The American Revolution and the Enlightenment

1. Aim: How did Enlightenment ideals
influence the American Revolution?
DO NOW: Explain this quote in your own words:
“universal silence is taken to imply the
consent of the people."
- JEAN JAQUES ROUSSEAU

3. The Boston Tea Party: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-boston-tea-party
In Boston Harbor, a group of Massachusetts colonists disguised as
Mohawk Indians board three British tea ships and dump 342 chests of
tea into the harbor. The midnight raid, popularly known as the “Boston
Tea Party,” was in protest of the British Parliament’s Tea Act of 1773,
a bill designed to save the faltering East India Company by greatly
lowering its tea tax and granting it a virtual monopoly on the American
tea trade. The low tax allowed the East India Company to undercut even
tea smuggled into America by Dutch traders, and many colonists viewed
the act as another example of taxation tyranny.

6. The thirteen colonies that joined together to become the
United States of America were but a part of the first British
Empire.

7. Enlightenment ideals of liberty, equality and justice
led the up to American Revolution and the
Constitution that followed. Many ideas and concepts,
including natural rights, freedom from oppression,
and innovative ways of thinking regarding
government structure came directly from
Enlightenment philosophers, and helped to form firm
foundations for colonialism and modern day
America.

8. In 1773, the American colonists rebelled against
Great Britain, the mightiest nation on earth.
“The end (goal) of government is the good of
mankind; and which is best for mankind”
John Locke
Why did the colonists rebel? What could have been
wrong?