Civics Unit 1

“Birth of a Democratic Nation” (ch. 2.4)

B: Self- Governing in the colonies

• 1607 Jamestown is settled. By 1619 Virginia elects its first legislative assembly-

• The House of Burgesses- 1st elected representative body in the colonies

• Written in 1620• Pilgrims wrote written agreement as they

made their way on the Mayflower to Massachusetts

• Formed the 1st form of direct democracy• Direct democracy: rule by people 1

person 1 vote. ( Women were not allowed to vote)

Mayflower Compact

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut• First written constitution in the colonies

• Adopted in January 1639 by a number of early puritan towns in Connecticut.

• This was done with the aim of establishing independent rule of law that was distinguishably more free from the earlier and more restrictive Anglican Law imposed by England.

• The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut became the rule of law for Connecticut.

By 1733 Self-Governance was established in all 13

colonies• Elected Governors• Elected Assembly

I. Colonial ResistanceA. British Control

1. Mercantilism is the economic theory that a country’s power depends on its wealth

a. Great Britain needed the colonies to be a source of cheap, raw materials and a market for manufactured goods

b.Salutary Neglect: GB ignored the growing self governing of the colonies- used them only as a means of raw materials.

2.Navigation Acts- (1650-1750) forced colonies to get manufactured goods only from GB

C: Growing Tensions1. Albany Plan of Union (1754)- plan to

unify colonies for mutual defense, failed because colonies did not have enough common experience

2. French and Indian War (1754-1763)a. GB and colonists vs. French and Native

Americansb. Effects: GB wartime debt, colonial

resentment, GB control over most of N. America

c. Proclamation Line of 1763- colonists could not settle west of the Appalachian Mountains

Propaganda

• What is propaganda?• Where have you seen it used?• What techniques of persuasion have

you seen?

3. To pay off war debts, Britain placed taxes on the colonists (end of salutary neglect)a. The Stamp Act of 1765 required colonists

to attach tax stamps to newspapers and documents

b. Quartering Act required colonists to provide living and supplies for GB troops

C. Worsening Relations1. Stamp Act Congress (1765)- nine

colonies met sent a declaration against British actions to kinga. First time a majority of the colonies joined

together to oppose British ruleb. GB gov’t repealed (cancelled) the Stamp

Actc. Declaratory Act (1766)) Parliament

declared that they had the sovereign power to tax their colonies .

2. Townshend Acts (1767)- taxes of variety of goods and allowed British customs officers to search for smugglinga. Colonists began to cause trouble for

officialsb. The Boston Massacre (1770)- British

soldiers fired into a crowd, killing five people

D. Open Resistance1. “No taxation w/out representation”-

slogan of Patriots because they had no representatives in Parliament

2. Colonists decided to boycott, refuse to buy, British goods

3. The Boston Tea Party (1773)- colonists dumped tea in Boston harbor in rebellion of Tea Act

4. Parliament responded with the Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts)- punished city of Boston and restricted colonists’ civil rights including trial by jury

Why were the Intolerable Acts so intolerable?

1. Right to a jury trial were taken away.

2. Tea and goods were too expensive

STOP AND STRETCH

II. IndependenceA. First Continental Congress (1774)

1. They decided to boycott all British goods and organized militias

2. Wrote letter to king demanding that rights be restored, swore to meet again in a year.

3. Lexington and Concord (April 1775)- First battle of the American Revolution

4. Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence (May 20,1775) written in response to the battle in Massachusetts.

B. Second Continental Congress (1775 on)1. Met to decide what to do- divided

opinion2. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense

a. Made the case for American Independenceb. Swayed public opinion

3. Moved closer to independence despite military failures

C. Declaration of Independence1. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson2. Borrowed ideas from John Locke3. Purpose

a. Argue legitimacy of cause to Parliament, other countries

b. Troop morale, support for cause

D. Conclusion of the War1. Small victories, evading bulk of British

forces2. French support turned war around3. War was won in the South- Gen. Nathanial Greene,

Daniel Morgan, Cowpens, Kings Mtn.

4. Battle of Yorktown (1781)- British surrender5. Peace of Paris (1783)- officially won independence

Birth of a Nation-America