The American Revolution Flashcards
Cause 1 of the American revolution?
Government:
- Britains’s exploitation of the colonists
- Britain’s mistreatment of the colonists
Britain’s exploitation of the colonists
- britain wanted to extract as much tax revenue from colonies as possible
- Navigation Acts, 1760s, these forced them to import goods only from Britain and her colonies
- Stamp Act, 1765, this forced them to use only officially marked paper manufactured in Britain
- Military tax: this forced them to pay £385,000 per year for British soldiers ‘protecting them’ from the French
- americans resented this as they didn’t even have a say in elections in Britain
- ‘taxation without representation’ became popular
Britain’s mistreatment of the colonists
- The declaratory act of 1766 insisted Britain had the right to do as she wished
- The Boston massacre, 1770: when a citizen marked a Garrison of British soldiers, 5 protesters were shot dead
- Closure of Boston Harbour, 1773: when around 100 protesters through £10,000 worth of tea into the sea (the Boston tea party) Britain reacted by closing down the harbour completely
- The Lexington incident, 1775: when British soldiers tried to recover some stolen gunpowder, 80 ‘minutemen’ local resistant fighters attacked them, 8 were killed
Cause 2 of the American revolution?
Ideas:
- increasing radicalism
Increasing radicalism
- Inspired by the English Civil War, Molly colonists began to call for action
- most were middle class and educated
- Sons of Liberty: the secret group organised protests and boycotts (e.g Boston tea party)
- Thomas Paine: he wrote ‘common sense’ in 1776, attacking George III and arguing the case for independence from Britain,
Method 1 of the American revolution?
Communication:
- Declaration of Independence
Deceleration of independence
Members of Congress met in the town of Philadelphia, on fourth of July 1776 they issued the declaration of independence inspired by Magna Carta
- Laid out the colonist grievances against George III’s rule
- Laid out enlightenment principles such as liberty, democracy, and the rights of the individual
- Proclaimed that the colonists therefore no longer considered themselves to be under British rule
Method 2 of the American revolution?
War:
- Yorktown, 1781
Yorktown, 1781
The British had a vastly large army that was well trained and experienced however, French money, ships and soldiers, gradually swung the balance of power
The battle came at Yorktown, Americans had cut off the British fault by land and French had surrounded it by sea
The American general George Washington attacked and the British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered
In 1782, the British Parliament decided to make no further efforts to keep hold of the colonies
Method 3 of the American revolution?
Government:
- New democratic Republican form of government (president, Congress)
New democratic Republican form of government, (president, Congress)
The new Democratic Republican form of government in 1789 was fully independent from Britain
It was made up of :
- President
- congress (upper chamber): the Senate
- congress (lower chamber): the House of Representatives
Short term significance of the American revolution?
Colossal:
- firstly, it was a blatant rejection of Royal authority
- secondly, it reaffirmed the new democratic ideals that were emerging at this time
Firstly, it was a blatant rejection of Royal authority (explain)
George III had exploited colonists for their taxes and restricted their freedom to trade, soldiers mistreated colonists, imprisoning and killing many
The colonists asserted their own democratic rights and independence however not all Americans were happy with the revolution. Some believed it was wrong to reject Royal authority in the US would decline without Britain’s support.
Secondly, it reaffirmed the new democratic ideals that were emerging at this time (explain)
It was partially inspired by the English Civil War, they valued the freedom of the individual, they believed people had inherent rights that they were born with (speech, property, democracy etc)
American Revolution radically challenged and completely over through the notion of Royal authority
Long term significance of the American revolution?
Colossal:
- firstly, it’s established a successful new form of democratic government
- Secondly, it became an inspirational symbol tolater movements
firstly, it’s established a successful new form of democratic government (explain)
A constitution was written laying out the guidelines by which the country would be run and protecting everyone’s rights, overtime this was added to with amendments on such rights as freedom of speech
A democratically elected Congress was established and the post of a president was created
Secondly, it became an inspirational symbol to later movements (explain)
To the French : many of the French were suffering under Louis XVI were inspired by what American colonists said, wrote under achieved, Thomas Paine travelled to France to encourage revolution there too
