Ch 3 Notes
American History
French and Indian War- Eng vs. France and its Indian allies
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part of a larger war in
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colonists on the side of
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Treaty of
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Ticking off the colonists-
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Navigation Acts- colonies can only trade with
- Proclamation Act of 1763
o No settlers west of Appalachian Mts
o To keep Eng’s Indian allies happy
- Taxes on imports/exports
- Sugar Act- tax sugar, can seize goods if suspected of violating the law
- Stamp Act- all legal documents must carry a tax
- Quartering Act- colonies will begin to pay for British troops in the colonies
- Townshend Acts- more taxes on paint, lead, paper, tea
- Writs of Assistance- blank search warrants so customs officers can seize goods from those suspected of smuggling
Reaction-
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Sons of
o Did acts of defiance, roughed up tax collectors and stuff
- Who is mad?- people in New England (northeast)
o Why?- these taxes hit merchants and people tied to trade. The rest of the country was agricultural
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colonists harassing British soldiers in
- kids/adults throwing snowballs at them
- soldiers accost the small crowd, crowd begins to grow
- tempers flare, soldiers fear for their lives, fire into the crowd (5 die, 6 wounded)
- Massacre?- Bostonians talk up the incident to fire people up against the Brits
- protest the Tea Act which bailed out one tea company
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Sons of
- Result- Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts)
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o Mass governor now in total control of the colony (appt by King)
o Town meetings banned
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- Just what the Sons of Liberty wanted?
o Wanted
Brits to overreact (If it can happen in
Continental Congress- colonies elect reps to meet and try to deal with the crisis, negotiate with England
- “No taxation without representation!”
o Not fair to tax us when we have no say about it. Give us seats in Parliament.
o Parliament- you do have a say in the matter. Parliament represents all British people
o Colonists- but we’re not British, we’re American!
Sides-
- Loyalists/Torries- loyal to king
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Patriots- opposed to
- Another group (about 1/3) don’t really care
Road to war-
- Brits go to take militia supplies to prevent shooting
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Colonists get word of this (Dawes/Revere) and met the
Brits at
- Shot fired, Brits open fire
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Move next to
- Result- there will be more fighting, (war will take place)
2nd Continental Congress- elected, will meet until crisis is over, acts as colonial gov’t during the war
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What are we fighting for- is it independence or
better relations with
- as fighting spreads over the country the independence movement gains ground
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sec 3
American Revolution- 1775-1783
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Colonists Advantages |
British Advantages |
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- fighting on home ground |
- well trained/experienced army |
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- short supply lines |
- $, supplies |
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- have a cause |
- navy |
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- possible foreign help |
- organized gov’t |
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Colonists’ Disadvantages |
British Disadvantages |
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- gov’t divided and weak |
- no cause, soldiers and citizens aren’t into it |
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- short on supplies |
- supplies too far away |
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-soldiers untrained, small army |
- don’t know the land |
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- no navy, can be blockaded |
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Long War- could help Brits b/c they have bigger army, more $ to fight longer
- could help colonists- b/c Brits will get tired of fighting
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Battles |
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- colonists lose battle, but prove can fight with the British army |
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- sneaks up on Germans (hired by the Brits), gets lots of material |
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- Colonial army actually beats the Brits in the field -
Convinces French to join the war on - Give US men, $, navy |
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- western battle, in Indiana (George Rogers Clark) |
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- Brits surrounded, main Brit army surrenders, war is basically over (1781) |
Treaty of Paris- 1783, colonies now independent
Lafayette- French general, helps bring French into the war
Pulaski- Polish, comes over to help lead troops, killed in action
Sec 4
1st Gov’t- Articles of Confederation
- intentionally made weak (b/c their past experience w/ a strong gov’t was not good)
o national gov’t could not tax
o could not raise an army
o could not enforce its own laws
o states had own $, regulated trade w/ each other
- allowed for NW territory (NW of Ohio River) to be divided into 5 states (OH, IN, MI, WI, IL)
- no slavery in this territory
Shay’s Rebellion- Mass raises taxes to pay for its involvement in the war
- poor farmers carried the burden of the tax
- armed mobs seize courthouses to prevent farm forclosures
- rebellion put down by militia
- we have a crisis, the gov’t needs to do something about it, but it can’t
Sec 5
New Gov’t- most feels the Articles needed tweaking
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should it be made stronger?
Convention- Philadelphia, 1787
- goal- revise the Articles of Confed, but eventually decide to scrap them for something new
Compromises-
- Make up of Congress
o Virginia Plan- # of reps determined by population
o New Jersey Plan- equal # of reps per state
o Great Compromise- 2 houses, 1=population, 1=equal reps per state
- counting the people
o should slaves count
o north says no
o south says yes
o 3/5 Compromise- 5 slaves equal 3 people when counting population
Controversy- is it too strong?
- Federalists- wanted a strong gov’t
- Anti-Federalists- wanted individual freedoms protected from the gov’t (weaker gov’t)
- Agree on Bill of Rights- strong gov’t but freedoms are protected