Theme

       Illustrative Examples 

Conflicting goals of the British and colonists

​​Britain’s efforts to retain power over its colonies in North America in combination with the colonists’ desire to govern themselves resulted in a push for independence and, ultimately, the American Revolution.  

  • Coercive Acts
  • Common Sense
  • Declaration of Independence
  • Proclamation of 1763
  • Seven Years’ War
  • Stamp Act
  • Townshend Acts 

 

Causes of the Americans prevailing in the American Revolution

The Patriots were able to win the American Revolution—even in the wake of substantial support for the Loyalist cause and England’s greater wealth and stronger military—because of George Washington’s leadership of colonial forces, the colonists’ dedication to the ideal of liberty, help from countries such as France, Spain, and the Netherlands, and British weariness and fatigue over the war 

 

  • Skirmishes at Lexington and Concord
  • Battle of Saratoga
  • Battle of Yorktown
  • George Washington as general of the military
  • Loyalist opposition
  • English advantages and disadvantages
  • Colonial advantages and disadvantages
  • French, Spanish, and Dutch support of colonists 

 

​​​​​America addressing differing internal opinions and ideas

The resolve the colonists showed in the Revolutionary War further motivated the newly independent United States of America to consider various options as they worked to establish a new government.  

 

  • Articles of Confederation
  • Constitutional Convention/Constitution
  • Enlightenment ideas
  • Federalists and Anti-Federalists
  • French Revolution (argument over whether to support radical government involved in executions of French nobles and clergy)
  • Shays’s Rebellion
  • Development of new state constitutions 

 

Conflicts facing the new republic

As people spread throughout North America, disputes among different groups battling for territory, natural resources, and other goods increased. 

 

  • Northwest Ordinance (1787)
  • Whiskey Rebellion (1791—1794)
  • Battle of Fallen Timers (1794)
  • Gabriel’s Rebellion (1800) 

Popular pages: AP® US History Period 3: 1754-1800

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