17.2 American Revolution

Bell Work- Name 4 enlightenment philosophes

Citizenship TestThere are two ways to become a United States citizen- either by law or by birth. If you are a citizen by birth, which most of us are, then we never have to, “prove” our knowledge and understanding of U.S. history or information about our government to become a citizen, it is implied that we will learn those values and institutions.

The influence of the Scientific Revolution soon spread beyond the world of science. Philosophers admired Newton because he had used reason explain the laws governing nature. People began to look for laws governing human behavior as well. They hoped to apply reason and the scientific method to all aspects of society- government, religion, economics and education. In this way ideas from the Scientific Revolution paved the way fo a new movement called the Enlightenment, or Age of Reason- this movement reached its height in the mid-1700s.

When George III became the King of Britain in 1760, his Atlantic colonies were growing by leaps and bounds. Their combined population went from about 250,000 in 1700, to 2,150,000 in 1770. Economically, the colonies thrived on trade with nations in Europe.

In 1760, when King George III took the throne, most Americans had no thoughts of either revolution or independence and most saw themselves as British citizens loyal to the king.

That was until issues started over who should pay for the French and Indian War… This was Britain’s War with the French, yes it was on American soil, but the colonists saw this as their war! Parliament passed an law called the Stamp Act- colonists would now have to pay a special tax to have an official stamp placed on wills, deeds, newspapers or any other printed material.

STAMP ACT, 1765

QUARTERING ACT, 1765

We pass our own laws and establish and regulate our OWN taxes, because we are separated by the Atlantic Ocean and have no colonists represented in Parliament. You decided when to declare war and regulate trade!The Stamp Act violates the right of British subjects not to be taxed without representation you are depriving us of OUR rights and OUR freedoms!!!So, we will not buy British goods! We will riot in the streets united under the group, the Sons of Liberty! Our local assemblies will declare the Stamp Act a violation and we will not enforce your, “law”

The colonial boycott was so effective that commerce between Great Britain and America came to a standstill. In October 1765 delegates from nine colonies met in New York City in the Stamp Act Congress and formally requested the British government to change.

Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in March 1766, yielding not to the colonists’ demands to taxation, but to the difficulties of the broke British merchants who had close ties with the government.

Repeal of the Stamp Act did not solve the British problems of the cost of keeping an army in America. Parliament still believe it had the right and the need to tax the colonies and in 1767, it passed the Townsend Acts, which imposed taxes on lead, glass, tea, paint, and paper. These were the main goods the Americans imported from Britain.

Company Headquarters

During the Parliamentary debate over the Stamp Act (1765), Isaac Barré referred to the American opponents of the new tax as the "Sons of Liberty." Secret radical groups in the colonies adopted this name and worked to oppose the stamp tax and later parliamentary revenue programs.

On a cold December night in 1773, a group of rebellious American colonists some 5,000 strong marched from the Old South Meeting House to Griffin's Wharf on Boston Harbor in protest of the British tax on imported tea. As the crowd watched, men dressed loosely as Mohawk Indians boarded ships, chopped into crates with their hatchets and dumped thousands of pounds of tea into the bay. This celebrated uprising, long hailed as the Boston Tea Party, was the spark that ignited the Revolutionary War, unifying Patriots across America.

In 1774, representatives from every colony except for Georgia gathered in Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress. The King cared very little about any concerns brought about at this meeting or the colonists reaction to the Coercive Acts. Thus they reconvened at The Second Continental Congress to discuss the matter further.

Despite the anger that the American public felt towards the United Kingdom after the British Parliament established the Coercive Acts, Congress was still willing to assert its loyalty to the king. In return for this loyalty, Congress asked the king to address and resolve the specific grievances of the colonies. The petition, written by Continental Congressman John Dickinson, laid out what Congress felt was undo oppression of the colonies by the British Parliament. Their grievances mainly had to do with the Coercive Acts, a series of four acts that were established to punish colonists and to restore order in Massachusetts following the Boston Tea Party.

In 1776, The Second Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence . This document, written by Thomas Jefferson, was firmly based on the ideas of John Locke and the Enlightenment. The Declaration reflected these ideas in its eloquent argument for natural rights. Since Locke had asserted that people had the right to rebel against an unjust ruler, Jefferson listed King George’s abuses and broke the ties between the colonists and the British.

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

To gain support, Jefferson also stated that King George was the one who was committing , “crimes”.He included a long list of the King’s abuses, and claimed that George was unfit to rule over the colonists.

He was a wealthy French nobleman whose beliefs in liberty led him to America's fight for Independence.He agreed to serve without pay in the American army and was made a major general and served on George Washington’s staff.

He persuaded the French government to send more aid to the Americans.He fought in both the American Revolution and the French Revolution.

1. Great Britain had to recognize the United States as an independent nation.

2. Britain had to give up all of it’s land holdings between the Atlantic Coast and the Mississippi River, from Canada south to Florida.

3. The United States agreed to return all rights and property taken from the Loyalists during the war.

∙ Believed the people had the right to life, liberty and property, “natural rights”

∙ Believed that if the government was treating the people unfairly then the people could rebel

∙ Believed in tolerance, freedom of religion, and free speech

∙ Believed that the government needed to reflect the will of the people

∙ Believed the only valid government were those that were created through the consent of the people

∙ Believed people should vote for the best leader for the whole community

∙ Believed that any person or group in power would want more power

∙ Wanted to keep government under control

∙ Believed in separation of powers

• Congress lacked the power to tax, regulate trade, and coin money.

• There was no executive branch, no enforcement of laws was it was left up to the state.

• The only court system was state courts

• A democratic Federal system of government. In which power was divided central government & individual states.

• Within the federal government, power was divided among 3 branches of government; Legislative, Executive, Judicial.

• The Constitution also included a Bill of Rights to protect individual freedoms

U.S. Constitution: An Enlightened Document

LockeA government’s power comes from the people.

MontesquieuSeparation of powers

Rousseau Direct Democracy

VoltaireFree speech; religious toleration

BeccariaAccused have rights no torture

- Preamble states, “We the people of the United States”.- Creates representative government- Limits government powers. - Federal system of government- Three branches with checks and balances

- Public election of President and Congress

- Bill of Rights provided freedom of speech and religion

- Bill of Rights protects the accused and prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.