Tell me what these guys believed in!

• Locke-

• Voltaire-

• Rousseau-

• Montesquieu-

The American Revolution

Background• British Gov’t had over 10,000

troops in the colonies post F&I War to protect the colonists from Natives

• The war debt from the F&I War was 140 million £

• Focus was to cut costs and increase revenues

Mercantilism

• Colonies exist for the benefit of the mother country

• Labor intensive cash crops create a need for cheap labor

• Triangle trade develops

• Raw materials from colonies to GB.

Enlightenment Ideas

• Locke- Natural Rights

• Voltaire- Free Speech• Rousseau- Social Contract

• Montesquieu- Checks and Balances

Proclamation of 1763• Attempted to keep the

colonists from expanding to western areas by outlawing land purchases.

• Believed this would keep the conflict between natives and colonists down

• Less soldiers needed to keep peace.

• Save £

Revenue Act of 1764

The Sugar Act • Strengthened an already

existing tax on molasses that was seldom ever collected

• Lowered the tax amount

• Taxed other items ex: silk and wine

• Created a booming smuggling business

Quartering Act of 1765

• Required colonists to house, feed and care for soldiers.

Stamp Act

• Required a tax stamp on all printed materials

• Caused protest and Boycott

• Repealed in 1766

Townshend Act

• Revenue Act- tax on lead, glass, paper and tea.

• Legalized the use of writs of assistance-general search warrants.

Boston Massacre-

• Citizens were harassing troops, eventually chaos erupted and the troops opened fire, killed 5 and wounded 6

Reaction

• Brits repealed the Townsend acts but kept tea tax

• Boston Tea Party- Tea act allowed BEIC to sell its tea cheaper than smuggled Dutch tea. Angry merchants seize a ship and dump the tea. 342 chests worth

Intolerable Acts

• Response to Boston Tea Party

• Shut down the Port of Boston

• Banned Town Meetings

• Suspended the right to a jury trial

Response

• First Continental Congress

• Met in Philadelphia in 1774

• Organized economic boycott

• Military Preparations underway

• Minutemen

Concord and Lexington• Rumors of large weapons caches

outside of Boston

• General Gage marches troops to investigate

• 700 British Regulars march on April 18 1775

• Paul Revere William Dawes and Samuel Prescott lead the warning

April 19

• British troops march into Lexington

• Only meet 70 Minutemen

• Fight lasts 15 minutes and they find nothing

• On the return trip they are ambushed and take great casualties