Chapter 3: The American Revolution

Chapter 3 analyzes the origins of the American Revolution and looks at the war's impact on the colonies.

Section 1 describes the conditions in the colonies just before the Revolutionary War. Emerging victorious from the French and Indian War, Britain faced a huge war debt and the challenge of maintaining control over the colonies. The British levied new taxes and issued the Proclamation of 1763 that prohibited settlement west of the Appalachians. Protests against British authority united colonists and fostered patriotic groups like the Sons of Liberty. Parliament responded to colonial protests by issuing the Declaratory Act and reinforcing British troops. As the division between Britain and the colonists widened, representatives from twelve of the thirteen colonies traveled to Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress to discuss united action.

Section 2 explores the Revolutionary War and its effects. King George refused to compromise when the Second Continental Congress asked for his help in resolving the crisis with Britain. With war on the horizon, Congress called on Thomas Jefferson to draft a document to declare America's independence from Britain. On July 4, 1776, Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence and prepared for a revolution. George Washington, the leader of the Continental Army, organized his small, poorly financed band of volunteer soldiers against the formidable British army. The Americans used surprise tactics and familiar territory to their advantage in the long struggle. In 1781 Washington, supported by French troops and the French navy, trapped the British at Yorktown, Virginia, and the British surrendered.

Section 3 looks at three state constitutions and how they each established individual forms of self-government. While all of the states' constitutions established governments that were more democratic than the colonial charters, the governments varied from state to state. In Virginia, for example, the constitution preserved many of the colonial institutions, while the Bill of Rights proposed innovative rights for free citizens. Pennsylvania's liberal constitution established a single legislative house and opened voting to any white male who paid taxes. A special convention drafted the moderate Massachusetts document, which divided power between a governor and two legislative houses. The states' constitutions were written clearly and concisely, and their Revolutionary ideas of liberty gave many Americans more confidence in voicing their opinions.