Ap Us History Dbq Essay

The American Revolution didn’t begin just because of one reason, but one major reason that really angered the Americans was when the British dumped tons of tea into Boston Harbor in December 1773 as a protest against the tax laws. The brutal British comeback to this act resulted in sending British troops to Boston and closing Boston Harbor, causing pressure and rancor to intensify. The British tried to disband the insurgents in Massachusetts by confiscating their weapons and ammunition and arresting the Patriotic leaders.

Through the whole of 1774 and into 1775, strain in New England continued to rise. Minutemen met the British troops and disputed with them in Lexington, and later at Concord. The British departed to Boston, dealing with ambushes from many militias along the way. Seventy-three British soldiers and forty-nine Patriots died during the British retreat to Boston. After the battles of Lexington and Concord, New England was fully prepared for the war. In the battle of Bunker Hill, on June 17, the British begun three assaults on the hills, obtaining control only after the rebels ran out of ammunition.

British lost many soldiers- more than hundred were killed and eight hundred were wounded. In the end, George Washington placed cannons on the hills looking out on the positions of the British and the Boston Harbor, where the British ships were anchored. The British could not fire back on these positions because of the levels the cannons were. By the time the British surrendered other fights had begun in other colonies. The American Revolution affected both America and the British, but the British more for the fact they were already in debt, from the French and Indian War. (Openstax, 156-160) 2.

The economic problems troubled the thirteen states of the Confederation set the point for the formation of a strong central government under the federal constitution. Even though the original objective of the convention was to improve the Articles of Confederation. Immediately the ones who attended decided to build a new plan for a national government. That plan was known as the United States Constitution, and the Philadelphia convention became known as the Constitutional Convention of 1787. (Openstax, 202) One of the problems that the delegates talked about was about the way the representatives of the new government would be chosen.

How would they be elected, and who would elect them. James Madison put forward a recommendation known as the Virginia Plan, which was about having a strong national government that could void state laws. The Virginia Plan also called for the addition of an executive branch and a judicial branch, both if which were not included in the Articles of Confederation. William Paterson brought in the New Jersey Plan to counter Madison’s plan, recommending that all states have equal votes in a unicameral national legislature.

He also stated the economic problems by requesting that Congress have the power to administer trade to raise revenue through taxes on importations, and through postage, and to reinforce Congressional demands from the states. From Connecticut, Roger Sherman suggested an understanding known as the Great Compromise outlining a different bicameral legislature. In this compromise it would have the upper house, the Senate would have equal representation for all of the states, each state would have two senators picked by the state legislatures.

The lower house, the House of Representatives, would have proportional representation. (Openstax, 203) 3. The United Sates for a long time tried to convince others that the Rio Grande was the border between Mexico and the United States. (Openstax, 315) The United States military approach had three goals: to take over northern Mexico including New Mexico, gain California, and also capture Mexico City. General Zachary Taylor and his army were assigned to achieve the first goal and soon they did capture Monterrey. General Stephen Watts Kearny, commander of the Army of the West, approved the surrender of

Santa Fe, New Mexico, and kept going to take control of California as well. (Openstax, 316) General Winfield Scott captured Veracruz in March 1847 and as he traveled north he was closing every capital. President James Polk and other expansionists called for “all Mexico,” – as the book puts it,- the Mexican government and the United States talked about peace in 1848, ending up in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, was signed in February 1848, and was huge victory for the expansionism of America.

Mexico gave up almost half of its land to the United States. The takeover of land west of the Rio Grande was called the, Mexico Cession. The lands given to the United States included the states now California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and some of Colorado, and Wyoming. Mexico then acknowledged the Rio Grande as the border with the United States. (Openstax, 317) On January 24, 1848, James Marshall found gold in a sawmill he had built with John Sutter on the south fork of California’s American River, in the result of the Gold Rush. (Openstax, 318)