CHAPTER 6 : THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

6.0 Introduction

The growth of new ideas in the modern period led to revolutions which had an effect on people all over the world. With the discovery of the new continent, colonies of Spain, England, France, the Netherlands and Sweden sprang up. Thus Spain established a colony in Florida, while France established colonies in North America (Canada) and in Louisiana (USA).

Several people in England grew dissatisfied with the government and wished to settle down in a new country. They therefore left their mother country and went to America, as for example, the Protestant ‘Pilgrim Fathers’ who wanted to be free from the religious intolerance of James I. They sailed to America in the ‘May Flower’ and were soon followed by other colonists. By the 18th century, thirteen colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia were established under British control by Catholics, cavalier nobles, Quakers Protestants and others. These colonies initially did not follow the same lifestyle or pattern of government, for the English Quakers and German Evangelical sects lived in Pennsylvania, while the Catholics were settled in Maryland. However the common feature that they shared was the knowledge of their strength and the hatred of their motherland. Initially the colonies did not wish to be independent. It was the policies of the English autocrat George III that created discontent and a desire for separation on the part of the colonies.

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Index

6.0 Introduction
6.1 Causes of the American Revolution
6.2 Immediate Cause
6.3 Course of the American Revolution
6.4 Reasons for American Success
6.5 Consequences of the American Revolution
6.6 Significance of the American Revolution
6.7 Dates & Events
6.8 Points to Remember