Chapter 7: Prelude to War

• Writs of assistance-1760• Division• Debt• Sugar Act, 1764

– Admiralty courts • Quartering Act, 1765• Stamp Act, 1765• Representation• Stamp Act Congress• Sons of Liberty• British affected• Declaratory Act, 1766• Alienating elite• Townshend (Revenue) Acts, 1767• John Dickinson, Letters From a

Farmer in Pennsylvania

• Massachusetts Circular Letter• Boston Massacre March 5, 1770• Committees of Correspondence• Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts),

1774 (leave extra room)• First Continental Congress, 1774• Suffolk Resolves• Declaration of Rights and

Grievances • The Association• Lexington-Concord, April 1775• Role of Black Americans• Britain (make table)• Americans (make table)

Economy

•Based on mercantilism

•Still some restrictions on production, trade, exports, etc.

•Why?

•England didn’t want competition from a colony

•Americans were still better off than the average Englishman

Writs of Assistance• As the English began to

enforce mercantilism, the colonies protested

• Smuggling increased• Writs of Assistance

(1760) issued by the Mass. Governor allowed search and seizure of illegally imported goods; no evidence needed

• Even many Brits thought this wasn’t right

• Powerful tool to fight the smuggling

Division• Favoritism by Brits toward South

• North seemingly couldn’t trade freely and were controlled by the Navigation Acts

• South was the “pet” because they grew non-English products

• Revolution begins in New England…….why?

• South also suffered: had to sell only to Brits (price control)

• Forced into debt by falling prices…….agitation by the south

• The people of Massachusetts said the Virginian’s liberty cry was “Give me liberty or give me debt.”

• Many felt mercantilism was “milking” the colonies and returning little

Debt• The British were in

debt from war– 140 million pounds

• Half of this debt came from the colonies

• Brits asked the colonies to pay 1\3 of the cost of maintaining troops in America– 10,000 troops

Sugar Act-1764• Prime minister George Greenville

called for stricter enforcement of the Navigation Acts and…

• Sugar Act• To raise revenue by increasing the

duty on imported sugar• Tax on sugar• Stricter enforcement of the

Navigation acts through….• Admiralty courts• Smugglers now tried in British

courts• No jury• Burden of proof on the defendant• Judge gets the goods (stopped in

1768)

Quartering Act-1765• Required some colonies to

provide food and quarters for British troops and pay for goods needed by them

• It didn’t force colonists to allow soldiers into their homes

• Not widespread

Stamp Act-1765• Direct tax; Internal tax• Raise revenue for military in colonies• Stamps had to be purchased for paper goods

– documents– newspapers– dice– almanacs– playing cards

• It was the most resented tax by the colonist• English citizens had paid a heavier stamp

tax for years• Most upset were coastal towns• Not one stamp was issued• Tax collectors were threatened• Boycotts of British goods

• Colonists conceded the right of Parliament to legislate matters that affected the empire

• No right to impose taxes when they had no representation

• Virtual representation: all English subjects were represented in Parliament

• Colonists didn’t want direct representation

• Why?– Outnumbered

Representation

Stamp Act Congress, 1765

• Meeting of 9 colonies to repeal the Stamp Act

• Important because it was an attempt to unify the colonies (only 9 of the 13 met)

• Colonies blamed the British govt. not local officials or the King

• Non-importation agreement; boycott

• They asserted that their rights were being violated as British citizens and wanted representation in Parliament

• “No taxation without representation”

• Why would colonist accept taxes from colonial legislatures?

• You will read this in the documents

Sons and Daughters of Liberty

• Secret organization to plot against the British

• Led by Samuel Adams in Massachusetts

• Urged boycotts of British good and use of colonial goods

• Sometimes used violence

• The Sons of Liberty were so effective that no agents would take taxes for the Stamp Act…..many had resigned

• British effects:

– Manufactures, shippers, laborers all hurt by boycotts

• Why did 7.5 million Brits have to pay taxes for 2 million colonists who wouldn’t pay 1\3 of their own defense?

• 1766: Stamp Act repealed and to save face……

• Declaratory Acts, 1766: Parliament has a right to pass laws for the colonies

• It was basically ignored by the colonists

• Seen they could hurt Britain

• George III still a hero

Resistance fighters

• When the boycott was over, the upper class now had leadership of the resistance movement

• Middle class businessmen had formed the Loyal Nine to fight the Stamp Act; precursor to Sons of Liberty

• The S of L didn’t want to alienate the elite and forbade its followers from carrying weapons to avoid violence and keep the elite on their side

The King is still ok...

No one blamed the King

Who was blamed?

KG3- viva la vida parody

Townshend Acts, 1767also called Revenue Acts

• New colonial minister Charles Townshend created these taxes on manufactured goods

• Hurts theory of mercantilism• Used to pay British officials royal governors, judges, etc.

to remove power from local legislatures• Tax on glass, tea, paint, lead• Hurt merchants the most• Also allowed for a search of homes for smuggled goods;

writs of assistance• More resistance to the tax and it was repealed, except for

the Tea tax

More Protests• John Dickinson

– Letters From a Farmer in Pennsylvania

• Parliament could regulate commerce; but duties were a form of taxation and couldn’t be levied on the colonies without consent of the assemblies

• No taxation without representation

• Massachusetts Circular Letter-1768

• Written by James Otis and Samuel Adams

• Urged Parliament to repeal the acts

• British officials overreacted to the letter (few paid attention in the colonies to it)

• Threats to dissolve colonial legislatures and more British troops

• Colonies became more united

Boston Massacre, 1770Boston Massacre, 1770• There were lots of British

troops in Boston

• Boston resented them– Occupied, Catholic, Jobs

• Some began to harass them

• Colonist threw snowballs, etc. at soldiers (60 townspeople v. 10 redcoats)

• Someone opened fire

• 5 colonists killed (6 wounded) including Crispus Attucks: first man killed for independence (mulatto)

• The officers were taken to court, but acquitted; defended by John Adams

Propaganda

Gaspee Affair• British ships were ravaging the coast

• 1772: The Gaspee ran aground off the coast of Rhode Island

• Colonists disguised as Indians came onto the ship, removed the British and set it on fire

• No one was brought to trial despite British attempts

Committees of Correspondence

• Organized by Sam Adams in 1772: Mass.

• To spread propaganda and share info about the British

• Political education• Virginia created a standing

committee in the House of Burgesses for this

• By 1774, all the colonies had them

• Ben Franklin• BR

East India Tea Company• By 1773, revolution didn’t

seem inevitable or possible• Boycotts were weakening• East India Tea Company had a

monopoly on tea for Britain• Applied this to the colonies• They could sell tea at lower

prices even with the tax• Still upset at a tax

Boston Tea Party, 1773

• Smugglers upset (John Hancock)

• The Boston Tea Party was organized (there were other tea parties)

• They dressed like Indians and dumped 15,000 pounds of tea into Boston Harbor

• Not everyone supported this

– Washington feared retaliation

– Franklin wanted to repay the Brits

• The British responded

Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts), 1774

• In response to the Boston Tea Party

• Four Parts

• Boston Port Act

– Closed Boston Harbor until damages were paid

• Massachusetts Government Act

– Reduced power of the Mass. Legislature and gave more power to the royal governor…….restricted town meetings

• Justice Act (Murder Act)– Anyone charged with murder

enforcing royal authority would be tried elsewhere for their protection

• Quartering provision• Quebec Act (added later)

– Guaranteed French their Catholic religion, customs, etc.

– To upset the colonists• Boston was placed under martial

law by the new Governor General Thomas Gage

First Continental Congress, 1774

• As a result of the Intolerable Acts, the colonies met to discuss how to protect America

• They agreed to meet again in 1775 if things didn’t improve

• Independence was not a topic

• Georgia didn’t send reps

• Some colonies began to create militias

– Massachusetts Minutemen

• The Suffolk Resolves were adopted which rejected the Coercive Acts, called for repeal, urged colonists to resist them

• A Declaration of Rights and Grievances was sent to the king to petition him to remove the acts

The third part was the creation of the

Association

This document called for a complete boycott: non-importation and

exportation, non consumption, etc.

Closest so far in the colonies having a unified written constitution

Lexington-Concord, April 1775

• Immediate cause of the Revolutionary War

• King George said Mass was in a state of rebellion

• General Gage sent troops to get weapons from the rebels

• Paul Revere, William Dawes, Samuel Prescott

• “One if by land, two if by sea”

• First attack was at Lexington

• Then to Concord

• Brits marched back to Boston

• 4000 minutemen assembled in 12 hours

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revereby Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Listen my children and you shall hearOf the midnight ride of Paul Revere,

On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;Hardly a man is now alive

Who remembers that famous day and year, etc.

• Written by Longfellow during the Civil War to inspire patriotism for the North

• School House Rock- Shot heard around the World

Black Americans

Many blacks fought on both sides

5000 enlisted in the colonies; mainly from the north who escorted their masters

Some British offered freedom for slaves that fought for England (yeah, right)

Britain• Advantages

– Larger population• 7.5 to 2.5 million

– Professional army• 50,000

– 30,000 Hessians

– 50,000 Loyalists

– Indians

– Experienced leaders and soldiers

• Disadvantages– Troops stationed in

Ireland

– France waiting

– No desire in Britain to fight

– Poor leaders in America

– Far Away

– No urban centers in America (capital)

– Military budget cuts

– Fear of countryside

Americans\Colonists\Rebels• Advantages

– Good leadership

– Diplomats (Franklin, GW)

– Foreign aid

– Volunteer European officers

– Defensive fight

– Home court

– Self sustaining in agriculture

– Better marksmen

• Disadvantages– Badly organized Army

– Jealousy among colonies

– Worthless money

– Inflation

– Limited supplies of:• Weapons• Manufactured Goods

– Unreliable militia

– Trading with Brits

– 1\5 of pop. Loyalists

• Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration – YouTube

• Crash Course #6