Introduction:
Following an unsuccessful attempt at colonization in Roanoke (1587), the
main colonization efforts in the Americas began in Jamestown by the Virginia
Company (1607), in Plymouth by the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630), and the
settlement of the Carolinas in the 1650s. The three areas developed in
different ways and with different purposes in mind. The Puritans in Plymouth
settled in the Americas primarily for religious freedom; the settlers in
Jamestown initially sought gold and treasure, but developed a cash crop:
tobacco; the settlers in the Carolinas developed plantations based on a
Caribbean model. The Georgia colony would become primarily a colony of
prisoners from Britain. In addition, some settlers came to the Americas as
indentured servants, and later slaves (slavery was first legalized in Virginia
in the 1660s).
1. American
Revolution (1775-1783)
The French-Indian War (aka the
Seven Years’ War, 1754-1763) would serve as a prelude to the American Revolution.
Many historians see this as an extension of a larger war between Britain and
France. American colonists fought primarily on the side of the British, and tribes
of Native Americans fought on both sides of the conflict. As a result, the
French lost the war and gave up territory west of the Appalachians to the
British. An American war hero would also emerge from this conflict: George
Washington.
Although the British won the
war, they would soon feel war’s costly effects. In order to repay some of the
war expense, the British taxed American colonists and kept a military presence behind
to keep the peace. After all, they reasoned, the war had been fought for the
colonists, why shouldn’t they do their fair share in paying for it?
The colonists did not agree.
They resented the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Quartering Act (soldiers lived in
people’s homes), and other acts, but the Tea Act was the final straw. While
Samuel Adams gave an anti-British speech, several members of the “Sons of
Liberty,” dressed as Native Americans, stormed one of the ships in the Boston
Harbor and dumped the tea overboard (1773).
Rather than seeking a
compromise, the British tried to tighten the screws and bring Massachusetts
under stricter British control. The other colonies saw this as an indication of
things to come. Tensions escalated until April 1775 when fighting broke out
between American militia and British soldiers at the Battle of Lexington and
Concord. This battle would become known as “the shot heard round the world.”
The American
Revolution marked a change in thinking, in government, and in political philosophy.
The American Revolution was influenced largely by the writings of John Locke, a
British philosopher who claimed in his Treatise on Government that human beings
have certain “inalienable,” God given rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of
property. He believed that no government could or should take these away. He
argued that people give up some of those rights to self-govern for the good of
the group. We can’t build roads, have schools, hospitals, libraries, or armies
as individuals. We have to join together to create these things for the good of
the community.
Locke continues that individuals make a contract with government, that
government is a steward of the people and acts on the interests of the people.
When government forgets that or abuses the charge it’s given, people have the
right—the responsibility—to take this back and create a new government that
DOES represent the people.
The Preamble to the Constitution begins “We the people . . .” recognizing
this Lockean foundation. The writers of the Constitution also recognized that
people, left to their own devices, would abuse power, and so the American
government system was a system of “checks and balances,” where the executive,
legislative, and judicial branches of government had the power to keep each
other in check; no one branch held all the power.
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