HISTORY 1DD3 Lecture 7: FULLYEAR
19 Jun 2018
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SJ’s History Notes --- AP US History --- © 2011
CHP 5 - CHP 28:
Good if you ever need to look something/someone up!
Albany Plan of Union (1754 essentially right at the start of the Seven Years’ War)
● Background Info: The French build a series of forts in 1753 to keep out English
traders. Washington’s efforts to persuade the French fails.
● Largely based on the ideas of Franklin and Hutchinson.
● Called for a Grand Council representing all the colonial assemblies and led by a
crown-appointed president general.
● The Grand Council’s role would be to devise policies on defense and Indian affairs.
● The Grand Council could demand funds from the colonies if needed.
● It provided to future American unity but at the time came to nothing as no colonial
legislature wanted to surrender the slightest control over its taxation powers.
Seven Years' War / French and Indian War (1754-1763)
● Background Info: The French and British were enemies and were preparing for a
war.
● After Washington’s clash with the French (1754) Britain dispatched Braddock and a
thousand troops to America.
● Braddock expected his disciplined soldiers to make light work of the French and
Indians but his force of 2,200 succumbed to a raid from about 850 opposing forces.
● The Anglo-Americans were numerically superior but disorganized.
● By 1757, Britain seemed to be facing defeat on all fronts (both in US and EU).
● But 2 events turned the tide:
1) some of the Natives decided France was becoming too strong and in 1758
abandoned support of the French. Some became neutral, some helped the British.
2) William Pitt took over control of military affairs and declared that he was the
only one that could save Britain. Pitt re-installed a patriotic belief and became the
colonists’ hero (symbol of Americans and English together).
● With problems of their own in Europe, Pitt chose against additional troops to
America, instead encouraging colonists to take action. He promised Parliament
would bear most of the cost. This led to well over 40,000 troops, far more than the
number the crown sent in previous years combined.
● The war was effectively over when French resistance ended with the surrender of
Montreal in 1760, but the Treaty of Paris in 1763 officially ended the war. Britain
gained control of the East, while Spain took the West.
Acadians and Cajuns
● At the conclusion of the French and Indian War, Acadians were the most badly
affected of all Franco-Americans.
● Background Info: England took over Acadia in 1713 and renamed it Nova Scotia.
● Nova Scotia’s government ordered all to swear loyalty to Britain, but most refused to
take the oath.
● British soldiers drove them from their homes and burned their villages.
● Acadians and others like them were deported to the colonies, esp. Maryland and
Penn., but with intense anti-French prejudice, they moved on to Louisiana. Here,
they became known as Cajuns.
King George III
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2
SJ’s History Notes --- AP US History --- © 2011
● Background Info: King George III ascended to the throne at age 22 and in 1760
towards the end of the Seven Years’ War.
● King George III was content to rule as a constitutional monarch, but wanted to have
a strong influence on government policy. Neither his experience or philosophy
allowed this to happen.
● George III made frequent and abrupt changes, angering the colonists further.
Friction Develops (1760-1763)
● Background Info: New France has all but lost and Britain is virtually bankrupt. As
hard times strike friction develops between the Natives, Colonists, and Brits.
● Britain decides to cut costs by stop distributing food and ammunition to the Natives.
● Tension mounted and a Delaware prophet named Neolin called for Indians to refuse
European culture. Other Natives hoped for France to return so they could again
manipulate an imperial balance of power.
● Pontiac, an Ottawa Indian political leader, decided to forge an anti-British movement
known as Pontiac’s Uprising.
● Despite early successes, shortages of food and ammunition, smallpox (which the
Brits deliberately spread), and the knowledge that the French were gone for good led
Natives to make peace with the British.
● Despite the failure of the uprising, the Natives were conciliated by the Proclamation
of 1763, which acknowledged lands west of the Appalachians to be Native land.
● This calmed Natives’ fears but at a cost: colonists were angered as they felt imperial
authority was slowing expansion.
Writs of Assistance and James Otis (specifically 1760-1761)
● British authorities began an attempt to halt American merchants from illicit trade
with the French West Indies and employed a document called Writs of Assistance
which allowed customs officials to enter any ships or buildings purely on suspicion.
● Writs of Assistance turned out to be a powerful weapon against smuggling.
● Boston merchants, who often smuggled, reacted quickly by hiring lawyer James
Otis.
● Otis proclaimed that the writs challenged the constitutionality and claimed an act
against the Constitution is void.
● But the court was influenced by the opinion of Chief Justice Thomas Hutchinson who
described an identical write in England and ruled against the merchants.
● Furthermore, most British politicians assumed Parliament’s laws were part of the
constitution. Otis, like other colonists, contended Parliaments had no such authority.
Sugar Act (1764)
● The goal of the Sugar Act (unlike that of the Navigation Acts which was actually
becoming a burden financially) was to raise revenue that would help offset American
expenses. Crucially, the Sugar Act ended Britain’s policy of salutary neglect.
● The Sugar Act:
1) placed a tax on French West Indian molasses entering America. However,
colonists continued to smuggle in cheaper molasses by bribing officials.
2) forced trade to foreign countries to go through Britain. Parliament hoped for less
purchase from rivals and more from Britain, creating jobs for the British.
3) required Captains to complete a series of documents to certify trade as legal. The
regulations made it impossible to avoid violations in the given local circumstances.
4) allowed officials to transfer smuggling cases from colonial to vice-admiralty
courts. A single judge (who had a 5% cargo incentinve) gave the verdict, and all
cases had to be heard in the v-a court at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Also, instead of
presuming innocence until proven guilty, a defendant had to prove himself innocent.
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SJ’s History Notes --- AP US History --- © 2011
● In 1766, Britain lowered the tax to discourage smuggling. The immediate effect of
the Sugar Act was minor, but some became aware of a new direction of imperial
policies.
Stamp Act (1765)
● Background Info: The revenue from the Sugar Act did little to ease Britain’s financial
crisis. At the time, Brits paid 26 shillings of tax where as colonists paid 2-6% of
that.
● Colonists were required to purchase and use special stamped paper. Violators would
face prosecution in v-a courts.
● Unlike the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act was an internal tax directly taxing property,
goods, or services in the colony. (External taxes = regulate trade)
● (continued below)
Virtual Representation
● Pitt objected the Stamp Act and emphasized that the colonists had never paid
internal taxes and already taxed themselves through their own elected assemblies.
● Grenville (PM) thought that colonists were “virtually represented” by Parliament.
● Virtual representation held that Parliament considered the welfare of all subjects.
Rather than representation by a single seat, Grenville believed colonists were
represented by all members of Parliament.
● Colonists accepted virtual representation as valid only for England and Scotland and
argued that they should enjoy substantial self-governance like Ireland.
● Many colonists felt they had to face the issue head-on or surrender self-government.
Patrick Henry
● A young Virginia lawyer and planter who urged the Virginia House of Burgesses to
adopt resolutions which denied Parliament power to tax the colonies.
● Newspaper accounts of Henry’s resolutions spread throughout the colonies, and by
the end of 1765, seven other assemblies adopted Henry’s resolutions.
Loyal Nine
● In Boston, a group of middle-class artisans and small business owners formed the
Loyal Nine to fight against the Stamp Act. They recognized the stamp distributors as
the weak link and pressured them into resignation.
● Sidenote: It was no surprise Boston led the way. They were severely affected by the
Sugar Act. Earlier on, Boston had lost ground to NY and Philadelphia. In addition,
Boston was still struggling to recover from a great fire in 1760. Poor Bostonians
were already used to large scale demos, and disdained the “better sort”.
● The Loyal Nine and several hundred Bostonians rallied against Boston’s stamp
distributor, Andrew Oliver. After destroying his new building, Loyal Nine withdrew
and the crowd continued to Oliver’s house. Hutchinson tried to disperse the crowd
but took cover under a barrage of rocks. The next morning Andrew Oliver resigned.
● Hutchinson too was attacked because smugglers held grudges against him and
amany saw him as a symbol of a troubled Boston economy. Ironically, Hutchinson
privately opposed the Stamp Act!
Sons of Liberty
● Similar groups to Royal Nine called Sons of Liberty began forming across the
colonies.
● The leaders of SoL tried to prevent violent outbreaks. They recognized that if not
carefully, all elites could be attacked. They were also fearful of a royal soldier/officer
being shot/killed, and forbade carrying weapons, focusing strictly against property.
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