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The American Revolution, 1775-1789

This chapter explores the long-term and immediate causes of the American Revolution, including the French and Indian War, economic restraints, unfair taxation, and pivotal events like the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party.

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The American Revolution, 1775-1789

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  1. The American Revolution, 1775-1789 Chapter 6: Section 4

  2. Long-Term Causes • French and Indian War, 1756-1763 • Britain accrued huge war debt & needed to find way to pay it off (tax Americans) • Treaty of 1763 forced France to leave North America Empire (erased French threat to colonists) • Economic Restraints • Mercantilist system no longer working for the Americans 1) trade freely 2) wanted to manufacture own goods • British Navigation Acts prevented them from doing so

  3. Long-Term Causes (cont.) 3.Policy ofSalutary Neglect • British policy of leaving the 13 colonies pretty much alone for first 150 years • Colonists dev. own system of government almost independent of Britain 4. Process of Americanization • Colonies distance from Britain so far (3,000 mi.) and so much time had elapsed (150 yrs) that Americans had developed their own unique culture (apart from Britain)

  4. Long-Term Causes (cont.) 5. Unfair system of taxation • Only their own colonial assemblies (elected by the colonists) had right to tax them • Parliament could not tax them because Americans did NOT elect them • “No taxation without representation!”

  5. Immediate Causes, 1763 - 1775 • Britain enacts new taxes • 1764: Sugar Act-tax on sugar & molasses (rum); hurt New England colonies most • 1765: Stamp Act- tax on all printed materials (newspapers, deeds, even playing cards) • Colonists argue against such adirect tax • Taxes cannot be levied for sole act of raising revenue (only to regulate trade) • Stamp Act Congress meets in NY • Boycott all printed materials & British goods • Parliament repeals Stamp Act in 1766

  6. Immediate Causes (cont.) • 1767: Townshend Acts – Parliament places tax on certain imports (lead, glass, tea, paint, paper) • Colonists continue to resist and boycott British goods (make their own) 2. Boston Massacre (March 1770) • British troops stationed in Boston to oversee unruly colonists and enforce taxes • Group of American dockworkers begin hassling, yelling & throwing snowballs at British soldiers • British fire into group and kill 5 colonists

  7. Two Boston patriots -Paul Revere and Samuel Adams exaggerate the event to raise the anger of the other colonists The Boston Massacre Through Patriot Eyes

  8. After Boston Massacre, most of Townshend Acts repealed, then British pass Tea Act. 3. The Boston Tea Party (1773) • British cut price of tea in attempt to save struggling British East India Tea Co. • Americans believe that this will drive American tea merchants out of business • Americans refuse to unload the tea • December, 1773: group of Boston patriots, disguised as Indians, board British ships in Boston Harbor & dump 300 tons of tea

  9. King George III and Parliament demand that damages be paid but Boston refuses Parliament passes the Intolerable Acts (1774) Closes Boston Harbor Repeals Massachusetts’ Charter (self-govt) Quartering Act requires troops to be housed by colonists All British soldiers to be tried in Admiralty Courts (British military courts) Britain Responds to the “Tea Party”

  10. Immediate Causes (cont.) 4.The First Continental Congress- 1774 • Colonists meet to discuss response to Intolerable Acts • Boycott British goods • Begin drawing up state constitutions • Start gathering weapons & ammunition 5.Lexington & Concord (Mass): April 19, 1775 – “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World” • British troops march on minutemen to capture colony’s stored weapons • Revere’s “Midnight Ride” to alarm colonists • Gunfire breaks out and 49 colonists killed/wounded • Americans ambush British all the way back to Boston (270 killed/wounded) • Blood had been spilled

  11. The Second Continental Congress, 1775 The Second Continental Congress • Meets to discuss events in Boston • Prepares for war • Names George Washington as Commander of American “Continental Army” • States begin drawing up new constitutions and raising militias • Thomas Jefferson called on to explain to rest of the world why the Americans were justified in breaking away from England

  12. The Declaration of Independence, 1776 Preamble: • Influence of Locke’s ideas • Natural (inalienable) rights: life, liberty, pursuit of happiness (property) • Power to govern from “consent of the governed” Body: • Lists abuses of the British government towards the colonies Conclusion: • Declares the colonies are now to be considered “independent states” and will be joined as the United States of America

  13. Jefferson’s Declaration • Ratified by the Second Continental Congress July 4, 1776

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