Transcript Writing Assignemnt #01: Turning Points French and Indian War PowerPoint 

CFA-WR #1:
The French and
Indian War
Theme: Change — Turning Points
Major historical events are often referred to as
turning points because they have led to important
political, social, and economic changes.
Task:
Identify two major events in United States
history that were important turning points and
for each:
• Describe the historical circumstances that
led to the event
• Discuss the political, social, and/or
economic changes that resulted from the
event.
CLAIM:
The French and Indian
War was a turning point
in American history.
Several British
colonies developed in
the Americas through
the 1700’s and
everything was fine.
Things changed after the
French and Indian War, which
ended in 1763. Colonists
started to get upset with
British rule.
England made money
off of the colonies
and the colonists
made money too.
One thing that changed was
King George’s Proclamation of
1763, prohibiting settlement
of the newly acquired lands to
the west of the Appalachian
Mountains.
Another thing that changed
was that Britain tried to tax
the colonies. To pay for the
high cost of the war,
Parliament passed taxes like
the Stamp Act.
Up until then, the policy—
though unofficial—was to
not strictly enforce English
laws on the colonies.
Colonist thought it unfair
that the crown now sought
to tax them. They claimed
salutary neglect prevented
the crown from making
these laws.
Crying “no taxation
without
representation,” the
colonists boycotted
the paper goods the
Stamp Act was levied
on and committed
acts of terrorism to
prevent taxes from
being collected.
Parliament was
forced to repeal the
Stamp Act because so
much money was
being lost as a result
of the boycott.
Parliament made another
attempt to collect taxes to pay
down England’s war debt. The
Townshend Acts taxed several
products, including the famous
tax on tea.
Another of the Townshend
Acts was the Quartering Act,
which authorized British
officers to house soldiers in
colonial buildings.
In part due to colonists’
dissatisfaction with the
Townshend Acts, an unruly
crowd of colonists was fired
upon, killing five, in what
the colonists called the
Boston Massacre.
In response to the uproar
caused by the Boston
Massacre, Parliament
repealed all of the
Townshend Acts, with the
exception of the Tea Tax.
They also removed all
troops from Boston.
To protest the Tea
Tax, a group of
colonists boarded
ships in Boston
harbor and dump $1
million in tea.
Parliament decided to teach
the colonies a lesson by
harshly punishing Boston for
the Tea Party with the
Intolerable Acts, declaring
martial law.
In response, a group of
colonists met at the First
Continental Congress. There
they reluctantly decided to
prepare for a possible conflict
with the British.
British troops march on
Lexington and Concord to
seize weapons being
stockpiled by colonists. The
militia tries to stop them,
causing the first conflict of
the Revolutionary War.
Thomas Paine published
“Common Sense,” a
pamphlet persuading
colonists to break away from
England.
Colonial leaders met again at
the Second Continental
Congress.
There, they decided that the
colonies must break away
from England.
Thomas Jefferson drafted the
Declaration of Independence, a
letter to King George stating that
the colonists consider themselves
free from him and his government.
England tried to hold on to the
colonies. The Revolutionary War
was fought and in 1781, the British
gave up and the colonies were
free.