HIST 102 #20 - Empire, War and Revolution 1748-1789

Hello, welcome back to our lecture series for Western Civilization 102. We just finished discussing and learning about the enlightened absolutist, or the enlightened absolutism, uh, that Age of Reason that took place in the 18th century. And now we will turn our attention to Empire and War, Revolution from the years 1748 until 1789. Which is, 1789 is the beginning of the French Revolution, to give you a time frame.

Now, Mr. Chauvin will talk about with his lecture on Empire, War, and Revolution, quite a lot of different topics, different subjects. There will be a discussion of Brandenburg Prussia. It's, it's hyphenated, Brandenburg Prussia. A lot of times, you'll only hear it referred to as Prussia. If you need to find it on a modern-day map, you just need to look for Germany, and that's the same region. We'll also, of course, talk about the Austrian Empire. Um, with the Brandenburg Prussia, of course, I've mentioned also in the past, the Fredericks. Frederick William the First is known as the Sergeant King. He was very focused on building the military in Prussia, which he does. Makes it, makes the military very central in Prussian society, but he didn't use it. Um, and you'll hear more about this too in this lecture, but Frederick William the First of Brandenburg Prussia doesn't use the army. That will be left up to some of his successors. Frederick William the First welcomed Jews and Protestants into Brandenburg Prussia, which was good for their economy. A lot of middle-class tradesmen, merchants coming into Brandenburg Prussia. And of course, you've also heard of Frederick the Second, or Frederick the Great, who comes into power in 1740 and will be empowered during the years that we are talking about here, and how he uses the army quite a few times, actually. Um, and one way that Frederick the Great uses the Prussian Army is against their neighbor to the South, the Austrian Empire.

Now, Austria, the king of Austria and the Habsburgs, is their dynasty, was Charles the Sixth. And he had a daughter, Maria Theresa, who was his heir. She was a daughter, she was a girl, a female. And so Charles the Sixth was very worried about what would happen if she took the throne without some kind of agreement with the Austrian nobility to accept her. He just wanted to make sure everything was good, taken care of. So he eventually negotiates the Pragmatic Sanction, that will say, yes, we approve of Maria Theresa, you know, she can succeed after your death. But there's a problem, because Frederick the Great, or Frederick the Second in Brandenburg Prussia, when Maria Theresa comes to the throne, decides to take advantage of her, thinking that and hoping that this is a good moment, a weak moment, in the Austrian Empire. And so he invades a place in Austria called Silesia, which of course begins that War of Austrian Succession that I mentioned before, between the years 1740 and 1748. So you'll hear about the War of Austrian Succession again. And you'll also hear about the oppression, uh, the diplomatic, I'm sorry, Revolution. And all that is, it's very simple. It's just a changing of alliances. Countries that were always friendly and allied together are now switching around. It's just called a diplomatic revolution. Friends are going to become enemies, and enemies will become friends. Alliances, friends, is kind of stretching it. So you'll learn about that as well.

We'll also learn about, um, Russia and Peter the Third. We'll learn about the Seven Years' War. And, you know, actually, Peter the Third, they were fighting against Prussia at the time. But when Peter the Third took the throne and became Tsar in Russia, he took Russia out of the Seven Years' War, which is between the years 1756 to 1763. Which really helped Frederick a lot when, when he doesn't have to worry about being totally surrounded by enemies. Because Britain was on Prussia's side, but Britain was only pretty much giving Prussia money. Britain was very focused on a war in the colonies. It's, it's the same as the Seven Years' War in Europe. In the colonies, it's known as the French and Indian War. And again, it pitted England against France. Just like England and France were enemies on the European continent, France was also an enemy to Prussia. But Britain doesn't put a lot of Redcoats in Europe. Prussia is the one that that really, um, holds the, the front line, so to speak, on the European continent, while Britain is very focused in the colonies and the fighting during the French and Indian War. So you'll learn about the, um, the Seven Years' War in Europe. Also, you'll learn about the French and Indian War on the North American continent. And of course, what happens as a result of these wars.

We'll also learn a little bit about the lead-up to the American Revolution, which is very important to not only American history, but also to Western Civ as well. Um, Declaration of Independence in 1776. And you'll hear about Catherine the Great, more about Catherine the Great and the Enlightenment during this time period as well in Russia. So you'll hear more about her again as well. And, and the rebellions that, a very famous rebellion that Catherine the Great faced, called the Pugachev Rebellion. Of course, you know, Catherine wasn't Russian, she was German. And there was some, of course, talk and rumors, and that she actually had her husband killed in order to gain the throne. So she was very beholden to the nobility in Russia and the aristocracy. And there was a Russian tradition that a lot of people in Russia could not believe ill of their Tsars. So if their Tsar does something really mean or despicable, despicable, or passes a really bad policy, a lot of times the people will not blame the Tsar or the Tsarina. They will blame their advisors, or maybe there's an imposter, because it was just this tradition that the Tsar, the Tsarina, would not do ill for their people. Um, so we'll talk about, uh, Mr. Chauvin will also talk about Russia during this time period of Empire, War, and Revolution.

Well, explaining what's going on in the world in the middle of the 18th century is a little complicated because of what happens during the middle of the 18th century. When you get to the middle of that century, things are going to change dramatically in Europe. And the changes in Europe are going to end up leading to changes all over the globe because the European countries had established colonies in both of the Americas and also in Asia. And conflicts that arise in Europe are going to automatically and almost simultaneously spread throughout the globe. They're going to cross oceans, particularly the Atlantic Ocean, where fighting in Europe will spread to the colonies in America, in the Caribbean, in, in North America.

In the middle of the 18th century, you have a war that breaks out in Europe in 1740, known as the War of the Austrian Succession. This war breaks out after Charles the Sixth of Austria, the Habsburg ruler of Austria and all Habsburg lands. It's not only Austria that the Habsburgs rule over, but the Austrian Netherlands and parts of the Holy Roman Empire, parts of Italy. The Austrians control, the Austrian Habsburgs control a vast amount of territory in Europe. And when Charles the Sixth dies, her, his daughter Maria Theresa becomes the, the queen of Austria and the ruler of Habsburg lands throughout Europe. Now, before his death, Charles the Sixth knew that he would not have a male heir to the throne. And that was a bit of a problem in this part of Europe because there had never been a strong tradition of female rulers in all of Austria or in Central Europe as a whole. So he comes up with what's known as the Pragmatic Sanction. The Pragmatic Sanction is basically a document that says that upon my death, my inheritance goes to my daughter. And not only does it, not only is it stated in this document, but he goes around Europe getting all of the other royal houses of Europe and all of the areas of the, the small principalities and Imperial cities and in larger kingdoms to agree that this is what will happen upon his death. And he eventually dies in 1740. When he does, Maria Theresa becomes, uh, his successor. And immediately, uh, you're going to have some countries that go against the Pragmatic Sanction. Most notably, Frederick the Second, who is the King of Prussia. He will invade an area that's controlled by the Habsburgs, an area known as Silesia, an area to the north of, of Austria. It's a very rich area, lots of Germans live there, it's a mineral-rich area as well, very important to Maria Theresa and to the Habsburgs. And this area is invaded by the Prussian general and, and taken over by the Prussians. That will start the War of the Austrian Succession.

Now, what happens in this war? Austria will have an ally in Great Britain, and Prussia will have an ally in France. France is allied with Prussia primarily because the French Bourbons are rivals to the Austrian Habsburgs, uh, in the end. As far as this war is concerned, in the end, what happens is pretty much a stalemate. And Frederick the Second's grab at this territory of Silesia will be upheld in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which is the treaty that ends the War of Austrian Succession. That treaty recognizes Prussian control, in Frederick the Second's control over the area of Silesia. This is not something that Maria Theresa is happy about at all. In fact, she really doesn't accept it. She might accept it in documentation, but she doesn't accept it in her mind. And in the years after the war, there becomes a, a really an obsession to some degree by Maria Theresa to regain that lost territory. She simply can't stand for the fact that this territory has been lost, uh, to Frederick the Second. Uh, it takes her a while, but she begins to re-establish diplomatic channels in such a way to align herself into a better position to perhaps, for what she thinks is a better position, at least to, to regain that lost territory of Silesia. Now, what she also does is she rebuilds and reforms the Austrian military. She does this to a degree that gains her the respect of many in Austria and many in the military. And she goes, uh, about a quest to gain the alliance of a former rival, that being the French Bourbons. And this quest by Maria Theresa to gain the alliance of the French is something that will undo, at least temporarily, a rivalry that had existed, uh, for more than a century between these two, really even more than that, between the French and the Austrians.

Now, she begins this diplomatic negotiation with the French. And the French, at first, the, the king of France at the time is Louis the Fifteenth. He doesn't agree to a strict alliance, but the French do agree that they will remain neutral in a future conflict between the Austrians and the Prussians over this territory of Silesia. Now, meanwhile, the British, who were on the Austrian side in the previous War of Austrian Succession, will gain an alliance with the Prussians, a country that they opposed in the previous war. The British and the Prussians will make an alliance together. And that will push the alliance between the Austrians and the French further down the line. Because what's stronger than the rivalry between the Habsburgs of Austria and the Bourbons of France is the rivalry between the nations of France and, and Great Britain. Both of those countries are rivals on, on the world stage, in a sense that they both have these very large empires. And to a great extent, their economies, the economies of both of these countries are based on the empires and the territory and the colonies that they control in other parts of the world. So when the British and the Prussians join on the same team, that pushes the Austrian-French alliance closer together as well.

Now, what happens, you know, by the time we get down the road to around 1756, this is eight years after the first War of Austrian Succession ended, the war in which the Prussians again gained this area of Silesia that Maria Theresa, the queen of Austria, the leader of Habsburg lands, wants back. Uh, by the time we get to 1756, it's pretty obvious that there's going to be another conflict. And it's really a continuation of the War of Austrian Succession. Now, Frederick the Second, who is still and will continue to be long after these wars are over, uh, the King of Prussia, will make a preemptive strike, in some ways, an aggressive, uh, lurch forward with his military, uh, by invading Saxony. And when Frederick the Second invades and overruns Saxony, which is a nearby, uh, principality in, in the northern part of, uh, this old remnants of the Holy Roman Empire, when he does this, uh, that really starts the war, uh, known as the Seven Years' War. So, in, in many ways, the Seven Years' War is a continuation of the War of Austrian Succession.

So the war breaks out, and the battle will immediately be over Frederick holding on to this area that he originally took, known as Silesia. He wants to hold on to that territory and to also maybe gain other territory in Central Europe as well. Now, Austria now has the French on their side through this arrangement. Some call it the, the Great Change of Partners, or the Diplomatic Revolution. The, the fact that things had changed and had sort of switched over in such a dramatic way in, in Europe at this time. Uh, the Habsburgs and the French getting together, uh, to a, to a degree, the Austrians and the French getting together is pretty revolutionary on a diplomatic sense. And for those two to be on the same team is, is pretty dramatic. But the French begin to realize that the real enemy in, in Europe, maybe not will not be the, the Austrians. It's going to be the rise of a very strong, uh, Prussian state, which started off as the fragmented Brandenburg Prussia that has grown now into a true country, a true nation-state with a very powerful army. In fact, much of their existence is based on the strength of their army. The French recognize that the Prussians are going to be a force to be reckoned with. And, and to a degree, that is why they decide to, decide with the Austrians to check the Prussian, the possible advancement of the Prussian state.

Now, not only do you have the French and the Austrians on one side, and you also have teamed with Austria and France, Russia. Russia also sees Prussia as a growing aggressive military power in Central Europe, beginning to threaten areas to the East, in the direction of Russia. And because of that, the Empress of Russia at the time, Elizabeth, decides to go in with the Austrians. And the one thing that Russia has, besides a vast amount of territory, is a big population based on the vast amount of territory. And she's able to supply the Austrian side with more than 80,000 troops against the Prussians. So you have the French, the Austrians, and the Russians against Prussia and Great Britain. Now, Great Britain, as far as this European version of the Seven Years' War, uh, is not going to really focus on Europe. What they, uh, do for, for Prussia is being an ally, is they supply funds. They supply, uh, some troops, uh, but they basically are going to funnel them money and equipment for their effort, uh, against, uh, their foes in Europe, the Austrians, the French, and the Russians. So you have this small, relatively small European state known as Prussia, that has to fend off France, Austria, and Russia. In essence, they're having to fight a war on all fronts in order to hold on to this territory of Silesia. And the British, what they decide to focus on, if they're not focusing on Europe on a land army or, or a land force in Europe, they decide to focus their efforts elsewhere in, in the, on the globe against the French, who's really their main enemy, uh, in this war. Austria is not really an enemy to the British, only in the sense that, uh, that Austria is an ally of France. So what the British do is they're going to focus their efforts in North America and in Asia, and India, in particularly, in particular, against the French.

Now, what happens as a result of, uh, the Prussians being essentially closed in on by the, the forces that have a much greater number, uh, is that Frederick the Second in Prussia will be in trouble. In fact, they get to the point to where they're not really able to hold on to that territory of Silesia. And it, and it's beginning to look as the war drags on, again, it starts in 1756, but by the time you get to 1760, 61, 62, it looks like that Prussia is going to lose this territory simply because they're outnumbered, and they're basically wearing the Prussian forces down. And what happens at this point in 1762, in January 1762, Elizabeth, the Empress of Russia, will die. And the throne goes to Peter the Third. Now, Peter the Third happens to be a great admirer of Frederick the Second, who is the King of Prussia. And when he becomes the, the leader of Russia, the Tsar of Russia, he decides to pull the Russian troops out of the fight and really essentially, instead of being an enemy, being an ally of Prussia. So the, the Russian troops that were there, he basically pulls them out of the fight, which leaves the Austrians and the French against the Prussians. And when he does that, essentially switching sides, that is going to breathe life into the Prussians and into Frederick the Second's, uh, goal of keeping this territory of Silesia. In fact, that's exactly what happens as a result of first Elizabeth dying, Peter the Third gaining the, the throne in Russia, you have Frederick the Second able to hold on enough to keep that territory of Silesia, which of course was the main goal of Maria Theresa in fighting this war. She wanted to get back that territory. But because the Russian troops are out, there's not going to be enough for the French and the Austrians to dislodge the Prussian army from this territory.

And as things drag on, as we get to 1763, the exhausted forces on all sides will eventually sign what's known as the, the Treaty of Paris, which concludes this Seven Years' War. And what happens is, in Europe, is that Prussia will keep this territory of Silesia. Maria Theresa will have to recognize Prussian ownership of this territory, something that she did on paper after the War of Austrian Succession, but really refused to do in her heart. Uh, now she's going to have to accept the fact that this territory is lost, uh, after this Seven Years' War, after all the sides are exhausted, and there's no way that the Austrians and the French are going to be able to remove the Prussian forces. So nothing really changes.

Now, things do change dramatically in other parts of the world, uh, as a result of this Seven Years' War. This Seven Years' War, also known as the Great War for Empire, or the French and Indian War in North America, is a war that dramatically changes the territorial boundaries. It doesn't change anything in Europe, but in North America, it dramatically changes the boundaries. What the British, as I said, what the British decided to do in the Seven Years' War is to focus their attention on North America. The British realize that they're not going to change any, uh, territorial boundaries in Europe as this war is being fought, but they can change them and, and dominate the seas, dominate colonial possessions in America, and therefore have a stronger economy and a stronger navy as they control the seas. And so William Pitt the Elder, uh, the minister leading Europe, leading England at this time, Britain, is going to commit the majority of his resources as far as military resources to the effort in North America. Uh, the numbers of British soldiers coming into North America will undo French control over anything that they have on this continent at that time. The French actually controlled a greater territorial, greater territorial area than the British did in North America. They controlled Quebec, the whole Great Lakes region, Canada, and the Mississippi, uh, the, the drainage of the Mississippi River, which included Louisiana. Now, um, of course, the great funnel of the Mississippi River drains today 31 different states. All of the rivers that flow into the Mississippi River from 31 different states today were claimed by, by France. France saw ownership of this, this territory that was drained by the Mississippi River. So if you, if you take that area, it goes from Louisiana, the mouth of the Mississippi River, all the way up, providing a huge funnel from the Appalachians, really, to the Rocky Mountains. And that territory extended all the way up to the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. Of course, that's not drained by the Mississippi River, but the French had laid claim to that area before they claimed Louisiana in the prior century. So they were, they controlled a huge territory in North America compared to the British.

Now, the difference was, the French only had about 56, 58,000 French colonists in North America compared to the English by 1760, who had maybe 1.7 million on, in the, on the Eastern Seaboard, the 13 original colonies. But territorially speaking, the French controlled a vast amount of territory. Of course, most of the people who lived in that French territory were not French, they were actually Native Americans. Uh, what we call the French and Indian War is the, the French and their alliance with Native American Indian tribes in America, mainly in, in Canada. They're going to gain an alliance with these Indian tribes to fight off the British. These Indian tribes sided with the French, they got along better with the French, there weren't as many French in North America, they so they side with the French with the possible expectation of kicking the, the British out, and the large British presence out of portions of North America. So this effort, which is, it's really the same thing as the Seven Years' War, the French and Indian War is what it's called here in North America, is going to be a battle between the British and the French and the American colonists also joining in in the effort, which of course are subjects of the British Crown, and then the French colonists, subjects of the French Crown. Those forces are going to to meet in this French and Indian War. And, uh, the conflict between the French and the British mainly dealt with territory in the Ohio River Valley. The British were claiming that territory, the colonists claimed territory beyond the Appalachian Mountains into the Ohio River Valley. The French also claimed that territory. The Americans really weren't laying claim to Canada or the colonies weren't at that time, but they were laying claim to this territory that extended out west from the Appalachian Mountains. So the, the fighting actually starts over control of the Ohio River Valley. You have Fort Duquesne, which is where Pittsburgh is today, which is a key port, excuse me, a key fortress there for the French. Fort Duquesne is set up at the, where the Ohio River starts, where the, uh, uh, convergence of the three rivers near Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh that forms the Ohio River. The Ohio River, of course, flows into the Mississippi River. That's part of the drainage of the Mississippi River, essentially. That's part of at this time, Louis, you know, French Canada or New France, uh, or French Louisiana, I should say, or New France. This is the area that's being contested.

Now, for the first several years of this war, things really go the French way. But once William Pitt begins to allocate the resources more forcefully into North America, things begin to change and begin to change here in North America in favor of the British. The British are going to end up capturing first Fort Louisbourg, which is the main fort leading into the St. Lawrence River in Canada. When they capture that in 1758, that will open the way for the British to come down the St. Lawrence River to eventually capture Quebec. And of course, the famous, uh, fall of Quebec, where that's essentially the capital for, for France here in the New World, in New France. Uh, when Quebec falls, and of course, the two, uh, generals in that campaign on both sides end up dying in the battle for Quebec on the Plains of Abraham outside the city of Quebec. You have James Wolfe on the British side, the British commander, leading the British forces into capturing Quebec. He's killed in the battle. Also, the French commander who is charged with defending Quebec, Joseph Montcalm, is, is also killed in the battle. But the British do gain control of Quebec in 1758. And the, the French commander Montcalm, Joseph Montcalm, will, uh, be killed in the battle, uh, along with the, the British commander James Wolfe. Quebec will fall to the British in, in 1759. And when Quebec falls, it's not long before Montreal falls a little bit further down the St. Lawrence River. Eventually, the British are going to take over the area. Uh, the, the French ally, the Indian allies of the French are, are going to fall away, basically getting out of the war. Uh, the Great Lakes fall to the British. Fort Duquesne and the Ohio River Valley falls to the British. And it will end up being a dramatic victory for the British in this, uh, French and Indian version of the war, one in which the French will be kicked off of the North American continent.

If you were to look at a map prior to the, uh, prior to the French and Indian War, you would see that France controls a territory that's much larger than the British. After the Treaty of Paris in 1763, you're going to see a continent where the British have no presence at all. They're basically kicked off the continent. What the British are going to gain, they were going to gain Canada. Quebec becomes Canadian, of course, the people there are still French, they still speak French there today. The, uh, area to the east of the Mississippi River, all the territory east that includes the Ohio River Valley, all the way down to New Orleans, is claimed by the British. Now, the British are also going to gain control of Spanish Florida. The Spanish actually get involved in the fight on the French side at the end of the war, and they're going to come out of it on the losing side. What also happens is Louisiana, New Orleans, which is the only area to the east of the Mississippi River, and then all of the territory to the west of the Mississippi River that is drained, that territory which becomes the Louisiana Purchase territory, uh, that part is given to Spain in compensation to, to some degree, by the French because the Spanish had lost, uh, by entering the war, the Spanish had lost territory to the British. And so the British couldn't claim New Orleans, and they couldn't claim the western part of the Mississippi River territory by the time that the treaty deal was worked out because they had no presence there militarily. So the French were able to hold on to that, but then they deliver it to the Spanish as a result of the Treaty of Paris.

Now, um, what happens as a result of this? The French are off the continent. Spain now controls New Orleans, which is a French city, and Louisiana west of the Mississippi River. And everything on the east side from Florida all the way up through Canada belongs to the British. A spectacular win by the British, who also controls the seas. They become the dominant colonial power as a result of this spectacular victory in the Seven Years' War, slash French and Indian Wars. Not only that, the French are going to remove, during the process of this war, the French are going to remove French presence in India, and India will fall under the firm control of the British without the French. The French no longer will have this presence in India, which will allow the British to further develop their colonial empire of India well into the next century, and in fact, that becomes their most important possession in the next century, in the 19th century.

Now, as a result of this, uh, conflict, the British gained this territory, gained this dominance on the high seas, gained this dominance economically, and, uh, have a, a great deal of prestige as well for being on the winning side in the war. Uh, and again, the, the European conflict of the war didn't really change things in Europe. Things were still the same, but the reality was, things were dramatically different, uh, in Europe because of the French loss of this territory and the British gaining control of North America. This, though, sets off a series of events in North America. Just after the French and Indian War, the Treaty of Paris that will end up leading to the American Revolution. One of the things that happens as a result of the Seven Years' War is that these wars cost a lot of money. The European nations are in tremendous debt as a result of these wars. The debt needs to be paid off. Uh, the Americans, the American colonists are going to be seen as a resource of, uh, to some degree by the British Parliament as a possible source of revenue. In other words, uh, we need to tax the American colonies in order to help pay for the war debt, and also to pay for their own protection. The British are going to leave British soldiers along the frontier. And the British Parliament and King are going to say, look, we're protecting you from, you know, future conflict, and so you need to pay for that protection.

And what Parliament does is they will pass, first of all, they, they pass a tax known as the Stamp Act, which puts a tax on all printed material. This is in 1765. So this is two years after the Seven Years' War, French and Indian War ends, and, and the Treaty of Paris. Parliament passes this tax known as the Stamp Act, a tax on printed material where you would get this royal stamp on the printed material that would signify that you paid the tax. And it was on virtually anything that would be printed, from newspapers to licenses, to deeds, to playing cards, anything would be taxed. And it would be an internal tax in the, in the American colonies, which means that it's not a tariff, it's not a tax that's paid at the port. It's, it's a tax that could be paid like a sales tax or an excise tax in all of the colonies, you know, municipalities within the colonies that are far from the coastline.

Now, the problem for the Americans is that they had been really, they really had a tradition by this time of self-government for the, you know, for more than a hundred years. They had done things for themselves as far as self-governing. They established their own assemblies and governed themselves in a way where they had very little direct, uh, influence from England. Uh, the individual colonies of Virginia and Pennsylvania and New York and Massachusetts and the other colonies had their own assemblies. They made their own laws, and they had taxes that they imposed on, on themselves, on the colonies. And that was what they were used to. What they weren't used to is having a tax that was passed on the other side of the ocean in London at Parliament, and then that tax being one in which the colonists would have to pay, uh, internally, like a sales tax. And when the Stamp Act was proposed, or put into effect by Parliament in 1765, there were protests all over the American colonies. And of course, the Americans were saying that they weren't being represented in Parliament. They didn't have representation in Parliament. The English tradition was that you can be taxed as long as you have representation in Parliament. Uh, that tradition goes all the way back to really the first Parliament in 1295. The Americans were saying, we don't have that right. And of course, the, the slogan when the Stamp Act came out was "No taxation without representation." In other words, the American Colonials were not going to be, uh, taxed by Parliament because they weren't represented in Parliament.

And the protests became so forceful, you have the Stamp Act Congress where the colonies get together, and they demand that the Stamp Act be rescinded. And of course, the Parliament, uh, will have enough pressure put on them by British merchants. Another thing that happens in protest to the Stamp Act is that the Americans are going to begin a boycott of British goods. And since there's 1.7 million Americans, we were a huge market, the American colonists were a huge market for British goods. And since we were boycotting British goods, merchants put enough pressure on Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act, which really never went into effect. Parliament does say at the same time that they passed the Stamp Act, they say that, you know, we're sending, we are going to repeal this, the Stamp Act, but by the way, they passed what's known as the Declaratory Act, which says that we can, we do have a right to legislate in colonial affairs in all cases whatsoever. So the Parliament is saying, you know, you might, we might be repealing this Stamp Act because of these boycotts, because of these riots, but by the way, we can do whatever we want, pass any law that we want, because you're part of the British Empire, and we, as Parliament, legislate the British Empire.

Now, the Colonials were happy that the Stamp Act was being repealed. And you go into a period at this time where there's a tension between the, the mother country, the British, and the American Colonials, where they try to introduce new taxes that maybe are more subtle than the Stamp Act, maybe more traditional type taxes that the British did have the authority, uh, like tariffs and things like that. Um, but you, you start having a build-up partly because of the Enlightenment and the ideas that came out of the Enlightenment, and partly because the Americans had been doing things on their own for so long that they had grown into their own identity. You start having a feeling of animosity or tension between British soldiers in America and American Colonials. And you eventually have the Boston Massacre that occurs in 1770, in March of 1770, where British soldiers are going to, uh, uh, kill about five American Colonials. He'll be dubbed the massacre, even though the, the taunting, a lot of the taunting came from the American Colonials and along the Boston Harbor. Uh, the propaganda that comes out from that is a, is a massacre. The idea is to push, uh, British tyranny, uh, over the Americans. Many people began to see, well, maybe we ought to be our own country. And that was a pretty radical group at that time, a very small group. But as things go forward, we get to 1773. And the British have, the British do have a tax on tea.

In 1773, there's going to be a protest against the, well, it's not really a, it's a protest against the actions by Parliament in with the Tea Act of 1773, that creates this monopoly for tea for one particular company called the East India Tea Company, which had the rights to sell tea to the British colonies. But Parliament was saying that this is the only company that can sell tea, and it undermined, uh, again, American trade freedom. And they didn't like being told that they had to buy it from this one particular company known as the East India Tea Company. And so these, these East India Tea Company ships started to enter American harbors. And the Americans protested the fact that they didn't want to, they were boycotting basically the tea, and they didn't want the tea to be brought into America. And in Boston, in particular, there's a group of Americans, partly led by the Sons of Liberty, that will board these three East India Company tea ships that were in the Boston Harbor, go on to the ships, and pull the tea up, hack open the, uh, the chests of tea, and dump the tea into Boston Harbor. And of course, that's the Boston Tea Party. That's in December of 1773.

Um, this is, uh, this destruction of property from the pro, you know, the protest that had gone on before wasn't such a blatant destruction of property. I mean, and you're literally talking about, uh, millions of dollars worth of tea being poured into Boston Harbor. And that crossed the line as far as Parliament is concerned. They hadn't had enough with the, the British, or should say, the Americans, uh, at this point. And they, that's when they pass what's known as the, uh, the Coercive Acts, uh, which in America were called the Intolerable Acts. And these acts put severe restrictions on Massachusetts as a colony, where most of the activity was occurring. It shut down the port, uh, it also, uh, put in as governor of Massachusetts, a royal governor. These Intolerable Acts severely limited the right of public assembly, so the people like the Sons of Liberty and other groups couldn't meet. It restricted their freedoms and their rights that the Americans traditionally had and they grew up with. Since the British had never, all of a sudden, they were really telling them what to do after the Boston Tea Party.

Well, what the British Parliament wanted to do with these Coercive Acts is to set an example of Boston and Massachusetts in general, and to tell the rest of the colonies that if you do something like this, then this is what's going to happen. Uh, and instead of the colonies looking at it in that way, the way Parliament wanted to look at them, they sympathized much more with Massachusetts, and they began to side with Massachusetts. And you eventually have the colonies sort of binding together, militia groups getting together, Minutemen militia groups to be ready on a minute's notice, get together, training, in the American colonies in case something further happened. And eventually, as we get into 1774, something is going to happen in 1775, where you have outright fighting that breaks out first at Lexington and Concord between the, the British soldiers and the militia groups here in America. That fighting, which will break out in Lexington and Concord in the spring of 1775, will eventually lead to the Second Continental Congress forming a Continental Army and naming George Washington as the commander-in-chief of that army, and having an army raised in order to fight against the British. And the British, who had just won this dramatic victory in North America, kicking out the French, now had to deal with a rebellion in North America against, you know, of course, a rebellion arising from their, from their own colonists.

Now, the army that has put together when the fighting breaks out at Lexington and Concord, eventually it'll spread. You have the Battle of Bunker Hill, which is a, a victory that the British won in, in Boston, but it was one in which the British lost a lot more lives, but they did gain the hill. You eventually have the British, when George Washington arrives on the scene in Boston after the Battle of Bunker Hill, you will eventually have the evacuation of the British from Boston. But the wars, you're basically going to have a war, the rev, the American Revolutionary War, that goes forth from that point.

Now, at first, the Americans aren't fighting for independence. They're just basically fighting to not have Parliament tell them what to do anymore, basically to leave us alone. Many people thought that they would be part of the British Empire, be subjects of the King, but simply not be told what to do. Uh, it's not until 1776 where the idea starts to really get ingrained and become mainstream of America fighting for their independence from Great Britain. That will develop in 1776 with Thomas Paine's *Common Sense*, published earlier in that year. And then the Second Continental Congress finally coming to, uh, the conclusion that they have to declare independence. And they draft the, they come up with a committee of five people to draft a Declaration of Independence, uh, which they do. And of course, the main author is going to be Thomas Jefferson of the Declaration of Independence. And he uses many of the ideals of the Enlightenment and John Locke, uh, in, in writing it. And the Second Continental Congress will actually vote on independence on July 2nd, and which could have been Independence Day. In fact, John Adams thought that that would be Independence Day. But they accept the document of the Declaration on the 4th of July. And, uh, the ideas of the Enlightenment are embodied in the Declaration of Independence, things like the natural laws of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And Thomas Jefferson really goes after the King. And America declares its independence from Great Britain. And of course, the, the whole John Locke contract theory is put in the, the Declaration itself, that people are, uh, born with these rights, that they're given to them by their creator. People have these rights, they're not given to them by government. But what government is there to do is to protect those rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And if government doesn't do that, according to John Locke, who wrote in the previous century back in England, uh, then the people have a right to get rid of that government. And that's what Thomas Jefferson was basically saying in the Declaration of Independence. And that's what happens. The Americans are going to declare their independence because they feel like the contract has been broken.

Now, declaring your independence and having your independence are two different things. It's not as if the British just simply accept the document. That's not what happens. Uh, the war goes forward from there. The British Parliament and the King, uh, put a huge amount of resources into North America. North America, the Americans, uh, are really outnumbered and outclassed to a large degree and having to fight this conflict with a, a ragtag army compared to this professional British army. In some ways, where, after the Battle of Saratoga, in which the Americans won, that allowed the French to come in on our side against the British with the use of the French navy. The Americans will ultimately gain a, a spectacular victory after Washington was able to hold on long enough, hold on to his army long enough, being very good at retreating and running away from the British long enough to have a moment in early in October of 1781, in which the British soldiers became trapped by the French at Yorktown. They could not get off of that small peninsula at Yorktown in Virginia. Washington's army closes in, and the British, Cornwallis, is the commander of the British, is forced to surrender. And Lord North, who is the Prime Minister, knowing that since this war had drug on for so many years, many people in Parliament had grown tired of the war, tired of the expense, tired of the fact that they wanted to bring the Americans back into trade and to trading back and forth and being a, a being a market for British goods. Lord North knew that that was it. When Cornwallis's large force surrendered at Yorktown, that from that point, he was not going to be able to gain the enough support to continue his efforts fighting in North America. And the British are finally going to, uh, give the Americans their independence in a treaty in, in 1783. Just 20 years after the Treaty of Paris in 1763, America basically takes away from the British a big chunk of the territory that they took away from France. America has given all the territory from the Mississippi River over to the Atlantic coast and, uh, south of the Great Lakes and south of Canada. That makes the United States into a new country, of course. And that American Revolution is successful against the British, a very short time after the spectacular British victory over the French in the French and Indian War.

All right, so we've learned about a lot of what's happening in Europe and not only on Europe but on the North American continent as well. At the same time, when we come back for our next lecture, we're going to start discussing the origins of the French Revolution. And I had mentioned that that year, 1789, was the beginning of the French Revolution. So we'll talk about what's leading up to this French Revolution, what events that have taken place in previous lectures will actually be pulled in to cause France to revolt as well. Remember, we had the American Revolution, it was successful. So we're going to have to find out in upcoming lectures how similar or how different that the French Revolution was to the American Revolution. Until next time.