Background Causes of the American Revolution

Level 2

Vocabulary Mercantilism: uses a favorable balance of trade between the mother country and the colony

Favorable Balance of Trade: revenue of exports is more than imports

Triangular Trade: trade route between Europe, Africa and the America’s

Middle Passage: the route on the triangle trade from Africa to the America’s that included slaves

Manufacturing: creating goods with machines

French and Indian War: part of Europe’s 7 Years War between England and France that was fought in North America in which England won

Albany Plan of Union: an idea for representative government in the colonies that was rejected but influenced the US Constitution

Salutary Neglect: non-enforcement of the laws from Parliament onto the colonies to help them flourish

Enlightenment: cultural movement by intellectuals in Europe and North America to use reason, challenge traditions of faith and promote the use of the scientific method

Essential Questions: What are the political, economic, and

social causes of the American Revolution?How did public opinion evolve in regard to

the movement for Independence?

Economic FactorsMercantilism: the economic

policies of European nations from the 15th century until the Industrial Revolution, based on mercantile (commercial trading) activities and characterized by the acquisition of colonies and the establishment of a favorable balance of trade. The American colonies were established under the mercantile system.

Economic Factors Triangular Trade: A trade between the

America’s, Europe and Africa combining European capital (in the first leg) with African labor (in the second) and British-colony resources (in the third):

From Europe - manufactured goods: copper, textiles, silks imported from Asia, glassware, ammunition, guns, knives and other finished products.

In Africa, sailors unloaded European goods and filled the ships with indigo and human cargo: men, women and children.

The "middle passage" brought the newly enslaved Africans to the Americas or to Caribbean islands.

At least ten percent of the captives died en route due to unbelievably bad conditions. When the ships encountered fierce weather, casualties were higher.

From the America’s: raw materials, returned to Europe. Sugar, coffee, tobacco and - especially - cotton were processed in British factories. Those materials provided workers with jobs and business owners with profits.

Read more about the Middle passage go to:

https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/THE-MIDDLE-PASSAGE-MYTH-Amazing-Gracehttps://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/MIDDLE-PASSAGE-REALITY-Amazing-Grace

Economic FactorsRise of an influential

business community in the coloniesManufacturing began

to flourish in the colonies because the British were lax in enforcing their mercantile policies.

Economic FactorsCost of colonial wars

against the FrenchThe French and Indian

War was expensive. In order to protect the new territory taken from the French, the British needed to bring in more money. They did this by taxing the colonists.

Political FactorsThe role of the

British Civil WarKing James II was

overthrown and the supremacy of parliament over the King was established

Political FactorsPeriods of political

freedom in the colonies75% of adult white males in

the colonies could vote due to widespread land ownership.

Middle class men were elected to the colonial legislatures due to the lack of nobility.

Salutary Neglect by England, due to the many wars it was involved in, allowed the colonies the ability to self-govern.

Political FactorsImpact of the

French and Indian War:England ended their

“salutary neglect” in order to keep the upper hand in the colonies and make them profitable because the French and Indian War cost so much.

Benjamin Franklin’s cartoon urging the colonies to unite and fight as one against the French and the Indians to gain control of the land west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Political Factors:Albany Plan of Union:

Purpose: Albany Congress was called to get the cooperation of the colonies to deal with the growing French influence in the Ohio Valley and lower Canada as well as to keep the Iroquois loyal to the British.

Proposed: a unity for defense with a: governing body with a president-general, appointed and paid

by the crown grand council elected by the colonial assembly

Result of Proposal: Accepted by the Albany Congress but turned down by the colonies for not providing enough independence, and by England for providing too much colonial independence

Importance of the Albany Plan of Union: introduced the concept of a federal plan of representative government with specific power given to a central authority. This served as a model for the United States Constitution.

Political FactorsPolitical thought of

the Enlightenment influenced prominent colonial leaders:Colonists read the

writings of John Locke and Baron de Montesquieu.

Political FactorsJohn Locke’s ideas

included that people had natural rights and also had a right to a government that represented them.

Political Factors“The natural liberty

of man is to be free from any superior power on earth and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but to have only the law of nature as his rule.” John Locke, The Second Treatise of Government (1690)

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Declaration of Independence (1776)

Political Factors“The liberty of man in

society is to be under no other legislative power but that established in the commonwealth; nor under the dominion of any will or restraint of any law but what that legislative shall enact according to the trust put in it.” John Locke, The Second Treatise of Government (1690)

“That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers for the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government…” Declaration of Independence (1776)

Political FactorsMontesquieu

advocated the idea of separation of powers within a government by dividing it into an executive, a legislative and a judicial branch.

Political Factors“When the [law making] and [law enforcement] powers are united in the same person... there can be no liberty.” Baron de Montesquieu

 “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.” Article 1, Section 1 US Constitution

“The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows.” Article 2, Section 1 US Constitution

“The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish…” Article 3, Section 1 US Constitution

Social FactorsNew social

relationships between European powers and the American colonies: development of a

new colonial identity of independence and possible unity

Essential Questions: What are the political, economic, and social

causes of the American Revolution?How did public opinion evolve in regard to

the movement for Independence?