APUSH Unit 3

Topic 3.2: Seven Years’ War

Context: Seven Years’ War fought between French + Indians v.s. Britain
between 1754-1763

-Cause:
● French’s land (Ohio River Territory) obstructing British
○ French: Fur trade

-War:
● Albany Plan of Union
○ Britain tax colonies for the Seven Years War
○ Rejected by colonists
● 1763: Treaty of Paris
○ Great Britain Won the war and acquired French Canada and

Spanish Florida

-Impacts of the War

● More British control of NAs
● More tension between colonists and NAs
● Proclamation of 1763
○ Prohibited colonists from settling west of the Applachian

Mountains
◆ Some opposition from colonists

Topic 3.3: Taxation without Representation

Context: Britain taxed its colonists

-Phase 1: 1764-1766
● Legislation
○ Sugar Act (1764) and Quartering Act (1765)
○ Stamp Act (1765)
◆ Tax on printed goods
◆ Reactions
◇ Stamp Act Congress
◇ Boycott

-Phase 2: 1767-1770
● Townshend revenue Acts
○ Colonial imports taxed by British
● Boston Massacre
○ Against Townshend Acts
-Phase 3: 1773-1774
● Tea act -> Boston Tea Party -> Intolerable acts on colonists (1774)

Topic 3.4: Philosophical Foundations of the American Revolution

-Enlightenment ideas
● John Locke
○ Social contract
◆ Government: liberty and equality; created by citizens; protect

natural rights of citizens

● Deism
○ God: no involvement in human affairs; ppl make their own choices
○ Rationalism and human reason
● Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
○ Colonies should break away from British Monarchy; independence

Topic 3.5: The American Revolution

-First Continental Congress

● Intolerable Acts -> First continental congress-> repeal of the
intolerable acts
● Restore relationship with crown

-Fighting Begins
● British troops fought colonists
○ British won battle of bunker hill (1775)

-Second Continental Congress

● Colonies provide troops
● 1775: “Olive Branch Petition” to British -> plea dismissed ->
prohibitory act -> Declaration of Independence
● Battle of Saratoga (1777): Turning point: British surrendered a large
army, and Colonists gained alliance with France

-Competing Sides
● Patriots: Commitment to independence
● Loyalists: did not want independence; many fled to Canada after the
war

Topic 3.6: The Influence of Revolutionary Ideals (AR)

-Expanding Political Democracy
● American Rev -> gave Africans the concept of liberty -> africans
 ●

resisted against white control

● Antislavery Sentiments in the North
○ Antislavery: All northern states; last two: New York (1799) and New

Jersey (1804)
● South: slavery
● Republicanism
○ Political system where power came from the people

-Impact on Women
● Abigail Adams
○ Proposition: women should have more rights and an expanding role
● More access to education
● Republican Motherhood (IMPORTANT!)
○ Women have an important role to instruct their children in the

virtues of republicanism

-International Impact of the American Rev

○ French Revolution and Haitian Revolution

Topic 3.7: The Articles of Confederation

-State Constitutions
● Republican: Property requirements for voters in all states
● Most power to legislative branches (power to make laws)

-Articles of Confederation (1777)

● Create a national government
○ Weak -> economic stagnation and disrespect (9 years later)

-Northwest Ordinance of 1787

● Settlement of the NW territory (slavery-free)

-Shays’ Rebellion
● Postwar depression (1784-1787) -> farmers can’t pay debts -> Shays’
rebellion (farmers’ rebellion) -> failed -> New, strengthened
Constitution

Topic 3.8: The Constitutional Convention & Debates over Ratification

-The Constitutional Convention

● Shays’ Rebellion -> Constitutional Convention (1787) to amend the
articles of confederation
○ Agreement: George Washington selected president
-Compromise
● The Great Compromise
○ Virginia Plan (May 1787): Lower House of Congress proportional to

population
○ New Jersey Plan: Each state has equal representation
○ Final decision
◆ Upper House (Senate): Each state had equal representation
◆ Lower House (House of Representatives): based on population
● Three-fifths Compromise
○ James Madison: 3/5 of enslaved Africans counted for

representation and taxation (more voting power to slaveholding

states)
● Commerce Compromise (1788-1808)
○ Tariffs only on imports from foreign countries and not exports from

the U.S.
● The Presidency Compromise
○ Electoral College System

-Ratification Debate (Constitution)

● Federalists v.s. Antifederalists
○ Federalists: supporters for ratification of strong central

government
○ Anti-Federalists: opposed to Ratification favors states’ rights
● Ratification
○ 1787-1788
○ 1789: George Washington elected president
○ 1789: Bill of Rights (1-10 amendments)
● 1808: International Slave trade prohibited

Topic 3.9: The Constitution

-Constitutional principles
● Federalism central to government
● Separation of powers: checks and balances (三权分⽴
○ Legislative: Congress makes laws, passes taxes, and allocates

spending
○ Executive: President carries out laws
○ Judicial: Supreme Court

Topic 3.10: Shaping a New Republic

-Foreign Policy
● Proclamation of Neutrality (1793)
 ○ France declared War against neighboring Europeans -> mixed
viewpoints about who to support -> George Washington declared
to U.S. to steer clear of involvement in European affairs
● Jay’s Treaty (1794)
○ Britain evacuated from the coasts of the colonists -> Peace
● The Pinckney’s Treaty
○ Jay’s Treaty (a sign that Britain is closer to the colonists) -> Spain

afraid -> settlement of American disputes with Spain: Spain

granted trade and some land
● Securing the West
○ Whiskey Rebellion (1794)
◆ Tax on Whiskey -> Farmers rebelled

-Political Disagreements
● The debate over a national bank
○ State debts by federal government, creation of a national bank
○ Thomas Jefferson disagreed -> disputes

-The First Party System

● Disagreement over national bank -> two-party system
○ Federalist: Hamilton
○ Democratic-republican: Jeffersonians
● 1796: John Adams won election
○ XYZ affair (1797): French abusing U.S. merchant ships -> Peace

negotiation -> French refused -> Anger -> Anti-French sentiment

by the U.S. -> Quasi-War -> no winner -> diplomatic resolution
● Federalists gained victory
○ Alien act: allowed deportation of foreigners
○ Sedition act: jailing of people who criticized the president or

Congress

-Farewell address (George Washington)

● National Unity

Topic 3.11: Developing an American Identity

-Regional Variations
● Constitutional Convention
○ Regional variations continued and intensified
○ North-South geographic
● Tariff Act of 1789
○ Tax on imports
◆ Northerners: supported tax to prevent foreign encroachment
◆ Southerners: farmers wanted a lower tax rate for consumer
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goods

-National Culture
● Republicanism
○ Widely accepted even before the AR
○ Officials would vote

-Expression of National Identity

● Art, literature, architecture

Key Takeaways
. New forms of national culture developed in the U.S. alongside regional
variations
. National Identity: In art, lit, and architecture

Topic 3.12: Movement in the Early Republic

-American Indian alliances
● Treaties -> U.S. expand its territory
● British Alliances
○ British allied with NAs to stop the Westward Expansion -> NW

Indian War -> U.S. won

-Westward Migration
● More migrants to America -> pushed westward -> political and social
tension

-Expansion of Slavery
● Late 18th Century - early 19th Century
● Eli Whitney’s Cotton gin (1793)
○ South
● South and North have conflicting views over slavery