1
Birth of a Democratic Nation
2
American Ideals vs. British Control

• For almost 100 years, American colonial
  governments enjoyed relative self -government
  from Britain.
• In 1760, King George III takes the throne and
  demands more control over America

3
King George III (1760 1820)
4
Mercantilism

• King George wanted to adopt the idea of
  mercantilism in Great Britain.
• Mercantilism states a country should sell more
  goods to other countries than it buys.

5
Mercantilism

• Britain wanted to get as much wealth out of the
  American colonies as possible.
• The colonies were a source of cheap, raw
  materials and revenue (via taxes).

6
French Indian War
7
French Indian War

• The French Indian War (1754-1763) made things
  worse.
• The war was extremely expensive for the British
  government
• Parliament demanded that the colonies help pay
  for the war and increased taxes in America to
  raise revenue.

8
Stamp Act (1765)
9
Stamp Act (1765)

• The first significant tax was collected through
  theStamp Act of 1765.
• This act required expensive tax stamps on all
  newspapers and legal documents

10
No Taxation Without Representation
11
No Taxation Without Representation

• American colonists resented these new taxes by
  the British.
• Since they had no representation in the British
  Parliament, they felt they should not have to
  raise revenue for the King (by paying taxes)
• Their slogan no taxation without representation!
  Embodied this!
• (taxation without representation is tyranny)

12
American Boycotts

• In protest, many Americans began to boycott or
  refuse to buy British goods.
• As a result pressure from British Merchants in
  the colonies, the British government repealed
  or cancelled the act.

13
Townshend Acts (1767)

• The new Townshend Act of 1767 replaced other
  British taxes.
• This act allowed taxes to be levied on basic
  goods imported to the colonies from Great Britain
  (glass, tea, paper, etc.)
• Once again the colonists would boycott.

14
Tea Act (1773)

• The Tea Act followed, allowing the British East
  India Company to bypass colonial government tax
  requirements.
• It lowered taxes on British tea --which made
  merchants have to buy British tea over other tea.
• American merchants were outraged and decided to
  act.

15
Boston Tea Party
16
Coercive (Intolerable) Acts

• To respond to the Boston Tea Party, the British
  Parliament created the Coercive Acts.
• Called the Intolerable Acts by America, these
  acts restricted colonial rights!!

17
First Continental Congress (1774)
18
First Continental Congress (1774)

• In 1774, 12 of the 13 (not Georgia) American
  colonies sent delegates or representatives to
  Philadelphia to express their concerns with
  Britains new taxes.
• This meeting was called the First Continental
  Congress.

19
First Continental Congress (1774)

• The 1st Continental Congress sent a letter called
  the Olive Branch Petition to King George
  demanding the rights of the colonists be
  restored.
• All agreed to meet again within a year if the
  king did not agree.

20
King Georges Response
In April 1775, the battle of Lexington and
Concord begin the American Revolutionary War.
the shot heard around the world!
21
Second Continental Congress (1775)
22
Second Continental Congress (1775)

• During the second meeting, called the Second
  Continental Congress, delegates were split and
  argued over the best solution.
• Some delegates wanted independence while others
  wanted to remain loyal.
• Many did NOT want independence, fearing they
  could not win a war with Britain.

23
Thomas Paine Common Sense (1776)
24
Thomas Paine Common Sense

• In his pamphlet, Paine argued in 1776 that it was
  only Common Sense for America to break ties
  with Great Britain. He stated that there was a
  social contract between the people and the
  government and that the government had broken
  the contract. He said that King George was a
  royal brute and America had every right to
  sever ties.
• Analyzing Activity - To bring the matter to one
  point, Is the power who is jealous of our
  prosperity, a proper power to govern us? Whoever
  says, No, to this question, is an independent,
  for independency means no more than this, whether
  we shall make our own law, or, whether the king,
  the greatest enemy which this continent hath, or
  can have, shall tell us there shall be no laws
  but such as I like.  What concept is this quote
  describing? Rule by the people

25
Second Continental Congress (1776)

• After many months of debate, more than half of
  the delegates agreed to declare independence from
  Great Britain.
• The writings of Paine and the idea of social
  contract were very influential.
• They decided to write a Declaration of
  Independence

26
Declaration of Independence

• Thomas Jefferson , the main author he detailed
  the colonies reasons for breaking away with
  Great Britain.
• Jefferson claimed that the king did not look
  after the interests/ rights of the colonies
  anymore.
• Listed all of the grievances, or complaints, that
  the colonists had towards the crown.

27
Declaration of Independence

• Thomas Jefferson was also influenced by the
• ideas of John Locke Baron de Montesquieu
• Locke believed in natural law social contract.
• Natural Law means that you are born with certain
  rights not granted by the government.
• natural rights that because we are human we are
  guarantee by the Heavens (God)life, liberty and
  property Jefferson would change this slightly
• social contract that people have a contract
  with their government and the govt should
  protect its people. (Locked into a contract)
• Baron de Montesquieu (3 Names, 3 Words, 3
  Branches)
• Separation of Powers each branch of government
  is responsible for specific powers.

28
Declaration of Independence

• Part I of the DoI - Causes
• Jefferson wrote that a decent respect for the
  opinions of mankind requires that they should
  declare the causes which impel them to the
  separation.
• What does this mean???

29
Declaration of Independence

• Part II of the DoI Rights
• The document clearly expresses that purpose of
  government is to protect natural (inalienable)
  rights, which are the basic rights that are
  entitled to all human beings.
• Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

30
Declaration of Independence

• Part II of the DoI Rights cont
• Recite together
• We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
  men are created equal, that they are endowed by
  their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
  that among these are Life, Liberty and the
  pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these
  rights, Governments are instituted among Men,
  deriving their just powers from the consent of
  the governed, --That whenever any Form of
  Government becomes destructive of these ends, it
  is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish
  it, and to institute new Government

31
Declaration of Independence

• Part II of the DoI Rights cont
• All men are created equal, that they are endowed
  by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
  that among these are Life, Liberty and the
  pursuit of Happiness Where do we get our
  rights from? What rights are we guaranteed?
• That to secure these rights, Governments are
  instituted among Men, deriving their just powers
  from the consent of the governed Why do
  governments exist? Where do governments get their
  power from? this is called Popular Sovereignty
• That whenever any Form of Government becomes
  destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the
  People to alter or to abolish it, and to
  institute new Government When a government
  becomes destructive (or no longer protects the
  rights of the people), what should the people do?

32
Declaration of Independence

• Part III of the DoI Grievances
• Jefferson listed the many complaints that the
  colonists had against the King and Parliament
• The history of the present King of Great Britain
  is a history of repeated injuries and
  usurpations, all having in direct object the
  establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these
  States (analyze)

33
Declaration of Independence

• Part III of the DoI Grievances
• He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most
  wholesome and necessary for the public good.He
  has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of
  immediate and pressing importance, unless
  suspended in their operation till his Assent
  should be obtained and when so suspended, he has
  utterly neglected to attend to them.He has
  refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation
  of large districts of people, unless those people
  would relinquish the right of Representation in
  the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and
  formidable to tyrants only. He has called
  together legislative bodies at places unusual,
  uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of
  their public Records, for the sole purpose of
  fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
  He has dissolved Representative Houses
  repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his
  invasions on the rights of the people.He has
  refused for a long time, after such dissolutions,
  to cause others to be elected whereby the
  Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation,
  have returned to the People at large for their
  exercise the State remaining in the mean time
  exposed to all the dangers of invasion from
  without, and convulsions within.He has
  endeavoured to prevent the population of these
  States for that purpose obstructing the Laws for
  Naturalization of Foreigners refusing to pass
  others to encourage their migrations hither, and
  raising the conditions of new Appropriations of
  Lands.He has obstructed the Administration of
  Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for
  establishing Judiciary powers.He has made Judges
  dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of
  their offices, and the amount and payment of
  their salaries.He has erected a multitude of New
  Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to
  harrass our people, and eat out their
  substance.He has kept among us, in times of
  peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our
  legislatures.He has affected to render the
  Military independent of and superior to the Civil
  power.He has combined with others to subject us
  to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution,
  and unacknowledged by our laws giving his Assent
  to their Acts of pretended Legislation

34
Declaration of Independence

• Part III of the DoI Grievances
• For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among
  usFor protecting them, by a mock Trial, from
  punishment for any Murders which they should
  commit on the Inhabitants of these StatesFor
  cutting off our Trade with all parts of the
  worldFor imposing Taxes on us without our
  Consent For depriving us in many cases, of the
  benefits of Trial by JuryFor transporting us
  beyond Seas to be tried for pretended
  offencesFor abolishing the free System of
  English Laws in a neighbouring Province,
  establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and
  enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at
  once an example and fit instrument for
  introducing the same absolute rule into these
  ColoniesFor taking away our Charters,
  abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering
  fundamentally the Forms of our GovernmentsFor
  suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring
  themselves invested with power to legislate for
  us in all cases whatsoever.He has abdicated
  Government here, by declaring us out of his
  Protection and waging War against us.He has
  plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our
  towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He
  is at this time transporting large Armies of
  foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of
  death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with
  circumstances of Cruelty perfidy scarcely
  paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and
  totally unworthy the Head of a civilized
  nation.He has constrained our fellow Citizens
  taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms
  against their Country, to become the executioners
  of their friends and Brethren, or to fall
  themselves by their Hands. He has excited
  domestic insurrections amongst us, and has
  endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our
  frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose
  known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished
  destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

35
Declaration of Independence

• Part IV of the DoI Declaration of a new
  Nation
• We, therefore, the Representatives of the united
  States of America, in General Congress,
  Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the
  world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in
  the Name, and by Authority of the good People of
  these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare,
  That these United Colonies are, and of Right
  ought to be Free and Independent States. And
  for the support of this Declaration, with a firm
  reliance on the protection of divine Providence,
  we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our
  Fortunes and our sacred Honor
• What does this mean????
• We were now 13 free and independent united
  States of America..why the little u???

36
Declaration of Independence

• In order to break away from Britain and protect
  the rights of the people
• The Second Continental Congress approved the
  Declaration on July 4, 1776 and we celebrate that
  as the Birthday of our nation.
• This document highlighted the Enlightenment ideas
  about liberty, natural rights, and social
  contract.
• But to truly be free, what did we still have to
  do????