7. Ties to the British Empire. The unification of the British colonies. The great Awakening. From unity to revolution

By 1733 English settlers had founded 13 colonies along the Atlantic Coast, from New Hampshire in the North to Georgia in the South. Although each of the British colonies was strikingly different from the others, throughout the 17th and 18th centuries several events and trends took place that brought them together. One event that began to unify the religious background of the colonies was the Great Awakening, a Protestant revival movement that took place in the 1730s and 1740s. It began with Jonathan Edwards, a Massachusetts preacher who sought to return to the Pilgrims' strict Calvinist roots and to reawaken the fear of God. Those attracted to their messages called themselves the "New Lights," and those who did not were called the "Old Lights." One manifestation of the conflict between the two sides was the establishment of a number of universities. The Great Awakening was perhaps the first truly "American" event, and considered to be small step towards the unification of the colonies. French-Indian war 1754-1763 increased sense of American unity.

Although the American colonies were very different from one another, they were still a part of the British empire. Socially, the colonial elite of Boston, New York, Charleston, and Philadelphia saw its identity as British. Many of the political structures of the colonies drew upon various English political traditions, mainly Whig traditions(king-governor, The House of commons-colonial assembly, The house of Lords-Governor’s council). Another point on which the colonies found themselves more similar than different was the booming import of British goods.

The general sentiment of injustice arose soon by the Royal Proclamation of 1763: a prohibition against settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains, on land which had been recently captured from France. By the 1720s most colonies had an elected assembly and an appointed governor. Contests between the two were common, with governors generally exercising greater power in the northern colonies and assemblies had more power in the south.

The Sugar and Currency acts in 1764. The Sugar Act strengthened the customs service, it was designed to raise revenue. The Currency Act forbade colonies to issue paper money. The Stamp Act, which required all legal documents, licenses, commercial contracts, newspapers, pamphlets, dice, and playing cards to carry a tax stamp. In 1767 a new chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend drew up new taxes on imports (tea, lead, paper, glass, paint) that Americans could receive only from Britain ( tea party). The Townshend Acts were meant not only to tax the colonies but also to exert British authority.

8. The American Revolution. The continental Congresses and the declaration of Independence.

In 1776 the prospects for American victory seemed small. Britain had a population more than three times that of the colonies. At first the Revolutionary War went badly for the Americans. The Americans, had undisciplined militia and only the beginnings of a regular army or even a government. But Americans fought on their own territory-advantage. The turning point in the war came in 1777 when American soldiers defeated the British Army at Saratoga, New York.

The last major battle of the American Revolution took place at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781. A combined force of American and French troops surrounded the British and forced their surrender. The Treaty of Paris in 1783, by which England recognized American independence. After the revolution the independent American republic was now expanding westwards without opposition from either France or Britain.

Colonial elites—large landholders and plantation masters—benefited most from American independence. Below them, property–holding white men who became full citizens of the American republic enjoyed the “life, liberty, and property” for which they had fought. White women remained excluded from public life. But the Americans for whom the legacy of revolution proved disastrous were Native Americans and African American slaves.

The first Continental Congress in September 1774, in Philadelphia, - refused to recognize the authority of Br. Parliament and decided to stop all trades with Br., start collecting guns.

The Battle of Lexington and Concord (1775) –the beginning of Am. revolution.

On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress declared the independence of the United States in a remarkable document, the Declaration of Independence. The style of the document is attributed primarily to Thomas Jefferson. The preamble declared that “all men are created equal”. Perhaps most important, the declaration insisted that governments derive their powers only by consent of the governed.