UNIT 3: REVOLUTION to CONSTITUTION1
SECTION1 –ROAD TO REVOLUTION
I. Troubleson the Frontier – After French and Indian War
A.After driving the French from the OhioValley in 1760, English colonists crossed the Appalachian Mountains and headed west to farm.
1.Many Native American nations lived in the OhioValley; and as the British settlers moved into the valley, they often clashed with the Indians.
2.In 1762, the British sent Lord Jeffrey Amherst to keep order in the frontier.
a.Amherst raised the price of British goods traded to Indians.
b.He allowed English settlers to build forts on Indian lands.
3.Native Americans turn to ______, an Ottawa chief who had fought with the French.
a.Pontiac led an attack on British troops at ______.
b.Other Indians join the fight; and in a few months, they captured most British forts on the frontier.
c.British and colonial troops struck back and regained much of what they had lost.
d.These skirmishes became known as ______.
e.In October 1763, the French informed Pontiac that they had signed the Treaty of Paris.
f.One by one, the Indian nations stopped fighting and returned home.
4.Pontiac’s War convinced the British to close western lands to settlers.
a.The British government issued the ______.
–It drew an imaginary line along the crest of the Appalachian Mountains.
–Colonials were forbidden to settle west of the line.
–Colonials already settled west of the line were ordered to remove themselves at once.
–10,000 British troops were sent to the colonies to enforce the law.
b.The Proclamation of 1763 was an attempt by Britain to gain better ______of
colonists; but colonists were ______because it limited economic opportunity and
defeated the purpose of the French and Indian War.
II. England Raises Taxes on the Colonies
A.Britain was deeply in debt because of the French and Indian War.
1.Taxes for citizens in Britain rose sharply to offset the debt.
2.Britain’s Parliament passed laws giving North American colonists a share of tax burden since the
colonists had gained the most from the war.
B.The Sugar Act of 1764: lowered the sugar tax to end smuggling.
C.Currency Act of 1764: colonies no longer had the right to print paper money.
D.The Stamp Act of 1765: taxed all printed paper goods – first direct tax on American goods.
1.Colonists said the taxes were unjust – against the principle that there should be
______.
2.The Stamp Act crisis brought a sense of unity to the colonies.
a.The ______was formed during this crisis.
–a secret organization of American patriots
3.Stamp Act Congress: delegates from nine colonies met in New York City in October 1765.
a.Sent Declaration of Rights and Grievances to protest Parliament’s ability to tax the colonies.
b.Colonists joined together in a ______(a refusal to buy certain goods and services) of
British goods.
–Trade declined by 14%.
4.In 1766, Parliament ______(canceled) the Stamp Act, but at the same time passed the
Declaratory Act which declared Parliament’s right to legislate for the colonies.
E.Townshend Acts: an indirect tax on imports such as glass, paper, paint, lead, and tea; passed by
Parliament in June 1767.
1.The taxes were low, but colonists objected.
2.The Townshend Acts set up new ways to collect taxes.
a.Using legal documents known as ______(warrants to
search for smuggled goods), customs officers could inspect a ship’s cargo without giving a
reason.
3.In response, colonial merchants and planters signed nonimportation agreements, promising to stop
importing goods taxed by the Townshend Acts.
a.Colonists supported this boycott, and the Townshend Acts were repealed on everything but
______.
F.Leaders emerged in all the colonies during the struggle over taxes.
1.______organized a committee of correspondence in Massachusetts, and
soon all colonies had them.
a.They wrote letters and pamphlets reporting on events in their colonies to keep colonists informed
of activities in all the colonies.
2.Colonial ______played an important role in uniting colonists against the British –
they published newspapers and magazines, and printed letters and pamphlets that kept colonists
informed of anti-British activities.
3.George ______and ______became leaders in Virginia.
5.Port cities such as Boston and New York were centers of protests.
a.In New York, a dispute arose over the Quartering Act of 1765.
–Under the law, colonists had to provide housing for British troops.
–The New York assembly refused to obey the law; so in 1767, Britaindismissed the assembly.
b.In Boston, British soldiers set up tents on Boston Common.
–British soldiers were sent there to protect customs officials from local citizens.
G.On March 5, 1770, a crowd of colonists gathered outside the Boston customs house shouting insults at
British soldiers who were guarding the building.
1.As the crowd grew larger and rowdier and began throwing snowballs, oyster shells, and chunks of
ice at the soldiers, the soldiers panicked and fired into the crowd.
2.When the smoke cleared, 5 people lay dead or dying – among them was
______(a black sailor who had just gotten off a ship).
3.Sam Adams quickly wrote other colonists about the shooting – calling it the
______.
4.As news of the Boston Massacre spread, colonists became outraged.
5.The soldiers were arrested and tried in court; ______defended them
a.He wanted to show the world that the colonists believed in justice.
b.He argued that the soldiers were provoked by the crowd – the soldiers received very light
sentences.
H.On the day of the Boston Massacre, the British Parliament coincidentally voted to repeal most of the
Townshend Acts.
1.King George III persuaded Parliament to keep the tax on tea – as a symbol that Britain had the right
to tax the colonies.
2.Colonists were pleased and ended the boycott on British goods; most dismissed the tea tax as
unimportant because it was small, but many still refused to buy English tea.
I.In 1773, Parliament passed the ______, giving the British East India Company a
______by allowing them to bypass colonial tea merchants and sell tea directly to
colonists.
1.The intent of this law was to put ______out of business.
2.This lowered the price of tea for colonists even though there was still a tea tax.
3.Colonists were angry because if Parliament could ruin the tea merchants’ business, what would
prevent them from turning on other businesses?
4.Once again, colonists responded with a ______, led by the Daughters of Liberty.
5.Colonists (Sons of Liberty) also prevented the British East India Company from unloading cargoes
of tea from their ships.
6.On December 6, 1773, thousands of people gathered at the meetinghouse and voted that the ships
should leave Boston harbor without unloading. But the governor would not let the ships sail.
7. That evening, 50-60 people (organized by the Sons of Liberty and supposedly disguised as Mohawk
Indians) boarded the ships and dumped the tea into the harbor. They were led by
______and ______.
8.This event became known as the ______.
J.Parliament passed the above acts to pay for the French and Indian War, colonial defense and
administration, and to regain ______over the “insubordinate” colonists. But colonists
thought that these actions infringed upon their ______as English citizens.
III.To Arms!
A.In response to the Boston Tea Party, King George III encouraged Parliament to punish Boston –
Parliament took the following actions (known as the Coercive Acts) in 1774, which the colonists called
the ______.
1.Parliament ______– no ship
or small boat could enter or leave until Boston paid for the tea.
2.Colonists were forbidden to hold town meetings more than once a year without the governor’s
permission.
3.Customs officers and other officials charged with major crimes would be tried in Britain instead of
in Massachusetts.
4.A new ______was passed.
a.Redcoats no longer had to camp in tents on Boston Common – British commanders could force
citizens to house troops in their homes.
5.The ______was passed which moved the southern boundary of the Canadian
province to the Ohio River and the western boundary to the Mississippi River – several colonies had
claims on land in this area, granted to them in their original charters.
B.Colonists responded to the Intolerable Acts.
1.Committees of correspondence spread news of the Intolerable Acts.
2.Other colonies sent carts filled with food to Boston to prevent starvation.
3.In September 1774, delegates from 12 colonies met in ______in what
became known as the ______(only
Georgia did not send delegates).
a.The First Continental Congress passed a resolution to boycott all British goods and to
______goods to Britain until the Intolerable Acts were repealed.
b.The Congress also urged each colony to set up and train its own ______(an army of
citizens who serve as soldiers during an emergency).
C.Colonial volunteers regularly trained – they were known as ______(because they kept
their muskets at hand, ready to fight at a minute’s notice).
D.Britain built up its forces by sending more troops to Boston.
E.Early in 1775, British commander General Thomas Gage was informed that minutemen had a large store
of arms in ______(a village about 18 miles from Boston).
1.On April 18, about 700 British troops left Boston under cover of darkness to seize the arms in
Concord.
2.The Sons of Liberty, who were watching the British, hung two lamps from the Old North Church in
Boston as a signal that the redcoats were on the move.
3.Colonists across the Charles River saw the signal, and messengers mounted on horseback rode
through the night toward Concord – one midnight rider was ______.
4.Henry Wadsworth ______wrote a poem which immortalized Paul Revere as a
midnight rider … “Now listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.”
5.At daybreak on April 19, redcoats reached ______, a town near Concord.
a.Waiting for the redcoats on the village green of Lexington were 70 minutemen commanded by
Captain John Parker.
b.The British ordered the minutemen to go home; outnumbered, the colonists began to leave.
c.A shot was fired – no one knows who fired it – followed by a brief fight in which 8 colonists
were killed and 1 British soldier was wounded.
6.The British continued on to Concord but found no arms there when they arrived, so they turned back
to Boston.
7.On a bridge outside of Concord, the British met 300 minutemen. Again, there was fighting, and the
British were forced to retreat – during the retreat, colonial ______in the
woods and fields were firing upon the British.
8.By the time the redcoats reached Boston, 73British soldiers were dead and another 200 were
wounded or missing.
a.England was stunned.
F.News of the battles at ______and ______spread quickly – these battles
marked the beginning of the war for American independence – which became known as the
______.
1.More than 60 years later, a well-known New England poet, Ralph Waldo ______, wrote
a poem about the battles, referring to “the ______.”
SECTION 2 – THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
I.Early Battles
A.By March 1775, the colonies were on the brink of war. At a meeting in Richmondof delegates from
across Virginia, ______voiced his now famous words: “I know not what
course others may take; but as for me, ______.”
B.Even after the battles at Lexington and Concord, many colonists still hoped for a peaceful solution.
1.The colonies had no united army or united government.
C.On ______, the American Revolution began when the first shots were fired at
Lexington and Concord.
1775Weapons & supplies / Had all they needed / Next to none
Armies / Biggest in the world / Next to none
Navy / Largest in the world / Nothing
Money / Richest in the world / Next to nothing
a.Biggest advantage Americans had:
______
D.The ______, a band of Vermonters led by
______seized ______in a surprise attack.
1.First big battle of the American Revolution – in upstate New York, near Lake Champlain.
2.This is where the colonists got their first ______.
a.The fort had many cannons and a supply of gunpowder, which the colonists badly needed.
3.Control of the fort also gave Americans control of a key route into ______.
E.Delegates from the colonies met at the
______in Philadelphia.
1.Even though fighting had begun, most delegates did not want to break with Britain.
2.The Congress voted to reconcile with King George III and send him the
______– which declared their loyalty and asked the
king to repeal the Intolerable Acts.
a.The king didn’t read the petition because he was confident the British could defeat the colonials.
3.The Congress also voted to set up the ______; and on the
recommendation of John Adams,voted______of Virginia as the
commander.
F.Strengths and Weaknesses:
Strengths / WeaknessesColonials / Drive to defend homes, farms, lands, shops.
Many owned rifles and were good shots.
George Washington was a brilliant leader. / Untrained forces.
Few cannons, little gunpowder.
No navy.
British / Highly trained & experienced troops.
Most powerful navy in world – ships to
quickly move soldiers & supplies up and
down Atlantic coast. / Armies were 3,000 miles away
from home.
Took news & supplies months to
travel to North America.
G.The ______(______)
was the first major battle of the Revolution.
1.Located in Charlestown, across the river from Boston.
2.On June 16, 1775, Colonel William Prescott led Americans to Bunker Hillto dig in so they could
fire on soldiers and British ships in the harbor, to keep the British from leaving the city of Boston
untilWashington arrived.
a.When Prescott saw that Breed’s Hill was a better position, he had his men dig trenches there.
3.When British general William Howe spotted the Americans, he ferried about 2,400 redcoats across
the harbor to Charlestown.
a.Each soldier carried a heavy pack weighing about 125 lbs., so they moved slowly across
the fields and up Breed’s Hill.
b.Twice they tried to advance up the hill, only to retreat under deadly fire.
4.The Americans watched the British approach; but because they had very little gunpowder, the
colonists were told, “______!”
5.On the third try, the British pushed over the top – the colonists ran out of ______.
a.The British took both Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill.
b.When it was over, more than 1,000 redcoats lay dead or wounded; and American losses
numbered around 400.
c.The battle was considered a ______victory for Americans because the colonials probably
could have won had they not run out of gunpowder.
H.Washington reached Boston in midsummer of 1775, where he found about 16,000 colonial troops.
1.Initially, soldiers from different colonies ______one another.
2.As Washington won the ______of his troops, they learned to take orders and work
together.
3.By January 1776, Washington had a firm grip on Boston.
a.Americans took cannons from FortTiconderoga to DorchesterHeights, and forced the British
out of Boston – they sailed to Halifax, Canada, in March 1776.
–The British destroyed everything they could before leaving (cannons, etc.)
–Within a year, the British came back down Lake Champlain and took back FortTiconderoga.
4.King George III ordered a ______(the shutting off of a port to keep people or
supplies from moving in or out) of all colonial ports and hired Hessian troops from Germany to help
fight the colonists.
I.Some Americans wanted to fight the British in Canada, and hoped to win support from French
Canadians unhappy with British rule.
1.Washington wants to win the city of ______.
2.In the fall of 1775, he senttwo American armies into Canada.
a.They were led by Richard______and
______.
3.French Canadians did not support the Americans.
4.Americans unsuccessfully attacked Quebec on December 31, 1775.
a.Montgomery was killed and Arnold was wounded.
5.Americans stayed outside Quebec until May 1776 when the British landed new forces.
6.Weakened by ______and ______, the Americans withdrew from Canada,
leaving it to the British.
II.Independence Declared
A.In January 1776, a pamphlet written by ______entitled
______began circulating in Philadelphia. In 6 months, more than 500,000
copies were printed and sold.
1.Using “simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense,” Paine urged colonists to declare their
______.
2.Paine’s reasoning won many colonists to the idea of independence, including members of the
Continental Congress.
a.If the Congress declared independence and any of its members fell into British hands, they would
be hanged as ______(people who betray their country).
B.In June 1776, the Continental Congress chose a committee to draw up a declaration of independence –
the committee included:
John ______
Benjamin ______
Thomas ______
Robert ______
Roger ______
1.Their job was to inform the world why the colonies were breaking away from Britain.
2.The committee asked Thomas Jeffersonto write the document – he is known as the
“______” of the ______.
3.Jefferson completed the declaration in late June.
C.On July 2, the Continental Congress voted that the 13 colonies were “free and independent States.”
1.On ______, the Congress accepted the Declaration of Independence.
Since then, Americans have celebrated July 4th as Independence Day.
2.______, president of the Continental Congress, was the first to sign the
Declaration.
D.The Declaration of Independence has ___ main parts:
1.______: The first part of the Declaration describes the basic rights on
which the United States of America was founded.
a.People protect the rights by forming ______.
b.If a government takes away the rights of its citizens, then it is the ______of the people to
get rid of that government and establish a new one.
2.______: The second part of the Declaration lists the wrongs Britain
committed.
a.King George III abused his power when he disbanded colonial legislatures and sent troops to the
colonies in times of peace.
b.Other wrongs are also listed to show why the colonists had the right to rebel.
3.______: The third part of the Declaration
proclaims that the colonies had become “the ______.”
a.All ______with Britain were ______.
b.As a ______and independent nation, the U.S. could make ______and