Unit 3 American Revolution and Early Republic - 1754-1800
Topic 3.2 | Seven Years’ War
AP Learning Objective B: Explain the causes and effects of the Seven Years’ War (the French and Indian War).
1. Cause: Colonial Rivalries
a. Historic European rivalries, particularly between Great Britain, France, and Spain, had extended from Europe to their
colonies in the Americas.
b. A pivotal war in a series of European wars in the first half of the 18th century was the French and Indian War (also
known as the Seven Years' War).
i. This was a war fought during 1754 and 1763 between the two sides: the French, their colonists, and Native
American allies vs. the British, their colonists, and Native American allies.
a. By the close of the 17th century, the French controlled virtually the entire interior of North America.
i. Yet only 60,000 settlers lived in this territory, working in the lucrative fur trade.
b. With such a sparse population, they founded a string of widely separated forts to secure their hold on these enormous
claims.
c. In particular, the French constructed forts in the disputed territory of the Ohio River Valley in order to halt the
westward growth of the British colonies.
d. Hoping to impede French progress, the governor of Virginia sent a militia under the command of young colonel named
George Washington.
e. Fighting broke out in the Battle of Fort Necessity, and Washington was forced to surrender on July 3, 1754, after losing
31 of his men.
f. The French and Indian War had begun.
2. The War
a. At first, the war went badly for the British, with their troops suffering defeat after defeat.
b. Importantly, recognizing the need for coordinating colonial defense, the British government called for representatives
from several colonies to meet at a congress in Albany, New York in 1754.
c. At this Albany Congress, the delegates from seven colonies adopted an agreement—the Albany Plan of
Union—developed by Benjamin Franklin.
i. It provided for an intercolonial government and a system for recruiting troops and collecting taxes from the
various colonies for their common defense.
ii. However, the colonies ultimately rejected the plan as they were concerned about preserving their own
taxation powers.
iii. This failed plan represented one of multiple early attempts to form a union of the colonies under one
government, setting a precedent for unity during the American Revolution.
d. Gradually, the tide of war turned in favor of the British in the late 1750s and early 1760s.
e. By 1763, the French agreed to a peace treaty known as the Treaty of Paris. In this treaty:
i. Great Britain acquired French Canada and Spanish Florida,
ii. Spain was given the French Louisiana Territory.
iii. Thus, French power on the continent all but ended.
3. Impacts of the War
a. Britain’s victory in the Seven Years’ War was a turning point in the British extension of control of North America.
b. First, as a result of the war, Great Britain established unchallenged supremacy among Europeans in North America.
c. Second, the mutual victory among the British and their colonies ironically sharpened tensions between the two.
i. From the British perspective by the close of the war, the colonists were inept militarily and selfish, since some
colonies refused to contribute troops or money to the war.
ii. From the colonists’ perspective, the British troops and leadership proved inadequate in navigating the wooded
terrain of America; instead, they were proud of their own contribution to the war effort.
d. Third, the British abandoned the period of salutary neglect, instead attempting to exercise more direct control over the
colonies.
i. This was in part because the war was costly, doubling the crown’s debt.
ii. By ending salutary neglect, the British hoped to make the American colonies bear more of the cost of
maintaining the British empire.
e. Lastly, the war sparked conflict with Native Americans, whose autonomy was challenged by growing colonial
settlements on the western frontier in newly gained territory.
i. With access to new lands, many colonists on the frontier began immediately to move over the mountains and
into tribal lands.
1
, ii. In 1763, an alliance of tribes under Chief Pontiac struck back, destroying forts and settlements from New York
to Virginia.
iii. Rather than relying on colonial forces, the British sent British troops to put down the uprising.
iv. To protect British colonists from further Native American attacks, King George III signed the Pontiac's
Rebellion.
v. This prohibited American colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, in Native American lands.
vi. Colonists were incensed by this interference, viewing it as punishment.
vii. Thousands simply ignored this order.
f. These simmering divergent views at the close of the war would evolve as the two sides unwittingly walked the road to
war
Topic 3.3 | Taxation Without Representation
AP Learning Objective C: Explain how British colonial policies regarding North America led to the Revolutionary War.
4. Taxation Without Representation
g. Following the Seven Years’ War, Britain began to assert its power in the colonies, collecting taxes and enforcing trade
regulations more aggressively, which brought an end to salutary neglect (1763).
i. From the British perspective, these actions were justified as they were protecting the colonial empire.
ii. However, from the colonists’ view, each act represented an alarming threat to their liberties.
h. A core issue dividing the British and the colonists was the issue of representation.
i. Colonists argued that their own taxes had to go through their own assemblies; since they could not directly
elect representatives to Parliament, they had no way to consent to or oppose British actions.
ii. The British disagreed, arguing that all British citizens had “virtual representation” in the government, since
members of Parliament represented the broad interests of the entire empire, including its colonies.
iii. This fundamentally divergent view on the idea of representation would drive a wedge deeper and deeper
between the two sides.
5. Phase 1: 1764-1766
a. Legislation
i. In the first two years after the Seven Years’ War, King George III’s chancellor of the treasury, George Grenville,
pushed three measures through Parliament that touched off anger in the colonies.
ii. First, the Sugar Act placed duties [taxes] on foreign sugar and certain luxuries. Also known as the Revenue Act
of 1764, more strictly enforced the Navigation Acts, trying smugglers by crown-appointed judges without
juries.
iii. Second, the Quartering Act required colonists provide food and living quarters for British soldiers in the
colonies.
iv. Lastly, and most significantly, Grenville pushed Parliament to enact the Stamp Act, which required revenue
stamps be placed on most printed paper in the colonies, including legal documents, newspapers, playing cards,
and pamphlets.
1. Importantly, this was the first direct tax paid by the colonists, meaning it was the first tax collected
from people in the colonies instead of previous taxes, which were strictly paid by merchants.
b. Reactions
i. Since the Stamp Act impacted colonists in every colony and every social class, people in every colony reacted
with anger.
ii. Calls for cooperative action among the colonies culminated in the Stamp Act Congress, the first inter-colonial
political meeting since the Albany Congress in 1754.
1. They met in New York City in October 1765, sending Parliament the Declaration of Rights and
Grievances, stating that only their own elected representatives had the authority of taxation.
iii. At the same time, many colonists took matters into their own hands, protesting in the streets and intimidating
tax agents. Patrick Henry stood up in the House of Burgesses to demand that the King’s government recognize
the rights of all citizens. The Sons of Liberty, a secret society, formed to organize intimidation actions across
the colonies.
1. They hanged and burned effigies [dummies] of tax collectors and even raided and destroyed the
mansion of the Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor.
iv. In the end, however, the most effective form of protest proved to be the boycott, in which colonists refused to
purchase any article of British origin.
1. In 1765 and 1766, it became fashionable for colonial women to make cloth instead of purchasing
British-made cloth – homespun clothing
2. nonimportation agreements– refusing to buy British goods
2
Topic 3.2 | Seven Years’ War
AP Learning Objective B: Explain the causes and effects of the Seven Years’ War (the French and Indian War).
1. Cause: Colonial Rivalries
a. Historic European rivalries, particularly between Great Britain, France, and Spain, had extended from Europe to their
colonies in the Americas.
b. A pivotal war in a series of European wars in the first half of the 18th century was the French and Indian War (also
known as the Seven Years' War).
i. This was a war fought during 1754 and 1763 between the two sides: the French, their colonists, and Native
American allies vs. the British, their colonists, and Native American allies.
a. By the close of the 17th century, the French controlled virtually the entire interior of North America.
i. Yet only 60,000 settlers lived in this territory, working in the lucrative fur trade.
b. With such a sparse population, they founded a string of widely separated forts to secure their hold on these enormous
claims.
c. In particular, the French constructed forts in the disputed territory of the Ohio River Valley in order to halt the
westward growth of the British colonies.
d. Hoping to impede French progress, the governor of Virginia sent a militia under the command of young colonel named
George Washington.
e. Fighting broke out in the Battle of Fort Necessity, and Washington was forced to surrender on July 3, 1754, after losing
31 of his men.
f. The French and Indian War had begun.
2. The War
a. At first, the war went badly for the British, with their troops suffering defeat after defeat.
b. Importantly, recognizing the need for coordinating colonial defense, the British government called for representatives
from several colonies to meet at a congress in Albany, New York in 1754.
c. At this Albany Congress, the delegates from seven colonies adopted an agreement—the Albany Plan of
Union—developed by Benjamin Franklin.
i. It provided for an intercolonial government and a system for recruiting troops and collecting taxes from the
various colonies for their common defense.
ii. However, the colonies ultimately rejected the plan as they were concerned about preserving their own
taxation powers.
iii. This failed plan represented one of multiple early attempts to form a union of the colonies under one
government, setting a precedent for unity during the American Revolution.
d. Gradually, the tide of war turned in favor of the British in the late 1750s and early 1760s.
e. By 1763, the French agreed to a peace treaty known as the Treaty of Paris. In this treaty:
i. Great Britain acquired French Canada and Spanish Florida,
ii. Spain was given the French Louisiana Territory.
iii. Thus, French power on the continent all but ended.
3. Impacts of the War
a. Britain’s victory in the Seven Years’ War was a turning point in the British extension of control of North America.
b. First, as a result of the war, Great Britain established unchallenged supremacy among Europeans in North America.
c. Second, the mutual victory among the British and their colonies ironically sharpened tensions between the two.
i. From the British perspective by the close of the war, the colonists were inept militarily and selfish, since some
colonies refused to contribute troops or money to the war.
ii. From the colonists’ perspective, the British troops and leadership proved inadequate in navigating the wooded
terrain of America; instead, they were proud of their own contribution to the war effort.
d. Third, the British abandoned the period of salutary neglect, instead attempting to exercise more direct control over the
colonies.
i. This was in part because the war was costly, doubling the crown’s debt.
ii. By ending salutary neglect, the British hoped to make the American colonies bear more of the cost of
maintaining the British empire.
e. Lastly, the war sparked conflict with Native Americans, whose autonomy was challenged by growing colonial
settlements on the western frontier in newly gained territory.
i. With access to new lands, many colonists on the frontier began immediately to move over the mountains and
into tribal lands.
1
, ii. In 1763, an alliance of tribes under Chief Pontiac struck back, destroying forts and settlements from New York
to Virginia.
iii. Rather than relying on colonial forces, the British sent British troops to put down the uprising.
iv. To protect British colonists from further Native American attacks, King George III signed the Pontiac's
Rebellion.
v. This prohibited American colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, in Native American lands.
vi. Colonists were incensed by this interference, viewing it as punishment.
vii. Thousands simply ignored this order.
f. These simmering divergent views at the close of the war would evolve as the two sides unwittingly walked the road to
war
Topic 3.3 | Taxation Without Representation
AP Learning Objective C: Explain how British colonial policies regarding North America led to the Revolutionary War.
4. Taxation Without Representation
g. Following the Seven Years’ War, Britain began to assert its power in the colonies, collecting taxes and enforcing trade
regulations more aggressively, which brought an end to salutary neglect (1763).
i. From the British perspective, these actions were justified as they were protecting the colonial empire.
ii. However, from the colonists’ view, each act represented an alarming threat to their liberties.
h. A core issue dividing the British and the colonists was the issue of representation.
i. Colonists argued that their own taxes had to go through their own assemblies; since they could not directly
elect representatives to Parliament, they had no way to consent to or oppose British actions.
ii. The British disagreed, arguing that all British citizens had “virtual representation” in the government, since
members of Parliament represented the broad interests of the entire empire, including its colonies.
iii. This fundamentally divergent view on the idea of representation would drive a wedge deeper and deeper
between the two sides.
5. Phase 1: 1764-1766
a. Legislation
i. In the first two years after the Seven Years’ War, King George III’s chancellor of the treasury, George Grenville,
pushed three measures through Parliament that touched off anger in the colonies.
ii. First, the Sugar Act placed duties [taxes] on foreign sugar and certain luxuries. Also known as the Revenue Act
of 1764, more strictly enforced the Navigation Acts, trying smugglers by crown-appointed judges without
juries.
iii. Second, the Quartering Act required colonists provide food and living quarters for British soldiers in the
colonies.
iv. Lastly, and most significantly, Grenville pushed Parliament to enact the Stamp Act, which required revenue
stamps be placed on most printed paper in the colonies, including legal documents, newspapers, playing cards,
and pamphlets.
1. Importantly, this was the first direct tax paid by the colonists, meaning it was the first tax collected
from people in the colonies instead of previous taxes, which were strictly paid by merchants.
b. Reactions
i. Since the Stamp Act impacted colonists in every colony and every social class, people in every colony reacted
with anger.
ii. Calls for cooperative action among the colonies culminated in the Stamp Act Congress, the first inter-colonial
political meeting since the Albany Congress in 1754.
1. They met in New York City in October 1765, sending Parliament the Declaration of Rights and
Grievances, stating that only their own elected representatives had the authority of taxation.
iii. At the same time, many colonists took matters into their own hands, protesting in the streets and intimidating
tax agents. Patrick Henry stood up in the House of Burgesses to demand that the King’s government recognize
the rights of all citizens. The Sons of Liberty, a secret society, formed to organize intimidation actions across
the colonies.
1. They hanged and burned effigies [dummies] of tax collectors and even raided and destroyed the
mansion of the Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor.
iv. In the end, however, the most effective form of protest proved to be the boycott, in which colonists refused to
purchase any article of British origin.
1. In 1765 and 1766, it became fashionable for colonial women to make cloth instead of purchasing
British-made cloth – homespun clothing
2. nonimportation agreements– refusing to buy British goods
2
