Goal: explain how the Enlightenment and Great Awakening influenced American thinking and how growing tensions between England and the colonies led to a revolution and independence.
Vocabulary:
Mercantilism committee of correspondence
Enlightenment minuteman
Great Awakening customs duty
Problems with Trade
At first, the colonists could trade with many other countries.
Then England decided to limit who they could trade with.
Why? England thought that the purpose of the colonies was to make money for it, not for themselves.
This caused some anger
Mercantilism
Believed that to be a wealthy, you had to make more selling to others than you bought
Countries should be self sufficient – getting raw materials from their colonies and selling them manufactured goods.
Navigation & Staple Act = goods have to be carried on English ships & sold to only England
Some colonies went the illegal route, smuggling in goods from other places
King Charles II took away self-governance as punishment and made areas like Massachusetts part of the royal colony
Inspiration Towards Revolution
The Glorious Revolution
1688 – William and Mary take over England; Parliament forces them to sign Bill of Rights
King can’t rule without ok of Parliament
Freedom of speech
No excessive bail or cruel & unusual punishment
Right to a jury trial
The BoR influences American gov’t
W & M allow Massachusetts and other areas to regain some of their independence
John Locke
Wrote Two Treatises of Government
Believed that there were times that revolution was justified
People are born w/natural rights (life, liberty, property)
To protect these rights, they form a gov’t
If ruler tries to take rights away, people can rebel
Inspiration for American Revolution and Bill of Rights
The Enlightenment
1600’s – 1700’s – tried to look at and figure out the world using logic
Locke: people are born blank pages and shaped by society & education
Rousseau: gov’t should be formed with the ok of the people; make their laws together
Montesquieu – 3 branches of gov’t, system of checks & balances
The Great Awakening
Increased religious following of the 1700’s m
New religions: Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians
Baptists welcomed enslaved Africans and condemned slavery
Undermined allegiance to traditional authority (gov’t, king)
Conflict between French & English
French and Indian War (1754-59)
Both groups wanted the Ohio River Valley
France got it, war started
Spread to Europe – Seven Years’ War
Treaty of Paris – England became dominant power in N. America
Got all of French land east of Mississippi and Florida from Spain
Trouble in the Colonies
F&I War left England in debt
Used colonies to make up the $ they lost
Proclamation Act (1763): no more expansion
Customs duties: taxes on imports and exports
Sugar Act (1764): increased taxes on many goods
Stamp Act (1765): stamp needed on all printed materials
Sons of Liberty: put together protests
1765 – meeting of Stamp Act Congress
“no taxation w/out representation”
Ignored Stamp Act, boycotted British goods
Stamp act repealed in 1766
English lost money, jobs
Townshend Acts (1777)
New customs duties on lead, paper, paint, tea & more
Many colonies protested; Parliament got rid of their colonial assemblies
3/5/1770: Boston Massacre
Colonists throw snowballs at soldiers
Fighting leads to British opening fire on colonists
Leads to the repeal of all parts of the TA except the tax on tea
Road to War
Committee of Correspondence – each colony had one to communicate w/the others
Started after British appeared to ignore the people’s right to a trial by jury of peers
Tea Act (1773) – Taxes on tea, can only be bought from British
Boston Tea Party: deliver on tea blocked; cargo dumped into Boston Harbor
Reaction to the Tea Party
Coercive Acts (1774) – shut down Massachusetts ports, banned town meetings, brought more troops to New England
Put General Gage in charge
Quebec Act – took over Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin.
England had total power in these areas
Together, called Intolerable Acts
Representatives from each colony met at 1st Continental Congress
Planned strategy, agreed to meet again in 1775 if there was still a problem
Revolution Begins
After England gets rid of the assembly in Mass, they create another one
Leader: John Hancock
Militia began training
Minutemen – special militia group
Those loyal to the king – Loyalists or Tories
Georgia, Carolinas, New York
Those who believed that the English were tyrants – Patriots of Whigs
New England, Virginia
Lexington & Concord
General Gage wanted to steal militia supplies in Concord; troops secretly head out
Patriots figure it out & send riders to warn the militia (including Paul Revere)
@ Lexington, English troops are met by minutemen (1st battle of AR)
@ Concord, English discover that all the supplies had been moved; forced to retreat
Boston surrounded by the militia, English trapped inside.
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