The American Revolution Flashcards
What is the enlightenment?
where people began to value human happiness above all else
- the people starting believing that government should be restricted and the rights of people protected
Why did the French and Indian war have an impact on the American revolution?
The British were severe debt
The British government believed that the colonies should contribute to the cast of the army as it was there to protect them
Having helped the British in the war, the American soldiers had also gained a lot of experience in battle
This gave them some confidence in their ability as a colonel militia soldiers
Talk about restriction on American trade
The American colonies provided a cheap source of raw materials for British industries
Britain, however, didn’t want any competition for these materials
The British parliament passed a series of navigation actts.
These force the American colonies to buy and sell their products such as common tobacco sugar so on to Britain alone .
There allow Britain to set the price as there was nobody else to sell to
Let a lot of smuggling and priachy from Americans trying to buy and sell elsewhere and led to confrontation with the British Navy.
Talk about taxing the colonies
Because of the economic crisis, Britain was experiencing attempted a number of revenue rising measures by taxing its colonies
The sugar act 1764 made our requirement tax on importing sugar into America
Then the stamp 1765 made a requirement for all legal documents, requirements certificates and playing cards to have a government stamp this had to be paid for.
The quartering act 1765 required the American cardinal governments to pay for food and provide a accommodation to British soldiers stationed in the colonies.
Whats a constitution
A constitution is a set of rules for running a country that outlines the powers of government and the rights of citizens
Talk about no taxtation without representation
The colonists were particularly upset about these taxes
They did not believe that the British government should be able to toxic colonies because they had no representation in the British parliament to decide on these taxes
They develop a slogan, ‘no taxation without representation ‘
There were a lot of protest against the stamp act in particular
‘Stamp man’ were in the streets and ktarred and feathered’
There were campaigns to boycott the British goods in the colonies led by groups like the sons of liberty
The stamp act was withdrawn in 1766
Talk about the Boston massacre
After the British had taken away the stamp back, they needed another way to raise money
They instead imposed the town shend acts 1767
These put taxes on anything that America imported
This lead for more tensions and more protests in the colonies
In 1770 a mob confronted British soldiers in the Boston, Massachusetts
The soldiers open fire and five protesters were killed
There were some extremely exaggerated accounts of what happened, which led to more anger among the colonists
Talk about the Boston tea party
After the Boston massacre the British removed the townshend acts most other taxe
all that remained was a small tax on tea
In 1773, they impose the tea act which allowed the east India trading company to avoid paying tax on the tea they imported
In December 1773, a group from the sons of liberty March to Boston Harbour
They boarded an east India company ship and split 342 chests of tea and dumped them into the sea
The cost of the Boston tea party was about $10,000 (this is about 2.7 million in today’s money)
Talk about the first continental Congress
The intolerable acts were a massive concern to the American colonists
They were worried that if Britain could do this to Massachusetts, they could do it to them too
12/13 colonies sent representation to Philadelphia in September 1774
They urge a boycott of British goods and removel of British soldiers
Most were not In favour of going to war at this time
However, groups throughout the colonies began to build up supplies of weapons
Militias began to train themselves
Secret groups began to get supplies
Talk about their reaction to the Boston tea party
Britain cannot let this action by the Massachusetts colonists go unpunished
They imposted corrosive acts or Asda colonist called them their intolerable acts
The part of Boston was closed until the tea had been paid for
The city of Boston must put under military rule
Talk about the declaration of independence
This violence is loss of life made war almost unavoidable
Thomas Payne wrote a pamphlet called common sense
In it, he suggested the British were oppressing the rights of the American people
He argued that they should become independent to protect those rights
The second continental congress declared George Washington commander chief of the continental army
The declaration of independence was issued on the 4th of July 1776
Talk about the declaration of independence
This violence is loss of life made war almost unavoidable
Thomas Payne wrote a pamphlet called common sense
In it, he suggested the British were oppressing the rights of the American people
He argued that they should become independent to protect those rights
The second continental congress declared George Washington commander chief of the continental army
The declaration of independence was issued on the 4th of July 1776
Talk about the early battles
The first major battle of the revolution was at bunker Hill,about 2 miles from the centre of Boston.
The Americans lost the battle but managed to kill 219 British soldiers and injured over 700
This gave colonist hope that they could compete with the much larger British army
The Americans won the battle of Boston and managed to capture some rifles from the British
In 1776, the British won in New York and the Americans had two small victories at Trenton on Saint Stevens day 1776 and Princetown on third of January 1777
Talk about the battle of Saratoga
The victory of sour toga also interested Britain’s European rivals and France Spain and the Netherlands joined the war on the side of the colonist in 1778
Troops and weapons it also used its fleet to disrupt British supplies
Talk about Valley Forge
Due to the house winters, there was rarely much fighting going on and the army fended to set up winter camp
After the last Philadelphia George Washington’s army regrouped at a remote winter base at Valley Forge
They endured one of the harshest winters of the century
By spring 3000 men had died of starvation or disease
