Revolutionary War for Independence Colonists vs British.

Revolutionary War for Independence

Colonists vs British

Critical Questions….. 1.) Could Parliament tax colonists

without representation in Parliament? Why or why not?

2.) Did the rights English law gave free men in England also belong to free men in the colonies? Why or why not?

Mercantilism and the Navigation Acts (remember these???)

To control the economy, the British reinforce existing laws

Who do these laws help?

1763 P.M. Grenville increases collectors

Navigations Acts: colonist must1. Transport their goods

only in British/Colonial ships

2. Export certain enumerated goods to Britain

3. Purchase imports from Britain

Writs of Assistance

Colonists used to economic freedom-smuggling increases with Nav. Acts

Writs of Assistance: general search warrants authorizing officials to search homes for smuggled goods

New Acts and Taxes

Sugar Act 1764: reduced existing taxes on colonial imports of sugar and molasses from Spanish and French West Indies

Currency Act 1764: could not produce own currency

Reaction: merchants continue to smuggle goods to avoid tax; opposition brewing

New Taxes

Stamp Act 1765: first internal tax (not on imports/exports)

Required stamps to be on print materials Wills, mortgages,

almanacs, pamphlets, newspapers, playing cards, etc

Reaction: colonists view as an act of tyranny

“no taxation without representation”

Refuse to buy stamps; attack tax collectors

Stamp Act Protests – Sons of Liberty

Boston Shopkeepers, artisans, laborers organize a secret resistance group –SONS of LIBERTY

Founder – Samuel Adams Harass stamp agents – many resign Colonial protests prevent any stamps

from actually being sold! Individual colonial assemblies pass

resolutions - people can only be taxed by their own assemblies/representatives

Stamp Act Congress – colonies make collective protest – begin to act as one

Delegates from 9 colonies meet in NY to denounce the Stamp Act

Declaration of Rights and Grievances – Parliament lacks power to tax colonists because colonists not represented in Parliament!

Begins colonial boycott of goods – merchants agree not to import British goods until Stamp Act repealed

Quartering Act

Quartering Act 1765: colonists required to provide soldiers with food and living quarters

“Protecting colonists from Indian attacks”

Resistance to quartering act

NY is headquarters for British troops NY Assembly refused to assist in

quartering troops Skirmish occurs; one colonist

wounded Parliament almost suspends

Assembly's power but Assembly begins to supply money

Townshend Acts

Townshend Acts 1767: initiates taxes on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea

% of tax goes to royal governor; less dependent on colonial assembly

Reactions: reinstate nonimportation

Daughters of Liberty form

Response: British use military courts; colonists denied a jury trial-$$$$

Act repealed 1770

Troop arrival

October 1768: British troops arrive to solve political unrest in Boston

Presence of troops increases hostility

Colonists see it as threatening and colonists compete for jobs with poorly paid soldiers looking for extra work during off duty hours

Boston massacre – Paul Revere’s engraving

Boston Massacre

March 5, 1770 Angry colonial mob descend upon

British at Custom’s House Hurled rocks and snowballs, egged on

soldiers (Sons of Liberty) Capt Thomas Preston in charge; shots

fired without command 5 dead including 1 slave (Crispus

Attucks)

Boston Tea party

Tea Act 1773: British East India Co allowed to sell tea to colonists without paying taxes colonial tea makers had to pay

Cuts colonial tea makers out of the tea trade

Reaction: 50 members of SOL dress up as Indians; 18,000 lbs. of tea dumped into Boston Harbor; ¾ a million dollars

Reenergized colonists; stricter enforcement

Colonial Poem – Tea Boycott

A Lady’s Adieu to her Tea Table

Farewell the Teaboard with your gaudy attire,Ye cups and saucers that I did admire

To my cream pot and tongs I now bid adieu;That pleasure’s all fled that I once found in you

No more shall my teapot so generous beIn filling the cups with this pernicious tea,

For I’ll fill it with water and drink out the same,Before I’ll lose Liberty that dearest name

Before she shall part I will die in the cause,For I’ll never be governed by tyranny’s laws.

Intolerable/Coercive Acts 1774

King George III is furious. Parliament passes Intolerable Acts

Shuts down Boston harborGeneral Thomas Gage

(commander of British forces in N. America) appointed new Gov of MA

Boston placed under martial law

Colonial Response…..

Committees of Correspondence assemble First Continental Congress in Philly 1774

56 delegates from 12 colonies Draw up Declaration of Colonial Rights Defend colonists’ right to run own affairs Support protests in MA State that if Britain uses force again colonies they

will fight back

Agree to reconvene in May 1775 if their demands are not met

Colonists Divided at First CC

Stay with Britain or break away?

One country or separate entities?

American or British?

BIG names at 1st CC – George Washington, Patrick Henry, John and Sam Adams, John Jay

Fighting Erupts

Shot Heard Around the World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZMmPWTwTHc

Minutemen After the 1st CC, colonists

in many New England towns step up military preparations.

Minutemen = civilian soldiers – ready to fight at “a minute’s notice”

Minutemen begin stockpiling arms and gun powder

LEXINGTON AND CONCORD

April 1775 General Gage receives orders - seize colonial

military supplies in Concord, MA (outside Boston) Told to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock,

believed to be in Lexington, MA 700 British troops head to Concord to seize and

destroy all munitions they find

Paul Revere, Dawes and Prescott ride through countryside warning that soldiers are coming

Countryside rings with church bells and gun shots – prearranged signals the British are coming

Lexington and ConcordTwo small towns about 20 miles west of Boston

LEXINGTON AND CONCORD

British march into Lexington; unknown shot is fired and the British begin shooting the Patriots.

8 minutemen killed, 10 wounded British keep marching to Concord Militia has removed weapons from depot,

British find nothing British run into 400 armed colonial soldiers,

ready for attack Patriot militia attacks and the British retreat

End Resultshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZMmPWTwTHcShot Heard Around the World

British retreat; British soldiers are attacked by militia men and farmers hiding behind stone walls, buildings and trees; guerilla warfare

Overall, British lose 99 men, 74 wounded

Militia loses 49 men, 46 wounded

Loyalists V. Patriots

LOYALISTS/TORY – remain loyal to the crown

1. Colonies are British property

2. Parliament is acting as it should

3. We are British4. Colonies are

causing British to respond this way

PATRIOTS – favor independence

1. British are taking colonies for granted

2. Not allowed to act/live freely

3. British not protecting colonists’ interests

Loyalists/Tories

Imagine – WHY? Why might a colonists choose to be a loyalist?

Bitter choices – divided the colonies and even families apart (first Civil War)

LOYALISTS/TORIES

Exact # difficult to know (many change sides as war progresses). Estimates are @ 20%

Many live far from cities and know little of the events that are enraging the colonists and making them want independence

Many thought the British would inevitably win and want to avoid being punished as rebels

Thought the crown could protect them and their rights more effectively than a future unknown colonial government

Some Loyalists served in positions such as governors, judges, etc and felt a closer tie to the crown

Battle of BUNKER HILL General Gage decided to hit minutemen dug in at Breed’s Hill

north of Boston near Bunker Hill

June 17,1775 - 2,400 British troops march up the hill - in typical broad formation lines Massed together, easy targets, no ground cover

Colonists fire – kill over 1,000 (lose only 450). Ends up bloodiest battle of Rev.

2ND CONTINENTAL CONGRESShttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBBTF0Wg7dY&list=RDPBBTF0Wg7dY#t=0(No More Kings)

Summer - 1775 2CC meets in Philadelphia

July 1775 send king Olive Branch Petition Ask for time to work out

situation and for return to “former harmony”

King George rejects the petition, says the colonists are in state of “open and avowed rebellion,” and tells ministers to “bring the traitors to justice.”

2nd Continental Congress

Appoints George Washington as General of Continental Army

Patriots Declare Independence

Ideas and Documents that fuel the Revolution

THOMAS PAINE – Common Sense

THOMAS PAINE

January 1776 Publishes an anonymous, persuasive pamphlet

called Common Sense Created to convince colonists that Parliament is

not the problem The King is the Problem Monarchy is inherently bad

Written for the common people-Bible quotes Widely circulated and helped many colonists

overcome their doubts about separating from GB

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

Separation proposed by Richard Henry Lee in June 1776

Continental Congress appoints a committee made up of John Adams, Ben Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston and Thomas Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence.

July 4th, 1776 – delegates adopt the Declaration of Ind and vote unanimously that they are free from England

Declaration of Independence

People born with natural rights – life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness (Locke)

Governments get power from consent of governed

People have right to alter/abolish governments that threaten their rights

All men created equal (??????)

FIGHTING

BEGINNING OF THE WAR

Major Revolutionary Battles – what is the significance of each one?

Battle of Bunker Hill Battle of Trenton Battle of Saratoga Battle of King’s Mountain Guilford Court House Yorktown

TIDES TURN

Before 1777—America loses frequently After—America gains European support and

wins more often

Battle of Saratoga: (New York) American troops, led by Benedict Arnold, stop the British advance of troops to the southern United States. 1777

This victory improves morale and convinces France to join the war as allies of the United States.

FRANCE JOINS THE COLONISTS

The Saratoga victory boosts French trust in colonists. They officially recognize American independence and sign an alliance with Americans in 1778.

Winter at Valley Forge 1777/1778

December 1777 - Valley Forge, PA

Washington’s Army struggles to stay alive

no food, log cabins, freezing temperatures, enlistment terms ending

Frostbite – many lose limbs

10,000 soldiers – over 2,000 die

The British Move SOUTH After their loss at Saratoga the British changed their

strategy and moved South End of 1778 – they take Savannah, GA May 1780 Cornwallis captures Charles Town, SC Cornwallis quickly controls SC and sets up several forts, but

as he crosses into NC Patriot bands attach and cut off his lines of communication

Washington sends Nathaniel Greene to command Southern troops. Beat the British at Cowpens, SC and lose at the battle of Guilford Courthouse, NC – BUT the British sacrificed heavily – 93 killed over 400 British wounded.

Cornwallis – weak and struggling – decides to move to the Chesapeake area of VA

Greene = one of few soldiers to serve all 8 years of the war. He fought in every major campaign and was 2nd only to Washington in his leadership and military skill in the Revolution.

YORKTOWN, VA

Cornwallis moves his army of 7,500 onto a peninsula between the James and York Rivers and camps at Yorktown 17,000 French and American troops surround the

British on the peninsula and bombard them day and night.

A French naval force blocks the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay (Cornwallis cannot retreat!!)

Siege of Yorktown lasts 3 weeks. Oct 17, 1781 – outnumbered by more than 2-1 and exhausted Cornwallis surrenders

Treaty of Paris Peace talks begin in Paris 1782 Continental Congress sends – John Adams,

Ben Franklin, and John Jay They immediately demand the British

recognize American independence

Colonists now have new identity as free Americans – what does that mean??

Was the American Revolution truly Revolutionary?

Why or Why not????

ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION

Created in 1776-77, Ratified in 1781

First constitution for the USCreated by a committee from the 2CCModeled after Franklin’s Albany Plan of UnionSignificance: even before ratification, the A

of C allowed 2CC to act as the governing body

READ YOUR COPY

ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION

The A of C establish the US as a CONFEDERATION of sovereign states What does sovereign mean?

Problems? makes the federal government

very weak establish a “league of

friendship” between the states and does not use the term “nation” or “government” at all

Constitution Issues

1780s=America’s “Critical Period”-why?

Proposed strong central government over the states-why?

What about state governments?

Northwest Land Ordinance-1785Who can give out land?

Shays rebellion

Pro-Debtor Laws: forgiving debt and printing more paper money

SHAY’S REBELLION: Daniel Shay of MA organizes troops to liberate farmers

James Bowdoin (Gov.) confronts and crushes movement

SIGNIFICANCE?

Activity

Come up with a set of six classroom rules that students and the teacher must abide by

You can come up with the rules any way you want

You can use the board, paper, whatever you need to accomplish this task

You have 10 minutes to complete your class rules

GO!

Constitution: what is it?

CONSTITUTION: the basic principles and laws of a nation, state, or social group that determine the powers and duties of the government and guarantee certain rights to the people in it

During your Discussion…

Who made the decisions?How were the decisions

made?Were there discussions?Did you change from any of

your original ideas? How did it happen?

Did any factions in develop?

Constitutional Convention

Philadelphia 1787 Met in secret-no

press Madison: VA Plan

National Supremacy above state sov.

Direct vote of some national leaders

3 branches of central government-bicameral legislature

Opposition

Rejected by small states

NJ Plan: Unicameral legislature One vote per state

POPULATION=PROBLEM

NY leaves in disgust!

GROUPS 1-4

YOUR TURN TO DEBATE

GROUP 1: The Small StatesGROUP 2: The Large StatesGROUP 3: Slavery-Southern StatesGROUP 4: Slavery-Northern States

15 minutes to outline laws for YOUR GROUP. Present when satisfied!

COMPROMISE

COMPROMISE-what is it?

Now that you’ve heard all 4 groups, come up with a COMPROMISE that tries to satisfy everyone’s opinions.

15 MINUTES: GO!

Connecticut compromise

Combined both the VA and NJ Plan-Sherman

Bicameral legislatureHouse of

RepresentativesSenate=state legislature

Slave lawsFugitive Clause3/5ths Compromise

Challenge: will the American people accept? Answer: Ratified on

Sept. 17, 1787

Bill of rights debacle

December 15, 1791 First 10

amendments Federalist v Anti

Feds

Feds: you don’t need it

Anti: you MUST have it

Amendments/Bill of rights

Follow the directions on your “Bill of

Rights” flyer. BE CREATIVE. Turn in MONDAY March 9,

2014 before debate.