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Period: to
Road to Revolution
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Albany Plan
- delegation to defend against Natives
- Parliament place larger, "helicopter" gov.
- need colonies to unite
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Navigation Acts
- 1702., 1729, 1754
- restricted colonial manufactures
- passed to strengthen mercantilist program - colonies are only supposed to benefit mother country
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Period of Benign Neglect
a) after Glorious Revolution, weakened monarch; - Robert Walpole - lax restrictions = stimulate commerce
b) Parliament dependent on English merchants - lax in imperial organization; lack of colonial office - officials accepted bribes to waive restrictions
c) 1750s - American colonies gained more sovereignity
1763 - England in debt due to war; interference with colonies -
French and Indian War
a) 1754-1763; French & Indian allies (Iroquois Confederacy) vs British
b) dominance in world trade; tensions due to land expansion; conflict over Ohio R. valley; ascension of opposed rulers; Iroquois give trading concessions to British - military action from French; Fort Necessity; start of 7 Years War in Europe
c) English imposed dominance on colonists = conflict; English commercial dominance -
Treaty of Paris
a) acccession of Geroge III, 1763
b) French ceded vast amount of land (West Indian islands, Indian colonies, Canada, etc...)
c) expanded English territorial claims; French lost title to mainland N. America; increased British debt/ British resent towards Americans; colonists = England have no right to interfere; natives lost land and influence -
Paxton Boys & their Rebellion
- 1763, western Pennsylvania - backcountry settlers
- demanded relief from colonial taxes
- government gave into demands in order to avoid bloodshed
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Proclamation of 1763
- Proclamation Act of 1763 - limit colonization to east of Appalachians - favorable for British to regulate expansion/ native relations
- aggravated natives - pushed farther into territory
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Prime Minister: George Grenville
- 1763 through 1765, appointed by new king George III
- strict in colonical policies - wanted to force taxes
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Sugar Act
- 1764, due to illegal trade with West Indies
- raised duty on sugar and lowered them on molasses
- damaged colonial trade
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Stamp Act
a) 1765, tax on all printed documents in colonies (newspapers, almanacs, etc...)
b) Patrick Henry - taxed only with representation = Virgina Resolves
- Stamp Act Congress (1765), petition King & parliament
- Sons of Liberty (Samuel Adams), terrorized stamp agents - riots in Boston = ceased stamp sales
c) repealed due to economic pressure from boycotted goods, 1766; Declatory Act - Parliament power over colonies in all cases -
Mutiny or Quartering Act
- Mutiny Act of 1765 - forced to quarter British soldiers
- increased soldiers in America to defend borders with natives
- had to provide quarters and supplies to troops
- Mass. and NY Assembly refused to supply troops
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Townshend Duties
- opposition of English landlords - feared increased taxes on themselves
- Charles Townshend
- disbanded NY assembly until agreed to Quartering Act and more taxes on English goods (lead, paper, paint, and tea)
- resentment from all colonies
- nonimportation agreement started in NY and Philadelphia - boycotted British goods
- repealed all except for tea tax on March 1770
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Boston Massacre
- colonial harassment of customs commisioners = "redcoats" placed in Boston; competed with local workers for jobs
- colonists began pelting snowballs/ rocks at British soldiers
- Captain Thomas Preston - attempted to protect building = scuffling; shots fired from British side
- 5 dead, including Crispus Attucks, a mulatto sailor
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Philosophy of Revolt
- not all wanted complete independence
- viewed/ realized British and American differences in government -John Locke - existing British system = "corrupt and oppressive"; people = evil, needed government guidance; corrupted people in government, so gov. needed a "check" system
- colonies = "common wealth" joined by loyalty to king
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Regulator Movement Revolts
- civial war in N. Carolina
- farmers of Carolina upcountry who organized resistence against local sheriffs who collected high taxes
- population = underrepresented
- Battle of Alamance, 2000 Regulators killed by militiamen
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Samuel Adams & Creation of C&C
- Samuel Adams, born in 1722
- outspoken about British oppression of American colonists
- "committee of correspondence" - publicize grievances against England
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Tea Act; Boston Tea Party
- 1773, British East India Company
- tea monopoly, direct sale to colonies without normal tea tax = undersell American merchants, undermine American tea trade
- company exemption from longstanding tea tax = enragement from colonists
- women wrote satirical literary pieces on freedom; mass boycott of tea
- 150 men disguised as Mohawks broke open trunks of tea and dumped it into the harbor
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Intolerable Acts
- in response to Mass. refusal to compensate for tea destroyed
- closed port of Boston
- reduced self government of colony (Mass.)
- permited royal officers to be tried in other colonies/ England when accused of crimes
- quartering of troops in barns, and empty homes
- Quebec Act, extended Quebec territory - for French speaking, Roman Catholics in Canada - act of tolerance = enraged American colonists more
- Edenton Proclamation - Oct. 1774 - anti British resolutions
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First Continental Congress
- Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia - endorsed statement of grievances
- recommended military preparation for defense against British troops
- nonimportation, nonexportation, and nonconsumption to stop trade with British
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Thomas Paine
- wrote Common Sense, popular pamphlet
- openly wrote about American independence, advocated freedom from British
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Lexington
- General Gage to arrest Sam Adams and John Hancock
- Concord, 18 miles from Boston - 1,000 British soldiers
- William Dawes and Paul Revere road out to warn villages and farms of British approach
- "shot heard around the world"
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Concord
- attempted to destory rebel powder supply
- 8 killed and 10 wounded on rebel side
- British lost more than three times as many soldiers as did the colonists
- distorted truth = rallying of thousands of colonists
