Transcript Causes-of-Revolution

Causes of
Revolution
1763-1775
Background
• In 1763 the colonies and the “Mother Country” had a
great deal to feel good about. They had just defeated
the French in the French and Indian War
• Almost immediately relations between the two allies
started to deteriorate
• Britain was about to embark on the Industrial
Revolution with interests on four continents
• The colonists wanted to know how they would benefit
from the new system
• The English wanted to know who would pay for the
cost of the war and maintaining the peace
• The war and the demand for products had
revolutionized industry in the colonies
• Factories replaced small workshops, but still the
colonists imported far more after the war than they had
before the war
• New England merchants especially benefited for the
post-war economic boom
• But the war had also:
a) created widows and orphans that need to be looked
after
b) inflated prices
c) caused unemployment
d) caused a shortage of raw materials
e) opened the western land for settlement
The Cost of War
• The British had passed a series of acts to regulate their
mercantilist system, starting with the Navigation Laws
but these laws were loosely enforced and easily
circumvented
• The British government found itself with over £100
million in debt. They had paid most of the costs for the
war and now expected the colonies to pay towards
their own defense
• The colonists argued that the British should bear the
expense since they benefited from the colonies
• Royal governors began trying to enforce the
Navigation Acts to help pay for the thousands of
British troops still in North America
The Reforms
• In 1764 the Sugar Act replaced the Molasses Act (1733)
• The Molasses Act placed a tax on imported molasses
which was needed to make rum. The Act had not been
widely enforced and where it was it was circumvented
by smuggling
• The colonists raised their objections to the Sugar Act
and eventually the taxes were lowered
• The next act was the Quartering Act of 1765 which
required the colonists to feed and house British troops
at their own expense
• Also in 1765 the British passed the most notorious act –
the Stamp Act
Stamp Act
• The British also announced a tax on printed material
in hope of cover the cost of keeping the troops in
America to protect the colonies
• Certain paper documents, including marriage
certificates, legal documents, and even playing cards
required a stamp to show that the tax had been paid
• Benjamin Franklin suggested the colonist be given
representation in Parliament, but this was rejected
• The Stamp Act was passed as was the proposal to put
violators on trial in the vice-admiralty courts
• The courts:
were run without the normal codes of law
the accused was assumed to be guilty
there were no juries
• The courts ended decades of salutatory neglect by the
British and proved to the colonists that they had to
follow British law but not be afforded the same
protection and rights as Englishmen
• The courts violated the rights of every Englishman and
the colonists viewed themselves as Englishmen
• The colonists also started to question why so many
British soldiers needed to be stationed in the colonies –
unless it was to suppress rebellion!
• The cry of “no taxation without representation” was
heard throughout the colonies
• It’s interesting to note that the colonists actually paid
less taxes then people in England and in certain areas of
the colonies the Stamp and Sugar Acts had very little
impact. But there was not one American representative
in the British Parliament
• The British completely misread the situation and
underestimated the animosity in the colonies
• George III defended his government by claiming all
people are represented – virtual representation
• Nine colonies sent delegates to the Stamp Act Congress
in New York in 1765
• The delegates created a set of Resolves to protest the
constitutionality of the Stamp and Sugar Acts and
objected to the vice-admiralty courts
• The Congress drew little attention in the colonies and
even less in Britain. But it was the first step toward
unity
• When the acts took effect several hundred colonial
businesses started to boycott British goods and refused
to pay the stamp tax
• Mass protest against the Stamp Act prevented the tax
from being effective
• The colonists formed protest groups called Sons of
Liberty or Daughters of Liberty
• The goal of these protest groups was to ensure a
complete boycott of British goods and to find
alternatives
Non-importation Agreements
• Opposition began in the coastal towns especially those
involved with trade. Colonists signed non-importation
agreements promising to boycott British goods
• The boycott was enforced by patriots, often with the use
of violence – mobs sacked the houses of stamp agents
and hung them in effigy
• With the resignation of the stamp agents the British
government was unable to enforce the tax
• The British economy was devastated by the boycott.
Manufacturers could not sell their products, businesses
went bankrupt, thousands lost their jobs
Declaratory Act
• Parliament was besieged by protestors who demanded
an end to the Stamp Act
• In 1766 the Stamp Act was repealed
• The colonists celebrated their victory, especially in New
York and Boston
• Immediately Parliament passed the Declaratory Act –
The British Parliament had sovereign power in North
America and it would not yield that power
• But the colonists had tasted victory and believed they
had a right to their own sovereignty
Townshend Acts
• Charles Townshend became the new Chancellor of the
Exchequer following the collapse of the government
after repealing the Stamp Act
• Townshend promised to make the colonies pay for their
action
• In 1767 he passed the Townshend Acts which taxed
glass, paper, paint, and tea amongst other things
• Townshend argued that his new legislation made any
payment an indirect customs tax since it was payable at
the ports
• To the colonists it was still taxation without
representation
• The revenue from the new “customs” tax was designated
to pay the salaries of royal governors and judges
• Also in 1767 the British suspended the New York
legislature for not complying with the Quartering Act
• People once again resorted to non-importation
agreements, but this time the colonists were not as
successful
• Many Americans had little inclination to protest the new
taxes since they were relatively light and only affected a
few people
• Colonists also found that smuggling could easily supply
most needs
• In 1768 the British government sent two
regiments to Massachusetts to help restore order
and catch smugglers
• The soldiers did little to make friends with the
colonists, they were rude and often drunk
• The colonists resented the “lobster backs” and
tormented them at every opportunity
Boston Massacre
• On March 5, 1770 a large crowd started to
torment a small British patrol
• As the situation deteriorated the British opened
fire on the colonists. Several colonists died
including Crispus Attucks, a runaway slave
• The soldiers were put on trial and defended by
future president John Adams
• Two were found guilty of manslaughter and
released after being branded on the hand
Committees of Correspondence
• The Townshend Acts were a disaster for the
British government – they could not be enforced,
nor did they bring in much revenue
• Lord North persuaded the government to repeal
the Acts – except for a small token tax on tea
• To the colonists a tax was still a tax, regardless of
size
• Samuel Adams, cousin of John Adams, formed
committees of correspondence in Boston
• The idea was to keep other colonies informed
about the affairs in Massachusetts. Quickly,
committees sprang up in other colonies
• By the end of 1773 every colony had a committee,
some had been approved by the colonial
legislature
• The committees became powerful weapons in
spreading the ideas of rebellion throughout the
colonies and keeping anti-British feeling alive
Boston Tea Party
• In 1773, tea in the colonies was cheaper than tea
in Britain, even with the tax
• Fewer people were resisting and it seemed like
the rebellion might pass, besides nothing had
happened to seriously damage relations between
the colonies and the “Mother country”
• The British East India Company, close to
bankruptcy, pressured the British government
for financial help
• The government could not afford for the
company to collapse
• The government responded by giving the
company a monopoly on tea sold in the colonies
• The result was cheaper tea for the colonists, but it
was still taxed, and that upset some colonists
• The British government supported the company
and shipped the tea to the colonies
• Not one crate of tea reached its destination
• In ports all along the eastern seaboard
demonstration forced the British ships to return
to England with their cargoes
• In Boston, the royal governor, Thomas
Hutchinson was determined not submit to mob
rule
• Hutchinson had suffered at the hands of the
demonstrators during the Stamp Act, now he was
determined to enforce the law
• Hutchinson refused to let the ships leave Boston
without unloading their cargo
• On December 16, 1773, a group of colonials,
thinly disguised as Indians, boarded the ships
and threw the tea into Boston Harbor
• Reactions varied, not everyone approved of the
needless destruction of property
• Hutchinson left for Britain, never to return
• The British determined to make the colonists pay
Intolerable Acts
• The British responded with a series of acts
intended to punish the colonies, especially
Massachusetts
• The Boston Port Act – closed the port until
someone paid for the tea
• Restrictions were placed on town meeting – to the
colonists, violating their freedom even more
• Any representative of the British government
who killed a colonist in the line of duty would
now be sent to Britain for trial
Quebec Act 1774
• At the same time as the Intolerable Acts, the
British passed the Quebec Act
• The colonists believed the Quebec Act was aimed
at them, it was not – it was aimed the French
settlers in Canada who were now part of the
British Empire
a) The Catholic religion was guaranteed
b) French customs and practices were allowed,
but not representative assembly or trial by jury
in civil cases
• The border was set at the Ohio River
• The French approved of the Quebec Act, but the
British colonies only became more suspicious
• They saw the French as being better suited to
claim the vast unpopulated land that was west of
the Allegheny Mountains and they feared the
spread of Catholicism
Continental Congress
• Although not everyone agreed with the action taken by
the Boston rebels there can be little doubt about the
outpouring of sympathy from all the other colonies
• In 1774 in response to the Intolerable Acts, the
Continental Congress was summoned to meet in
Philadelphia
• The Congress was intended to find ways to settle the
grievances with Britain
• 12 colonies sent representatives (Georgia was missing)
• The Congress assembled men like George Washington,
John Adams, Patrick Henry, and Sam Adams
• The Congress met for 7 weeks to discuss the
situation
• John Adams persuaded others to adopt a more
rebellious approach and he warned against
mediation and acceptance
• The Congress drew up a Declaration of Rights,
made an appeal to the king, and formed The
Association
• The Association wanted a complete boycott of all
British goods
• No one advocated revolution – but if the British
did not act the Congress would meet again in
1775
Lexington and Concord
• The British ignored all appeals from the colonies
• In early 1775 the British sent a detachment to
Lexington and Concord to collect arms that had
been hidden by the colonists
• The British were met at Lexington by minutemen
who refused to disperse and stood their ground
• The British opened fire killing several before
moving on to Concord