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American Colonies• England believed in mercantilism

(What is this?) and building colonies all over the world

• Jamestown was created in 1607 in the current state of Virginia under the rule of James I. (What else did he do?) It was the first permanent English colony.

• Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock in 1620 in hopes of creating a government based on religion. The Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact (the first written form of government in the colonies).

• In 1619, colonists created the House of Burgesses in Virginia. (the first elected legislative body for the colony)

Problems with England• Colonists were left to their own devices.

Many of the colonies created their own governments (House of Burgesses). Colonists felt disconnected from England and began to feel more independent.

• The French and Indian War (also known as the Seven Years War) created a huge amount of debt for England. In order to fund this debt, the British began taxing the American colonists.

• The first of these taxes that were passed were known as the Navigation Acts which made it illegal for the colonists to sell goods to countries other than England. This upset the Americans and many began smuggling their goods.

• Many people began advocating for independence including Thomas Paine who wrote Common Sense.

• "I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense . . ."

• "Small islands not capable of protecting themselves are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something very absurd in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island."

• “For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have the right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others for ever, and thought himself might deserve some decent degree of honors of his descendants might be far too unworthy to inherit them.”

• "Wherefore, since nothing but blows will do, for God's sake, let us come to a final separation."

-Thomas Paine 1776

Problems Continued• Parliament passed many other tax acts

including the Tea Act (which led to the Boston Tea Party) and the Stamp Act.

• Americans were upset by these taxes and claimed that they were not given adequate representation in British Parliament and therefore should not be taxed.

• In 1774, representatives of each colony met in the First Continental Congress. Very little occurred because of this meeting so the colonists reconvened in the Second Continental Congress and later declared independence from England after the firing of shots at Lexington and Concord (beginning the American Revolution in 1775).

• Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence (1776), basing many of his ideas of those of the philosophes.

American Revolution• Americans fought guerrilla warfare

which was difficult for the British to combat.

• British generals underestimated the Americans and made stupid mistakes.

• This war was incredibly expensive for the British.

• Americans were supported by the French (Louis XVI) and were able to corner British General Cornwallis and force him to surrender at Yorktown, ending the war.

Articles of Confederation• Americans were wary of a

strong central authority and therefore created a weak central government with strong state governments.

• The state governments had the ability to tax, pass laws, print money and raise an army. The federal government could do none of these things. What problems could this cause?

Shay’s Rebellion• After the war many states faced huge

debts as well as the National government. The Articles of Confederation left the national government too weak to address the problems.

• This led to unrest resulting in a rebellion called Shay’s Rebellion over the amount of taxes created by the states.

• This showed the U.S. that a new government needed to be created.

New Constitution• In 1787, the Constitutional Convention

met to REVISE the articles and instead, wrote a brand new constitution. However, many of the colonists did not want to ratify it.

• The Federalist Papers were written and published in newspapers in order to convince people to ratify the new constitution. (Antifederalists opposed it)

• Finally, in 1789, the Bill of Rights was added to protect the rights of the people and the Constitution was adopted.