Transcript The French and Indian War

Toward Independence:
AP US History Chapter 5 Part 1
By Neil Hammond, Millbrook High School
Introduction
• In 1763, colonists celebrated a resounding
victory over the French and celebrated being
British. Within 13 years, colonists were
declaring their independence. What went
wrong?
• Were British actions or colonial reactions more
important?
• Were the colonists being radical by rebelling, or
were they being conservative?
The Impact of the
French and Indian War
• 1) 25,000 British troops
– Strategy differences
– Brits demanded deference
• 2) War exposed the weakness of royal governors
– Colonial legislatures often controlled the governor’s
pay
• 3) End to Salutary Neglect
– Revenue Act of 1762 attempted to put an end to
smuggling
• 4) Peacetime deployment of 10,000 troops in
North America
– To protect colonists from Indians, possible French
Canadian rebellion…could it be used against the
colonists?
Impact on Britain
• 1) Britain’s national debt soared
– 75 million pounds (1756)….136 million (1763)
• 2) The debt was consuming 60% of GBR’s
government expenditures, so the PM made
some changes
– Taxes raised on lower and middle classes
– Ships scoured the British coast intercepting smugglers
• 3) The price of Empire seemed to be higher
taxes and bigger government…
– Radical Whigs (remember the Glorious Revolution) and
the “Country Party” called for Parliamentary reform
(specifically, calls were made to make parliament more
representative)
Impact on Britain
• As Britain built a
great navy and
subsidized the
armies of its
European allies,
the government's
military
expenditures
soared, as did the
number of tax
collectors. The
tax bureaucracy
doubled in size
between 1700 and
1735, and
doubled again
between 1750 and
1780.
Early Troubles
• Sugar Act (1764)
– “No taxation without Representation”
– Vice Admiralty Courts
• Stamp Act (1765)
– Stamp Act Congress
– Sons of Liberty
– Boycott
• Quartering Act (1765)
• Declaratory Act (1766)
• Townshend Acts (1767)
–
–
–
–
Letters from a PA Farmer (Dickinson)
Samuel Adams…boycott
Otis…Writs of Assistance
Daughters of Liberty
Early Troubles
• What does the table above suggest about the British
government during the time period 1760 to 1782?
The Implications of Townshend’s Policies
•
The full implications of Townshend's policies became clear in New
York, where the assembly refused to comply with the Quartering Act of
1765. Fearing an unlimited drain on its treasury, the New York
legislature first denied General Gage's requests for barracks and
supplies for his troops and then offered limited assistance. In response,
Townshend demanded full compliance, and Parliament threatened to
impose a special duty on New York's imports and exports. The Earl of
Shelburne, the new secretary of state, went even further: He proposed
the appointment of a military governor with the authority to seize
funds from New York's treasury and “to act with Force or Gentleness as
circumstances might make necessary.” Townshend decided on a less
provocative but equally coercive measure, the Restraining Act of 1767,
which suspended the New York assembly. Faced with the loss of selfgovernment, New Yorkers reluctantly appropriated the funds to quarter
the troops.
•
The Restraining Act raised the stakes for the colonists. Previously, the
British Privy Council had invalidated a small proportion—about 5
percent—of colonial laws, like those establishing land banks.
Townshend's Restraining Act went much further, declaring that
American representative assemblies were completely dependent on the
will of Parliament.
The Implications of Townshend’s Policies
• American resistance to the Townshend
Acts was unacceptable to the British. To
strengthen the “Hand of Government” in
Massachusetts and help the customs
commissioners there, Hillsborough
dispatched General Thomas Gage and four
thousand British troops to Boston.
• In 1765, American resistance to taxation
had provoked a parliamentary debate; in
1768, it produced a plan for military
coercion.
The Implications of Townshend’s Policies
•
As the imperial crisis deepened, British military priorities changed. In 1763,
most British battalions were stationed in Canada to deter Indian uprisings
and French Canadian revolts. After the Stamp Act riots of 1765, the British
established large garrisons in New York and Philadelphia. By 1775, eleven
battalions of British regulars occupied Boston, the center of the Patriot
movement.
North Changes Course
•
At a crucial point the Brits backed down…why?
•
1) The radical John Wilkes had been elected to Parliament…he was
a critic of the British government
•
2) The colonial non importation movement was hurting the
British…
•
3) Colonial indignation at the Boston Masscre
•
Early in 1770, Lord North became prime minister. A witty man and
a skillful politician, North set out to save the empire by designing a
new compromise. Arguing that it was foolish to tax British exports
to America (thereby raising their price and decreasing
consumption), North persuaded Parliament to repeal most of the
Townshend duties. However, he retained the tax on tea as a
symbol of Parliament's supremacy. Gratified by North's
initiative, colonial merchants called off the boycott.
Boston Massacre
• Even an outbreak of violence did not rupture the
compromise. During the boycott, New York
artisans and workers had taunted British troops,
mostly with words but occasionally with stones
and their fists. In retaliation, the soldiers tore
down a Liberty Pole (a Patriot flagpole), setting off
a week of street fighting. In Boston, friction
between residents and British soldiers over
constitutional principles and everyday issues, like
competition for part-time jobs, triggered a violent
conflict. In March 1770, a group of soldiers fired
into a crowd of rowdy demonstrators, killing five
men, including one of the leaders, Crispus
Attucks, an escaped slave who was working as a
seaman. Convinced of a ministerial conspiracy
against liberty, Radical Whigs labeled the incident
a “massacre” and filled the popular press with
accusations that the British had planned the
killings.
Boston Massacre
• Read Boston Massacre Sources and answer
questions
Sovereignty Debated
• Difference between 1765 and 1770
• Read this section carefully for your next essay
• The repeal of the Townshend duties in 1770
seemed to restore harmony to the British empire,
but below the surface lay strong passions and
mutual distrust. In 1773, those emotions erupted,
destroying any hope of compromise. Within two
years, the Americans and the British clashed in
armed conflict, and Patriot legislators were
forming provisional governments and building
military forces, the two essentials for
independence.
Sovereignty Debated
• Once aroused, political passions were not easily
quieted. In Boston, radical Patriots continued to
warn Americans of the dangers of imperial
domination. In November 1772, Samuel Adams
persuaded the Boston town meeting to establish a
committee of correspondence to urge Patriots “to
state the Rights of the Colonists of this
Province.” Soon, eighty Massachusetts towns had
similar committees.
• Committees of Correspondence soon spread to
other colonies
The Gaspee Affair
• To intercept smugglers,
Britain sent customs ships to
patrol North American
waters. One such ship was
the Gaspee.
• Many Rhode Islanders hated
the commander of the ship
because he often searched
ships without a warrant, and
sent his crew ashore to seize
food without paying for it
•
In June, 1772, the
Gaspee ran aground,
and colonists burned
it. The attack
outraged the British,
who sent a
commission to
investigate. The
Commission had the
power to send
suspects back to
Britain for trial
The Boston Tea Party
• In May 1773, Britain made a big mistake. They
decided to help a struggling British company (the
British East India Company). The company was
deeply in debt.
• British taxes on tea had caused colonists to
smuggle in cheaper Dutch tea.
• The British East India Company had over 17
million pounds of tea it needed to sell. The
British repealed the tax on tea (the BEI tea was
now cheaper than the smuggled tea)…colonial
merchants were furious; they feared it was an
attempt by the British to squeeze them out of
business
The Boston Tea Party
• In October 1773, the BEI shipped its tea to
Boston, NY, Philadelphia and Charles Town.
• The Committees of Correspondence decided that
they must not allow the tea to be unloaded
• IN NY and Philadelphia, colonists forced the BEI
Co. to return home with the tea…In Charles Town
the colonists seized it and placed it in a
warehouse…In Boston they were more radical
The Boston Tea Party
• On December 17, 1773 (the night before customs
officials planned on unloading the BEI tea), a group of
150 men secretly gathered at the Boston Dock
• Several hundred men cheered as the “Indians” dumped
342 chests of tea into the harbor
The British Respond: The Coercive Acts
• The Boston Tea Party was the last straw for
the British.
• Parliament Passed four new laws to punish
Massachusetts and end colonial challenges
to British legislation:
– Boston Port Act – closed Boston’s port until tea paid
for
– Massachusetts Government Act – all MA
government officials to be appointed by Britain
– Administration of Justice Act – any British officials
or soldiers accused of a crime could have their trial
in Britain
– Quartering Act – local officials had to provide
lodging for British soldiers
The First Continental Congress
• Colonists called the British acts the
Intolerable Acts
• Fiery speeches were given in various
legislatures…the most famous being Patrick
Henry’s “…give me liberty or give me
death!” speech. Many called for a meeting
of the colonies
• This took place in September 1774…The First
Continental Congress. 12 out of 13 colonies
attended (all except Georgia).
The First Continental Congress
• The FIRST Continental Congress did NOT go
to war with the British. It did two things:
• 1) It announced a colonies wide boycott of
British goods
• 2) It sent a Declaration of Grievances to
King George III (basically a letter asking GIII
to get rid of the taxes)
Massachusetts Defies Britain
• Britain had dissolved the Massachusetts
legislature…In defiance, the colonists
organized another government (the
Committee of Safety) and put John Hancock
in charge of it.
• Citizens around Boston began to arm
themselves and began to ready themselves
for a fight with the British. They were
known as minutemen.
Lexington and Concord
• Complete the map activity