The American Revolution

1. The American Revolution

2. What was the Revolution?
• NOT only the war!
• The Revolution was:
1763-1776 - Colonists’ change in self-perception from
British subjects in 13 separate colonies to a united,
independent American nation.
1775-1781 - The War of Independence
1783 - British recognition of American independence in
the Treaty of Paris

3. 1756-1763: Seven Years’ War (aka French and Indian War)

4. North America in 1763

5. Colonial Products and Trade

6. British
National Debt,
1691-1785
British national debt almost doubled
during the Seven Years’ War!

7. Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763)

8. Proclamation Line of 1763

9. Grenville’s Program, 1764-1765
Parliament imposed:
• Sugar Act
• Quartering Act
• Stamp Act

10. Rule Britannia?
• Most Americans still bound to England - culture,
consumer goods, religion, military victories
• Americans thought of themselves as partners in Empire;
British think of “American” as “not quite English”
• American colonists believed new taxes violated their
rights as Englishmen
– Royal colonies were subjects of the king but Parliament passed
the taxes
– Colonists were not represented in Parliament

11. Virginia Resolves:
“No taxation without representation.” - Patrick Henry

12. Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts
led by Samuel Adams

13. Declaratory Act, 1766 Stamp Act repealed
Declaratory Act:
• Parliament
sovereign over
America
• Rift grows
between colonists
and British
government

14. Townshend Duties, 1767-1770
• Tax American imports of paper, lead, glass, and tea
• American Board of Customs Commissioners
created to collect duties

15. The Boston Massacre
4000 British
troops sent to
Boston
March 5, 1770:
British fired on
civilians
Committees of
correspondence
established

16. Boston Tea
Party
• Parliament passed the Tea Act to help
the East India Company (EIC)
• 1773: Protestors dumped tea into
Boston harbor

17. The Coercive Acts, 1774
• Parliament closed Port of Boston and took control
of Mass. colonial government
• British soldiers quartered in civilians’ homes
• Known by colonists as Intolerable Acts

18. Québec Act, 1774
• Gives land north of Ohio River to Québec
• Negates sacrifices of Seven Years’ War!

19. Toward Independence
• Sept. 1774: First Continental Congress met to
respond to Coercive Acts
• Suffolk Resolves: Congress called for colonial
militias

20. Exports &
Imports:
1768-1783

21. • April 19, 1775:
British Army march into
Mass. countryside to
seize weapons
• Paul Revere & William
Dawes made midnight
ride to warn Minutemen
Battle of Lexington and Concord

22. Continental
Army
June 1775: Second
Continental
Congress appoints
George Washington
to head Continental
Army

23. Battle of Bunker Hill
The British suffered over 40% casualties.
June 17, 1775—
British march on
Patriot camp outside
Boston  Battle of
Bunker (Breed’s) Hill
Result: British victory
at heavy price

24. The Battle of Bunker Hill

25. Olive Branch Petition

26. Thomas Paine: Common Sense
January 1776— Thomas
Paine’s Common Sense

27. Declaration of Independence
July 4, 1776

28. John Locke
(1632-1704)
• Two Treatises of
Government
• Natural Rights to Life,
Liberty, Estate (Private
Property)
• Consent of the governed
• Right to revolt

29. Loyalists:
• Urban areas
(not Boston)
• Quakers
• Anglicans
• Wealthy
landowners
• Native
Americans
• 100,000
leave after
the war

30. Military Advantages
1 million people
Home turf
Ideological cause
Americans British
10 million people
More resources
Naval supremacy
Long supply chain

31. Military Strategies
Win by attrition
Insurgent war  don’t
have to win, just wear
British down
Guerilla tactics
Ally with Britain’s
enemies
Americans British
Divide colonies in half –
N & S
Blockade ports to
prevent flow of supplies
from ally
“Divide and Conquer”
 use Loyalists
Incite slave revolt

32. “The Times That Try Men’s Souls”
Summer 1776— British Gen. Howe captures NYC;
Washington retreats through NJ

33. Washington Crossing the Delaware
Painted by Emanuel Leutze, 1851
Dec. 25, 1776 — Washington captures 900 Hessians
in Trenton, NJ

34. Battle of Princeton
Jan. 3, 1777 — Washington captures Princeton, NJ;
victories re-kindle American patriotism

35. 1777: Saratoga = Turning Point
• British strategy = cut NE off
• Burgoyne moves south from
Canada; defeated at Saratoga
• Feb. 1778: Benjamin Franklin
conclude Treaty of Alliance with
France

36. Valley Forge,
1777-1778
• British take Philadelphia
• Washington winters at
Valley Forge, PA

37. Foreign Aid
Washington joined by Marquis de Lafayette
and Baron Friedrich von Steuben

38. Britain’s “Southern Strategy”
Britain thought
South more loyal
Southern resources
more valuable
British take
Savannah, GA and
Charleston, SC but
cannot pacify
countryside

39. The Battle of Yorktown (1781)
Count de
Rochambeau
Admiral
De Grasse
Cornwallis trapped
near Chesapeake
Bay
Oct. 19, 1781:
surrender to
French-American
forces

40. Treaty of Paris, 1783 Negotiated by John
Jay, Ben Franklin,
and John Adams
• U.S.
independence
recognized
• All territory
west to
Mississippi River

41. Articles of Confederation, 1777-1789
War required coordination among states
Unicameral Congress, no executive or judicial
In charge of foreign relations, military, and
disputes between states
No power to tax!

42. United States Constitution, 1789
• 1787: Constitutional Convention, Philadelphia, PA;
ratified 1789
• Baron de Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws –
separation of legislative, executive, and judicial powers
(checks and balances)