Two Treatises on Government

Two Treatises on Government was written in 1689 by John Locke, though it was published anonymously. In the First Treatise, Locke criticizes Sir Robert Filmer’s Patriarcha, which supports the divinity of kings and states that you are born either a king, or a slave to one. Locke disagreed with Filmer’s theory because he believed in self-government according to God’s law. The Second Treatise outlines a model of civil society, including man’s rights and respects to nature, trade, slavery, etc. This work greatly influenced the U.S. Constitution, which was drafted nearly one-hundred years later.

Roanoke Colony

In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh organized an all-male voyage to settle Roanoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina. The first group of explorers abandoned the colony and sailed back to England with Sir Francis Drake when he stopped by on his way back from the West Indies. In 1587, Raleigh sent one-hundred-fifteen colonists, including women and children, back to Roanoke to attempt to settle again, this time with a governor by the name of John White. Shortly after landing, White returned to England to collect food and supplies for the colonists. When he returned in 1590, he found a ghost town. The colonists, along with all the houses and community buildings they had built, had vanished. The only clue left behind was the word “Croatoan” carved on a post. Through Roanoke’s failure, England knew that a different approach was imperative to secure a settlement stronghold in the New World.

Albany Plan of Union

Benjamin Franklin proposed the Albany Plan of Union while attending the Albany Congress in 1754. The Albany Congress consisted of twenty-four delegates from seven colonies, as well as Indians from the Iroquois Confederacy in central New York. The Albany Congress’ primary purpose was to discuss ways to repair trade relations with the Mohawk Indians. Franklin, along with Thomas Hutchinson, drafted the Albany Plan. Its purpose was to unite the colonies and strengthen the defense for the New World during the French and Indian War. However, all thirteen colonies and Great Britain rejected it because they felt it was an attempt on the part of the British government to control the colonists. Up until the plan was unveiled, the colonies had governed themselves, and they intended to keep it that way. Though never put into action, the Albany Plan laid the groundwork for the Articles of Confederation, which were ratified in 1781.

John Rolfe

In 1613, John Rolfe brought West Indian tobacco seeds over to the colony in Virginia. He found that the seeds grew very well in tobacco soil, and out of his experiment came the first successful cultivation of an export crop in the colony. In 1614, he married famous Pocahontas. In 1617, there was enough tobacco to send a commercial shipment back to England, where it was sold for a good profit. Through one man’s experiment, the colony at Virginia secured its first source of income.

Battles of Quebec (1759) and Montreal (1760)

Leading up to these battles, the colonist had few victories in the French and Indian war. William pitt is hired by England to help the war effort. Though arrogant, Pitt is a military genius. His theory on the war was to stop attacking the French in Europe and focus Britain’s efforts in North America. His plan was to sail down the St. Lawrence River and capture the French forts and block the French’s supplies from coming in. 1759 is known as the Annus Mirabilis (year of a miracle.) In 1759, the British, lead by General James Wolfe, lay siege to the fort of Quebec for 3 months. Finally the French, lead by Louis-Joseph Marquis de Montcalm, charged at the British. The battle lasted only a few hours. Both generals were mortally wounded. Britain won the battle and captured the fort. After the victory at Quebec, British General Jeffrey Amherst had the plan to converge 3 British armies on Montreal. Marquis de Vaudreuil gave the order to Francois Gaston de Levis to surrender the city. These two battles marked the end of French Rule in North America.

Proclamation of 1763

After the French and Indian War, the French were out of North America except for a few fishing rights. The colonists then moved their focus to expansion. Then, George III passed the Proclamation of 1763, which stated that the colonists could not travel west past the Appalachian Mountains. After the French and Indian War, the Indians became more and more on edge about the colonists taking over their land. Britain also knew that the new land was mostly uncharted and they did not want anything disastrous to happen. This act fueled the colonist’s suspicion that Britain sought complete control over the colonies. The colonists only saw this as a violation of the God given right to property.

Common Sense

Common Sense was published anonymously by Thomas Paine in January of 1776. This book was by far the most popular book written in the colonies. It sold more than 100,000 copies in the first 3 months of being published. The book was written on a common person’s level and stressed the need for the colonists to be independent from Britain. This pamphlet placed all of the colonists’ struggles and problems squarely on George III ‘s shoulders. Common Sense remains one of the most influential pamphlets ever written in the English language. Some people say that this writing sparked the revolution.

Boston Tea Party

In 1763, when the French and Indian War ended, George III and the British government sought taxing the colonies as a way of regaining some of the war costs. The Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts of 1767 increased the colonists’ suspicion towards the mother country, but it was the Tea Act of 1773 that broke the proverbial camel’s back. The East India Company was not doing well and the British looked to help it succeed by passing the Tea Act, which essentially placed a monopoly on tea sales to the East India Company. There was eight million pounds of unsold tea, so the EIC sold it much lower than the individual tea suppliers ever could. The colonists saw this as “taxation without representation” because to them, it meant that they could not buy tea from anyone else without paying a much higher

price. In protest of the high prices, the colonists refused to unload the inexpensive tea. Much of it was left to rot on the docks. As a final act of rebellion toward the Tea Act, American colonists, possibly the Sons of Liberty, dressed up as Indians and boarded three British ships. They proceeded to dump 342 whole crates of tea into Boston Harbor on December 16, 1773.

Stamp Act

The Stamp Act of November 1765 was the first direct tax on the colonists. It stated that every printed document had to have a British seal on it, and each stamp cost money. The colonists were outraged and formed the Stamp Act Congress, whose sole purpose of meeting was to discuss how to respond to the new tax. They decided to write up a document called the Declaration of Rights and Grievances. This document stated that the colonists had the same amount of rights as the people still living in Britain, and that the colonists had a right to protest “taxation without representation.” The colonists made themselves heard, and the Stamp Act was repealed in March of 1766, much to the British government’s dismay.

George Whitefield

George Whitefield, an Anglican preacher and evangelist, was born in Gloucester, England in 1714. Growing up, he was not religious, but converted after reading Henry Scougal’s The Life of God in the Soul of Man while in college. He discovered a love of preaching and was ordained by the Bishop of Gloucester in 1736, and soon after, he set sail for America. He was especially fond of open-air preaching, and converted many while behind the pulpit. Once, a murderer had been scheduled to be hanged, but had committed suicide. A crowd of illiterate miners that felt “robbed” of their amusement had dug up his corpse and rallied around it. Whitefield walked through the crowd and began quoting Matthew chapter five, which says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The miners, astounded at Whitefield’s love for them, began to repent. Whitefield wrote that as he walked amongst them, he saw “the white gutters made by their tears down their black cheeks."

George Whitefield was a major contributor in the Great Awakening,

Navigation Acts

The colonies had started to flourish in the mid 17th century. Tobacco, rice, dyes, and many other goods were being grown by the colonies and shipped out and sold for great profits. Britain saw this as an opportunity to make a little extra money. In 1651, the first of the navigation acts was passed by Cromwell. This act stated that no goods grown or manufactured in Asia, Africa, or America should be transported to England except in English vessels, and that the goods of any European country imported into England must be brought in British vessels. And countries must pay a fee to use the British vessels. Needless to say, this really hurt the colonies and many other countries trade industry. In 1660 the second of these acts was passed. This act added items such as: tobacco, sugar, cotton, and wool to a list of items that if grown in the colonies, the items must be shipped only to Britain. These items were to be shipped to England, but colonies must pay a heavy price to ship the items to England. This started the smuggling trade. The colonies were not going to loose money by shipping their items to Britain when

there were plenty of other countries that would be willing to buy their products. The smugglers were successful in secretly trading with other countries. If Britain would have strictly enforced these acts, the effect would have been disastrous.

The Columbian exchange

The Columbian exchange refers to the exchange of foods, livestock, and diseases that was exchanged by Columbus and the new employers and the Indians. The Americas provided many new food items such as corn, potato, the tomato, peppers, pumpkins, squash, pineapples, cacao beans, and the sweet potato. The Americas also provided new livestock such as cattle, pig and sheep, and also provided grains such as wheat. The Europeans introduced new items such as the onion, citrus fruites, bananas, coffe beans, olives, grapes, rice and sugar cane. Unfortunately this exchange also was of desease. The Europeans brought over many diseases such as smallpox, influenza, malaria, measles, and typhus that the Indians had never been exposed to. Although most of the exchange was good, the diseases brought by the Europeans pretty much wiped out the native Americans.

Battle of Yorktown

The Battle of Yorktown in 1781 was a victory by American and French troops against the British troops. General George Washington led the American troops, Comte de Rochambeau led the French, and General Lord Cornwallis led the British. The Battle of Yorktown was the final major land battle of the American Revolutionary War. Cornwallis was waiting for reinforcements from General Henry Clinton, who was occupied in the north. General Washington and Rochambeau heard that he was vulnerable, and they attacked – the Americans by land, the French by sea. As depicted in the famous painting by John Trumbull, Cornwallis was so ashamed of his loss that sent his second-in-command to give the Americans news of his surrender. The painting depicts Washington, insulted, sending his second-in-command to accept the surrender. Due to assistance by the French navy and a bit of luck, the Americans won both the battle and the war.

Battle of Saratoga

In 1777, British general John Burgoyne assumed command of 7800 soldiers in Canada and began to move south down the Hudson River. He captured Fort Ticonderoga with ease. A force of 3000 Americans saw the British forces and abandoned the fort without a fight. After this General Howe in Manhattan, Burgoyne’s backup, made a surprise attack down in Philadelphia. Now Burgoyne could only hope for reinforcements from the west. A group of 1000 soldiers, including British regulars, German mercenaries, Canadians and loyalist sailed from Montreal to Lake Ontario under General St. Leger. 100 miles west of their goal the British encountered a small force of American Troops at Fort Stanwix who refused to surrender. The British lay siege to the Fort causing 840 American reinforcements to come rushing down from close by v

William Pitt

William Pitt was a brilliant man, but he was very arrogant. He said, “I alone can save Britain.” He was the driving force behind the victory of the French and Indian War. Pitt’s theory was to attack France in North America, not in Europe. This was a brilliant decision. Pitt planned to sail down the St. Lawrence River

Mercantilism

Economic system that tries to export more than it imports. Production was carefully regulated with the object of securing goods of high quality and low cost, thus enabling the nation to hold its place in foreign markets. This system was the cause of the Navigation acts which further solidified Britain’s trade market. A successful mercantilist policy was not likely to be beneficial, because it produced an oversupply of money and, with it, serious inflation. Mercantilist ideas did not decline until the coming of the industrial revolution.