achievements were the Bill of Rights and Hamilton’s financial system. Through effective
leadership, Hamilton carried out his program of funding the national debt, assuming state debts, imposing customs
and excise taxes, and establishing a Bank of the United States.
The bank was the most controversial part of Hamilton’s program because it raised basic constitutional issues.
Opposition to the bank from Jefferson and his followers reflected more fundamental political disagreements about
republicanism, economics, federal power, and foreign policy. As the French Revolution evolved from moderation
to radicalism, it intensified the ideological divisions between the pro-French Jeffersonians and the pro-British
Hamiltonians.
Washington’s Neutrality Proclamation angered Republicans, who wanted America to aid Revolutionary France.
Washington’s policy was sorely tested by the British, who routinely violated American neutrality. In order to
avoid war, Washington endorsed the conciliatory Jay’s Treaty, further outraging the Republicans and France.
After the humiliating XYZ affair, the United States came to the brink of war with France, but Adams sacrificed
his political popularity and divided his party by negotiating peace.
These foreign-policy disagreements embittered domestic politics: Federalists passed the Alien and Sedition Acts,
to which Jefferson and Madison responded with the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions.
FOCUS QUESTIONS
1.
What important protections were added to the Constitution in the Bill of Rights?
2.
What were the components of Hamilton’s economic policy, and what did he hope to accomplish ?
3.
What two constitutional theories were presented by Jefferson and Hamilton when Washington asked about
the constitutionality of creating a national bank?
4.
Why did Washington opt for neutrality during the French Revolution?
5.
What were the domestic and international consequences of Jay’s Treaty?
6.
How did John Adams handle foreign affairs with France?
7.
What laws were being responded to in the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions, and what was Jefferson’s
proposed remedy?
8.
Who would likely support Hamiltonian federalists, and who would likely support Jeffersonian Republicans?
What were the philosophical differences between these two political parties?
9.
Did the Bill of Rights satisfy the Anti-Federalists concerns? Was individual liberty and state sovereignty
protected by the new amendments? What about assaults on the new Bill of Rights such as the national bank
and the Alien and Sedition Acts?
10. Why did Hamilton move so rapidly to create large financial commitments by the federal government? Since
we normally think of the federal debt as something bad, why did Hamilton think of it as something good
and necessary for the national welfare?
11. How sympathetic should Revolutionary Americans have been to the king-killing French Revolution?
12. Why were political parties viewed as so dangerous by the Founding Fathers? Why did parties come into
being at all, and why did they come to be accepted as legitimate ways to express political disagreement?
13. How wise was Washington’s insistence on neutrality? What about the fact that, while this foreign policy
stance may not have violated the letter of the alliance with France, it did violate the spirit of the alliance?
Do you agree that, as the authors contend, “self-interest is the basic cement of alliances”? Does a nation
have an obligation to maintain alliances previously established, even when it is no longer in that nation’s
self-interest?
14. What role did domestic politics and economic realities play in establishing an American foreign policy?
How should American diplomats interact with European governments? Consider the fact that some
Americans do not want diplomats to follow standard European protocol (like kissing the Queen’s hand or
paying bribes to speak to public officials).
15. Contrast the Hamiltonian Federalist belief that the wealthy and well educated ought to run the government
with the Jeffersonian Republican belief that the common person, if educated, could be trusted to manage
public affairs.
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03 Unit AP Vocabulary Words
1. Edict of Nantes
2. Huguenots
3. Quebec
4. Samuel de Champlain
5. New France
6. coureurs de bois
7. Antoine Cadillac
8. Detroit
9. Louisiana
10. Robert de La Salle
11. King William’s War
12. Queen Anne’s War
13. Ohio Valley
14. Ft. Duqeusne
15. French and Indian
War
16. Albany Congress
17. Ben Franklin
18. Gen. Edward
Braddock
19. William Pitt
20. James Wolfe
21. Battle of Quebec
22. Marquis de Montcalm
23. Treaty of Paris, 1763
24. Pontiac
25. Daniel Boone
26. Proclamation Line of
1763.
27. Acadians
28. mercantilism
29. Navigation Laws
30. Enumerated goods
31. Privy Council
32. salutary neglect
33. George Grenville
34. Sugar Act
35. Quartering Act
36. Stamp Act
37. admiralty courts
38. taxation without
representation
39. virtual representation
40. Stamp Act Congress
41. Sons
42. Daughters of Liberty
43. Non-importation
agreements
44. Declaration of Rights
and Grievances
45. Declaratory Act
46. Champagne Charley"
Townshend
47. Townshend Acts
48. Crispus Attucks
49. John Adams
50. Samuel Adams
51. committees of
correspondence
52. Boston Tea Party
53. Intolerable Acts
54. Quebec Act
55. First Continental
Congress
56. Lexington
57. Concord
58. Minutemen
59. Loyalist
60. Hessians
61. Hessians
62. Loyalist
63. Marquis de Lafayette
64. Patriots
65. Tories
66. Baron von Steuben
67. Second Continental
Congress
68. George Washington
69. Ethan Allen
70. Benedict Arnold
71. Green Mountain Boys
72. Ft. Ticonderoga
73. Crown Point
74. Bunker Hill
75. Olive Branch Petition
76. Hessians
77. Gen. Richard
Montgomery
78. Benedict Arnold
79. Moore's Creek Bridge
80. Thomas Paine
81. Common Sense
82. republic
83. Richard Henry Lee
84. Thomas Jefferson
85. Declaration of
Independence
86. John Locke
87. Patriots
88. Loyalists
89. Moderates
90. profiteers
91. New York
92. Trenton
93. Princeton
94. Col. Barry St. Leger
95. Gen. Burgoyne
96. Gen. Howe
97. Benedict Arnold
98. Brandywine Creek
99. Germantown
100. Valley Forge
101. Baron von Steuben
102. Battle of Saratoga
103. Franco-American
Treaty
104. Battle of Monmouth
105. Comte de Rochambeau
106. Benedict Arnold
107. Francis Marion
108. King's Mountain
109. Camden
110. Cowpens
111. Gen. Nathaniel Greene
112. Gen. Charles
Cornwallis
113. Chief Joseph Brant
114. Treaty of Ft. Stanwix
115. George Rogers Clark
116. John Paul Jones
117. Privateers
118. Yorktown
119. Treaty of Paris, 1783
120. Episcopal Church
121. republican motherhood
122. confederation
123. Articles of
Confederation
124. Northwest Ordinance
125. Land Ordinance of
1785
126. township
127. section
7
128. Northwest Ordinance
of 1787
129. Shays' Rebellion
130. Constitutional
Convention
131. Virginia Plan
132. New Jersey Plan
133. Great Compromise
134. Electoral College
135. Three-Fifths
Compromise
136. Federalists
137. Anti-Federalists
138. George Washington
139. Amendment 9
140. Amendment 10
141. Judiciary Act of 1789
142. John Jay
143. Funding at Par.
144. Assumption
145. strict interpretation
146. Elastic Clause
147. Necessary and Proper
148. Loose Interpretation
149. Bank of the United
States
150. Whiskey Rebellion
151. Hamiltonians
152. Jeffersonians
153. Neutrality
Proclamation
154. Citizen Edmond Genêt
155. Gen. "Mad" Anthony
Wayne
156. Battle of Fallen
Timbers
157. Treaty of Grenville
158. impressed
159. John Jay
160. Jay's Treaty
161. Pinckney Treaty
162. Farewell Address
163. XYZ Affair
164. Talleyrand
165. Convention of 1800
166. Alien acts
167. Sedition Act
168. Kentucky and Virginia
Resolutions
169. compact theory
170. states’ rights theory
171. nullification
172. Federalists
173. DemocraticRepublicans
174. Republicans