AMERICA IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE

1. AMERICA IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE • The British Colonial System • British colonies were founded independently by people with differing backgrounds and motivations • each British colony had its own form of government, and British government did not regard colonies as a unit • English political and legal institutions took hold throughout colonies

2. Crown left colonists to make own laws pertaining to local matters • King’s Privy Council responsible for formulating colonial policy • Parliamentary legislation applied to the colonies • occasionally, British authorities attempted to create a more cohesive and efficient colonial system • late 17th century, British policy was to transform proprietary and corporate colonies into royal colonies

3. Board of Trade took over management of colonial affairs in 1696 • failure to establish a centralized colonial government contributed to the development of independent governments and eventually to the United States’ federal system • Mercantilism • mercantilism described to a set of policies designed to make a country self-sufficient while selling more goods abroad than it imported • if colonies lacked gold and silver, they could provide raw materials and markets for the mother country

4. The Navigation Acts • commerce was essential to mercantilism • in the 1650s, Parliament responded to Dutch preeminence in shipping with Navigation Acts • reserved the entire trade of colonies to English ships and required that captain and 3/4 of crew be English • acts also limited export of certain enumerated items • acts were designed to stimulate British industry and trade and to restrict and shape, but not to destroy, infant colonial industries

5. The Effects of Mercantilism • Mercantilist policy benefited both England and the colonies • England’s interests prevailed when conflicts arose • the inefficiency of English administration lessened the impact of mercantilist regulations • when regulations became burdensome, the colonists simply ignored them; and England was inclined to look the other way

6. The Great Awakening • people in colonies began to recognize common interests and a common character • by about 1750, the word “American” had entered the language • one common experience was the Great Awakening, a wave of religious enthusiasm • two ministers, Theodore Frelinghuysen (a Calvinist) and William Tennent (a Presbyterian), arrived in the 1720s • they sought to instill evangelical zeal they witnessed among Pietists and Methodists in Europe

7. colonial tours of George Whitefield, a powerful orator, sparked much religious enthusiasm • Whitefield did not deny the doctrine of predestination • preached of a God receptive to good intentions • many denominations split between the “Old Lights” or “Old Sides,” who supported more traditional approaches, and the “New Lights” or “New Sides,” who embraced revivalism • the better educated and more affluent members of a congregation tended to support traditional arrangements

8. The Rise and Fall of Jonathan Edwards • Jonathan Edwards was the most famous native-born revivalist of the Great Awakening • took over his grandfather’s church in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1727 • Edwards’s grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, practiced a policy of “open enrollment” • Edwards set out to ignite a spiritual revival • sermons warned in graphic language of the Hell awaiting unconverted

9. Edwards’s approach upset some of his parishioners, and in 1749 they voted unanimously to dismiss him • a reaction against religious enthusiasm set in by the early 1750s • although it caused divisions, the Great Awakening also fostered religious toleration • the Awakening was also the first truly national event in American history

10. The Enlightenment in America • the Enlightenment had an enormous impact on America • the founders of colonies were contemporaries of scientists such as Galileo, Descartes, and Newton • they who provided a new understanding of the natural world • earth, heavens, humans, and animals all seemed part of a great machine, which God had set in motion

11. through observation and reason, humans might come to understand the laws of nature • faith in these ideas produced the Age of Reason • ideas of European thinkers reached America with startling speed • the writings of John Locke and other political theorists found a receptive audience • ideas that in Europe were discussed only by an intellectual elite became almost commonplace in the colonies

12. Colonial Scientific Achievements • colonials such as John Bartram, Cadwallader Colden, and Benjamin Franklin contributed to the accumulation of scientific knowledge • the theoretical contributions of American thinkers and scientists were modest, but involvement in the intellectual affairs of Europe provided yet another common experience for colonials

13. Other People’s Wars • European nations competed fiercely for markets and raw materials • war became a constant in the 17th and 18th centuries • European powers vied for allies among the Native American tribes and raided settlements of opposing powers • colonies paid heavily for these European conflicts

14. in addition to battle casualties, frontier settlers were killed in raids; and taxes went up to pay for the wars • these conflicts served to increase bad feelings between settlers in French and English colonies • more important Europe’s colonial wars inevitably generated some friction between England and its North American colonies

15. The Great War for the Empire • England and France possessed competing colonial empires in North America • in 1750s, the two powers came into direct conflict • the result was another colonial war; but this one spread from the colonies to Europe • English effort was badly mismanaged • not until William Pitt took over the British war effort did England’s fortunes improve

16. Pitt recognized the potential value of North America and poured British forces and money into the war • he also promoted talented young officers such as James Wolfe • British took Montreal in 1760, and France abandoned Canada to the British • British also captured French and Spanish possessions in the Pacific, in the West Indies, and in India

17. Spain got back Philippines and Cuba, in exchange for which it ceded Florida to Great Britain • the victory in North America was won by British troops and British gold • the British colonies contributed relatively little money, and the performance of colonial troops was uneven • the defeat of the French seemed to tie the colonies still more closely to England

18. The Peace of Paris • under terms of Treaty of Paris, signed in 1763, France gave up virtually all claims to North America • given extent of British victories in battle, terms of treaty were moderate • England returned captured French possessions in Caribbean, Africa, and India

19. Putting the Empire Right • Britain now controlled a larger empire, which would be much more expensive to maintain • Pitt’s expenditures for the war had doubled Britain’s national debt • British people were taxed to the limit • American colonies now required a more extensive system of administration • issues such as western expansion and relations with the Indians needed to be resolved • many in England resented the growing wealth of the colonists

20. Tightening Imperial Controls • British attempts to deal with problems resulting from victory in great war for empire led to American Revolution • after great war, British decided to exert greater control over American colonies • Britain allowed the colonies a great degree of freedom, thus colonists resented new restrictions on freedom • English colonies increased their pressure on the Indians

21. British stationed 15 regiments along the frontier • as much to protect the Indians from the settlers as the settlers from the Indians • a new British policy prohibited settlement across the Appalachian divide • this created further resentment among colonists, who planed development of Ohio Valley

22. The Sugar Act • Americans were outraged by British attempts to raise money in America to help defray cost of administering the colonies • Sugar Act placed tariffs on sugar, coffee, wines, and other imported goods • violators were tried before British naval officers in vice-admiralty courts • Colonists considered the duties to be taxation without representation • the law came at bad time because economic boom created by war ended with war

23. American Colonists Demand Rights • British dismissed protests over Sugar Act • under concept of “virtual representation,” every member of Parliament stood for interests of entire empire

24. The Stamp Act: The Pot Set to Boiling • Stamp Act placed stiff excise taxes on all kinds of printed matter • Sugar Act had related to Parliament’s uncontested power to control colonial trade • Stamp Act was a direct tax • Virginia's House of Burgesses took lead in opposing new tax • irregular organizations, known as the Sons of Liberty, staged direct-action protests against act • sometimes protests took form of mob violence

25. Rioters or Rebels? • rioting took on a social and a political character • if colonial elite did not disapprove of rioting, looting associated with protests did alarm them • mass of people were property owners and had some say in political decisions; they had no desire to overthrow established order • Stamp Act hurt business of lawyers, merchants, and newspaper editors people who greatly influenced public opinion

26. greatest concern was Britain’s rejection of the principle of no taxation without representation • as British subjects, colonists claimed “the rights of Englishmen” • passage of Quartering Act further convinced Americans that actions of Parliament threatened to deprive them of those rights

27. Taxation or Tyranny? • English people were recognized as the freest people in the world which was attributed their freedom to balanced government • actually, balance between the Crown, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons never really existed • to Americans, actions of Parliament threatened to disrupt balance • British leaders believed that the time had come to assert royal authority

28. colonies were no longer entirely dependent on England • British leaders were not ready to deal with Americans as equals • Americans refused to use the stamps and boycotted British goods. The Stamp Act was repealed in March 1766

29. The Declaratory Act • Parliament passed the Declaratory Act • asserted that Parliament could enact any law it wished with respect to the colonies • Declaratory Act revealed the extent to which British and American views of the system had drifted apart

30. The Townshend Duties • Townshend Acts (1767) placed levies on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea imported colonists responded with new boycott of British goods • leaders of resistance ranged from moderates, John Dickinson, to revolutionaries, Samuel Adams • British responded by dissolving Massachusetts legislature, and by transferring two regiments from frontier to Boston

31. The Boston Massacre • March 5, 1770, rioters began throwing snowballs at British soldiers • crowd grew hostile, the panicky troops responded by firing on it • five Bostonians lay dead or dying • John Adams volunteered his legal services to the soldiers • British also relented; Townshend duties except tax on tea were repealed in April 1770; a tenuous truce lasted for two years

32. The Pot Spills Over • trouble erupted again when British patrol boat ran aground in Narragansett Bay in 1772

33. The Tea Act Crisis • in 1773, Parliament agreed to remit British tax on tea; Townshend tax was retained • Americans regarded measure as a diabolical attempt to trick them into paying the tax on tea • public indignation was so great that authorities in New York and Philadelphia ordered ships carrying tea to return to England • December 16, 1773, colonists disguised as Indians dumped tea in harbor; England received news of the Boston Tea Party with great indignation

34. From Resistance to Revolution • Parliament responded to Boston Tea Party by passing Coercive Acts in spring of 1774 • acts weakened colonial legislatures and judiciary and closed Boston harbor until citizens paid for tea • also known as the Intolerable Acts • First Continental Congress met at Philadelphia September 1774 • John Adams rejected any right of Parliament to legislate for colonies • Congress passed a declaration condemning Britain’s actions since 1763, a resolution that the people take arms to defend their rights