British attempts to assert tighter control over its North American colonies and the colonial resolve to pursue self-government
led to a colonial independence movement and the Revolutionary War.
I. The competition among the British, French, and American Indians for economic and political advantage in North
America culminated in the Seven years’ War (the French and Indian War), in which Britain defeated France and allied
American Indians.
A. Colonial rivalry intensified between Britain and France in the mid-18th century, as the growing population of
the British colonies expanded into the interior of North America, threatening French–Indian trade networks
and American Indian autonomy.
Examples: French-Huron alliance, British-Iroquois alliance, French and Indian War, Albany Plan of Union,
Treaty of Paris
B. Britain achieved a major expansion of its territorial holdings by defeating the French, but at tremendous
expense, setting the stage for imperial efforts to raise revenue and consolidate control over the colonies.
Examples: End of salutary neglect, writs of assistance, use of admiralty courts to try smugglers, virtual
representation of Parliament
C. After the British victory, imperial officials’ attempts to prevent colonists from moving westward generated
colonial opposition, while native groups sought to both continue trading with Europeans and resist the
encroachments of colonists on tribal lands.
Examples: Pontiac’s War, Proclamation of 1763, Iroquois Confederacy
II. The desire of many colonists to assert ideals of self-government in the face of renewed British imperial efforts led to a
colonial independence movement and war with Britain
A. The imperial struggles of the mid-18th century, as well as new British efforts to collect taxes without direct
colonial representation or consent and to assert imperial authority in the colonies, began to unite the
colonists against perceived and real constraints on their economic activities and political rights.
Examples: Sugar Act (1764), Stamp Act (1765), Quartering Act (1765), "No taxation without
representation", Declaratory Act (1766), Townshend Acts (1767), Tea Act (1773), Intolerable Acts/Coercive
Acts (1774), Quebec Act (1774)
B. Colonial leaders based their calls for resistance to Britain on arguments about the rights of British subjects,
the rights of the individual, local traditions of self-rule, and the ideas of the Enlightenment.
Examples: Taxation without representation, consent of the governed, republicanism, bicameral colonial
legislatures, Enlightenment, natural rights
C. The effort for American independence was energized by colonial leaders such as Benjamin Franklin, as well
as by popular movements that included the political activism of laborers, artisans, and women.
Examples: Paul Revere, Mercy Otis Warren, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Sons of Liberty, Letters from a
Farmer in Pennsylvania (John Dickinson), Stamp Act Congress (1765), Boston Tea Party, committees of
correspondence, First and Second Continental Congress
D. In the face of economic shortages and the British military occupation of some regions, men and women
mobilized in large numbers to provide financial and material support to the Patriot movement.
Examples: Committees of Correspondence, Minutemen of Massachusetts
E. Despite considerable loyalist opposition, as well as Great Britain’s apparently overwhelming military and
financial advantages, the Patriot cause succeeded because of the actions of colonial militias and the
Continental Army, George Washington’s military leadership, the colonists’ ideological commitment and
resilience, and assistance sent by European allies.
Examples: Battle of Saratoga, French Alliance, Battle of Yorktown