America’s History Seventh Edition CHAPTER 5 Toward Independence: Years of Decision 1763-1776 Copyright © 2011 by Bedford/St. Martin’s James A. Henretta.

America’s HistorySeventh Edition

CHAPTER 5Toward Independence: Years of Decision

1763-1776

Copyright © 2011 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

James A. HenrettaRebecca Edwards

Robert O. Self

I.I. Imperial Reform, 1763-1765(Enormous debt followed Britain’s “Great War for Empire”; salutary

neglect replaced with regulation and taxation in the colonies.)

A. The Legacy of War1. Disputes over Trade and Troops2. The National Debt

I.I. Imperial Reform, 1763-1765(Enormous debt followed Britain’s “Great War for Empire”; salutary

neglect replaced with regulation and taxation in the colonies.)

A. The Legacy of War1. Disputes over Trade and Troops• debate within the colonies over the power of the royal governors

(shared with assemblies versus extensive executive powers);• Revenue Act of 1762 meant to tighten control over colonial efforts

to trade with foreign nations;• decision by Britain to keep 10,000 soldiers in colonies during

peacetime angered colonists;• British wanted to maintain control over colonists, Native

Americans, and French in Canada.

2. The National Debt

I.I. Imperial Reform, 1763-1765(Enormous debt followed Britain’s “Great War for Empire”; salutary

neglect replaced with regulation and taxation in the colonies.)

A. The Legacy of War2. The National Debt• British debt from £75 million in 1756 to £133 million in

1763;• British raised taxes on the poor and middle classes;

increased size of British bureaucracy to collect taxes;• those with little political power (poor, colonists) appeared

most vulnerable to increased taxation; • John Wilkes (Whig) publicly condemned “rotten boroughs”

as districts controlled by the wealthy who did not face these new fiscal measures.

I. Imperial Reform, 1763-1765(Enormous debt followed Britain’s “Great War for Empire”; salutary

neglect replaced with regulation and taxation in the colonies.)

B. George Grenville: Imperial Reformer1. The Sugar Act2. Constitutional Conflict

I. Imperial Reform, 1763-1765(Enormous debt followed Britain’s “Great War for Empire”; salutary

neglect replaced with regulation and taxation in the colonies.)

B. George Grenville: Imperial Reformer(Grenville in Parliament since 1741; became prime minister in 1763

when British taxes were five times American taxes.)1. The Sugar Act (1764) • 3 pence/gallon duty on French molasses in the colonies; publicly

Americans argued that the new tax would destroy the French trade and the American distilling industry;

• Americans sought ways to evade this new tax (bribing officials, smuggling).

2. Constitutional Conflict

I. Imperial Reform, 1763-1765B. George Grenville: Imperial Reformer2. Constitutional Conflict• debate began over whether the act was unlawful as the tax did not

“originate with the people”;• those accused of breaking the law were to be tried by “vice-

admiralty court” with a British-appointed judge; • fears that the Sugar Act would make colonies “slaves” to Britain;• argued that those in the colonies were being treated as less than

Englishmen;• points of the act were debated but reality was that the act revealed

new efforts by the British to take more control of the colonies;• some English parliamentarians argued that the colonists did not

have the same rights as Englishmen because they were living outside of Britain – “second class subjects of the king.”

I. Imperial Reform, 1763-1765C. An Open Challenge: The Stamp Act1. First Imperial Crisis• required stamps on all court documents, land titles, contracts,

newspapers, other printed materials;• intended to cover at least a portion of the cost of keeping troops in

the colonies;• Grenville: either colonies pay for their own defense or face a stamp

tax;• British contended that colonies had “virtual representation”

because of Parliament members who were transatlantic merchants and sugar planters in the West Indies;

• House of Commons ignored colonial protest of the Act;• passed a Quartering Act that directed colonies to provide barracks

and food for troops.

II. The Dynamics of Rebellion, 1765-1770(“Patriots”: defenders of Americans’ rights.)

A. Politicians Protest and the Crowd Rebels1. The Stamp Act Congress2. The Motives of the Crowd

B. The Ideological Roots of Resistance1. Intellectual Traditions

II. The Dynamics of Rebellion, 1765-1770(“Patriots”: defenders of Americans’ rights.)

A. Politicians Protest and the Crowd Rebels1. The Stamp Act Congress• in Virginia, Patrick Henry and others publicly condemned

Grenville and George III;• nine assemblies sent delegates to the Congress, New York

City, October 1765;• protested the loss of “rights and liberties”;• declared that only representatives elected by colonists

could tax the people; petitioned for the repeal of the Act;• some members formed a boycott of British goods;

II. The Dynamics of Rebellion, 1765-1770(“Patriots”: defenders of Americans’ rights.)

A. Politicians Protest and the Crowd Rebels1. The Stamp Act Congress• after Nov. 1, 1765, mobs began to demand that stamp tax

collectors resign; in Boston “Sons of Liberty” burned a tax collector in effigy and, later, destroyed the home of the Lt. Gov.; mobs (artisans and merchants) were encouraged by the wealthy; nearly every colony had protests.

II. The Dynamics of Rebellion, 1765-1770(“Patriots”: defenders of Americans’ rights.)

A. Politicians Protest and the Crowd Rebels2. The Motives of the Crowd

• mob actions had historic meaning among English but goals of the crowds in the colonies were new;

• some had political motives while others enjoyed the excitement of the action;

• protest worked – in most colonies the collectors gave up their positions as a result of public pressure.

B. The Ideological Roots of Resistance1. Intellectual Traditions

II. The Dynamics of Rebellion, 1765-1770(“Patriots”: defenders of Americans’ rights.)

B. The Ideological Roots of Resistance1. Intellectual Traditions

• protest started in seaports because they had the most direct involvement with British;

• Patriot writers drew on three main influences:1) English common law2) Enlightenment rationalism3) 3) republican and Whig political tradition.

II. The Dynamics of Rebellion, 1765-1770C. Parliament Compromises, 1766

1. Repeal of the Stamp Act• Grenville out as PM because of domestic issues;• three parliamentary factions pushed for repeal1) Old Whigs2) British merchants who feared the continuation of the

trade boycott3) former PM Pitt and his allies who argued that Parliament

did not have the authority to tax the colonies• PM Rockingham repealed the Act but made clear his belief

that Parliament had power to make laws to govern the colonies.

II. The Dynamics of Rebellion, 1765-1770D. Charles Townshend Steps In(Held position as “chancellor of the exchequer” under PM

William Pitt)1. Townshend Act of 1767• duties on colonial imports of paper, paint, glass, tea;• some revenue for cost of military in America, some for

salaries of royal governors, judges, which would make them loyal to the crown;

• followed by other acts that forced the will of parliament on the colonists and punished them for non-compliance.

II. The Dynamics of Rebellion, 1765-1770E. America Debates and Resists Again

1. A Second Boycott and the Daughters of Liberty2. Britain Threatens Coercion

F. Lord North Compromises, 17701. Nonimportation Succeeds2. Sovereignty Debated

II. The Dynamics of Rebellion, 1765-1770E. America Debates and Resists Again

1. A Second Boycott and the Daughters of Liberty• colonial leaders focused on the intent of the Acts• 1768 Massachusetts assembly condemned the Acts and began a boycott of British goods with

New York merchants following suit• women became valuable producers of “homespun” cloth, enabling the boycott to continue• “Daughters of Liberty”: women who produced homespun textiles, drank coffee not tea as acts

of patriotism• colonists who were not previously politically active felt compelled to participate in the boycott

as it spread beyond Massachusetts and New York.

2. Britain Threatens Coercion

F. Lord North Compromises, 17701. Nonimportation Succeeds2. Sovereignty Debated

II. The Dynamics of Rebellion, 1765-1770E. America Debates and Resists Again2. Britain Threatens Coercion• angry over opposition, British send General Gage and

4,000 troops to Massachusetts.

II. The Dynamics of Rebellion, 1765-1770F. Lord North Compromises, 17701. Nonimportation Succeeds• economic problems in Britain hurt parliamentary resolve• thousands of families migrated to American colonies from England and

Scotland after abandoning farms• merchants and manufacturers blamed the Acts for domestic economic

problems, asked parliament to repeal• 1770 PM Lord North argued for repeal but for a continuation of tax on

tea• colonists stopped the boycott• outbreaks of violence continued in New York and Massachusetts• March 1770 “Boston Massacre” after a group of soldiers fired into a

crowd of protestors killing five.

2. Sovereignty Debated

II. The Dynamics of Rebellion, 1765-1770F. Lord North Compromises, 17702. Sovereignty Debated• most colonists remained loyal, many American leaders

believed by 1770 that British wanted to exploit colonies for their own gain

• B. Franklin: colonies were now distinct states with “the same Head, or Sovereign, the King.”

Describe the action depicted here by silversmith and Patriot Paul Revere in his engraving of the “Boston Massacre,” March 1770.

What did Revere hope to convey to his audience through about the presence of the British Army in Boston?

Examine the Redcoats. What does their posture say to the viewing audience about their actions?

Imagine you are a Virginian seeing Revere’s engraving in your newspaper in the days and weeks following the events in Boston. How might this image impact your perspective of colonial relations with England? Of the presence of the British Army in North America?

III. The Road to Independence, 1771-1776A. A Compromise Repudiated

1. The East India Company and the Tea Act2. The Tea Party and the Coercive Act

III. The Road to Independence, 1771-1776A. A Compromise Repudiated

1. The East India Company and the Tea Act• despite repeal of Townshend Acts animosity continued; in

Massachusetts radical patriots organized “committees of correspondence” in 1772 to “state the Rights of the Colonists of this Province”

• Tea Act passed 1773 to provide relief for the East India Co.’s debt (government loan and canceled English import duty on tea)

• further debate and resistance on the tea issue caused turmoil.

2. The Tea Party and the Coercive Act

III. The Road to Independence, 1771-1776A. A Compromise Repudiated2. The Tea Party and the Coercive Act• committees of correspondence organized resistance to Tea Act;• December 1773 artisans and laborers dressed as Indians threw tea into

the harbor;• anger in Britain over this action• four Coercive Acts passed: 1) Port Bill closed the Harbor2) Government Act annulled Massachusetts charter/no town meetings3) Quartering Act with mandatory new barracks4) Justice Act with trials for capital crimes transferred to other colonies or

Britain• called “Intolerable Acts” by patriots• 1774 Quebec Act allowing Roman Catholicism in Quebec and extending

the provinces boundary into the Ohio River Valley.

1. Describe the appearance of the men involved in this political protest.

2. In your opinion, was the destruction of British tea a useful form of political protest? Why or why not?

1. Decipher as many as the slogans written on the men’s signage as are readable.

2. What are the men protesting? On what theoretical grounds are basing their dissent?

3. What political viewpoint or bias is being expressed by this cartoon?

III. The Road to Independence, 1771-1776B. The Continental Congress Responds1. Meeting in Philadelphia• 12 mainland colonies met in Philadelphia September 1774; advocated a boycott• New Englanders wanted political union and defensive military plans• Middle Atlantic colonists wanted political compromise• suggestions for a new system in which each colony would have an assembly plus

representation in a continent-wide political body, king would appoint a president• majority wanted “Declaration of Rights and Grievances”• called for an end to the Coercive Acts and gave British only limited control of

trade• threatened to cut off all trade to Britain, Ireland, and British West Indies if the

acts were not repealed by September 1775• Lord North imposed a naval blockade and ordered Gage to end resistance in

Massachusetts.

III. The Road to Independence, 1771-1776C. The Rising of the Countryside

1. Rural Americans• farm families’ concerns rested on the issues of increasing taxes and

their sons having to serve the British military• political consciousness of those in the countryside was raised by the

urban rebellions of Boston and New York• 80% of male heads of household in rural Concord, MA, supported

nonimportation• patriots tired to convince farmers that British efforts in the colonies

would hurt individual landownership (already becoming increasingly difficult)

• southern slaveowners feared British limitations on land west of the Appalachian Mountains

• fear that legislation like the Coercive Acts would be used on other colonies.

III. The Road to Independence, 1771-1776

D. Loyalist Americans1. Supporters of the King

• fears of anarchy; both wealthy and poor could be loyal for varying reasons

• pacifist Quakers tried to remain neutral• tenant farmers disliked landlords and supported the king• fear of slave insurrection in support of the British.

III. The Road to Independence, 1771-1776E. Armed Resistance Begins

1. MinutemenF. The Second Continental Congress Organizes for War

1. Congress versus King George2. Fighting in the South3. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense4. Independence Declared

III. The Road to Independence, 1771-1776E. Armed Resistance Begins

1. Minutemen• General Gage ordered British troops in Boston to seize

Patriot armories in Charlestown and Cambridge• 20,000 militiamen mobilized to guard other locations; in

Concord town meeting raised the “Minutemen”• to the British Massachusetts was in “open rebellion.”

III. The Road to Independence, 1771-1776F. The Second Continental Congress Organizes for War

1. Congress versus King George•moderates hoped for peace and reconciliation with the king; asked for repeal of oppressive measures;•radical Patriots (Sam Adams, Patrick Henry) called for taking up arms•radicals gained support for an invasion of Canada•merchants cut off exports to Britain and her West Indies colonies.

III. The Road to Independence, 1771-1776F. The Second Continental Congress Organizes for War

2. Fighting in the South•local skirmishes between Loyalists and Patriots•Nov. 1775 Lord Dunmore in Virginia promised freedom to slaves and indentured servants who joined Britain in the war•fears grew that the lower class would rebel against the Patriots•Patriots planned to meeting in 1776 Continental Congress to support independence.

III. The Road to Independence, 1771-1776F. The Second Continental Congress Organizes for War

3. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense•Americans were increasingly turning against the king•January 1776 Paine published the pamphlet calling for independence and a republican government•an assault on the monarchy.

4. Independence Declared•Patriot conventions called for independence•July 4, 1776, Declaration approved; authored by Thomas Jefferson and others•the king vilified•used Enlightenment thinking to proclaim the rights of men•linked individual liberty, popular sovereignty, and republican government.