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America: Pathways to the Present
Chapter 4
The Road to Independence
(1753–1783)
Copyright © 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as
Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. All rights reserved.
America: Pathways to the Present
Chapter 4: The Road to Independence (1753–1783)
Section 1: The French and Indian War
Section 2: Issues Behind the Revolution
Section 3: Ideas Behind the Revolution
Section 4: Fighting for Independence
Section 5: Winning Independence
Copyright © 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as
Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. All rights reserved.
The French and Indian War
Chapter 4, Section 1
• What were the causes of the French and Indian War?
• How did the British win the French and Indian War?
• How did the war weaken the colonists’ loyalty to
Britain?
The Roots of the American Revolution
• If you could go back in time to
the American colonies in the
1750s, what would be the typical
colonist’s view toward Britain
and all things British?
Proud to be British…
• What was the typical colonial attitude toward Britain…?
• “It has been said that the Americans were never more British than
in 1763.” The colonists were proud of their English heritage.
• The British empire also included close to 2.5 million American
colonists prouder than ever to be British because they believed
their freedom resulted from their equal status in an empire
which allowed them a large degree of self-government and
liberty.
Great pride toward Britain and the British political system…desire
to copy all things British…the colonists also saw themselves as
British, not as Americans…They believed they were the freest and
most prosperous people in the world… (Liberty meant being left
alone. In real terms, liberty meant local self-gov’t)
Signs of Inferiority
• Were there any signs of strain between Britain and the
colonies during this time?
• There were some strains. There was a feeling, especially
acute among the elite that Britain did not treat them with
proper respect…feelings of inadequacy/inferiority…Some
colonists had ignored the Navigation Acts…but for the
most part, the colonists were very content.
• These feelings started to change in the
mid-1760s. Why? Let’s find out.
Causes of the Seven Year’s War
Chapter 4, Section 1
• What became a worldwide struggle for imperial
domination, which eventually spread to Europe,
West Africa, and Asia, began in 1754 with
British efforts to dislodge the French from
the forts they had constructed in western
Pennsylvania.” (GML, p.159)
(Seeds of the Revolution)
Causes of the Seven Year’s War
Chapter 4, Section 1
• This conflict was known in America as the French and
Indian War and elsewhere as the Seven Year’s War. It
was the final chapter in a long struggle among the
French, the British, and various groups of Native
Americans for control of eastern North America. It was
called the French and Indian War because the British
and their American colonists fought against the French
and their Indian allies.
•
• The conflict began because both Britain and France
claimed the upper Ohio River valley territory.
Causes of the Seven Year’s War
Chapter 4, Section 1
• In June 1754, Benjamin Franklin proposed the
Albany Plan of Union. The plan was based on
the idea that the British colonies would benefit
from greater unity, just as the Iroquois nation
had strengthened itself by forming the Iroquois
League. The colonists rejected Franklin’s plan,
but it later provided a model for the United
States government.
Causes of the Seven Year’s War
Chapter 4, Section 1
• During this meeting, Virginia’s governor sent
Colonel George Washington to what is now
southwestern Pennsylvania to challenge the
French’s claims to that land. The French
refused to cede the land. Washington
surrendered, was released and then returned to
Virginia. This event became the beginning of the
French and Indian War in North America and
the Seven Years War in Europe.
Causes of the Seven Year’s War
Chapter 4, Section 1
• Early in the war, the French and their Native American
allies won many important victories. The British troops
and colonial militia, armed citizens who served as
soldiers during an emergency, tended to fight in the
open and in straight lines, as was common in Europe.
The French and Native Americans used the element of
surprise and hid behind rocks and trees.
The British Win the War
Chapter 4, Section 1
• In 1756, Great Britain formally declared war on France.
Fighting spread to Europe and Asia, but the British
suffered defeats there too, as they had in America.
• William Pitt, Britain’s prime minister, the highest official in
a parliamentary government, believed that the entire
British Empire was at stake. Pitt persuaded Parliament to
raise taxes and borrow money to fight the war. In 1758,
better-prepared and better-led British troops began to
overwhelm the French and Native American forces.
The British Win the War
Chapter 4, Section 1
• In spring of 1759, the British began a campaign to invade
New France and capture Quebec. British General Wolfe
laid siege to the city. During a siege, an enemy force is
surrounded; trapped and without access to supplies, the
enemy is starved into surrender. The British successfully
won Quebec, and then Montreal, giving them control over
all of New France.
The British Win the War
Chapter 4, Section 1
• The Treaty of Paris (1763), officially ended the French and
Indian War in America and the Seven Years’ War in
Europe. In the treaty, France turned present-day
Canada over to Britain and surrendered its claim to all
lands east of the Mississippi River. Britain also returned
Cuba to Spain in exchange for Florida.
The French and Indian War, 1754-1763
Chapter 4, Section 1
The three main thrusts of British
strategy are shown here. In 1758,
British forces struck in two
directions—at French strongholds
in the West and against
Louisbourg in the East. Finally, in
1759, they attacked Quebec and
Montreal.
Weakened Loyalty to Britain
Chapter 4, Section 1
• Despite the victory, the French and Indian
War strained relations between the British
and the American colonists.
• The British thought that the colonists did
not provide enough support for the long
and costly war that Britain had fought to
protect them.
Weakened Loyalty to Britain
Chapter 4, Section 1
• The American colonists were shocked by the weakness
of British military tactics. The Americans demanded to
be led by colonial officers.
• Many American colonists felt a loss of respect for British
military power. Many also believed that the British did
not share the same values as the colonists. With victory
over France, however, many of these differences were
quickly overshadowed by common pride in being British
– and being free.
Weakened Loyalty to Britain
Chapter 4, Section 1
• Tensions between the British professional military and
colonists may have faded, but there were always in the
back of the minds of those who fought.
• All it would take were further actions by Britain that
upset the colonists and reminded of their previous
negative feelings toward Britain.
• It didn’t take too long for Britain to upset those who
fought, and more importantly the much larger group of
colonists who didn’t fight and who had never really
harbored any ill feelings toward the mother country.
Colonial Pride in Being British Grows Stronger
• For most colonists, “Participation in the Seven
Years’ War created greater bonds among the
colonies. But the war also strengthened
colonists’ pride in being members of the
British empire.”
• “It has been said that the Americans were
never more British than in 1763.”
Colonial Pride in Being British Grows Stronger
• “Despite tensions between the professional
British soldiers and American citizen-soldiers,
bonds were still formed by the common
experience of battle and victory.”
• But, these positive feelings would soon be
tested over and over again.
Colonial Pride in Being British Grows Stronger
•
•
“British victory over Catholic France seemed a triumph of British
Protestant liberty over French ‘popish’ tyranny.”
“However, in 1763, the British global empire was neither predominantly
Protestant nor British nor free. It now included thousands of French
Catholics and millions of persons in India governed as subjects rather
than as citizens.” (GML, p.166)
• The British empire also included close to 2.5
million American colonists prouder than ever to
be British because they believed their freedom
resulted from their equal status in an empire
which allowed them a large degree of selfgovernment and liberty.
Colonial Pride in Being British Grows Stronger
It was their very strong sense of liberty that
would lead these American colonists to
resist the changes in British colonial policy
that followed after completion of the war.
They would approach their opposition to
new regulations and taxes levied by
Parliament rather than local assemblies as
infringements of British liberty.
The Colonies by 1763 – A New Society?
(How did the American Colonies compare to Britain by
1763?)
• Assess the validity of this statement.
• “Between the settlement of Jamestown in
1607 and the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the
most important change that occurred in
the colonies was the extension of British
ideals far beyond those envisioned in the
mother country. Your response should
address the following areas: religion,
economics, politics, and social structure.
The Colonies by 1763 – A New Society?
(How did the American Colonies compare to Britain by
1763?)
• “Between the settlement of Jamestown in 1607 and
the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the most important
change that occurred in the colonies was the
extension of British ideals far beyond those
envisioned in the mother country.
• Changes in religion, economics, politics, and social
structures illustrate this Americanization of the
transplanted Europeans.”
• It is in these changes that one sees the seeds of
revolution planted.
The Colonies by 1763 – A New Society?
(How did the American Colonies compare to Britain by
1763?)
• “By 1763, although some colonies still maintained
established churches, other colonies had
accomplished a virtual revolution for religious
toleration and separation of church and state.”
• There was far more religious liberty in the
colonies.
The Colonies by 1763 – A New Society?
(How did the American Colonies compare to Britain by
1763?)
• “In a similar economic revolution, the colonies outgrew
their mercantile relationship with the mother country and
developed an expanding capitalist system of their own.”
• The colonies had many valuable resources that were in
demand. They also had the ability to manufacture goods
on their own, but were largely prevented from doing so
because of the navigation Acts.
• Most white men owned some land and prospered.
• By the 1760s the colonies were at the point where
their relationship with Britain was no longer an
economic benefit, but more of a burden. They could
profit more on their own.
The Colonies by 1763 – A New Society?
(How did the American Colonies compare to Britain by
1763?)
• “Building on English foundations of political
liberty, the colonists extended the concepts of
liberty and self-government far beyond
those envisioned in the mother country.”
• The colonies had far more political liberty
than Britain…far more men could vote in
the colonies compared to Britain…13
colonial legislatures elected by majority of
white males…liberty had come to also
mean local self-gov’t
The Colonies by 1763 – A New Society?
(How did the American Colonies compare to Britain by
1763?)
• “In contrast to the well-defined and hereditary classes
of England, the colonies developed a fluid class
structure which enabled the industrious individual to
rise on the social ladder.”
• The idea of a meritocracy, rather than an aristocracy,
was becoming the norm in the colonies. The
American colonists increasingly came to view one’s
own efforts as the basis of judging one’s fitness.
• In the colonies there MUCH MORE mobility. (
Weakened Loyalty to Britain
Chapter 4, Section 1
• Now that the French no longer held Canada or the
region west of the Appalachian Mountains, the
colonists saw no reason why they should not
expand and prosper on their own, with or without
British help. These feelings would soon combine
with events to expand the rift between Britain and
its colonies.
Britain Reevaluates its Policy toward the
colonies
Chapter 4, Section 1
•
•
How and why did Britain’s colonial policy change after 1763?
“Having treated the colonists as allies during the war, Britain reverted
in the mid 1760s to seeing them as subordinates whose main role was
to enrich the mother country. During this period, the government in
London concerned itself with the colonies in unprecedented ways,
hoping to make British rule more efficient and systematic and to raise
funds to help it pay for the war and to finance the empire. Nearly all
British political leaders supported the laws that so enraged the
colonists. Americans, Britons felt, should be grateful to the empire
…. Britain had borrowed heavily to finance the war (the equivalent of
tens of trillions of dollars in today’s money)…It seemed only
reasonable that the colonies should help pay this national debt.”
(GML, p.179)
The French and Indian War-Assessment
Chapter 4, Section 1
What tactic did the British use to win the city of Quebec?
(A) They fought in the open, as was common in Europe.
(B) They laid siege to the city.
(C) They borrowed military tactics from the Iroquois.
(D) They hid behind rocks and trees.
How did the French and Indian War strain relations between the British and the
American colonists?
(A) The British believed that the colonists did not provide enough support.
(B) The colonists felt a loss of respect for the British military.
(C) The colonists wanted to expand and prosper on their own without the help
of the British.
(D) All of the above
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The French and Indian War-Assessment
Chapter 4, Section 1
What tactic did the British use to win the city of Quebec?
(A) They fought in the open, as was common in Europe.
(B) They laid siege to the city.
(C) They borrowed military tactics from the Iroquois.
(D) They hid behind rocks and trees.
How did the French and Indian War strain relations between the British and the
American colonists?
(A) The British believed that the colonists did not provide enough support.
(B) The colonists felt a loss of respect for the British military.
(C) The colonists wanted to expand and prosper on their own without the help
of the British.
(D) All of the above
Want to link to the Pathways Internet activity for this chapter? Click here!
Issues Behind the Revolution
Chapter 4, Section 2
• How and why did British policies in the colonies
change after 1763?
• What were the causes and effects of the Stamp Act?
• How did rising tensions in the colonies lead to
fighting at Lexington and Concord?
The Roots of the American Revolution
• If you could go back in time to
the American colonies in the
1750s and early 1760s, what
would be the typical colonist’s
view toward Britain and all
things British?
Proud to be British…
• What was the typical colonial attitude toward Britain…?
• “It has been said that the Americans were never more British than
in 1763.” The colonists were proud of their English heritage.
• The British empire also included close to 2.5 million American
colonists prouder than ever to be British because they believed
their freedom resulted from their equal status in an empire
which allowed them a large degree of self-government and
liberty.
Great pride toward Britain and the British political system…desire
to copy all things British…the colonists also saw themselves as
British, not as Americans…They believed they were the freest and
most prosperous people in the world… (Liberty meant being left
alone. In real terms, liberty meant local self-gov’t)
Signs of Inferiority
• Were there any signs of strain between Britain and the
colonies during this time?
• There were some strains. There was a feeling,
especially acute among the elite that Britain did not
treat them with proper respect…feelings of
inadequacy/inferiority…Some colonists had ignored
the Navigation Acts…but for the most part, the
colonists were very content.
Road to Revolution
• How and why did Britain’s colonial policy change
after 1763?
•
“Having treated the colonists as allies during the war, Britain reverted in
the mid 1760s to seeing them as subordinates whose main role was to
enrich the mother country. During this period, the government in
London concerned itself with the colonies in unprecedented ways,
hoping to make British rule more efficient and systematic and to raise
funds to help it pay for the war and to finance the empire. Nearly all
British political leaders supported the laws that so enraged the
colonists. Americans, Britons felt, should be grateful to the empire ….
Britain had borrowed heavily to finance the war (the equivalent of tens
of trillions of dollars in today’s money)…It seemed only reasonable that
the colonies should help pay this national debt.” (GML, p.179, 3rd
edition)
Trouble Emerges
• What happened after 1763 that started to sour the
colonists’ feelings towards Britain?
• Debt and the high cost of empire forced the British
government to change its “hands-off” policy toward
the colonies…stricter enforcement of Navigation
Acts…new taxes
• Britain reverted to treating the colonies as
subordinates
• The colonists viewed the changes as threats to their
traditional English liberties. (And, as threats to their
economic well-being.)
Impact of Seven Years War: London’s
solution and the colonists reaction
• …How reasonable were London’s solutions, and in
what ways did the colonists view them as attacks on
their liberty?
• “…Americans, Britons felt, should be grateful to the empire…”
• “Having studied the writings of British opposition thinkers who
insisted that power inevitably seeks to encroach upon liberty,
colonial leaders came to see these measures as part of a British
design to undermine their freedom.” Britain might have thought
of the colonists as subordinates, but the colonials were fiercely
proud to call themselves Englishmen. The colonists resisted all
of the measures enacted by Parliament hoping to obtain their
repeal and a restoration of salutary neglect. Eventually, the
protests turned into rebellion and then a war for independence.
(p.177 3rd Ed.)
Changing British Policy
Chapter 4, Section 2
•
•
•
At the end of the French and Indian War, the Native Americans in the Great Lakes
region were concerned about British interests. The British colonists were not hunters
and traders like the French. As farmers, the British represented a much greater threat
to Native American land and resources than did the French. The Native Americans
tried to explain their concerns to British government officials, but the British
government ignored them.
In the spring of 1763, the Ottawa, Huron, Potawatomi, and other Indians in the Great
Lakes region rebelled against British occupation. They destroyed every British fort in
the region. The uprising was called Pontiac’s Rebellion, after one of the Ottawa
leaders.
In October, King George of Britain issued the Proclamation of 1763, closing
the Great Lakes region to settlement by colonists. Colonists ignored the
proclamation and other peace treaties between the British and Native
Americans, and continued to settle in forbidden areas. Britain’s lack of
success in halting the colonists’ migration further undermined its authority in
America.
Britain’s Financial Problems
Chapter 4, Section 2
• The costs of governing and defending Britain’s vast
empire made the British people the most heavily taxed
people in the world.
• By contrast, the American colonists paid only a small
fraction in taxes of what Britons paid.
• While Britain struggled with its heavy debts and taxes, its
colonies in America were prospering. (Although their were
still many Americans who struggled, and among many of
the elites, growing indebtedness to British banks and/or
merchants.)
Britain’s Financial Problems
Chapter 4, Section 2
• (Even before the war with France ended, there was a sign of
what was to come.)
• In 1761, the British government alarmed
many colonists (especially those engaged in
illegal trade) by issuing writs of assistance
(blanket search warrants) aimed at the heart
of smuggling.
Britain’s Financial Problems
Chapter 4, Section 2
• In response to Pontiac’s Rebellion Parliament moved to
eliminate any further need to spend money on colonial
defense.
• The Proclamation of 1763 was one effort to reduce costs.
By forbidding settlement of western lands, this law dealt a
serious blow to the economic interests of land speculators
(like George Washington), veterans of the French and
Indian War who were promised land for service (including
Washington, again), and families interested in acquiring a
small piece of land and independence.
The Proclamation of
1763
The Proclamation of 1763 was
one effort to reduce costs. By
forbidding settlement of western
lands, this law dealt a serious
blow to the economic interests of
land speculators (like George
Washington), veterans of the
French and Indian War who
were promised land for service
(including Washington, again),
and families interested in
acquiring a small piece of land
and independence.
Most colonists, however, were
unaffected.
• e The Road to Revolution
Britain’s Financial Problems
Chapter 4, Section 2
• The British government also decided that the colonists should begin
to pay some of the costs of their own government and defense.
• The passage of the Sugar Act in 1764 marked the start of a new
British policy designed to raise more income from the colonies.
• The Quartering Act of 1765 required colonists to provide housing
and supplies for British troops in America.
• Colonists complained that the changes violated their rights as British
subjects, but mostly they went along with them. Opposition to the
next step was much stronger, however.
The Stamp Act Crisis
Chapter 4, Section 2
• When did the first real widespread protest against
British authority occur?
• In March 1765, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act. This law
placed a tax on newspapers, pamphlets, legal documents, and most other
printed materials. The Stamp Act marked the first time that the British
government (Parliament) taxed the colonists for the stated purpose
of raising money.
• The colonists objected to taxes that were not levied by their elected
assemblies. Local self-gov’t was an important component of English
liberty.
The Stamp Act Crisis
Chapter 4, Section 2
• The colonists’ reaction to the Stamp Act was widespread
and extreme. In October 1765, delegates from nine
colonies met in New York for a gathering that became
known as the Stamp Act Congress. James Otis, a lawyer
from Massachusetts, argued that Britain had no right
to force laws on the colonies because the colonists
had no representatives in the British Parliament. This
argument called for “no taxation without representation.”
• The only legitimate taxation was taxes levied by your
locally elected representatives.
Liberty and Resistance
• What the American colonists meant by “no taxation w/out
representation” was that only their locally elected legislators
had the right to tax them. They did not really want
representatives sent to far away Parliament. For nearly 150
years the colonists had established a strong tradition of
local self-government. They, (primarily the colonial elite)
taxed themselves.
• “Nearly all Britons believed that Parliament represented the
entire empire and had a right to legislate for it. The colonists
rejected the British principle of “virtual representation.”(GML,
p.170)
Liberty and Resistance
• “No word was more frequently invoked by critics of the Stamp Act
than ‘liberty.’”
• Liberty meant local self-government as well as the right to be
largely left alone.
• “As the crisis continued, symbols of liberty proliferated.” (GML,
pgs.173-174)
• “Colonial leaders resolved to prevent the new law’s
implementation, and by and large they succeeded. Even before the
passage of the Stamp Act, a Committee of Correspondence in
Boston communicated with other colonies to encourage opposition
to the Sugar and Currency Acts. Now, such committees sprang up
in other colonies, exchanging ideas and information about
resistance.”
Liberty and Resistance
• “Initiated by colonial elites, the movement against the
Stamp Act quickly drew in a broader range of
Americans.”
• “The act, wrote John Adams, a Boston lawyer who
drafted a set of widely reprinted resolutions against
the measure, had inspired ‘the people, even the
lowest ranks,’ to become ‘more attentive to their
liberties, more inquisitive about them, and more
determined to defend them, than they had ever
before known.’” (GML, p.174)
The Stamp Act Crisis and Politics in the
Streets
Chapter 4, Section 2
• What actions were taken in opposition to the Stamp Act other than
the Stamp Act Congress and petitions sent by colonial assemblies?
•
•
•
•
“Opponents of the Stamp Act, however, did not rely solely on debate. Even
before the law went into effect, crowds forced those chosen to administer it to
resign and destroyed shipments of stamps.”
American merchants organized a boycott of British goods. A boycott is a refusal
to buy certain products or use certain services as an act of protest.
Groups, known as the Sons of Liberty and Daughters of Liberty, sprang up to
enforce the boycott and organize other ways of resisting British policies.
“As the assault on Thomas Hutchinson’s house in Boston demonstrated, crowds
could get easily out of hand.” This alarmed the wealthy, including opponents of
the Stamp Act.
Sample Introduction
•
For over 150 years the colonists became accustomed to a large
degree of self-rule. Despite their status as colonies subject to the
authority of the King and Parliament, from their founding up until the
1760s, Great Britain largely left the colonies alone to govern
themselves. Each colony had a legislature which included
representatives elected by the male landowners of the colony. The only
taxes the colonists paid that were not levied by their local assemblies
were the small amount of taxes that were placed on the English goods
imported into the colonies. After Britain’s victory over France in the
Seven Years War, the British government changed its policy towards
the colonies. The British victory over France was a costly one. Mired in
enormous debt, Parliament and the King agreed on the need to tax the
colonists and regulate them more closely. The colonists were outraged
at this big change in their relationship with Britain. The protests that
erupted following enactment of the Stamp Act were the beginnings of a
final split with Britain.
The Stamp Act Crisis and Politics in the
Streets
Chapter 4, Section 2
• By November 1765, when the Stamp Act was to take
effect, most stamp distributors had resigned or fled,
leaving no one to sell the stamps. In 1766, Parliament
repealed the Stamp Act.
• As a face saving measure, Parliament passed the
Declaratory Act. This law reiterated Parliament’s right
to legislate for the colonies in all matters – including
taxation.
Repeal of the Stamp Act/The Declaratory Act
Chapter 4, Section 2
As a face saving measure, Parliament passed the
Declaratory Act. This law reiterated Parliament’s right
to legislate for the colonies in all matters – including
taxation. And, yet the fact remained, Britain had
enormous debt it needed to pay.
• The colonists celebrated and toasted the King, but their
celebration would be short lived.
The Townshend Acts and Rising Tensions in
the Colonies
Chapter 4, Section 2
• In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend
Acts. The colonists protested these acts,
which included import taxes on certain goods,
such as glass and tea. Parliament passed
these measures to deal with its financial
problems (ex. debt, maintaining army in
America).
The Townshend Acts and Rising Tensions in
the Colonies
Chapter 4, Section 2
• Taking at their word American statements that they did
not object to taxes on trade, the Townshend duties
taxed goods imported into the colonies and established
a new board of customs commissioners to collect the
taxes, suppress smuggling, and raise funds to free
judges and governors from their financial dependence
on colonial assemblies.
Rising Tensions in the Colonies
Chapter 4, Section 2
• Parliament also stepped up the use of writs of
assistance (general search warrants) to stop
smuggling.
• The colonists reiterated their opposition to
“taxation without representation.” They saw
Parliament’s actions as threats to their British
liberties.
Townshend Acts Increases Tensions
• Although American merchants opposed the duties, the
colonial opposition developed more slowly compared to the
response to the Stamp Act.
• A colonial boycott on imported British goods
developed in Boston and spread to the southern
colonies, where many southern planters hoped to use
the boycott to reduce their debt to British merchants.
Boycotters celebrated the virtue of American
resistance and denigrated the luxury of British society
by producing their own homespun clothing
Townshend Acts Increases Tensions
• Although urban artisans welcomed an end to
competition from British imports and strongly
supported non-importation, urban merchants
were at first reluctant to honor the boycott,
and in some cities extralegal committees and
crowds attempted to enforce it.
• Many elites were also reluctant to engage
commoners, fearing what this might unleash.
The Boston Massacre
Chapter 4, Section 2
•
•
•
British troops were sent to Boston, Massachusetts, to put down violent
resistance to the Townshend Acts. In March 1770, a small crowd
threatened the British soldiers. In what became known as the Boston
Massacre, the soldiers opened fire and killed five colonists.
The commander and eight soldiers were put on trial and defended by
John Adams, who opposed both British policies and lower-class crowd
actions against them.
Though only two of the British soldiers were convicted of manslaughter,
and the rest were found not guilty, Paul Revere and other colonists
helped stir up indignation against the British through inaccurate but
widely circulated propaganda depicting the incident as a massacre
of unarmed Bostonians.
The Boston
Massacre
British troops were sent to
Boston, Massachusetts,
to put down violent
resistance to the
Townshend Acts. In
March 1770, a small
crowd threatened the
British soldiers. In what
became known as the
Boston Massacre, the
soldiers opened fire and
killed five colonists.
• Propaganda?
The Tea Act and the Boston Tea Party
Chapter 4, Section 2
• Soon after the Boston Massacre, Parliament canceled all
the Townshend taxes, except for the duty on tea. A period
of calm settled over the colonies until late 1773.
• In 1772 there was the Gaspee Incident in Rhode Island. A
British ship that had pursued smugglers ran aground and
was burned to the ground by angry colonists.
The Tea Act and the Boston Tea Party
Chapter 4, Section 2
• In May 1773, the Parliament passed the Tea Act, an act
that gave a British company special tax exemption in the
colonies. The Tea Act actually lowered the tax on British
tea making it now cheaper than smuggled tea.
• The American colonists protested. On December 16,
1773, colonists boarded three tea ships in Boston and
dumped all of the tea into the harbor. This incident
became known as the Boston Tea Party.
Rising Tensions in the Colonies
Chapter 4, Section 2
• In the spring of 1774, Parliament passed a series of
laws known as the Coercive Acts to punish
Massachusetts for the Tea Party. The measures
seemed so harsh that the colonists called them the
Intolerable Acts.
• The Coercive Acts included the following: The port of
Boston was closed down; the Massachusetts
Assembly was disbanded; all town meetings were
stopped; martial law was imposed in Boston; and
an updated Quartering Act was instituted.
Rising Tensions in the Colonies
Chapter 4, Section 2
• On September 5, 1774, a gathering of 56 delegates
met in Philadelphia in what became known as the First
Continental Congress. These delegates were
determined to show support for Massachusetts. The
delegates decided to renew a boycott of British goods
and organize armed militias. They also made a direct
appeal to the king, outlining their grievances and
asking for understanding.
British Policies in the Colonies, 1764–1774
Chapter 4, Section 2
Fighting at Lexington and Concord
Chapter 4, Section 2
• The Americans whom King George had
labeled “rebels” called themselves Patriots.
They followed the call of the First Continental
Congress and began to form armed militias.
• Massachusetts Patriots gathered guns and
ammunition and stored a major stockpile in
Concord, a town about 20 miles from Boston.
On April 18, 1775, a force of about 800 British
troops moved out of Boston to seize the
weapons.
Fighting at Lexington and Concord
Chapter 4, Section 2
• Boston Patriots learned about the British
soldiers’ plan. When the main British force
arrived at Lexington, about five miles from
Concord, they encountered an armed militia.
The battles that ensued became known as
the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
• The Battles of Lexington and Concord
sparked the Revolutionary War, which
became a war for American independence
from Britain.
The Second Continental Congress
•
•
When the Second Continental Congress met in May 1775, war had
already begun between British soldiers and armed Massachusetts
citizens. The previous month, British forces marching to Concord to
seize arms in that town were met in Lexington by militiamen who tried
to resist their advance. In Concord, the British were routed and after
retreating to Boston, scores of militiamen and British troops had been
killed or wounded. These skirmishes initiated the American War of
Independence, and inspired colonists in New England and elsewhere to
take up arms.
New England militia laid siege to Boston and, after failed British
attempts to break the siege and the arrival of cannon seized from the
British by American militia at Fort Ticonderoga, the British abandoned
the city.
The Second Continental Congress
• The Second Continental Congress soon
authorized the raising of an army, the printing
of money to pay for it, and appointed George
Washington as its commander. Britain
responded by declaring the colonies to be in
a state of rebellion, and it closed all colonial
ports and dispatched thousands of troops.
The Second Continental Congress
• “On June 17, 1775, two months after Lexington
and Concord, the British had dislodged colonial
militiamen from Breed’s Hill, although only at a
heavy cost in British casualties. (The battle came
to be named after the nearby Bunker Hill.) But
the arrival of American cannon and their
entrenchment above the city made the British
position in Boston untenable…”
• In March 1776, the British army abandoned
Boston. British forces set their sights on New
York.
Did the outbreak of war convince the
colonists to declare independence?
• Despite the war’s outbreak, even most Patriots were
reluctant to embrace independence from Great Britain
in 1775. Many were still proud of British political
institutions and culture and the power and glory of
the British empire, and more than a few political
leaders worried the rebellion might cause internal
social conflict, particularly between elites and the
disenfranchised and less wealthy Americans.
• The aim of the colonists and their representatives in
Congress was the restoration of traditional English
liberties. (a return to salutary neglect)
Independence?
• Leaders in Massachusetts and Virginia, incensed by
the Intolerable Acts and confident of their ability to
retain authority in those colonies, supported
independence, as did many southern leaders,
particularly in Virginia, who guarded their political
liberties and were enraged by a British proclamation
in Virginia in late 1775 offering freedom to escaped
slaves who enlisted in the royal army.
Independence?
• However, in New York and Pennsylvania, consensus
was more difficult to establish. Opposition to British
policies had animated small farmers and urban
artisans, whose calls for a greater voice in
political life prompted many leaders to hesitate to
call for independence. (Fear of the masses.) Some
in these colonies urged for compromise and
predicted that a war would unleash fighting between
the colonies.
Issues Behind the Revolution-Assessment
Chapter 4, Section 2
What event sparked Pontiac’s Rebellion?
(A) The Tea Act
(B) The Boston Massacre
(C) The Proclamation of 1763
(D) British interests in the Great Lakes region
Which battles sparked the Revolutionary War?
(A) The battles against the Intolerable and Tea Acts
(B) The Battles of Lexington and Concord
(C) The Boston Massacres
(D) The Battles of Lexington and Townshend
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Issues Behind the Revolution-Assessment
Chapter 4, Section 2
What event sparked Pontiac’s Rebellion?
(A) The Tea Act
(B) The Boston Massacre
(C) The Proclamation of 1763
(D) British interests in the Great Lakes region
Which battles sparked the Revolutionary War?
(A) The battles against the Intolerable and Tea Acts
(B) The Battles of Lexington and Concord
(C) The Boston Massacres
(D) The Battles of Lexington and Townshend
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Ideas Behind the Revolution
Chapter 4, Section 3
• What was the importance of Thomas Paine’s Common
Sense?
• What ideas and arguments are presented in the
Declaration of Independence?
• What advice did Abigail Adams give her husband
regarding the Declaration?
Common Sense
• Common Sense, a
pamphlet written by
Thomas Paine, was an
important document during
the Revolution. Paine
wrote about the importance
of armed struggle against
the British Empire and
about the ideological
importance of American
independence.
Common Sense
• Paine asserted that the
Patriots fight against
British authority was
really a battle between two
very different political and
social systems. This was
a struggle matching
monarchy and aristocracy
on one side against
democracy and
meritocracy on the other.
Common Sense
Chapter 4, Section 3
• The pamphlet, written in a simple, direct
style, appealed to the American people.
Common Sense convinced many
readers, including many who had
favored a peaceful settlement with the
British government, to support a
complete—and likely violent—break
with Britain.
The Declaration of Independence
Chapter 4, Section 3
• Common Sense appeared at the same time as the meeting of
the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. This
Congress met less than a month after the Battles of Lexington
and Concord, and it continued to meet throughout the
Revolution.
• The previous summer, Congress had sent an Olive Branch
Petition to King George III of England. This petition, written by
moderates, expressed the colonists’ loyalty to the king and
requested a halt in fighting until a solution could be found. The
king refused the petition. These actions set the stage for
Common Sense.
• King George III ignored the Olive Branch Petition.
Common Sense
Chapter 4, Section 3
• In January 1776 when Common Sense
appeared it quickly became a best seller. Written
by Thomas Paine , Common Sense was an
attack on the entire British political and social
system. “Far preferable than monarchy would
be a democratic system based on frequent
elections, with citizens’ rights protected by a
written constitution.” (Give Me Liberty! E.
Foner, p.185)
Common Sense
Chapter 4, Section 3
• Another key point Paine emphasized was that
membership in the British empire was a
burden, not a benefit. “Within the empire,
America’s prospects were limited; liberated from
the Navigation Acts and trading freely w/the
entire world, its ‘material eminence’ was certain.”
(GML, pgs.185, 188)
Common Sense
Chapter 4, Section 3
• “Toward the end of the pamphlet, Paine moved
beyond practical considerations to outline a
breathtaking vision of the historical importance of the
American Revolution. ‘The cause of America, is in
great measure, the cause of all mankind.’ The new
nation would become the home of freedom, ‘an
asylum for mankind.’” (GML, p.190)
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
• Although most of Paine’s ideas were not original, he
addressed them to all Americans and made it
accessible by expressing them in a clear, direct and
plain language unusual in most political writing at that
time. Common Sense quickly became one of the
most successful and influential pamphlets in the
history of political writing. The intensification of the
war, combined with Paine’s stirring appeal for
independence, sparked more calls for independence
in many American communities.
Common Sense
• Common Sense had something for every class of people
upset w/Britain. Paine’s attack on hierarchy and privilege
and call for a republic and a written constitution w/citizens’
rights spelled out especially appealed to the middle and
lower ranks of men. They were also stirred by Paine’s call
“to begin the world over again.” They saw in this the hope
that independence from Britain would lead to a new
society in America, one in which every man had an equal
voice and opportunity.
• For the elites that may have not liked Paine’s embrace of
democracy, the arguments he made on the economic
advantages of independence were very convincing.
Common Sense
• Common Sense helped make
this conflict with Britain much
more than just a dispute
between elites; for many
ordinary Patriots the struggle
against Britain had become a
war of independence and the
first step toward building a
new, democratic society. One
could say, the dispute had
become a revolution.
Thomas Paine: Champion of Democracy
• However, just
because Paine and
ordinary men saw
the struggle as a
revolution, doesn’t
mean that the
leaders of the
Patriot cause felt
the same way.
Tom Paine
• Paine depicted the king as an enemy of
liberty.
• He called for a republic where
opportunity is based on merit not on
inherited privilege.
• He said the government should be
elected by the common people.
• He called for a written constitution.
• Paine reinforced the Enlightenment
idea that all men have natural rights.
Moving to Independence
• Was there still reluctance in Congress to declare independence
from Britain following the publication of Common Sense? If so,
why?
• Yes…Leaders in Massachusetts and Virginia, incensed by the
Intolerable Acts and confident of their ability to retain authority in
those colonies, supported independence, as did many southern
leaders, particularly in Virginia, who guarded their political
liberties and were enraged by a British proclamation in Virginia
in late 1775 offering freedom to escaped slaves who enlisted in
the royal army.
Reluctance to declare independence
• However, in New York and Pennsylvania, consensus
was more difficult to establish. Opposition to British
policies had animated small farmers and urban
artisans, whose calls for a greater voice in
political life prompted many (elite) leaders to
hesitate to call for independence. (Most elites
feared the common people.)
• Some in these colonies urged for compromise and
predicted that a war would unleash fighting between
the colonies.
The Declaration of Independence
Chapter 4, Section 3
• In June 1776, after more than a year of war,
the Congress decided it was time for the
colonies to cut ties with Britain. They
prepared a statement of the reasons for
separation—a Declaration of Independence.
• On July 2, 1776, the Congress formally declared the
United States as an independent nation. Two days
later, it approved the Declaration of Independence,
written by Thomas Jefferson and revised by the
Congress before approval.
The Declaration of Independence
Chapter 4, Section 3
• Most of the Declaration consists of a lengthy list of
grievances directed at King George III…
• “Britain’s aim, it declared, was to establish an
‘absolute tyranny’ over the colonies.”
• “The Declaration’s enduring impact came not
from the complaints against George III, but
from the preamble, especially the second
paragraph.” (GML, p.189)
The Declaration and American Freedom
•
•
•
“The Declaration of Independence changed forever the meaning of
American freedom. It completed the shift from the rights of
Englishmen to the rights of mankind as the object of American
independence…”
“No longer a set of specific rights, no longer a privilege to be
enjoyed by a corporate body or people in certain circumstances,
liberty had become a universal entitlement.”
“…when Jefferson substituted the ‘pursuit of happiness’ for
property in the familiar Lockean triad that opens the Declaration,
he tied the nation’s star to an open-ended, democratic process
whereby individuals develop their own potential and seek to realize
their own life goals. Individual self-fulfillment, unimpeded by
government, would become a central element of American
freedom.” (GML, p.190)
An asylum for mankind
• “A distinctive definition of nationality resting on American freedom
was born in the American Revolution. From the beginning, the
idea of ‘American exceptionalism’ – the belief that the USA
has a special mission to serve as a refuge from tyranny, a
symbol of freedom, and a model for the rest of the world –
has occupied a central place in American nationalism….”
• This idea of America as a special place goes back even before
the English settled. It was viewed as a place where England’s
poor could start over and live a full life. Puritan leader John
Winthrop spoke of New England as “a city upon a hill.” The
Puritans’ vision of America was centered on a religious mission.
Paine’s Common Sense and Jefferson’s Declaration secularized
the idea of America as a special place –as an exceptional place
where liberty reigned.
An asylum for mankind
•
“Paine’s remark in Common Sense, ‘we have it in our power to begin
the world over again,’ and his description of the new nation as an
‘asylum for mankind,’ expressed that the Revolution was an event of
global historical importance…Unburdened by the institutions –
monarchy, aristocracy, hereditary privilege – that oppressed the
peoples of the Old World, America and America alone was the
place where the principles of universal freedom could take root.”
(GML, p.190) America could stand as a model of liberty for the rest of
the world.
The Global Declaration of Independence
• While American colonists were more interested in gaining
international recognition and the military aid of other
governments than they were in establishing human rights for all
people everywhere, the Declaration’s words and ideas have
been an inspiration to Americans and colonial peoples
throughout the world who have sought independence.
Flemish rebels, part of today’s Belgium and then part of the
Austrian empire, echoed Jefferson’s words in declaring their
rebellion in 1790, and by 1826, the year Jefferson died, twenty
other declarations of independence had been issued in Europe,
the Caribbean, and Spanish America.
The Global Declaration of Independence
• Revolutionaries in China in 1911 and in Vietnam in 1945 issued
declarations influenced by the American predecessor. Although
over time the natural rights that Jefferson asserted became
less and less part of the declarations he helped inspire, the
idea that legitimate political authority rests on the will of the
people and that “the people” have rights has been adopted
around the world, inspiring a diverse array of groups
including Caribbean slaves, colonial subjects in India, and
indigenous peoples of Latin America, to fight for their
liberties.
Summary: Significance of Common Sense
and the Declaration of Independence
• Paine condemned the English political and social
system. Rather than being the source of liberty for
American colonists, its allegiance to Britain would
forever deny them true liberty.
• Paine called for a complete separation from Britain.
Separation would also benefit America economically
by allowing it to trade freely.
• The new American nation, Paine asserted, should be
“a democratic system based on frequent elections,
with citizens’ rights protected by a written
constitution.”
Summary: Significance of Common Sense
and the Declaration of Independence
• Paine began the process of secularizing “‘American
exceptionalism’ – the belief that the U.S. has a
special mission to serve as a refuge from tyranny, a
symbol of freedom, and a model for the rest of the
world.”
• The Declaration seemed to commit the new nation to
Paine’s vision. It also provided the ideas (equality,
self-gov’t, unimpeded pursuit of one’s dreams, the
right to rebel against unjust gov’t) that marginalized
groups, both here and around the world have used to
win their liberty.
Summary: Significance of Common Sense
and the Declaration of Independence
• The Declaration seemed to commit the new
nation to Paine’s vision. It also provided the
ideas (equality, self-gov’t, unimpeded pursuit
of one’s dreams, the right to rebel against
unjust gov’t) that marginalized groups, both
here and around the world have used to win
their liberty.
Drafting the Declaration
•
•
•
•
Thomas Jefferson’s political ideas were influenced by the Enlightenment, an
eighteenth-century European movement that emphasized science and reason as
keys to improving society.
Jefferson divided the Declaration into four sections:
– The preamble, or introduction, explained the Declaration’s purpose.
– In the declaration of rights, Jefferson drew heavily on the writings of John Locke.
Locke believed that people have natural rights—rights that belong to them simply
because they are human. Jefferson called these unalienable rights, meaning
rights that could not be taken away.
– In the complaints against the king, Jefferson wrote that public officials must make
decisions based on the law, not on their own personal wishes. He called this a
rule of law.
– The resolution, in declaring the colonies free and independent states, concluded
the Declaration.
Jefferson’s document not only declared the nation’s independence, it also defined the
basic principles on which American government and society would rest.
Congressional delegates voted to approve the Declaration on July 4, 1776.
The Foundations of Democracy
Chapter 4, Section 3
“Remember the Ladies”
Chapter 4, Section 3
•
•
•
•
•
In the 1770s, John Adams was one of the leaders of the opposition to British rule.
His wife, Abigail Adams, expressed her opinions about independence in a letter
to him.
In this letter Abigail asked John to “Remember the Ladies” in the new code of
law. She asked him not to put unlimited power in the hands of husbands.
Her complaints about the status of women in the society employed the same
ideas that men were using in their fight against Great Britain. Abigail suggested
that it was time to rethink the relationship between men and women.
Earlier in the same letter, Abigail raised the issue of slavery. She felt it
contradictory for the delegates to speak of liberty for themselves and not for all.
However, John felt that the question of slavery would divide the delegates when
unity was most crucial for success.
The questions raised by Abigail Adams, of liberty and equality for all people, were
very important. However, John Adams believed that it was more important to win
the war than to engage in a debate about liberty for all.
Ideas Behind the Revolution-Assessment
Chapter 4, Section 3
What was the impact of Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense?
(A) Common Sense explained “no taxation without representation” to the
British Parliament.
(B) Common Sense helped the colonists understand the ancient Greek
system of democracy.
(C) Common Sense provided the inspiration for the Olive Branch Petition.
(D) Common Sense convinced many readers to support a break with Britain.
Which of the following writers influenced the Declaration of Independence?
(A) Oliver Cromwell
(B) Nicolo Machiavelli
(C) John Locke
(D) Ernest Hemingway
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Ideas Behind the Revolution-Assessment
Chapter 4, Section 3
What was the impact of Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense?
(A) Common Sense explained “no taxation without representation” to the
British Parliament.
(B) Common Sense helped the colonists understand the ancient Greek
system of democracy.
(C) Common Sense provided the inspiration for the Olive Branch Petition.
(D) Common Sense convinced many readers to support a break with Britain.
Which of the following writers influenced the Declaration of Independence?
(A) Oliver Cromwell
(B) Nicolo Machiavelli
(C) John Locke
(D) Ernest Hemingway
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Fighting for Independence
Chapter 4, Section 4
• What happened during the Siege of Boston? What
was its outcome?
• What were the strengths and weaknesses of the
British and American forces?
• Why was the Battle of Saratoga considered a turning
point of the war?
The Siege of Boston
Chapter 4, Section 4
•
•
•
•
Following the clashes at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, some 20,000
Patriots surrounded Boston and prevented the almost 6,000 British troops,
under General Thomas Gage, from quickly crushing the rebellion.
In June 1775, the British and Americans fought for control of two strategically
important hills north of Boston: Breed’s Hill and Bunker Hill. The British won the
Battle of Bunker Hill, but victory came at a high cost. Almost half of the British
soldiers (nearly 1,100 of 2,400) were killed or wounded. Patriot casualties—
persons killed, wounded, or missing—numbered fewer than 400.
The remaining British troops were pinned down in Boston for the next nine
months. In July 1775, George Washington arrived and, as newly named
commanding general of the Patriot forces, worked to transform the militia groups
into the Continental Army.
In March 1776, the British abandoned Boston. The British fleet moved the army
to the Canadian city of Halifax, taking along some 1,000 Loyalists, or people
who remained loyal to Great Britain. During the Revolution some Loyalists fled
to England, the West Indies, or Canada. Many others remained in the colonies.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Chapter 4, Section 4
The British
• The British had a well-trained and
equipped army, and the finest navy
in the world.
• The British also had assistance from
Loyalists, some African Americans,
most Native Americans, and 30,000
mercenaries—foreign soldiers who
fight for pay.
• Weaknesses: The war was
unpopular at home. Many British
citizens resented paying taxes to
fight the war and sympathized with
the Americans. Additionally, British
troops had to fight in hostile
territories and did not adapt their
tactics to conditions in America.
The Americans
• Patriot forces were fighting on
their own territory.
• Many officers were familiar with
fighting tactics from the French
and Indian War.
• More African Americans served
with American forces than with
the British.
• Weaknesses: For much of the
war, the Americans lacked a wellequipped and effective fighting
force. New recruits were
constantly arriving, while
experienced soldiers were
heading home.
War for Independence, 1775-1778
Chapter 4, Section 4
Fighting in the North
Chapter 4, Section 4
•
•
By the winter of 1776, the British army had captured New York City and
had pushed the Continental Army into Pennsylvania. Many troops
deserted the Continental Army, and the Patriot cause seemed on the point
of collapse. Fearing for their safety, the Continental Congress fled
Philadelphia.
Lacking adequate financial support, supplies, and experienced troops,
George Washington had to be innovative. He abandoned the army tradition
of not fighting during winter and led his troops across the Delaware River
on Christmas night. Early the next morning, the American troops landed in
New Jersey and surprised about 1,400 mercenaries—called Hessians
because they were mostly from the German province of Hesse. The battle
that followed was called the Battle of Trenton, in which nearly the entire
Hessian force was captured and the Americans suffered only five
casualties.
Fighting in the North: The Importance of
Trenton and Princeton
Chapter 4, Section 4
• A similar victory in Princeton, New Jersey, boosted
Patriot morale and convinced more Americans to
support the Patriot cause. This gave new life to the
cause of independence.
Victory at Saratoga
Chapter 4, Section 4
•
•
•
•
Despite the increasing Patriot numbers and the victories in New Jersey, the
Patriots still suffered defeats. British General Howe was advancing to capture
Philadelphia, and another British army, led by General John Burgoyne, was
attempting to cut off New England from the rest of the colonies.
As General Burgoyne moved south from Canada, his troops captured Fort
Ticonderoga and moved south through Albany, New York.
In mid-September 1777, the Americans, led by General Horatio Gates, attacked
and defeated Burgoyne’s forces in New York. This series of American victories
is called the Battle of Saratoga. Burgoyne, surrounded by a force much larger
than his own, surrendered on October 17. This was the biggest American victory
yet, and a turning point in the war.
The American victory at Saratoga brought a foreign power to aid the
American cause. France openly entered the war on the side of the
Americans, followed by Spain and the Netherlands. These alliances
provided the Americans with much needed supplies, troops, and a navy. In
addition, Britain now had to defend itself in Europe.
Fighting for Independence-Assessment
Chapter 4, Section 4
Loyalists were ______________.
(A) people loyal to the Patriots’ cause
(B) people loyal to Great Britain
(C) people loyal to the Native American nations
(D) people loyal to Canadian independence
Which victory brought a foreign power to aid the American cause?
(A) The Battle of Saratoga
(B) The Battle of Trenton
(C) The Battle of Bunker Hill
(D) The Siege of Boston
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Fighting for Independence-Assessment
Chapter 4, Section 4
Loyalists were ______________.
(A) people loyal to the Patriots’ cause
(B) people loyal to Great Britain
(C) people loyal to the Native American nations
(D) people loyal to Canadian independence
Which victory brought a foreign power to aid the American cause?
(A) The Battle of Saratoga
(B) The Battle of Trenton
(C) The Battle of Bunker Hill
(D) The Siege of Boston
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Winning Independence
Chapter 4, Section 5
• What hardships did the Americans endure during the
war?
• How did American victories in the West and South
lead to an end to the war?
• What was the impact of the American Revolution?
Americans Endure Hardships
Chapter 4, Section 5
• Although the British had seized New York,
Philadelphia, and almost every other important
colonial city, George Washington knew that the
Americans would win the war because they had the
determination to outlast their rulers.
• A major source of hardship for Washington’s army
was the lack of financial support from the Continental
Congress. The Congress had very little real power.
Congress could ask the states to provide troops,
money, and supplies, but without taxation power, it
could not force them to do so.
Americans Endure Hardships
Chapter 4, Section 5
• The civilians suffered hardships too. During the war, the British
navy blockaded, or cut off from outside contact, the Atlantic
Coast, which severely disrupted American trade.
• Necessities were scarce. A few colonists took advantage of
these shortages by profiteering, or selling scarce items at
unreasonably high prices. Washington suggested that profiteers
should be hanged.
• Even when goods were available, it was not always possible to
buy them. Inflation, a steady increase in prices over time,
reduced people’s ability to buy goods. In Massachusetts, for
example, the price of a bushel of corn rose from less than $1 in
1777 to almost $80 in 1779.
Victories in the West and South
Chapter 4, Section 5
•
The Patriots, with the help of the French army, won important victories in
the West and the South, culminating with the Battle of Yorktown:
– In August 1781, British General Cornwallis set up camp at Yorktown,
Virginia, to reinforce his troops and wait for the Royal navy to arrive.
– Washington, who was in the North, saw the opportunity to deal the
British a fatal blow. A French army had just joined the Continental
Army in New York. Washington moved the combined troops south
(toward Yorktown), while the French fleet set up a blockade off the
Virginia coast to block British ships.
– A few days later, Washington’s troops arrived to reinforce American
forces at Yorktown. Cornwallis now faced an army more than twice the
size of his own.
– With land and sea escape routes blocked, Cornwallis realized that
escape was impossible. On October 19, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered
to Washington.
The Treaty of Paris
Chapter 4, Section 5
•
•
Nearly two years passed between the surrender of Cornwallis and the signing of
the peace treaty that ended the war. Four nations were involved: Great Britain,
France, Spain, and the United States.
The Treaty of Paris (1783) contained these major provisions:
– Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States of America.
– The northern border between the United States and Canada was set from
New England to the Mississippi River, primarily along the Great Lakes.
– The Mississippi River was set as the border between the United States and
Spanish territory to the West. Navigation on the river was open to American
and British citizens.
– Florida, which Britain had gained from the Spanish, was returned to Spain.
– Britain agreed to withdraw its remaining troops from United States territory.
– The Congress pledged to recommend to the states that the rights and
property of American Loyalists be restored and that no future action be
taken against them.
The Impact of the Revolution
Chapter 4, Section 5
• The Revolution did more than establish American independence. It
also helped inspire Americans’ patriotism. Patriotism is the passion
that inspires a person to serve his or her country, either in defending
it from invasion, or protecting its rights and maintaining its laws or
institutions.
• For women, the Revolution did not produce any immediate gains.
However, experiences during the war did challenge some of the
traditional ideas about women.
• For African Americans the results of the Revolution were mixed.
Most northern states abolished slavery, although outside of New
England emancipation was gradual. Southern states remained
committed to slavery, although there was an uptick in manumissions
in the Upper South.
The Impact of the Revolution
Chapter 4, Section 5
•
•
•
For Native Americans the war’s outcome was a disaster. The power of the
Iroquois League was destroyed, and Americans justified their attacks on
Cherokees, Shawnees, and other Indians by pointing out these nations’
support for the British.
Perhaps the greatest effect of the Revolution was to spread the idea of
liberty, both at home and abroad. (Ordinary white males would be the
first beneficiaries of greater liberty.) Thomas Jefferson’s assertion that
“all men are created equal” set in motion challenges to the established
order. Over time it has provided justification to many groups, both
within the US and outside, in their struggles for equal rights.
The American victory also helped to give credibility to the idea of American
exceptionalism. After all, only an exceptional people could have defeated
mighty Britain.
The Revolution Within
• “As Abigail Adams’ letter to her husband, in which she
admonished “remember the ladies” reminds us, the struggle for
American liberty emboldened other colonists to demand more
liberty for themselves. All revolutions enlarge the public
sphere, inspiring previously marginalized groups to
express their own dreams for freedom. At a time when so
many Americans – slaves, indentured servants, women,
Indians, apprentices, propertyless men – were denied full
freedom, the struggle against Britain threw into question many
forms of authority and inequality.” (GML, p.202)
The Dream of Freedom
• “With its wide distribution of property, lack of hereditary
aristocracy, and established churches far less powerful than in
Britain, America was a society with deep democratic potential.
But it took a struggle for independence to transform it into a
nation that celebrated equality and opportunity. The Revolution
unleashed public debate and political and social struggles
that enlarged the scope of freedom and challenged
inherited structures of power within America.” (GML, p.203)
• “Jefferson’s assertion in the Declaration that all men are created
equal announced a radical principle whose full implications no
one could anticipate….Inequality had been fundamental to
the colonial social order; the Revolution challenged it in
many ways.” p.203
The Revolution Within
•
•
Egalitarianism among Whites
Although there was no significant redistribution of wealth in
America during the Revolution, the Declaration of Independence’s
bold assertion that all men are created equal did promote more
egalitarian attitudes. The upper classes found it prudent to simplify
their standard of living and treat common people with respect. Ordinary
folks were less likely to defer to their “betters” or automatically leave
governing to them. Americans began to feel that political leaders
should come from the “natural aristocracy” – that is, men who
demonstrated virtue, accomplishments, and dedication to the
public good.
The new egalitarianism did not include women, blacks, Indians
and propertyless whites.
Expanding the Political Nation
• “With liberty and equality as their rallying cries, previously
marginalized groups advanced their demands. Long accepted
relations of dependency and restrictions on freedom suddenly
appeared illegitimate – a process not intended by most of the
leading patriots. In political, social, and religious life,
Americans challenged the previous domination by a
privileged few. In the end, the Revolution did NOT undo the
obedience to which male heads of household were entitled from
their wives and children, and, at least in the southern states,
their slaves. For free white men, however, the
democratization of freedom was dramatic. Nowhere was
this more evident that in challenges to the traditional
limitation of political participation to those who owned
property.” (GML, p.203)
•Democratic
Patriots like
Thomas Paine
wanted more
power for common
people.
•They favored:
• weak state governments with
most of their power in a
popularly elected legislature.
• unicameral or one house
legislature with either a weak
governor or none at all.
• a large House of
Representatives with small
districts so that the people had
more control.
• a governor with broad powers.
•Conservative
Patriots like John
Adams feared
giving power to
the common
people.
•They favored
(balanced
government):
• bicameral legislature, with two
houses.
• an upper house or senate made
up of wealthy, well-educated
gentlemen who would balance a
lower house elected by the
common people.
The Revolution in Pennsylvania
• “The Revolution’s radical potential was more evident
in Pennsylvania than in any other state…”
• “Three months after independence, Penn. adopted a new
state constitution that sought to institutionalize democracy
by concentrating power in a one-house legislature elected
annually by all men over 21 who paid taxes. It abolished
the office of governor, dispensed with property
qualifications for officeholders, and provided that schools
with low fees be established in every county. It also
included a bill of rights.” (GML, p.205)
The New Constitutions
•
•
“Like PA, every state adopted a new constitution in the aftermath of
independence. Nearly all Americans now agreed that their
governments must be republics…But as to how a republican
government should be structured as to promote the public good, there
was much disagreement.”
“John Adams’s Thoughts on Government called for a ‘balanced
government’ whose structure would reflect the division between the
wealthy (represented in the upper house) and ordinary men (who would
control the lower). A powerful governor and judiciary would ensure that
neither class infringed on the liberty of the other. Adams’s call for twohouse legislatures was followed by every state except PA, GA, and VT.
But only his state (MA) gave the governor an effective veto…Americans
had come to believe that excessive royal authority had undermined
British liberty…They preferred power to rest with the legislature.”
pgs.205-206
The Right to Vote
• “The provisions of the new constitutions reflected the balance of
power between advocates of internal change and those who
feared excessive democracy…”
• “The most democratic new constitutions moved much of the way
toward the idea of voting as an entitlement rather than as a
privilege, but they generally stopped short of universal suffrage,
even for free men…” p.206
• “Overall, the Revolution led to a great expansion of the right
to vote. By the 1780s, with the exception of VA, MD, and NY,
a large majority of adult white males could meet voting
requirements…”
• “…freedom and an individual’s right to vote had become
interchangeable.” (GML, p.207)
The Impact of the Revolution
• What were some important changes that took place
in the States in the years following the Dec. of Ind.?
– Liberalized voting laws increased political
participation and power among a new middle class.
– An expanding economic middle class of farmers and
craft workers counterbalanced the power of the old
elite of professionals and wealthy merchants. The
middle class were now dominating state legislatures
in most northern states, and gaining a greater share
of seats in the South. (The elites did not like this.)
– Ideas of equality spread and democracy took hold.
•Pearson
Power Shift: From the Elites to the Middle
Ranks
•Pearson
Power Shift: Democratization
Toward Religious Toleration
• “As remarkable as the expansion of political freedom was the
Revolution’s impact on American religion.” (p.207)
• “The end of British rule immediately threw into question the
privileged position enjoyed by the Anglican Church in many
colonies... Many of the leaders of the American Revolution
considered it essential for the new nation to shield itself from the
unruly passions and violent conflicts that religious differences
had inspired during the past three centuries. Men like Jefferson,
Adams, Madison, and Hamilton believed religion necessary as a
foundation of public morality. But they viewed religious doctrines
through the Enlightenment lens of rationalism and skepticism.”
Toward Religious Toleration and Liberty
• “The drive to separate church and state brought together
Deists like Jefferson, who hoped to erect a ‘wall of
separation’ that would free politics and the exercise of
the intellect from religious control, with members of
evangelical sects, who sought to protect religion from
the corrupting embrace of government.” (GML, p.209)
• “The movement toward religious freedom received a
major impetus during the revolutionary era. Throughout
the new nation, states disestablished their established
churches – that is, deprived them of public funding and
special legal privileges…”
Toward Religious Toleration and Liberty
• Yet religious toleration was far from universal.
Every state except New York retained laws
barring Jews from voting and holding office,
and seven states limited office-holding to
Protestants. Massachusetts retained its
Congregational establishment well into the
nineteenth century. Catholics, however,
gained the right to worship freely throughout
the former colonies.
Toward Religious Toleration and Liberty
• Thomas Jefferson was an important figure in the advancement
of religious liberty. In 1779, he wrote a “Bill for Establishing
Religious Freedom” for the Virginia legislature. It was adopted in
1786, only after much controversy. Jefferson saw established
churches as tyrannies that constrained free thought, and the bill
eliminated religious requirements for voting and office-holding
government financial support for churches. Religious liberty
became the model for the revolutionary generation’s
definition of rights as private matters to be protected from
government. In a very Christian but not very pious United
States, the separation of church and state drew a line between
public authority and a private sphere in which rights existed as a
limitation on government power.
Toward Religious Toleration and Liberty
• While the Revolution expanded religious freedom, its emphasis
on individual rights also challenged religious institutions and
authority. In some churches, such as the Moravians who
migrated to American from Germany, younger members of the
community insisted that they had the liberty to conduct their own
affairs, including arranging their own marriages. Yet, by allowing
for the growth of different denominations, the separation of
church and state actually expanded religion’s influence in
American society. Anglicans, Presbyterians, and
Congregationalists faced growing dissent from sects such as the
Baptists and the Universalists.
A Virtuous Citizenry
• Though they separated church and state, the revolution’s
leaders were not anti-religious. Most were devout Christians,
and even Deists who opposed organized churches thought
that religious values were the foundation of a republic’s
morality. Some states continued to bar non-Christians from
political office and prosecute people for blasphemy or
violating the Sabbath.
• Revolutionary leaders worried about the character of citizens,
especially their virtue— their ability to sacrifice self-interest
for the public good. Some promoted free public schools as a
way to prepare citizens for a civic life of participation in
government required of a free people.
Toward Free labor
•
•
The Revolution also redefined and reshaped economic freedom.
Slavery was only one of many kinds of unfree labor in colonial America,
but after the revolution the decline of indentured servitude and
apprenticeship, and the transformation of paid domestic service into a
job for black and white women, made unfree labor for white men
increasingly rare. As wage labor became more common, and as
republican citizenship seemed more and more incompatible with the
restraints of apprenticeship and indentured servitude, more white men
insisted on economic freedom.
By 1800, when indentured servitude had virtually ceased to exist in
America, a distinction had hardened between freedom and slavery and
a northern economy based on “free labor” (working for a wage or
owning a farm or shop) and a southern economy based on slave labor.
The Soul of a Republic
• The question of what constituted the social conditions of
freedom greatly interested Americans in the revolutionary
period. Many believed a republic could not survive with a
large number of dependent citizens who, being subject to
the power and influence of superior and independent men,
would be corrupted.
• “At the Revolution’s radical edge, some patriots believed
that government had a responsibility to limit accumulations
of property in the name of equality.”
The Soul of a Republic
• “To most free Americans, …’equality’ meant equal
opportunity, rather than equality of condition.” (GML,
p.213)
• Men such as Thomas Jefferson saw land ownership for all
white men as the key to ensuring a republican future for
the nation. Jefferson even proposed giving 50 acres of
land to “every person of full age” who did not already
possess it.
• Many Americans thought the abundance of land, much of
it occupied by Indians, would ensure republican liberty and
social equality.
The Politics of Inflation and the Debate Over
Free Trade
• By 1779, inflation was so great that Congress asked the states
to pass laws fixing wages and prices, a move embodying the
idea that a republican government should promote the public
good, not the self-interest of individuals.
• But some Americans arguing for free trade believed that
prosperity flowed from economic self-interest. Readers of Adam
Smith’s treatise, The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, were
influenced by his arguments that the “invisible hand” of the free
market directed economic life more fairly and effectively than
government intervention. They argued that once America’s trade
was independent from British control, the natural workings of the
economy would ensure the nation’s prosperity.
The Loyalist’s Plight
• The Revolutionary war took on the quality of a civil war in
some places. Neighbors intimidated and assaulted each
other. Pacifists who refused to bear arms were arrested,
and their property seized. Many states required oaths of
allegiance, and those who refused were stripped of their
voting rights or expelled. Some Loyalists had their
property confiscated. When the war ended, almost
100,000 Loyalists were exiled or voluntarily emigrated
from the United States. Loyalists who stayed were
reintegrated into American society.
The Indian’s Revolution
• The Indians particularly faced the Revolution as a loss of
freedom. Between the Proclamation of 1763 and the American
Revolution, colonists continued to move westward and claim
Indian lands east of the Mississippi. Many leaders in the
Revolution, including George Washington and Thomas
Jefferson, were deeply involved in western land speculation,
and British efforts to restrain land speculation was a major
grievance of the Virginians supporting independence. Different
Indian tribes backed the British or the Americans in the conflict,
and some tribes like the Iroquois split internally over the war,
and fought each other. Both the Americans and their Indian
enemies inflicted atrocities on each other and civilians.
White Freedom, Indian Freedom
•
Independence created state governments that were democratically
accountable to voters who wanted Indian lands. Many, including
Thomas Jefferson, saw the war as an opportunity to secure more land
and “liberty” for white Americans by expelling or conquering the
Indians. The Treaty of Paris marked the end of a process whereby
power in eastern North America moved from Indians to white
Americans. Limiting the British in eastern North America to Canada, the
agreement led the British to abandon their Indian allies and recognized
American sovereignty over the entire region east of the Mississippi
river, disregarding the natives who lived there. For Indians, on other
hand, freedom meant independence and possession of their own land,
and they used Americans’ language of liberty to defend themselves.
A Revolution for Black Americans
•
•
In 1776 blacks accounted for 20% of the U.S. population, and almost all
of them were enslaved. The Declaration of Independence’s words
about equality made some Whigs (opponents of British authority)
uneasy about slavery.
By making liberty an absolute value and defining freedom as a
universal entitlement, rather than a set of rights limited to a particular
place or people, the Revolution inevitably led to questions about
slavery and its status in the new nation. Before independence, slavery
was rarely discussed in public, even though enlightened opinion had
come to see the institution as immoral, inefficient, and a relic of ancient
barbarism. Quakers in the late 1600s had protested slavery, and by the
American Revolution many Pennsylvania Quakers had come to oppose
slavery. Only with the Revolution, however, did slavery emerge as a
subject of public debate and controversy.
A Revolution for Black Americans
• “The Revolution inspired widespread hopes that slavery could
be removed from American life. Most dramatically, slaves
themselves appreciated that by defining freedom as a
universal right, the leaders of the Revolution had devised a
weapon that could be used against their own bondage….As
early as 1766, white Charlestonians had been shocked when
their opposition to the Stamp Act inspired a group of blacks to
parade about the city crying ‘Liberty.’”
British Emancipation
• Although 5,000 slaves fought for American independence, by
which some gained their freedom, many more slaves obtained
their liberty by siding with the British. Several proclamations by
British generals offered freedom to slaves who enlisted in the
British military. Nearly 100,000 slaves, including many in
Georgia and South Carolina, escaped and fled to British lines.
Although by the end of the war many had been recaptured,
nearly 20,000 former slaves faced being returned to their
owners, like George Washington, who insisted that they rejoin
their owners. But the British refused, and many emigrated to
England or other British colonies.
Voluntary Emancipation
• The Revolution momentarily seemed to threaten the
perpetuation of slavery. During the war, most states
banned or discouraged the further importation of African
slaves, and the conflict devastated many southern
plantations. In the 1780s, a significant number of
slaveholders, especially in Virginia and Maryland,
emancipated their slaves. This happened only very rarely
in the other southern states.
A Revolution for Black Americans
• “The first concrete steps toward emancipation in
revolutionary America were ‘freedom petitions’ –
arguments for liberty presented to New England’s
courts and legislatures in the early 1770s by
enslaved African Americans.” (GML, p.224)
• The Massachusetts Supreme Court ordered the
emancipation of slaves in 1783 after a series of
cases were brought forth by slaves claiming their
enslavement violated the principles of the state
constitution (which incorporated the ideals of the
Declaration of independence).
A Revolution for Black Americans
• Then, between 1777 and 1810, all northern states instituted
gradual emancipation. No southern states, however, outlawed
bondage. Several did make the voluntary freeing of slaves
easier, and by 1790 about 5% of Virginia’s and Maryland’s
blacks had been freed. Most free blacks remained poor
laborers, domestics, or tenant farmers. Although most states
granted freedmen certain civil rights, blacks continued in other
respects to be treated as second class citizens.
Abolition in the North
• The Revolution had a contradictory impact on American slavery
and American freedom. Emancipation in the North, however
gradual, came to distinguish free from slave states, and northern
abolition, voluntary emancipation in the south, and slave
escapees created large free black communities for the first time
in American history. Free black communities had their own
leaders and established their own independent churches and
schools. In all new states except Maryland, South Carolina, and
Georgia, free black men who met taxpaying or property
requirements could vote.
• Nevertheless, slavery survived the revolutionary war and thrived
in its aftermath. By 1790, there were 700,000 slaves in the
United States—200,000 more than had existed in 1776.
Daughters of Liberty
• Gender roles would also change as a result of the Revolutionary
War. During the conflict, many women accepted new roles as
heads of households, active business partners, spies, or
producers for the army. While some women reverted back to
their traditional roles, others seized the new opportunities before
them. The same Enlightenment and republican ideals that had
shaped the revolutionary push for independence now inspired
many women to secure their newly won sense of independence
by expressing the ideal of “republican womanhood.”
“Republican” motherhood
• Some women fought for greater equality within the marriage and
sought an end to the law of coverture that denied women their
legal identity once married. The wives of loyalists even gained
the right to keep the property of their husbands who fled.
“Republican wives” and “republican mothers” would bear
the moral responsibility of nurturing their husbands and
sons to prepare them for their place in society as virtuous
republicans. Such thinking led to calls for more personal
independence and educational opportunities that would persist
well into the next century.
Republican Motherhood
• Nevertheless, gender remained an important
boundary of freedom in America. Independence
did not change the family law inherited from Britain.
Husbands still held legal authority over the body,
property, and choices of their wives. While political
freedom for men meant the right to self-government
and consent over the political arrangements that
ruled over them, for women the marriage contract
was more important than the social contract.
Women’s relationship to the society was mediated
through her relationship to her husband.
Republican Motherhood
• Women lacked the essential basis of political
participation—autonomy founded on property
ownership or control over one’s own person. Most
men considered women naturally submissive and
irrational, and therefore unfit for citizenship. Public
debate in the revolutionary era saw men’s rights as
natural entitlements. Women’s role was viewed in
terms of duty and obligations, and their rights flowed
from their roles as wives and mothers. By definition,
the republican citizen was male.
Winning Independence-Assessment
Chapter 4, Section 5
Selling scarce items at unreasonably high prices is know as ___________.
(A) inflation
(B) profiteering
(C) blockading
(D) price indexing
The peace treaty that ended the war was called ___________________.
(A) the Treaty of Yorktown
(B) the Treaty of Cornwallis
(C) the Treaty of Saratoga
(D) the Treaty of Paris
Want to link to the Pathways Internet activity for this chapter? Click here!
Winning Independence-Assessment
Chapter 4, Section 5
Selling scarce items at unreasonably high prices is know as ___________.
(A) inflation
(B) profiteering
(C) blockading
(D) price indexing
The peace treaty that ended the war was called ___________________.
(A) the Treaty of Yorktown
(B) the Treaty of Cornwallis
(C) the Treaty of Saratoga
(D) the Treaty of Paris
Want to link to the Pathways Internet activity for this chapter? Click here!