The Road to Revolution…

Imagine this scenario…

• Basically your parents let you do whatever…You can stay up as late as you want, hang out with whomever you want, you can eat ice cream for breakfast and pizza for dinner every night! If you don’t want to go to school, NBD. Homework, psha! You also get money whenever you ask for it. Holla!

• Life is good.

Imagine this scenario…• THEN, out of the blue, your

parents decide that you:– Will go to bed at 8:00– Only hang out with your weird

cousins who are home-schooled– Eat porridge for breakfast and

Brussels sprouts for dinner – And you will take Saturday clarinet

lessons, and attend special tutoring all day Sunday…

– What would you do?!?

Objectives

• You should be able to analyze how British policies toward her colonies (that rhymes) shifted following the French & Indian War

• You should be able to analyze and explain the economic policy of mercantilism as it relates to Great Britain and her colonies

• You should be able to cite and explain the attempts of the British crown to limit colonial territorial and economic expansion

Salutary Neglect• An undocumented, though long-standing,

British policy of avoiding strict enforcement of parliamentary laws, meant to keep the American colonies obedient to Great Britain.

I think Mummy forgot about us!

Yipee!

Hmmm…I wonder what happened to

those children?!?

"If no restrictions are placed on the colonies,

they will flourish…Huzzah”

No restrictions = no taxes

Salutary Neglect

• British have left the colonies alone

• British try to enforce laws and taxes after the French and Indian War without the consent of the colonies

• British do not understand colonists are used to representative government

Salutary Neglect

• Colonies have formed own governments

• Colonist are used to managing their own affairs with their elected representatives

• “No taxation without representation”

British Mercantilism

• System where England controls colonial trade and taxes– Colonies provided raw materials for Britain

– If colonies received imports, the goods had to arrive on British ships

– Certain colonial goods were sold only to England, but not to other countries

– Colonies were to serve as a market for English manufactured goods

Mercantilism encourages (finished) goods leaving the

country and discourages (finished) goods coming in.

Focus on the accumulation of money and gold for the Mother

Country

Raw goods coming in…manufactured goods going out!

Cha-ching!

Mercantilism: A European View

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Growth of the National Debt 1691-1785

Navigation Acts 1650-1763

• Restricted colonial trade, manufacturing and shipping to other countries

• Goal: to stop colonial trade with other European powers

• Colonial reaction: “What law?”…– Colonists smuggle in

goods because there’s no enforcement of the Acts.

I’m bloody, filthy rich!

Colonial Identity

• Colonists still considered themselves British subjects, but begin to identify more with one another

• Britain was in debt from the war and believed the colonists should help pay– Still disgruntled with the colonists’ response to

the French & Indian War…too ambivalent

• Britain needed to keep troops in America– Protect against French re-colonization– Protect against Indian attacks

Colonial IdentityI gotcha tomato…Am I

a Brit or an American?

Pontiac’s Rebellion, 1763

• After the war, Native Americans were treated like conquered people by the British in the Ohio Territory and Great Lakes region

• A loose confederation of Natives begin to attack and destroy British forts.– 2,000 settlers on the frontier killed– End of the war takes place RIGHT HERE!• Fort Pitt, Fort Ligonier, Fort Bedford, and Bushy Run,

Ottawa Chief Pontiac

Battle of Bushy Run

The Proclamation Line of 1763

• England wants to avoid Indian trouble (as witnessed by Pontiac’s Rebellion) and henceforth establishes a line of demarcation between the colonies and the Native Indian Reservation…– Imaginary line at the crest of the

Appalachian Mts.– Forbade settlers from moving west of

the line– Ordered all settlers west of the line “to

remove themselves”

The Proclamation Line of 1763

• Colonial Response– Angered colonists - Colonist felt that England was

attempting to control them…– Colonists had to pay for additional soldiers– Many ignored the line and moved west (PA & NY)

• There are still about 10,000 British Redcoats in the Colonies

• Wonder where we’re headed yet?!?

Oh…And P.S.

And the Tensions Mount

• Please read the first 3 pages of the text. • STOP at the Boston Tea Party.

• Please take notes (Cornell, 5 Ws, or your own note-taking device).

The Acts of British

Parliament

The Cause of the American Revolution?

Objectives

• To trace the steps leading to the American Revolution.

• Assess the Acts of Parliament and understand the underlying rationale for each.

• Analyze how the Acts of the British Prime Minister and Parliament contributed to colonial discontent.

Steps to Revolution: Taxation

• The war cost Britain BIG TIME!• Plus, they had to keep 10,000 British

soldiers in N.A. to protect new land… costing even more!• British Prime Minister, George Greenville

defending taxing colonies this way:

“The nation has run itself into an immense debt to

give them protection; and now they are called upon

to contribute a small share toward public

expense.”

Sugar Act, 1764

• Placed duty on molasses and sugar• What is a duty?

– Also included: certain wines, coffee, pimiento, cambric and printed calico, and further, regulated the export of lumber and iron

– Colonist protest; smuggle sugar and molasses• Harsh punishment of smugglers

• British: “Colonists should help bear the burden of our debt”

• Colonists: “No taxation without representation!”– Rooted in the Magna Carta & British Bill of Rights 1689

• Only elected representatives could pass a tax.• Colonies were not represented in Parliament

Sugar Act, 1764

• Outcome of the Act:– Parliament halved the duty (6 pence to 3 pence)– Eventually repealed in 1766 due to the fact that it

didn’t generate any money

Quartering Act, 1765

• British: Each colony was directed to provide for the basic needs of soldiers stationed within its borders:– Bedding, cooking utensils, firewood,

beer or cider and candles.

• Goal: Save British money by having troops housed and fed (“quartered”) by colonists while in North America– Expanded in 1766 colonies must billet

soldiers in taverns and unoccupied houses.

I’m hungry. Fix me a sam’ich.

Quartering Act, 1765

• Reaction: Colonists protested angrily– New York refuses to comply;

results in the disbanding of their assembly! (Oh snap!)

– Why would Britain want to do this other than cost?

• Outcome: It expired on its own

I’m hungry. Fix me a sam’ich.

Stamp Act, 1765

• Put a tax on documents such as: wills, marriage papers, insurance papers, contracts, land titles (legal documents), playing cards & dice– Had to buy a stamp to prove they had paid the tax– Goal: to raise money for Britain to support the army

• Colonists: Again… “No taxation without representation!”

Patrick Henry Offers A Warning

• "Caesar had his Brutus, Charles I his Cromwell, and George III... (Henry was interrupted by cries from the opposition)… may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it."

Samuel Adams

• He was a little over 40 and had failed miserably in business despite his father giving him a small fortune to try.

• Instead he focused on political writing and meetings.– Boy was he in the right place at the

right time!

• Sam Adams had a plan to battle the Stamp Tax…make sure no one was around to collect the tax when it went into effect in November 1765!

Sons & Daughters of Liberty

• Groups formed during the Stamp Act to protest British policies

• Placed lanterns in Liberty Trees and hung stamp collectors in effigy (“The Andrew Oliver Treatment”)

• Urged merchants to join in the patriotic cause – Many were threatened if they did

not support the fight for liberty

Stamp Collectors

•Andrew Oliver was in charge of stamps in Boston…he was hung in effigy outside of his house with a poem that read:– “What great joy did New

England see, Than a man hanging from a tree?”

Did the Tax Work?

• British wanted to stop the smuggling but many British officials were afraid to risk collecting the taxes, and for good reason…– John Malcolm (a British tax official) tried to do his job

properly and he ended up being stripped to the waist, smeared with hot tar, and covered with feathers from a pillow. Then, he was pulled through Boston in a cart, just to make the humiliation complete. What was the worst thing about getting tarred and feathered? Well, having to rip the tar and feathers off of him (along with a considerable amount of skin) couldn’t have been fun!

A depiction of the tarring and feathering

of Commissioner of Customs John Malcolm,

a Loyalist, by five Patriots on 5 January

1774(1774-01-05) under the Liberty Tree

in Boston, Massachusetts. Tea is

also being poured into Malcolm's mouth.

The old liberty tree in Boston was the largest of a grove of beautiful elms that stood in Hanover square at the corner of Orange and Essex streets. It received the name of liberty tree, from the association called the Sons of Liberty holding their meetings under it during the summer of 1765.  The ground under it was called Liberty Hall.  A pole fastened to its trunk rose far above its branching top, and when a red flag was thrown to the breeze, the signal was understood by the people.  Here the Sons of Liberty held many notable meetings, and placards and banners were often suspended from the limbs or affixed to the tree .

After some time, meetings were held at this tree and following the repeal of the Stamp Act and the Boston Tea Party, the British cut down the tree.  Thus, it became a symbol for the colonists.

Stamp Act Congress

• Colonists: Delegates from 9 colonies signed a petition rejecting the Stamp Act

• All but NH, VA, NC, and GA

– Parliament ignored the petition– Created a sense of unity among the colonies

• Boycott – The colonists refused to buy any taxed products– Starts in VA, New York, Boston, Philadelphia

• The Stamp Act was repealed because of the lack business in 1766

This cartoon depicts the repeal of the Stamp Act as a funeral, with Grenville carrying a child's coffin marked "born 1765, died 1766".

Thomas Whatley on Virtual Representation

“The Inhabitants of the Colonies are represented inParliament: they do not indeed chuse the Members of

that Assembly; neither are Nine Tenths of the People ofBritain Electors . . . . and yet are they not represented in

Parliament? Is their vast Property subject to Taxeswithout their Consent? Are they all arbitrarily bound byLaws to which they have not agreed? The Colonies are in

exactly the same Situation: All British Subjects arereally in the same; none are actually, all are virtually

represented in Parliament; for every Member ofParliament sits in the House, not as Representative of

his own Constituents, but as one of that augustAssembly by which all the Commons of Great Britain are

represented.”

Oh, quit whining!

Daniel Dulany on Virtual Representation

"There is not that intimate and inseparable relationbetween the electors of Great-Britain, and the

inhabitants of the colonies, which must inevitably involveboth in the same taxation; on the contrary, not a single

actual elector in England, might be immediately affectedby a taxation in America, imposed by a statute whichwould have a general operation and effect, upon the

properties of the inhabitants of the colonies. The lattermight be oppressed in a thousand shapes, without any

sympathy, or exciting any alarm in the former. Moreover,even acts, oppressive and injurious to the colonies in anextreme degree, might become popular in England, from

the promise or expectation, that the very measureswhich depressed the colonies, would give ease to the

inhabitants of Great Britain"

No taxation without

representation!

Try, Try Again!

• After the Stamp Tax was repealed…– Colonists celebrated (New Yorkers even built a

statue to King George III)– But, the British still needed money and thought

they had every right to tax the colonists to get it. King George was quite stubborn on this point!

• Parliament passed The Declaratory Act in 1766

Declaratory Acts, 1766

• Who’s the Boss?!?• Stated that Parliament's authority was

the same in America as in Britain and asserted Parliament's authority to make binding laws on the American colonies!– Is this a hint that there’s more to come?!?

Declaratory Acts, 1766

I’m the boss!

Review…

• What two British documents established the principle of “no taxation without representation”

• Explain the measures included in each of the following Acts of British Parliament:– Sugar Act– Quartering Act– Stamp Act

Review…

• What was the name of the British tax collector in Boston who’s body was burned in effigy?

• What individual was most responsible for spreading revolutionary ideas throughout Boston?

• What did the Stamp Congress accomplish?• Explain the purpose of the Declaratory Act.

Townsend Acts 1767

• Taxed glass, paper, paint, lead, and tea

• Purpose: to raise revenue to pay the salaries governors and judges – tightening the reigns!

• New way to collect tax:– Writs of Assistance – Officers could inspect

ships without giving good reason

No warrant, no way!

Townshend Acts 1767

• Colonists started boycotting and protesting citing the following:

“We cannot be searched without suspecting a person of a crime” (English law)

• NYC, Philadelphia and Boston signed Non-importation Agreements

•NO IMPORTS from Great Britain

Protesting the Townsend Act

• Women took a central role:“Stand firmly resolved and bid Greenville to see

That rather than Freedom, we’ll part with our tea. And well as we love the dear draught when a’dry As

American Patriots our taste we deny.”—Hannah Griffiths, PA

• Others, like John Hancock started smuggling in goods without paying taxes. Though illegal he thought his breaking the law was just in response to an unfair law.

Things Get Uglier

• Spring of 1768 Hancock’s ship Liberty (full of bootleg wine) was seized by tax agents in Boston• Sons of Liberty gathered at the dock

Sam Adams shouted, “If you are men, behave like men! Let us take up arms

immediately and be free!”– They threw stones at the tax collector’s house all

night, even setting his boat on fire! He had to run away to escape.

Townsend Acts 1767

• King George was furious at the brazen colonists! He couldn’t permit his officials to be run out of town.

• The thought of repealing the hated (and ineffective) tax was no longer an option. – As one of the King’s top advisors (Frederick

North) said, “America must fear you before she can love you. I hope you shall never think of it till we see America prostrate (face-down) at our feet.”

• So in October 1768 he sent warships into Boston Harbor and 1,000 troops under General Thomas Gage

Paul Revere’s Etching

• The troops "formed and marched with insolent parade, drums beating, fifes playing, and colours flying, up King Street. Each soldier having received 16 rounds of powder and ball." Troops unable to secure lodgings in town, pitched tents on the common. The stench from their latrines wafted through the little city on every breeze corner…

How does this all culminate?

• The Boston Massacre…