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Unit 3 American History. The American Revolution (1753–1783). Causes of War. The French and Indian War was the last chapter in a long struggle between the French, the British, and various groups of Native Americans for control of eastern North America.
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Unit 3 American History The American Revolution (1753–1783)
Causes of War • The French and Indian War was the last chapter in a long struggle between 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.
Causes of War • The conflict began because both Britain and France claimed the upper Ohio River valley territory. • In June 1954, Benjamin Franklin proposed the Albany Plan of Union.
Causes of War • The plan was based on the idea that it would be better for the British colonies to unite and work together, just like 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 War • 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 • 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.
The British Win the War • 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 • 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 • 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 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 • Despite the victory, the French and Indian War seriously 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.
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.
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, without British help. • These feelings would soon combine with events to expand the rift between Britain and its colonies.
Changing British Policy • 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.
The Stamp Act Crisis • 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 taxed the colonists for the stated purpose of raising money.
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.”
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.
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.
Rising Tensions in the Colonies • In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts. • The colonists protested these acts, which put import taxes on certain goods, such as glass and tea.
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. • Soon after the Boston Massacre, Parliament canceled all the Townshend taxes, except for the duty on tea.
In May 1773, the Parliament passed the Tea Act, an act that gave a British company special tax exemption in the colonies. • The American colonists protested. • On December 16, 1773, colonists boarded three tea ships in Boston and dumped all of the tea into the harbor.
In the spring of 1774, Parliament passed a series of laws known as the Coercive Acts to punish Massachusetts. • The measures seemed so harsh that the colonists called them the Intolerable Acts.
On September 5, 1774, a gathering of 56 delegates met in Philadelphia in what became known as the First Continental Congress. • 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.
Fighting at Lexington and Concord • 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. • They had to be ready for battle on a minute’s notice. • They were called – what else? – minute men.
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.
Paul Revere • In the spring of 1775, most of the Massachusetts Patriot leaders had taken refuge in outlying communities, fearing arrest by British officials. • Remaining in Boston were a few patriot leaders including Paul Revere, a trusted messenger
He needed to watch over his business interests and as discreetly as possible kept an eye on the British soldiers stationed in the city. • Revere became suspicious in mid-April when he noticed that British landing craft were being drawn out of the water for repairs — a clear indication that something was going on.
On the 16th of April he made a trip to Concord, a key community because it was the temporary home of the Provincial Congress and also a storehouse for militia guns, powder and shot. • He warned the residents there that redcoats were probably going to be dispatched in the near future to seize the town’s arms supply. • Revere’s warning was taken to heart and the townspeople began to hide arms and valuables in barns, wells and the neighboring swamps.
On April 18, 1775, Revere and William Dawes were sent to also warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock of British plans to march from Boston to seize patriot military stores at Concord. • A signal was established to warn if the British were coming by land or by sea. • From the steeple of the Old North Church in Boston, two lanterns would mean the British were coming by sea, and one would mean by land. • One lantern was lit. • The British were coming by land.
Revere left Boston around 10 PM. • Along the road to Lexington, he allegedly warned residents, "the British are coming!“ • No one knows for sure if he actually said this, however.
He arrived in Lexington around midnight riding a borrowed horse. • At 1 AM, Revere, William Dawes, and Dr. Samuel Prescott left for Concord. • Revere was captured. • Only Prescott got through to Concord. • Revere was released without his horse and returned to Lexington. • At Lexington he joined Adams and Hancock and fled into safety in Burlington. • Revere returned to rescue valuable papers in Hancock's trunk.
When the British arrived on April 19, the minutemen were waiting for them.
As a result, 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.
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.
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 • 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 Congress 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.
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. • Thomas Jefferson drafted the statement.
