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The Enlightenment &

the American Revolution (1715-1800)

Introduction

Common Sense

Early in 1776, English colonists in North America eagerly read Tom Paine's

  • Declaring their independence from Britain
  • Themes of the Enlightenment
  • Appealing to reason, natural laws, promise to freedom
  • Mercantilism policies in the colonies

- During the 1600s, Parliament passed the Navigation Acts - regulate trade & manufacturing

Resentment of British policies grew

Many agree with his radical ideas

  • Social distinctions were more blurred than in Europe

Set out a dangerous and uncertain road that led to independence from British rule

  • Colonists shared common values, respect for individual enterprise, self-confidence

Explain why conflict between the colonists and Britain increased after 1763.

They were part of Britain's growing empire and some were busy centers of commerce.

Colonial shipyards produced many vessels used in that global trade.

- Increasing sense of their own destiny separate from Britain

Fighting begins

What role did the 13 colonies have in the British Empire?

After 1763, relations between Britain and the 13 colonies grew strained.

The Seven Years' War drained British treasury, so Britain enforced the long-neglected laws for colonial trade and Parliament passed new laws to raise taxes from the colonies.

Colonists bitterly resented what they saw as an attack on their rights and started to say that "No taxation without representation"

  • April 1775, a crisis became to a war. The colonial leaders met in a Continental Congress to decide what action to do.
  • The members were Boston lawyer John Adams, the Virginia planter and soldier George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson

The 13 England Colonies

  • 13 prosperous colonies stretched along the eastern coast of North America

- Colonial shipyards produced many vessels for global trade

Benjamin Franklin

Review Questions

  • Enlightenment ideas influenced many American colonists, among them Benjamin Franklin.

interaction

  • Global

New public as a symbol of freedom to European countries and to Latin America. Enlightenment ideals brought changes in Europe. In France in 1789, a revolution in the name of liberty and equality toppled monarchy. Other Europeans took up cry for freedom.

Give two examples of how Enlightenment ideas were reelected in each of the following:

(a) the Declaration of Independence,

(b) the Constitution of the United States

(a) the Declaration of Independence:

1. Thomas Jefferson argued that the colonists had the right to rebel and set up a new government that would protect them.

2. American leaders adopted the Declaration, pledging "our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour" to the cause of the United States of America

How did the ideals of the American Revolution influence other nations?

Early clashes

(b) the Constitution of the United States:

1. Elective legislature & Elected president

2. The Bill of Rights (First 10 amendments to the Constitution): People have basic rights that government must protect

  • A series of violent clashes intensified the crisis
  • In 1770, British soldiers in Boston turned up a fire on a crowd that was attacking them with snow balls and stones. Colonists called the death of five protesters the “Boston Massacre”
  • In 1773, colonists staged at the Boston Tea Party, hurling a cargo of new British tea into the harbour to protest a tax on tea

Reading Guide Questions

1773

1770

After 1763

The Seven Years' War (French and Indian War) had drained the British treasury

Britain began to enforce new laws to raise taxes from the colonies.

Colonists said "No taxation without representation in Parliament!"

In 1773, colonists staged at the Boston Tea Party, hurling a cargo of new British tea into the harbor to protest a tax on tea

In 1770, British soldiers in Boston turned up a fire on a crowd that was attacking them with snow balls and stones. Colonists called the death of five protesters the “Boston Massacre”

Growing Discontent

July 1776

April 1775

1777

Battle of Saratoga in 1777 (American Victory) led French to join into American armies against its own rival, Britain.

April 1775, a crisis became to a war. The colonial leaders met in a Continental Congress to decide what action to do.

On July 4, 1776, American leaders adopted the Declaration, pledging “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor” to the cause of the United States of America.

Declaring independence

1783

1787

1781

  • The Seven Years' War (French and Indian War) had drained the British treasury
  • King George III and his ministers thought that the colonists should help pay for the war and troops
  • Britain began to enforce the long-neglected laws regulating colonial trade and Parliament passed new laws to raise taxes from the colonies.
  • Colonists said "No taxation without representation in Parliament!"

Birth of the American Republic

The Bill of Rights (First 10 amendments to the Constitution): People have basic rights that government must protect

They signed for Treaty of Paris. Britain recognized the independence of the United States of America

Accepted the new nation's western frontier as the Mississippi River

Washington, with the help of the French fleet, forced the surrender of a British army at Yorktown, Virginia in 1781

  • The Congress set up a Continental Army with George Washington in command.

It took a momentous step, voting to declare independence

from Britain

  • Young Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, document that reflected the ideas of John Locke in lines.

1781

1777

- The Declaration had claimed that people had the right “to alter or abolish” unjust government – a right to revolt.

- The king had trampled the colonists’ natural rights. He argued that the colonists had the right to rebel and set up a new government that would protect them.

- On July 4, 1776, American leaders adopted the Declaration, pledging “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor” to the cause of the United States of America.

1783

1782

The French Alliance

  • Battle of Saratoga in 1777

- American triumph over the British

- Convinced France to join against its old rival, Britain

American Revolution

Continental Congress

Impacts

  • Supplies, trained soldiers, French warships
  • Spurred by French, the Netherlands and Spain added their support

British

  • Hard times at Valley Forge: cold, hunger, disease
  • Few military resources
  • Little money for soldiers
  • George Washington: patient, courageous, and determined leader

Treaty of Paris

  • Some advantages
  • Professional Soldiers
  • Huge fleet
  • Plentiful money

- Fighting on their own ground

  • Washington, with the help of the French fleet, forced the surrender of a British army at Yorktown, Virginia in 1781

- Controlled the countryside

  • Loyalists supported Britain
  • With defeat, British war effort crumbled
  • New York & Philadelphia
  • Treaty of Paris

- Britain recognized the independence of the United States of America

- Accepted the new nation's western frontier as the Mississippi River

The Impact of Enlightenment Ideas

  • The framers of the Constitution

Global Impact

- Absorbed the ideas of Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau

- Government in terms of a social contract: "We the People of the United States"

  • Constitution of the United States created the most liberal government of its day

- Elective legislature & Elected president

  • Federal republic with power divided between the federal government and the states

Limited Freedom

  • New public as a symbol of freedom to European countries and to Latin America
  • The Bill of Rights (First 10 amendments to the Constitution): People have basic rights that government must protect
  • In 1789, Constitution became law

A New Constitution

  • Enlightenment ideals brought changes in Europe

- Freedom of religion, speech, and the press

- Rights trial by jury and to private property

  • A representative government with an elected legislature
  • "Articles of Confederation" was too weak to rule the new United States effectively

- In France in 1789, a revolution in the name of liberty and equality toppled monarchy

  • The nation's leaders gathered once more in Philadelphia
  • Most Americans did not have right to vote

- Other Europeans took up cry for freedom

  • Constitution of the United States for strong, flexible government

- Only white men who met certain property requirements

- Adapted to changing conditions for more than 200 years

- Women and African Americans or Native Americans were excluded

1. The 13 English Colonies

2. Growing Discontent

3. The American Revolution

4. A New Constitution

By. Christina, Casey, Laily

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