Revolution and Enlightenment Part 4

Revolution and Enlightenment

The American Revolution

Britain and the American Revolution

• The United Kingdom of Great Britain came into existence in 1707, when the

governments of England and Scotland were united.

• The term Britishcame to refer to both the English and the Scots.

• In eighteenth-centuryBritain, the monarch and the Parliament shared power,

with Parliament gradually gaining the upper hand.

• The monarch chose ministers, who were responsible to the Crown.

• These ministers set policy and guided Parliament.

•Having the power to make laws, levy taxes, and pass the budget, Parliament indirectly influenced the
ministers of the monarch.

• In 1714, a new dynasty-the Hanoverians-was established when the last Stuart

ruler, Queen Anne, died without an heir.

• The crown was offered to her nearest relatives, Protestant rulers of the German

state of Hannover.
• The first Hannoverian king, George I, did not speak English.

•Neither the first nor the second George knew the British system well, so their chief ministers were
allowed to deal with Parliament.

Multiple Choice

What new dynasty was established when the last Stuart ruler, Queen Anne, died without an heir?

• Genoa

• Hanoverians

• Carolingians

• Bratis

Britain and the American Revolution

• Robert Walpole served as head of cabinet(later called prime minister) from

1721 to 1742.

• Walpole pursued a peaceful foreign policy.

• However, growing trade and industry led to an ever increasing middle class.

•The middle class favored expansion of trade and of Britain’s world empire.
• They found a spokesman in William Pitt the Elder, who became head of cabinet in 1757.

• He expanded the British Empire by acquiring Canada and India in the Seven Years’ War.

• In North America, then, Britain controlled Canada as well as the thirteen

colonies on the eastern coast of what is now the United States.

• The British colonies were well populated, containing more than one millionpeople

by 1750.
• They were also prosperous.

•The British Board of Trade, the Royal Council, and Parliament in theory controlled the colonies.
• In actuality, the colonies had legislatures that tended to act independently.

• Merchants in port cities such as Boston, New York, and Charleston did not want the British

government to run their affairs.

Multiple Select

What TWO things led to an ever increasing middle class?

• Shipbuilding

• Farming

• Trade

• Industry

Britain and the American Revolution

• The American Revolution Begins

• After the Seven Years’ War, British leaders wanted to get new revenues from

the colonies.

• These revenues would then be used to cover war costs.

• They would also pay for the expenses of maintaining an army defend the colonies.

• In 1765, Parliament imposed the Stamp Act on the colonies.

• The act required certain printed materials, such as legal documents and newspapers,

to carry a stamp showing that a tax had been paid to Britain.
• Opposition was widespread and often violent.

•The act was repealed in 1766, ending the immediate crisis, but the cause of the dispute was not
resolved.

• Crisis followed crisis in the 1770s.

• To counteract British actions, the colonies organized the First Continental Congress,

which met in Philadelphia in September 1774.
• Members urged colonists to “take up arms and organize militias.”

Multiple Choice

What did Parliament impose on certain printed materials in 1765?

• Tea Act

• Intolerable Acts

• Stamp Act

• Paper Act

Britain and the American Revolution

• The American Revolution Begins Cont.

• Fighting, finally erupted between colonists and the British army in April 1775 in

Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts.

• Meeting soon afterward, the Second Continental Congress set up an army, called the

Continental Army.
• George Washington served as its commander and chief.

• More than a year passed before the colonies declared independence from the

British Empire.

• On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration of

Independence written by Thomas Jefferson.
• With this stirring political document, the American Revolution had formally begun.

• The war against Great Britain was a huge gamble.

• Britain was a strong militarypower with enormous financial resources.

• The Continental Army of the Americans was made up of undisciplined civilians who agreed

to serve for only a short time.

Multiple Choice

What was the date when the Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence?

• July 4, 1776

• December 25, 1844

• August 15, 2008

• June 4, 1984

Britain and the American Revolution

• British Defeat

• Of great importance to the colonies’ cause was support from foreign countries.

• These nations were eager to gain revenge for earlier defeats at the hands of the

British.
• The French supplied arms and money to the rebels.

•French officers and soldiers also served in Washington’s army.
• In February 1778, following a British defeat, the French granted diplomatic recognition to the new

United States.
• When Spain and the Dutch Republic entered the war, the British faced war with the European as

well as the Americans.

• When General Cornwallis was forced to surrender to the American and French

forces under Washington at Yorktown in 1781, the British decided to end the
war.

• The Treaty of Paris, signed in 1783, recognized the independence of the American

colonies.
• The treaty also granted the American control of the western territory from the

Appalachians to the Mississippi River.

Multiple Choice

What was signed in 1783 that recognized the independence of the American colonies?

• Constitution

• Treaty of Paris

• Declaration of Independence

• Articles of Confederation

A Birth of a New Nation

• After throwing off oppressive rule, the former colonies, now states, feared a

strong central government.

• Thus, their first constitution, the Articles of Confederation(1781), created a

government that lacked the power to deal with the nation’s problems.
• In 1787, delegates met in Philadelphia at the Constitutional Convention to revise the

Articles of Confederation.
•The delegates decided to write a plan for an entirely new government.

• The Constitution

• The proposed Constitution created a federal system in which the national

government and the state governments shared power.

• Based on Montesquieu’s ideas, the national, or federal, government was separated

into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.
• Each branch had some power to check, or restrain, acts of the other branches.

• A president served as the chief executive in the executive branch.

• The legislative branch consisted of elected representatives in two houses-the Senate

and the House of Representatives.
• The Supreme Court and other courts formed the judicial branch .

•After ratification, or approval, by 9 of the 13 states, the Constitution took effect.

Multiple Choice

What is the first constitution of the United States of America?

• Magna Carta

• Bill of Rights

• Emancipation Proclamation

• Articles of Confederation

A Birth of a New Nation

• The Bill of Rights

• As promised during negotiations over ratification, the new Congress proposed

12 amendments to the Constitution.

• The states approved 10 of the amendments.

• Together, these amendments became known as the Bill of Rights.

• These 10 amendments guaranteed freedom of religion, speech, press, petition,

and assembly.

• They gave Americans the right to bear arms and to be protected against

unreasonable searches and arrests.
• They guaranteed trial by jury, due process of law, and the protection of property rights.

• Many of the rights in the Bill of Rights were derived from the natural rights

proposed by the eighteenth-century philosophes.

• Many European intellectuals saw the American Revolution as the embodiment of

the Enlightenment’s political dreams.
• The premises of the Enlightenment seemed confirmed.

•A new age and a better world could be achieved.

Multiple Choice

What part of the Constitution dealt with people's individual rights and freedoms? (First 10 Amendments)

• Bill of Rights

• Magna Carta

• Emancipation Proclamation

• Articles of Confederation