Unit II 1763-1800

1. Unit II1763-1800 Part 1 The Road to Revolution

2. After The Peace of Paris • France was no longer a major colonial power • The American colonists wanted to move West • The Americans no longer needed the British for protection from the French and the Indians • The British extended the policy of extermination to the Iroquois. • Brits believed that the Iroquois did not do their fair share during the war

3. The British were angry with the American colonists • During the war Americans refused to fight, avoided taxes which paid for the war, and smuggled with the enemy • British believed it was time for the Americans to do their fair share for the Empire

4. British Debt after the War • Land given to the Brits from the French added much territory…expensive to maintain • British national debt doubled between 1754-1763 • Cost of administrating the empire 5 times as high as before the war • Debt fell on the shoulders of the British taxpayer

5. The End of Benign Neglect • New taxes • Enforcement of laws • Note: The taxes were reasonable and just and were used to pay off the debt incurred by the British during the French and Indian War • BUT the new taxes will be the spark for the Revolutionary War

6. 1763 • The end of the French and Indian War • Pontiac’s Rebellion • Proclamation of 1763 • The Paxton Boys • The End of Benign Neglect

7. The West • Americans believed the end of the Fr. and Indian War meant opening up the West • The British could not afford it: • Would need more troops to protect the Americans from the Indians • Could not afford to administrate in this vast area • The British Board of Trade would not be able to curtail colonial manufacturing in the interior of the country

8. The West • American Fur Traders wanted access to the West but wanted to deny others • Farmers were always looking for new land…tobacco exhausted soil • Land Speculators wanted opportunities • Different colonies had boundary disputes regarding western claims

9. 1758 The Treaty of Easton • During the war, the British made a treaty with the Ottawa tribe promising not to allow settlement west of the Appalachians • After the war, Americans went West • Pontiac’s Rebellion 1763: The Ottawa Indians led by Pontiac struck back at the colonists • The Brits sent troops and defeated the Indians

10. The Proclamation of 1763 • The British forbade access to the west to the colonists • Was meant to be temporary • Colonists angry • British offered new settlements in East and West Florida and in Quebec (but no local assemblies) • Americans wanted West…not south or north

11. 1763 The Paxton Boys • Scotch-Irish in mountains of western Pennsylvania murdered a village of peaceful Indians and then threatened to burn Philadelphia to the ground • Benjamin Franklin talked them down by promising to get the colonial legislature to put a bounty on Indian scalps

12. The End of Benign Neglect • 1763 Mass. Writs of Assistance: general search warrants enabling customs agents to invade homes and warehouses to search for smuggled goods • The British had cause: colonists smuggled during the war • BUT American resentment: claimed it was a violation of their civil liberties

13. New Courts to try smugglers • Eliminated sympathetic colonial juries • BUT under new system judges were corrupt and could sometimes keep 1/3 of confiscated items • Salaries of colonial governors to be paid by the crown rather than by colonial legislatures • Customs Service revamped: Royal customs officials were required to take up their posts. They could not hire an underling to do the job for them

14. Customs Officials • Would no longer accept bribes • Became very unpopular • Brits had to send troops to protect them from the American colonists

15. 1763 Grenville (Prime Minister) • Introduced new taxes to pay the war debt • New taxes were the spark for the Revolution • 1764 The Sugar Act similar to the old 1733 Molasses Act: Colonists had to pay duties on sugar and molasses • Colonists objected to this one (1764) because it was enforced (the other was not) but said they objected on principle

16. More taxes • Taxes on imported European products were doubled • 1765 Mutiny Act said Colonies were required to assist in provisioning and maintaining British troops (WHY were the troops there? To protect customs officials from the Americans!) • Colonies that resisted would have assemblies dissolved: Mass in 1767, NY in 1768

17. Colonial Manufacturing • Was restricted in ALL British colonies • 1764 Currency Act: required colonies to stop issuing paper money • This one DID cause hardship: no specie in colonies, trade imbalance, colonists could not pay off British creditors, colonists were reduced to bartering with each other

18. 1765 The Stamp Act • The first internal tax in the American colonies • Taxes on paper items produced and sold within the colonies • Wills, deeds, newspapers, almanacs, cards • Impacted the most verbal element of society: ministers, newspaper publishers, lawyers • They lived in the city and could organize easily • Had captive audiences

19. The Stamp Act • There was a real fear that a new series of internal taxes would follow • Internal taxes seemed unnatural • Totally unlike taxes regulating trade • Import duties were considered Britain’s right; internal taxes were different • Everyone else in the empire had been paying internal taxes all along

20. Challenge to the Stamp Act • Patrick Henry in the Va. House of Burgesses: denied the right of Parliament to levy internal taxes • James Otis in Mass. Colonial assembly called for an intercontinental congress to act against the tax • Cited John Locke: Property ought not to be taken from a man without his consent…

21. Taxation without Representation • Was the least important reason for the revolution • As far as the British were concerned, the colonists WERE represented…in the House of Commons just like the rest of the empire • Taxes were justified…The Brits spent big bucks protecting the colonists

22. The Stamp Act Congress • The very first sign of colonial unification • Representatives from 9 colonies met • They petitioned the King and Parliament for relief • Pledged loyalty but claimed that the colonists should be taxed only by their own assemblies

23. Colonial Action • When the ships carrying the stamps showed up in NY harbor… • ….All vessels in port lowered their colors in protest • Some stamps were burned • All universally barred • Business at a standstill for days

24. Sons of Liberty • Created by Sam Adams • Terrorized customs agents, burned stamps, incited riots…especially in Boston • Organized a boycott of British goods • Used much intimidation • Merchants (American and British) suffered

25. Non-importation Agreement • Boycott was a huge success • 1766 Stamp Act was repealed • BUT 1767 Declaratory Act: said that England had the right to bind the colonies in all cases • Brits believed the colonists: that they objected to the Stamp Act because it was an internal tax

26. So… • 1767 Charles Townshend (Chancellor of the Exchequer) introduced… • The Townshend Acts: New taxes on “luxury” goods imported from England: Lead, paint, paper, tea • Purpose to pay off the British debt • To replace the Stamp Act with “acceptable” taxes

27. Violations of the Townshend Acts • Trials to be held in England without juries • BY THIS TIME colonists were objecting to England’s right to tax them at all • John Dickenson wrote “Letters from a Farmer in Penn. to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies in North America” convincing the Americans that the Brits had no right to tax them at all!

28. Another Colonial Boycott of British goods • Circular Letter from the Mass. Assembly to the other colonies urged all to resist all British taxes • Brits were made aware of the Circular Letter and sent one of their own saying that colonies supporting the resistance would have their assemblies dissolved

29. The French and Indian War Revealed that closer colonial cooperation was needed to solve common problems

30. 1767 Charles Townshend died suddenly! • Lord North (Prime Minister) repealed Townshend Acts • North was sympathetic to colonists • Wanted to mend relations so no new taxes • All was quiet for three years and then…

31. 1770 The Boston Massacre • Since Americans continued to harass British Customs Officials (because they would not be bribed) More British soldiers were sent here to keep order • Soldiers were not paid well so they sometimes looked for part-time jobs to make ends meet • Colonists resented this THEY wanted the jobs!

32. What Happened? • A few British soldiers were walking toward a factory to look for work • A colonial mob began jeering and pelting them with snowballs • Mob grew • More soldiers came to protect job seekers • Lots of name-calling, chaos • British commander yelled, “Hold your fire!”

33. It was noisy… • The soldiers only heard, “Fire!” and they did • Five were killed • Colonists called it a “Massacre” • Paul Revere, a silversmith, did an etching making it LOOK like a massacre • Soldiers were defended by John Adams who thought that the only way the soldiers would get a fair trial in front of a colonial jury would be if he personally defended them

34. The Verdict • A colonial jury found three of the soldiers innocent and two guilty of manslaughter (accidental death) and the two were branded on the thumb. • So…was calling the incident an exaggeration?

35. 1772 The Gaspee Incident • A British Revenue ship was chasing suspected smugglers along the Delaware River • A group of Rhode Islanders went caught up with the British ship, put the captain and crew on a rock in the middle of the river, and burned the ship

36. 1772 Committees of Correspondence • Sam Adams Organized it • Patrick Henry and other joined • John Hancock bankrolled the troublemakers • It was a loose network to publish grievances and coordinate activities of colonists resisting British rule

37. The Boston Tea Party (late 1773) • Began a chain of events leading directly to the Revolutionary War • When the Townshend Acts were repealed, the tax on tea remained • The East India Tea Co. was in trouble: mismanagement, shrinking American market (due to smugglers)

38. East India Tea Co. • The company was relieved of its taxes at home and was given a monopoly of the American tea trade • AND the Company could sell the tea directly…eliminating the middleman saved $ • This was done to save the corporation (a bailout)

39. American objections • Americans objected to the tax on tea and to the monopoly of their business • BUT even with the tax the tea was 75% cheaper than it had ever been before! • If the colonists bought the tea, it meant that they accepted the tax and the monopoly of their tea trade

40. The Tea Party • The EITC sent 4 ships to America: Boston, NY, Philly, Charleston • At Charleston, the tea was loaded into a warehouse and the warehouse was locked up…no tea was sold • At NY and Philly, the ships were not allowed to dock and were turned away

41. Boston • In Boston, 3 groups of 50 colonists (Sons of Liberty) dressed up like Mohawk Indians and dumped the tea into the harbor. • Vandalism. The tea was valuable and no one was forcing the colonists to buy it • Mercy Otis Warren formed the Daughters of Liberty. Pushed coffee, pamphlets, etc

42. The Brits could not let this one slide • What really irked the Brits was their certainty that no colonial jury would convict the tea dumpers

43. The Intolerable Acts • aka The Coercive Acts • An effort by the British to make the punishment fit the crime • The Brits really thought the other colonies would see the fairness of it…NOT

44. The Intolerable Acts (1774) • The Boston Port Act: The port would be closed until the tea was paid for • The Administration of Justice Act: British officials accused of crimes would be tried in England and troops could be quartered anywhere in Mass. • The Mass. Government Act: Assembly would be appointed-not elected and Town meetings to be held only once a year.

45. The Quebec Act • As far as the Brits were concerned the Quebec Act had nothing to do with the American colonies • Americans believed the Quebec Act was part of the Intolerable Acts • French in Quebec could practice their own religion • French in Quebec could continue using their own legal systems • Quebec boundary extended to the Ohio River

46. 1774 Virginia assembly called for a Continental Congress • In Philadelphia September 1774 • 12 colonies represented (not Georgia) • Listed Grievances • Petitioned the king for relief • Boycott British goods • Continental Association to enforce boycott • Demanded a repeal of all oppressive legislation since 1763 (colonial objections were escalating) • Agreed to meet again

47. The Americans wanted the British to recognize American rights • Volunteer armies set up in every colony • Planters armed workers and drilled them at their own expense • The Quaker Blues • Towns ordered to stockpile weapons and ammo

48. The Revolution may not have happened if… • …the British had adopted a policy similar to what she later adopted with Canada and Australia…Commonwealth status • The Brits didn’t get it. No member of Parliament had ever visited the colonies 1607-1776

49. Lord North’s offer • North offered the colonists the Resolution on Conciliation: Any colony willing to pay for its own administration and defense would be free of all taxes • Not one colony responded

50. Think • First the colonists objected only to “internal taxes)…after the Stamp Act (1765) • Then colonists objected to Britain's right to tax us at all (after the Townsend Acts (1767) and John Dickenson’s “Letters…” • Then (1774) the First Continental Congress claimed the British could not legislate for us! Wanted an end to all “oppressive” legislation since 1763! (the end of Benign Neglect)