VOCABULARY• Mercantilism: uses a favorable balance of trade between the mother country

and the colony

• Favorable Balance of Trade: revenue of exports is more than imports

• Triangular Trade: trade route between Europe, Africa and the America’s

• Middle Passage: the route on the triangle trade from Africa to the America’s

that included slaves

• Manufacturing: creating goods with machines

• French and Indian War: part of Europe’s 7 Years War between England and

France that was fought in North America in which England won

• Albany Plan of Union: an idea for representative government in the colonies

that was rejected but influenced the US Constitution

• Salutary Neglect: non-enforcement of the laws from Parliament onto the

colonies to help them flourish

• Enlightenment: cultural movement by intellectuals in Europe and North

America to use reason, challenge traditions of faith and promote the use of the

scientific method

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

• What are the political, economic, and social

causes of the American Revolution?

• How did public opinion evolve in regard to

the movement for Independence?

ECONOMIC FACTORS

• Mercantilism:

• European countries made colonies so that they would have a favorable balance of trade with them and make money.

• Favorable Balance of Trade:

• When one country benefits more from trade with another country.

ECONOMIC FACTORS• Triangular Trade: A trade between the

America’s, Europe and Africa combining

European capital (in the first leg) with African

labor (in the second) and British-colony

resources (in the third):

• From Europe - manufactured goods: copper,

textiles, silks imported from Asia, glassware,

ammunition, guns, knives and other finished

products.

• In Africa, sailors unloaded European goods and

filled the ships with indigo and slaves.

• The "middle passage" brought the slaves

to the Americas or to Caribbean islands.

• At least 10% of the slaves died during the

trip because of bad conditions.

• From the America’s: raw materials, returned to

Europe. Sugar, coffee, tobacco and - especially -

cotton were processed in British factories.

ECONOMIC FACTORS

• Rise of an influential

business community in

the colonies

• More manufacturing

happened in the

colonies because the

British didn’t enforce

their mercantile policies.

ECONOMIC FACTORS

• Cost of colonial wars against the French• Britain began to tax the

colonies to help pay for the French and Indian War and protect the land that was won by fighting it.

POLITICAL FACTORS

• The role of the British

Civil War

• King James II was

overthrown and

parliament became

more powerful than the

King.

POLITICAL FACTORS

• Periods of political freedom in the colonies

• 75% of adult white males in the colonies could vote.

• Middle class men were elected to the colonial legislatures.

• Salutary Neglect by England allowed the colonies to govern themselves.

POLITICAL FACTORS

• Impact of the French

and Indian War:

• England ended their “salutary

neglect” in order to keep

power over the colonies and

make them profitable.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S CARTOON URGING THE COLONIES TO UNITE AND FIGHT AS ONE

AGAINST THE FRENCH AND THE INDIANS TO GAIN CONTROL OF THE LAND WEST OF THE

APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS.

POLITICAL FACTORS:Albany Plan of Union:

• Purpose:

• get the cooperation of the colonies decrease the French

influence in North America

• keep the Iroquois loyal to the British

• Proposed: a unity for defense with a:

• governing body with a president-general, appointed and paid

by the crown

• grand council elected by the colonial assembly

• Result of Proposal:

• Accepted by the Albany Congress

• turned down by the colonies for not giving enough

independence

• turned down by England for giving too much colonial

independence

• Importance of the Albany Plan of Union:

• introduced representative government with a leader; this was a

model for the US Constitution.

POLITICAL FACTORS

• Political thought of the

Enlightenment

influenced colonial

leaders:

• Colonists read the

writings of John Locke

and Baron de

Montesquieu.

POLITICAL FACTORS

• John Locke’s ideas

included that people

had natural rights and

also had a right to a

government that

represented them.

These ideas were used

in the Declaration of

Independence.

POLITICAL FACTORS

• Montesquieu gave the idea

of separation of powers

within a government by

dividing it into an

executive, a legislative and

a judicial branch. This idea

was used when writing the

US Constitution and is how

the US federal government

is set up.

SOCIAL FACTORS

• New social

relationships between

European powers and

the American colonies:

• development of a new

colonial identity of

independence and

possible unity

REVIEW QUESTIONS:

• To the European countries, what was the purpose of

the colonies?

• Draw a triangle and label the continent and products

that are part of each side.

• What was the middle passage?

• What was the impact of the French and Indian War on

the colonies?

• What was the importance of the Albany plan of

Union?

• What political idea did these men provide the

colonist? Baron de Montesquieu and John Locke.