Uniting for Independence Ch- 2 sec 2

Uniting for Independence Ch- 2 sec 2

Growth of Democracy  

Objective:

Relate how colonists united against British laws, leading to the Declaration of Independence

Introduction

• Until the mid-1700s Great Britain had allowed its colonies across the Atlantic to develop politically on their own

• By the 1760s, however, the British government felt a need to tighten its control over the colonies.

The Colonies on Their Own

• As with other parts of the British empire, in the eyes of the British crown, the American colonies existed for the economic benefit of Great Britain

• In practice, the colonists–more than 3,000 miles away from Britain–did pretty much as they pleased during the 150 years following the settling of Jamestown

• Until the mid-1700s the British government was generally satisfied with this arrangement

Britain Tightens Control

• The French and Indian War and the crowning of George III drastically changed the easy relationship between the colonies and Britain

• The French and Indian War, fought between 1754 and 1763 over lands in western Pennsylvania and Ohio, resulted in Great Britain’s complete control over what later became the eastern United States

• The defeat of France in America had two results

• 1. The colonists no longer needed the British to protect them from the French

• 2. The British government had a large war debt that the British expected the colonies to help repay.

Taxing the Colonies

• To help pay for the war, George III and the Parliament passed the Stamp Act of 1765, which required the colonists to pay tax on legal documents, pamphlets, newspapers, and even dice and playing cards

• The Stamp Act was the first direct tax on the colonists

• Parliament also passed laws to control colonial trade in ways that benefited Great Britain but not the colonies

• Britain’s revenue–the money a government collects from taxes or other sources–from the colonies increased, but so did colonial resentment

• Political protests in the colonies led to the repeal of the Stamp Act, but other tax laws replaced it

• In 1773 a group of colonists, dressed as Mohawk, dumped 342 chests of British tea into Boston Harbor. This protest against further taxes on tea became known as the Boston Tea Party.

Taxing the Colonies (cont.)

• In retaliation Parliament passed the Coercive Acts, which the colonists called the Intolerable Acts

• One of these acts closed Boston Harbor. Another withdrew the right of the Massachusetts colony to govern itself. 

• By the early 1770s, events clearly showed that revolution was imminent

Multiple Choice

True or False? After the French & Indian War, Great Britain unfairly taxed British Colonists in order to pay off the war debt.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Another name for the Coercive Acts-

• the Intolerable Acts

• the Townshend Acts

• the Quartering Act

• The Stamp Acts

Multiple Choice

The Sugar Act, Tea Act, and Townshend Acts upset colonists because-

• they were poor.

• they thought their rights were not being respected.

• they wanted other goods taxed, but not sugar.

• because the acts ended the production of sugar and other goods.

Multiple Choice

The Sugar Act, Tea Act, and Townshend Acts upset colonists because-

• they were poor.

• they thought their rights were not being respected.

• they wanted other goods taxed, but not sugar.

• because the acts ended the production of sugar and other goods.

Colonial Unity

• Before the mid-1770s most colonists thought of themselves as British subjects and as members of their respective colonies

• They were Virginians or New Yorkers or Georgians, but not Americans

• Responding to French attacks on the frontier, in 1754 Benjamin Franklin proposed an innovative plan for uniting  the colonies–the Albany Plan of Union. The colonies rejected the plan.

• By the 1760s harsh new British policies spurred American unity

• Colonists began thinking of themselves as Americans, and colonial leaders began to take political action against what they felt was British oppression

Taking Action

• In 1765 nine colonies sent delegates to the Stamp Act Congress. Delegates to the Congress sent a petition to King George, arguing that only colonial legislatures could impose direct taxes

• By 1773 organizations called committees of correspondence were urging resistance to the British

• This communication network consisted of colonists who wanted to keep in touch with one another as events unfolded

The First Continental Congress

• The Intolerable Acts prompted the First Continental Congress, a general meeting of the colonies (except Georgia), on September 5, 1774

• The delegates imposed an embargo, an agreement prohibiting trade, on Britain, and agreed not to use British good

• George III adopted stronger measures against the rebelling colonists. He said, “Blows must decide whether they are to be subject to this country or independent.”

• On April 19, 1775, the British Redcoats clashed with the colonial minutemen at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts.

• This clash, later called the “shot heard ’round the world,” was the first battle of the Revolutionary War.

The Second Continental Congress

• Within three weeks, delegates from the thirteen colonies gathered in Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress

• This Congress assumed the powers of a central government, chose John Hancock as their president, and made George Washington commander of a newly organizing Continental Army

• Although it had no constitutional authority, the Second Continental Congress served as the acting government of the colonies throughout the war.

Independence

• Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense and the patriotic words of Samuel Adams helped the American independence movement grow

• In June 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution in the Continental Congress “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be,  free and independent states.”

• 
  

Multiple Choice

This writing was published during the American Revolution and paved the way for the Declaration of Independence.

• Rights of man

• The American Crisis

• Common Sense

Multiple Choice

Which of the following was the main purpose for writing the Declaration of Independence?

• convince Great Britain to stop mercantilism in North America

• force Spain to support a Revolutionary War against England

• proclaim war on Great Britain due to lack of economic rights

• state the colonists' reasons for separating from Great Britain

Multiple Choice

Why was there a Continental Congress held?

• To vote for the first president

• To decide when to go to war with Great Britain

• To discuss a solution to the colonists’ complaints of Great Britain

• To write the Constitution

Multiple Choice

Which Continental Congress sent the Olive Branch Petition?

• First
• Second
• Third
• None

The Declaration of Independence

• Congress promptly named a committee   to prepare a written declaration of independence. The committee asked Thomas Jefferson to write the draft. 

• On July 4, 1776, the Congress approved the final draft of the Declaration of Independence

• A statement of the reasons for independence, the document actually was entitled The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.

Key Parts of the Declaration

• The Declaration of Independence stirred the hearts of the American people

• The purpose of the Declaration was to justify the Revolution and put forth the founding principles, such as human liberty and consent of the governed, of the new nation

• The Declaration has three parts. It begins with a statement of purpose and basic human rights.

• The conclusion states the colonists’ determination to separate from Great Britain. Their efforts to reach a peaceful solution had failed, leaving them no choice but to declare their freedom

The First State Constitutions

• One of the most important changes taking place in the colonies was their transformation from colonies into states subject to no higher authority

• Within a few years after the Declaration of Independence, every former colony had a new constitution or had converted the old colonial charters into state constitutions

• Seven of the new constitutions contained a bill of rights defining the personal liberties of citizens.

Multiple Choice

According to the Declaration of Independence, the main purpose of a government is to-

• ensure the stability of the economy

• protect the rights of the individual

• provide strong military leadership

• protect a nation from foreign invasions

Multiple Choice

After Lexington and Concord, who gathered in Pennsylvania to decide how the colonies should respond to Britain’s growing threat.

• British Parliament

• The Second Continental Congress.

• The Colonists.

• George Washington

Multiple Choice

True or False: Colonists believed that in order to be taxed by the British government they needed to consent, or approve it.

• True

• False

Open Ended

Today's objective was, Relate how colonists united against British laws, leading to the Declaration of Independence. , list twos way the colonists united against the British.

Poll

Today's lesson was

• objective driven

• understandable

• orgainzed

• needs help

Multiple Select

Today we learned about

• The 1st and & 2nd Continental Congress

• The Boston tea Party

• The 2nd world war

• the Declaration of Independence