The American Revolution

The Coming Of Independence

Suffolk Resolves

• Sept. 1774 MA – Don’t obey new laws– w/hold taxes– Prepare for war

Continental Congress

• Sept. 1774 – Philadelphia

• Organize resistance to Intolerable Acts

• 12 colonies (GA didn’t go)

• Most prominent leaders

• MA both Adamses

• VA (7) Washington, Lee, Henry

Patrick Henry

• “I am not a Virginian, but an American.”

• “Give me liberty, or give me death!”

Continental Association

• Endorsed Suffolk Resolves

• Almost complete halt of trade w/ GB

• Encouraged domestic manufacturing

• Authorized Committees of Safety

Committees of Safety

• Take action against “enemies of American Liberty”– Businessmen seek to profit from scarcity

• Chance for lower classes to get involved in politics.

• Younger people determined not to let resistance drop.

• Cause of Boston the cause of colonies

Liberty

• 1775 - “Americans are liberty mad”– Right to resist oppressive authority.– Liberty was the cause of God

• Rights of Englishmen & natural rights & universal freedom

• Locke’s theory of natural rights.

The British Are Coming!

Outbreak of War

• Apr. 19, 1775– Lexington & Concord– 49 Am. 73 Brit.

• Word spread through colonies

May 1775 - Ethan Allen & Green Mtn. Boys

Capture Ft. Ticonderoga

Siege of Boston

• June 17 – Battle of Bunker Hill (costly Brit victory)

• Winter ’75 H. Knox has cannon dragged 100 miles to Boston.

• March 1776 Brit. Gen. Howe abandoned city.

Second Continental Congress

• May 1775

• Raise an army

• Print $

• Geo. Washington commander– Experienced– Southerner– Reinforce unity

• GB declares colonies state of rebellion.

Independence?

• 1775 many shied away.– Some colonies feared anarchy from below as

much as tyranny from above.– Effected how leaders thought about ind.

• MA & VA support

• So. Wanted power & angered by Dunmore Proclamation.

• NY & PA more difficult

Common Sense

• July 1775 Olive Branch Petition rejected.

• 1776 Thomas Paine writes pamphlet justifying independence.

Audience

• Unique – directed to uneducated– Clear, direct, uncomplicated– Expanded those who were now in the debate– Sold more than 150,000 copies– $ went to supply troops

Alternative

• Attacked Brit. system (King & Elite rule)

• Better alternative– Democratic system– Frequent election– Peoples rights protected by constitution

Independence

• “A continent should not ne ruled by an island”

• Leaving empire, free to trade w/ world

• Free from England’s wars

• Empire a burden not a benefit

New Vision

• “The cause of America is the cause of all mankind.”

• New nation home of freedom.

• “an asylum for mankind”

Result

• By Spring of 1776 people are ready

• Communities passing resolutions calling for separation.

• Only 6 mo. Passed from Common Sense and Declaration of Ind.

Activity 1

• Who makes the rules in your home?

• Who makes the decisions?

• What decisions do you make?

• Is there anything you would want to change about the rules or decision-making process in your family?

Activity 2

• Who provides the basic needs of your family?

• Describe the breakdown of chores at home. What do you do?

• Who decided how these chores would be divided?

• Do you get an allowance or any payment for what you do?

How would you set up a home?

• Think of all the economic and household responsibilities that you would now assume?

• Think of new problems that might arise from living in a group and how they might get solved.

Closing Thoughts

• What are the benefits of living at home? Of living on one’s own?

• Were you surprised at how many responsibilities independence gave you?

The Declaration of Independence

• July 2, 1776 United States formed

• July 4 - D of I signed

• Written by T. Jefferson

• List of grievances “absolute tyranny”

• Condemned king for slavery– Deleted by congress (GA & SC)

The Preamble

• “unalienable rights”– Basic, rooted in human nature itself– No gov’t could take away

• The right of revolution– “the consent of the governed”

• Social contract (Locke)

– “to alter or to abolish it”

Legacy

• Inspiration for those denied natural rights.

• Inspire colonial people around world seeking independence & self-gov’t.

New Definition of Freedom

• Shift from rights of Englishmen to rights of mankind.

• Liberty no longer a privilege, now a universal entitlement.

“pursuit of happiness”

• Open-ended democratic process

• develop own potential

• Self-fulfillment unimpeded by gov’t

• A central part of American freedom.

• Americans will shape their society as they saw fit.

An Asylum For Mankind

• “American exceptionalism” – US has a special mission– Refuge from tyranny– Symbol of freedom– Model for the world

• Central to American nationalism

• “workshop of liberty to the Civilized World”– J. Madison

• “we have it in our power to begin the world over again” – T. Paine

• Revolution of global historical importance.