BIRTH OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC17.3

Reasons Behind Britain Becoming a Global Power•Location allowed for Britain to create outposts in the West Indies, North America, India• Favorable climate•Victories in European wars allowed them to attain land close to home and abroad as a result•King George III began to assert his royal authority

BRITAIN BECOMES A GLOBAL POWER

• Britain’s empire included 13 colonies along the east coast of North America

• The colonies practiced the policy of mercantilism, exporting more than it imported.

• The Navigation Acts were passed by Parliament to regulate colonial trade and manufacturing

THE 13 COLONIES IN THE MID-1700S

• The 7 Years’ War and the French and Indian War drained the British treasury

• King George III felt that the colonists should pay for the wars. The Sugar Act of 1764 and the Stamp Act of 1765 taxed the colonies

• The colonist's response to paying taxes without a representation in Parliament created the slogan“ No taxation without representation”.

• The murder of several colonists in the Boston Massacre resulted in a series of protests including the Boston Tea Party. Britain imposed harsh laws as punishment for colonists’ behavior.

COLONISTS EXPRESS DISCONTENT

• Representatives from each of the 13 colonies, including George Washington, met in Philadelphia as a Continental Congress

• In 1775 a war at Lexington and Concord took place and the Revolutionary War had begun. Washington served as leader of the Continental Army.

• On July 4,1776 the 2nd Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence

• Written mainly by Thomas Jefferson, the document outlined the colonists’ grievances and the Enlightenment ideas of life, liberty, and property

COLONISTS EXPRESS DISCONTENT

• The colonial forces struggled early against t he British, but the Battle of Saratoga was a turning point in the war.

• The colonial victory caused other European nations to join the Americans to fight their common enemy Britain. France was a huge help because they supplied supplies, training, soldiers, and ships

• In 1781 the British surrendered at Yorktown, VA. In 1783 the war was brought to an end by the Treaty of Paris. This document was signed by the Americans, British, and the French.

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION CONTINUES

• The Articles of Confederation acted as our nation’s 1st constitution. It was viewed as too weak so the nation’s leaders met in 1787 and drafted a new constitution creating a federal republic

• Power is shared between the national government, the federal government and the states. This reflects the ideas of Montesquieu

• The Bill of Rights are the first 10 amendments to the constitution and protect the basic rights of citizens

A NEW CONSTITUTION REFLECTS ENLIGHTENMENT IDEAS