Origins of American

GovernmentUniting for Independence

The Colonies Run Themselves

The colonists owed their loyalty to the crown

The colonial legislatures were used to dealing with the everyday thing due to the fact that Great Britain is 3,000 miles across the Atlantic

2 Things Change French and Indian

War 1754 – 1763 Over land in PA &

OH Great Britain wins Other countries

involved

George III becomes king He has a different

idea about the ways the colonies should be governed

Taxation George put these in place to pay for

the war Stamp Act (1765)

Taxes on legal documents, pamphlets, newspapers, dice, and playing cards

Colonists didn’t like it

Taxation Boston Tea Party (1773)

DRESSED AS Mohawk Indians343 chests of tea into Boston Harbor

Intolerable Acts (Coersive Acts)One closed Boston HarborOne said Massachusetts could not

govern itself

Uniting the Colonies Albany Plan of Union (1754)

Too much power to assembly People begin to think of themselves as

Americans Stamp Act Congress (1765)

Petition to the king Committees of correspondence (1773)

Urged resistance against British

1st Continental Congress After Intolerable Acts September 5, 1774 All 13 except Georgia Philadelphia Put an embargo in place Proposed a meeting for next year if

things did not change

2nd Continental Congress Happened after “the shot heard round the

world” April 19, 1775

3 weeks later Philadelphia Served as acting government

John Hancock (President) George Washington (commander of the

Continental Army)

Independence Richard Henry Lee

Wrote a resolution saying the colonies were independent of Great Britain

Committee formed to write a declaration Adams Franklin Jefferson Livingston Sherman

The Declaration of Independence

Lee’s resolution was passed on July 2, 1776

Jefferson’s draft was passed on July 4, 1776

Signed by 56 people Actually titled: “The unanimous

Declaration of the thirteen united States of America”

3 Parts to the Declaration Part 1: a purpose of statement and

basic human rights Part 2: lists specific complaints

against King George III Part 3: says that the colonists’ are

determined to separate from Great Britain

1st State Constitutions By 1776, 10 of the states had

adopted written constitutions By a few years, all the former

colonies has new or transformed constitutions

All of them introduced a limited government where the people are the authority