American_Revolution

﻿By: Livia Chan & Annie Fan =  T h e A m e r i c a n R e v o l u t i o n   =

 **//Who?//** : Colonies vs. Britain  //**When?**// : 1775 - 1781  **//Where?//** : North America (colonies)  //**Why?**// : Colonists wanted independence mostly because there was "taxation without representation", a tyrannical British government, and lack of representation in general.

=Before the Revolution... = There were several acts passed by the British government that forced the colonists to pay taxes to protect British interests and to pay for the French and Indian War:
 * **Tea Act, 1773 **
 * British tried to protect East India Company from going bankrupt by letting them export tea to colonists without paying tax
 * Colonists feared competition from a powerful company
 * Another example of taxation without representation
 * Colonists boycotted the tea; a group of Bostonians led the **Boston Tea Party**
 * Dec.1773, Colonists dumped British tea into Boston Harbor; inspired other similar acts
 *  **<span style="color: #800080; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Intolerable Acts ** **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> (Coercive Acts), 1774 **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 18px;">Punished MA colonists for Boston Tea Party
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-style: normal; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #800080; font-style: normal; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">Sugar Act, 1764 **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">Raised taxes on sugar but lowered taxes on molasses and established special courts to try smugglers
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">An attempt to eliminate illegal trade with French and Spanish West Indies
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">**<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #800080; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Stamp Act <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, 1765 **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Imposed taxes on all printed documents (e.g. newspapers, legal documents)
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Led to the popular phrase **//“no taxation without representation”//**, which became one of the colonists' major grievances
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">** Quartering Act (Mutiny Act ** ) **, 1765 **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Forced colonists to house British soldiers
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Colonists considered it to be a violation of their rights as British citizens
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #800080; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Townshend Act, 1767 **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Imposed tax on certain goods such as paper, paint, glass etc.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;"> **Writs of Assistance** : Government officials were given the rights to search houses for smuggled goods (without a warrant)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> There was also an event which was publicized throughout the colonies to prove the British's cruelty:
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"><span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770 **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">Colonists taunted British soldiers -> British fired at colonists, killing 5 people, including one African American
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">A symbol for British oppression and brutality

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Impor ** tant Docume ** nts
 * <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">**Olive Branch Petition<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">, 1775 **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">Asked King George III for peaceful reconciliation but was rejected
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">** “A Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms”, 1775 **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">Written by 2nd Continental Congress
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">Explained reason for war and listed King George's wrongdoings
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">** Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776** [[image:http://www.founding.com/repository/imgLib/20071018_declaration.jpg width="181" height="214" align="right" caption="Declaration of Independence"]]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Written by 2nd Continental Congress, explained reason for separating from Britain
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Drafted mainly by **Thomas Jefferson**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Forced colonists to take sides: **Loyalists** or **Patriot**s
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;"> Declared that King of Britain broke **social contract** and violated **natural rights** (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness) -> ideas taken from John Locke's theories
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;"> **"Common Sense"** by Thomas Paine (1776)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Claimed it was “common sense” to break away from Britain and its oppressive ways
 * <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">**Articles of Confederation<span style="color: #000000; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">, 1777 **
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">**1st constitution for U.S. as a nation** and an attempt to form some sort of centralized authority
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Many major weaknesses (especially the inability of Congress to impose taxes, regulate trade, and draft soldiers)
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Allowed states to basically govern themselves

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">** ﻿Key Aspects **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Patriots vs. Loyalists
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">The supporters of the revolution vs. the supporters of the British (who did not want war)
 * <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">**Valley Forge** [[image:http://biography4u.com/image-files/George%20Washington.jpg width="215" height="258" align="right" caption="George Washington was able to keep his troops together, even through tough times."]]
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Confirmed Washington’s excellent leadership by keeping American troops together during the tough winter of 1777-1778
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;"> **1st Continental Congress**, September 1774 (Philadelphia)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Unified the colonists
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Formed **minutemen** to protect colonies
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Continue boycotts
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">**Declaration of Rights** -> response to British actions; stopped all trade with Britain
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;"> **2nd Continental Congress, ** M ay 1775 (Philadelphia)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;"> **Continental Army** led by Washington
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">Sons/Daughters of Liberty
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; line-height: 18px;">Led many of the boycotts against British goods
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; line-height: 18px;">Sons of Liberty had been responsible for the Boston Tea Party
 * <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">**Committee of Correspondence**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Publicize opposition to Britain such as horror of Boston Massacre (created by Samuel Adams)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">** ﻿During the War... **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">British Advantages
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Strongest navy in the world
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Best-equipped army in the world
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">More resources and organized
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">American Advantages
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Fought on own land -> familiar
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">More passionate, fighting for an actual cause
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Beginning in 1777, received foreign aid from other nations wanting to weaken British Empire **(France, Spain, etc)**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">** ﻿Major Battles **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Lexington and Concord, 1775
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">“**the shot heard ‘round the world**”, first battles of the American Revolution
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Bunker Hill, June, 1775
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Even though the colonists lost, they gained a sense of unity as a nation and inflicted more damage on the British than expected
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Saratoga, September 1777
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">“**turning point of war**”: encouraged colonists and **convinced France to support colonists**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Yorktown, Oct 19, 1881
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">** British surrender -> end of Revolutionary War **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;">** ﻿Outcomes/Impact of War **

 * ===<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;"> **Treaty of Paris** - signed on Sept. 3, 1783 ===
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">Recognition as independent nation from France and Britain
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">Mississippi River = western boundary of U.S.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">Spain regained control of FL
 * =====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">**<span style="font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">African American Desire for Freedom ** =====
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Start of major antislavery ideology in North America
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Slavery was restricting the freedom/natural rights of African Americans
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Direct contradiction to the cause of the Revolutionary War of obtaining rights
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Calls for Women’s Rights
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Motivated some women to voice their opinions to gain more rights such as female education but were largely ignored
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Postwar Depression, 1784-1787
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Under Articles of Confederation, Congress didn’t have power to enforce taxes to pay off war debt
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">State debts were paid for through taxes enforced by state government
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Poor farmers became angry because they already had personal debts
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">** <span style="color: #800080; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">Shays’s Rebellion, 1786 **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Daniel Shays led a group of supporters to prevent collection of debts and tried to take weapons from a Springfield arsenal but was captured by militiamen
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 115%;">Even though the rebellion was a failure, it led to the increased need for a new national constitution which would give the national government more power to prevent future rebellions
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> Inspired the French Revol ution to occur where the French demanded for more rights and overthrew their monarchy

<span style="color: #2a2acf; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 20px;">**﻿Sources** <span style="color: #2a2acf; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">** Ayers, Edward et.al. American Anthem. Austin: Holt Rinehart & Winston, 2007 ** <span style="color: #2a2acf; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="color: #2a2acf; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">** Brinkley, Alan. American History: A Survey, Twelfth Edition. New York: The McGraw-Hill >> Companies, Inc, 2007. ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">[] <span style="color: #2a2acf; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">** [] **