Transcript Unit Two
I) Roots of Conflict A) French & Indian War left England with a large debt 1) Stamp Act 1st direct tax on the colonies that said all documents had to be on officially stamped paper a) Stamp Act Congress (1765): only colonial legislatures could tax the colonies “no taxation without representation” 2) Townshend Acts taxed everyday items a) boycott refusing to buy something 3) Tea Act 4) Boston Massacre (1770) Crispus Attucks B) Sons of Liberty resisted the Acts of Parliament C) Committees of Correspondence set up by Samuel Adams to keep the colonies informed D) Boston Tea Party (1773) E) Minutemen colonists ready to fight at a moment’s notice F) Punishing the Colonies 1) “writs of assistance” blank search warrants 2) Declaratory Act Parliament ruled the colonies 3) Intolerable Acts: closed the port of Boston, restricted representative government, quartering, & installed a non-elected military governor of Massachusetts (plus the Quebec Act) Coercive Acts because of the Boston Tea Party quartering = putting soldiers in your home II) Revolution Begins: Lexington & Concord A) Paul Revere (April 19, 1775) B) Bunker (Breed’s) Hill: “don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes” inaccurate guns & low ammunition costly “victory” for British III) George Washington commander of the Continental—American— Army who drove the British out of Boston with cannons from Ft. Ticonderoga—brought to him by his artillery commander, Henry Knox IV) Declaration of Independence A) Second Continental Congress 1) Olive Branch Petition message sent to King George III asking for a reconciliation a) Patriots wanted independence b) Loyalists (Tories) loyal to the crown B) Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” 1st public call for independence C) Committee of Five Phillip Livingston Roger Sherman John Adams Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson “…unalienable rights…” rights you’re born with that no one can take away “…life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…” John Locke’s Two Treatise of Government “…consent of the governed…” Rousseau’s Social Contract Theory V) Trenton Washington crossed the Delaware River to defeat the Hessians—German mercenaries— Christmas, 1776 VI) Saratoga convinced the French to ally with America VII) Marquis de Lafayette French nobleman who fought in Washington’s army VIII) Valley Forge winter encampment that has become synonymous with suffering A) Baron Von Steuben IX) Monmouth largest battle of the war & Washington’s “finest hour” as commander A) Blacks 7-8% B) Women: “Molly Pitcher” X) West Point: Hudson River key to the continent A) Benedict Arnold’s Treason XI) Yorktown, VA (1781) last major battle of the Revolution A) General Cornwallis British commander who surrendered at Yorktown XII) Treaty of Paris, 1783 ended the Revolution & gained for America its independence