Resource 1
The French and Indian War
The North American theater of the primarily European Seven Years’ War was known
as the French and Indian War. It was fought between Britain and France from 1754 to
1763 for colonial dominance in North America. British officials tried to rally public
opinion for the war at the Albany Congress in 1754 but mustered only halfhearted
support throughout the colonies. Nevertheless, American colonists dutifully fought
alongside British soldiers, while the French allied themselves with several Native
American tribes (hence the name “French and Indian War”). This war ended after the
British captured most of France’s major cities and forts in Canada and the Ohio
Valley.
Pontiac’s Rebellion
The powerful Ottawa chief Pontiac, who had no intention of allowing land-hungry
whites to steal more tribal lands, united many of the tribes in the volatile Ohio Valley
and led a series of raids on British forts and American settlements. British forces
eventually squashed Pontiac’s Rebellion. As a conciliatory gesture toward the Native
Americans, Parliament issued the Proclamation of 1763: The proclamation created a
boundary line (often called the proclamation line) between the British colonies on the
Atlantic coast and American Indian lands west of the Appalachian Mountains.
1.Rally:
A. poco entusiasta
a. /ˈælaɪd/
2.Muster
B.manifestare
b. [skwɒʃ]
3.Halfhearted
C.esplosivo
c. /ˈdjuːtɪfəlɪ/
4.dutifully
D.schiacciare
d. /ˈmʌstəʳ/
5.allied
E.confine
e. [ˌhɑːfˈhɑːtɪd]
6.volatile
situation)
7.squash
adj
f. /ˈbaʊndərɪ/
(fig: F.radunare
G.Con il dovuto rispetto
1
g. [ˈrælɪ]
8.boundary
H. alleato
h. [ˈvɒlətaɪl]
2.
The proclamation line was not intended to be a permanent boundary between white
and Aboriginal lands, but rather a temporary boundary which could be extended
further west in an orderly, lawful manner. Its contour was defined by the headwaters
that formed the watershed along the Appalachia—all land with rivers that flowed into
the Atlantic was designated for the colonial entities while all the land with rivers that
flowed into the Mississippi was reserved for the native Indian population. The
proclamation outlawed private purchase of Native American land, which had often
created problems in the past; instead, all future land purchases were to be made by
Crown officials "at some public Meeting or Assembly of the Indians". Furthermore,
British colonists were forbidden to move beyond the line and settle on native lands,
and colonial officials were forbidden to grant grounds or lands without royal
approval. The proclamation gave the Crown a monopoly on all future land purchases
from American Indians. Almost immediately, many British colonists and land
speculators objected to the proclamation boundary. Colonists were disappointed that
they were not allowed to cross the boundary. There were also already many
settlements beyond the line, some of which had been temporarily evacuated during
Pontiac's War. Prominent American colonists joined with land speculators in Britain
to lobby the government to move the line further west. As a result, the boundary line
was adjusted in a series of treaties with Native Americans.
1.Boundary A. To obtain in exchange for money or its equivalent; buy
/ˈbaʊn·dər·i/
2.headwaters B.To try to influence the thinking of legislators or other public official
s for or against a specific cause
3.watershed
4.Purchase
/ˈp3ːtʃɪs/
C. A critical point that marks a division or a change of course;
a turning point
D. a line that divides two areas or forms an edge around an area
5.To lobby E. The water from which a river rises; a source.
/ˈlɒbɪ/
1. How was defined the contour of the Declaration boundary?
2. What was defined by the Proclamation line?
3.Who worked against the Proclamation line?
2
3.
The End of Salutary Neglect
The French and Indian War also motivated Parliament to end the age of salutary
neglect. Prime Minister George Grenville began enforcing the ancient Navigation
Acts in 1764, passed the Sugar Act to tax sugar, and passed the Currency Act to
remove paper currencies (many from the French and Indian War period) from
circulation. A year later, he passed the Stamp Act, which placed a tax on printed
materials, and the Quartering Act, which required Americans to house and feed
British troops.
Taxation Without Representation
The Sugar Act was the first fully enforced tax levied in America solely for the
purpose of raising revenue. Americans throughout the thirteen colonies cried out
against “taxation without representation” and made informal non-importation
agreements of certain British goods in protest. Several colonial leaders convened the
Stamp Act Congress in New York to petition Parliament and King George III to
repeal the tax. In 1766, Parliament bowed to public pressure and repealed the Stamp
Act. But it also quietly passed the Declaratory Act, which stipulated that Parliament
reserved the right to tax the colonies anytime it chose.
Currency:
convocare, indire
Quartering:
Levy /ˈlevɪ/
denaro, valuta
/’səʊlli/
Solely
n imposta, tribute. vtr imporre
Convene
alloggiamento
Repeal
entrate
Revenue
Revocare, abrogare
1. Make a list of the Acts dictated by the crown
2. What was the purpose of the Stamp Act Congress?
3. What is the Declaratory act?
3
4.
The Townshend Acts and Boston Massacre
In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, which levied another series of
taxes on lead, paints, and tea known as the Townshend Duties. In the same series of
acts, Britain passed the Suspension Act, which suspended the New York assembly
for not enforcing the Quartering Act. To prevent violent protests, Massachusetts
Governor Thomas Hutchinson requested assistance from the British army, and in
1768, four thousand redcoats landed in the city to help maintain order. Nevertheless,
on March 5, 1770, an angry mob clashed with several British troops. Five colonists
died, and news of the Boston Massacre quickly spread throughout the colonies.
The Boston Tea Party
In 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act, granting the financially troubled British
East India Company a trade monopoly on the tea exported to the American colonies.
In many American cities, tea agents resigned or canceled orders, and merchants
refused consignments in response to the unpopular act. Governor Hutchinson of
Massachusetts, determined to uphold the law, ordered that three ships arriving in
Boston harbor should be allowed to deposit their cargoes and that appropriate
payments should be made for the goods. On the night of December 16, 1773,
while the ships lingered in the harbor, sixty men boarded the ships, disguised as
Native Americans, and dumped the entire shipment of tea into the harbor. That event
is now famously known as the Boston Tea Party.
The Intolerable and Quebec Acts
In January 1774, Parliament passed the Coercive Acts, also known as the
Intolerable Acts, which shut down Boston Harbor until the British East India
Company had been fully reimbursed for the tea destroyed in the Boston Tea Party.
Americans throughout the colonies sent food and supplies to Boston via land to
prevent death from hunger and cold in the bitter New England winter. Parliament also
passed the Quebec Act at the same time, which granted more rights to French
Canadian Catholics and extended French Canadian territory
The First Continental Congress and Boycott
To protest the Intolerable Acts, prominent colonials gathered in Philadelphia at the
First Continental Congress in autumn of 1774. They once again petitioned
Parliament, King George III, and the British people to repeal the acts and restore
friendly relations. For additional motivation, they also decided to institute a boycott,
or ban, of all British goods in the colonies.
4
Lexington, Concord, and the Second Continental Congress
On April 19, 1775, part of the British occupation force in Boston marched to the
nearby town of Concord, Massachusetts, to seize a colonial militia arsenal.
Militiamen of Lexington and Concord intercepted them and attacked. The first shot—
the so-called “shot heard round the world” made famous by poet Ralph Waldo
Emerson (Concord Hymn)—was one of many that hounded the British and forced
them to retreat to Boston. Thousands of militiamen from nearby colonies flocked to
Boston to assist. In the meantime, leaders convened the Second Continental Congress
to discuss options. In one final attempt for peaceful reconciliation, the Olive Branch
Petition, they professed their love and loyalty to King George III and begged him to
address their grievances. The king rejected the petition and formally declared that the
colonies were in a state of rebellion.
The Declaration of Independence
The Second Continental Congress chose George Washington, a southerner, to
command the militiamen besieging Boston in the north. They also appropriated
money for a small navy and for transforming the undisciplined militias into the
professional Continental Army. Encouraged by a strong colonial campaign in which
the British scored only narrow victories (such as at Bunker Hill), many colonists
began to advocate total independence as opposed to having full rights within the
British Empire. The next year, the congressmen voted on July 2, 1776, to declare
their independence. Thomas Jefferson, a young lawyer from Virginia, drafted the
Declaration of Independence. The United States was born.
Find definitions using a monolingual dictionary
Repeal:
Seize:
Hound:
Linger:
Prominent:
5
Upheaval:
Fulfill the grid:
1767
1768
on March 5,
1770
1773
December
16, 1773
January
1774
1774
Autumn
1774
On April 19,
1775
July
1776
2,
6
Resource 2
American Colonies
1607: English clonists settled a town along the river James called Jamestown. The whole portion of
North American land between the French territory in Canada and the Spanish one in the south, was
called Virginia. In 1616 Virginia settlers learned how to grow tobacco. In 1619 the first African
slaves arrived in Virginia.
1632: The Crown gave Cecilius Calvert (Lord Blatimore) 12 million acres of land North Chespeake
Bay. This colony was named Maryland and was similar to Virginia (large plantations of tobacco,
depending on the labour of indentured servants and., later, slaves). Lord Baltimore was Catholic and
wanted to create a safer place for other Catholic refugees; Maryland was in fact known for being a
very tolerant land.
New England Colonies:
Massachussets 1620 – Massachussets settlement expanded: Puritans who wanted to create a more
rigid and pious society founded the colony of Connecticut (1637), later independent in 1662.
Puritans who found Massachussets too rigid and restrictive, created Rhode Island (1647) where
there was total freedom in religious matters. Others went further north and cretaed New Hampshire
(Royal Province in 1679).
The Middle Colonies:
In 1664 the Duke of York received by his brother King James II the land between Virginia and New
England known as Dutch New Netherland and renamed it New York. There were also French,
Scandinavian and German people, among others. This fact made New York one of the most
prosperous colonies.
In 1680 the Quaker William Penn received the land of Delaware and created Pennsylvania.
Delaware: firstly annexed to New York, then to Pennsylvania, later independent in 1704.
New Jersey: occupied by Swedish, then by Dutch people, it became an English colony in 1664 and
a Royal Province in 1702.
The Souther Colonies:
The Souther Colonies were much less cosmopolitan: planters produced corn, rice, beef and pork
products. The territory from Virgina to Florida was the whole land of Caroline, later divided in
North and South Carolina. In 1732 in order to create a buffer between South Carolina and the
Spanish settlements, England established a new colony, Georgia.
7
Resource 3
Chronology
1754-1763: French-Indian War
1763: Proclamation Line
1764: Sugar Act and Currency Act
1765: Stamp Act
1765: The Stamp Act Congress was held on October 19, in New York City. It was attended by twenty-seven
representatives from what has been known throughout American history as the thirteen colonies. When
the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act, colonists were more than eager to show their displeasure
towards it. The meeting paved the way to the Declaration of Rights. The Stamp Act Congress repealed the
Stamp act. They removed a law that had been nothing but a burden to many Colonists, and did create a
sense of unity amongst the thirteen colonies. It was with the Stamp Act Congress that the thirteen colonies
realized that much could be done if they worked together.
1766 Declaratory Act: “[. . .] and that the king's Majesty [. . .] had, hath, and of right ought to have, full
power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the colonies and
people of America, subjects of the crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever.” The Declaratory Act was
a gesture of British Parliament reasserting its authority to pass taxes and laws on the colonies, even though
they lacked any representation.
1767: Townshend Acts: Series of laws named for Charles Townshend, British Chancellor. These laws
placed new taxes on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea. Colonial reaction to these taxes was the same as to
the Sugar Act and Stamp Act, and Britain eventually repealed all the taxes except the one on tea. In
response to the sometimes violent protests by the American colonists, Great Britain sent more troops to
the colonies. Suspension Act
1768: 4000 redcoat arrived in Boston to maintain order
1770: Boston Massacre
1773 Tea Act that gave a monopoly on tea sales to the East India Company. In other words, American
colonists could buy no tea unless it came from that company. Why? Well, the East Indian Company wasn't
doing so well, and the British wanted to give it some more business. The Tea Act lowered the price on this
East India tea so much that it was way below tea from other suppliers. But the American colonists saw this
law as yet another means of "taxation without representation" because it meant that they couldn't buy tea
from anyone else (including other colonial merchants) without spending a lot more money. Their response
was to refuse to unload the tea from the ships. This was the situation in Boston that led to the Boston Tea
Party
1773 (December) Boston Tea Party
1774 (January) Intolerable Acts
1774 (autumn) First Continental Congress
8
1775: Lexington, Concord and the Second Continental Congress (1775-1781)
4 July 1776: Declaration of Independence.
War and Civil war: Patriots, loyalists and moderate
1777: Colonies were a Confederation, the Congress had little powers
1781-1788 Confederation congress  Articles of Confederation and power to the single states. (The
colonies had to afford too many problems with a separate organization)
3 September 1883: Treaty of Versailles and full independence to the thirteen American colonies
1785: Land ordinance; the Congress sets up protocols for the admission of new states (population, division
of land.
1787: calling themselves "Federalists", the nationalists convinced the Congress to call the Philadelphia
Convention with the task of writing a new constitution (Constitutional Convention).
1788  Constitutional Convention replaces the articles with the Constitution of the United States
1788: ratification of The Constitution1
1779: The new government, under president G. Washington, took office in New York.
1790's: Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee became states.
1
How can different sized states have equal representation in this new government?
•
Large states like Virginia wanted a legislative (law-making) branch where bigger populations gave them more
representatives
•
Small states like New Jersey wanted a legislative branch where all states got the exact same number of
representatives, no matter their size
The Three-Fifths Compromise:
What do we want to say about slavery in this Constitution? Do the slaves count as population?
•
Southern states insisted that their slaves should count toward legislative representation – and that the slave
trade should be allowed to continue
•
Northern states claimed that if slaves were merely property they shouldn’t count – and that the slave trade
should stop soon
•
Solution: Count only 3/5 of the slave population toward representation and allow the slave trade to continue for
20 more years
The result is a new kind of federal state with:
1.
Federal Government (with power to tax states (executive power)
2.
Two-house Congress: house of representatives and Senate: a compromise between small states that wanted the
old system "One state one vote", and large states that wanted to count for their large population.
3.
Supreme court
A Federal government in a check and balance sistem
9
1777: Colonies were a confederation and the Congress was the only federal institution with little
powers
1783 Treaty of Paris: Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States (with western
boundaries to the Mississippi River) and ceded Florida to Spain.
So many problems for the new states: debts with Europe, with banks and rich americans who
borrowed money and supplies during the war
1785: Land ordinance; the Congress sets up protocols for the admission of new states (population,
division of land
1787: calling themselves "Federalists", the nationalists convinced the Congress to call the
Philadelphia Convention with the task of writing a new constitution (Constitutional Convention).
How can different sized states have equal representation in this new government?
• Large states like Virginia wanted a legislative (law-making) branch where bigger
populations gave them more representatives
• Small states like New Jersey wanted a legislative branch where all states got the exact
same number of representatives, no matter their size
Solution: a bicameral (two-house) representative legislature
– One based on population
– One based on equality of all states
The Three-Fifths Compromise:
What do we want to say about slavery in this Constitution? Do the slaves count as population?
• Southern states insisted that their slaves should count toward legislative representation –
and that the slave trade should be allowed to continue
• Northern states claimed that if slaves were merely property they shouldn’t count – and
that the slave trade should stop soon
Solution: Count only 3/5 of the slave population toward representation and allow the slave trade to
continue for 20 more years
10
The result is a new kind of federal state with:
1. Federal Government (with power to tax states (executive power)
2. Two-house Congress: house of representatives and Senate: a compromise between
small states that wanted the old system "One stae one vote", and large states that
wanted to count for their large population.
3. Supreme court
A Federal government in a check and balance sistem
The Constitution was ratified in 1788
The new government, under president G. Washington took office in New York in March 1779.
1790's: Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee became states.
11
Resource 4
Dawn of the American republic.
Victory brought questions about the nature of the American state, including the relationship between
individual colonies and national government. These and other issues, particularly slavery, remained
fissures2 within the new body politic.
The Revolutionary Wars left the colonies in a wretched3 state. For many Americans, the war brought
hardship and suffering even if they were not fighting; more died of disease than from enemy fire. 60,000
Loyalists left the United States. Many settled in Canada(1)……………………… Popular protest within the
States, such as Shay’s Rebellion (1786) against high taxes in Massachusetts, also challenged the old colonial
power structures, demanding wider property ownership and more political representation.
These conflicts also took place at the federal level, as the second Continental Congress (1775-1781) and
Confederation Congress (1781-1788), wrestled with the question of how the new nation should be
governed and what powers the individual states should retain. Fearful of replicating the ‘tyranny’ of
centralized authority represented by British colonial rule, the initial Articles of Confederation (ratified 1781)
enshrined4 the sovereignty of individual states.
Lacking the means to enforce its decisions, national government soon broke down, and the Constitutional
Convention, which met in 1788 at Philadelphia, chose to replace the Articles with the Constitution of the
United States. The Constitutional Convention favored a strong, national government over a loose
federation of states. (2)…………………….
, with the presidency, congress and supreme court provided with
their own areas of responsibility, but able to restrain the other branches of government.
Fearful of the concentration of power and influence of the larger states, Antifederalists successfully
campaigned for ten amendments to the constitution, known as the Bill of Rights and which guaranteed
basic (3)………………………. and the right to a ‘speedy and public trial’ (the 'Sixth Amendment').
Finally, slavery played an important role (4)…………………………………, southern ones. Enslaved black
population were counted proportional as three fifths of state population to determine number of
representatives and also counted as property for tax purposes. Abolition of the importation of slaves was
barred until 1808.
America is often called an idea as much as a place, a clarion call (appello) for freedom, independence and
resistance to tyranny. Yet in contrast to the idealism of the Revolution, (5)
. Women could not vote, nor
could half a million slaves or over a hundred thousand Native Americans. Slavery and racial segregation
remained a political and cultural fault line.
Constitutional amendments have alleviated some of these injustices, and the Constitution of the United
States of America (6)…. , with ideals that still speak to us. The language of democracy and freedom has
informed Western Europe since the Second World War and remains an enduring legacy of the
Enlightenment thought first put into practice in the North American colonies.
Others documents of that era, such as the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789),
have had equal influence, but were informed and in part inspired by the American Revolution, (7)….. .
Other experiments in federal government, such as the European Union may now provide an alternative
model, but it is one that is in many ways indebted to the ambitions of men of the 1770s.
a) the freedom granted by the Constitution remained limited for many years following the Revolution
b) The constitution was guided by the Enlightenment principle of a separation of powers
c) while other revolutions, such as that in Tsarist Russia in 1917, have not matched the peace and
prosperity granted to the citizens of the United States
2
a narrow opening produced by cleavage or separation of parts.
very unfortunate in condition or circumstances; miserable; pitiable /rech-id/
4
to keep, hold, and protect as sacred
3
12
d)
e)
f)
g)
in the debate on the balance of power between the smaller states and the larger
remains the oldest written constitution still in use today
while others had their property confiscated
freedoms such as of speech and worship (the 'First Amendment')
13
Resource 5 – Final Test
Timeline:
1. 1763
2. 1764
3. 1767
4. 1770
5. 1773
6. 1774
7. 1774
8. 1776
9. 1783
10. 1787
11. 1789
12. 1808
a. Enforcement the ancient Navigation Acts
b. Boston Tea Party
c. Declaration of Independence
d. Constitutional Convention
e. First Continental Congress
f. Parliament issued the Proclamation
g. Abolition of slavery
h. Washington is the President of the United States
i. Intolerable Acts
l. Parliament passed the Townshend Acts
m. Treaty of Paris
n. Boston Massacre
What is the Quartering Act?
What is “The shot heard round the world”?
With the new Constitution the problem of representation is resolved
with___________________________
The problem of slavery is resolved with _______________________________________
The new federal state is composed by:
1. …
2. …
3. …
The Bill of Rights is ________________________________________________________________
wanted by the ___________________ in order to guarantee _______________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
14