The history of the United States

Lecture 3

The road to the revolution

AMERICA IN THE BRITISH COLONIAL SYSTEM

• Colonies develop their own economic and political system

• New England participates in the global trade networks through the system of the Triangular Trade New England to Slave Coast or West Africa: rum

• From West Africa to Caribbean: slaves, the voyage is also known as the Middle Passage.

• During the Middle Passage 3 out of 10 slaves would die, yet it is still good business

Mercantilism

• British approach to the colonies• Colonies are not in a core-periphery

relationship• Britain recognizes colonial economy and trade• Protection of British markets from American

commerce and goods

Navigation Acts

• The purpose: to protect English trade• 1651:All goods imported to England and the

colonies must be carried on English ships with a mostly English crew, other acts 1663, 1673

• Enforcement of the Navigation Acts: Lords of Trade and Plantations

Political developments

• Self-governing colony• The individual colonies developed their own

legislatures and executive bodies• Legislative branch: Assembly • Virginia: Virginia House of Burgesses• Massachusetts: Representatives

Self-governing colony

• Governor: appointed by King or Crown• Powers: call and suspend assembly, absolute

veto over the assembly, controls colonial militia, can appoint judges, create courts

• Paradoxical situation: while appointed by king, governor has more power than the king as he is limited by the constitutional monarchy

Self-governing colony

• Assembly:Elected members• Religious qualifications were eliminated in the

17th century• Power of the purse, taxation power• The power to initiate legislation• Assemblies control the salaries of governors

Ideological developments

• Leading idea: contract theory of government• Government as a result of a social contract• Defining texts: Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan• State of nature• “Life is nasty, brutish, and short”• “a war of all against all”• People choose a sovereign to protect their

lives

Political contract

• John Locke: Two Treatises of Government• Introduction of the idea of natural rights• 1689: Glorious Revolution in England• Relationship between colonies and England is

seen as a contract• The ideological basis of the American

Revolution is established

Colonial wars

• The colonies as part of the British empire were also the sites of the French-English rivalry

• 1688: William of Orange is invited onto the English throne

• For religious and political reasons: France becomes the chief opponent of England

Colonial wars

• 1689-1697 King William’s War or Nine Years War

• 1701-1713 Queen Anne’s War or War of the Spanish Succession

• 1744-1748 King George’s War or War of the Austrian Succession

• 1754-1763 French and Indian War

French and Indian War

• Clashes between French and Virginia militia• 1754 July 4 (!) Washington surrenders Fort Necessity

to French• 1754 Colonies start to organize themselves Albany

Congress• Plan of Union was developed by a committee led by

Benjamin Franklin• Main elements: chief executive appointed by the

crown and a supreme assembly called the Grand Council

French and Indian War

• 1756 Seven Years War• Two major coalitions England, Prussia and

France, Austria, and Russia• 1759: Battle of Quebec, turning point, • 1760: Fall of Montreal• 1763 Treaty of Paris: French power ends in

North America (lev.stop)

Salutary Neglect 1714-1763

• Robert Walpole, Prime Minister• „Let sleeping dogs lie”• Colonies develop on their own• Colonial economy, ideology, trade

The seeds of the revolution

• Change of British policies after 1763• Proclamation of 1763• 1765: Stamp Act • „No taxation without representation”• 1766: Repeal of Stamp Act

Seeds of the revolution

• 1767: Townshend Acts• 1770: Boston Massacre• 1773: Boston Tea Party• 1774: Coercive Act, or Intolerable Act• England is seen as the archenemy