RevolutionSS8H3 The student will analyze the role of Georgia in the American Revolutiona) Immediate and long-term causes of

the American Revolution

Jean Nicholas Bellin's Map of Carolina and Georgia, 1757

http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu

French-Indian War (1754-1763)

• Long standing differences between France and England cause this war, it is fought in Europe, in the open seas, and in the North American Colonies

• Indians sign treaties to remain neutral between France and England (so they could trade with both)

Background

• Iroquois Indians allow English to use the Ohio River Valley land, but the French deny them access, they claim that it is their land

• English and French want the land= money and power

Fort Necessity

• Both sides claimed the Ohio River Valley area (more than 200,000 square miles)

• The French built several forts in the area; many Indians sided with the French

• The Virginia governor sent Captain George Washington with soldiers to Fort Necessity (near today’s Pittsburgh); a battle erupted

• The two sides fight, Washington is captured (but the French let him go…mistake!)

Turning point of the war

• 1754- 1758: French are winning the war- because of guerilla style fighting.

• 1758-1760: Washington learns from Braddock's mistakes, British commanders begin to use guerilla warfare tactics. (Native’s methods) British start winning the war

• 1760: British are victorious, the war continues in Europe for three more years

French & Indian War (7 Years War)CAUSE RESULT

Greed /want more $

More Land Wanted

Desire for power

To gain more power they both formed alliances:

*England with Iroquois*French with Western Tribes

French built forts in the Ohio River Valley

Virginia Governor sent Washington to warn them that this land did not belong to them – MUST STOP!

WAR STARTS

Treaty of Paris Formally ended the war

Proclamation of 1763 King George III changes GA boundaries

Treaty of Paris (1763)

• King George II dies, George III takes power (has new plans for the colonies)

• Treaty of Paris (1763) ends the war:– France loses all land east of the

Mississippi River and Canada. They keep New Orleans settlement

– British claim all land east of the Mississippi, including Florida territory

–Georgia’s new boundary is the Mississippi River

Jedidiah Morse's Map of Georgia, 1796

Georgia and the War’s Aftermath

• Treaty of Paris set Georgia’s western boundary at the Mississippi River

• Proclamation of 1763 (King George III): Georgia’s southern boundary set at St. Mary’s River; Georgia colonists could not settle west of the Appalachian Mountains but this gave them more land

• Cherokee and Creek tribes gave up land claims north of Augusta and in the coastal region

Can you find the Proclamation line? What if you already lived in a homestead on the other side of the line?

Proclamation Line of 1763

• Proclamation of 1763: line through the Appalachian Mountains. Colonists could not settle west of the line.

• Britain claims this is to protect them from the Native American Indians

• Colonists hate this rule, because it was really made to keep the colonists close to the British Army ( to keep an eye on them!)

British taxes

• The war was expensive, put Britain in debt

• So to pay off the debt, George III decides to raise taxes on the colonists

• Sugar Act (1764): tax on sugar, molasses, wine, indigo and coffee

• Stamp Act (1765): tax on all paper products

Colonial Protest

• Sugar Act: hurts Georgia, imported sugar from West Indies

• Reaction: minor protest, illegal trade• Stamp Act: hurts business, industry

(worse in the North) Why?• Reaction: protest, burning effigy,

Stamp Act Congress, forming of Sons of Liberty, and Liberty Boys: Georgians against the Act

Colonial Outrage

• Colonists hate these new taxes, angry with Britain

• Remember the quote: “No taxation without representation”

• Sons of Liberty: a protest group formed by Samuel Adams (Boston)

• In 1765 Liberty Boys: a protest group formed in Savannah, GA

• Patrick Henry protests the Stamp Act, Britain drops the tax, Georgia is the only colony to sell any stamps with this tax (2 weeks)

• Doesn’t hurt Georgia that bad. Why?

The stamp meant you paid your tax

Townshend Act (1767)

• Townshend Act (1767): taxes on paper, glass, tea, paint, many items!

• More colonial outrage, hurts Northern colonies the most

• Reaction: Colonists boycott British goods & cloth, stop drinking tea, stop painting= hurts Britain’s economy

• Protest groups like Sons of Liberty grow in membership

Boston Massacre (1770)

• Colonists harass British soldiers in Boston.

• The British soldiers open fire on the un-armed crowd, kill 5 colonists.

• Afterward, Great Britain is embarrassed, they repeal the tax acts, except on tea

• Relative peace for a few years

Examine the copies of the engraving of the Boston Massacre…

• How would you feel if you read about this the next day?

• Who else would you tell about this?

• What exactly is in the engravings, explain the details of the primary source document?

Tea Act (1773)

• Tea Act: to help save the East India Trading Company, it forced the colonists to only trade/buy tea from them (monopoly).

• Reaction: Colonists smuggle tea from other countries, Boston Tea Party

Intolerable Acts (1774)(remember these when you read the Declaration of

Independence)• Intolerable Acts: to punish the colonists

for the tea party, Parliament passed a group of laws: – Closed the port of Boston until colonists

repaid for tea–No local government/town meetings

(Repealed the MA charter)–No British official could be tried in the

colonies– Quartering Act: colonists have to house

British soldiers at their own expense!– Reaction: Total outrage, Continental

Congress, Committees of Safety= boycott

Revolution

• Colonists now begin to speak of independence, but some Georgians are still loyal to the crown…Why?

• Second Continental Congress: Georgia not very supportive, but send Lyman Hall, Button Gwinnett, George Walton to represent them

• Declare Independence: 1 year after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Declaration of Independence is approved, July 4, 1776

This Declaration of Independence was read from the balcony of the Old State House in Boston(left) and other cities in the colonies (Philadelphia, above).

Review

• Long term and immediate causes of the American Revolution.– French and Indian War debt– Proclamation of 1763– Sugar Act– Stamp Act– Townsend Act– Intolerable Acts

• Georgia’s involvement was small