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This lesson will focus on the early attempts to unify the colonies, causes of the Revolutionary War and the development of the Declaration of Independence.

In 1754, just before the outbreak of the French and Indian War, a congress of delegates from seven English colonies met in Albany, New York to discuss a plan for an intercolonial council. This council proposed that the colonies have charge of a common defense, treaties with the Indians, and westward expansion.

It important to remember that the colonies were divided into three separate and distinct sections.

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Benjamin Franklin, a delegate from Pennsylvania, advanced a plan of colonial union. It was rejected by the colonies because jealousies among them were still too strong.

Even if the colonies had agreed to the plan, the British Parliament would have dismissed the proposal.

In spite of the fact that the Albany Plan of Union was not implemented, it was important for the following reasons:

1. It provided a workable plan of federalism within the empire, which would have united the colonies, given them control over internal affairs, and left the British in control of external affairs.
2. The Albany Plan of Union served as a model for the Articles of Confederation.
3. If the Albany Plan of Union had been accepted by all concerned, it may have delayed it not averted, the struggle for independence.

Since the beginning of the colonial period in 1607, the colonies were small and were far away from England. Any communication between England and the colonies took seven to eight weeks.

The colonies were largely ignored by England due to the poor communication system.

However, all of this changed in the 1760s when GEORGE III became king of England.

The king was determined to deal with the colonies in a manner that would both raise more money from taxes and tighten up England's control over the colonies.

This strong-handed approach by King George III angered many colonists. The colonists were expecting a reward for participating in the French and Indian War (1754-1763).

The treatment the colonists received was that George III and his ministers wanted to have more control over the colonists.

This economic and political policy was based on the implementation of new taxes and government regulations.

Important Events 1763 - 1767 (towind1)

The colonists were especially concerned about the closing of western lands to settlement.

The Proclamation of 1763 ordered the English colonists to remain on the eastern side of the Appalachian mountains due to an uprising of Indians led by Chief Pontiac. This restriction caused anger among the southern planters who desired new land for cultivation, among fur trappers, land speculators, and frontiersmen. This land was controlled by the French before the French and Indian War.

The Proclamation of 1763 marked the beginning of the political dispute between the British government and the American colonies that ultimately led to the Revolutionary War.

The French and Indian War (frsettle)

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As a result of the French and Indian War, the British territory was extended to the Mississippi River.

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Many of the colonies had claims to these western lands. The British Proclamation of 1763 closed this territory to settlement and was resented by the colonial governments.

The British began passing tax laws that further angered the colonists.

The Sugar Act of 1764 was designed to accomplish the following:

1. raise revenue for the British Crown,
2. tighten enforcement of the Navigation Acts;
3. extend the list of enumerated articles that had to be shipped through English ports.

The colonists objected to the Sugar Act because it hurt the merchants' very profitable trade with the French West Indies as well as their lumber trade with Europe. The ultimate colonial objection to the Sugar Act was that it was "taxation without representation."

As a result of the Sugar Act, the colonists pledged themselves not to buy or use certain British goods. In that same year the Parliament passed the Currency Act which prohibited the colonies from printing their own money.

In 1765, the first direct tax was passed. The STAMP ACT put a tax on all written or printed documents.

This tax was not in the form of higher prices, but a tax that was visible and offensive to the colonists.

The Stamp Act required a physical stamp that had to be bought and affixed to everything from legal documents to newspapers and even playing cards.

Everywhere the colonists turned, there seemed to be a large stamp that reminded them of the unfair manner in which King George was treating them.

No other English citizens or colonists had the same taxes that the American colonists paid. In England, the citizens actually paid more in taxes, but the English had hidden taxes which did not upset them. There was also the question of representation in Parliament.

There were other taxes that were passed to raise money to pay for the debts of King George III.

The revenue from the colonies increased, but so did the resentment of the colonists. Remember, the colonists were upset because they believed that their rights as British citizens were being violated.

The focus of the resentment was the payment of taxes without representation in Parliament. There was not a person who could present the political and economic viewpoints of the colonists.

The colonists reacted to the Stamp Act with hostility:

The colonists actually nullified the Stamp Act by ignoring it because they thought it was an unjust law. The Stamp Act Congress was called in New York City in October of 1765. Nine colonies sent representatives to this Congress which issued the

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS AND GRIEVANCES.

The DECLARATION OF RIGHTS AND GRIEVANCES acknowledged the allegiance of the colonies to King George III and claimed the rights of Englishmen, especially the right not to be taxed without consent. This meant that only the colonial legislatures could tax the colonists.

The colonists also signed NON-IMPORTATION AGREEMENTS in which they refused to buy British goods.

The English merchants complained of the loss of profits, and the Stamp Act was repealed in 1766. However, to demonstrate what it thought of the colonists' rights, Parliament passed the DECLARATORY ACT. This act stated that England's authority to pass legislation for the colonies was absolute in all cases.

The government in England believed that Parliament represented all of the British people, and that included American colonials. The colonists did not agree and asked for their representatives to be seated in Parliament.

In 1767, Charles Townshend, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, began a series of actions that further angered the colonists.

Townshend dissolved the New York assembly because it refused to supply the British troops who had been sent to the colony. Townshend also dissolved the Massachusetts General Court for its "circular letter" of protest and did the same with the Virginia House of Burgesses for the endorsing the letter.

The colonists believed that these actions meant that their precious right of self-government could be destroyed by act of any British official.

Charles Townshend also strengthened the Navigation Acts and extended the list of colonial imports subject to a revenue tariff that the colonists had to pay to include tea, glass, paper, paints, and lead. The money raised from these tariffs would be used to pay the salaries of the British officials in America, thus depriving the assemblies of their control of the Royal Governors.

In 1769, the VIRGINIA RESOLVES were introduced in the House of Burgesses by GEORGE WASHINGTON which restated the belief that the colonists could not be taxed without their consent.

Important events from 1770 to 1774 (towind2)

The political and economic climate deteriorated as the colonists resisted the new regulations and laws passed by Parliament.

On March 5, 1770 the situation turned into an open deadly confrontation.

On March, 5, 1770 a crowd of angry colonists gathered at the British Customs House where the money was collected on goods that were imported from England. The crowd yelled insults and threw snowballs at the British soldiers who guarded the Customs House.

A shot was heard, and the British soldiers opened fire on the colonists. Five colonists were killed in what became known as the "Boston Massacre."

As a result of this incident, the colonists would not buy British goods. In 1773, a few colonists boarded some British ships in Boston Harbor and threw the cargo of tea overboard. This event became known as the

The British Parliament reacted to this event by passing the INTOLERABLE ACTS in 1774, which were designed to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their rebellious behavior.

Through these laws, Parliament closed the port of Boston and placed Massachusetts under military rule.

One of the "Intolerable Acts" took away the right of the Massachusetts assembly to hold regular sessions.

In essence, this measure took away the self-government of the colony.

The colonists in Virginia and Massachusetts met for a general meeting of the colonies which became known as the FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.

This meeting convened in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774 to discuss the current status of the political and economic relationship of the colonies and the British Government. All of the colonies sent delegates except Georgia.

The First Continental Congress created a

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS AND GRIEVANCES which affirmed the belief in "no taxation without representation."

The delegates also passed the Suffolk Resolves, which denounced British policy and advocated the raising of a colonial army. The Suffolk Resolves also urged the suspension of all trade with England.

The delegates to the First Continental Congress also agreed to create a "Continental Association." This "Continental Association" formed committees that traveled throughout the colonies urging people to not buy British goods.

The Delegates to the First Continental Congress decided to meet one year later if the problems with the British had not been resolved.

Before the year was out, the Revolutionary War would begin with the "shot heard around the world".

In April 1775, a detachment of British soldiers clashed with colonial militiamen at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts.

A war between the colonies and England had begun.

According to King George III, the war had begun when the colonists refused to buy British goods after the passage of the "Intolerable Acts."

The colonists did not feel that they were in an armed conflict until actual shots had been fired.

In May, 1775, three weeks after the battles of Lexington and Concord, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All of the colonies were represented at this meeting.

The Second Continental Congress assumed the power of a central government and voted to raise an army and to issue money. This Congress acted as a government until the end of the Revolutionary War.

On July 6, the Second Continental Congress drew up a DECLARATION OF THE CAUSES AND NECESSITY OF TAKING UP ARMS, which stated that the British government had forced the American people to choose between submission to tyranny or resistance by force. The colonists had chosen resistance by force and resolved to die as free men.

The members of the Second Continental Congress also sent an OLIVE BRANCH PETITION to King George III. The central theme of this Olive Branch Petition expressed a hope that the problems between Great Britain and the colonies could still be resolved.

There was a three-way division of popular opinion among the colonists during the Revolutionary War. These three divisions were approximately equal in size.

1. One group of colonists actively supported King George III and wanted to remain British citizens.
2. The second group did not take an active role in the conflict and really supported neither side.
3. The remaining group fought on the side of the colonies, risking their lives and fortunes to fight England.

People began to consider the idea of independence from England as the Revolutionary War moved into its second year.

In June of 1776, Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution of independence in the Continental Congress. Congress named a committee, and Thomas Jefferson was asked to write the draft of a proposal for independence. (jeffrson)

It took Thomas Jefferson two weeks to complete the first draft of the Declaration of Independence.

Jefferson used the writings of John Locke as a source, stating that people had certain rights that could not be taken away by government.

Among these rights was "the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Jefferson also proposed that governments were created as a result of an agreement between the ruler and the people. This concept echoed the Social Contract Theory of government proposed by Jean Jacques Rousseau.

A government or ruler could only hold power as long as it had not violated the rights of the citizens.

Jefferson stated that the colonists had a right to rebel because their rights had been deliberately violated by the English Parliament and King George III.

The Declaration of Independence was adopted with only minor changes by the delegates to the Second Continental Congress.

*July 2, 1776 - Lee's resolution was approved.

*July 4, 1776 - The Declaration of Independence was passed after minor changes.

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In the next lesson you will learn how Americans handled their newly won independence.