American Revolution Notes PDF

AMERICAN REVOLUTION BACKGROUND Seven Years War(1756-1763)→Also known as the French and Indian War in North America, this global conflict between Britain and France, along with their respective allies, reshaped control of colonial territories. Britain emerged as the dominant col...

AMERICAN REVOLUTION BACKGROUND Seven Years War(1756-1763)→Also known as the French and Indian War in North America, this global conflict between Britain and France, along with their respective allies, reshaped control of colonial territories. Britain emerged as the dominant colonial power, gaining Canada and Florida, but the war's expenses contributed to the economic pressures that led to the American Revolution. Treaty of Paris (1763)→This treaty ended the Seven Years' War. France ceded Canada and all lands east of the Mississippi River to Britain, marking the beginning of British dominance in North America and significantly reducing French influence in the continent. Proclamation line of 1763 Enlightenment and Criticism THE ENLIGHTENMENT (encyclopedia britannica) Enlightenment, a European intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries in which ideas concerning God, reason, nature, and humanity were synthesised into a worldview that gained wide assent in the West and that instigated revolutionary developments in art, philosophy, and politics. The Enlightenment produced the first modern secularised theories of psychology and ethics. Central to Enlightenment thought were the use and celebration of reason, the power by which humans understand the universe and improve their own condition. The goals of rational humanity were considered to be knowledge, freedom, and happiness. →THE AGE OF REASON The Enlightenment featured a range of social ideas centred on the value of knowledge learned by way of rationalism and of empiricism and political ideals such as natural law, liberty, and progress, toleration and fraternity, constitutional government, and the formal separation of church and state. Romans adopted and preserved much of Greek culture such as the ideas of rational order and natural law. A new concern arose of personal salvation and the triumph of christianity and this leads to Christian revelations. For Martin Luther the way to truth lay in the application of human reason. At the same time, the idea of the universe as a mechanism governed by a few simple—and discoverable—laws had a subversive effect on the concepts of a personal God and individual salvation that were central to Christianity. Inevitably, the method of reason was applied to religion itself. The product of a search for a natural—rational—religion was Deism, which, although never an organised cult or movement, conflicted with Christianity for two centuries, especially in England and France. For the Deist, a very few religious truths sufficed, and they were truths felt to be manifest to all rational beings: the existence of one God, often conceived of as architect or mechanician, the existence of a system of rewards and punishments administered by that God, and the obligation of humans to virtue and piety. JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704) John Locke is a British writer who is a son of Puritans. He is a philosopher and physicist (father of Liberalism) John Locke in Of political or Civil Society is questioning the role of the monarchy which is living under a kingdom different from the state of nature. The author is comparing the text with the state of nature. The division of powers, one of the main features of modern states, means that the power is divided into three powers: the legislative power, the Executive power (or government) and the Judicial power. Locke mentions how in a society the powers have to be divided and never a person should possess all the powers. At the moment of the author the legislative and executive power were under the King. Division of Powers (under the King): Legislative Executive  Judiciary Living under the King's power is the same as living as a servant - John Locke The law does not apply to the King - John Locke If a law only protects you from a small animal how is going to protect you from a bigger animal; the lion - John Locke →TWO TREATISES OF GOVERNMENT (1690) BY JOHN LOCKE First Treatise→ vs. Robert Filmer's Patriarcha, or The Natural Power of Kings. Second Treatise→On natural rights and contract theory. All governments should have popular consent. Avoid corruption: Division of power. JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU (1712-1778) Geneva, Switzerland. The author is questioning how the people from the colonies are in a lowest position and the Europeans have privileges that in the colonies they do not have. Jean Jacques was an enlightened philosopher, writer and political theorist. “Noble savage” →(Émile, ou de l’Éducation, 1762) “National sovereignty” →(The Social Contract, 1762) Book burning, detention, exile LEAD-UP TO THE REVOLUTION The war is expensive so taxes have to be raised to mention the war. People in the colonies have to pay taxes to Britain but they do not have any representation in the Parliament. Taxation without representation. Taxation without representation→The phrase taxation without representation describes a populace that is required to pay taxes to a government authority without having any say in that government's policies. The term has its origin in a slogan of the American colonials against their British rulers: "Taxation without representation is tyranny." Taxing Acts: 1765→Quartering Act, Stamp Act and Sugar Act: People in the colonies had to feed Britain soldiers when they were in their Colonies. 1767→Townshend Act: Anything imported to the colonies have to pay taxes such as tea. 1773→Tea Act: They had to pay taxes for drinking tea (they are English living in the colonies so they love tea), they did end drinking tea and started with the coffee. That is the reason why coffee is more popular than tea. →TEA ACT (1773) - 17 MILLIONS POUNDS OF TEA The tea comes from India (colonies of UK). It was faster to bring tea from India to the USA and later to the UK. Colonies were angry about the tea act because these people were Europeans who lived in the US this means that they usually drank tea very often. Some Americans were taking advantage of the tea location in Boston. Colonists protested against the restrictions that they were suffering. The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that occurred on December 16, 1773, at Griffin’s Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing “taxation without representation,” dumped 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbor. The event was the first major act of defiance to British rule over the colonists. It showed Great Britain that Americans would not tolerate taxation and tyranny sitting down, and rallied American patriots across the 13 colonies to fight for independence. BOSTON MASSACRE (1770) The Boston Massacre was a deadly riot that occurred on March 5, 1770, on King Street in Boston(Protesting mob). It began as a street brawl between American colonists and a lone British soldier, but quickly escalated to a chaotic, bloody slaughter. The conflict energized anti-British sentiment and paved the way for the American Revolution (British troops fire and kill 5) People in the colonies started to protest because the taxes were rising up and the colonies didn´t have any representation in the British Parliament. The colour red represent the British soldiers When did the Boston Massacre happen?: Tensions ran high in Boston in early 1770. More than 2,000 British soldiers occupied the city of 16,000 colonists and tried to enforce Britain’s tax laws, like the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts. American colonists rebelled against the taxes they found repressive, rallying around the cry, “no taxation without representation.” Skirmishes between colonists and soldiers—and between patriot colonists and colonists loyal to Britain (loyalists)—were increasingly common. To protest taxes, patriots often vandalized stores selling British goods and intimidated store merchants and their customers. On February 22, a mob of patriots attacked a known loyalist’s store. Customs officer Ebenezer Richardson lived near the store and tried to break up the rock-pelting crowd by firing his gun through the window of his home. His gunfire struck and killed an 11-year-old boy named Christopher Seider and further enraged the patriots. Several days later, a fight broke out between local workers and British soldiers. It ended without serious bloodshed but helped set the stage for the bloody incident yet to come. BOSTON TEA PARTY Boycott on Imports of Tea The Sons of Liberty : East India Company ships and 342 chests into the Boston harbor. 1774 - Intolerable Acts: Closing of Boston harbor and Martial Law on Mass. FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS (Philadelphia, 1774) Formal complaint to the Crown Colonial delegates: George Washington (Virginia) John and Samuel Adams (Massachusetts) Patrick Henry (Virginia) John Jay (New York) The Continental Congress served as the government of the 13 American colonies, and later the United States, from 1774 to 1789. The First Continental Congress, composed of delegates from the colonies, met in 1774 in reaction to the Intolerable Acts, a series of measures imposed by the British government after the colonies resisted new taxes. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened after the Revolutionary War had already begun. In 1776, it took the momentous step of declaring America’s independence from Britain. Five years later, the Congress ratified the first national constitution, the Articles of Confederation, under which the country would be governed until 1789, when it was replaced by the U.S. Constitution. In the spring of 1774 the British Parliament’s passage of the Intolerable (Coercive) Acts, including the closing of the port of Boston, provoked keen resentment in the colonies. The First Continental Congress, convened in response to the Acts by the colonial Committees of Correspondence, met in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774. Fifty-six deputies represented all the colonies except Georgia. Peyton Randolph of Virginia was unanimously elected president, thus establishing usage of that term as well as “Congress.” Charles Thomson of Pennsylvania was elected secretary and served in that office during the 15-year life of the Congress. How the colonies should handle their own colonies. BATTLE OF LEXINGTON AND CONCORD (April 19th,1775) 1775→Hundreds of troops march to seize a cache of arms Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride April 19th→Clash between minutemen & the Redcoats In this first battle of the American Revolution, Massachusetts colonists defied British authority, outnumbered and out fought the Redcoats, and embarked on a lengthy war to earn their independence. Minutemen→ minuteman, in U.S. history, an American Revolution militiaman who agreed to be ready for military duty “at a minute’s warning.” American colonies started to organize and have some weapons but the British soldiers were aware of these weapons and some of them were taken. Paul Revere at midnight claimed that the British were coming and people inside the colonies had time to prepare themselves to protect their colonies from the British soldiers. How it ended: American victory. The British marched into Lexington and Concord intending to suppress the possibility of rebellion by seizing weapons from the colonists. Instead, their actions sparked the first battle of the Revolutionary War. The colonists’ intricate alarm system summoned local militia companies, enabling them to successfully counter the British threat. REVOLUTIONARY WAR (1775-1783) Great Britain: General William Howe Powerful army and fleet Have a lot of boats  A powerful army German mercenaries (Hessians) 13 Colonies: George Washington Own Territory French, Dutch, and Spanish support Crossing of the Delaware (morning strike on the Hessians in Trenton) They know the lands better than the British soldiers RED →AMERICANS , BLUE →BRITISH BATTLE OF TRENTON(1776) After crossing the Delaware River in a treacherous storm, General George Washington’s army defeated a garrison of Hessian mercenaries at Trenton. The victory set the stage for another success at Princeton a week later and boosted the morale of the American troops. How it ended: American victory. The army that the British thought was all but defeated destroyed a major garrison and suffered very few casualties. The Americans also managed to capture critical supplies, including food and clothing, in the process. Emboldened, General George Washington recrossed and crossed the Delaware again over the next week, fighting a delaying action at the Battle of the Assunpink and winning another stunning victory at the Battle of Princeton. TOMAS PAINE (1737-1809) Common Sense (1776) → (defense of American Rev.) Rights of Man (1791) →(defense of French Rev.) Agrarian Justice (1796) →(guaranteed mínimum income) Tomas Paine (English-born US political philosopher)claims that America should be independent from Britain. He did defend the American Revolution. In the book Agrarian Justice (1796) he claims that it should be a minimum income for everyone to have a decent life. Exiled from England, jailed in France. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE -4th JULY INDEPENDENCE DAY This declaration happened before the war ended in 1776. The US was already independent when the declaration was signed. The United States of America declared its independence on July 4, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War. This declaration was formalized through the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, primarily authored by Thomas Jefferson, which announced the colonies' separation from Great Britain. Independence was effectively secured after the end of the war with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783. The flag resolution was on July 14, 1783. The 13 stars represent the 13 colonies in the US at the moment. AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM Alexis de Tocqueville wrote a book about the situation of the US at that moment. He wrote his opinion (remarkable, extraordinary, exceptional, outstanding, unique, does not follow the rules. THE USA HAVE: NO public education NO public health Founded by immigrants→diverse and no hierarchies  Federalism Shaved ideals Meritocracy POST-WAR In that period of time there is a lot of taxation from the authorities and this leads to four thousand people revolt against these taxes. Independence was effectively secured after the end of the war with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783. -G. Washington -Unicameral Congress Post-war depression taxes 1786 – Shays’s Rebellion PEACE AND THE CONSTITUTION 1787 - New Constitution → The constitution declares how the country is going to be and govern by themselves. Division of powers: The Federation→ Bicameral Legislative Power, Executive Branch, Judiciary (Supreme Court). The States. 1791 – Bill of Rights (10 amendments) CAPITAL CITY 1785 - New York City 1790 - Philadelphia 1800 - Washington D.C. SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE (1812-1814) Britain blocks all French seaports→US must pay a toll 1814-Battle of New Orleans →Treaty of Ghent Britain blocks all French seaports. Britain continues to block exported things from Europe and this leads to the US having to pay a toll. STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 1814 – Battle of Fort McHenry (Baltimore, Maryland) A flag with many stars →Star-spangled banner Francis Scott Key → Writes about the author looking at the windows expecting to see a flag to know if the country is winning or losing. AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM American exceptionalism is the idea that the United States is unique or special compared to other nations. It suggests that the U.S. has a unique mission to promote freedom and democracy, and its history, values, and political system set it apart from the rest of the world. BLACK AMERICA ENSLAVEMENT (1501-1867) Triangular trade: Triangular trade or triangle trade is trade between three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come. It has been used to offset trade imbalances between different regions.  People were stored as objects on boats. They didn´t have access to a toilet or other parts of the boat. Some of these slaves died due to lack of oxygen. The trips took months and they were all chained together. The crew had to control the slaves and kill some of them in order to prove that they had control of the situation. 1619 – San Juan Bautista slave ship 350 captives Bound for Vera Cruz (Mexico) Attacked by White Lion & Treasurer (pirates)→stole 50-60 slaves 20 sold in Jamestown 12.5 million people have been enslaved in the triangle Trade. 1705 -Virginia Law makes Slavery perpetual and transmitted by birth. There was not a black person who was free. →ZONG 1781 Captain Luke Collingwood 130 people were thrown to the sea to avoid spreading disease between the crew. The captain had insurance for these circumstances. →AMISTAD 1839 Joseph Cinqué The Amistad was a Spanish slave ship where enslaved Africans, led by Joseph Cinqué, revolted and took control. They tried to sail back to Africa but were captured by the U.S. Navy. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 1841 that the Africans were free, as they had been illegally enslaved. This became a significant moment in the fight against slavery. Captain and two crew members US Supreme Court ordered they be returned home The slaves were examined by sellers to check if the conditions of the slaves who would become workers were good enough for them. The slaves had to work in plantations such as cotton and tobacco. The southwest states plantations started to grow and these places had at least 50 slaved men working for them. Slaves had different languages and this made the communication impossible between slaves. UPRISINGS OF THE ENSLAVED 1712 New York Slave Rebellion: 8 white men killed 21 Black men burnt to death 1739 South Carolina Slave Uprising: 25 colonists & 50 Africans killed 1831 Nat Turner’s Rebellion: 60 white people killed 120 victims of lynching 60 accused and murdered Turner’s (who was a slave who made a rebellion) body as human trophy (as souvenir) SLAVERY AND SOCIAL DEATH  -Orlando Patterson – Slavery and Social Death (1982) 1. DEATH / NONBEING: The slave’s powerlessness “originated (or was conceived of as having originated) as a substitute for death, usually violent death” (5). “Because the slave had no socially recognized existence outside of his master, he became a social nonperson” (5) 2. NATAL ALIENATION: “the definition of the slave, however recruited, as a socially dead person. Alienated from all ‘rights’ or claims of birth, he ceased to belong in his own right to any legitimate social order” (5) “Formally isolated in his social relations with those who lived, he also was culturally isolated from the social heritage of his ancestors.” This does not mean slaves had no relations, just that they were not recognized legitimately, had no social support. “The focus of the ‘we-they’ distinction was at first religious, later racial” (7) 3. DISHONOR: “the slave could have no honor because of the origin of his status, the indignity and all-pervasiveness of his indebtedness, his absence of any independent social existence, but most of all because he was without power except through another” (10) For Hobbes, power is connected to honor: when you obey, you honor (as slaves do); when you disobey, you dishonor (as masters do). “The slave […] could have no honor because he had no power and no independent social existence, hence no public worth. He had no name of his own to defend.” (10) CIVIL WAR (1861-1865)  1. BACKGROUND TO CIVIL WAR: 1777 – Vermont bans slavery 1857 – Dred Scott Decision→No citizenship 1860 – Abraham Lincoln is elected president The South secedes The Union→ 22M people and Industry and transportation. The Confederacy→9M people and Agricultural & British support. 2. CIVIL WAR: The American Civil War (1861–1865) was a pivotal conflict in United States history, fought between the Northern states (the Union) and the Southern states (the Confederacy). The war emerged from deep-seated differences over slavery, states’ rights, and economic tensions. Here's a detailed breakdown: 1. Causes of the Civil War A. Slavery The most significant and contentious issue was slavery, particularly its expansion into new territories. Southern states relied on enslaved labor for their agriculture-based economy, particularly for growing cotton and tobacco. The Northern states, with an industrial-based economy, increasingly opposed slavery on moral and economic grounds. B. States’ Rights Southern states argued for their right to make independent decisions, especially regarding slavery and trade, without federal interference. The North, led by the federal government, believed in a stronger centralized authority. C. Economic Differences  The South had an agrarian economy, while the North was industrialized. Tariff policies favoring Northern industries angered the South, which relied on imports and exports. D. The Election of Abraham Lincoln In 1860, Abraham Lincoln, a Republican opposed to the spread of slavery, was elected President. Southern states feared that Lincoln’s presidency would threaten their way of life and quickly moved toward secession. 2. Secession and the Start of the War Between December 1860 and February 1861, 11 Southern states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, led by Jefferson Davis as President. The war began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, a federal fort in South Carolina. 3. Key Events and Battles Early Years (1861–1862) First Battle of Bull Run (1861): A Confederate victory that showed the war would be long and brutal. Antietam (1862): The bloodiest single day in American history; a strategic Union victory that led to Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. Turning Points (1863–1864) Battle of Gettysburg (1863): A major Union victory that stopped Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s invasion of the North. Siege of Vicksburg (1863): Gave the Union control of the Mississippi River, splitting the Confederacy. Sherman’s March to the Sea (1864): Union General William Tecumseh Sherman devastated Georgia’s infrastructure, crippling the Confederate war effort. Endgame (1865) In April 1865, Union forces captured Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. 4. Consequences of the War A. Human Cost Over 620,000 soldiers died, making it the deadliest war in U.S. history. Millions were wounded, and entire towns in the South were left in ruins. B. End of Slavery The Emancipation Proclamation (1863) declared enslaved people in Confederate states free, though it did not immediately abolish slavery. The 13th Amendment (1865) formally abolished slavery across the United States. C. Reconstruction After the war, the U.S. entered the Reconstruction era (1865–1877) to rebuild the South and integrate formerly enslaved people into society. Despite the legal end of slavery, racial tensions and inequality persisted, leading to segregation and discriminatory laws (e.g., Jim Crow laws). D. Strengthened Federal Government The Union's victory reinforced the supremacy of the federal government over states, reshaping the nation’s political structure. The Civil War was a turning point in American history, ultimately defining the country as a united, free nation but leaving deep scars that influenced race relations and regional dynamics for generations. RECONSTRUCTION: 13th Amendment (1865)→ Abolition of slavery 14th Amendment (1868)→Citizenship for former slaves, equal protection 15th Amendment (1870) →All male former slaves can vote Jim Crow Laws → Segregation in public space, transportation, schools, housing, jobs… and Miscegenation laws. TULSA RACE MASSACRE Tulsa, Oklahoma→“Black Wall Street” and 1921 Dick Rowland (19yo)→White mob armed by government officials $1.5M ($40M today)→10,000 homeless,