B

y the mid-eighteenth century, conflict in North America between the

colonial empires of Great Britain and France came to a head. During the

French and Indian War (or the Seven Years’ War, as it became known in

Europe), colonists fought alongside imperial troops, while native peoples

often found themselves caught between the two imperial powers.

When the war ended in 1763, the victorious British empire was in control of

the North American continent but also saddled with debt beyond what any had

imagined possible at the beginning of the conflict. To offset the costs of defeating

the French, the British Parliament instituted a series of revenue-raising measures

(including new taxes like the Stamp Act) that sparked colonial anger and set the

path toward conflict between Great Britain and the British colonists in North

America.

After American independence, George Washington’s administration continued

its expansion into native territory in the West and sought neutrality in the renewed

wars between France and Great Britain in the late 1700s. Support for and against

France’s democratic revolution, especially when it turned violent after 1793,

divided Washington’s cabinet and, ultimately, divided the United States into two

broad factions whose conflict threatened to undermine the new nation.

Seeking the Main Point

As you examine the documents in this chapter, keep in mind the following

broad questions. These questions will help you understand the relationship

between the documents in this chapter and the historical changes that they

represent. As you reflect on these questions, determine which themes and which

documents best address them.

Document

AP® Ke y

concePts

PAge

4.12 Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Thomas Pinckney 3.1 III A–B 105

4.13 Thomas Jefferson, Letter to James Monroe 3.1 III A–C 106

4.14 Anti-Jefferson Cartoon, “The Providential Detection” 3.1 III C 107

Applying AP® Historical Thinking Skills

Combining Skills: Historical Causation and

Historical Argumentation

Thinking Skill 1.1,

Thinking Skill 3.6,

Thinking Skill 3.7

108

86 ChApTEr 4 | an atlantiC eMpire | period three 175 4 –18 0 0 Seeking the Main point^87

05_STA_2012_ch4_085-114.indd 86 26/03/15 10:11 AM

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