APUSH Period 3 (1754–1800) is one of the most heavily tested periods — roughly 12% of questions. It covers the Revolution and founding era, which generates DBQ, LEQ, and SAQ prompts almost every year. Know the ideological debates and the transition from Articles to Constitution cold.
Road to Revolution
French and Indian War (1754–63) — British and colonists vs. France and allied Native Americans; Britain won but accrued massive debt → Parliament taxed colonies → "taxation without representation." Albany Plan of Union (1754): Franklin's proposal for colonial cooperation; rejected; significance: showed colonies could think collectively. Proclamation of 1763 — British forbade settlement west of Appalachians to prevent costly frontier wars; colonists who wanted western land resented it as tyrannical. Stamp Act (1765) — first direct internal tax on colonists; Stamp Act Congress was first intercolonial protest body; repealed 1766 but Declaratory Act asserted Parliament's right to legislate "in all cases whatsoever." Boston Massacre (1770) and Boston Tea Party (1773) → Intolerable/Coercive Acts → First Continental Congress.
Revolutionary Ideas
Common Sense (1776) — Thomas Paine; argued for independence using republican (anti-monarchy) language accessible to ordinary people; crucial for building popular support. Declaration of Independence — Locke's natural rights (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness); social contract; right of revolution when government violates rights. Republican ideology — government derives power from consent of governed; civic virtue (citizens put public good above private interest) required for republic to survive. Republicanism's contradictions — liberty and slavery coexisted; women excluded; property requirements for voting.
Government Formation
Articles of Confederation (1781–89) — first US government; one branch (Congress), no executive, no judiciary; each state one vote; couldn't tax, couldn't regulate commerce, couldn't enforce laws; unanimous amendment required. Achievements: Northwest Ordinance (1787) — governed new territories, banned slavery north of Ohio River, set precedent for admitting new states as equals. Shays' Rebellion (1786–87) — Massachusetts farmers revolted over debt and taxes; Articles government couldn't respond → revealed weakness → led to Constitutional Convention. Constitutional Convention (1787) — key compromises: Great Compromise (bicameral Congress: Senate = equal states, House = population), 3/5 Compromise (enslaved people counted as 3/5 for representation/taxation), Electoral College.
Ratification and First Party System
Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists — Federalists (Hamilton, Madison, Jay — Federalist Papers): needed strong central government for stability; Anti-Federalists (Patrick Henry, Brutus 1): feared tyranny, demanded Bill of Rights (added 1791). Hamilton's Financial Program — assumption of state debts (favored creditors/northern states), national bank, tariffs; established federal economic power; created first party divide. Jefferson vs. Hamilton — strict vs. loose construction; agrarian republic vs. commercial republic; Democratic-Republicans vs. Federalists. Washington's Farewell Address (1796) — warned against permanent foreign alliances and factionalism (political parties).
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