Chapter 4

Frontiers of Empire

Diversity

U.S. reflects the diversity of its peopleMelting pot?Salad bowl?

In 17th and 18th centuries each nation seemed to be very different from the others.

To us, Germans, Scots-Irish , British, & French are similar – all western Europeans

To colonists, all these people were very different

Add to that Native Americans and Africans Colonists were afraid of what this diverse

population would do to their colonies Ben Franklin had a few thoughts on this

blending of peoples

Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790)

Born in Boston, Massachusetts Moved to Philadelphia in 1723 Had little formal education but was well-read and

thoughtful Believed all problems could be solved through

the use of reason He applied his reasoning to demography, the

study of population

According to his calculations, population of the British colonies doubled every 25 yearsMostly from natural increaseAlso from immigration from Europe and Africa

primarily

American population was spreading out into the back country in Pennsylvania and in the Carolinas

Many did not speak English The middle colonies seemed to be more diverse

than those in New England And they were experiencing a growing

stratification

William Penn’s liberal offers of land and religious freedom attracted many non-English speakers like the Moravians and the Amish from Germany (Pennsylvania Dutch)

Large groups of Scots-Irish arrived Scottish Presbyterians sent to Ireland by the British

monarch in hopes that they would eventually outnumber the Catholics in Ireland

The plan failed

Scots-Irish in IrelandThey were discriminated against by the

Anglican ChurchThey were taxed heavily when they traded

with EnglandThey had bad harvestsThey decided to move to America and went to

Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey

Many came as indentured servants and provided manual labor for Philadelphia

Others became farmers and obtained cheap land and produced corn, wheat, beef, and pork for export

Eastern areas became crowded and so later settlers moved further west to the Appalachians and south to the Carolinas and Georgia

They often competed against Native Americans for land

Other non-English Europeans came to AmericaFrench Huguenots Mediterranean Jews

They became merchants in port cities selling foodstuffs and furs

They also traded with the French and the Spanish

By the mid-18th century immigration and natural increase had made Philadelphia and New York major cities

In these cities wealth was in the hands of the few and the poor was more dependent on public assistance

Some social conflict brought on by the mixed population Germans kept to themselves avoiding assimilation When Germans prospered, many feared their colony

would be “Germanized”

Other Ethnic and Economic Rivalries Scots-Irish vs. Delaware Indians Vs. the

Quakers in 1763 Scots-Irish in western Pennsylvania asked the Quaker

(pacifists) legislature for military help to fight the Delaware Indians

Quakers hesitated, so the Scots-Irish rebels attacked, on their own, the peaceful Conestoga tribe and then marched on Philadelphia protesting their lack of representation in the legislature

Ben Franklin stepped in and cooled the situation

In New York’s Hudson Valley, the Dutch rented land to English tenant farmers.When the Dutch sent out eviction notices,

armed rebellion was the result in 1760 It was crushed by the British military

Economic Changes

Colonial economy grew White Americans did well Farm goods increased Majority of American goods went to

England, as per the Navigation Acts

Periodically, the British tried to impose a tax on AmericansMolasses or Sugar Act of 1733 – placed a

heavy tax on molasses imported from foreign ports , ex.: France

Hat and Felt Act, 1732 and the Iron Act , 1750 tried to limit production of colonial goods that competed with British exports

For the most part, these acts weren’t enforced -- Salutary Neglect

The British were making a lot of money off of the colonies

Passing acts satisfied the British Not enforcing them kept Americans happy

and kept money flowing into Britain

Americans bought a lot of British goodsBetween 1740 and 1770, English exports to

the colonies increased 360The British offered Americans credit and

many fell into debt

Americans traded with other Americans They traded with the Spanish They traded with the Dutch They traded with the French

The Great Awakening

Jonathan Edwards led a brief religious re-awakening in the 1730s in New England

This revival died out within a decade

What became known as the Great Awakening is usually associated with George Whitefield who arrived in America in 1739

By mid-18th century, fewer people were attending church services

There was a growing religious indifference George Whitefield stressed that achieving

worldly success without obtaining spiritual redemption was dangerous

He asked his followers to experience a religious rebirth and to create a Christian community

He used hellfire and brimstone to get his point across

His followers were from all regions and from all classes, including slaves

This movement promised spiritual equality which challenged the other religious teachings of the day

These revivalists were called “New Light” disciples

“Old Lights” and “New Lights” debated one another

“Old Lights” questioned the revivals that appealed so much to the emotions

New religions spread like the Methodists and the Baptists

Baptists accepted African-American converts

Colleges

“New Light” colleges:College of New Jersey ( now Princeton) by

PresbyteriansKing’s College (now Columbia) by AnglicansBrown by BaptistsQueen’s College (now Rutgers) by the Dutch

Reformed Church

Religious PluralismReligious rivals realized that no one group

would dominate, so they grudgingly accepted this idea

Religious toleration, not equality, emerged

The Church of England continued to receive tax support, but dissenters started demanding the separation of Church and State

Government

In Britain:Had the appearance of 3 branches

King House of Lords House of Commons

Really only the aristocracy was represented

In the Colonies: Many had royal governors and advisors appointed by

the King Assemblies were more representative of the

American public even though women and non-whites could not vote

Royal governors soon learned that assemblies would reward them if they went along with their decisions rather than use the veto

Assemblies paid the governors salaries If the assemblymen didn’t like some action

of the governor, they would refuse to pay him

More often than not, the assemblies got what they wanted

War

1689 – 1763 – Britain and France fought one another in Europe and by extension in North America

One war would end and then a little later a new one would start

These wars would have one name in Europe and a different name in the colonies

Some of the earlier wars made colonists proud to be British

That changed when the British began regulating the colonies moreFor tax money to pay for the fightingBy quartering soldiers in private homesBy drafting colonists to fight

Colonists began to resent British interference in their lives

These wars pitted British colonists against French colonists with Native Americans choosing sides

By the end of 1763, the British had pushed the French out of North America

Native Americans moved further west More imperial regulations curbed the

freedom of the American colonists

King William’s War 1689 - 1697

William of Orange was the chief magistrate of Dutch Republic

He was part of the League of Augsburg, an alliance fighting France to keep it from expanding its borders

England had stayed out of that battle When William was made King of England during

Glorious Revolution, he brought England into the fight against France

By extension, this fight spread to America It was known as King William’s War in North

America It was the War of the League of Augsburg in

Europe Native Americans took sides French and Indian troops attacked New York,

western Massachusetts, and along the Maine/New Hampshire border

British troops were fighting in Europe, so Americans had to defend themselves

Colonists struck out against Montreal and Quebec

Border raids, really Many Native Americans killed in battle

War ended in 1697 with the Treaty of RyswickReturned all land in colonies to their status

before the warDid not settle the dispute over the Hudson

Bay area

Queen Anne’s War

Called the War of Spanish Succession in Europe Louis XIV of France wanted to place his

grandson and heir on the Spanish throne Many thought that would give France too much

power England allied itself with the Netherlands and the

Holy Roman Empire to oppose this action

They wanted Charles of Bavaria on the Spanish throne

England had another bone to pick with France France was against putting Anne, William’s

daughter, on the throne of England France wanted James II Catholic son to sit on

the throne of England

Anne was already on the throne of England and she quickly retaliated against the French for questioning her authority

The Americans called this battle Queen Anne’s War

In America, French and American colonists fought each other in northern New England & in Canada

1704 – Native Americans who sided with the French attacked British outposts in western Massachusetts and in Maine and destroyed many settlements

This war showed Americans that their defenses were weak

English troops seized the Hudson Bay area, Newfoundland, and Acadia

However, the French remained Americans learned they should be loyal to their

protestant monarch 1711 – Charles of Bavaria ascended the throne

of the Holy Roman Empire, so England and its allies no longer backed him for the Spanish throne

That would give him too much power

The Treaty of Utrecht ended this war in1713 with no clear winner

Philip of Anjou (heir to the French throne) was made King of Spain and gave up all claims to the French throne

British were granted “asiento de negros” which was the right to sell captive slaves (Africans) in Spanish colonies like Cuba and Santo Domingo

King George’s War 1744 - 1748

This war was about who would sit on the throne of the Holy Roman Empire

Maria Theresa already sat on the throne of Austria, and she was next in line to take over the Holy Roman Empire

Fearing this would give her too much power, the War of Austrian Succession broke out

In the colonies it was known as King George’s War

It boiled down to the French and Americans fighting once again in North America

It centered on northern Atlantic coast, around the Great Lakes, and in the Ohio Valley

New Englanders took the French fortress at Louisburg

1748 – the war ended and the fortress at Louisburg was returned to the French, according to the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle

Colonists were furious and began to question the empire’s concern for the colonies

The French and Indian War

Known as The Seven Years’ War in Europe (see chart on page 122)

This war began in North America and spread to Europe -- for a changeQuest for territory in America by French and

BritishProtection of territory already taken was all

important

By mid-eighteenth century the French had 3 major settlements in North AmericaMontrealQuebecNew Orleans

They had no more than a total of 100,000 settlers

British had more than a million settlers They had many, many more settlements

than the French -- from Maine to Georgia & from the east coast far inland towards the Appalachians

The French were so interested in settling their lands as they were using the land for trapping before 1754

They did wish to protect their interests and so set up a series of forts in what is now western Pennsylvania

Virginia had also taken an interest in the area; they were looking for fresh soil for tobacco

So Virginia sent out a 22-year old major named George Washington and 150 men to construct a fort at what is now Pittsburgh

Washington and his men never made it that far because they learned that the French were already building a fort there, calling it Fort Duquesne

And they encountered a small band of French soldiers and diplomats and killed the diplomat and others

The French retaliated forcing Washington to build a crude defensive fort at what is today called Fort Necessity on Rte. 40 in Pennsylvania

4 July 1754, Washington was forced to surrender

He was allowed to return to Virginia

Many Native Americans backed the French and the war became known as The French and Indian War

The Board of Trade in England wanted the colonies to defend themselves

So they called the Albany Congress of 1754

Delegates form all colonies except Virginia and New Jersey met

They hoped to organize a colonial militia It was written up as “The Plan of Union” by

delegate Benjamin Franklin It wasn’t ratified so the colonies did not

have a defensive force

Many colonists volunteered but were not well-trained

They left whenever needed at home 1755 – 2000 New Englanders seized 2

French forts near Nova Scotia The Acadians (French Canadians) refused

to take up arms against France

So the British expelled them to Maryland and Virginia for the most part

But the Acadians kept right on moving until they got to Louisiana where they were known as Cajuns

1755 – the British sent in 2500 troops under the command of General William Braddock

Braddock was to reverse Washington’s defeat, but he and his troops were defeated near Fort Duquesne900 men including Braddock were killedWashington was with them and was wounded

4 times

Sir Jeffrey Amherst, head of British forces in America, introduced a new tactic against Native Americans – Germ WarfareHe sent blankets to the Indians that had been

used by smallpox victimsMany died from this exposure

The French had 2 important victories in 1756 and in 1757They took Fort Oswego on Lake Ontario and

Fort William Henry on Lake George

The French were ready to move in on New York, and things looked grim for the British

Two developments turned the tide for the British:The Iroquois Confederacy withdrew their

support from the French and became neutral1757 – William Pitt was named Secretary of

State in England and was put in charge of the British war effort

William PittWas an efficient leaderHad the full support of all the colonial

governmentsPermitted the colonies to do their own

recruiting and requisitioning of suppliesSaid if colonies raised men for the war, Britain

would pay most of the costs of the war

Pitt appointed General James Wolfe to join Amherst in the colonies

Wolfe changed the course of the war when he attacked and won Quebec in 1759

With this victory in Quebec and then in Montreal in 1760, the war ended for Americans in 1760

It continued in Europe until 1763 The war ended with the Peace of Paris

British got Canada from the French and Florida from the Spanish

France had to hand over Louisiana to the Spanish to compensate them for the loss of Florida

By 1763, the English saw themselves as strong

Outcomes for the Native Americans

The Treaty of Paris gave nothing to the Native Americans

So after this war, the Native Americans were technically subjects King George III

However, the Native Americans possessed the forests west of the Appalachians – not the British

The British continued to blunder in their treatment of the Native AmericansSir Jeffrey Amherst told them that the British

would no longer give them gifts: blankets, iron tools, guns, and liquor

So tribes united under Pontiac of the Ottawa Indians, attacked Fort Detroit, and captured 10 of 14 British outposts

They also raided Virginians and Pennsylvanians killing 2000 of them

The British defeated them in 1764 and then restored the gift giving

The British then drew an imaginary line along the Appalachian divide

This was known as the Proclamation Line 1763

Proclamation Line

No British subject was allowed to purchase land or settle west of this line

It was done to end contact with Native Americans

It didn’t work Over the next 10 years land was quietly bought

up and settled by colonists Map, p. 124

Americans saw the Proclamation Line as an early effort by King George III to shackle their freedom

Writs of Assistance

British effort to try to stop Americans from smuggling in goods especially from French West Indies – result of the war

These Writs allowed the British to conduct raids anywhere if they suspected smuggling -- no search warrants

Those arrested were tried by a judge, not by a jury of one’s peers

The Proclamation Line was another result of the French and Indian War for the Colonists

Amherst asked the Crown for more British troops to protect colonists from Indian attackHe asked for 5-6000 troops; he got 10,000-

costing England 200,000 pounds /year

Then Britain instituted the Quartering Act of 1765 which charged the colonies for the troops room, board, and drinkSoldiers would be sheltered in private homes

Before this time, the colonies were not costing Britain

The colonies were profitableBefore it cost 70,000 pounds to run the

colonies, and the colonies made 2 million pounds for Britain

After the war, it cost 350,000 pounds to run the colonies

In 1764, Britain had a national debt of 130 million pounds

British landowners already paid 20% of their incomes in taxes

Britain felt it was time for the colonies to pay for British protection

To do this, Britain needed more control

More control meant more rules from Britain

Then the colonies could be taxed These changes were not welcomed by the

American colonists A strained relationship between the two

began