Chapter IntroductionSection 1: The Colonies Fight

for Their Rights

Section 2:The Revolution Begins

Section 3:The War for Independence

Section 4:The War Changes American Society

Visual Summary

Content Vocabulary• republic• emancipation

• manumission

Academic Vocabulary• contradiction • revolutionary

People and Events to Identify• Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom• John Trumbull• Charles Willson Peale

A. AB. B

Do you feel a sense of pride as an American?A. Yes

B. No

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New Political IdeasRepublican ideals changed American government by allowing some citizens voting rights and granting greater religious freedom.

• When American leaders declared independence and founded the United States of America, they were very much aware that they were creating a republic.

• Americans believed that each state’s constitution should be written down in order to limit the government’s power over the people.

New Political Ideas (cont.)

• John Adams argued for the following ideas regarding government:

– a system of “checks and balances”

– “mixed government”—legislative, executive, and judicial branches independent of each other

– bicameral legislature

New Political Ideas (cont.)

Wealth of Elected Officials

• Many states also attached a list of rights to their constitutions.

• The Revolution led to an expansion of voting rights.

New Political Ideas (cont.)

– The experience of fighting side by side with people from every social class and region increased America’s belief in equality.

Wealth of Elected Officials

• The Revolution also led to changes in the relationship between church and state.

– Governor Thomas Jefferson wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, passed in 1786.

New Political Ideas (cont.)

A. AB. B

A white male had to own property in order to vote in the United States.A. True

B. False

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The War and American SocietyAfter the war, women gained more rights, Northern states outlawed slavery, and many Loyalists fled the new nation.

• Women played a vital role in the Revolutionary War, contributing on both the home front and battlefront.

• Contributions women made:

The War and American Society (cont.)

– Some women took over running family farms.– Others traveled with the army—cooking,

washing, and nursing the wounded.– They served as spies and couriers, and a

few joined in fighting.

republic form of government in which power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote