American Identity &The Road to RevolutionMrs. Chen’s 8th Grade U.S. History

CA Standards: 8.1.1 (The Great Awakening’s relationship to the development of revolution) & 7.11.5 (Enlightenment roots to democratic thought)

Parliament The legislature of Great Britain; an assembly of

representatives who make various laws, including taxes

What is the Parliament?

What do we call the legislature of Great Britain; an assembly of representatives who make various laws, including taxes?

Natural Rights

According to John Locke, these are rights that people are born with and include the right to life, liberty, & property.

What are natural rights?

What do we call rights that people are born with and include the right to life, liberty, & property?

Boycott

to not use or buy a product or service in order to show support for a cause

What is a boycott?

What do we call it when someone choses to not use or buy a product or service in order to show support for a cause?

Repeal

Legally cancelling something

What is a repeal?

What do we call legally cancelling something?

Regiments a unit of ground forces, consisting of two or more

battalions or battle groups

What are regiments?

What do we call a unit of ground forces, consisting of two or more battalions or battle groups?

Quartering

living accommodations for military personnel

What is quartering?

What do we call it when someone has to give living accommodations for military personnel?

Delegate

a person appointed or elected to represent others

What is a delegate?

What do we call a person appointed or elected to represent others?

Government in the 13 Colonies

The Mayflower Compact was the first attempt and example of a democratic form of self-government

Many colonies had representative assemblies, groups of elected men who governed the colony.

The Great Awakening

In the 1730s and 1740s, a religious movement called the Great Awakening swept through the colonies.

Traveling ministers preached the importance of inner religious emotion and encouraged ideas of equality.

The Great Awakening stressed the importance of the individual over the authority of the church

This encouraged colonists to also question the authority of the British government, contributing to the colonists’ emotional push for revolution and independence.

Enlightenment Roots to Revolution The Enlightenment began in Europe as a time when

reason was used to find out truths about the universe, including human nature and ideas about government

Benjamin Franklin was a famous American Enlightenment thinker.

Three European Enlightenment philosophers to remember: John Locke: people have natural rights to life, liberty, and

property AND government’s role is to protect these rights, if your government fails to protect it’s citizen’s rights, the people have the right to change it.

Charles-Louis Montesquieu: Government should be divided into three branches (separation of powers AND checks & balances)

Voltaire: championed freedom of speech, “I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it”

Events and British Actions Leading to Revolution…

Throughout the power point presentation, use your “Road to Revolution” graphic organizer to summarize British actions. After each topic, you will THINK, DISCUSS, and then WRITE about the colonists’ reactions to each event.

French and Indian War

A war between the English and French colonists over the Ohio River Valley that lasted 7 years, 1754-1763. (George Washington was a general for the British)

English won control of the land, but needed a way to keep colonists out of the land, which was resulting in conflict with the natives.

The Proclamation of 1763: King George III decided to draw a line down the crest of the Appalachian mountains and demanded that the colonists stay east of the line and natives stay west of it.

This was ineffective and angered the colonists

The Taxing Begins…

The French and Indian War left the British government in deep debt.

Desperate for money, they planned to tax the colonies and tighten trade rules.

The English parliament justified the new taxes under the rationale that the war was fought to protect the colonists’ interests’ so they should pay the debt.

The Sugar Act

This actually lowered the tax on sugar and molasses that the colonists were importing.

The British Parliament hoped this would reduce smuggling.

But Colonists were angry and argued that Parliament had no right to tax them in the first place since the colonists were not allowed to have elected officials representing them in Parliament.

“No Taxation Without Representation!”

The Stamp Act

1765, this new law required colonists to buy a stamp for every piece of official paper they used.

Newspapers, wills, licenses, and even playing cards had to have stamps.

The Sons of Liberty: A group of colonists formed by Samuel Adams who decided to protest the Stamp Act. They boycotted stamps and attacked tax collectors until Parliament repealed the law.

The Quartering Act

After the French and Indian War, England decided to keep a standing army in the colonies.

The intent was to have soldiers ready to protect the colonies in times of need.

1765, Parliament passed the Quartering Act, which required colonists to quarter, house and feed, the British soldiers in America.

Colonists were disturbed by the idea that they would have to quarter soldiers especially since they felt the soldiers were unnecessary.

Colonists felt like the soldiers were only there to supervise and intimidate them.

The Quartering Act

The Declaratory Act

1766, Parliament declared that they had the right to tax and make decisions for the colonies in all cases

Colonists began to fear that England was attempting to take away their freedom

Colonists also feared that more laws and taxes were coming soon

The Townshend Acts

1767, these laws placed taxes on basic items colonists needed, but were unable to produce in the colonies (glass, tea, paper, lead). Colonists would have to pay a tax at the port of entry in order to import these goods

Sons of Liberty and Samuel Adams took action once again and urged colonists to boycott British goods. The colonists were on the verge of total rebellion. In response, England sent two regiments of British troops to Boston. These troops, called “Redcoats,” set up camp right in the center of the city

The Boston Massacre

March 7th, 1770, tensions between the Redcoats and the colonists hit a peak. That day, a crowd of colonists began insulting soldiers and throwing stones at the soldiers. One of the soldiers was knocked down, then the nervous and confused soldiers fired at the colonists. Five colonists were killed.

The Boston Massacre let to even stronger feelings of resentment towards England.

To help spread the word of the massacre through the colonies, Paul Revere engraved the scene onto a copper plate.

The Boston Massacre

The Tea Act In order to cut their losses,

Parliament was forced to repeal the Townshend Acts, which removed all the taxes on imported goods EXCEPT for tea.

1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act, which allowed British merchants to ship tea to the colonies without paying taxes while the colonial tea merchants still had to pay the tax. This allowed the British merchants to sell their tea much cheaper than colonists.

The Boston Tea Party: In Massachusetts, colonists decided to take action. The Sons of Liberty, led by Samuel Adams, dressed up as natives and boards British ships in Boston Harbor. They dumped 342 crates of British tea into the water.

Colonial men and women who heard of the event gathered in the streets to celebrate

The Boston Tea Party

The Coercive Acts AKA The Intolerable Acts

1774, Parliament passed new laws as a punishment for the Boston Tea Party

1. Closed Boston Harbor

2. Canceled the Massachusetts Charter

3. More quartering of British troops

4. Allowed British officials and soldiers accused of murder to be tried in England.

First Continental Congress: Colonists felt that the Intolerable Acts violated their rights as English citizens. In 1774, 55 men arrived in Philadelphia to establish a political body to represent American interests and challenge British control. These delegates were not united in their views, but knew they needed to work together.

First Continental Congress

The Continental Congress also voted to boycott all British goods. Finally, they also decided to form militias, or groups of citizen soldiers. If fighting broke out, the colonists would be prepared with their own armed forces. The men who served in these militia were called “minutemen” because they had to be ready to defend the colonies in a minute.

The Eve of Revolution

In early 1776 most Americans still wanted to avoid a final break with Britain

The colonists were split into two groups: The Patriots (those who wanted independence from Britain) and the Loyalists (those who wanted to remain loyal to Britain)

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense

This pamphlet helped convince many Americans that a complete break with Britain is necessary

It made a strong case for American independence.

Paine also ridiculed the idea of “divine rule of monarchy” and dissolved any support for King George III