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1 A New World
2 Beginnings of English America, 1607–1660
3 Creating Anglo-America, 1660–1750
4 Slavery, Freedom, and the Struggle for Empire, to 1763
5 The American Revolution, 1763–1783
6 The Revolution Within
7 Founding a Nation, 1783–1789
8 Securing the Republic, 1790–1815
9 The Market Revolution, 1800–1840
10 Democracy in America, 1815–1840
11 The Peculiar Institution
12 An Age of Reform, 1820–1840
13 A House Divided, 1840–1861
14 A New Birth of Freedom: The Civil War, 1861–1865
15 “What Is Freedom?”: Reconstruction, 1865–1877
16 America’s Gilded Age, 1870–1890
17 Freedom’s Boundaries, at Home and Abroad, 1890–1900
18 The Progressive Era, 1900–1916
19 Safe for Democracy: The United States and World War I, 1916–1920
20 From Business Culture to Great Depression: The Twenties, 1920–1932
21 The New Deal, 1932–1940
22 Fighting for the Four Freedoms: World War II, 1941–1945
23 The United States and the Cold War, 1945–1953
24 An Affluent Society, 1953–1960
25 The Sixties, 1960–1968
26 The Triumph of Conservatism, 1969–1988
27 Globalization and Its Discontents, 1989–2000
28 September 11 and the Next American Century

Chapter 5: The American Revolution, 1763–1783

Outline

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  1. Onset of crisis
    1. Pre-1763 consolidation of imperial authority
    2. Emerging split over British-colonial relations
      1. British perspective
        1. Subordinate position of colonies
        2. Obligation of colonies to share in cost of empire
        3. "Virtual representation"
      2. American perspective
        1. Equality of colonies and mother country
        2. No taxation without representation
    3. Initial skirmishes
      1. Writs of assistance against smuggling
      2. Proclamation of 1763
      3. Sugar Act
      4. Revenue Act
      5. Currency Act
    4. Stamp Act crisis
      1. Provisions of Stamp Act
      2. Indignation in colonies
      3. Coalescence of opposition
        1. Virginia resolutions
        2. Stamp Act Congress
        3. Boycott of British goods
        4. Public demonstrations
        5. Committees of Correspondence
        6. Sons of Liberty
        7. Crowd actions
      4. Breadth of opposition
        1. Colonial elites
        2. Middling ranks
        3. Laboring classes
      5. Repeal of Stamp Act; passage of Declaratory Act
    5. Internal colonial disputes
      1. South Carolina Regulators
      2. North Carolina Regulators
      3. Hudson Valley rent wars
      4. Green Mountain land wars
  2. The road to revolution
    1. Townshend crisis
      1. Provisions of Townshend duties
      2. Colonial response
        1. Revival of boycott on British goods
        2. American-made goods as symbol of resistance
        3. Reawakening of popular protest
    2. Boston Massacre
      1. Stationing of troops in Boston
      2. The Massacre
      3. Popular indignation
    3. An uneasy calm
      1. Repeal of Townshend duties; withdrawal of troops from Boston
      2. Lifting of boycott
      3. Persisting suspicions of Britain
      4. John Wilkes controversy
      5. Anglican church rumors
    4. Tea and Intolerable Acts
      1. Tea Act
        1. Roots in global commercial developments
        2. Contents
      2. Colonial response
        1. Resistance in ports
        2. Boston Tea Party
      3. Intolerable Acts
      4. Quebec Act
  3. The coming of independence
    1. Suffolk Resolves
    2. First Continental Congress
      1. Prominence of participants
      2. Patrick Henry
      3. Endorsement of Suffolk Resolves
      4. Adoption of Continental Association
      5. Authorization of Committees of Safety
    3. Committees of Safety
      1. Displacement of established governments by extralegal bodies
      2. Expansion of "political nation"
    4. Edging toward independence
      1. Pervasive talk of liberty
      2. From "rights of Englishmen" to "natural rights"
    5. Outbreak of war
      1. Battles of Lexington and Concord
      2. Surrender of Fort Ticonderoga
      3. Boston
        1. Siege
        2. Battle of Bunker Hill
        3. British withdrawal
      4. Establishment of Continental Army, under Washington's command
      5. Dispatch of British troops to suppress rebellion
    6. Colonial ambivalence over independence
    7. Thomas Paine's Common Sense
      1. Content
        1. Denunciation of hereditary rule, monarchical government, colonial subordination
        2. Promotion of independence, political democracy, citizens' rights, free trade, insulation from imperial wars
      2. Impact
        1. Mass appeal
        2. Groundswell for independence
    8. Declaration of Independence
      1. Issuance
      2. Content
        1. Grievances against crown
        2. Defining principles
          1. National sovereignty
          2. Human equality
          3. Natural rights
          4. Government by consent of governed
          5. Right of revolution
          6. From property to "happiness"
    9. America as beacon of universal freedom
  4. Progress of the war
    1. Balance of power
      1. British advantages
        1. Military superiority
        2. Divisions among Americans
      2. American advantages
        1. Military experience
        2. Home turf
        3. Passion for independence
        4. Limits of British resolve
        5. Popular resentment against predatory Redcoats
        6. Aid from Britain's rivals
    2. Black soldiers in the Revolutionary War
      1. On American side
      2. On British side
    3. First years of the war
      1. General William Howe's pursuit of Washington
      2. Washington's eluding of Howe at New York City
      3. Washington's surprise attacks at Trenton and Princeton
      4. American victory at Saratoga
      5. British occupation of Philadelphia
      6. Washington at Valley Forge
      7. American alliance with France and Spain
    4. Sagging fortunes of revolutionary cause
      1. British recruitment of southern loyalists, slaves
      2. British occupations of Savannah, Charleston
      3. Shortage of funds
      4. Defection of Benedict Arnold
      5. Disgruntlement among soldiers
    5. Toward victory
      1. American victories at Cowpens, South Carolina, and Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina
      2. Siege and surrender of Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown
      3. Opening of peace negotiations
      4. Treaty of Paris, recognizing American independence

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