Toward The Revolution

I. A Theory of Oppositiona) Robert Walpole

II. Escalation Toward Revolutiona) The American Problemb) Reaction to the Stamp Actc) Virtual vs. Actual Representationd) The Tax Issue Refuses to Go Away

III. Opposition Becomes RevolutionIV. Hearts and Minds: The Case of Bill Scott

Terms:

Tea Act“Robinocracy”Stamp Act“Virtual” & “Actual” RepresentationBill Scott

Themes

1) The American Revolution had a strong ideological component, drawn largely from British political thought.

2) But the cause of the Revolution may have been simpler than that.

Sir Robert Walpole & His Enemies: A Theory of Opposition

Sir Robert Walpole, Prime Minister, 1721-42

Escalation Toward Revolution

The American Problem

Reaction to the Stamp Act

The Stamp Act

This teapot protesting the Stamp Act was produced in England and marketed in colonial America.

A Pennsylvania Newspaper Shuts Down in Protest over the Stamp Act, 1765

Intimidating a Stamp Agent, New Hampshire.

More intimidation: the Sons of Liberty warn against using the stamps.

Protests Against the Stamp Act

Stamp Act Protest, Boston, 1765

The Repeal

Virtual vs. Actual Representation

A blinded Britannia, on the far right, stumbles into a pit. Meanwhile American colonists suffer unjust taxation and repression.

The Tax Issue Refuses to Go Away

William Pitt (the elder), Prime Minister

July 30, 1766 – October 14, 1768

Paul Revere’s Engraving A View of Part of the Town of Boston in New England and British Ships of War Landing Their Troops, 1768.

Revere’s Engraving of the Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770. Five people were killed.

The Old State House, Boston.

Boston Massacre Victims

Judge Peter Oliver

Opposition Becomes Revolution

Paul Revere’s “Liberty Bowl,” 1768

Sam Adams, 1768

Tea Act, 1773

Boston Tea Party, December 16, 1773

The Able Doctor, or America Swallowing the Bitter Draught, 1774

Lord North (holding the Boston Port Bill in his pocket) forces the Intolerable Acts down the throat of

America

The Bostonians Paying the Excise-Man, 1774

Hearts and Minds