The 7 Years War (The French and Indian War) originated from the land disputes in the Ohio River Valley. The British colonies had begun to expand westwards to take part in the lucrative fur industry that the French had fully invested in. Because the French wanted to prevent the British from taking away from their fur trade, the French built a chain of forts in the Ohio River Valley. As the French were essentially blocking the British from expanding westwards, the Virginian governor sent an armed militia led by George Washington to the Ohio River Valley. The tensions escalated into a war from this.
2. As the British were victorious in the 7 Years War, they and the colonists had “won” the land in the Ohio River Valley. However, as the battle was far away from England and used a large amount of resources to win, England had made a large amount of debts. The English, especially the King, felt the responsibility to pay the debts should fall onto the colonists. This meant the colonists were faced with huge taxes and acts, such as the Stamp Act or the Townsend Acts, which would affect everyone, of all economic statuses.
This upset and angered the colonist, as they were being taxed without any consideration or involvement with the tax’s creation. In addition, as England wanted to protect its colonists from being killed by the Natives who either allied with the French or had originally inhabited their “won” lands, England created the Proclamation of 1763 which prevented colonial settlers from venturing into their new lands. This further upset the colonist as they could not use or go into the lands they had fought hard and died for. The actions England made after the war made the colonist feel disconnected from the British.
3. The British tried to assert tighter control over the colonies after the 7 Years War because they believed they had to protect them and make them pay for the debts they were raking up from said protection. One instance was the Proclamation of 1763 where the British prevented the colonist from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. This restricted the movement of the colonist, and made the colonist from disconnected and used by the British, as they had just fought a difficult battle to win the lands they were prevented from going to. In addition, the British made the Stamp Act which was the first direct tax collected from every single colonist who would purchase most printed papers. This infuriated the colonists as they had to pay taxes to a government that gave them no physical representation in Parliament.
This act led to the creation of the Sons and Daughters of Liberty, which was a radical separatist group that would intimidate tax agents. A third instance where they took more control of the colonies was when they created the “Intolerable Acts,” or the Coercive Acts. These were laws created in with the goal of retaliating against the Boston Tea Party. It punished the people of Boston and Massachusetts by prohibiting trade into and out of the port, reduced power of the Massachusetts legislature, and allowed royal officials to be tired in England rather than in the colonies. These acts were the final straw for the Colonists and 12 colonies, Georgia did not, sent delegates to the First Continental Congress, which decided how it would succeed from the United Kingdom.
4. The colonist took a violent attitude towards rebelling against the taxes and acts with the creation of the Sons and Daughters of Liberty. This group would tar and feather tax collectors and it organized the Boston Tea Party, where tea was dumped into Boston harbor in response to the continued Tea Act. In addition, the colonists organized the Continental Congresses where it would decide how it would fix the disputes between the British and themselves. One important action they did was the repeal of the Coercive Acts and instituting a boycott of British goods in the colonies. Finally, the Colonists create the Declaration of Independence at the Second Continental Congress which formally declared their succeeding from the King.
5. The American colonists won the war because of many a few important and key possessions the British did not have. To begin with, the colonist militias, or military, were fighting against the British for a purpose. They were fighting to guarantee their rights and future. They believed if they won, they would have fair and equal representation and representation, which was promised in the Declaration of Independence. This was a mental edge the colonists had over the British solders, which were simply following orders. In addition, the colonies had an ally, the French, to support them. After the Battle of Saratoga the colonists had a partner to help and aid them through the war by forcing the British to not direct all of its resources strictly to the colonies. Finally, the war had become unpopular to the British at home as it took a hard toll on everyone, due to length, difficulty, and the cost. The combination of factors helped the colonists become victorious in the war.
6. The new American government embodied and was influenced by many Enlightenment ideals. One way it was influenced by the Enlightenment was the creation of separate power, or the separation of powers. Baron de Montesquieu argued for the separation of powers during the Enlightenment as he believed they would check and balance each other to ensure one individual would not become a despot. In addition, the Enlightenment inspired the creators the government by offering John Locke’s natural rights. John Locke claimed everyone should have their natural rights protected. In the American government, everyone’s inalienable rights, as called in the Declaration of Independence, were protected. Furthermore, Rousseau’s ideas regarding representative governments were taken into consideration when the US government was created, as the government is a representative government with physical representation, unlike the virtual representation the colonists had in England before the revolution.
7. The Articles of Confederation failed because it created a weak national government. The Articles upheld the desire for giving powers to the individual states, but that meant the country did not have a standing army, a form of tax collection, a common currency, and made it difficult to suppress domestic issues, such as Shay’s Rebellion. The Articles created a government for the new state, in order to provide some amount of unity immediately after Victory. It was obvious the Articles were not going to last forever when they were enacted as the Revolutionary leaders new it had to create a form of a national government to collect taxes and create national decisions.
8. Because it was common knowledge the new state would have a representative government, the members wanted to ensure their home states would have as much representation as possible. Because representation was decided to be based on the Great Compromise, the southern states wanted to include their slave population, which would increase the amount of representation in the House of Representatives. This led to the 3/5 compromise, where slaves would only equal 3/5 of a person. This meant for every 5 slaves, 3 people could be added to the states’ population. In addition, slavery was seen as a contradiction the ideals that were wanted in the new state. This led to the declaration that slavery would be ended in 1808. (which did not happen)
9. The central argument between the two groups was the existence a federal government. The Federalists wanted a federal government, which they believed was necessary to preserve the Union. The Anti-Federalists wanted the majority of the power to rest in the states, just like the Articles of Confederation. Because the Federalists eventually were able to create the Constitution, which set up the new federal government, in conjuncture with the regional governments, the Anti-Federalists created a Bill of Rights to go along with the Constitution. This Bill of Rights would prevent the central ment from limiting democracy or restricting the states’/ peoples’ rights. Furthermore, the Anti-Federalists believed a tyrannical government could be prevented because of there Bill of Rights.
10. In the 1790s, two political parties surrounded the actions of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. The Federalists supported the actions of Hamilton who wanted to consolidate debt and pay it off with a national bank. Jefferson did not want to create a national bank and opposed the high tariffs the Federalists wanted. However, the parties were more easily defined by the side they took during the French Revolution. The Federalists did not want to involve themselves with the Revolution, but the Democratic-Republicans did want to because they believed France was their friend.
11. The Northwest Ordinance created a set of rules and process in which a region could become a state. It was created in order to organize the lands western lands, Great Lakes regions and it increased westward expansion. It, however, prevented Slavery from spreading throughout the colonies as slavery would not be allowed din these new states. In addition, it supported the federal government as the settlers were purchasing lands form the federal government. It demonstrated made a uniform national land policy was possible
12. There were two important and influential foreign affairs that 5 OF 6 influence the colonies in the 1790s. One was the French Revolution. Because the French needed assistance in overthrowing its monarchy the Democratic Republicans wanted to assist. However, the Federalists did not want to entangle the country in the revolution. This further divided the two parties. The second foreign affair was the XYZ affair. This was when the John Adams sent American delegates to France to speak about the French who were seizing American merchant ships, similarly to the British. However, word got out that the Americans delegates left France because unnamed individuals would not talk to them unless they were given money. America and France almost went to war with each other, as Americans were upset and called for war against France. However, John Adams prevented this form happening, and he sent new ministers to Paris to hopeful settle the issues.
