The French & Indian War (1754 – 1763) aka “Seven Years War” or “Great War for Empire”

Ends Salutary Neglect & Sparks Quest for American IndependenceFrench & Indian War Documents HW - Due end of class Tuesday 8/30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vKGU3aEGss&index=5&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtMwmepBjTSG593eG7ObzO7s

The Seven Years War and the Great Awakening: Crash Course US History #5

Dissatisfaction & Unity Grow…1754 Albany Congress, Proclamation Line of 1763, Paxton Boys & Carolina Regulators

Chapter 5: Towards Independence

1763 - 1776

to

Chapter 5 – Towards Independence: Years of Decision (1763-1776)

“Great War for Empire” Debt Proclamation Line of 1763 George Greenville

Sugar Act Vice-Admiralty Courts “Taxation without representation”

Quartering Act Stamp Act Congress Sons of Liberty

Townshend Act Non-Importation Movement Boston Massacre

Committees of Correspondence Boston Tea Party Coercive (Intolerable) Acts

Quebec Act Continental Congress Lexington & Concord

Loyalists & Tories Common Sense Declaration of Independence

Reading Assessment on Block Day, September 7th or 8th

Pre 1763 “Baby Steps” Towards Desire for

American Independence & Unity

• Colonists who leave Europe for America tend to have more “alternative” mindset

for the beginning (Ex: Indentured Servants, Puritans, Quakers)

• Traditions of independent colonial assemblies & courts (Ex: House of Burgesses)

• Frequent disregard of mercantilist policy (ex: smuggling under Navigation Acts)

• Failed British “crackdowns” (Ex: Dominion of New England & Molasses Act)

• Development of a unique American society & culture (Ex: Great Awakening,

Non English Immigrants)

• Idea of desirability of American colonial cooperation is being discussed

(Ex: Albany Congress proposal for “Plan of Union”)

Main Idea: Salutary Neglect fosters independence

Main Results of French & Indian War

• England dominates territorial holdings while France & Spain are a

weaker presence in North America

• Americans see British Redcoats up close & in action – military

experience gained and respect declines

• England amasses great financial debts from war

• King George III & PM Lord Grenville now lead UK bringing with

them a new attitude about the colonies & their place in the Empire

• Heated debate on nature of the Rights of Englishmen & Taxation

Without Representation vs. Virtual Representation erupts in

Parliament and in the colonies

1st Major Example of

New British

Policies in 13 Colonies:

Proclamation Line of 1763

Angers Colonial

Traders,

Settlers &

Land Speculators

Colonial Unrest & British

Reaction Intensify

1763 – 1776(see chart on p. 162 in text)

Mention: Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Vice Admiralty Courts, George Grenville

Chapter 5 HW – Group 1: Why did the colonists object to the new

taxes in 1764 and again in 1765? What arguments did they use? How

did these conflicts turn into a constitutional crisis? (Page 147)

Chapter 5 HW – Group 2: Weigh the relative importance of economic

and ideological motives in promoting the colonial resistance movement.

Which was more important? Why? (Page 155)

Mention: Stamp Act Congress, Sons of Liberty,

Enlightenment, Townshend Acts, Non-Importation,

Boston Massacre

Boston Tea Party leads to

Coercive (aka

“Intolerable”) Acts

Colonist Respond both calmly Ex: Committees of Correspondence & First Continental Congress

AND…

Patriots (Whigs) & Loyalists

(Tories) begin undeclared war as

Minutemen fire “Shot Heard

Round the World”

& Massachusetts militia told,

“Don’t fire till you see the

whites of their eyes.”

…with Force Ex: Lexington & Concord & Bunker Hill (1775)

Chapter 5 HW – Group 3: Why did colonial and British leaders fail to

reach a political compromise to save the empire? (Page 167)

Mention: Continental Congress,

Lexington & Concord, Tories &

Whigs, Common Sense, Declaration of

Independence

Excerpts from Thomas Paine’s, Common Sense, 1776

This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from

every part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from

the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the

first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still.

Everything that is right or reasonable pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping

voice of nature cries, 'tis time to part.

The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.

Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between England and America. Men of all

ranks have embarked in the controversy, from different motives, and with various designs; but all

have been ineffectual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms, as the last resource, decide the

contest; the appeal was the choice of the king, and the continent hath accepted the challenge. . . .

The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not the affair of a city, a country, a province,

or a kingdom, but of a continent—of at least one eighth part of the habitable globe. 'Tis not the

concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the contest, and will be more

or less affected, even to the end of time, by the proceedings now. Now is the seed time of continental

union, faith and honor. . . .

Why did it take the Continental Congress more than a year after Lexington &

Concord for an official “Declaration of Independence”?

• Sentimental attachment to England & King was strong

• Colonial elite fear anarchy

• Hope that the British would change policies

• Reluctance of colonial merchants to lose trade w/ UK

• Failed invasion of Canada & defeat at Bunker Hill illustrates American military shortcomings

• Lack of consensus at Continental Congress

• But, after “Olive Branch Petition” rejected in November, 1775, Many

colonial legislatures meet as well as the 2nd Continental Congress meet in

Philadelphia in Summer of 1776 and…

Excerpts From the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, July 1776

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands

which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and

equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of

mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator

with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure

these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the

governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the

people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and

organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. ….

The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having

in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted

to a candid world…

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good…

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the

rights of the people…

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature. ..

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged

by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation…

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us…

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world…

For imposing taxes on us without our consent…

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eytc9ZaNWyc&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtMwmepBjTSG5

93eG7ObzO7s&index=6

Video Review:

Taxes & Smuggling - Prelude to Revolution: Crash Course US History #6

The Coming of Independence: A Biography of America #4

https://www.learner.org/series/biographyofamerica/prog04/transcript/index.html