-
Period: to
The Period of Benign Neglect (1st time period)
- the period during which England had no specific policy for dealing with the overseas colonies
- mercantilist ideals shaped general policy
-
The First Navigation Act
- despite the English mercantile system providing a steady market for the colonies, they preferred to trade with the Spanish, French, and Dutch
- the English began to restrict colonial trade to prevent the colonists from trading with other nations
- the first act in 1660 closed the colonies to all trade except with the English
-
The Second Navigation Act
- required the exportation of certain goods (like tobacco) only to England
- all European goods required to pass through England, this makes it so that England can tax the goods
- this act increased cost to the colonies and inc. shipping time
-
The Third Navigation Act
- responded to the colonists' circumvention of the 1660 & 1663 laws by imposing duties on the coastal trade and appointing customs officials
- navigation acts could be advantageous for the English and colonists.
- colonists saw advances in shipbuilding because of the trade being restricted to only British ships however provoked tensions that would last for decades
-
Period: to
Period of Benign Neglect (2nd time period)
- attempted to form and utilize policy through the Navigation Acts, although they were not strictly enforced.
- Robert Walpole refrained from strict enforcement in the belief that relaxed trading restrictions would enhance commerce
-
1754 Albany Plan
- colonists did not feel unified with each other: felt closer ties to England
- intercolonial trade and continous settlement along the seacoast = connections
- in 1754 the colonists faced a threat from the French & their Indian allies so the colonial leaders conferenced in Albany to negotiate a treaty with the Iroquis however the delegates stayed after to discuss forming a colonial federation
- Benjamin Franklin proposed a plan for "one general government" - the Albany Plan
- plan failed
-
Period: to
French and Indian War (Seven Years War)
- bloodiest American war in the 18th century
- resulted from tensions between the British and French in America
- 1754 George Washington received authorization to build a port near Pittsburgh but could not because of the French presence
- clashes between GW and the French carry on as undeclared war until the British and French formally declare war in May 1756
- French are dominant until 1758, when the British appease important Indian allies
- 1763 Treaty of Paris: France forced to surrender
-
Treaty of Paris
- Britain entered into peace talks 1762: this was the treaty that officially ended the French and Indian War
- French ceded all lands west of the Mississippi except for New Orleans and ceded Canada to Britian
- because the Spanish joined the war late and in the side of the French, they were forced to give up Florida (and had to allow a British commercial presence in Belize!)
- Spanish still held territory west of the Mississipi River and in Central/South America
-
Period: to
Prime Minister, George Grenville
- proscuted John Wilkes for "libelous" acts in his first action as prime minister
- primary goal/role was to replenish the nation's finances due to the costs of the Seven Years War
- also had to handle Pontiac's Rebellion (1763)
- authored the Stamp Act: showing alienation between the colonies and the home government in England
- dismissed by the king in 1765
-
Pontiac's Rebellion
- launched 1763 by a confederation of Indian tribes who were angered at Britain's postwar policies (while France's approach had been to forge alliances, the British treated the Indians as conquered people)
- rebellion namesake is Ottawa chief Pontiac, the most prominent Indian leader
- Indians attacked Fort Detroit in May 1763
- Pontiac did not formally surrender to the British until July 1766, although the rebellion itself had ended in 1764
-
Period: to
Period of Benign Neglect (3rd time period)
- after the Treaty of Paris and Britain's vast acquisition of land, Britain attempts to more strictly enforce the acts
- this results in dissenting colonists and increased tensions between the crown & colonists
-
Proclamation of 1763
- colonist resentment about the proclamation of 1763 because land was taken away
- purpose of the proclamation had been to organize Great Britain's empire and stabilize relations with the Native Americans
- excluded the land from the Ohio Valley & between the Ohio/Mississsippi rivers from settlement (this angered the colonists, who saw this as their rightful land)
- outlawed buying land from/making agreements with the natives: the empire from the point of the proclamation on would work with nats
-
Paxton Boys & Their Rebellion
- Paxton, Philadelphia
- Paxton boys: group of frontiersmen who formed a vigilante group to retaliate against the local American Indians after the French and Indian War
- claimed that Indians raided their homes and killed families
- December 14 1763: fifty plus Paxton Boys marched on Paxton, PA and massacred Conestoga Indians, murdering 6 and burning their homes
- the governor offered a reward for their capture
- in 1764 marched again towards Philadelphia with about 250 men to rebel, but stopped
-
Stamp Act
- authored by British Prime Minister George Grenville
- passed by British Parliament
- imposed on ALL american colonists
- required the american colonists to pay a tax (to the British government) on every single piece of paper they used): even playing cards were taxed
- money collected by the act was used to fund the protection of the American frontier by the Appalachian mountains
- cost of the act was small, but the precedent it set angered the colonists most; "more taxation was soon to follow"
-
Opposition to the Stamp Act
- Patrick Henry: new member to the Virginia House of Burgesses offered the Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions in
- 1/main revolutionary catalysts
- Stamp Act Congress: met in october 1765 to issue the Declaration of Rights and Grievances in which it said Parliament could not pass the stamp act because there was no colonial representation
- Sons of Liberty: group of tradesmen opposed to the Stamp act
- Sam Adams: called for a boycott of british goods, found the act unconstitutional
-
Period: to
Regulator Movement Revolts (Carolinas)
- also called War of the Regulation
- a north/south carolina uprising in which colonial citizens fought back against the corrupt colonial officials
- causes inc. drastic population increase, economic depression, imbalance in the courthouses... increasingly poor population
- initiated by the backcountry gentry
- unsuccessful though it is still considered a catalyst to the American Revolution
-
Townshend Duties
- named after Charles Townsend, who proposed the acts in parliament
- purpose was to increase the revenue in the colonies to pay colonial officers in Britain to ensure their effectiveness on the job
- also to support the precedent that parliament was allowed to tax the colonies: these acts were met with colonial resistance
- resulted in the Boston Massacre of 1770 because British troops occupied Boston
-
Boston Massacre
- prompted by the Townshend Acts of 1767
- culmination of colonist tensions in the killing of five colonists by British soldiers in Boston, MA
- British soldiers had first arrived in Boston in 1768 and from that point there had been constant tension
- also known as the Incident on King Street
- one of the 5 colonists killed was a man of African/Wampanoag descent: Crispus Attucks, believed to be the first martyr for the American Revolution
-
Tea Act of 1773
- results in the last catalyst to the American Revolution
- not intended to raise revenue & imposed no new taxes
- intended to save the East India Company, which was failing miserably.
- 18 million pounds of unsold tea were planned to be shipped to the colony to be sold on sale but because of the Townshend duties the American colonists thought this was manipulation
- selling the tea would have also been bad for local merchants
- Boston Tea Party: protest by the Sons of Liberty/women/NATIVES!
-
Committees of Correspondence
- American colonies' first institution/way of communication with one another
- major function: inform voters in the colonies of the threats present in each colony
- Boston set up the first long-standing committeee
- 11 colonies had their own committees, only NC and PA did not though they still rebelled along with the original 13
-
Intolerable Acts & Edenton Proclamation
- four acts enacted by the British parliament in response to defiant colonial actions
- Boston Port Bill closed the Boston port until restitution was paid for the tea destroyed in the boston tea party
- Boston was reduced to a royal colony and a military government was put in place
- the third bill protected those same corrupt colonial officials
- fourth required housing of british soldiers
- Edention Proc, called for the boycotting of British goods signed by NC women
-
First Continental Congress
- met in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia
- delegates from 12 colonies (no Georgia)
- elected by the people
- united in determination to show resistance to Great Britain
- accomplishments: agreement to boycott British goods, second continental congress met
-
Lexington and Concord
- first military battles of the American revolutionary war; first armed conflict between the British government and colonies
- Joseph Warren received word of the redcoat march on concord, alerts horseback riders like Paul Revere
- British General Gage
- the colonists' skill and organization surprised the British
-
Thomas Paine's "Common Sense"
- pamphelt that challenged the authority of the British government
- first work to openly ask for independence from Great Britain
- George Washington had it read to all his troops
- plain, simple language
-
Declaration of Independence
- adopted by the continental congress on july 4th 1776
- john adams was a leader in leading the drive for independence
- john hancock president of congress presumably signed first
- 13 colonies achieved indepdence from the British government
-
Philosophy of Revolt, John Locke!
- right of the citizens to revolt when dissatisified with the government
- spurred on by the scientific>religion ideas of the enlightenment
- governmental legitimacy
