Transcript Chapter 5

Chapter 5
Roads to Revolution, 1750-1776
Introduction
• 4 questions addressed in Ch. 5
– How did Britain and its colonies view their joint victory
over France in the Seven Years’ War?
– How did colonial resistance to the Stamp Act differ from
earlier opposition to British imperial measure?
– In what ways did colonists’ views of parliamentary
authority change after 1770?
– What led most colonists in 1776 to abandon their loyalty
to Britain and choose national independence?
Triumph and Tensions: The British
Empire, 1750-1763
• A Fragile Peace, 1750-1754
– Since neither France or Britain gained dominance
in North America, the skirmishing in the Ohio
Valley continued
– 1753=French began building a series of forts
between the Ohio River and LA
• Drive out colonial traders from the Valley
• George Washington led an expedition to block the
French and it failed.
– This left the Anglo-American frontier in danger
Triumph and Tensions: The British
Empire (cont.)
• Albany Congress
– The attempt of the 7 colonies north of VA to forge an
effective defensive union with the help of the Iroquois
– 1754
• Albany Plan
– Colonial legislatures refused to relinquish any of their
authority over taxation
– No Colonies approved it
– http://www.constitution.org/bcp/albany.htm
The Seven Years’ War in America
• 1754-1760
• A.k.a. French and Indian War
• After the Anglo-French clash in 1754 led by
George Washington, war broke out in America
• 1756, full scale hostilities between Britain and
France resumed throughout the globe (Seven
Years’ War)
The Seven Years’ War in America
(cont.)
• At first British colonist fared poorly
• France’s Indian allies raided western
settlements
• French seized key forts and threatened central
NY and western New England
• British did very little actual fighting in North
America
– Offered $$$ to colonist to fight for the British
The Seven Years’ War in America
(cont.)
• Colonist flocked to the War and drove the
French from NY and much of the western
frontier
• Their success was aided by the decision of the
Iroquois and other Ohio tribes to stop helping
the French
• After the fall of Quebec and Montreal, French
resistance crumbled
Seven Years’ War in America 17541760 (cont.)
The End of French North America,
1760-1763
• Treaty of Paris (1763) officially ended Seven
Years’ War
• France ceded all of its North American
territories east of the Mississippi River to
Britain
• And all of its territories west of the Mississippi
River as well as New Orleans to Spain
The End of French North America,
1760-1763 (cont.)
The End of French North America,
1760-1763 (cont.)
• During the Seven Years’ War, the British
expelled many French Canadians from Acadia
(Nova Scotia) because the English feared the
Acadians were still loyal to France
• Some of the Acadians migrated to LA, where
their descendents became known as Cajuns
The End of French North America,
1760-1763 (cont.)
• The British triumph in the Seven Years’ War
initially bond the colonists to the mother
country
• Soon though the sowed discord between the
them
The Writs of Assistance, 1760-1761
• Writs of assistance=blanket search warrants
• Permitted officials to enter any ship or building to
search for smuggled goods and seize them
• British customs officers used the writs of assistance
to crack down on smuggling (mostly of French goods)
• Very effective
The Writs of Assistance, 1760-1761
(cont.)
• Colonists protested
– Writs violated traditional English guarantees
against unreasonable search and seizure
– And that Parliament had violated their rights as
Englishmen
Anglo-American Friction
• After the Seven Years’ War, GB tried to tighten
control over its expanded colonial empire
• Imposed new taxes on Englishmen at home
and overseas to finance the administration of
the colonies
• This aroused opposition on both economic
and constitutional grounds
Anglo-American Friction (cont.)
• George III became King
in 1760
• Wanted to govern more
actively
• His policies and
frequent ministerial
changes further upset
British-American
relations
Anglo-American Friction (cont.)
• British supremacy in eastern North America opened
the door to conflict between the mother country and
the colonists
• The Seven Years’ War left the British people with a
hug debt and heavy taxes
• The British wondered why should the colonists be
repaid for their war efforts, while they were left to
suffer under their financial burdens?
Frontier Tensions
• The British were upset that they now had
expand more $$$$ and military effort to put
down Indian uprisings caused by the western
surge of colonists beyond the Appalachians
Frontier Tensions (cont.)
• Proclamation of 1763
– Issued by GB to pacify Chief Pontiac
– Forbidding whites to settle beyond the crest of
mountains until the British King had negotiated
treaties with the Indians under which they agreed
to cede their lands
– http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/related/pro
c63.htm
Frontier Tensions (cont.)
• The colonists were angered by this
interference with their western land claims
• Continuing to protect the frontier and
consolidate control over the newly acquired
territories would cost around 6% of the
peacetime budget
– British govt. officials saw no reason that the
colonials should not be taxed to help defray the
expense
Imperial Authority, Colonial
Opposition, 1763-1766
• Introduction
– British tried to finance its empire through a series of
revenue measures (Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Declaratory Act)
• Enforce these and other measures directly rather than relying on
local authorities
– Colonists protested in reaction
• Successful
– Growing division between British and colonial perceptions
about the nature of their relationship
The Sugar Act, 1764
• Import duties on sugar and other items to raise $$$$
for the British treasury
• Taxes and restrictions burdened Mass., NY, and Penn.
Merchants in particularly
• Mostly affected merchants that imported or
exported goods
• Accused smugglers were to be tried in vice-admiralty
courts
– No juries
– Judges who had a financial stake in finding the defendants
guilty
– Violated long-standing guarantee to a fair trial
The Stamp Act Crisis, 1765-1766
• 1765=Stamp Act was
proposed by Prime
Minister George
Grenville
• Needed $$$because
Sugar was not bringing
in enough
• Parliament passed it in
1765
The Stamp Act Crisis, 1765-1766
(cont.)
• Required colonists to purchase from government
revenue agents special stamped paper
– Periodicals, customs documents, licenses, diplomas,
deeds, other legal forms
• Violators would be tried in vice-admiralty courts
• Internal tax
– Affected more colonials than the Sugar Act
– http://www.history.org/history/teaching/tchcrsta.cfm
The Stamp Act Crisis, 1765-1766
(cont.)
• Colonists objected to Parliament’s ability to impose
on them internal or external taxes designed to raise
revenue because they elected no representatives to
Parliament
• Colonists said only their own colonial legislatures had
the authority to tax them
• Colonists conceded that Parliament might regulate
trade within the empire, but there could be “no
taxation without representation”
Resisting the Stamp Act, 17651766
• Patrick Henry proposed
resolutions against
Parliament
• Said Parliament did not
have the right to tax
the colonies
• 1765, VA House of
Burgesses passed the
resolution
Resisting the Stamp Act, 1765-1766
(cont.)
• 8 other colonial assemblies passed resolutions
against Parliament
• Loyal Nine
– Boston
– Group of artisans, shopkeepers, and businessmen
– Fight the Stamp Act
• Sons of Liberty
– Similar to Loyal Nine
– Rose up in other cities
Resisting the Stamp Act, 1765-1766
(cont.)
• Loyal Nine and Sons of Liberty directed outraged
mobs in attacks on the homes and property of stamp
distributors
• all of the distributors resigned their posts
• Oct. 1765=representatives from 9 colonies
– Stamp Act Congress in New York
– they reiterated the principle of no taxation without
representation and no parliamentary denial of trial by jury
and other English liberties
Resisting the Stamp Act, 1765-1766
(cont.)
• American merchants boycotted all English
merchants
– Most influential action of colonists
• Decrease in their sales led British businessmen
to plead for repeal of the Stamp Act
The Declaratory Act, 1766
• March 1766
– Parliament revoked the Stamp Act
– But adopted the Declaratory Act
• Restating Parliament’s right to tax and legislate for the
colonies “in all cases whatsoever”
The Declaratory Act, 1766 (cont.)
• The colonists rejoiced the repeal of the the
Stamp Act
– Disbanded the Sons of Liberty
– Concluded that the mother country would return
to its earlier limited governance
Ideology, Religion, and Resistance
• Resistance to the Stamp Act had revealed a deep
split in thinking between England and its colonists
• Many thought Parliament’s actions were a conspiracy
of a corrupt government to deny them their natural
rights and liberties
– John Locke’s ideas, 18th century English radicals, educated
colonists, classical philosophers, etc.
• It was their duty of the free people to resist
Ideology, Religion, and Resistance
(cont.)
• Protestant clergymen (except Anglicans and
pacifist Quakers) preached sermons to all
classes of colonists backing the views of
resistance to GB
• They declared that “solidarity against British
tyranny and ‘corruption’ meant rejecting sin
and obeying God.”
Resistance Resumes, 1766-1770
• Opposing the
Quartering Act, 17661767
– Charles Townhend
– New chancellor of the
Exchequer
– Looked to the colonies
for much-needed
revenue
Opposing the Quartering Act,
1766-1767 (cont.)
• Parliament was angry with New York’s refusal
to comply with the Quartering Act
• Parliament was ready to crack down on
colonial self-government
• http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h641.html
Crisis over the Townshend Duties,
1767-1770
• Revenue Act of 1767 (Townshend duties)
• Imposed taxes on glass, paint, lead, paper, and
tea imported into the colonies
• Townshend had intended to set aside part of
the tax money to pay the salaries of royal
governors
Crisis over the Townshend Duties,
1767-1770 (cont.)
• Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania
– John Dickinson
– Expressed majority American view
– Parliament could use duties to keep trade within the
empire but not to raise revenue as the Townshend duties
did
• Samuel Adam’s “circular letter” made the same point
– Mass. Legislature sent it to other colonial assemblies
Crisis over the Townshend Duties,
1767-1770 (cont.)
• August 1768=Boston merchants adopted a
nonimportation agreement that spread to other
cities
• 1770=Lord North (new British Prime Minister)
eliminated most of the duties
• Kept the tea duty
• Colonial leaders called for a policy of
nonconsumption of tea (refused to drink British tea)
Women and Colonial Resistance
• White women’s participation in public affairs had
been widening slowly and unevenly in the colonies
for several decades
• Daughters of Liberty play a part of defeating the
Stamp Act
• To protest the Revenue Act’s tax on tea, more than
300 “mistresses of families” in Boston denounced
consumption of tea
Women and Colonial Resistance
(cont.)
• Women bolstered the boycott by refusing to
serve taxed tea
• organized spinning bees to produce
homespun apparel rather than buy Britishmade clothing
Customs “Racketeering”, 17671768
• Corruption of customs officials
– Seized ships and cargoes for technical violations of the
Navigation and Sugar Acts
– Broke open sailors’ chests to search for small amounts of
undeclared merchandise
– Contributed to Americans’ growing alienation form the
mother country
• Violent attacks by seamen and others on customs
inspectors happened more frequently
– Liberty in Boston
“Wilkes and Liberty”, 1768-1770
• Boycotts only reduced imports by about 40%
• Hurt British merchants and artisans enough to make
them to implore Parliament to rescind its taxes
• Part of a larger protest by English citizens against
King George III and Parliament
• John Wilkes led this protest
– Felt the King and Parliament was dominated by a few elite
wealthy landowners and not concerned about the
“common” person
“Wilkes and Liberty”, 1768-1770
• Govt. arrested Wilkes
• Denied Wilkes a seat in the
House of Commons (he had
been elected to it)
• The govt.’s actions
prompted dissident
Englishmen and American
colonists to further
question the authority of
an unpresentative
Parliament
The Deepening Crisis, 1770-1774
• The way in which British officials enforced
Parliament’s trade regulations made more and more
colonials broaden their cry from “no taxation without
representation” to “no legislation at all without
representation.”
• The British responded to the violence of the Liberty
incident by sending another 4,000 soldiers to Boston,
– their presence was hotly resented
The Boston Massacre
• http://www.bostonmassacre.net/
• British soldiers were trying to enforce the Townshend
Act
• March 5, 1770
• Group of British soldiers at a guard post in front of
the customs office fired into a disorderly crowd that
was hurling dares, insults, and objects at them
• 5 civilians killed
• 6 more wounded
The Boston Massacre (cont.)
The Boston Massacre (cont.)
• Mass. Gov. Thomas
Hutchinson promised to try
the soldiers, and the British
removed their troops to a
fortified island in Boston
harbor.
• John Adams was the lawyer
for the redcoats
– 4 of the 6 were acquitted
– http://www.history.com/med
ia.do?action=clip&id=gahq_k
id_jane_seymour_broadband
The Committees of
Correspondence, 1772-1773
• 1772=Lord North revived trouble when he prepared
to implement Townshend’s plan to pay royal
governor’s salaries out of customs revenue
• Sam Adams and others responded by organizing
committees of correspondence in each New England
town to exchange information and coordinate
activities in defense of colonial rights
The Committees of
Correspondence (cont.)
• March 1773
• Virginians also set up a committee of
correspondence
• Within a year every colony but Pennsylvania
had such committees that linked Americans
together in a communications web
Conflicts in the Backcountry
• Clashes happened in the West between Native
Americans, various groups of colonists, colonial
governments, and imperial authorities
– Rapid population growth because of whites moving into
the Appalachian backcountry
• British govt. could not enforce the Proclamation of
1763
– Colonial speculators took any land they could
– Settlers, traders, hunters all trespassed on Indian land
– British forts were not strong to enforce laws and treaties
Conflicts in the Backcountry (cont.)
• Treaty of Fort Stanwix
– 1768
– Granted land on the Ohio River to PA and VA
– The land was claimed by the Shawnees, Delawares, and
Cherokees
– Increased tensions in Ohio Valley
– KY was established as a colony
• 1774=coloniest killed 13 Natives (Mingos and Shawnees)
• Indians (under Logan--leader of Mingos) retaliated and killed 13
Virginians
Conflicts in the Backcountry (cont.)
• Lord Dunmore’s War
– 1774
– Virginians vs. Logan
– Point Pleasant, VA
– VA gained uncontested rights to the lands south of
the Ohio in exchange for its claims on the
northern side
Conflicts in the Backcountry (cont.)
• Conflicts also occurred between the colonists
– Mass vs. NY
– NH vs. NY
– CT settlers vs. PA
Conflicts in the Backcountry (cont.)
• Conflicts between backcountry settlers and
their colonial governments
• Tensions generated by an increasing landhungry white population and its willingness to
resort to violence against Native Americans,
other colonists, and British officials
The Tea Act, 1773
• Colonists consumed more than 1 million pounds of
tea a year
– Purchased only 1/4 of it from the British East India
Company
– Colonists smuggled the rest in
• Tea Act eliminated all remaining import duties on tea
entering England and thus lowered the selling price
to consumers
• East India Company was allowed to sell its tea
directly to consumers rather than through
wholesalers
The Tea Act, 1773 (cont.)
• Reduced cost of tea well below the price of all
smuggled competition
• Tea Act alarmed many Americans
– They saw it as a menace to liberty and virtue
– As well as to colonial representative government
• British govt. would make more $$$ which would be used to pay
royal governors
• Committees of correspondence decided to resist the
importation of tea (without violence or destroying
property)
The Tea Act, 1773 (cont.)
• Tactics to prevent East India Company cargoes
from being landed
– Pressuring the company’s agents to refuse
acceptance
– By intercepting the ships at sea and ordering
them home
• Worked in Philadelphia but not Boston
The Tea Act, 1773 (cont.)
•
•
•
•
Dec. 16, 1773
Boston Tea Party
50 young men
Assaulted no one and damaged nothing
besides the tea
• 45 tons of tea overboard
Toward Independence, 1774-1776
• British govt. was upset with colonists
– Wanted to stop all colonial insubordination
• Colonial leaders responded with equal
determination to defend self-govt. and liberty
• British Empire and its American colonies were
on a collusion course
Liberty for African-Americans
• Many slaves wanted and hoped to gain their freedom
from the British
• James Somerset
–
–
–
–
–
–
Mass. slave who accompanied his master to England
Ran away in England
Recaptured
Sent off to Jamaica
Sued for his freedom
King’s Court ruled that Parliament never explicitly
established slavery in England, a master could not send a
slave outside the country against his will
Liberty for African-Americans
(cont.)
• Throughout the colonies slaves petitioned for
their freedom
• Many slaves thought war between the Empire
and the colonies would bring them their
freedom
Liberty for African-Americans
(cont.)
• Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation
– Lord Dunmore=gov. of VA
– Promised freedom to any able-bodied male slave
who enlisted in the cause of restoring royal
authority
– “Liberty to Slaves”
– About 1,000
The “Intolerable Acts”
• 4 “Coercive Acts” and the Quebec Act
• 1st Coercive Act
– Boston Port Bill
– April 1, 1774
– Navy was to close the Boston harbor by June 1 if the tea
destroyed in the Tea Party was repaid
• 2nd Coercive Act
– Massachusetts Government Act
– Revoked Massachusetts charter
– Restructured the govt. to make it less democratic
The “Intolerable Acts” (cont.)
• 3rd Coercive Act
– Administration of Justice Act
– Permitted any person charged with murder while
enforcing royal authority in Mass. to be tried in
England
• 4th Coercive Act
– New Quartering Act
– Allowed the governor to requisition empty private
buildings for housing troops
The “Intolerable Acts” (cont.)
• Quebec Act
– Roman Catholicism as Quebec’s official religion
– Gave Quebec’s governors sweeping powers but
established no legislature
– Did not use juries for property disputes
– Expanded Quebec’s territory south to the Ohio
River and west to the Mississippi River
The “Intolerable Acts” (cont.)
• Anglo-Americans believed Britain was plotting to
abolish traditional English liberties throughout North
America
• British meant to punish Massachusetts (Boston) with
the “Intolerable Acts”; but pushed most colonies to
the brink of rebellion
• Of the 27 reasons justifying the break from Great
Britain in the Declaration of Independence, 6 dealt
with the Intolerable Acts
The First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress
(cont.)
• To resist the Intolerable
Acts, all the colonies
besides Georgia sent
representatives to a
continental congress in
Philadelphia
• Sept. 5, 1774 to
October 26, 1774
The First Continental Congress
(cont.)
• Approved the Suffolk Resolves
– Advised colonials to begin arming themselves
against attacks by royal troops
• Created the Continental Association
– Enforce a total cutoff of trade with England and
the British West Indies
• Sent a Declaration of Rights to George III
– Begged him to dismiss the ministers responsible
for the Coercive Acts
From Resistance to Rebellion
• Committees of the Continental Association coerced
wavering colonists into cooperating with the trade
ban.
• Loyalists (aka Tories) were intimidated
• Volunteer militias (aka minutemen) drilled and
prepared for war
• Extralegal congresses met and tried to supplant the
existing colonial assemblies headed by royal
governors
From Resistance to Rebellion
(cont.)
• April 19, 1775
– General Gage dispatched 700 soldiers to Lexington
and Concord
– Objectives were to seize the minutemen’s weapon
stockpiles and arrest key patriotic leaders
– William Dawes and Paul Revere challenged the
redcoats arriving from Boston
– 1st fighting of the Revolution broke out
From Resistance to Rebellion
(cont.)
• As news of the battles at Lexington and Concord
spread, 20,000 New Englanders rushed to besiege
Boston and oust the English
– Redcoats=273 casualties
– Colonists=92 casualties
• The British defeated the colonials and Breed’s and
Bunker Hills but suffered heavy casualties in doing so
– June 17, 1775
– 1,154 for redcoats vs. 311 colonists
Bunker Hill
From Resistance to Rebellion
(cont.)
• Second Continental Congress
– Philadelphia
– May 10, 1775
– Majority of delegates still hoped for reconciliation with
England
• Olive Branch Petition
– Pleading for a cease-fire at Boston
– Repeal of the Coercive Acts
– Negotiations to establish American rights
From Resistance to Rebellion
(cont.)
• The British ignored the plea
– Dec. 1775, declared the colonists in rebellion
• Second Continental Congress established an
American continental army and appointed
George Washington to command it
• Not yet ready to declare independence
Common Sense
• Loyalty to the king and hopes that he would restrain
irritated ministers and members of Parliament
lingered on through the summer and fall of 1775
• Thomas Paine
• Jan. 1776
• Paine argued that monarchy was a corrupt,
repressive institution
• And that Americans should shun and instead should
take the opportunity to create a new kind of nation
based on republican liberty
Common Sense (cont.)
Declaring Independence
• June 7, 1776 Richard Henry Lee (VA delegate)
proposed that Congress declare independence
• Members of Congress appointed a committee
– Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Ben Franklin
– Draft a statement to justify the colonies’ separation form
England
• Declaration of Independence
–
–
–
–
Influenced by Enlightenment
Natural rights philosophy
Equality of all men
Universal rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of
Happiness
Declaring Independence (cont.)
• July 2, 1776
– Congress formally adopted Lee’s independence resolution
– Created the United States of America
• July 3
– Reviewed and revised Jefferson’s Declaration
• July 4
– Approved and singed the Declaration
Declaring Independence (cont.)
• The equal rights for all championed by the
Declaration of Independence did not exist in
America in 1776
• the document’s ideals inspired the
revolutionary generation and many who
followed to bring the realities of American life
closer to the Declaration’s bold proclamation
Conclusion
• Triumphant over France in the 7 Years’ War, GB in
1763 was the world’s leading power
• GB attempts to centralize power and tax her colonies
aroused American resistance
• Between 1763 and 1776, the colonists strove to
reestablish the colonial relationship as it had existed
earlier when British supervision was minimal and
colonial assemblies controlled taxes and internal
legislation
Conclusion (cont.)
• Colonists peacefully protested the Stamp Act,
the Townshend duties, and the Tea Act
• Different classes acted out of different
motives:
– Elites resented erosion of their autonomy
– Merchants and middle-class protested new
economic restrictions
– Rural poor questioned all authority
Conclusion (cont.)
• Unable to reconcile the mother country’s and
colonial’s viewpoints and buoyed by Thomas
Paine’s Common Sense, the American’s finally
severed their ties with England and declared
independence.