The American Revolution: Mr. Mccaskill
The American Revolution: Mr. Mccaskill
The American Revolution: Mr. Mccaskill
Revolution
Mr. McCaskill
First of all
What is a revolution?
Revolution- A change in political
organization and the overthrow of
one government or ruler and the
substitution of another.
British Americans
By the mid-1700s, colonists had been living in
America for nearly 150 years.
Each of the colonies had its own government,
and were independent.
Colonists saw themselves less as British and
more as Virginians or Pennsylvanians.
However, they were still British and were
expected to obey British laws.
No TWR!
Britain wanted the colonists to pay the costs of
the war.
In 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp Act.
The colonists were outraged.
They had never paid taxes directly to the
British government before.
The colonist accused the British of taxation
without representation.
No Taxes
In Britain the citizens consented to taxes
because they had representation in
Parliament.
However the colonist had no
representation in Parliament.
Thus, they argued they could not be
taxed.
Independence
Over the next decade, hostilities
between the two sides increased.
Some colonial leaders wanted
independence from Britain.
In 1773, to protest a tax on tea, a group
of colonists dumped a load of British tea
into Boston Harbor.
This would be known as the Boston Tea
Declaration of
Independence
In July 1776, a group of colonist
wrote the Declaration of
Independence.
This document, written by Thomas
Jefferson, was based on the ideas of
John Locke.
THE PREAMBLE
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.
WHY WE WON
Importance of the
Declaration
The United States was now a government in
which citizens rule through elected
representatives.
The Declaration of Independence marked a
turning point in peoples ideas about
government.
It put Enlightenment ideas into practice.
They expressed a view that reason and reform
could prevail and that progress was inevitable.