Social class leading up to the revolution

- One enlightenment idea is all men are created equal. but in the colonies men were
treated equal if they they were rich, white, and landowner.
- In 1700s most of the wealth was with a select view, there were many poor and
oppressed groups

Oppressed groups:
1. Slaves
2. Women
3. Indentured servants
4. Poor white people (former indentured servants)
5. Native americans
- Colonies rule by the rich white land owning elite

King had final say...

- Rich landowners do not like the king because of navigation acts

With all this oppression there was fear of revolt

- Natives attacked colonists
- Indentured servants escape
- The enslave would escape or revolt
- The poor held strike

The elite did a great job of preventing the oppressed groups from collaborating
Ex. Through treaties, native americans could not take in escaped slaves
- The poor were only given land abuting native lands. This led to conflict
- Made poor thing freed slaves would take their jobs

Bacon's Rebellion
- Group consisting of the poor, the enslaved, and indentured servants banned together to
attack the virginia colony elite and native americans in 1676
- England sent troops over to supress the rebellion
- By 1760 there had been 18 uprisings aimed at overthrowing the colonies

The 7 years war (French Indian War)

- 7 year war was from 1754-1763. (officially declared for 7 years)
- War was fought between france and england
Stamp Act 1765
- Because of war debt, england needed to levy taxes to make money
- England began to enforce the navigation acts strictly and created new taxes
- Stamp act: place a tax on paper
- The tax disproportionately affected lawyers, journalist and students
- these groups became
- Colonist were angry because they felt the new tax amounted to taxation without
representatives in parliament
- In 1765, leaders from from the colonies came together and had the stamp act congress
- Wrote a petition to the king arguing the stamp act was not fair, the stamp act was
repaired the next year.

The Stamp Act was created in order to pay off the debts from the war. This applied to England
and America and affected lawyers, journalists, and students the most. The Stamp Act eventually
went away as the leaders of all the colonies came together and complained to the King that they
didnt have a representative to support them.

Boston massacre
- After the townshend acts were passed (taxes)england sent soldiers and tax collectors to
boston
- 1 soldier for every 3 colonist
- Boston is full of political radicals that dont like soldiers
- Colonists liked to heckle soldiers

- March 5, 1770 -
- Paul revere put deception of the shooting in the paper. This spread outraged throughout
the colonies
- Colonist demanded a fair trial for soldiers
- All but 2 were acquitted
- 10k out 16k in boston attended the funeral for the slayed
- England withdraws troops from boston

The Boston Tea Party

In 1773, Britain passed the Tea Act and under this act the colonies could only buy tea
from the East India Company.
Colonist get mad. They buy more expensive tea from other supplies.
Sons of Liberty- radical group that wants independence.
December of 1773, 50 Bostonians dressed as Native Americans.
They board a British vessel and dumped 342 crates of tea into the harbor. (1.8 million
dollars)
News spread and other colonies would not let British tea enter.
Coercive Acts/Intolerable Acts
In response to the Boston Tea Party, Britain passed the Coercive Acts.
Included these laws:
Boston Port bill
The Government bill
Administration of Justice act
Quartering Act
In 1774, colonists met for the first continental congress.
There was a lot of arguing.
Decided to boycott British goods.
Also decided that an attack on one colony is an attack on all colonies.

Road to war - Battle of lexington and concord

- Following the intolerable Act, colonists begin to gather arms and militias
- Britain orders government of mass to take away guns from the militias
- April of 1775-700 britain troops begin march toward Concord.
- Colonial militias race towards concord
- 2 groups meet at lexington
- Words are exchanged, someone fires the first shot. Then everyone starts firing
- 8 colonists die, one was injured
- Britain march concord. Destroy the weapons
- But they surprised when they are met by more militiamen
- The colonist beat them in the battle and the britain retreat to boston

Second continental congress

- Delegates from all 13 colonies meet for congress. Trying to decide what to do about the
war.
- Decide to create a military (Continental Army)
- Appoint general George Washington as the commander
- Decided to form the military through conscription (forcing people to join)
- At this congress many still wanted to reconcile their relationship with britain
The lexington war and how it started when one person fired. They wanted to create a military,
but they didnt have enough men to join so they sent out a conscript. It meant that people were
forced to be in the military.

Battle at Bunker Hill

- In June 1775, britain troops want to overtake Bunker Hill (Breed's Hill)
- Colonists are outnumbered and don't have enough ammo
- This was the bloodiest battle of the war
- Colonist had to wait until the last minute to save ammunition
- Famous saying, Dont fire until you can see the whites in their eyes.
- Don't fire until the britain troops are close
- 2,400 britain troops
 - Over 1,000 britain troops died
- Colonist lose 450 men

Road to independance
- Remember that not everybody wanted independance
- One very influential is thomas paine
- Thomas paine wrote common sense. This was pamphlet advocating for independance
- He sold over 500,000 copies
- Helps to shape public opinion

Declaration of independance
- July 4, 1776, US declares independence
- Drafted by thomas jefferson
- Main reason is to get help from France
- France does not like britain because of 7 year war
- Full of enlightenment ideas after declaration was read in boston
- The poor began to chant, Tyranny is Tyranny let it come who it may.
The declaration of independence was a document telling england that the united states wanted
independance. It was on july 4.