Transcript the american people creating a nation and a society nash jeffrey

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
CREATING A NATION AND A SOCIETY
NASH  JEFFREY
HOWE  FREDERICK DAVIS  WINKLER  MIRES  PESTANA
7th Edition
Chapter 5: The Strains of Empire
Pearson Education, Inc, publishing as Longman © 2006
THE CLIMACTIC SEVEN YEARS’
WAR


King George’s War (1744-1748)
Largest and most significant war for empire
was Seven Year’s War, the French and Indian
War, and the Great War for Empire, as it was
variously known, which was a showdown for
control over interior of North America between
Allegheny Mountains and Mississippi River
WAR AND THE MANAGEMENT OF
EMPIRE

1696: Professional Board of Trade replaced the old
Lords of Trade
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Treasury strengthened customs service
Parliament created overseas vice-admiralty courts, which
functioned without juries to prosecute smugglers
Parliament began playing a more active role after the
reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714) and did so through
reign of George I
–
Royal governors received more powers, got more detailed
instructions and came under more demands from Board of
Trade to enforce British policies
WAR AND THE MANAGEMENT OF
EMPIRE


Four times between 1689 and 1763, England fought
France in wars that had major consequences for home
governments, colonial subjects and Native Americans
English Parliament designated a long list of colonial
exports that had to pass through English ports before
sale
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–
Parliament curtailed colonial production of articles important to
England’s economy: woolen cloth (1699), beaver hats (1732)
and finished iron products (1750)
1733: Molasses Act attempted to stop New England trading with
French West Indies for molasses to make rum by imposing six
pence tax per gallon

Made many New Englanders into smugglers
WAR AND THE MANAGEMENT OF
EMPIRE

Generation of peace ended in 1739 when England
declared war against Spain over the ear of Robert
Jenkins, supposedly, though real cause was commercial
domination of the Atlantic basin
–

British captured Porto Bello in Spanish Panama in 1739 but
remaining efforts were failures and included 3,500 American
colonists, most of whom perished from disease
1744-1748: conflict merged with larger Anglo-French
conflict called King George’s War in North America and
the War of Austrian Succession in Europe
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–
Highlighted need for increased discipline within empire
Led British to ask colonies for help defraying military costs
The War of Jenkins’ Ear
in the Southern Colonies
and the Caribbean
OUTBREAK OF HOSTILITIES

Population increase increased tension between
English and French
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English population increased from 250,000 in 1700 to 1.25
million in 1750 and 1.75 million in next decade
Three-quarters of increase came in colonies south of New
York, encouraging westward movement
Fur traders and land speculators promoted westward
rush
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Offered native trappers and hunters better prices and higher
quality goods than French
In 1740s and 1750s, speculators formed land companies to
capitalize on the seaboard population explosion
OUTBREAK OF HOSTILITIES
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
English encroachment into the western territories of the French
continued unabated into the 1740s with the establishment of
the first English outpost on the Ohio River
Resistance by the French was swift
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–
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
A line of French forts appeared along the river to Lake Erie and
southward all the way to New Orleans
French worked to win tribes back from new English alliance.
By 1753, French were driving English traders out of Ohio valley
May 28, 1754: French rebuffed colonial attempt to expel them
England’s merchants supported move to end French overseas
trade
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English sent several thousand troops
French dispatched 3000 regulars
OUTBREAK OF HOSTILITIES

Colonial governments attempted greater
coordination through a meeting at Albany in
June 1754
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Wanted to plan a colonial union and rewin
allegiance of Iroquois
Iroquois left with gifts but no promises of support
and Benjamin Franklin’s plan for an intercolonial
government to manage Native American affairs,
provide for defense and pass laws and levy taxes,
succumbed to intercolonial jealousies
OUTBREAK OF HOSTILITIES

Confrontation between superior British and
American force under General Braddock and
French and their Indian allies resulted in
victory for latter
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Two-thirds of British and Americans were
wounded or killed, including Braddock.
British retreated
Almost every tribe north of Ohio River joined
French side and spent the summer torching
Virginia and Pennsylvania backcountry
OUTBREAK OF HOSTILITIES

Anglo-American forces took Fort Beauséjour in Nova
Scotia and expelled the French Acadians despite
promise to let them practice Catholicism and
maintain land as long as remained neutral
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6000 were rounded up and dispersed to other colonies
while their land was given to New Englanders
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3000 made their way to French Louisiana
7-10,000 escaped to Canadian mainland
French won most of battles in 1756, British declared
war on French, and conflict expanded to pit France,
Austria and Russia against England and Prussia
–
1757 British Prime Minister William Pitt focused warfare in
North America, sending 23,000 troops and 14,000 mariners
in 1757 and 1758
The Seven Years’ War,
1754–1756
TRIBAL STRATEGIES

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Native tribes, especially the Iroquois, understood that
their best chance for survival was to play the
European powers against each other
Anglo-American leaders knew Iroquois support was
crucial and could be secured only through purchase
or by a demonstration of power that would convince
the tribes that the English would win even without
them
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First stratagem failed and Seneca even fought initially with
French
By 1758, English began to have victories and Iroquois moved
away from neutrality, especially after English navy cut them
off from French trade goods
TRIBAL STRATEGIES


1759: Iroquois pledged 800 warriors for an attack on
Fort Niagara
1759-1761: Backcountry skirmishes with the Cherokee
from Virginia to South Carolina became a costly war
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1760: Cherokee mauled British army of 1300
Following summer, larger military force invaded Cherokee
territory burning towns and food supplies
With navy cutting off access to French arms and beset by food
shortages, lack of ammunition and smallpox, Cherokee sued
for peace
Victories in 1759, culminating with 1760 capture of
Québec, shattered French power in North America
though war lasted for three more years in the
Caribbean and Europe
The Seven Years’ War, 1757–1760
CONSEQUENCES OF THE SEVEN
YEARS’ WAR

1763: Treaty of Paris
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Spain got New Orleans, French territory west of the
Mississippi and Havana
Spain gave Britain control of Florida
The Indians got nothing
Proclamation of 1763: British attempted to separate
colonists and Indians by declaring the crest of the
Appalachians to be boundary with everything to the
west reserved for the Native Americans while whites
who were there were told to withdraw
Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763-1764) tried, but failed, to
drive British from interior
North America After 1763
CONSEQUENCES OF THE SEVEN
YEARS’ WAR

Staggering from wartime debt, Britain could not
enforce proclamation line
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Maintained only small army
Could not stop land speculators and settlers
War convinced colonists of their growing strength but
also left them debt-ridden and weakened in
manpower
Wartime economy spurred economic development
and poured British capital into the colonies but left
them more subject to cyclic fluctuations in British
economy
CONSEQUENCES OF THE SEVEN
YEARS’ WAR

Human cost of the war was high
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Peace brought depression
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In New England about half the men of military age (and
three-fourths of those between 17 and 24) served in the war.
High rate of widowhood feminized poverty
Especially hard on laborers after 1760
Legislative Assemblies accelerated their bid for power
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Obtained concessions as the price of raising revenue
War trained new group of military and political leaders
CONSEQUENCES OF THE SEVEN
YEARS’ WAR

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With French gone, the West appeared open
for settlement
Colonists felt a new sense of identity
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Began reassessing advantages of subordination to
England
From British perspective:
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Colonists were unreliable
They fought poorly
They were an unruly and ungovernable people
THE CRISIS WITH ENGLAND

At end of Seven Years’ War, George Grenville
became Prime Minister under George III
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National debt had grown from £75 million to £145
million
Grenville proposed new taxes in America so
that colonists could share the burden
–
Especially wanted to pay for 10,000 British troops
left in colonies to police French-speaking Canada
and the Native Americans
SUGAR, CURRENCY AND STAMPS
Sugar Act of 1764:
 reduced the tax on imported French molasses
but increased the list of items that could only
be exported from the colonies via English
ports
 Required American shippers to post bonds
guaranteeing observance of trade rules
 Strengthened ability of vice-admiralty courts to
prosecute violators of trade regulations
SUGAR, CURRENCY AND STAMPS
Currency Act of 1764:

Parliament prevented any of the colonies from printing
their own currency
Stamp Act of 1765:
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Parliament imposed duties on a wide range of items
within the colonies such as playing cards, legal
documents, or college degrees
Violent protests within the colonies followed
STAMP ACT RIOTS
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Late 1764, Virginia’s House of Burgesses objected to
stamp tax, citing economic hardship it would cause
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May 1765 debated seven resolutions, adopting the four most
moderate
Within a month, other colonial newspapers published all the
resolutions
In Boston, rioters ruined the homes of a stamp
collector (causing him to resign) and several British
officials
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Rioters were expressing unhappiness with tax and with local
elite
STAMP ACT RIOTS

October 1765: Stamp Act Congress met in New York
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
Violent protests, led by the Sons of Liberty, wracked
New York and Newport, Rhode Island.
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Delegates passed 12 resolutions that accepted Parliament’s
right to legislate for the colonies but denied their right to tax
them directly
By late 1765, such crowds throughout the colonies were
convincing stamp officials to resign
Most ports opened on November 1 without using the stamps
March 1766: Parliament repealed the Stamp Act but
passed the Declaratory Act asserting Parliament’s
right to enact laws for the colonies
GATHERING STORM CLOUDS


In England, ministerial instability and strife between
Parliament and the king’s chief minister, hampered
George III’s efforts to better control the empire
1767 Pitt-Grafton ministry obtained new laws to
reorganize the customs service, establish a secretary
of state for American affairs and install three new viceadmiralty courts in the port cities
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Townsend Duties on paper, lead, pigment and tea
New York assembly dissolved for defiance of Quartering Act
of 1765 mandating colonial support for British garrisons
GATHERING STORM CLOUDS

While most colonies grumbled over the new duties,
Massachusetts and especially Boston protested ever
more vigorously
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Governor suspended legislature
Belief grew that English were plotting against American liberties.
After Bostonians attacked customs officials, four regiments were
sent to Boston in October 1768
Main tactic became economic boycott through
nonimportation and nonconsumption agreements
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–
Because half of English shipping was engaged in colonial
commerce and one quarter of English exports were consumed
there, seemed likely to bring British merchants to aid of colonies
1768 Southern colonies also adopted nonimportation agreements
GATHERING STORM CLOUDS

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Crowd action was used to enforce the boycott
Increasingly clear that British efforts had failed
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Using troops to restore order undermined authority
Governors and legislatures were increasingly at odds
Customs officials met with increasing opposition
Townshend duties yielded less than £21,000 by 1770 yet cost
£700,000 through nonimportation movement
March 5, 1770: Parliament repealed all the
Townshend duties except the one on tea
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Same evening, British troops fired on heckling crowd in
Boston, resulting in five deaths: BOSTON MASSACRE
GROWING RIFT

June 1772: England announced it, not colonial
legislatures, would now pay the salaries of colonial
governors and superior court judges
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Boston’s town meeting created a Committee of
Correspondence to gain sympathy from other colonies
By 1773, all colonies but three had such committees
Samuel Adams became the leader of the Boston
radicals, gathering support of working men but also
that of the wealthy
1772: In Rhode Island, colonists burned the Gaspee
which had run aground while pursing suspected
smugglers
GROWING RIFT
Tea Act 1773
 Allowed the practically bankrupt East India Company
to ship its tree directly to North America with colonists
paying only a small tax
 Colonists were upset because smuggled Dutch tea
would be undersold
 American merchants claimed it was a monopoly
 Colonists also saw it as a ploy to gain acceptance of
Parliament’s taxing power
 Americans staged mass demonstrations that forced
the resignation of East India Company’s agents
GROWING RIFT

Governor Hutchinson of Massachusetts
refused popular demands to send the tea
back
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After a town meeting on 16 December 1773, a
band of Bostonians, dressed as Indians, boarded
boats in Boston Harbor and threw the tea
overboard—BOSTON TEA PARTY
Lord North said this moved the dispute from one
about taxes but about British authority in the
colonies
GROWING RIFT

Parliament passed the Coercive Acts (Intolerable
Acts)
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Closed the port of Boston until destroyed tea was paid for
Barred local courts from trying British soldiers and officials for
acts committed while seeking to control civil disturbances
Amended Massachusetts charter to make upper legislative
chamber appointed by governor and stripped it of veto power
over governor’s decisions
Authorized the governor to prohibit all town meetings.
General Thomas Gage, commander of British forces in
America, replaced Hutchinson as governor
Plan was popular in England
BOSTON
1772
THE GROWING RIFT

When Acts arrived in May 1774, Boston urged all
colonies to ban trade with England
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Met with little support
Second call for a meeting in Philadelphia resulted in
the First Continental Congress: 55 delegates from 12
colonies who met in September 1774 and worked to
overcome mutual prejudices
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Issued Declaration of Rights and Resolves
If Intolerable Acts were not repealed by December 1, 1774,
all trade with Britain (with exception of certain Southern
staples) would cease
With Boston’s cause now a national cause, Congress agreed
to reconvene in May 1775
The
Quebec
Act of
1774
THE IDEOLOGY OF
REVOLUTIONARY REPUBLICANISM

Gradually, the colonists built a political
worldview constructed from English
political thought, the theories of the
Enlightenment, and aspects of their own
unique experiences as colonists—
REVOLUTIONARY REPUBLICANISM
A PLOT AGAINST LIBERTY


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Many colonists agreed with British Whig view
that corrupt and power-hungry men were
extinguishing liberty in England
Saw actions in colonies as an extension of
this attempt to extinguish liberty
Among many Americans, especially
merchants, attacks on their constitutional
rights blended with threats to their economic
interests
REVITALIZING AMERICAN
SOCIETY

For some, revolutionary mentality was fed by
a belief that there was an opportunity to
revitalize American society
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Thought growing commercial connections with
decadent and corrupt England had poisoned
Americans
Worried about luxury and vice
Believed resistance to England would return
Americans to a state of civic virtue, Spartan living
and godly purpose
THE TURMOIL OF A REBELLIOUS
PEOPLE

Flood of new immigrants arrived from Ireland
and Germany after the Seven Years’ War and
pushed westward
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Led to increasing violence with Native American
tribes
Most colonists turned to cities
As agitation increased, more people got
involved
–
Groups emerged whose goals were only loosely
related to struggle with England and who scared
the elite
URBAN PEOPLE

Although cities contained only five
percent of the total colonial population,
they were the core of revolutionary
agitation
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Artisans were often the prime movers and
increasingly wound up in positions of power
Prosperous artisans and merchants were
often more conservative.
PATRIOT WOMEN

Patriot women facilitated meaningful boycotts of
English goods
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Success depended on substituting homespun cloth for
English textiles
After Tea Act, the interjection of politics into the household
economy increased as patriotic women boycotted tea
Colonial protests and petitions changed women’s
perception of their role
–
Language of protest against England reminded many
American women of that they too were badly treated
PROTESTING FARMERS

Anger against England awakened slowly in rural
areas
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In North Carolina frustrated farmers formed
associations called Regulators who forcibly closed
courts, attacked the property of their enemies and
whipped and publicly humiliated judges and lawyers
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Some areas did seethe with rebellion such as three western
countries of North Carolina and in the Hudson River valley of
New York
Governor sent troops against them
In New York conditions under which land was held
precipitated violence
DISCOVERING U.S. HISTORY
ONLINE
The French and Indian War
http://web.syr.edu/~laroux/

A Century of Lawmaking
http://www.memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwjc.html

Phyllis Wheatley (1753-1784)
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap2/wheatley.html

Thomas Paine
http://www.thomaspaine.org/

The Freedom Trail
http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/index.htm

Georgia’s Rare Map Collection
http://scarlett.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/revamer.html
