Kennedy’s answer:

• NO!!!– Commercial bonds– Military bonds– Americans = reluctant revolutionaries– Began as a squabble about economic policies

The Deep Roots of Revolution

• Ideas that fundamentally shaped American Political thought– Republicanism:

• = a just society where all citizens willingly subordinate their private and selfish interests to the common good (social contract theory)

– Fear of a loss of liberty posed by the monarch• Radical Whigs spread these ideas

• Americans had become accustomed to running their own affairs

Mercantilism & Colonial Grievances

• Mercantilists (GB) believe:– A country’s wealth was power– Economic wealth could be measured by its gold

or silver– To get more gold/silver, country needed to

export more than import– Colonies = good

• Supply raw materials to mother country• Provide market for exports

– London govt looked at colonies as rwnNRA

Mercantilism & Colonial Grievances

• Early attempts to regulate mercantilist system– Navigation Act (1650):

• Aimed at rival Dutch shippers• All commerce to America could only be transported

on British vessels• Goods going to colonies had to first land in GB

then transfer to Brit. Ships– Middlemen reaped profits

Mercantilism & Colonial Grievances

• GB policy created currency shortage in colonies– Goods traded were traded in cash– More goods were imported into colonies than

exported from them– Created currency shortage– British prevented colonists from printing $

• Parliament said reserved right to nullify laws contrary to mercantilism– Although rarely used, upset colonists

Merits & Menace of Mercantilism

• Navigation Acts – Were loosely enforced until 1763

• Colonists could disregard or evade restrictions• J. Hancock made fortune smuggling

• London helps colonies– Paid shipbuilders– VA tobacco planters had monopoly in British

market– Protected colonies with redcoats

Merits & Menace of Mercantilism

• Mercantilism burdens colonies:– Stifles economic initiative– Imposed dependency on GB– Saw it as debasing

The Stamp Tax Uproar

• Background:– After Seven Years’ war, GB was in debt!!

• PM George Grenville in 1763– Began to strictly enforce Navigation Acts.– Passes SUGAR ACT (1764)

• Increased the duty of foreign sugar imported from the West Indies

– After Colonists complain, lowers duty & things calm down.

The Stamp Act Uproar

• PM George Grenville– QUARTERING ACT (1765)

• Requires certain colonies to provide food and quarters for British troops

– STAMP ACT (1765)• To support new military force• Mandated use of stamped paper or special stamps

– Required on bills of sale, on ~50 trade items, playing cards, pamphlets, newspapers, diplomas, marriage licenses, etc.

• Grenville believed colonists were only paying fair share for their defense

• ***British people already had a heavier stamp tax

The Stamp Act Uproar

• Colonists response to Grenville:– Quartering Act?

• Most assemblies refused to comply• Or provided little provisions• Didn’t believe needed protection, French were gone &

Pontiac’s rebels crushed

– Violators of stamp/sugar acts were tried in admiralty courts.

• SO?– Juries weren’t allowed

– Assumed guilty rather than innocent until proven guilty

The Stamp Act Uproar

• Colonists response to Grenville: (cont)– They believed that Parliament had power to

make laws, not to tax– No taxation, w/o representation

• Grenville’s response to colonists:– Virtual representation:

• GB believed colonists were represented, because GB depended on the colonies to flourish for their empire, therefore their best interests were watched.

Tar and Feathering

Forced Repeal of the Stamp Act

• STAMP ACT CONGRESS (1765)– 27 delegates from 9 colonies meet in NYC– Created a statement requesting king repeals

stamp tax– Largely ignored:

• SO? It still was important– began to erode sectional suspicions– Brought together leaders– Step towards colonial unity

• Boycott more effective

Forced Repeal of the Stamp Act

• DAUGHTERS OF LIBERTY/SONS OF LIBERTY– Took law into their own hands forcing violators

to support nonimportation agreements.

• Stamp agents were forced to resign

• Merchants/Manufacturers in GB rallied to get the act repealed

• 1766 Stamp Act Repealed

Forced Repeal of the Stamp Act

• DECLARATORY ACT (1766)– Passed as they repealed stamp act– Said GB was sovereign over its colonies

The Townshend Tea Tax and the Boston Massacre

• Townshend Acts (1767)– Import duty on glass, lead, paper, paint & tea

• GB suspends NY legislature for failing to comply with Quartering Act

• Colonists revive nonimportation agreements– Also smuggled more, esp in Boston

• GB sends more troops to Boston• Boston taunted troops: Boston Massacre

– Comes to a head on March 5, 1770– Crowd throws snowballs at redcoats– Troops shoot into crowd, killing 11 (including mulatto, Crispus Attucks)– Troops defended by John Adams & only 2 were found guilty and

branded

The Boston Massacre The Boston Massacre ((March 5,1770March 5,1770))

The Seditious Committees of Correspondence

• Merchants and manufacturers persuade Parliament to repeal Townshend Acts, except the tea tax remained in place

• Sam Adams (John Adams cousin)– Organizes local committees of correspondence

(1772)• Function was to spread the spirit of resistance by

exchanging letters

• Soon each colony had established a committee through which it could exchange ideas with other colonies

Tea Brewing in Boston

• Background:– British East India Company had 17 million pounds

of unsold tea (faced bankruptcy)– If collapsed , London loses tax revenue– Parliament gives tea monopoly to co. and now only

they could trade with America– Win-Win?

• Tea would be cheaper in America, the company was large and even with taxes, could sell it cheap

• Not exactly, – Americans saw tax has burden

Tea Brewing in Boston

• Tea never made it to America

• Demonstrations stopped it

• Boston:– Mass governor Thomas Hutchinson ordered

tea ships not to leave harbor– December 16, 1773: Boston Tea Party

• Bostonians dressed as Native Americans smashed tea chests and dumped into harbor

• Britain responds harshly

Boston Tea Party Boston Tea Party (1773)(1773)

Parliament Passes the “Intolerable Acts”

• GB called the acts Coercive Acts included:– Boston Port Act:

• Closed port until damages were paid

– Quartering Act:• Gave local authorities the power to lodge British soldiers

anywhere even in private homes

– Administration of Justice Act:• Allowed GB to move trials of accused British officials

outside of the colony

– Massachusetts Government Act:• Almost all of colonial govt now appointed by GB

Parliament Passes the “Intolerable Acts”

• Unrelated, but at the same time, the Quebec Act (1774) was passed:– Attempted to solve what to do with French Canada– Fr guaranteed their Catholic religion– Extended the boundaries to the Ohio River– Sustained unrepresentative assemblies– Denied jury trials– Americans concerned about Catholicism (“Popery”)

and precedent for lack of colonial rights

The Quebec Act The Quebec Act (1774)(1774)

Bloodshed

• First Continental Congress (1774)– convened on September 5, 1774– to protest the Intolerable Acts. – voted for a boycott of British imports– sent a petition to King George III, conceding

to Parliament the power of regulation of commerce but stringently objecting to its arbitrary taxation and unfair judicial system.

Bloodshed

• April 1775:– GB commander in Boston sent troops to

Lexington & Concord:• To seize stores of colonial gunpowder• Bag the “rebel” ringleaders

– Sam Adams & J. Hancock

• Weren’t able to hold GB at Lexington, redcoats push to Concord

• Redcoats retreat• War begins

The Shot Heard The Shot Heard ’’Round the Round the WorldWorld!!

LexingtonLexington & & ConcordConcord – April – April 18,177518,1775

Imperial Strength and Weaknesses

Strengths

• Population: 7.5 million to 2.5 million colonists

• Monetary wealth– Allowed them to hire

Hessians

• Manufactured goods• Soldiers better supplied

Weaknesses

• Troops out to handle problems with Ireland and with France

• Sympathy for colonists• Second-rate generals• Soldiers poorly treated• Troops were 3,000 miles

from home• Colonies had no urban

nerve center

American pluses and minuses

Pluses

• Outstanding Leaders• Fighting defensively• Grew their own food

Minuses

• Badly organized• States considered

themselves sovereign• Inflation out of control

A Thin Line of Heroes

• Military supplies were limited– One of the reasons for an alliance with France

• Few manufactured goods• Militiamen numerous, but unreliable

– Poorly trained

• African-Americans:– Some fought for both sides– Lord Dunmore offered emancipation for slaves if

they fought

•Seldom have so few done for so many…