1. Explain the connection between the ideas of the Enlightenment and the protest movement in the colonies against British imperial policy.
2. Compare and contrast the American and the British views regarding the results of the French and Indian War.
1. There is a pretty big connection between the ideas of the Enlightenment and the protest movement in the colonies against British imperial policy. There were a lot of new political ideas and philosophies that the Americans had heard of, such as John Locke's theory that the government should serve the people and not just itself, and the idea that people have the right to demand change in government when it is not doing right by the people. When Britain changed its imperial policy in such a way that negatively affected America, the people of America called on those ideas in their protests. From the concept of natural rights to idea of the social contract between the people and the government, the protestors in America took those ideas and put them to good use.
ReplyDelete2. The French and Indian War, for both America and Britain, was a major victory against the French. Although the Americans would trade with France and they did not nearly hate the French as much as the British did, They saw it as a war well fought. That is where the similarities in the views of both countries on the war end. For Britain, it saw this as a massive opportunity for growth, yet also it saw the end of the war as a major source of debt. With the British citizens already being heavily taxed, the British turned to its American colonies. America did not see any sort of imperialist growth, mainly because America itself was not an empire. The main thing they saw was that their disputes over land with the French had been settled and that was really all that mattered to them. Of course, when the British started taxing them, not only was the "taxation without representation" issue brought up, but so was the fact that they had worked extremely hard for Britain during the war and Britain was not respecting that. While the British saw room for imperialist growth, the Americans simply saw the end of a war. This difference in opinion and how each group acted on those opinions set off a chain of events that eventually turned into the American Revolution.
ReplyDelete1. The Enlightenment in Europe is without a doubt connected to protests against British imperial policy in America.The Enlightenment started in Europe and was a movement characterized by new ideas and rational thinking, this included advances in science and more importantly politics. When this movement made its way to America so did the new thinking towards government. One piece that was particularly influential in America was by John Locke, which challenged authority by saying government's power comes from the consent of the people. This resignated with the American people at just the right time because they were feeling oppressed by British imperial power at the time and this, along with many writings like it, gave the American people the confidence to protest.
ReplyDelete2. The French and Indian War was a victory for both Britain and America, but in truth it meant more for Britain than it did for America. Britain had long seen the French as an enemy and as a threat, a victory meant security and dominance both militarily and economicaly. The Americans on the other hand did not hate the French and a victory only meant a bit more security on western extremes. But along with positives on each side, there were negatives on each side. For Britain the war meant debt and lots of it and therefore large taxes on all citizens. But the expense of the war was even more profound for the Americans who had no say in the harsh taxes they recieved. So because Americans had less positives and more negatives as a result of the French and Indian War than the British did, they saw it in a much darker light. The results of the French and Indian War were bad enough for Americans that it became a major contributing factor in the start of the Revolutionary War.
ReplyDelete1. The American Enlightenment brought the new country up to the teetering point of an ideological revolution. John Locke's liberalism theories pertaining to the role of government combined with republicanism pushed many of the colonists to see British Imperial Polices in a whole new light. It can be said that the entire revolution was built from John Locke's conclusion, that the role of government is to serve its citizens. And more importantly if the government was doing a bad job it is the natural rights of all citizens to rebel and change government. When the British began to impose new taxes and polices, colonists heeded the words of Locke and rebelled. Francis Bacon is also tied to the American Revolution due to his book, New Atlantis. In which he outlined his views of an utopian society and the role of government, served to push the colonies closer to revolution. The Enlightenment was crucial in path to independence for the 13 colonies.
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ReplyDeleteThe connection between the Enlightenment and the protests to start the American Revolution center around John Locke. His ideas and theories referring to the fact that "government should serve the people" spoke to the colonists directly. An oppressed people already feeling weak, suddenly had new light and came to the realization that this is not the way republics should be run. His other "theory" or idea that citizens have the right to rebel and change government as they so please, gave the American colonists an entire new mindset. No one by that time period imagined speaking up to the British Empire. The influence of John Locke aided in the progression of the American Revolution by motivating and pushing the citizens to fight back at the corrupt.
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ReplyDeleteBy the end of the French and Indian War, early America as well as Great Britain saw benefits and consequences almost immediately. The British victory over France proved to be a praise-worthy and pride fulfilling experience for the British public. France had been a long time political and economic foe, and the victory meant a great deal. Meanwhile, France had developed an alliance with early America during the Revolution. Early America had no benefit from France losing the war, at least from an economic standpoint. On the contrary actually. Great Britain, although the victors, faced large sums of war debt. This directly involved the colonists, as their taxes rose dramatically to pay this debt off. With no morale victory, and raised taxes as a result, early America had nothing to cheer about at the end of the French and Indian War. Britain had won a long time land battle with France, and the high taxes was a small price to pay in their eyes. At the other end the issue of "taxation without representation" arose. The American public was paying for another country's war. Plain and simple. Indirectly, this may have triggered part of the Revolution, which in a way is a "benefit." But ultimately, the French and Indian War was a negative event for the American public at the time.
2. The French and Indian wars left the Colonies and Britain in very different states of mind. The French and Indian war ended with the expulsion of France from lands west of the Appalachians, as well as major Native American tribes just a shell of their former grandeur. The Colonies were left with an open west that was primed for expansion. They did not take the full financial burden for the War, leaving the Colonies in a much better place than before the War. The Colonies also discovered that their military and local government were strong enough to entertain the notion of a revolution against the Mother Country. Britain on the other hand was left with crippling debts and an over extended military. Debts that they tried to recoup with long term disastrous consequences. However Britain did gain a significant amount of land in Canada and west of The Appalachians. The French and Indian War was a crucial turning point in American history and remains today one of the first signs of colonial independence.
ReplyDelete1. The connection between the Enlightenment and America's protest movement against England was that the it "enlightened" the colonists towards their plight. The plight the colonists suffered from was that their exportation of nearly all their goods and valuable natural resources was costing them large sums of money. The large sums of money they were losing, Colonists figured, was a double-negative as they could most likely charge other nations to export. As it were England needed the exports a lot more than the colonies needed to give them the exports because of England's small, infertile island land. The Enlightenment furthered this along because of the scientific advances they had made in technology that aided their production of goods. Also, the scientific revolution was a break away from religious dependence that America had been subjugated to. With all the advancements that Colonial America had made and all the good they independently produced, America figured that they did not need England and therefore split.
ReplyDelete1. John Locke was a major philospher in the Enlightenment, and it was his writings and teachings that influenced the protest movement the most. He taught that every person had natural righs of life, liberty, and property and that if they felt the government was threatening or denied the people these rights they had the ability to change or overthrow it. When the British imposed even more policies, his words and works helped to fuel the movement towards independence.
ReplyDelete1. The Enlightenment and the colonial protest against the British had a big connection. During the Enlightenment there was a period of discovery where many people were coming up with new philosophical theories and ideas. There were also a lot of ideas about new types of government that would be more about the rights and will of the people and less about one sole ruler. Colonists began thinking that maybe the way Britain was ruling them was not effective and that there could be a government that would give the people more of a voice. These new ideas and ways of thinking during the Enlightenment would be the basis of why the colonists began protesting the British and fighting for the better government that they wanted to create.
ReplyDelete2. The French and Indian War was an important event that affected America and Britain in separate ways. Even though Britain won the war, they were still left with a large amount of debt after. To alleviate their debt they decided to create new tax systems for the colonies, a decision that was going to be very hurtful to Britain in the long run. The new taxes such as the Stamp Act and Tea Act were going to be one of the major factors in why the colonies would want to succeed and gain independence from Britain. The colonists did not believe that Britain had the right to tax them just for purely profit and they became angry. The French and Indian War left Britain feeling good that they had won but would spark the anger and desire for independence in America that would lead to the Revolutionary War.
American and British views regarding the results of the French and Indian war in very different ways. With the French being expelled from all of their lands that were westward from the Appalachian Mountains and the Indian tribes suffered major losses and were left at an extremely weakened state. The British were content in their defeat of the French, but they were not pleased with the loss of vital trading commodities that they were receiving from the Indians. Quite conversely, the Americans were pleased at the decimation of the Indians because that left vast tracts of land for the new nation to expand into and be uninhibited by Indians who were already there. The same went for American views on the French, they were out of the way and no longer impeding the Manifest Destiny dream, so the Americans were happy.
ReplyDeleteThe Enlightenment was a time in the 18th century in Europe and moved into the colonies when there were new movements toward reason rather than faith or other beliefs. People wanted to reform the society based on intellectual thoughts and philosophical reasoning rather than the old ways of looking to God for everything that happened. They would now oppose superstitions and look to the scientific reasoning instead. The colonists then took this to a new level when they began protesting the British government because their reasoning was different from the British. They wrote letters to the British Parliament, held protests like the Boston Tea Party, and refused to buy the British goods so they could not profit off of the Americans. They also signed petitions and had public meetings to get the whole communities involved in changing the government control from the British to the Americans. The ideas of the Enlightenment and those of the Americans protests were connected because they both were pushing for a change in the government, either from religious to intellectual or from one control to another. They both wanted this change for the good of the government and for all of the people.
ReplyDeleteThe French and Indian War was a war fought on American territory over the control of the interior United States and land surrounding the Hudson Bay. The French with their Indian allies fought the British and their American Indian allies. The British were very happy with their victory over the French as they gained territory including Canada. They also gained control over some western French forts in the western United States. The Americans saw this victory as a beginning of a freedom struggle as they now had the drive to continue growing their independence from Britain. Now that they were free of the French, there was only one group of power who was not American standing in their way of being a free country, and the French and Indian War greatly influenced this want of freedom for most Americans. They knew they could do it with one very powerful group of people, so they could probably remove with another.
2. The French and Indian War was very important to the British, but it had both a good and bad side to Britain and the colonists. The British were finally able to defeat France, opening up an opportunity for extreme growth. But, the end of the war landed Britain in debt. With inhabitants of Britain being taxed already, the Britsh turned to the colonies to earn money. The colonist were happy that the disputes over land were settled, but they hated the new taxes. It was taxation without representation. The taxes imposed on the colonists because of the French and Indian War would factor in as a large contributor to the independence movement.
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