UNIT III – CH. 4 & 5

WHY REBEL? • ECONOMIC –

– Mercantilism• blindly guided by material wealth

– Restrictive British laws – slight economic ramifications– French and Indian War – restriction of land

• IDEOLOGICAL – • Self-rule: republican form of government only reasonable form under God

– Enlightenment - JL• Great Awakening – moral revitalization helped American’s claim superior virtue over

British• Restrictive British laws – “No taxation without representation” James Otis (MA

assembly)• French and Indian War – renewed sense of confidence and unity

1763-1776: Cause & Effect

• Pontiac’s Rebellion led to Proc of 1763• New revenue/regulations (Sugar, Quartering, Stamp)

led to protest of Stamp Act (Congress, Sons of Liberty)• Declaratory Act and Townshend Acts – NY assembly

suspended – Colonial radicals (Sam Adams, John Dickinson, James Otis) boycotts

• Internal conflicts: Boston Massacre (1770) The Gaspee (1772) Boston Tea Party (1773)

• Intolerable Acts and Quebec Acts – Colonial Unity• First Continental Congress – Military and economic

unity• Lexington and Concord – Second Continental Congress

- Independence

AMERICAN GOVERNMENT• 2nd Continental Congress – May 1775

– Continental Army - named (June) GW head of Continental forces (moral force)– Dickinson & Jefferson (July) “Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of

Taking Up Arms” (surrender to tyranny OR resistance by force)• Rejected independence, death over enslavement

– John Dickinson’s (July) “Olive Branch Petition”• Directed at King George III, hope for reconciliation and no further hostility

• Congress assumed all legal functions of a national government – unifying political body– Weaknesses – no authority, no ability to collect

funds BUT THEN they started printing money

• Moving toward independence, but need colonial permission

“Are not the people of America, BRITISH

subjects?”• Shift from redress to independence–Quebec Act – favored French Catholics–Brits recruited slaves, natives, and

foreigners (Hessians – German soldiers)–Rejection of Olive Branch Petition and

enacting “Prohibitory Act” – blockade ports

Common Sense• Thomas Paine, emigrated to US• Editor of Pennsylvania Magazine• Appealed to emotions of mankind• Didn’t blame just Parliament but blamed the SYSTEM

– monarchy• Colonies were economically exploited by GB• Turning point: ideology of Americans – gave them a voice of

reason for fighting• Over 120,000 copies sold (unprecedented) – enabled

colonists to imagine independence– Advance “the representative system of

government”– Rejected divine right– “Something absurd” for a continent to “governed

by an island”

INDEPENDENCE DECLARED

Turn from English rights to natural rights Idea of John Locke Universal rights extending beyond any particular place, religion, or

national history

No more divine right - elimination of royal prerogative

EVERYONE is equal “self-evident”

MAJOR SCHISMDOCUMENT

Philosophical basis Grievances State of Separation

HUMAN RIGHTS• “When in the Course of human events,

it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

• B/c king was not providing life, liberty, property – he forfeits our loyalty

SELF-DETERMINATION & NATIONHOOD

• Based upon Locke’s conception of individual rights• life, liberty, right to own property• government as a social contract to

protect individual rights• Outlines basic political philosophy of the

new republic• Justifies rebellion against Britain – rights

emphasized reflected traditional liberties to which colonists thought they were entitled

LOYALISTS V. PATRIOTS

• Those who remained loyal to the king

• Alliance• Fear• Royal officials• Anglican clergy• Merchants• Backcountry• Some slaves

• Those in favor of independence

• Actively sought supporters

• City dwellers• Colonial

representatives

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

COLONIES

• Fought and died in wars w/ NA and Europeans enemies

• Risk life and health in a new environment

• Proud and loyal English subjects entitled to rights

• Familiar with life in colonies more so than in England

• God-given liberty

BRITISH EMPIRE/PARLIAMENT

• Provide protection from Natives and Europeans

• Benefit exceptionally well from success of British Empire w/ little contribution

• Abide by the rule of law

• Colonists as second-class citizens

• Britain's pay 2-3 times taxes than colonists

WAR STRATEGY: + & -

EVENTS/INFO IN AMERICAN EVENTS/INFO IN AMERICAN REVOLUTION THAT I CARE THAT YOU REVOLUTION THAT I CARE THAT YOU

KNOWKNOW• British strategy v. Colonial strategy• Bunker Hill (1775)• Battle of Trenton• The Battle of Saratoga (1777) = turning

point• Benjamin Franklin successfully negotiated

a treaty in Paris for French entry into the war.

• Battle of Yorktown (1781) – Cornwallis surrendered

TIMES THAT TRY MENTIMES THAT TRY MEN’’S SOULSS SOULS

FRANO-AMERICAN ALLIANCE OF 1778

• Franco-American alliance, negotiated by Ben Franklin 1778–Financial assistance–Legitimacy to cause and existence

The World Turned Upside Down: YORKTOWN

• After a grueling campaign through the southern colonies, General Cornwallis retreated to the coast of Yorktown, Virginia for the winter and the protection of the Royal Navy.

• Cornwallis was not aware however that the French navy had defeated the British fleet at the Battle of the Capes in September.

• Therefore, when Cornwallis arrived at Yorktown, he found the French navy at his back and the American army before him.

• The Americans and French laid siege to the British position and, with no where to turn, Cornwallis surrendered on 20 October 1781.

• This ended major fighting in the Revolutionary War.• Legend says that, as the British surrendered, their band

played the song "The World Turned Upside Down."

COLONIAL VICTORYCOLONIAL VICTORY• Won war of attrition – British were

outlasted and forced to abandon an unpopular war on foreign soil

• Treaty of Paris 1783–Britain recognized the independent

nation of the United States of America–all land from the Great Lakes on the

north to Florida on the south, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River.