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Sammy Dawson

Mr. Rutherford & Mr. Herrmann


AP US History, period 4
23 September 2015
Story of American Independence
The British colonies were first set up as an extension of the small island. The main
idea that ran the colonization was Mercantilism which led the British to believe that this justified
their total control over the colonies. The idea was to have more exported than good imported,
creating an economic system that resulted in a lot of money. In order to make sure Britain was
the only one to profit from this, they passed the Navigation Laws in 1650 that stated that
commerce to and from the colonies could only be transported on British ships, restricting almost
all foreign trade from the British colonies. Before 1763, the Navigation Laws were not strictly
enforced and Americans had benefits from the system such as protection and profit. As long as
they were making money, the British left the colonies alone to do their own thing, although they
were still under the control of the Mother Country.
In 1763, the French and Indian War came to an end and the British attitude toward the
colonies drastically changed. Britain was now in deep debt and they believed that the colonies
should help to pay that, since Britain had provided protection for them. Prime Minister George
Grenville strictly enforced the Navigation Laws and passed new acts to tax the Americans. In
1764 the Sugar Act was passed along with the Quartering Act the next year. Americans found
themselves furious that they were being taxed when they believed they had no representation
over in Parliament. The strict rules were very different that the Salutary Neglect they had been

used to. In 1766 Parliament was forced to repeal the Stamp Act, after violent groups, such as
the Sons of Liberty, killed officials and non importation agreements began to hurt their economy.
Angered by the colonist, the British drew a line in the sand with their Declaratory Act, but this
only seemed like a challenge to the colonists. They wanted no taxing, even if it was indirect
such as the Townshend Acts contrived by Charles Townshend. Smuggling was common and
eventually lead to the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770. Shocked by the British troops
opening fire on protesting colonists, Americans were furious and a bit blown away. This set them
against taxes even more and on Dec. 16, 1773, the colonists made this even more clear by
dumping the tea from the British East India Company into the bay. Parliament had had enough
and passed the Intolerable Acts. This cut Massachusetts off and restrictions were now put on all
town meetings. Britain threw down its iron fist like an angry parent, and the colonists would have
none of it.
All this taxation and the want for representation would lead to the turning point of the
disagreement. In response to the Intolerable Acts the First Continental Congress met in 1774
and created the Association, which boycotted English goods and encouraged colonists to gather
their own arms. Made nervous by this, a British commander was sent with troops to remove a
stash of weapons in Concord in 1775. But in Lexington, only a few miles away from Concord,
they met up with Americans who would not cooperate and shots were fired. The Redcoats were
forced to retreat at Concord, but the shot heard around the world would be the beginning of
the end for British control in the colonies. In 1775, that same year, the Second Continental
Congress met in Philadelphia with all 13 colonies to ask the king for appeals. In July, they put
forward the Olive Branch Petition, begging King George III to stop hostilities in America. The
king would not hear of it and after heavy casualties for the British at Bunker Hill in June, he
decided that August to proclaim that all the colonies were in full rebellion. Many people were not
looking for independence, only compromises with the king. But men like Thomas Paine, who

wrote Common Sense in 1776, encouraged a break away from the Mother Country. He
encouraged a new kind of political system, called a republic, that called for the people to be in
charge of their government, not a central leader.
Finally, in 1776, Richard Lee, a member of the Continental Congress suggested that the
colonies finally declare independence. He thought that the British were never going to listen and
the people wanted their rights. On July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson finished the Declaration of
Independence and it was approved. The country split into two groups, the Patriots, supporting
independence, and the Loyalists, supported Britain. George Washington led the Continental
Army to victory in Trenton and captured 1,000 British. Then on Oct. 17, 1777, after the British
messed up their strategy, General Washington and his troops forced British General Burgoyne
to surrender at Saratoga, a major turning point in the war. Britain quickly offered America home
rule after this defeat, but the French were still bitter at losing land to Britain earlier in the century
and offered to help America in their cry for independence. This was followed by support by
Spain and Holland in 1779, more because they wanted to see the British lose more than support
for independence. Slowly, the colonists, with foreign aid, began to beat back the British. George
Clark captured British forts and John Paul Jones hit British ships hard with privateering. With a
last swing of the axe, when American morale was at a new time low from the tolls of the war, the
British General Cornwallis retreated to Yorktown for supplies. The French blockaded the sea
and George Washington came in by land, surrounding the British. Cornwallis was forced to
surrender on Oct. 9, 1781, the last of British resistance. In 1782, the Treaty of Paris was drawn
up and the British finally recognized the independence of the new United States.
Now the new country had to figure out how to survive on their own with their newly won
independence. The Continental Congress of 1776 encouraged colonies to make their own
constitutions and this was done. Many were based on a legislative branch with weak central
power. The people of the colonies were still not united and with war debts and bitter feelings

from Britain and other foreign countries, America found itself in a tight spot. Everyone agreed
they needed some structure. This lead to the Articles of Confederation in 1777 that the
Continental Congress created for a unified structure of the colonies. The last colony, Maryland,
didnt ratify it until a year later in 1778. Still scarred from the abuses from the British
government, the Articles of Confederation were created to be weak. There was no executive
branch and it had no say in commerce, taxes, armies or currency. Colonists were afraid of
strong central power and with good reason, they had just gotten their independence against it.
However, national debt was growing and countries such as Spain were closing the Mississippi
to American trade. In response to this pressure of land and money, in 1786 a farmer named
Shay lead what became known as Shays Rebellion. Although it was quickly put down and taken
care of, this violence sent a spark of fear and unrest through the people, creating the idea that a
stronger government might be an important thing for stability.
On May 25, 1787, delegates from 12 colonies met in Philadelphia to fix the Articles.
Instead, they scrapped them and began on what would become known as the Constitution. It
was essentially a series of compromises between the colonies. Congress would have two
houses to satisfy the larger states want for representation by population and the smaller states
want for equal representation. The housed would be known as The House of Representative
(based on population) and the Senate (based on equality) and the event was The Great
Compromise. The Compromise declared slaves were counted as of a person so
everyone could feel like they won. A executive branch existed, with a president elected not
directly by the people but by the Electoral College. This system was created for checks and
balances, one that the delegates hoped would keep the government for the people. In 1787, the
convention ended and the Constitution was sent out to the states to be debated and voted on.
Some people, the Federalists, believed that this was what the country needed and supported
the Constitution. Others, the Anti-Federalists, thought it was too strong of a central government

and wanted a bill of rights to assure that abuse like that of Britain would not happen again. Four
small states ratified it almost right away, with Philadelphia being the first big state. By June 21,
1788, nine states had ratified it and the Constitution went into effect. It took nearly another year
for the last four states, New York, Virginia, North Carolina and Rhode Island to ratify it. They
realized that they could not survive by themselves outside the union and grudgingly ratified it. In
1789, the United States of America came into existence with all 13 colonies, with new
independence and a new government of democratic origins.

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