The American Revolution: Causes, Key Events, and Consequences - Prof. Chivite, Apuntes de Idioma Inglés

¡Descarga The American Revolution: Causes, Key Events, and Consequences - Prof. Chivite y más Apuntes en PDF de Idioma Inglés solo en Docsity! TOPIC 1: British Empire and American Revolution Seven Years War (1756): dramatic change to Britain’s mainland colonies. Britain allied with Prussia. Huge war debt: Britain had to find ways to pay: this process leading to American Independence. Britain changed colonial power for imperial power. Vast areas had to be defended North America was the problem more acute: Advancing frontier needed to be policed Rapid growth of the national debts, were to lead to trouble. (Britain shift part of it onto the colonists) Americans were outraged when the British were now seriously about making them pay some of the costs. "No taxation without representation". Resistance to new taxes. Concord in April 1775: Confiscate colonists’ arms. Nearby Lexington, a confrontation between colonists and British resulted the opening shots of the War of Independence. The territory was vast, and the lines of supply so long, that there was no realistic possibility of a British victory. Americans had sufficient resources and manpower to make their land unconquerable. American’s war became a world war. Charles, Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown: was a British Army officer and colonial administrator. In the United States and the United Kingdom he is best remembered as one of the leading British generals in the American War of Independence. 1782: Britain was ready to give up America to buy peace. After the Seven Years War ended in 1763, changes occurred in the ways colonists thought about themselves as political actors increased substantially. The Americans had different concept of the political process and economic interests. PARLIAMENTARY ACTS: -Stamp Act (1765): was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain that imposed a direct tax on the colonies of British America and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp. -Townshend Act: were a series of acts passed, beginning in 1767, by the Parliament of Great Britain relating to the British colonies in North America. The purpose of the Townshend Acts was to raise revenue in the colonies to pay the salaries of governors and judges so that they would remain loyal to Great Britain, to create a more effective means of enforcing compliance with trade regulations, to punish the province of New York for failing to comply with the 1765 Quartering Act, and to establish the precedent that the British Parliament had the right to tax the colonies. 1774: Americans were committed to resistance but not to independence. Thomas Paine: Author of Common Sense, a radical English printed who had lived in America only since 1774, called for independence. Only a balance of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy could preserve freedom, he advocated the establishment of a republic, a government by the people with no king or nobility. Paine’s pamphlet. Enraged tone. Relied heavily on the Bible. Wider distribution. Richard Henry Lee of Virginia and John On June 7 came information of the movement toward independence. Adams of Massachusetts: the crucial Resolution. Five man committee was directed to draft a declaration of independence (Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin) Thomas Jefferson: a Virginia lawyer. Responsible for writing the declaration, who was well known for his eloquent style. In winning the war, the Americans reshaped the physical and mental landscapes in which they lived.