The Road to Revolution

English 11 Unit 2

November 18

• • • Get a Kickstart and a text book Have your notebook ready On your Kickstart: What do you remember about the American Revolution?

Homework & Reminders

Homework • For Wednesday, bring in two articles from different sources about the same topic (no pop culture or sports).

Reminders • November 20 Poetry Out Loud competition

Objective

Students will determine the philosophical, political, religious, ethical, and social influences in America in the 18 th Century in order to analyze Phillis Wheatley’s purpose for writing the poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America”.

Work while it is called today for you know not how much you may be hindered tomorrow.

-Benjamin Franklin

Essential Questions

• • • What role did writing play in the success of the American Revolution?

How does change create conflict and affect people?

How does knowledge of multiple perspectives change a reader’s understanding of text?

Let’s Review

Puritanism • • strict moral or religious principles - Puritanism was a response to these new social and psychological conditions as well as a strictly religious movement. It stressed the pastoral responsibility of the clergy and thus placed an unprecedented emphasis on the sermon as the central rite of religious life.

Rationalism the belief that human beings can arrive at truth by using reason, rather than by relying on the authority of the past, on religious faith, or intuition.

What led to the writing of the

Declaration Of Independence

and the

Revolutionary War?

1743

Jonathan Edwards delivers “Sermon on an Angry God”

All Hail, King George!

1760 - The population of colonists in America reaches 1,500,000. In October, George III becomes the new English King.

French and Indian War (1763)

• Britain helped colonists defeat French in war • Britain needed money to pay for war expenses • Taxed colonists, restricted settlements and limited self-govt.

Stamp Act 1765

• Any item that was made of paper required a stamped tax payment to be made

Colonists react…

“No Taxation Without Representation!”

Townshend Acts 1767

• • Tax on glass, lead, paper, paint and tea Colonists smuggle goods, boycott British goods, and fight with British troops

1770

• • The population of the American colonies reaches 2,210,000 persons.

Violence erupts in New York between members of the Sons of Liberty and British soldiers over the posting of broadsheets by the British.

Tea Act 1773

• Tax on tea, it is a plan to bail out East India Tea company • Boston Tea Party and smuggling of tea

Intolerable Acts 1774

• • • The Royal Navy blockades the Boston Harbor so no colonial goods could be sent out until tea was paid for.

Colonists had to quarter the British soldiers.

The King assigned British General Gage to be Massachusetts governor.

First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia

1774

September 5 to October 26, the First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia with 56 delegates, representing every colony, except Georgia.

March 1775

• In Virginia, Patrick Henry delivers a speech against British rule. You will study this next week.

• The New England Restraining Act is endorsed by King George III, requiring New England colonies to trade exclusively with England and also bans fishing in the North Atlantic.

April 18, 1775

General Gage orders 700 British soldiers to Concord to destroy the colonists' weapons depot. That night, Paul Revere and William Dawes are sent from Boston to warn colonists. Revere reaches Lexington about midnight and warns Sam Adams and John Hancock who are hiding out there.

1775

The Next Morning

At dawn, about 70 armed Massachusetts militiamen stand face to face on Lexington Green with the British advance guard. An unordered 'shot heard around the world' begins the American Revolution.

Second Continental Congress

Representatives brought money to help establish… …the

Continental Army

(i.e. pay soldiers, buy guns, bullets, food, and uniforms

declaration : (

n)

an official statement

independence : (

n)

the freedom to govern on one’s own.

Monarchy vs. Representative Government

• • In a monarchy the governing power lies with a king and those that he appoints to office Parliament was the lawmaking body in England • • Citizens elect their own representatives who will represent them in government People create their government and have the right to make changes when they see fit (laws, elections)

How’d We Get This Far?

The American Revolution was fueled by influential political writings supporting independence.

The writers who inspired the colonists’ revolt based their arguments on the ideals of rationalism.

Rationalist thinkers believe that humans:

• • • • Can discover truth using reason Can use reason to understand natural laws and guide their lives Need not rely only on religious faith or intuition The rationalist movement marked the beginning of Europe’s Age of Reason in the 17 th Century

The Influences

Early American political writing was influenced by philosophy, beliefs, events, and even the spread of technology.

• • • • Ideas and principals from Europe Emergence of deism and its influence on America's leaders and writers Conflict between British rule and American desire for independence Spread of self-published writing

More on Rationalism

Read pp. 117 - 118 and 8 - 9 in EOL to add to your notes about Rationalism.

On the back of your Kickstart: • How did the political and social turmoil of the 1700s influence the choices of the American people? Provide examples from the presentation, and the readings to support the effects of the literary movements.