Transcript Chapter 2: "The Revolutionary War & The War of 1812"

SOCIAL STUDIES
REMEDIATION FOR THE
ALABAMA HIGH SCHOOL
GRADUATION EXAM
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
AND THE WAR OF 1812
COLONIALISM AND
RESTRICTED TRADE

England hoped to benefit from the
economic system of colonialism. Under
this system, colonies were supposed to
supply England with raw materials.
England would manufacture these
materials and sell them back to the
colonies as finished products. England
wanted exclusive control over colonial
markets, but in North America the Dutch
violated England’s trading monopoly (a
market in which there is only one supplier).
Dutch traders took advantage of trading
routes while England was engaged in a
civil war (1640s). England wanted to
regain control.
COLONIALISM AND
RESTRICTED TRADE

In an effort to stop Dutch trading with
the English colonies, Parliament
passed the first Navigation Act
(1651), requiring that only English
ships carry goods to and from the
colonies. The Navigation Act of
1696 allowed customs officials to
seize any unlawfully shipped goods
and required that merchants
accused of smuggling be tried
without a jury because colonists on
the jury would not usually convict the
merchants.
RESTRICTED RIGHTS

The British colonies in North America had
enjoyed independence in their dealings
with Britain because the relationship was
profitable for both. However, George III
tried to gain more control over colonial
trade when he became king in 1760. The
British government issued writs of
assistance, search warrants that gave
customs officials the right to search
anywhere for illegal goods (goods that
had been bought or sold without being
taxed). James Otis, a lawyer representing
Boston merchants who had their
businesses searched under these writs,
passionately defended the rights of the
merchants and brought many important
leaders into a larger discussion about
personal liberties.
BATTLE FOR LAND

1700s, the British and the French
began competing with each other to
gain lands in North America and
elsewhere in the world. Great Britain
successfully colonized the eastern
seaboard of the present-day United
States, while France occupied the
Mississippi River region and the St.
Lawrence River region. The last of
these competitions for colonies
happened between 1754 and 1763.
This war was called the Seven
Years’ War in Europe, and, in the
United States, it is known as the
French and Indian War.
FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR

During this war, Great Britain and France
fought each other for control of North
America and the Indian Subcontinent. In
North America, the British colonists and
soldiers fought the French and their Native
American allies, the Algonquins and the
Hurons. The British also formed an
alliance with the Iroquois nations, who
were long-standing enemies of the
Algonquins. Both in North America and in
India, the British were victorious. As a
result, France had to withdraw all claims to
land east of the Mississippi River.
PROCLAMATION OF 1763

With the end of the French and Indian War
in 1763, Great Britain had won claim to
lands west of the Appalachians from the
French. However, with the Proclamation
of 1763, the British informed settlers that
they could not move west because the
colonies had to respect the rights of the
Native American nations. This
proclamation infuriated settlers who wanted
to move further west. To enforce this
proclamation, Great Britain sent 10,000
troops to the colonies to uphold the law.
These troops tended to stay in the cities.
The British government also used these
soldiers to enforce new taxes that Great
Britain placed on the colonists to pay for its
expenses during the French and Indian
War.
TAXATION WITHOUT
REPRESENTATION

The colonists were not allowed
to have representatives in the
British Parliament, so each tax
became law without their
consent. This policy of “taxation
without representation” angered
the colonists and generated
strong responses from the
British government and the
colonists.
THE SUGAR ACT (1764)
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Previous to this time, the British
taxed molasses at a high rate
but did not enforce the law, so
traders usually smuggled
molasses into the colonies. This
new act lowered the tax on
molasses, but this time British
troops strictly enforced the law.
THE STAMP ACT (1765)

This act created a tax on all paper items.
Colonists had to pay a tax on their legal
documents, newspapers, playing cards,
etc. Because this was the first tax placed
directly on the colonists, not just on trade, it
led to riots in many colonies. A secret
group of colonists called the Sons of
Liberty came together to organize a
boycott, refusing to buy British goods.
The Daughters of Liberty did their part by
weaving their own cloth, so they would not
have to buy it from Britain. The British
policy of taxation without representation
began to unify the colonists in opposition to
the British government. Due to colonial
opposition, the Stamp Act was repealed in
1766.
THE TOWNSHEND ACTS
(1767)

Though Parliament repealed the
Stamp Act, it established a tax on all
imported glass, paper, lead, and tea
sold in the colonies. With the
authority of writs of assistance,
British soldiers searched any home,
building, or ship to see whether
anyone had bought or sold goods
without paying this tax. In response,
mobs attacked British customs
officials, and the colonists organized
another boycott.
EVENTS LEADING TO
COLONIAL SEPERATION
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The colonists in Boston regularly insulted
the British troops who enforced the
Townshend Acts. On March 5, 1770,
colonists shouted insults at the troops at
the Boston Customs House. A soldier
heard the word “Fire!” and began firing on
the colonists standing there. In all, the
soldiers killed five people, including
Crispus Attucks, a free black sailor who
was active in the Sons of Liberty. Infuriated
at this action, the colonists held the
soldiers responsible and called this event
the Boston Massacre.
EVENTS LEADING TO
COLONIAL SEPARATION
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Because of colonial unrest and pressure
from British merchants who were losing
money from the colonists’ boycott, the
British removed all taxes, except the tax on
tea. The colonists boycotted the tea
because it reaffirmed the British
Parliament’s right to tax the colonies. On
December 16, 1773, Samuel Adams and
other Sons of Liberty dressed up as Native
Americans and boarded ships carrying tea.
They cut open the crates of tea with their
tomahawks and threw the tea into Boston
Harbor. This action became known as the
Boston Tea Party.
EVENTS LEADING TO
COLONIAL SEPERATION

Tensions rose as Parliament passed several
measures to punish the people of Boston for
this action. These measures included forcing
citizens to house British soldiers in their
homes, shutting down the port of Boston to
shipping, restricting town meetings to once
per year, and ordering that British high
officers charged with major crimes should be
tried in the courts of Great Britain. The
Patriots (colonists who wanted
independence from Britain) called these laws
the Intolerable Acts. In response to these
acts, colonial leaders organized the First
Continental Congress (1774) in
Philadelphia. At this congress, colonial
leaders agreed to boycott all British goods
and to stop exporting colonial goods to Great
Britain until the acts were repealed.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

Patrick Henry was a prominent burgess or
representative in Virginia. His “Give Me Liberty
or Give Me Death!” speech in Virginia’s House
of Burgesses aroused colonial leaders to revolt
against Great Britain and fight for freedom.
Anticipating conflict with the British, colonists in
Massachusetts strengthened their militia. The
volunteer soldiers were called minutemen
because they were ready to fight at a moment’s
notice. The conflict soon came. Shortly before
midnight on April 18, 1775, about 700 British
soldiers left Boston on their way to Concord,
Massachusetts. They intended to confiscate
the weapons stored there by the colonists. As
soon as Paul Revere saw the troops moving,
he rode on horseback through the neighboring
towns shouting, “The British are coming!” At
this warning, the minutemen rushed to
Lexington, a town between Boston and
Concord.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

The British forces met the minutemen at
Lexington on the morning of April 19. Later
sources do not agree on who fired the first
shot, but with this battle, the
Revolutionary War began. After killing
eight colonists and wounding ten others,
the British soldiers marched on to Concord,
where they met hundreds of minutemen
waiting for them. The intense fighting of
the minutemen forced the British to retreat,
suffering 73 casualties and 200 wounded
solders by the time they returned to
Boston. A growing number of volunteers
joined the Massachusetts militia, gathered
around Boston, and surrounded the only
British troops in North America.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

Delegates met on May 10, 1775 in
Philadelphia for the Second
Continental Congress. The
moderate members of the Congress
wanted to negotiate a compromise
with Britain. The radical members,
led by John Adams and his cousin
Samuel Adams, called for
independence even if it meant war.
Public support for independence was
growing.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

Two weeks after the Battle of Bunker Hill,
Massachusetts asked the Continental
Congress to take control of the army that
was forming around Boston. The
Congress unanimously chose George
Washington as commander because he
supported colonial independence, he was a
strong leader, and, as a Virginian, he would
help unite the southern colonies with the
rebellion in New England. On July 3, 1775,
he arrived in Cambridge to take charge of
the rag-tag band of militiamen.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

Even as war preparations continued, the
Congress sent one last peace proposal to
King George III on July 8, 1775. It came to
be called the “Olive Branch Petition.” His
response to the colonists’ offer of peaceful
reconciliation was the Prohibitory Act
(August 1775) which declared that the
colonies were in a state of rebellion and
empowered royal officers and loyal
subjects to “bring the traitors to justice.”
Some Patriots considered the king’s
response a declaration of colonial
independence on his part.
DECLARATION OF
INDEPENDENCE
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By the spring of 1776, colonial legislatures were
calling for independence. Eventually, the
Continental Congress created a committee to draft
a formal declaration of colonial independence from
Britain. The Declaration of Independence had the
following key features:
It became the foundation for a new American
government that guaranteed life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness.
Principles:
1. All men are created equal
2. All people have certain unalienable
(given at birth) rights
3. Government exists only by the consent of
the governed
4. Government must be changed if it becomes
unjust
Written by Thomas Jefferson and signed on
July 4, 1776.
Inspired the colonists to fight for freedom from
England.
SUMMARY OF REASONS FOR
SEPERATION FROM ENGLAND
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1. Colonialism= England bought raw materials
from the colonies at low prices and sold products
made from these materials back to the colonies
at high prices.
2. Navigation Acts= England required American
colonists to ship products only on English ships
and trade solely with England.
3. Writs of Assistance= British officials could
search any home, building, or ship without the
owner’s permission.
4. The Stamp Act= England placed tax on all
printed material.
5. Boston Massacre= British troops killed five
American civilians.
6. Boston Tea Party= Colonists protested the tax
on tea by dumping a shipment of tea into Boston
Harbor.
7. Intolerable Acts= English Parliament passed
laws that limited trade and self-government in the
colonies.
MAJOR BATTLES IN THE
REVOLUTIONARY WAR
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April 19, 1775= The Battles of Lexington
and Concord in Massachusetts began the
War.
June 17, 1775= At the Battle of Bunker
Hill, Massachusetts, the British suffered
heavy casualties even though the Patriots
ran out of ammunition.
October 17,1777= At the Battle of
Saratoga, New York, the British General
Burgoyne surrendered his 5,700 troops to
the Patriots.
December 1777= At news of the victory at
Saratoga, the French decided to fight for
the colonies’ independence from Britain.
MAJOR BATTLES OF THE
REVOLUTIONARY WAR
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Winter, 1777-78= George Washington trained
his tired and poorly equipped troops at Valley
Forge, Pennsylvania. He lifted morale
among the troops.
1778-1781= Fighting shifted to the South.
Nathanael Greene led forces in the South to
victory against the British at the Battle of
Cowpens in South Carolina. Patriots used
guerrilla war tactics. They would quickly
strike and then hide in the woods or swamps.
September-October, 1781= French naval and
army forces joined General Washington and
the Patriots in defeating the British troops at
Yorktown, Virginia on October 18, 1781.
This was the final blow to the British war
effort.
THE TREATY OF PARIS

After nearly two years of difficult
negotiations, representatives of
Great Britain and the United States
signed the Treaty of Paris on
September 3, 1783. In this treaty,
Britain recognized the independence
of the United States, as well as the
border of the new nation. The
border extended to Canada in the
north, to the Mississippi River in the
west, to the northern border of
Spanish Florida in the south, and to
the Atlantic Ocean in the east.
THE WAR OF 1812

British and French were fighting
each other on open seas. They took
sailors from the U.S. ships and
forced them to serve in the British or
French Navy. This is called
impressment. As a result, the U.S.
refused to ship goods to either
nation. Napoleon, the leader of
France, agreed to stop taking sailors
from the U.S. After this the U.S.
dropped its embargo (prohibiting
entry or departure of ships) of
French goods and opened trade with
France.
THE WAR OF 1812

In Congress, “war hawks” from the
South and the West pressed for war
with Great Britain. They were mad
because they thought the British
weren’t respecting the rights of U.S.
sailors. They also felt that war with
Britain could produce land gains for
the United States in British Canada,
as well as Spanish Florida because
Spain was a British ally at the time.
THE WAR OF 1812
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Settlers moving west forced or tricked
Native Americans off their land, often
resulting in fights. Two Native American
Shawnee leaders, Tecumseh, and his
brother, The Prophet, organized many
native tribes and allied themselves with the
British Canadians in case of war with the
United States.
President James Madison finally decided
that war with Britain was necessary for the
good of the United States. New
Englanders opposed any motion for war
because they feared it would hurt their
trade with Great Britain.
June 18, 1812, Congress agreed with
Madison and declared war on Great
Britain.
IMPORTANT BATTLES IN THE
WAR OF 1812
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Battle of Horseshoe Bend= Andrew Jackson,
with the help of Cherokees, defeated the
Creeks, Tecumseh’s allies in the South. As a
result, the Creeks had to give up much of their
land to the U.S.
Battle of Fort McHenry= British gave up their
attack on this well defended fort. Francis Scott
Key wrote “The Star Spangled Banner”, which
later became the national anthem.
The Treaty of Ghent= U.S. and Great Britain
agreed to end the war with this treaty. The
treaty didn’t address any of the reasons the
countries went to war.
Battle of New Orleans= Jackson’s troops
suffered 71 casualties while the British suffered
over 2,000. This victory gave people in the
U.S. pride in their country and made Andrew
Jackson a hero.
RESULTS OF THE WAR
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Hopes for land gains were lost as both sides
agreed to return their land-boundaries to prewar.
U.S. proved it could defend itself as a nation
despite there being no clear winner.
Nationalism (devotion to one’s country)
grew in U.S. citizens.
New England Federalists had been so
angered by the war that they talked of
seceding (withdrawing from the Union). The
victory at New Orleans and the Treaty of
Ghent embarrassed the angry Federalists
and resulted in the end of the party.
Manufacturing industry grew in the states.
The lack of manufactured goods from Britain
during the war pushed the United States to
develop its own industries.