America: AOS 1 Revolutionary Movements, Ideas, Leaders

America: AOS 1
Revolutionary Movements, Ideas,
Leaders and Events
Natalie Shephard
Glenvale School, Melton Campus
What was the Enlightenment?
The Enlightenment was a period of intellectual curiosity and
development from the mid-1600s to the late 1700s.
New philosophical, political and scientific ideas and theories emerged.
Natural law —rules discoverable by reason, govern scientific forces
such as gravity and magnetism.
Natural rights - rights that belongs to all humans from birth.
Revolution in thinking - through the use of reason, people and
governments could solve every social, political and economic problem.
Led by the philosophes - Member of a group of Enlightenment
thinkers who tried to apply the methods of science to the
improvement of society.
Core values of the Enlightenment
Reason – truth could be discovered through reason
Nature - The philosophes believed that what was natural was also
good and reasonable
Happiness – rejected medieval belief that people should
concentrate on finding happiness in the hereafter rather than finding
contentment & joy in this world
Progress – Humankind could improve
Liberty – called for liberties achieve from the Glorious Revolution in
the English Bill of Rights
Religious tolerance
The philosophes – John Locke, 1632-1704
Essay concerning Human Understanding, 1689
• Humans are not born with any innate essence but
rather are shaped by their environments
• Human mind is tabula rasa, a blank slate on which
experience is written
• Empiricism – all men are created equal
Two treatises of Government, 1690.
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Major influence
Disputes concept of diving right to rule (no surprises this is post-1642!)
Natural rights – life, liberty and property which sit above law
Natural rights infringed = legitimate revolution
John Locke contd.
Life: everyone is entitled to live once they are created.
Liberty: everyone is entitled to do anything they want to so long as it doesn't
conflict with the first right.
Property: everyone is entitled to own all they create or gain through gift or trade
so long as it doesn't conflict with the first two rights
An entire society agrees to be governed by its general will, and all individuals
should be forced to abide by the general will since it represents what is best for
the entire community.
He believed that a government’s power comes from the consent of the people.
2nd Treatise
Standing armies are a prelude to tyranny
The philosophes – Denis Diderot
• Published the Encyclopedia, a
28-volume set of books
• Explained ideas on government,
philosophy and religion
• Denounced slavery, praised
freedom of expression and urged
education for all
• Attacked divine right of kings
theory and traditional religions
• Censorship used to prevent the
spread of ideas.
• Enlightened despots, absolute
rulers, were those willing to
consider some reforms
The philosophes - Voltaire
Francois-Marie Arouet
• Believed the perfect government needed
freedom of speech and of religion.
• defended the principle of freedom of
speech
“I do not agree with a word you say, but I
will fight to the death for your right to say
it.”
• exposed the wrongs of his time
• targeted corrupt officials and aristocrats
• wrote about inequality, injustice, and
superstition
• hated the slave trade and religious
prejudice
• offended French gov’t and Catholic
Church
• was imprisoned and forced into exiled
The philosophes – Rousseau
• Wrote the “Social Contract.”
• Believed that people were born
good, but corrupted by the
environment, bad government,
and laws.
• He believed the best
government used POPULAR
SOVEREIGNTY or a vote by all of
the people
The philosophes – Montesquieu - AOS 2
• devoted himself to the study
of political liberty
• Wrote On the Spirit of Laws
(1748).
• Separation of powers “Power
should be a check to power”
• 3 branches – became known
as checks and balances
• Legislative – made laws.
• Executive – administered
laws.
• Judicial – interpreted and
applied laws.
Government by law
The rule of law implies that government authority and power is
defined and limited by written law, which were adopted through
established procedure.
British Constitution = Magna Carta, English Bill of Rights, all Acts of
Parliament and unwritten traditions that protect citizens’ rights.
Britain was a parliamentary monarchy.
• House of Lords – 222 members in 1776.
• House of Commons 558 MPs. Controlled finances (ultimate power!)
British government not totally democratic.
• In 1761, 215 000 adult landowning males were entitled to vote.
Oligarchy
• Government in which the ruling power belongs to a few people.
The situation in 1763
In theory – Britain ruled America
In practice – American colonists governed themselves through
provincial government, with a colonial governor who reported to
the King.
This was known as “Salutary neglect”
• Britain has been essentially ignoring America
• System of mercantilism benefitted Britain
• As long as they were making money
• American colonists had been used to a degree of selfgovernment.
Then it all went a bit sideways.
Right to life
The right to life is the fundamental right, of which all other rights are
corollaries (consequences). The right to life states that you own your own
body. It is your property to do with as you please. No one may force you to do
anything, no one may injure you in any way, and above all, no one may take
your life (without consent.)
Boston Massacre, 1770
Lexington-Concord, April 1775
Battle of Bunker Hill, June 1775
Right to liberty
A state of individual freedom, especially from government oppression
or intervention.
So, pretty much anything that the British government did was seen
as an infringement on their right to liberty!
Suspension of New York Assembly, 1768
Refused to comply with Quartering Act
Vice Admiralty Court Act, 1768
Did not have juries – helped customs officials prosecute smugglers
Massachusetts Assembly dissolved, 1768
Administration of Justice Act, 1774
Royal officials accused of capital offenses tried outside of Massachusetts
Right to property
What Locke said about it:
Government, -“can never have a Power to take to themselves the whole
or any part of the Subjects Property, without their own consent. For this
would be in effect to leave them no Property at all.” He makes his point
even more explicit: rulers “must not raise Taxes on the Property of the
People, without the Consent of the People, given by themselves, or their
Deputies.”
Sugar Act, 1764
Stamp Act, 1765
Townshend Duties, 1767
Tea Act, 1773
Coercive Acts, 1774
All these attempts to
raise revenue violated
colonists rights
No taxation without representation
Writs of assistance
Writs of assistance were documents which served as a general search
warrant, allowing customs officials to enter any ship or building that
they suspected for any reason might hold smuggled goods.
This breached colonists natural right to property and liberty (Locke)
James Otis – challenged this in court in 1761.
He argued that the writs were "against the fundamental principles
of law," and claimed that even an act of Parliament "against the
Constitution is void."
His primary argument in front of the supreme court centred on the
growing sentiment in the colonies that even Parliament could not
infringe on certain basic rights that stood at the core of the
Constitution, often termed 'the rights of Englishmen.'
Sugar Act, 1764
Reinstitution of mercantilist policy, lowered duty to make tax collectable
Revising Molasses Act 1733, new powers given to customs officers
Bypassed colonial assemblies thus seen to violate colonists rights, famous
catch cry `no taxation without representation’
Established a merchant class of New England as a pillar of opposition.
Set precedent
Stamp Act, 1765
Passed to raise £60 000 to supply British troops in America, Parliament
believed funding should be sourced from colonies
First tax that created widespread opposition as targeted all social classes,
taxing everything from playing cards to legal documents
Led to emergence of opposition groups: Sons of Liberty
Inter-colonial co-operation through Stamp Act Congress
Patrick Henry’s `Virginia Resolves’, colonists `entitled to all liberties,
privileges and immunities’ of freeborn Englishmen
Natural rights (property) – Locke
Otis – flaw in British constitution – no taxation without representation
Standing armies
Standing armies should not exist during times of peace, never had
before their establishment in America after 1763
John Locke
Second Treatise on Government
Standing armies are a prelude to tyranny
Generated tension
Resulted in Quartering Acts, 1765 and 1774
Social clashes
Boston Massacre
Military governor of Massachusetts
Ties in with how liberty was threated
Popular sovereignty
A political idea that suggests government authority is derived from
the consent and support of the people. Popular sovereignty
emerged during the Enlightenment and challenged the traditional
idea that kings and governments obtained their power from God.
Colonists had been used to self-government.
Legislative bodies.
Representatives at colonial assemblies.
Massachusetts Government Act, 1774
Took away right to elect civil offices (gave this to royal governor)
Taxation without representation
British parliamentary democracy was based on virtual representation
… that is, the parliament acted for all its citizens, supposedly in their
best interests.
Physically an impracticality for America to have actual representation.
The Americans rejected this and preferred actual representation:
where each member of parliament or an assembly sat on behalf of a
number of his constituents
Stamp Act
Townshend Duties
Ties in with ideas of self-government and property
Self-government
John Locke – disputed divine right to rule
Criticised absolute monarchy
People have the natural ability to govern their own affairs
People could learn from experience and improve themselves
Colonists had been used to self-government.
Legislative bodies
Representatives at colonial assemblies.
Massachusetts Government Act, 1774
Took away right to elect civil offices (gave this to royal governor)
Republicanism
18th Century Republicanism = civic virtue
A person with “virtue” owned property, possessed an intrinsic sense
of morality, and was willing to subordinate his own interests for the
good of the community.
Stems from Classical era (Roman and Greek) citizenship = military
service.
These participatory republics built their stability and authority on the
virtue of the citizenry as a whole and their resistance to corruption or
tyranny.
Citizenship = landholding (soldier who retired were given land as
pensions It was thought that they had far more invested in society =
the public good.
Republicanism 2
Republicanism represented more than a particular form of
government. It was a way of life, a core ideology, an
uncompromising commitment to liberty, and a total rejection of
aristocracy
Robert A. Divine, T. H. Breen, et al. The American Story (3rd ed. 2007) p 147
Thomas Jefferson’s the Summary View of the Rights of British
America explored ideas about the rights of governments to impose
laws and what action should be taken when these rights were
infringed.
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense attacked George III (the
constitutional monarchy), shifting the blame onto him, calling for
independence and thus a republic (a country without a monarchy).
Putting the information in context – Unit 3
VCAA 2010
Question 2
Using three or four points, explain how ideas of liberty contributed to a revolutionary
situation in the American colonies between 1763 and 1776.
Provide evidence to support your answer.
VCAA 2011
Question 1
Using three or four points, explain how demands for self-government among the
American colonies accelerated the development of the American Revolution between
l763 and l776.
Provide evidence to support your answer.
VCAA 2012
Question 2
Using three or four points, explain how the ideas eventually contained in the Declaration
of Independence contributed to a revolutionary situation between 1763 and 1776.
Provide evidence to support your answer.
Putting the information in context – Unit 3
VCAA 2013
Question 1 (10 marks)
Using three or four points, explain how the ideas of republicanism contributed to the
development of the American Revolution from 1763 up to and including 1776.
Provide evidence to support your answer.
Unit 3 example – VCAA examiner’s report
The following is an example of a high-scoring response.
The notion of republicanism in the American Revolution centred around a glowing sense of national
unity and entitlement to actual representation that would inevitably lead to a revolutionary situation
by 1776. The Proclamation Act of 1763 marked an end of the 150 years of salutary neglect in which
America had been able to govern itself internally. George Washington referred to this as a ‘temporary
expedient to quieten the minds of the Indians’. This fostering belief of anti-British sentiment was
exacerbated with the implementation of the Stamp Act of 1765. Here the colony would voice their
disgust at British taxation by claiming it is a fundamental breach of Natural Rights inspired by John
Locke. This fervent belief motivated Patrick Henry to develop his Virginia Resolves in asserting that
Americans were ‘entitled to all liberties, privileges and immunities of free born Englishmen’. This
rhetoric resulted in a Stamp Act Congress which marked the birth of a developing sense of
‘Republicanism’. This belief was at the basis of colonial objections to the Townshend Act of 1767 and
the subsequent Boston Massacre of 1770. With the aid of Samuel Adams ‘Short story of the horrid
Massacre in Boston’, enflaming the colonials belief to their entitlement to representation, cemented
in the infamous phrase ‘no taxation without representation’. With the Boston Tea Party 1773 causing
the Coercive Acts of 1774, it was the American response to create the 1st and 2nd Continental
Congress which affirmed totally the ideal of a ‘Republic’. With the Virginia House of Burgess
proclaiming ‘an attack made on a sister colony is an attack made on us all’, which emphasized the
Americans belief in national republicanism and led to the Declaration of Independence.
Putting the information in context – Unit 4
Whilst only one question has specifically addressed this – the knowledge and
understanding of differing historian’s opinions is important
VCAA 2011
Question 1 (20 marks)
Digitally reproduced by permission of the publishers from The Adams Papers: Diary and
Autobiography of John Adams: Volume 2, Diary 1771–1781, edited by LH Butterfield,
Leonard C. Faber and Wendell D Garrett, pp. 85–86, Cambridge, Mass., The Belknap
Press of Harvard University Press, © 1961 by the Massachusetts Historical Society; All
rights reserved
d. Evaluate the usefulness of the extract in understanding the rise of revolutionary
leaders and their ideas from 1763 to 1776.
In your response quote parts of the extract and refer to different views of the period
1763 to 1776.
10 marks

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