In 1763 most colonists were proud British subjects, celebrating victory over France. Thirteen years later they declared independence. Period 3 asks how that happened so fast, and then how the new country built a government that would last.
The war that changed everything
The French and Indian War (1754–63) gave Britain most of North America east of the Mississippi, and a mountain of debt. To pay it and keep peace with Native nations, Britain changed course:
- Proclamation of 1763: no settlement west of the Appalachians.
- Stamp Act (1765) and later taxes: colonists protested "no taxation without representation".
The road to revolution
Protests escalated: the Boston Massacre (1770), the Boston Tea Party (1773), and Britain's punishing Coercive Acts (1774). Fighting began at Lexington and Concord in 1775. Thomas Paine's Common Sense (January 1776) made the case for independence, and the Declaration of Independence followed in July, drawing on Enlightenment ideas of natural rights.
The victory at Saratoga (1777) brought France into the war as an ally; the war ended after Yorktown (1781), and the Treaty of Paris (1783) recognised independence.
Building a government
The Articles of Confederation created a weak central government that couldn't tax. Shays' Rebellion (1786–87) convinced many leaders it had to change. The Constitution (1787) created a stronger federal government with separation of powers and checks and balances, built on compromises, including the Three-Fifths Compromise, which counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for representation.
The debate between Federalists and Anti-Federalists led to the Bill of Rights (1791).
The first party fights
By the 1790s, Hamilton's and Jefferson's supporters had formed rival parties. Washington's Farewell Address (1796) warned against parties and permanent foreign alliances. Under John Adams, the Alien and Sedition Acts (1798) limited criticism of the government, and Jefferson and Madison pushed back.
Common mistakes students make
- "The colonists objected to high taxes." The issue was who had the right to tax them.
- "Saratoga ended the war." It brought in France; Yorktown ended the fighting.
- Skipping the Articles. Their weaknesses explain why the Constitution looks the way it does.
Try it
Say each answer before you flip. Then ask: colonists celebrated being British in 1763 and declared independence in 1776. What changed, and why then?
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