Transcript The Thirteen Colonies - Portola Middle School

The Thirteen Colonies
Government and the
Independence
Movement
Colonial Government
• Technically, the English colonies belonged
to the king or queen.
• The king or queen chose royal advisors to
govern the colonies, known as the Privy
Council.
• The Privy council was subject to
Parliament –the lawmaking body of
England.
Colonial Government – p.144
• Each colony was ruled by a governor, who
received orders form London and put them
into effect.
• Each Governor was assisted by a council,
which were appointed.
• Elected bodies, known as assemblies, made
local laws but the government in England
could cancel any law passed by the
assemblies.
Colonial Government
• Regulating trade • Navigation and trade Acts: These
were passed to make sure that the
colonies produced and sold things that
England needed. They regulated the
buying and selling of certain items and
goods.
Navigation and Trade Acts
• 1. Required all goods passing between England
and the colonies be transported in ships built either
in England or the colonies.
• 2. Owners of all ships must be English or
American born
• 3. Goods could only be brought into America only
if they were taken to an English port first.
• 4. Colonial producers could only sell products
within the English territories.
• 5. Handmade products could be sold in the
colonies but nowhere else.
Conflict over land and trade
• The colonists (British) and
the French were beginning
to fight over who owned
what land that lay beyond
the Appalachian
Mountains.
• 1752: The French
governor of Canada
ordered the construction
of a new chain of forts
running from lake Erie
south to the Ohio river, in
what is now western
Pennsylvania.
Conflict over land and trade
• Nov. 1753: Washington was sent
to tell the French to stop building
the forts. After weeks of hiking
through the icy mountains the
request was rejected.
• 1754: English colonists were
sent to build a fort along the
Monongahela and Allegheny
Rivers (Pittsburgh). Washington
was sent to protect the
construction of the fort from
possible attack by the French.
• However, the French had already
taken over the fort before
Washington could arrive.
• Washington and his men were
captured and then set free.
The French and Indian War
• After Washington’s retreat the
war with France had begun.
• 70,000 French vs. 1.5 million
English.
• The French allied with the
Huron and Algonquin Indians.
• The French never tried to push
the Indians off their land, they
only traded with them.
• The British allied with the
Iroquois Indians who were
trying to take over Huron and
Algonquin land.
• For the first two years the
French won most of the battles.
• Spain decides to join the side of
the French.
The French and Indian War
• 1763: war ended.
• France: Had to surrender
Canada and most of its
claims in the Mississippi
and Ohio rive valleys. For
help with the war France
gave New Orleans and
Louisiana to Spain.
• Spain: turned over Florida
and the Gulf coast as far as
the Mississippi River. In
exchange, England agreed
to give up the island of
Cuba and the Philippines to
Spain.
The road to Independence
• Pontiac’s Rebellion: In
1763 Pontiac, an
Ottowa chief organized
Indians to protect their
land from the English.
• They fought for two
years destroying most of
the forts along the
frontier. After two
years the Indian
uprising was over.
• Proclamation of
1763: the British
government felt that
it would be to
difficult to protect
the land west of the
Appalachian
Mountains from
Indian attacks. So
he closed off all
settlement to the
colonists.
Paying for the War?
• The price for the French and Indian war
skyrocketed and it had to be paid. British
officials wanted the colonists to help pay for
the war.
• New taxes were proposed.
New Taxes
• April 1764: Parliament passed
the Sugar Act. It placed import
taxes on foreign sugar,
molasses, textiles, and other
goods entering the colonies.
• March 1765: Parliament passed
the Stamp Act. This law
required a stamp on all printed
material in the colonies.
New Taxes
• Protest over the stamp Act erupted. Secret
organizations were created like the Sons of
Liberty and the Daughters of Liberty
who believed that action must be taken.
• March 1766: the Stamp Act was repealed.
• Declaratory Act: this act stated that the
colonies were under Parliament’s control.
New Taxes
• 1767: Townshend Acts:
it placed duties(taxes) on
items colonists imported
from Great Britain –
glass, lead, paper, paint,
and tea.
• Writs of assistance:
special search warrants
were issued to help them
collect the taxes and stop
smuggling.
New Taxes
• Colonists began to boycott, refuse to buy, British
goods.
• Protest occurred the largest was in Boston.
• March 5, 1770: a large crowd began to assemble
outside the customhouse. People began to hurl
snowballs at the British soldiers protecting the
customs house. Some of these snowballs were
rocks covered in snow.
Boston Massacre
Boston Massacre
• The British soldiers
panicked and fired at the
crowd. A total of five
colonists were killed.
• Why was it called a
massacre?
• To make the colonists
upset and urge them to
rebel against the English
government. (The media
can influence opinions)
New Taxes
• March 1770: Parliament repealed all the
Townshend duties except the tax on tea.
• Committee’s of Correspondence were
formed. They began to share information
about the resistance movement in America.
• Tea Act: In May 1773 Parliament passed
the Tea Act. This act allowed the British to
sell Tea directly to the colonists. Not
allowing Americans to sell their tea to the
colonists.
Boston Tea Party
• December 6, 1773:
colonists disguised
themselves as Mohawk
Indians and boarded the
British ships in Boston
Harbor that were carrying
tea from England.
• All the tea was dumped in
to Boston Harbor.
The Intolerable Acts
• Parliament passed four new laws to reclaim
its control and punish Massachusetts.
• 1. No ship could enter or leave Boston
harbor until the tea was paid for.
• 2. Cancelled Massachusetts charter. Now
town meetings could only be held with the
governor’s permission.
• 3. All people who were charged with
criminal activity would be tried in Britain.
• 4. Quartering Act: required residents in
Boston to house and shelter British soldiers.
First Continental Congress
• The Intolerable Acts outraged all the
colonists, even though it only affected
Massachusetts. The colonists felt that the
Acts threatened their basic liberties.
• In June 1774, the Massachusetts Committee of
Correspondence sent out a call for a meeting
of colonial leaders to discuss the issues.
• Three months later delegates from all the
colonies except Georgia, met in Philadelphia
for the First Continental Congress.
First Continental Congress
• What happened?
• 1. The congress expressed
loyalty to Britain but demanded
the repeal of all British taxation.
• 2. The group banned all trade
with Britain until Parliament met
its demands.
• 3. They agreed to form militias
and agreed to meet again the
following May if their demands
were not met.
• British troops now occupy Massachusetts.
• Parliament stated that Massachusetts was in
a state of rebellion. 6,000 more troops were
sent to Massachusetts to capture all the
rebel leaders.
• April 18, 1775: the British sent 700 troops
to destroy a militia’s supply of weapons in
Concord, a town west of Boston. They
were also to capture rebel leaders Sam
Adams and John Hancock. The colonists
learned of these plans.
The “shot heard around the world”
• The British soldiers
reached Lexington but 70
minutemen were waiting.
A gun shot was heard and
the Revolutionary War
began. 8 minutemen were
killed. These were the first
shots of the Revolutionary
War. Known as the “shot
heard around the world.”
• They then marched on to
Concord, Massachusetts,
were they met more
minuteman. These were
the first battles of the
Revolutionary War.
Second Continental Congress
• They met one month after the
clash at Concord.
• They decided on two things:
• 1. The delegates would issue
a “Declaration of the Causes
and Necessity of Taking Up
Arms”
• 2. They would create an
official military force, the
Continental Army. They
appointed George
Washington to command it.
• July 1775: The Olive Branch Petition
was sent to king George III. It asked the
King to protect the colonies against further
actions by Parliament until a compromise
was made.
• King George was furious and declared the
colonists in a state of rebellion. He decided
to blockade America, not allowing trade and
supplies to come into the country.
Common Sense
• By early 1776 the call for gaining
Independence was growing.
• Thomas Paine, and Englishman who had
recently come to America, helped convince
the colonists the King was wrong.
• January 1776: he published a pamphlet
called Common Sense.
• In this pamphlet he attacked the King and
the idea of a monarchy. He believed that
Americans had the natural right to rule
themselves.
Declaration of Independence
• Second Continental Congress: In June
1776 members of the Second Continental
Congress met to discuss breaking away
from England.
• There were two groups of colonists at this
time:
• 1. Loyalists , or Tories, who strongly
opposed the Declaration.
• 3. Patriots: those who favor independence.
Declaration of Independence
• Members of the Second Continental Congress
decided to draw up a document demanding that
they receive Independence from Great Britain.
• There are four parts to the Declaration of
Independence.
• 1. The first restates the views of Philosopher
John Locke. He believed that human beings
formed governments to protect their natural rights.
(Unalienable Rights) If a government failed to do
its job, or fulfill its “contract,” the people could
abolish it and create a new one – by force if
necessary.
Unalienable Rights
• These are rights that you are born with and
can not be taken away.
• Thomas Jefferson wanted to ensure that
these rights were given to the people
because he believed that they were
“endowed” (provided) by “their creator”
• Those rights include: life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness
Declaration of Independence
• 2. The second part
leveled charges
against King
George III to prove
that he had broken
this “contract” with
the colonists.
Declaration of Independence
• 3. This part describes the many efforts
made by the colonists to avoid separation
from Great Britain.
• 4. The last part describes how the colonies
are now to be free and independent states.
Declaration of Independence
• On July 4, 1776: The delegates from the
colonies signed the Declaration. Americans
had now officially split away from England.
The Revolutionary War
• The colonists lost almost all the major
battles in the beginning of the War.
• Finally, after five years of war, the victory
at Yorktown allowed the Americans to gain
the upper hand. The only reason the
Americans won was because the French
decided to send troops and supplies. Over
16,000 troops were prepared to attack the
British.
• The British finally surrendered.
Treaty of Paris 1783
• In 1783 the Treaty of Paris officially ended
the revolutionary War and signaled
Britain’s recognition of U.S. Independence.
• 1. US is now independent.
• 2. Required the British to remove all forces
from the new country.
• 3. The rights of American Loyalists were
restored.
• 4. It also allowed the British to collect
prewar debts.
Treaty of Paris
• 5. Its boundaries would
be the Mississippi river
on the west, Canada on
the north, and Spanish
Florida on the south.
• 6. US can fish off
Canada coast, near
Newfoundland and
Nova Scotia.
• 7. Return all enslaved
persons they had
captured.