Age of Democratic

Revolution
The American Revolution
An Enlightenment Experiment
 Long-Term Causes of the American
Revolution
• Enlightenment & Great Awakening
– Questioning of authority & demand for liberty and
equality (Locke, Rousseau)
• Mercantilism & Colonization
– Impact of Navigation Acts
• Salutary Neglect
• Distance: ~ 3,000 miles
• Impact of the French & Indian War (Seven
Years’ War in Europe)
 French & Indian War
• Large War Debt!
• Britain levied taxes on colonists to pay for
their protection by British regulars from Indian
and French attacks.
– Colonists were not used to such taxes
How does the British government try to
recover funds?

• Sugar Act (1764)

• Stamp Act (1765)
• Townshend Acts
• = $1.20 per year
“No Taxation Without Representation!”
• Colonials protest:
– Boycotts
– Stamp Act Congress
– Pamphlets
– Newspapers
– Committees of
Correspondence
–
–
–
 Protest Turns Radical
• Sons of Liberty
• Boston Massacre
What was the
• Boston Tea Party “point of no
return”?
• Intolerable Acts
• Battle of Lexington & Concord
• Common Sense
• 1st and 2nd Continental Congresses
• Declaration of Independence
Were the American colonists justified in waging war and breaking away from Britain?

Read the documents provided. Create an outline answering the above question.
 Revolutionary War

• The British open a 2nd front

in the South that was
considerably more loyal to
the British Crown than New
England.
 Yankee Doodle Dandy
• The song was first sung by British soldiers in
the Revolutionary War, mocking the
uncivilized Americans. After Bunker Hill, they
no longer sang the tune. When the tide of the
war turned, Americans sang the tune to the
British as a triumph.
• “Jahnke” (Dutch) = “Johnny”, uncultured
• “Doodle”= hick, uncivilized, uneducated
• “Macaroni” = an trendy men's club in London
 Revolutionary War
• Americans were
assisted primarily by
France and Spain
monetarily and
militarily.

• What figures played key

roles in the American
Revolution?
 Revolutionary War
• Who’s Who of the • Map of the American
American Revolution Revolution
– Create a chart according – Color the map of the
to the directions you Original 13
have received. Colonies/States
accordingly.
American Revolution