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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.