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HST 121: History of the United States to 1877 |
American Revolution
During the 1760s, why did the British government develop a new colonial policy? Why were colonists inclined to oppose the new policy? How did the new policy and the colonial reaction to it lead to the Revolution? Why did colonists divide into Patriots, Loyalists, and moderates?
I: Reasons for a new colonial policy
A: Vast empire to administer requiring more revenue
1: Size: 7 Years War and Treaty of 1763
2: Problems: Pontiac and Indian resistance
B: Mercantilism & Navigation Acts versus the French
II: Reasons for colonial distrust
A: Colonists had liked the way the imperial system worked
1: It worked like federalism
2: Tradition of how the system had worked--the British unwritten constitution
B: Country Opposition thought
1: Power corrupts--continuous growth of wealth and power at the center
2: Conspiracy at the center to take from the Country
C: Colonial Indebtedness
III: British policy
A: Regulation
1: Proclamation Line
2: Sugar Act
3: Tea Act
B: Revenue
1: External taxes: Sugar Act and Townshend Duties
2: Internal Tax: Stamp Act
C: Law
1: Admiralty Law
2: Coercive Acts
3: Quebec Act
4: Status of Slavery
IV: Colonial reaction escalates
A: Resolutions and petitions
1: Patrick Henry's Virginia Resolutions vs. the Stamp Act
2: Stamp Act Congress Resolutions
3: Continental Congress, Resolutions vs. the Coercive Acts
B: Action taken in resistance
1: Smuggling
2: Boycotts (non-importation)
3: Sons of Liberty
C: Pamphlets, propaganda
--John Dickinson, Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania
V: Division among the colonists
A: Patriots
B: Loyalists
C: Moderates
VI: Rebellion or War of Independence
A: George III's Declaration of Rebellion
B: Patriots choose independence
1: Thomas Paine, Common Sense
2: Congress votes for independence