The Making of a Revolution

1. The Making of a Revolution By: Diana Escobar, Lizette Caldera, Alejandra Ortiz, Jeannette Samayoa

2. Explain why, in the 15 years before the Revolutionary war began, support for the patriotcause spread so quickly among many different groups of North Americans who opposedBritain for different reasons.

3. “The Revolution was in the minds of the people” • According to John Adams, "The Revolution was in the minds of the people, and this was effected from 1760 to l775,in the course of fifteen years before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington." He was right. For many British North Americans, a revolutionary change did indeed take place in their minds between 1760 and 1775, and it took place for many different reasons. • People like Adams and Jefferson and many of their peers moved from being loyal British subjects to revolutionary advocates of independence but others did not. People such as Thomas Hutchinson of Massachusetts, William Franklin, and 1/5 of the English colonists remained Loyalists- Americans who wanted to maintain loyal ties to Great Britain and who opposed the American Revolution. a majority of African slaves were also Loyalists. Still other colonists remained neutral throughout the struggle, focusing on personal matters or not caring abut who governed them.

4. For African slaves, the growing spirit of revolution held both potential and danger. Some slaves saw in the revolutionary the possibility of their own freedom but other African-Americans saw the British government as a potential protector and even liberator against slave owners who embraced the patriot cause. • However, The Iroquois, Cherokee, and other Indian tribes knew that frontier whites had little use for the king's ban on white settlement and, if freed from British authority, they would go to the west. As the possibility of expanded settlement fueled revolutionary excitement among frontier whites, it also fed fears among Indians, most of whom sided with the British after 1776. • ln effect, many different groups of people with wide-ranging hopes and fears considered the possibility of an American Revolution and arrived at different conclusions. Each of these groups fought their own revolutions, sometimes in alliance with each other. Far from being clear, the goals of the revolutionaries were an ever-changing patchwork as different groups fought for their own purpose and made shifting alliances

5. Transition from the "Rights of Man” to Revolt • Locke's ideas guided some of Revolution's most articulate advocates such as Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. • Colonists believed, as Locke said, that the people always retained “a supreme power to remove or alter the legislative” authority when they wanted to. • Revolutionary leaders also agreed with French philosophers & authors from ancient Greece and Rome, all of whom advocated a commitment to liberty and the need to overthrow unjust authorities. They became convinced that England represented the evils of empire while the colonists represented the morality of republicanism, which supported a distribution of power to people, enabling them to determine how and by whom they would be governed. • Not long after the American Revolution, between 1810 and 1826, most of Latin America expelled its Spanish and Portuguese colonial masters. Simon Bolivar led revolutionary movements in his native Venezuela and helped establish the Republics of Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. His 1812 Manifesto of Cartagena expressed the same philosophical ideas as those of his counterparts in North America and Europe. The American Revolution, then, was part of a worldwide revolution against distant authorities and old ideas, and it was based on a new philosophical understanding of "the rights of man" and the way the world should be organized

6. Seaport Radicalism- From the Stamp Act to The Boston Massacre The Boston Tea Party of 1773 was the most famous act of resistance before the Revolution. Between 1747 and 1774 people that would work around the ports and Britain officials would have been driven off Impressment had been the British navy policy since the 1960s, this was another source of riots. When warship was short with sailors, captains had the official right to take sailors into captivity Later on the people were often rebelling in order to free those sailors who were impressed Between the 1760s and 1700s, the tension between the Americans and British intensified when the British imposed high taxes upon the colonists This was from the debt to pay off the French and Indian War Stamp Act of 1765, Sugar Act of 1764, and the Currency Actof 1764 Acts such as the Currency prohibit colonists from issuing their own currency to pay off debts Being fed up with all these taxes, a secret organization created was known as the Sons Of Liberty, this was for resisting tax Leaders in the colonies met to write petition in hopes of removing the taxes, the people in the poor areas didn’t have much to pay for these taxes

7. Soon the lower class had held revolts, which shook the British in becoming uneasy about the taxes • At times they would perform riots, tar officials who would try to appease them, in order to represent their “freedom” • British authorities repeal the Stamp and Sugar acts • There were new taxes added later on in March 5, 1770, the people had created another riot but this time there were soldiers to support them • Someone unknown threw something that knocked down a soldier and soldiers started to fire, three men were killed, this was the Boston Massacre, this results in anger towards the British • The Boston Tea Party was the result of anger, the shipments that were supposed to be shipped off to the ports were ambushed by the Americans and cargo was dunked to the sea, this was their act of defiance • The British closed off the ports to retaliate these efforts • Women supported the men and called themselves the Daughters of Liberty

8. Revolts in the Back Country • Settlers expected the British to protect them. • 1768 treaty allowed white settlement in present day West Virginia and Kentucky which inspired a similar treaty opened western Pennsylvania and New York. • Colonists wanted more land than these treaties gave them and were prepared to fight to get it, whether with the King’s representatives. • Parliament passed Quebec Act of 1774 assigned all lands North and West of the Ohio River to the British which controlled Province of Quebec. • Colonists saw Quebec Act as the Intolerable Acts.

9. Growing Unity in the Colonies—The First Continental Congress • People began to organize and challenge British authorities from Virginia to Massachusetts, leaders of rebellion in Massachusetts asked the other colonies to join it in united action against what they saw as British tyranny. • Georgia was fighting Creek Indians and wanted Britain’s support, they sent delegates to Philadelphia in September 1774 to what became known as the First Continental Congress. • October 26, delegates declared that their rights were based on the laws of nature, the British constitution, and the colonial charters. • Delegates agreed to ban British imports in December 1774, later on decided to ban exports in September 1775, and immediately banned the consumption of tea from the East India Company. • Agreed to meet again in May 1775 if relations with Britain did not improve.

10. The Accompanying in Religion • This lead to the Great Awakening, which allowed the church to judge the ministers • Patrick Henry who was a reverend demanded that the Virgininan government stop these “scrolling preachers” who were in his view because to him they were nothing but a disturbance to the peace. • In 1740 a Presbyterian minister, Gilbert Tennent who became a leader in the Great Awakening, preached a sermon on the “ Danger of an Unconverted Ministry” in churches churches throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania. • Tennents sermon with its plea to test the personal faith of ministers • This became a challenge to the leader of major protestants denomination which were Presbyterian, Congregational, and Episcopal

11. Talk of Freedom For Slaves • This news spread fast to the American colonies which caused many slaves to runaway to England • Even though England had abolished slavery American colonies had not • Some slaves didn’t runaway to another country they stayed and built communities in hard to penetrate swamps • Over time many became against the idea of slavery which led to contradictions between whites on whether to enforce or end slavery • When a slave named James Somerset was sent from Virginia to London due to his masters moving it changed slavery in England • In London Somerset made friends with many people including both black and whites • Later when Somerset tried to escape, was caught and was about to be shipped to Jamaica many of his white friends helped him with his predicament so that he could stay in England • This led to slavery being abolished in England on July of 1772 which was known as the somerset decision • This became known as the most revolutionary moment for African slaves

12. Overall • The people had thought of separating from the mother country even before the Revolution took place, including slaves who knew of the risks of turning away • The thought of England being the evil one provoked them further • The taxes and the Boston Tea Party had shown that their loyalty and defiance hung loosely, they wanted to end these ridiculous situations that left them as the scapegoats • The supposed English protection and maintenance of land showed how much the English wanted to do nothing for the colonists • Congress was the first step to having a rebellious system, to fight off the British and proclaim their independence • Removing or criticizing the priests who people found a disturbance also took place • Slavery abolishment in Britain but not in America, some ran away while others stayed