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Period: to
Revolutionary Era
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Submit or Unite
• Thirteen separate and often disparate governments found it difficult to work together.
• Forces for unity were stronger then the differences that set them apart.
• Most colonists shared common language and traditions of government.
• Sense of unity grew as they learned about common issues with the British/crown from newspapers and pamphlets. -
Proclamation of 1763
• Fear of Indian unrest forced to British to review their Western Land policy
• New plan unveiled in the Proclamation of 1763, established a boundary between Native America and colonial lands
• According to proclamation no colonists could enter the area west of Appalachians without British permission
• Colonists already there were ordered to remove themselves
• British government wanted to reduce the cost of protecting settlers by limiting contact with Indians
• French gone colonists expected to -
Stamp Act
• Began in 1763 in Grenville
• This Act required by law that tax stamps to be attached to a wide variety of items (Documents, newspaper, pamphlets, playing cards and etc)
• The tax wasn’t costly, but sparked a lot of anger towards the crown
• There was no way to avoid paying the tax -
An Uneasy Frontier
• Frontier drew new colonists into the area; the new comers came into conflict with the Indian Nations and the few French farmers and traders.
• Some colonies demanded their borders extended all the way to the Pacific
• To reinforce their claims the colonies built a road over the Appalachian Mountains into the Ohio Valley
• Britain tried to avoid conflict by stationing troops in the frontier territory
• Amherst bungled the peace efforts of the British
• He allowed settlers to build forts in West -
Repeal At Last
· News of the Boston Massacre contributed to the growing concern in Britain about the colonies.
· Little tax came in, and the trade was reduced as well.
· The colonies had begun manufacturing their own goods such as paint, glass, paper, and lead products.
· Colonists had begun to think more clearly about their political rights. -
empires empty treasury
• When George Grenville became the British chancellor of exchequer in April 1763, he faced a staggering national debt
• The wars Britain had just finished in Europe, America and India had created budgets running over twenty-times their pre-war size.
• Grenville also discovered that by smuggling, bribery, or both, the colonists were evading British custom duties
• Salaries for British customs officials were four times greater than the duties they collected.
• He was determined that the colonies w -
Growing Pressure
• The Currency Act of 1764 and the Quartering Act of 1765 angered the colonists even more
• The Currency Act struck another blow at America’s control of its own finances
• It prohibited the colonial governments from using any more paper money, and demanded that all paper money in use be recalled
• Furthermore the act stated that taxes and debts owed to British merchants be paid in British silver currency
• In the colonies silver currency was in short supply
• Britain had drained the colonists si -
A Question of Representation
• Commonly known for “Taxation Without Representation”
• The colonists complained about being taxed by Britain when they didn’t have any say in parliament because communication between America and Britain was impossible at the time. -
American Reaction
• Before the stamp act took place, the colonists demonstrated that they would back the principles with actions.
• The group of people who performed the acts of resistance were called the “Son of Liberty” who mainly resided in Massachusetts to Carolina.
• The group stopped attempts unload stamp paper, which made stamp tax collectors uneasy about their job and most of them resigned their position.
• The colonists also boycotted British goods which disrupted the British economy. -
The Townshend Acts
· By 1767, a sharp depression that led to outbursts of violence in Britain limited Townshend’s choices.
· Parliament was forced to cut taxes at home, which made Townshend even more determined to gain more revenue from the 13 colonies
· Act was passed in 1767 but in the end it was a disastrous failure
· Placed small customs on, glass, tea, paper, paint, and lead (all imported from Britain)
· Colonists saw the act as a way for Britain to raise money not duties to encourage trade on which they were -
Asserting British Authority
· Responsibly for collecting duties fell to the customs collectors, and those who accepted bribes were fired.
· New officials turned out just as corrupt as the old, they could seize ships/cargos, and take one third of the selling price.
· John Hancock (one of the richest merchants) received typical treatment from customs officials when two boarded his ships illegally. In return he through them overboard.
· Law then got back by requiring a bond, or a deposit of money, when a ship was being load, -
Consequences of The Stamp Act
• The Stamp Act produced far reaching consequences for Britain
• It created colonial unity
• Colonial opposition to the stamp act brought forward men to the public that would haunt the British for years to come.
• Patrick Henry, George Washington, Samuel and John Adams, and of course Thomas Jefferson, a law student who will grow up and to change America. -
The Boston Massacre
· In response to repeated pleas from Boston customs commissioners for help, the British Government sent two regiments of troops.
· The colonists did all they can to make the troops lives as miserable as they can without being violent.
· A crowd of several hundred colonists gathered out front the Boston’s customs house were ten British troops stood guard.
· The crowd cursed the crowd and through snowballs, sticks and slivers of ice.
· A shot was fired (unknown from what side), then a round of sho -
Tensions Renewed
• British Government renewed its challenge to colonial self-rule.
• Parliament passed a law that made the king, and not the colonial assemblies, responsible for paying the salaries of royal governors and judges. -
Tea Act
• Americans drank Dutch tea because it was cheaper, it had been smuggled into America but they still had to pay British taxes on it.
• Parliament tried to save the East Indian Company from bankruptcy by passing the tea act.
• This allowed them to sell their tea directly to America retailers, therefore removing Britain’s own imported tea tax.
• Making it seem as if Americans were getting a deal but not buying a tax, but therefore forcing them to only drink British tea, still giving Britain the -
Boston Tea Party
• December 16, 1773
• A group of 60 men called “The Sons of Liberty” disguised themselves as Indians boarded East Indian Ships and dumped all the tea on board into the harbour.
• Was the American reaction to the Tea Act when British officials wouldn’t return three shiploads of taxed tea.
• This rebellion enraged British officials.
• Was a key event in the growth of America.
• Parliament responded with the “Coercive Acts”, which later creating the first Continental Congress. -
Tempest Over Tea
• Because American merchants were not allowed to sell smuggled tea because of the Tea Act many lost business. Making Americans have nowhere to turn to for tea but the British.
• Once merchants were driven out of business the East Indian Company would raise prices of tea.
• All over tea tax became a symbol of British oppression.
• Americans acted against the tea act by setting up boycotts, making East Indian tea rot on the waterfront of the American coast.
• Women began to brew “Liberty Tea” fro -
The Intolerable Acts
• King felt “New England fanatics were undermining all British authority in colonies.” So he decided he would make an example on Massachusetts.
• The king stuck them back for their fanatics with the Coercive Acts, hoping that it would spread through the colonies and force them into submission.
• The king had closed the port of Boston to all trade, next revoked the Massachusetts charter prohibiting the Massachusetts legislature and courts from holding sessions.
• He forced military control on the -
Other Actions
• First Continental Congress also took other decisive action, urged on by Samuel Adams the delegates voted for an immediate and complete end to trade with Great Britain
• To carry out the decision, delegates formed a Continental Association to set up committees in every town, city, and county
• Committees were to ensure that no colony imported or consumed British goods or exported American goods to Britain.
• By April 1775 this “Association” was operating in 12 colonies -
Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death
• On March 28th, 1775, Patrick Henry delivered a fiery speech to the Virginia Convention of Delegates
• For almost ten years, he had opposed Britain’s attempts to impose “taxation without representation”
• He stated that argueing with Britain was no longer a large enough effort towards independence that they had been trying for 10 years and Britain had not budged
• He argued that peace was over and that the war had already begun, that he wants to be given freedom or he would die than be under Br -
Defining Relations With Britain
• Under Galloway’s direction they proposed a union of the colonies under British authority
• Parliament would still pass laws affecting the colonies but a grand council of American representatives could also veto them
• In a summary view of the “Rights of British America”, Thomas Jefferson tried to summarize the relationship between the colonies and Parliament
• He argued that Parliament had no right to tax the colonies, and that Parliament should not make laws either
• For Jefferson and the rad -
Lexington and Concord
• Over the winter of 1774-1775, Massachusetts protesters formed a militia, calling themselves minutemen
• As winter turned to spring, the commander of the British forces in Boston (Thomas Gage), received orders to round up the leaders of the colonial resistance
• On April 18th, Gage sent nearly 1,000 soldiers to seize the colonial arsenal
• British forces set out at night, hoping to catch the colonists by surprise at daybreak
• But as they made their way across the country side, William Dawes an -
Declaring Independace
· Continental Congress was adopbting anti Birtish resolutions.
· The Commitee presented the completed declaration to the congress.
· 2 days later it was signed.
