1754 - 1800 (Rebellion, Revolution, and Nation) Flashcards
1
Q
Adam Smith
A
- 1723 - 1790
- Adam Smith was a Scottish moral philosopher and pioneer of political economy.
- His “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of Wealth of Nations” helped establish modern economic theory.
- Smith offered a vision of a free market in which he argued that rational self-interest and competition can create economic prosperity.
- These ideas promote the potential of the individual and contradict mercantilism.
- International, religious, and political thinking in the period helped English colonists form a distinctly American worldview.
2
Q
Albany Plan
A
- 1754
- During the French and Indian War, delegates of seven colonies met in New York to discuss plans for collective defense.
- The Pennsylvanian delegate, Benjamin Franklin, proposed a plan for an intercolonial government, but the plan was rejected by the colonial legislatures as demanding too great a surrender of power.
- Even though the other colonies showed no support for Franklin’s plan, it was an important precedent for the concept of uniting in the face of a common enemy.
- The growth of English colonization impinged on French and American Indian relations, causing conflicts for both English colonist and native tribes.
3
Q
Impact of the French and Indian War on British Colonial Policy
A
- Beginning in 1763
- After the French and Indian War, Britain set out to solve its large national debt.
- It created a series of acts that raised taxes on American goods, leading to rebellious activities in the colonies.
- Acts included the Sugar Act (1763), Stamp Act (1765), Quartering Act (1765), and Declaratory Act (1766).
- The Sugar Act taxed goods imported to America such as wine, cloth, coffee, and silk.
- The Stamp Act raised revenue to support British soldiers protecting the colonies.
- The Declaratory Act reaffirmed Britain’s power to tax and make laws for the colonists.
- The Quartering Act forced residents to house British troops.
- Great Britain’s increased focus on the economies and governance of the colonies – an effort to resolve its debt after the French and Indian War – would eventually lead to revolution.
4
Q
Benjamin Franklin
A
- 1706 - 1790
- Benjamin Franklin was a colonial writer, scientist, diplomat, printer, and philosopher.
- He published the Pennsylvania Gazette and Wrote Poor Richard’s Almanac.
- Franklin served in the Second Continental Congress and was a drafter and signer of the Declaration of Independence.
- A movement for American independence came from both colonial leadership and the masses who demanded greater rights and liberties as well as the opportunity for self-governance.
5
Q
Proclamation of 1763
A
- 1763
- The Proclamation of 1763 was a result of Pontiac’s Rebellion, an American Indian uprising against the British for their mistreatment.
- It forbade white settlement west of the Appalachians to reduce friction between American Indians and settlers.
- It stated that American Indians owned the land on which they were residing.
- Outraged colonists believed that the successful outcome of the French and Indian War should have allowed them to settle in the Ohio Valley.
- Following the French and Indian War, hostilities continued between colonists and American Indians over trade and land rights.
6
Q
March of the Paxton Boys
A
- January 1764
- The middle colonies grew significantly through immigration in the eighteenth century.
- The largest group was the Scots-Irish: Scottish and English Protestants from Northern Ireland.
- A vigilante group of Scots-Irish farmers, the Paxton Boys, organized raids against American Indians; they were furled by resentment over the French and Indian War and Pontiac’s Rebellion.
- One such raid on Conestoga Indians resulted in twenty deaths.
- About 250 Paxton Boys went to Philadelphia to present their grievances to the state legislature. They felt bitterness against the Quaker leadership for its lenient policy toward American Indians.
- After the French and Indian War and into the post-revolutionary era, colonist migration resulted in the blending of the cultures of whites and American Indians but also created competition over resources and land.
7
Q
Methods of Colonial Resistance
A
- 1760s - 1770s
- British colonist reacted first with restrained and respectful petitions against the empire, suggesting “taxation without representation is tyranny.”
- Colonial governments organized “committees of correspondence” to share their view of British actions with neighboring colonies and with foreign governments; this was the start of political organization among the colonies.
- Colonial merchants then boycotted British goods (nonimportation).
- Colonists finally turned to violence; crowds took action against customs officials and against merchants who violated the boycotts.
- Great Britain’s increased focus on the economies and governance of the colonies – an effort to resolve its debt after the French and Indian War – would eventually lead to revolution.
8
Q
Stamp Act Congress
A
- October 1765
- Delegates of seven colonies met in New York to discuss their objections to the Stamp Act and their other concerns with British policies.
- The Stamp Act Congress adopted the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, which states that freeborn Englishmen could not be taxed without their consent.
- During this period, colonists began to unite and organize around a series of actual and perceived threats that British policies posed.
- “No taxation without representation” became a rallying cry.
- A movement for American independence came from both colonial leadership and the masses who demanded greater rights and liberties as well as the opportunity for self-governance.
9
Q
Spanish Missions In California
A
- Beginning in 1769
- Spanish Franciscan Catholics organized a series of missions in New Spain (present-day California) to spread Christianity among local American Indians.
- Catholic priest Junipero Serra was one of its most important figures.
- Missions were both religious and military communities and helped Spain maintain a presence along its borderlands.
- Spanish missionaries tended to exploit American Indian labor – sometimes brutally – and disease decimated these native populations.
- Spanish missions drew Spanish soldiers and settlers to present-day California, encouraging intermingling with American Indians.
10
Q
Virtual Representation
A
- 1770s
- Virtual representation is the English principle stating that the members of Parliament represented all of Britain and the British Empire, even though members were only elected by a small number of constituents.
- British Prime Minister George Grenville responded to the colonial demand for “no taxation without representation” by claimed that Parliament represented those who were being taxed.
- A movement for American independence came from both colonial leadership and the masses who demanded greater rights and liberties as well as the opportunity for self-governance.
11
Q
Boston Massacre
A
- March 5, 1770
- The Boston Massacre occurred amid ongoing friction between the British and colonists, who resented the “standing army” in Boston and disliked tax measures such as the Townshend Acts.
- A mob of colonist surrounded British sentries, threatened them verbally, and threw objects at them.
- The British soldiers killed five Bostonians, including Ciprus Attucks, an American patriot and former slave.
- Future president John Adams provided the legal defense for the soldiers.
- Even though the British soldiers acted more or less in self-defense, anti-royal leaders used the massacre to spur action in the colonies.
- Growing tensions between Great Britain and its colonies over economic and political liberties drove American colonists to revolution and war.
12
Q
Tea Act, Boston Tea Party, and Intolerable Acts
A
- 1773
- The Tea Act was a concession that allowed the British East India Company to ship tea directly to America and sell it at a bargain.
- Because the cheap tea undercut the costs of local merchants, colonists opposed these shipments; they turned back ships, left shipments to rot, and held ships in port.
- The Tea Act led to the Boston Tea Party in December of 1773, where citizens, dressed as American Indians, destroyed tea on the British ships.
- The British responded by imposing the Intolerable Acts (“Coercive Acts”), a series of actions that closed the Port of Boston to trade, increased the power of Massachusetts’ royal governor, and allowed royal officials accused of crimes to be tried elsewhere.
- Growing tensions between Great Britain and its colonies over economic and political liberties drove American colonists to revolution and war.
13
Q
First Continental Congress
A
- September - October 1774
- The first Continental Congress was a meeting in Philadelphia of colonial representatives to denounce the Intolerable Acts and to petition the British Parliament.
- A few radical members discussed breaking from England.
- The First Continental Congress created the Continental Association and forbade the importation and use of British goods,
- It agreed to convene a Second Continental Congress in May 1775.
- A movement for American independence came from both colonial leadership and the masses who demanded greater rights and liberties as well as the opportunity for self-governance.
14
Q
Battles of Concord and Lexington
A
- April 1775
- British General Gage suspected that a stockpile of colonial weaponry was housed in Concord.
- Paul Revere, William Dawes, and others detected movement by British troops toward Concord; they warned the militia and gathered Minutemen at Lexington.
- Militia and Royal infantry skirmished in Lexington.
- When the British moved on to Concord, they were confronted by a larger group of militia and were forced to retreat.
- The poet Ralph Waldo Emerson described the opening conflict of the American Revolutionary War as the “shot heard round the world.”
- The colonies were successful in their revolution for several reason, including their leadership, dedication to their new nation, and European alliances.
15
Q
Second Continental Congress
A
- May 1775 - March 1781
- The Second Continental Congress was a meeting of colonial representatives in Philadelphia over which John Hancock presided.
- The group was torn between declaring independence and remaining under British power.
- Moderates forced the adoption of the Olive Branch Petition, a letter to King George III appealing one final time for a resolution to all disputes; the king refused to receive it.
- The Congress sent George Washington to command the army around Boston.
- American ports were opened in defiance of the Navigation Acts.
- The Congress would go on to write and adopt the Declaration of Independence.
- A movement for American independence came from both colonial leadership and the masses who demanded greater rights and liberties as well as the opportunity for self-governance.
16
Q
George Washington’s Leadership in the American Revolution
A
- 1775 - 1781
- George Washington was named Commander-in-Chief of Continental Forces in June 1775 by the Second Continental Congress.
- He compelled the British to evacuate Boston in March 1776.
- Washington defeated the British at Trenton, New Jersey after crossing the Delaware on December 25, 1776.
- He survived the tough winter at Valley Forge (1777 - 1778); Washington strengthened his troops during the winter and gained tremendous respect among the men.
- British general Charles Cornwallis surrendered to Washington on October 19, 1781.
- The colonies were successful in their revolution for several reason, including their leadership, dedication to their new nation, and European alliances.
17
Q
Common Sense
A
- January 1776
- Common Sense, a pamphlet published by Thomas Paine, called for immediate independence from Britain.
- It was sold throughout the colonies, gained popularity, and engaged average colonists in the political debate over the future of their government.
- Common Sense helped improve support for independence in the Continental Congress.
- Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence exemplified Enlightenment thinking and a desire for self-rule, concepts that drove the colonists’ search for the proper government for their new nation.
18
Q
Declaration of Independence
A
- Adopted July 4, 1776
- The Declaration of Independence is a document stating the political ideas that justified America’s separation from Britain.
- Even though the body of the document lists grievances against Britain, Enlightenment thinking and John Locke’s work shaped the Declaration’s key concepts.
- It asserts that “all men are created equal” and “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,” and that people have the right “to alter or to abolish” a government that violates their natural rights.
- Thomas Jefferson and his committee drafted the document for the Continental Congress.
- The Declaration has shaped democratic practices in the United States and beyond to modern times.
- Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence exemplified Enlightenment thinking and a desire for self-rule, concepts that drove the colonists’ search for the proper government for their new nation.
19
Q
Battlet, of Saratoga
A
- 1777
- The Battle of Saratoga was an American Revolution battle fought in northern New York.
- The British planned to end the revolution by splitting the colonies along the Hudson River, but they failed to mobilize properly.
- The British ended up surrendering, allowing the first great American victory.
- The colonies were successful in their revolution for several reason, including their leadership, dedication to their new nation, and European alliances.