Unit Two
The Road to Revolution
(2/13/13)
French and Indian War (Seven Year’s War) 1754-1763
Started when the British crossed the Allegheny Mountains into Ohio River valley
George Washington started the war when he built Fort Necessity
Ended with Treaty of Paris (1763)
o Britain took all of France’s possessions east of Mississippi River (except New
Orleans)
It was also a war in Britain’s colonies around the world
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Great Britain in the 19 century is the empire in which the sun never sets
Effects of French and Indian War
Heightened a sense of identity among colonists in America
o Separate entity as a cohesive unit
o Zinn talks about a movement toward colonial unity
French and Indian War heightened that sense
Strengthened colonists’ pride in being members of the British empire colonists
thought they were/wanted to be loyal citizens; but wanted their grievances to be heard
Defeat of the Catholic French seemed to be a triumph of liberty over tyranny
o Pesky Catholics were defeated; protestant liberty was the winner
o Colonists continue to be suspicious of Catholicism
1960 first catholic president
Problems Associated with Empire
How to defend?
How to govern?
Who should pay?
George Grenville
Advocated three things
o Keeping a large army in the colonies to defend the frontier
To make it safe for colonists from Indians and for also Indians
To offset demobilization
o Enforcing acts of trade
Preventing smuggling Gave them access to more goods they had not had access to in
previous years
Writs of assistance
Allowed officers to enter any place and to seek evidence of
illegal trade
Colonists believed it infringed upon their privacy and
constitutional rights (later in the Bill of Rights)
Wanted to bringing customs officers permanently to the colony to
enforce these acts of trade
Growing conflict between customs officials and colonists who were
trying to get on with their economic live
o Raising taxes by taxing new sources of revenue
Ended policy of “salutary neglect”
Legislation
Proclamation of 1763
o Set the colonial limit of settlement at the crest of the Appalachian Mountains
o Purpose
Prevent further Indians wars (to prevent conflict between colonists and
Indians)
But Britain only told the colonists to move, not the Indians
Generate orderly settlement
Harder to get tax revenue from people if you don’t know where
they are
Revenue Act of 1764 (Sugar Act)
o Levied new duties on imports of foreign textiles (coffee, wine, and sugar)
o Part of purpose was to prevent smuggling and raise revenue
Marks the first time Parliament adopted duties designed strictly to raise
revenue and not just regulate trade
Quartering Act (1765)
o Provided quarters and provisions for troops at colonial expense
o If barracks were unavailable soldiers were held at inns and bale houses
Failing sufficient rooms there, houses and barns (any available
building belonging to private citizens) would be put to use
o At colonists expense (rooms, services, uniforms)
o So important that it was put in the bill of rights o Red coats coming into their homes and towns causing trouble
Stamp Act (1765)
o Documents, playing cards, dice, publications, newspapers (frequently used
goods) all had to be stamped
Almost every one was literate in the colonies
o Adding more onto things that were necessary and important
o Revolution gets off the ground with the middle/upper class
Partly in response to Stamp Act
Stamp Act Congress (1765)
Met in New York
Nine colonies represented
o southern colonies didn’t support revolution in the same awy that the northern
people did so loyalist sentiment was strongest in the south because they
wanted the British markets for their crops/slaves
o Not in attendance
New Hampshire (later approved proceedings)
North Carolina
Georgia
Virginia
o Formulated a Declaration of Rights and Grievances
Declaration of Rights and Grievances
Affirmed loyalty to the king and Parliament but denied Parliament’s right to tax the
colonies
o Englishmen in the colonies were entitled to the same rights as Englishmen in
Britain (virtual representation) – the people in England claimed so we
should be allowed to tax you
Englishmen could not be taxed but by consent, either by themselves or
their representatives in Parliament
America was not represented in Parliament and therefore could not be
taxed except by colonial legislatures
CRY OF NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION
Nonimportation Movement
Artisans and merchants in the colonies began a nonimportation movement (boycott) o Had a direct impact on British merchants who urged Parliament to repeal the
Stamp Act
Parliament repealed the Stamp Act but passed the Declaratory Act
o Declared Parliament’s authority “in all cases whatsoever”
Charles Townshend- Chief Minister
Passed Townshend Duty Act (1767)
o Imposed a duty on glass, lead, paper, and tea imported into the colonies
Affects virtually everybody in the colonies in a particular way
Tea- everyone drank it because they did not have clean water
If you wanted to drink water you had to boil it
Tea was shipped in glass, lead, and paper
o Provided for establishment of a board of customs officials to headquartered in
Boston
Wanted to crack down on smuggling
A lot of those that are stirring up the colonists about Revolution are in
Boston
Another act suspended the assembly of New York
o New York was the colony that was the most reluctant to provide quarters for
troops
o Royal officials were trying to take away ?
Colonial Response
Sam Adams began agitating Against legislation through Sons of Liberty
o A collection of loosely organized protest groups originally formed to put
pressure on Parliament to repeal Stamp Act
Nonimportation
Women began making “homespun”
o Because a moral virtue
o an indication of revolutionary activity among colonial women
o Finished linen/cotton cloth was boycotted
cotton imported into England, then in England they spun it and turned
it into finished cloth
o If you were wearing this homespun cloth you knew they were taking part in
this boycott movement-protopatrioic Lord Frederick North – Chief Minister
Partial repeal of Townshend Act
Ended boycott but resentment remained
March 1770, contentious relationship resulted in Boston Massacre
o No one knows who fired the first shot but the colonists said the British did
Paul Revere’s Engraving of Boston Massacre (1770)
Savage, brutal killing of innocent people
Redcoats are opening fire – like an execution
Colonists don’t seem to have any guns, unarmed
o Running away
Boston Tea Party
In 1773, Parliament passed Tea Act
o An attempt to bail out East India Co.
Lowered duties on tea
Tea would be cheaper
o Colonists opposed to any tax to which they had no consented
Colonists dumped 342 cases overboard
Coercive (Intolerable) Acts
Boston Port Bill
o Closed the port of Boston until damages were paid
Massachusetts Government Act
o Gave powers of appointment to royal governor
o Took
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