Causes of the American Revolution:

Policy of Salutary Neglect: looked the other way from the unfair tax laws because
they no longer needed them until after the French and Indian War
Mercantilism: an economic system where the European mother country extracted
the raw materials from the colonies, and sent them back, soul purpose: make
England rich
French and Indian War: British and colonists were fighting the French and Native
Americans, who united to make a profitable fur trade, British wanted to charge the
colonists for their war debts, that caused the stamp acts and sugar acts
o Fighting over land
No taxation without representation: the colonists were upset that the British
were taxing them without someone representing them in government
Albany Plan of Union: Join or Die cartoon by Benjamin Franklin, he believed
that they had to unite in order to defeat England
o Failed, but the message kept
Proclamation of 1763: line down the Appalachian mountains, colonists forbidden
west of the line, divided the land that was given to the Native Americans
Events Leading to Revolution
o Sugar Act: British taxed imports of sugar, increased the cries for no
taxation without representation
o Stamp Act: a direct and internal tax on anything printed (including dice
and playing cards), items within the colonies, repealed after the colonists
protested
Sons of Liberty: people that claimed responsibility for the Boston
Tea Party, Sam Adams was a major person
Tarring and feathering the tax collectors before the stamp
act went into place so there would be no tax collectors
when they would want to collect them, so the act was
repealed
o Boston Massacre: a protest against British rule and taxes, armed British
soldiers went against unarmed colonists, John Adams successfully
defended the British troops in court, colonists hurled snowballs at troops
o Intolerable Acts: acts that punished the colonists for the Boston Tea Party,
closed the Boston Harbor, decreased the power of the MA legislature,
made the colonists pay for the tea that they destroyed, issued a new
quartering act, Quebec Act: Increased the size of Quebec, extended Roman
Catholicism.
o First Continental Congress: in Philadelphia, 12 colonies were present,
Declaration of Rights signed
Only colonial legislatures can tax
Boycotts on all GB products
Repealed the intolerable acts
Formed a colonial militia (Minute Men)

Second Continental Congress: 1775, colonists from NE wanted war,

middle colonies wanted more diplomacy, colonists prepared for war, GW
named commander in chief of continental army
o Patriot/Loyalist: 20% loyalist, 40% patriots, 40% neutral
Patriot: likes America, Whigs, believed that the other side was a
tyranny
Loyalists: loyal to GB, aka Tories
B. The Revolutionary War and Declaration of Independence
o

Battle of Lexington and Concord: Shot heard around the world, first battle of the
American revolution, many colonists killed
George Washington: general of the colonial militia: Commander in chief
Ideas of Declaration of Independence (Thomas Jefferson)
o Committee of 5: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Ben Franklin, Roger
Sherman, Robert Livingston
Three parts: purpose: official declaration of a break from England
Reasons for fighting: taxes, king is a tyrant, quartering of troops
o Document
Analyzed inalienable rights (life, liberty, property)
Role of government (protecting natural rights, deciding to end the
government if they end to protect those rights)
Get help from another nation (France, Spain)
Slavery costs, wanted to end slavery (south rejected this clause)
Thomas Paine and Common Sense: best selling pamphlet, about a break from
England, written in simple language, written to convince Americans to leave
England
Saratoga: turning point of the war, in favor of the colonists
Two alliances: Franco-American alliance 1778, Spanish-American alliance
1779
Yorktown: 1781, last battle of the revolution, British surrender, Lord Cornwallis
was the British general that surrendered
o The Treaty of Paris: 1783, Treaty that ended the war, established the
thirteen colonies as thirteen states
o Ben Franklin was there
o John Adams was sent home
o Thomas Jefferson replaced him
o Boundaries were west of the Mississippi River, South was Florida
Effects of the American Revolution: new forms of government new ideas,
loyalists left, new American cultural identity, Americans established a republic
(form of government where the power resides in a body of citizens with the right
to vote), new state constitutions, voter rights were expanded, more freedom of
religion