First War of Independence

Or

American Revolution

 England while establishing colonies in America exploited them in every possible way.
 England exploited the colonies economically and politically.
 Colonies got united leading to the war against Great Britain
 War between England and Colonies (1775-1783)
 Resulted in the independence of America hence, the War of Independence of America

Timeline of American Revolution

 MERCANTILISM
 Navigation Act (1651)
 Enumerated Act (1660)
 Staple Act (1663)
 Duty Act (1673)
 Commodity Act (1660)
 Enforcement Act (1696)
 Molasses Act (1733)
 Sugar Act (1764)
 Currency Act (1764)
 Quartering Act (1765)
 Declaratory Act (1766)
 Townsend Act (1767)
 British Restriction on manufacturing certain commodities
 SEVEN YEAR WAR (1756-1763)
 CROWN PROCLAIMATION (1765)
 BOSTON MASSACRE (1770)
 BOSTON TEA PARTY (1773)
 INTOLERABLE ACT (1773)
 FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS (1774)
 BEGINNING OF THE WAR (1775)
 SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS (1775)
 BEGINNING OF THE WAR ON TWO SIDES
 RECOGNITION OF US BY FRANCE (1778)
 RECOGNITION OF US BY SPAIN (1779)
 WINNING WAR (1781)
  RECOGNITION OF US BY BRITAIN (1783)

Mercantilism

 Foremost reason of war

 First used by Adam Smith
 System of political economy
 Nations do trade to enhance their economy
 England adopted this and exploited colonies
 Passed many acts to legalize exploitation

 Mercantilism is economic nationalism for the purpose of building a wealthy and powerful state.
 Adam smith coined the term "Mercantile system" to describe the system of political economy
that enriched the country by restraining imports and encouraging exports.
 The goal was to achieve a "favorable" balance of trade that would bring gold and silver into the
country, and maintain domestic employment.
 This was a famous economic theory which was used by British to exploit its colonies.
 According to this theory “the colonies only existed for the benefit of their mother countries”.
 Mercantilism was a cause of frequent Europeans wars during 16th to 18th century and some
schools of thought even suggest that mercantilism was one of the supreme causes which led the
colonies to fight for their independence.

Important Acts Passed in Mercantilism:

1. Navigation Act of 1651

 This act stated that all the goods that were carried to England will now only be carried in
British owned ships.
 Passed in order to restrict colonies to buy only English ships
 Crew inside the ship should also be from England
 Strengthening England shipping industry
 Aimed at:

 Provision of employment to English

 Keeping check and balance
 Damaging Dutch Trade


2. Enumerated Act of 1660
 This act imposed ban on the colonies export.
 Now the commodities such as sugar, cotton, tobacco and dyes were only to be exported
to either England or its colonies only.
 In 1706 and 1722, the list of the items was further expanded.

3. Commodity Act 1660

 All agricultural commodities to be exported to England
 Cheap raw materials
 England would convert them into finished products
 Send finished goods back to colonies at higher prices
 Double exploitation

4. Staple Act of 1663

 These act provided that all the European exports to American colonies must be brought
to English port and be reshipped after the payment of duty.

5. Duty Act of 1673

 This act aim at the enforcement of all earlier acts through the services of custom
collectors.

6. Enforcement Act of 1696

 This act provided strict measures for checking smuggling
 All the colonial ships were now necessarily to be registered in England.
 People of colony used to smuggle goods from other countries.

7. Molasses Act 1733

 This Act imposed ban on the import of French molasses into the English colonies.
 Since molasses are used to make sugar and alcohol

8. The Sugar Act of 1764

 The Sugar Act of 1764 placed taxes on Sugar and other staple commodities, including
sugar, coffee, silk, and wine, and made import of rum illegal
 This made people of colonies worried

9. The Currency Act of 1764

 The Currency Act of 1764 prohibited the printing of paper money in the colonies
 More currency printing leads to inflation leading to inability to pay taxes to England

10. The Quartering Act of 1765

  The Quartering Act of 1765 forced people of colonies to provide food and housing for
royal troops.
 Passed to impose writ of government
 Soldiers are hated by people of colony
 Colony people did not see the need of soldiers in colony

11. The Stamp Act of 1765

 Royal Stamp was made
 The Stamp Act of 1765 required the purchase of Royal Stamps for all legal documents,
newspapers, licenses, and leases.
 Colonists objected to all these measures, but the Stamp Act sparked the greatest
organized resistance.
 Purpose was the imposition of tax
 54 item frequently sold in colonies to have Royal Stamp on them

12. Declaratory Act 1766

 Objective was to establish a proper control over the colonies
 Parliament of England shall have the exclusive power and authority to make laws for
colonies.

13. Townsend Act 1767

 Townsend passed this act to impose duty on tea, paper, glass, etc.
 The act faced severe criticism
 Merchants stopped importing taxed British products leading to the deadline of British
imports by one-half.
 Broad customs commissioners was setup in Boston to check the smuggling

14. British Restriction on Manufacture

 Restriction on manufacture of certain items in colonies such as woolen goods, belts and
other luxury items.
 Laws passed which provided that the colonies must import these goods from Britain.
 Certain acts were passed by Britain such as Woolen Act, the Hat Act.
 Led to the increase resentment among colonists against Britain.
 Civil
Disobedience in
Colony

Daughters of
Sons of Liberty
Liberty

Sons of Liberty and Daughters of Liberty

 SOL – A movement of young boys

 DOL – A movement of young women
 These are political organizations which opposed the stamp act and marched out on the streets
shouting Liberty, Property and No Stamp.

William Penn’s Plan of Union (1697)

 Founder of Pennsylvania
 He gave a plan:
 All colonies must unite
 To form a political body
 For defense of their rights

Great Awakening (1730-1740)

 Jonathan Edward — A religious person

 Used religious platform and created awareness about liberty, freedom and equality
 Developed sense of separatism among people
 Used religion for politics
 Used Bible to transform people's life
 This religious movement laid stress on unity of the 13 colonies.
 This truly was the 1st event in American history which made them realized that they can be
united.
Albany Congress (1754)

 Name of a city in New York

 1754 – A conference was held (by the Government of England) under the supervision of
Benjamin Franklin
 Task was given to Benjamin Franklin to unite all the colonies in order to have manpower to fight
against France
 England wanted force over North America
 Main place of fight was Ohio
 There was a fort at Ohio which was under France’s control (Main reason of seven years’ war)
 England wanted to win war against France to exert influence on North America
 People of all colonies gathered at Albany, hence named Albany Congress.
 Benjamin Franklin gave a plan called Albany Plan of Union
 All colonies have a political union
 Collection of defense taxes
 Colonies decided to make their permanent force for their defense
 The plan & however rejected by England.

Seven Year War (1756 – 1763)

 Also called Anglo-French War

 England and France fought many years
 Both England and France had control over different colonies
 Both countries wanted to expand their empire and increase the production of tobacco.
 Main reason: Controversy over the control of Ohio Valley
 Both Britain and France made allies with native Americans
 This war eliminated the French influence from America and established only English control over
the American continent
 Britain incurred heavy losses and to recover those , taxes were imposed on colonies
 Discontent among the colonies paved the way for American Revolution

Removal of French Danger

 Peace was resorted in Europe by the Treaty of Paris (1763)

 The result of Treaty of Paris (1763) was that the French influence from northern and western
America was eliminated.
 The colonies didn’t need any more help in protecting them.
 Britain, at that time, was involved in many fights.
 Colonies always aided Britain in all the fights.
Crown Proclamation (1763)

 Issued on October 7, 1763.

 Restriction on westward colonial expansion
 Colonial governments were not allowed to buy lands or making any agreements with natives.
 England declared itself the competent authority to conduct all official relations.
 However, the proclamation failed to stem the tide of westward expansion.

 Seven years’ war emerged some great leaders in America such as, Benjamin Franklin, George
Washington, etc.
 More acts were passed by England to regulate the colonies (Sugar Act 1764, Quartering Act
1765, Stamp Act 1765, etc.)

Other Reasons

Pennsylvania Gazette

 Charles Dickens published a magazine to create awareness to make political bodies

 Paved the way to unite colonies

Letter of Samuel Adams

 A resident of Massachusetts.
 Used to write letters to influential people of colonies
 Asked people of colonies to unite.
 Massachusetts became the center of hatred for England.
 He wrote newspaper articles, made speeches and wrote letters to the politicians and influential
persons appealing to the colonists‘ democratic instincts.
 He helped organize committees throughout the colonies that became the basis of a
revolutionary movement

Boston Massacre (1770)

 Boston — A city of Massachusetts

 There was a port - Office of collector customs was situated there.
 Townsend Act (1767)
 People protested against customs commissioner
 Forces of England came in Boston
 Opened fire – 6 Americans were killed
 This sent a message of Britain aggression and sewed the seeds of bitterness in Americans.
Boston Tea Party 1773

 British government impose ban on production of tea in the 13 colonies and impose the 3rd tax
on tea and forced the colonies to buy 17 million pounds of unsold tea of British East India
Company to overcome the losses.
 Ships arrive at American ports laden with tea
 Tea dealers in America were scared that the import of tea will hamper their business
 Propaganda started calling this the tea of slavery.
 343 chests of tea worth $15,022 were emptied into the river
 Excitement ran high in Boston hence name as Boston Tea Party
 Resulted in an unescapable collision between England and America

Intolerable Act (1773)

 England passed acts to punish colony people.

 Sealed port unless money for the tea is paid
 Announced that the trial of British soldiers will be in England.
 Illegal punishment of people of Massachusetts.

First Continental Conference (1774)

 The intolerable acts led to the suspicion in the minds of colonists.

 All colonies except Georgia gathered at Philadelphia
 Condemned Britain
 Popular concern was that there was no representation in the British Parliament that was
imposing laws.
 Suffolk Resolves
 A declaration made on September 9, 1774, by the leaders of Suffolk County,
Massachusetts.
 The declaration rejected the Massachusetts Government Act and resulted in a boycott
of imported goods from Britain unless the Intolerable Acts were repealed.
 American association for the non-importation and non-consumption of British goods as well as
non-exportation of American goods to Britain.

English reaction to the First Continental Congress

 Demands were rejected

 Declared that Massachusetts was in rebellion
 Restraining Act (1775) was passed forbidding the North Americans from fishing.
 Restriction was extended to all colonies except New York, North Carolina and Georgia (Loyal
Colonies)
 Stocked further resentment
Battle of Lexington and Concord (1775)

 Massachusetts didn’t pay for the tea — England called it a rebellious colony.
 Lexington and Concord are cities in Massachusetts.
 British army wanted to seize weapon stockpiles.
 Battle marked the beginning of armed hostilities between Americans and British.
 This battle marked the beginning of American Revolution.

Series of Battles were fought

 Battle of Bunker Hill (1775)

 Battle of Long Island (1776)
 Battle of Fort Ticonderoga (1776)
 Battle of Saratoga (1777)
 Battle of York Town (1781)

Second Continental Conference (1775)

 All colonies participated & announced to break the relation with England
 Declared war on England
 Made their own Army
 Started collecting their own defense tax
 Announced to print currency
 George Washington was made Commander in Chief of Army
 WAR STARTED!

Common Sense by Thomas Pain

 Thomas Pain — A Philosopher

 Wrote letters that it is the common sense that we need liberty/Freedom/Equality
 This philosophy got famous.

4'h July 1776 — Americans signed Declaration of Independence Drafted by Thomas Jefferson

Declaration of Independence

 All men are created equal

 All men have basic human rights given to them by God
 The only reason to have a government is to protect these basic rights which Jefferson listed as;
“Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.
 Government must be by the consent of the governed.
 If the last two conditions are not met, the people have a right to rebel against and overthrow
the government.
 The Americans knew that losing the war meant execution at the hands of Britain
  Formed alliance with France and Spain.
 France provided ammunition and men to support Americans.
 A decisive battle called ‘Battle of York Town 1781’was won by America
 Britain incurred huge losses.
 America won War of Independence in 1783.

Why did Americans win?

 American Revolution was the child of Enlightenment.

Peace treaty of Paris (1783)

 Signed by British and America with the help of France

 England recognized America
 Both sides released war prisoners
 Settlement of Boundaries

Results of War of Independence

 Independence of America
 Rise of American Nationalism
 Secularism in America
 Thoughts for constitutional making started
 Loyalists were expelled from America