Unit+II+Notes

=**The American Revolution**=

British had financial problems, they taxed colonists.

1764 Sugar Act It was the first time colonists were taxed by the British.

1765 Stamp Act Taxation without representation.

=**Taxation without representation**=

All communication required stamps.

The Stamp Act Congress met in 1765.

Declaration of Rights and Grievances.

Sons of Liberty put pressure on the merchants=repealed.

The British and the colonists never quite had the same relationship after the crisis.

Each side grew suspicious of the other.

=**Townshend Act**=

It created taxes on tea, paper, paint, lead, and glass.

Collectors were stationed in Boston.

Riots occurred in Boston= Troops sent in.

Soldiers remained there for a year and a half.

=**Boston Massacre**=

It was in 1770

Bostonians grew tired of the military presence.

They began throwing sticks and stones at the British troops.

The British fired and killed 5 people

John Adams defended the British troops in court and they got off the hook.

=**Boston Tea Party**=

Tea Act of 1773

Bostonians dressed as Native Americans destroyed 9,000 pounds worth of tea belonging to a British Company.

=**Intolerable Acts**=

Coercive Acts- All ports closed until the colonists paid back the damage from the tea party

Quebec Act. gives some territory to France

Together they were called Intolerable Acts

=**Mountain Tensions**=

First Continental Congress met and denounced Intolerable Acts.

Minute Men- prepared to fight at any minute.

Whigs (Anti-Crown) vs. Tories (Loyalists)

=**Lexington and Concord**=

Shot heard around the world- started everything off.

Lexington- British troops march to arrest Sam Adams and John Hancock and others rode out to warn everyone.

British told 70 Americans to disperse= shot and killed 18

Concord- British were ambushed by minute men.

They retreated and were hit as they fled to Boston

= = =**2nd Continental Congress**= 1775-1776

Olive Branch Petition- gave George III one last chance.

It named George Washington Commander of the Continental Army.

=Declaration of Independence= July 4th 1776-Authored by Thomas Jefferson

Ideas borrowed from Thomas Paine's Common Sense.

Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness.

Rejection of English Monarchy

=**American Advantage**=

Fighting on their own turf.

Militia/ Guerilla Tactics

Fighting for a purpose.

Washington's Leadership

Help from the French

=**Victory**=

British surrender at Yorktown in 1782.

Peace of Paris- Ben Franklin, John Adams, and John Jsy.

1789- Constitution written- James Madison considered the Father of the Constitution.