The Reasons for the American Revolution: 1763 to 1776

Navigation Acts, 1650s-1660s

• England’s wants wealth from the colonies

• Navigation Acts says the colonies...– can only trade with England– can only sell it’s raw materials to England– must buy its manufactured goods from England

• This is all part of the concept of mercantilism

• England mostly ignored the colonies’ social and political issues.

• England was concerned with making

• As a result, the colonies were used to making a lot of their own decisions.

Money!

The French and Indian War1754-1763

                                                            

What Caused the French and Indian War?

Who fought this war? Why?

1. British (England)

2. Colonists3. Native

Americans

vs. 1. French2. Other Native

Americans

Both the French and the British claimed land along the Ohio River (Ohio Valley).

Albany Plan of the Union

•Albany, New York, 1754

•Representatives from seven colonies

•Plan: create a council that would levy (raise/collect) taxes, raise armies, build forts, wage war and make peace with the Indians

•Rejected by both England and the colonial assemblies because it gave too much power to the Council

The Colonies Try to Unite

Significance: A colonial government may have prevented the Revolution!

Who won where?

The British won the French and Indian War. . .

WOOOO-HOOOO for England!• Effects of the war:

1. England gets more land.

2. England imposes oppressive (strict) laws on the colonists.

3. Colonists gain military and leadership experience.

What parts of North America did the British claim before the war?

What parts of North America did the French claim before the war?

How much land does England get from the war?

North America in 1763

What new lands did the British gain as a result of the French and Indian War ?

What parts of North America did the French claim after the war?

Proclamation Line of 1763

•England made a border at the Appalachian Mountains which the colonists could not cross.

•Why did England do this?England made this law so that the colonists would not fight with the Indians and start another war.

Many colonists died for this land, shouldn’t they get to settle it?

This angered many colonists!

So, England gets a huge chunk of land from France as a result of

the war.

But there was a huge negative effect to the war:

Who would pay for the war?

• Wars aren’t cheap, ask George Bush.

X 1,000,000,000,000•The Afghanistan and Iraq war have cost close to $1 trillion

That’s one million, million dollars or 20 million Cadillac Escalades.

That’s enough to give everybody in Colorado $250,000. What would you do with this money?

It’s also more than the poorer half of the world makes in one year, combined.

http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/infopays/rank/PIB2.html

The French and Indian War was expensive. Shouldn’t the

colonists have to pay for at least a part of the war? Explain.

Of course they should!!! All British colonists, including the American colonists paid for the

war.

Through taxes.

And the problems in the colonies begin!

1. Since England was mostly concerned with making money...

a. colonists were free to make a lot of their own political decisions

b. colonists were forced to get the approval of the English king for every law

c. colonists lost a lot of their religious freedoms

d. colonists decided to fight on the side of the French in the French and Indian War

2. The effects of __________________ caused problems in the American colonies.

• a. The Revolutionary War

• b. The French and Indian War

• c. King Phillips War

• d. The Ohio Valley War

3. Why was the French and Indian War fought?

a. for a piece of land along the Ohio river

b.because people had to pay taxes

c. Indians were invading British land

d.France supported an Indian attack on the New England colonies

4. What was the major effect of the French and Indian War on the colonies?

a. they lost half of their land

b.they had to pay taxes

c. they improved their relationship with England

d.they became French colonies

Of course they colonists had to pay for the French and Indian War!!! All British citizens

paid for the war.

Through taxes.

And the problems in the colonies begin!

Revolution

means

Change

The Stamp Act, 1765

•The colonists had to buy stamps to put on 54 kinds of papers, including playing cards, newspapers, wills and licenses.

•Why do you think England did this?

http://www.mce.k12tn.net/revolutionary_war/lesson_2.htm

The payments varied from one cent on a newspaper to ten dollars on a college diploma. The payments had to be made in gold or silver.

http://www.mce.k12tn.net/revolutionary_war/lesson_2.htm

The Quartering Act, 1765

This act made the colonies pay for the food and housing of British soldiers.

Why do you think England did this?

How would you like it if you had to give your bed and food to this guy?

Townshend Act, 1767

•This act taxed tea, glass, paper and paint. Many colonists decided to not buy products from England.

•Why did England do this?

Boston Massacre, 1770

•A group of colonists had been making fun of British soldiers and were throwing snowballs at them. The soldiers fired. They killed five colonists and wounded many more. Many Americans wanted the soldiers killed.•Was it right for the British soldiers to do this? Explain.

Tea Act, 1773

•Tea was a popular drink in Colonial America, a lot like soda.

•This law allowed only one company to sell tea in the colonies (they could make it expensive).

•Why do you think England did this?

Boston Tea Party, 1773

•About 50 colonists dressed like Indians, got on a British ship and threw 342 boxes of tea into the sea. The tea was worth $75,000.

•England was very angry. The British army punished Boston with some very strict laws.

•Why do you think American colonists did this?

Intolerable Acts, 1774

•Closed Boston port (puerto) until the city paid for the tea; cancelled town meetings (democratic meetings); and appointed a military government.

•In your own words, explain these laws.

Many American colonists were becoming very angry with England’s decisions.

“No taxation without representation”

British Parliament

Where are the American colonists?

•The problem wasn’t so much that the colonists had to pay taxes: all British citizens had to pay taxes.

•The colonists were mad that Parliament was making laws for them; they wanted their own colonial governments to make the tax laws.

•They said that since they had no representatives in Parliament, Parliament could not tax them.

“No taxation without representation”

Think about it. . .4. Which of your parent’s rules/laws do you always fight about?

a.curfew

b.freedom of expression (dress, music, hair, piercings)

c.friends

d.school grades/attendance

e.chores

f.other

Do you have any say in your parents’ rules?

Neither did the colonists!

The colonies start making their own decisions!!!

First Continental Congress, 1774

• Representatives from all of the colonies but Georgia met in Philadelphia in September

• They decided that some of the English laws were unfair and that they would tell England

• They also decided to meet again

Lexington and Concord, 1775

•British soldiers went from Boston to a couple of towns, Lexington and Concord, to take some weapons from the colonists and capture patriot leaders.

•Paul Revere and William Dawes, patriots, had told colonists about the British soldiers.

•Colonial troops waited for the British soldiers at Lexington. A soldier accidentally fired his gun and a battle started. The Revolutionary War had begun.

The shot that started the war at Lexington is known as “the shot

heard around the world.”

Explain this statement in your own words.

Second Continental Congress, 1775

•Representatives from the colonies meet in Philadelphia.

•They create the Continental Army from the colonist soldiers that had gathered in Boston

•They appoint George Washington as Commander in Chief.

There was no turning back! In the summer of 1775 the Battle of Bunker Hill was fought in Boston and the war was well on its way.

The following summer the Declaration of Independence (1776) was written, formally declaring the colonies’ independence from England.

In November of 1777, the Second Continental Congress authorizes a document that creates the first independent American government, the Articles of Confederation.

• 5. Why did England pass laws like the Stamp Act, the Townshend Act and the Tea Act?

• a. to make money

• b. to force the colonist to produce these goods

• c. to punish the colonies

• d. to restrict the use of these products

• 6. Why did colonists rally behind the saying “no taxation without representation?”

• a. they thought England was doing a good job fixing the taxation problem

• b. they thought England had no power to tax them; the colonies should do it

• c. they thought their own colonial governments were taxing them too much

• d. they were tired of rich colonial politicians making the decisions for them

• 7. What is the significance of the First Continental Congress?

• a. George Washington was made president

• b. the Articles of Confederation was created

• c. the Constitution was written

• d. the colonies began making their own decisions

• 8. The first shots of the war between England and the American colonists were fired at

• a. Lexington

• b. Washington D.C.

• c. Philadelphia

• d. Bunker Hill

9. What is the significance of the Declaration of Independence?

a. It created the new American government

b.It was written by one of the most famous Americans: Thomas Jefferson

c. It ended the war with England

d.It was the official separation of the colonies from England

• 10. What was the name of the document that created the first independent American government ?

• a. the Constitution

• b. the Declaration of Independence

• c. the Articles of Confederation

• d. the Colonial Governments of America