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FrançaisAP US History Unit 3: Period 3, 1754–1800
In less than fifty years, British colonists in North America became citizens of a federal republic. The Seven Years' War, the American Revolution, the framing of the Constitution, and the founding of the early Republic together carried the colonies from the imperial periphery to a sovereign nation, and produced the political vocabulary the United States still uses to argue with itself.
The 13 lessons in order
Contextualizing Period 3
The opening lesson. Frames the Seven Years' War, the Revolution, and the federal founding as one connected arc, and previews the themes that drive the next twelve lessons.
The Seven Years' War (The French and Indian War)
The imperial conflict that opened Period 3 and saddled Britain with the debt that produced the colonial taxation crisis.
Taxation Without Representation
The Stamp Act, the Townshend duties, the Tea Act, and the political vocabulary the colonists invented to oppose them.
Philosophical Foundations of the American Revolution
Locke, Montesquieu, the Scottish Enlightenment, and the religious-revival inheritance that gave Patriots their language of rights and consent.
The American Revolution
From Lexington to Yorktown. Why the Patriot cause prevailed against the world's leading military power: militias, French aid, and ideological resilience.
The Influence of Revolutionary Ideals
How the language of natural rights reshaped American society in the years after independence: abolition petitions, state constitutions, and republican motherhood.
The Articles of Confederation
The first national constitution: what the Articles could do (the Northwest Ordinance), what they could not (tax, regulate trade), and why a stronger framework became inevitable.
The Constitutional Convention and Debates over Ratification
Philadelphia, the great compromises, the Three-Fifths clause, the Federalist Papers, and the Antifederalist case that produced the Bill of Rights.
The Constitution
What the federal Constitution actually does: enumerated powers, separation of powers, federalism, and the Bill of Rights as a structural limit on the national government.
Shaping a New Republic
The Washington and Adams administrations: Hamilton's financial program, the first political parties, the French Revolution, the Whiskey Rebellion, and the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Developing an American Identity
Noah Webster's dictionary, Charles Willson Peale's portraits, the rise of a national press, and the cultural project of distinguishing Americans from Europeans.
Movement in the Early Republic
Settlers across the Appalachians, the Northwest Ordinance, conflict with American Indian nations, and the regional differences that the new Republic could not resolve.
Continuity and Change in Period 3
The closing lesson. Synthesis essay, full-period DBQ practice, and a graphic comparison of Period 2 (colonial society) with Period 4 (the early Republic).