Unit 3: 1754-1800

The French and Indian War was a conflict between France and Great Britain that involved the Native Americans and the American colonies. The causes of the war were as follows (source: Heimler's History):

• Disputed land claims, where both Great Britain and France claimed the fertile Ohio River Valley, which was key to westward expansion for the British colonists and crucial for the French fur trade. 

• Expansion of British colonies, with the rapidly growing British colonial population encroaching on lands claimed by France and Native American tribes.

• Construction of French forts in response to British expansion.

This led to the Albany Congress, whose goal was to forge an alliance with the Iroquois Confederacy, who also joined the British cause. The Albany Plan of Union, which was drafted by Ben Franklin, also meant to give delegates the power to tax an raise militias and to create a strategic alliance with Native Americans. It failed but was a precursor to other colonial policy.  

The French and Indian War ultimately ended with the Peace of Paris in 1763, with the British being declared victorious. This was a great victory, but put the motherland in a lot of debt. It was estimated that they doubled the national debt.

To fix their national debt, the British abandoned their policy of salutary neglect in favor of more direct control. The colonists were still seen as British subjects, and thus it was in the opinion of the British government that they served the crown. The British began to implement many new policies like (source: Heimler's History):

• Reinforcing the Navigation Acts.

• Continuing wartime policies despite the new peace, such as the Quartering Act (which required colonists to house and feed British soldiers.

• New taxes like the Sugar and Currency Acts of 1764 and Stamp Act of 1765. The Sugar Act decreased taxes on imported goods like molasses and cracked down on colonial smuggling. The Currency Act required the use of British currency. The Stamp Act taxed paper items. 

This started the motto "No Taxation Without Representation" which expressed colonial discontent at taxes by proclaiming that it was unfair for them to be taxed without representatives in Parliament. The British countered by saying that colonists were part of the British empire and Parliament represented all British subjects.

This led to the formation of colonial resistance groups such as the Sons and Daughters of Liberty. These groups were employed as merchants, artisans, and tailors and fought for the appeal of the Stamp Act. They spread messages through committees of correspondence, which were a system of communication and a provisional government used by American colonists to coordinate resistance against British rule and build unity before the American Revolution.  

The House of Burgesses also created the Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions which were a series of resolutions passed by the Virginia House of Burgesses in May 1765, primarily drafted by Patrick Henry, asserting that only Virginia's assembly could tax Virginians. The colonies later held the Stamp Act Congress which consisted of twenty seven delegates from nine colonies that declared taxation without representation was tyranny. Despite formally meeting, they weren't arguing for independence yet. 

Tensions erupted between the colonists and the British at the Boston Massacre. It occurred on March 5, 1770, in Boston, Massachusetts, and involved British soldiers shooting and killing five American colonists. The colonists declared the massacre clear proof of British tyranny. 

The Boston Tea Party was another result of tensions where American colonists dumped 342 chests of tea from three British ships into Boston Harbor to protest the "taxation without representation" imposed by the British Parliament.

In response to these events, the British created the Coercive Acts, which closed Boston Harbor until the lost tea was repaid. 

The Enlightenment was a movement that occurred around the time of the beginnings of the Revolution and motivated a lot of the colonists' attitudes towards the way they were being treated. Some of the famous philosophers included:

John Locke: 

• Everyone has god-given rights that must be respected, called natural rights. 

Jean-Jacques Rousseau:

• The power to govern in the hands of the people, they agree to give up certain freedoms in exchange for the government to protect their rights. This is called the social contract. 

Radical Whigs:

• Mixed government, a combination of democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy to create a balanced system of governance. 

• Individual liberties against the potential for tyranny.

In response to increased British tyranny, the colonists created the First Continental Congress to fight against the Intolerable Acts and encouraged an organized resistance to British policies. 

The Second Continental Congress met to organize colonial response to increased British aggression. There was still no desire to break away and many colonists wanted to keep up the colonial relationship with rights. The petitions they sent to the king were rejected. 

Common Sense by Thomas Paine helped get colonists on the same page by arguing for independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies.