RE - Key Concepts Lesson
Key Concepts
Before you begin...
Notes are given here as well as in the Readings Document from Boundless that is available to download below. This key concepts lesson is very important as it covers the main areas of the Advanced Placement frameworks and the Georgia Performance Standards. Many of the test questions will relate to items found here.
Download the key concepts questions that are found below and answer these as you read and view the information. The answers are found in the text on this and the following pages and the Readings Document. After you have done this you will use these answers to take the assignment check quiz for this module. Again, it is very important that you answer the questions carefully before taking the assignment check.
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War resulted from a long simmering rivalry between Great Britain and France and their competition for territory in North America. The French and Indian War broke out in 1754 when Great Britain challenged the French for control of the land that is now Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Native Americans tended to support the French because, as fur traders, they built forts rather than permanent settlements. Great Britain eventually won the war.
The Treaty of Paris (1763) that ended the French and Indian War forced France to turn over control of Canada to Great Britain. France also surrendered its claim to all land east of the Mississippi River, with the exception of the city of New Orleans. Additionally, the treaty gave the British government control of all Britain's American colonies. The colonists objected to the loss of control over their own affairs, and some Americans first got the idea of an American Revolution. Tensions grew when Parliament passed laws to tax the colonists to pay for the cost of keeping a large standing army in North America to protect both Britain's possessions and the American colonists from attacks. Tensions increased with the Proclamation of 1763, by which Americans were forbidden from settling beyond the Appalachian Mountains in an effort to limit their conflicts with Native Americans.
Closer Look - Map of the French and Indian War
Schematic map of the French and Indian War
Image Credit: Hoodinski via commons.wikimedia.org
Colonial Resistance
Britain's American colonists believed the king and Parliament were violating their rights as Englishmen. Among the rights they felt were being violated were protection from taxation without representation, the right to a trial by a jury of their peers, the protection from searches without warrants, and protection from having troops quartered on their property. You may view this video on the Boston Massacre that shows the growing tensions. Links to an external site.
Children of Liberty
American colonists opposed to British authority in Massachusetts formed a secret organization called the Sons of Liberty. To show their dislike of British rule, they damaged British property, including government offices and the homes of wealthy supporters of the British. The Daughters of Liberty joined the Sons of Liberty in protesting British rule in North America. They wove homespun fabric to make clothes and other goods so the colonists would not need to rely on British imports.
Parliamentary actions to tax the colonists or to enforce the tax laws provoked a negative reaction from the colonists that eventually led to open rebellion. These actions include the Stamp Act and the Intolerable Acts. The Stamp Act required the colonists to print newspapers, legal documents, playing cards, etc., on paper bearing special stamps (like postage stamps). Buying the stamped paper was the equivalent of paying a tax. Some colonists formed groups called the Sons of Liberty to stop distribution of the stamped paper. Nine colonies sent representatives to the Stamp Act Congress, which sent a formal protest to the king.
The Intolerable Acts closed the port of Boston as punishment for the Boston Tea Party. These acts also allowed British officials accused of major crimes to be tried in England and forced the colonists to house British troops on their property. Colonists called for the First Continental Congress to protest these actions and formed colonial militias to resist enforcement of these acts. Much of the planning for the First Continental Congress was carried out by committees of correspondence. These committees were formed because American patriots could not communicate publicly. One committee would exchange written communications with another committee within or between the colonies. Committees of correspondence were the first organization linking the colonies in their opposition to British rule.
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