Unit 3 - Road to Revolution

Age of Enlightenment

• Application of scientific principles to human constructs.
• Goal: Determine what is best for human flourishing and what is most natural.
• Examples:
  • Free-market capitalism (Laissez-faire economics: belief that markets will self-regulate).
• Influenced the American Revolution:
  • The United States was founded on Enlightenment principles like liberty, individual rights, and democratic governance.

---

Pietism and the Great Awakening

Pietism

• Focused on emotional connections to faith.

The Great Awakening

• New Lights: Advocated for new worship styles with emotional sermons.
• Old Lights: Preferred traditional worship methods.
• Impact:
  • Created a shared experience that united people across colonies.
  • Encouraged questioning of traditional authority, influencing colonial attitudes toward governance.

---

Governing the Colonies

• Colonial Assemblies:

  • Strengthened over time, using a bicameral legislature (lower and upper houses).
  • Lower houses were elected by property-owning white men.
  • Held the power of the purse (control over taxation and budgets).

• Salutary Neglect:

  • British policy of minimal interference allowed colonies to flourish economically and politically.

• Colonial Demographics:

  • 90% of the population lived in rural areas.
  • 62% Anglo-Saxon, 20% African slaves, 7% Irish, 6% German, 5% other groups.
  • Intermarriage led to a mixed “American” identity.

---

French and Indian War

• Fought over control of the Ohio River Valley.
• Sides:
  • British and Colonists vs. French and Native Americans (e.g., Iroquois sided with British).

Key Events

1. George Washington:

   • Built Fort Necessity but was forced to surrender after attacking a French patrol.

2. Albany Congress (1754):

   • Meeting of 7 colonies and the Iroquois to discuss defense.
   • Proposed the Albany Plan of Union (continental assembly for trade, policy, and defense)—rejected by colonies.

3. British Struggles:

   • Early defeats due to poor strategies (e.g., wearing red uniforms in forests).

4. Turning Point:

   • New Prime Minister William Pitt focused war efforts in the colonies.
   • Promised colonists land and money.
   • British victories in Montreal and Quebec led to their eventual success in 1763.

---

Consequences

• Treaty of Paris (1763):

  • France gave up North American holdings, retaining only Caribbean sugar islands.
  • Britain became the dominant power in North America.

• Pontiac’s War (1763):

  • Native American resistance to British expansion.
  • Led to the Proclamation of 1763, restricting settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains.

• British National Debt:

  • Increased from £75 million to £133 million, prompting new taxes and stricter policies.

---

Colonial Resistance to British Policies

Acts Imposed by Britain

1. Currency Act (1764):

   • Banned colonies from using paper money.

2. Sugar Act (1764):

   • Lowered taxes on molasses to curb smuggling but angered colonists.

3. Stamp Act (1765):

   • Taxed printed materials.
   • Violations tried in vice-admiralty courts without jury trials.

4. Quartering Act (1765):

   • Required colonies to house and supply British troops.

Motivations for Protest

• Influence of the Great Awakening (encouraged questioning authority).
• Enlightenment principles (natural rights, separation of powers).
• Desire to maintain traditional British rights (jury trials, local governance).

Key Resistance Movements

• Stamp Act Congress (1765):

  • Declared only colonies could tax themselves.

• Sons of Liberty:

  • Organized demonstrations, boycotts, and intimidation tactics.

• Colonial Boycotts:

  • Led to economic pressure on Britain, resulting in the repeal of the Stamp Act.
  • However, Parliament passed the Declaratory Act, reaffirming its authority over the colonies.

---

Townshend Acts and Boston Massacre

• Townshend Acts:

  • Imposed duties on paper, paint, glass, and tea.
  • Funds used to pay royal governors and judges, reducing colonial control.

• Colonial Reaction:

  • Renewed boycotts and non-importation agreements.
  • Daughters of Liberty produced domestic goods to avoid reliance on British imports.

• Boston Massacre (1770):

  • Conflict between colonists and British soldiers left 5 colonists dead.
  • Used as propaganda to rally colonial resistance.

---

Tea Act and Boston Tea Party

• Tea Act (1773):

  • Designed to bail out the British East India Company by lowering tea prices but cutting out colonial merchants.

• Boston Tea Party:

  • Colonists dumped £1 million worth of tea into Boston Harbor.

• Coercive (Intolerable) Acts:

  • Parliament’s punishment for the Boston Tea Party:
    • Closed Boston Harbor.
    • Restricted Massachusetts’ self-governance.
    • Allowed trials of British officials to be held in England.
    • Strengthened the Quartering Act.

---

First Continental Congress (1774)

• Meeting:

  • Delegates from 12 colonies met in Philadelphia.

• Goals:

  • Repeal of the Coercive Acts.
  • Organized economic resistance (cut off colonial exports).

• Outcomes:

  • Stockpiling of arms.
  • Committees of Safety began replacing royal authority.
  • Agreement to meet again if demands were not met.