APUSH Unit 3

• The French and Indian War was a smaller conflict in the context of a much larger global conflict between the British and French called the Seven Years' War
• The cause of the French and Indian War was the British American colonists steadily encroaching on land in the Ohio River Valley that the French laid claim to
• George Washington


  • Young and scrappy Virginian officer
  • Appointed Lieutenant Colonel in the Virginia militia
  • Sent by Virginia's governor to warn the French of encroaching on British holdings in the Ohio River Valley
• Events leading to start of French and Indian War

  1. Washington met French commander who rebuffed him

  2. French took control of British post in Pennsylvania called Fort Duquesne

  3. Washington, with help from American Indian allies, led surprise attack on Fort Duquesne and gained it back

  4. French led larger force and took Fort Duquesne back
• The Albany Congress or Albany Convention was a meeting of delegates from several British colonies to discuss a more organized colonial response to frontier defense, trade, and westward expansion
• The Albany Plan of Union was introduced by Benjamin Franklin at the Albany Congress, proposing a council of representatives to decide on matters of frontier defense, trade, and westward expansion
• The Albany Plan of Union was ultimately rejected, not least because the taxation it required to exist stunk in the nostrils of the delegates
• At first the French kind of mopped the floor with the British colonists in the French and Indian War
• Not everyone was on board with independence from Britain
• The American Revolution affected American society by inspiring growing concern over societal inequality before, during, and after the revolution
• The British implemented policies during the Seven Years' War that ended up being very unpopular with their American colonists, including forced impressment of American men to join the Royal Navy and quartering troops in colonial homes
• Many northern states abolished slavery after the American Revolution
• Groups regarding independence


  • Patriots
  • Loyalists
  • Neutral
• The Peace of Paris in 1763 ended the French and Indian War, with Spain ceding Florida to the British, the French being ousted from the North American continent, and the land east of the Mississippi River being granted to the British
• Salutary neglect


  The British Parliament left many of the day to day decisions of political rule to the American colonists themselves, despite having political sovereignty over them
• The Continental Congress abolished the importation of enslaved laborers, which met with widespread support
• Probably no more than half of the colonists actively supported the patriots
• The British gaining control of the Ohio River Valley


  American colonists hungry for more land began to push westward, intensifying conflicts with Native Americans
• Southern plantation owners resisted the abolition of slavery as they saw enslaved laborers as closely tied to their economic interests
• Colonial attitudes about government changed in the years right before the American Revolution
• The resistance of the loyalists was no small thing to overcome
• Revolutionary ideals led to the opening of state and national governments to greater democratic influence, such as the universalization of suffrage and the abolition of titles of nobility
• The British Parliament established the Proclamation Line of 1763 which forbade colonists from migrating west across the Appalachian mountains and taking land in the Ohio River Valley
• Fifty five delegates from the states met in 1787 for the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia
• The American Revolution affected the role of women, who contributed greatly to the war effort and appealed for a more permanent expansion of their roles after the war
• The purpose of the gathering was to shore up the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation
• Continental Army


  Poorly armed, poorly trained, and in some cases, coerced into service by local authorities
• Republican Motherhood


  The idea that women were vital to a healthy democracy because they could raise sons well schooled in republican principles, which led to calls for women's education
• The Constitution we know and love today is in fact our second Constitution, the first being the Articles of Confederation
• Colonial delegates met for the Stamp Act Congress in 1765 to petition the British Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act
• The delegates decided to create a new Constitution that afforded the federal government more power than it had under the Articles
• The British national debt roughly doubled and the cost of running the colonies increased something like five-fold as a result of fighting the French and Indian War
• Virginia Plan


  • Called for a strong centralized state
  • Bicameral legislature with representatives based on population
• The American Revolution inspired other revolutionary movements around the world, including the French Revolution and the Haitian Revolution
• The Articles of Confederation was replaced by the Constitution of the United States as America's new governing document
• In 1776 when Washington tried to lead his army out of Boston to go engage in battle in New York, many of the soldiers deserted when he pulled rank
• New Jersey Plan


  • Called for a unicameral legislature with equal representatives for each state
• The French Revolution was sparked by economic woes and the unequal representation of the Third Estate in the Estates-General, leading to the formation of the National Assembly and the storming of the Bastille
• The British Parliament decided to raise revenue by raising taxes on the American colonies to pay for the costs of the French and Indian War
• Great Compromise


  1. Bicameral legislature with House of Representatives representing states by population

  2. Senate representing each state equally with two votes