The United States Becomes a Nation

1. SC Standard IB The United States Becomes a Nation

2. Standard USHC 1-2 • Analyze the early development of representative government and political rights in the American colonies, including the influence of the British political system and the rule of law as written in the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights, and the conflict between the colonial legislatures and the British Parliament over the right to tax that resulted in the American Revolutionary War.

3. Representative Government: Origins • Borrowed from England • English settlers knew the Magna Carta & English Bill of Rights

4. Representative Government: Origins • Magna Carta: King can’t tax without permission of people • Rule of Law: All people (even the king) must obey the law • These principles were applied to colonial governments

5. Early Representative Governments • House of Burgesses – Virginia • Started to attract colonists to Jamestown, VA • Only property owners could vote

6. Early Representative Governments • House of Burgesses – Virginia • A social elite developed – not true democracy • The king eventually appointed a royal governor

7. Early Representative Governments • The Mayflower Compact • Agreement signed by Pilgrims in Mass.

8. Early Representative Governments • The Mayflower Compact • Stated that government gets its authority from the people

9. Early Representative Governments • Puritan Ideals • Found in New England • Men from church congregations met in town meetings • Each town sent representatives to the General Court in Boston

10. Early Representative Governments • All 13 colonies had representative assemblies that could collect taxes • Most had a royal governor (one appointed by the king)

11. Events in England • Glorious Revolution • King James fled & was replaced by William & Mary • These new rulers agreed to follow the English Bill of Right

12. Events in England • Glorious Revolution • These new rulers were bound by law!

13. Events in England • John Locke • Wrote The Social Contract • Argued that man has the natural right to life, liberty, and property

14. Events in England • John Locke • Authority to govern rests on the will of the people

15. Events in England • Weakens king, strengthens power of colonial assemblies in eyes of the colonists

16. Conflicts with Royal Governors • Colonial legislatures & royal governors often disagreed • Colonists controlled taxes (power of the purse) so the governor usually lost

17. Conflicts with Royal Governors • The colonists WERE loyal to the crown, but only wanted their assemblies to have power to tax

18. Conflicts with Royal Governors • Parliament began a policy of salutary neglect– Let the people rule themselves

19. Letter to the Editor • Imagine that you are a colonist in SC in the 1700’s. You have just heard that Parliament has passed a tax on sugar in the colonies. • Write a Letter to the Editor (2-3 SHORT paragraphs) explaining your thoughts on the matter. • Do they have this power? Why/Why not? • How should the colonies react to this? • How does this make you feel? Why

20. Bell Ringer 8/21 • Emily was born in the colonies. Her parents emigrated from England in the early 1700s. Her parents came because they were searching for freedom of religion and because her father wanted to work in a large city and make money by exporting agricultural goods. • In which colony did Emily’s family live? • Massachusetts • Pennsylvania • Connecticut • Georgia

21. The French & Indian War

22. Conflicts with Royal Governors • French & Indian War • The French & British went to war in N. America • To pay for the war, Parliament taxed the colonies & cracked down on smugglers • No more salutary neglect!

23. Conflicts with Royal Governors • Navigation Acts –Parliament’s first direct tax on the colonies (vs. indirect Sugar Act) • Stamp Act – Tax on royal notarization

24. Conflicts with Royal Governors • Opponents created: • A boycott • Sons of Liberty • Stamp Act Congress

25. Conflicts with Royal Governors • Stamp Act was repealed, but troops were sent to restore order • Boston Massacre – 5 colonists were killed by British soldiers

26. Conflicts with Royal Governors • New taxes! • The Townshend Act – was boycotted • The Tea Act – Led to Boston Tea Party • The “Intolerable” Acts – Led to 1st Continental Congress

27. Ideas Behind Protests • Colonists wanted “Rights of Englishmen” • “No taxation without representation”

28. Conflicts with Royal Governors • British & Colonial troops finally clash at Lexington & Concord, beginning the Revolutionary War

29. Cause & Effect • Number & list the 5 major actions England took followed by the response of the colonies Example: 1. British: Created Admiralty Courts Colonists: Protested courts Increased Smuggling

31. Homework: Declaration Reading • Read the Declaration of Independence • Online / Your textbook • Answer the following questions: • Who do you think the DOI was written to? • What are the four most important points of the DOI? • When was this document signed? • Where do you think this document had the most impact? • Why did the signers feel they needed independence? • How did this influence the course of the Rev. War?

32. Written to colonists who didn’t support independence • Appealed to natural rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”

33. Government should “secure those rights” • It was the “right of the people to alter or abolish” governments that didn’t • Listed how King George III had violated their rights

34. What specific charges did the colonists bring? • Who are they pointing them out to?

35. Impact on the War • The new country could now enter treaties • After winning the Battle of Saratoga, Europeans believed the colonists could actually win

36. Impact on Revolutionary War • The French didn’t support democracy, but wanted the British defeated • Sent naval support & supplies • The British finally surrendered at Yorktown

37. Domestic Impacts • State governments copied ideals of DOI • (But still only male property owners could vote)

38. Domestic Impacts • States in the North allowed gradual Emancipation of slaves • States allowed religious freedoms

39. Do we live out the idea that all men are created equal today?

40. International Impacts • People around the world have rallied around the call for “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”

41. Declaration of Independence When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

42. Declaration Project – (IN CLASS) • You and your partners will work together to create and perform a political ad. • Your ad will explain the main ideas of the Declaration to the American colonists from the perspective of its authors

43. Your Ad Must: • Be at least 2 minutes long • Explain the political ideas behind the declaration • Identify three specific complaints against the king • Include roles for all members of your group • Actor, Narrator, Musician, Prop – Just use them!

44. What questions would the colonists have had about the Declaration? • What components of the Declaration MUST be included in an explanation so people understand what it is?

45. Portfolio B Create a political pamphlet at either argues that the King is just or unjust. Pamphlets should have: color, 2 or more pictures, 5 bulleted arguments, and an introduction that summarizes your position

46. Bellwork What are 3 problems that could happen to an athletic team if the players went for individual stats instead of the team win?

47. EQ: What were the failures and accomplishments of the Articles of Confederation?

48. Basically written so 13 countries could work together on some issues • State governments had almost all power

49. Unicameral (one house) Legislature • Each state got one vote • No executive • No judiciary

50. Confederation worked when they had a common cause – like the Revolution!