CM Mineure Soutien LCE
Semestre 2
M. Super-Chicot
26 Janvier 2010

Etude de périodes distinctes de l'histoire des USA.
Meldwyn Jones – The Limits of Liberty (Chapitres 6 à 20)

American Revolution

The American Revolution has to do with the beginning of the American Nation
Late 18th century
The British were organizing almost everything in America (economy, legal status...)
Trade across the atlantic
In the 18th century, there was a huge harbour, Liverpool, and America were in the hands of the merchants of Liverpool. Most of the ship companies were British companies.
''Magic connection'' between Liverpool and Boston
Economic advantage obtained by the British → it is the duty of the American colony to be paying for its own administration. The legal system, the financial system had to be paid for by America and not by the British.
→ consequence of this policy : a number of acts were voted in the 18th century, so that america would pay for its administration.
The British Crown wasn't spending anything for its American colony.
1764 Sugar Act : tax on sugar from the Caribbean to America
[boon of nature vs. bane of nature]
1764 Currency act : In the British Empire, in the days of colonization there was no unity in the minting of coins, and this came to an end from 1764 : all coins were minted in London.
America lost its financial independence. → political disatisfaction grew in America.
1770 Boston Massacre : PARTY TIME ! Uprising against the British troops sationed there which responded by shooting into the crowd. → Turning point in the American Revolution.
Beacon Hill = borough of Boston which looks like London
[turmoil = disorder, not necessarily negative]
Most of the tea trades were British, so were the tea companies. Some Boston merchants, in order to protest the ownership of tea companies, emptied a cargo of tea into Boston Harbour.
The American Revolution was a revolution of the trading class. It was not a proletarian revolution. It was