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Chapter 6: Toward the War for American IndependencePreview: “Parliament passed the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, and other measures of the early 1760s in hopes of binding the American colonies more closely to the empire. Instead, once-loyal Americans became convinced that their constitutional rights were being violated….With the passage of the harsh Coercive Acts of 1774, a break with Britain was not long in coming.”
The Highlights: The Seven Years’ War The Imperial Crisis Toward the Revolution
The Beginnings of Colonial Resistance– Significance of John Locke’s beliefs
that property ownership and liberty were intertwined
– Opposition thinkers, while ignored in England, were revered by colonial leaders
– Postwar recession aggravated political tensions caused by Grenville’s measures
“The concern for protecting individual liberties was only one of the convictions shaping the colonies’ response to Britain’s new policies. Equally important was their deep suspicion of power itself, a preoccupation that colonials shared with a minority of radical English thinkers”(153).
The Empire Strikes Back– Coercive, or “Intolerable,” Acts
passed by Parliament, 1774– Colonists began to believe in a
conspiracy theory that the British government wanted to reduce their liberties
– Quebec Act (1774)– Call for First Continental Congress
“The Boston Tea Party proved to British satisfaction that the colonies aimed at independence. Lord North’s assessment was grim: ‘We are now to dispute whether we have, or have not, any authority in that country’” (162).