Standard : Understand the unique character of the American Revolution, its spread to other parts of the world, and its continuing significance to other nations.

A variety of changes created the atmosphere of increased intellectual discourse. New territorial acquisitions by Europeans in North and South America brought new goods like coffee, sugar, and tea. Coffee houses profited from the sale of these items and provided a forum for intellectual conversation. The increasing number of postal services and and printing presses also allowed for cheaper reading materials and swift communication to wider audiences. Consumption of reading materials from Diderot’s Encyclopedia and works from other philosophes to newspapers and broadsides increased literacy in the 1700s, and the subject matter was no longer strictly religious. Wealthy women often organized a salon – a forum usually held in their home to discuss recent literature and philosophy. This all helped create a “public sphere” – a realm for educated political debate and exchange of ideas outside of royal palaces.

Also known as the Seven Years’ War was named after the two main opponents of the British. This war was precipitated by a dispute over the control of the fur trade in the Ohio country – the territory between the Great Lakes, the Mississippi, and the Ohio River. English Protestants also feared a growing presence of French Catholics to their north.

Treaty of Paris 1763 France eventually lost all of its land east of the Mississippi, but in an effort to appease certain Native American tribes, the British crown issued a Royal Proclamation that forbade settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. The British had also put themselves in debt as a result of the war, which they tried to pay for by taxing the colonial subjects.

This was the first direct tax place by the British Parliament on American Colonists. The act required all legal documents, permits, commercial contracts, newspapers, wills, pamphlets, and playing cards in the colonies to carry a tax stamp.

Passed in 1767 by Parliament, these acts taxed imported goods like lead, paper, paint, glass, and tea. Furthermore, these acts were enforced through Writs of Assistance, which gave tax collectors open-ended warrants to search for smuggled goods; the tax collectors were not responsible for any damage sustained during the search.

Citing English common law an American Lawyer, James Otis argued against “taxation without representation.” Some colonists continued to smuggle, while others, like Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty, boycotted British goods. In September of 1774, representatives from the various colonies (with the exception of Georgia) met in Pennsylvania to petition the crown for a redress of grievances. However, the British response was to send more soldiers to the colonies, who were to be provided lodging at the expense of the colonies in accordance with the Quartering Acts of 1765 and Later, on April 19, 1775 some of these troops exchange fire with Americans in Lexington, Massachusetts. In July 1776, a Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson’s declaration was revolutionary in that it declared that the colonies were no longer bound to the rule of King George, but much of what it said was based on hundreds of years of historical precedent from the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights to the writings of Enlightenment philosophers.