Class Notes CH 7.notebook
Chapter 7: What experiences led to the American Revolution?
Learning Target:
• I can explain why the colonists decided to fight for their freedom. Colonial Government components: 1. Natural Rights = purpose of government is to protect people's rights to life, liberty and property
2. Representative government = colonists elected their leaders 3. Rule of law = people who made and enforced laws had to follow the laws too
4. Separation of powers = executive branch (carries out laws), legislative branch (makes the laws), and judicial branch (handle conflicts with the laws)
5. Checks and balances = shared power
September 06, 2013
Which ideas did the colonists in America use to create their government?
• Charter = a legal document; granted land to a person or a company with the right to start a colony on that land
> Each of the 13 colonies had their own government
> Colonies needed to protect themselves from the abuse of power by the British gov't
Why did the British government tighten control over the colonies?
• In the mid 1700s, Britain won an expensive war with France
• Parliament saw the colonies as a source of money
1
Class Notes CH 7.notebook
Examples: • Proclamation of 1763 (reduce tension with Native Americans) • Sugar Act of 1764 (taxes on cloth, sugar, and coffee)
• Writs of assistance (search warrants that allowed officers to board colonial ships)
• Quartering Act of 1765 (people must house and feed British soldiers Why were these new acts or laws a big deal?
• Parliament was threatening their rights
• the colonists believed they should have a representative government
• colonies had no right to elect representatives to Parliament • "No taxation without representation"
September 06, 2013
Examples continued: • Declaratory Act of 1766 (the power of the king and Parliament was greater than the colonial governments)
• Tea Act of 1773 (East India Company had the sole right to sell tea to the colonies; to keep the company from going broke)
How did the colonists resist British control?
• They organized town meetings and wrote letters to the newspaper
• Committees of correspondence = they made sure each colony knew about events and opinions in the other colonies
• Sons of Liberty (organized resistance to the Stamp Act)
• Daughters of Liberty (boycotted British trade; gave up drinking tea)
2
Class Notes CH 7.notebook
September 06, 2013
Two main events of the Revolution:
1. Boston Massacre of 1770
> British troops opened fire on a crowd of protestors outside the customs house
> 5 people died
> colonists realized British government would use military force to make them obey laws
2. Boston Tea Party of 1773
> colonists tried to prevent the unloading of tea on a ship in the Boston Harbor
> 342 chests were dumped in the water
> Result: Britain closed the harbor for trade
What happened as a result of these events?
• First Continental Congress > Met in Philadelphia in 1774
> 12 of 13 colonies sent representatives
> Purpose: decide how to respond to the British government
> Decision: set their own trade ban with Great Britain What happened as a result of the First Continental Congress?
• April 19, 1775, fighting broke out between Great Britain and the colonies
• British troops marched to Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts • Colonists forced them back to Boston
• Revolutionary War began
Second Continental Congress:
• April 1775
• Representatives decided to resist the British
• Organized the Continental Army • George Washington lead the army
• One year later they asked a committee to draft a document explaining why the colonists wanted to free themselves from British rule (Declaration of Independence) 3