Video Gallery

Crash Course Ep 6 - Prelude to Revolution

Go to Video Gallery Added May 06, 2017 •

Copy this URL:
Embed code:	<iframe class="edlio-embed-player" type="text/html" width="640" height="360" src="//hs.elkhartisd.org/apps/embed/?v=146398" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Change dimensions

Go HD

Period 3

Show Transcript

hi I'm John Green this is Crash Course u.s. history and today we begin discussing the American Revolution 2 things to keep in mind here won the American Revolution and the American war for independence pins are not the same thing the Boston Tea Party was about taxes and our god-given right to smuggle confusing me from the past but that's why I crash course so as you recall the Seven Years War ended with the Treaty of Paris and 17 can you treat which made the colonists cranky because it limited their ability to take Land from the Indians and it also left them holding the bag for a lot of War debt as you may have noticed save in the British government had to borrow 150 million pounds in the interest payments on that money a top half of the national budget so in order to pay for the War the British decided to raise tax primary beneficiaries of the war in the American colonists the British government felt it was only fair if some of the burden fell to them taxes on colonial trade or nothing new the British government taxes items in order to reduce competition with Britain including wool and hats and molasses why do they put some tax on molasses it doesn't seem like that would be a huge Market lastest right course about trying to regulate trade into his way more than trying to pay back War debt and also they were easy to avoid bias going which we did because this is America  mostly the colonists were angry because they didn't have any say what's the new taxes that Britain was imposing their own it was their lack of parliamentary representation first purportedly oppressive tax the Sugar Act of 1764 extended the Molasses Act by changing the tax on imports from the Indian from 6 cents per gallon all the way up to $0.03 per gallon British courts the right to try Colonial Smugglers taking that power away from Colonial courts which is been notoriously lenient when it came to smuggling on account of how they enjoyed Uncle drum as much as the next guy as the Stamp Act passed in 1765 make a stamp unsurprisingly that stamp was not free this was purely to gain revenue for Britain and it mostly affected people who used a lot of paper you know like newspaper printer and warriors just the kind of people you want to anger about taxes due in October protesters organized the Stamp Act Congress which after a meeting decided to boycott British goods and this was the first major coordinated action by all the colonies together and it might be the first time that we can speak of the colonies acting in a United Way almost like say the government to me in correspondence which is been created to encourage opposition to earlier acts now grew to coordinate the boycott efforts and they help people become more aware of their Liberties and they also spreads reactions that occasionally became Vineland Sons of Liberty Stamp Act but they did pass the declaratory act which was all like listen you're not the boss of us we can taxi we don't want to tax you right now as it happens but we could if we wanted to but we what week of the repeal of the Stamp Act was seen by many in the car when he says he huge Victory but most of the people organizing the protests were Elites you know the kind of people who use paper cut once you start talking what's the idea of representation everybody wants in Great Britain still needed money so Chancellor of the exchequer Charles towns and got Parliament to pass towns in Acts also created a new board of Customs to stop smuggling which we didn't like one bit you don't like it when I say we will Tuff Luck I'm an American bring back the river Tosh stand many colonists again responded with a boycott and women got in on the ACT this time with the Daughters of Liberty encouraging Homespun clothes to British once were on board because they got more money I'm selling the very goods that were now being boycotted on occasion protest did get out of hand as in the Boston Massacre of March 5th 1770 which was not much of a massacre was definitely the outcome of a snowball fight in American history I mean five colonists were killed including most famously Crispus Attucks a sailor of mixed-race ancestry fitted into were convicted only of manslaughter thanks to the Top Notch Warrior ring of 1 John Adams search for the repeal of these acts leading only attacks Auntie let's go to the 40 coming in from the British India company which allowed them to dump cheap t on the colonies which actually lowered the price of teeth so why were the colonists so mad that on December 16th 1773 they dressed up Indians and dumped enough tea into Boston Harbor to cause the modern equivalent of a 4 million dollar loss some colonists were upset that she would cut into the profits of Smugglers and established quit most angry on principle she was at the time as important to beverage in the colonies as it was to Brits living in Britain and to allow the British to text can hear Universal products set of precedent that Britain could tax whatever they wanted but the Tea Partiers miscalculated thinking that the British would back down in response to their protest in add the British responded by passing a series of Acts that Colonists came to call the Intolerable Act the Massachusetts Government Act curtailed self-government the Quartering Act colonists to house British soldiers in their homes when ordered to the Quebec Act extended the southern boundary of Quebec and granted religious toleration to Catholics which was none too popular with the Great Awakening crowd recently awoken the colonial response to these acts of the American Revolution first 2-1 disobey horrible acts to stop paying taxes and free prepare for and in September 1774 a group of delegates from 12 of the 13 colonies Georgia in Philadelphia to coordinate the resistance of the Intolerable Acts what's the first wheel Colony wide government in British America thanks end is what governments do so it's not an exaggeration to say that the First Continental Congress was the first government of America truly revolutionary Act of the American Revolution but it was not a call for Independence rights as English people they began to make claims based on abstract ideas about freedom and natural rights in this respect news as Liberties of free and natural born subjects within the realm of England but it also talked about immutable laws of nature live from natural law has become a pretty big deal not just in the United States but also in the green lands of not America I mean these days human rights is a phrase to be bandied about with you show up at every time the words human rights are mentioned to make sure that we're talking about China and not you and this brings me back to an important Point although we tend to equate the two the American Revolution and the American Independence were not the same thing for one thing the fighting started 15 months before the Declaration of Independence for another simply declaring independence does not make you an independent and as I will now demonstrate  independent nation of John Green  yeah see nothing happened the war between listen Britain began in 1775 on April 19th to be exact when fighting broke out between the British soldiers and Massachusetts militiamen the Minutemen at Concord and Lexington oravec in Concord depending on whether you live in Lexington or Concord this was the famous shot heard round the world in longfellow's poem The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere famous Battle of Bunker Hill which was technically fought on breed's Hill for most of the rest of the war about the word understand that not all call it Independence turnover that was whipping up artisans and small-time Farmers to think that they deserve to have say in the political process the rules here are simple if I guess the author of the mystery document correctly I do not get the shot Bin if I'm wrong I do get the shock pen the Americans are properly Britain's they have the manners habits and ideas of Britain's and have been accustomed to a similar form of what britons could never bear the extremes either of monarchy or republicanism some of their kings of aimed despotism but always failed repeated efforts have been made toward mock receipt and they equally failed if we made JoJo future events by past transactions in similar circumstances this would most probably be the case in America were looking form of government adopted in our present fermented person who thinks that Americans are britons who want to walk republicanism and monarchy and therefore that the revolution is not a good idea I know it's a common it's because of the reference to our present ferment I'm going to guess that it is Ben Frank any son William Franklin who is it English English freaking English like English remind us that not everyone in the colonies was all fired up to be an independent nation in fact in July of 1775 the Continental Congress send the Olive Branch Petition did King George the third suggesting that Americans were loyal British subjects who wanted reconciliation with the mother country but then Along Came Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense why couldn't that have been document appeared in January of 1776 and it was like the Harry Potter of its time only with Liberty instead of wizard School written in relatively straight angle contains many powerful local arguments like of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God than all the crowned Ruffians that ever lived nugget there is something absurd in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island pause from Harry Potter I told you they were all contributed to the idea that is somehow special exception I mean talking about independence and freedom he's the cause of America is in great measure the cause of all mankind did die penny listen only 8 people attended his funeral because of his vitriolic ridicule with Christianity Horton trees and it marks the moment when the pain truly was if not more powerful then at least more important than the sword I mean within six months of the publication of Common Sense the Second Continental Congress that declared independence and sign one of the most important documents in the history of the world which is where we'll pick up next week thanks for watching where is Merritt Danko the associate producer is written by my high school history teacher Raul liar and myself and our Graphics team or anything from American history you can ask them in comments were they will be answered by our team of historians thanks for watching crash course if you like today's video make sure you subscribe to our Channel and as we say in my hometown don't forget to be awesome

Uploaded by Shawn Mize.

Video Gallery

Crash Course Ep 6 - Prelude to Revolution

Popular Videos