CHAPTER 5 Crisis in the Colonies. Life in the Colonies.

CHAPTER 5Crisis in the Colonies

Life in the Colonies

Colonial Society

• Colonists had more social equality

• English citizens opportunities were based on birth

• Gentry- top of society– Wealthy planter– Merchants– Ministers– Lawyers– Royal officals

• Middle Class- middle of society.– Farmers– Craftsworkers– tradespeople

• Made up 75% of the population

Colonial Society

Lowest classes• Indentured Servants-

signed contracts to work without wages for 7 years.– Farmhands– Servants

• Slaves– Field slaves– House Slaves– Dock slaves

Women• Wives took care of

households, husbands, children, and family

• In backcountry wives worked alongside the men in the fields

• City women worked outside the house – Cooks– Maids– Nurse – Seamstress

Great Awakening

• Religious Movement of the 1730s and 1740s• John Edwards started the Awakening in the

colonies• Edwards preached of the sweetness and

beauty of God.• George Whitefield preached for sinners to

repent.

Impact of Great Awakening

• Caused new churches to spring up after people left old churches– Forced the colonists to be more tolerant of

different beliefs• Believers felt free to challenge the crown

when liberties were at stake• Thought differently about their political rights

and government.

Education in the Colonies

• Massachusetts was the first to set up public schools. Public School- schools supported by taxes.– Rich and poor children

• Middle and Southern colonies had private schools. – Wealthy families

• Tutors- private teachers.• Apprentices- worked for a master to learn a trade or

craft.• Dame Schools- Private schools run by women in their

homes for girls.

Spread of Ideas

• Enlightenment- the spread of ideas about human reasoning and the scientific method.

• John Locke, a philosopher from England, wrote many things that were popular in the colonies.

• News papers started popping up in all colonies.– Boston News-Letter 1704

• With the news, the ideas about freedom of press spread.• John Peter Zenger, Weekly Journal ,NYC, put on trial for

libel.• Libel-act of publishing a statement that my unjustly

damage a person’s reputation.

French and Indian War

• France claimed a vast area of land that bordered the 13 colonies.

• British trappers were crossing the Appalachian Mts (Ohio Valley) to take over the fur trade from the French.

• Indian groups chose sides• French: Algoquins, Huron• British: Iroquois

War Starts

• 3 times between 1689-1748 France and Great Britain fought for power in North America and Europe.

• 1754 the fourth conflict broke out. • George Washington commissioned to build a

fort in the Ohio Valley for GB.

George Washington

• 22 years old in 1754• Grew up on plantation in Virginia• Wealthy• Gifted in Mathmatics• Worked as a surveyor at age 15

Albany Congress

• Gain an allegiance with the Iroquois• Wanted all colonies to work together to defeat

the French.– Wanted to form one government

• Ben Franklin of Pennsylvania proposed Albany Plan of Union

• Albany Plan of Union- attempt to create one general government.

• Not approved.

Tide turns

• After many British Defeats and setbacks William Pitt took over the British Government.

• Encouraged the colonist to support war by promising large military payment and supplies.

• General Jeffery Amherst captures Louisburg(most important French fort)

• Took control of fort Niagara, Crown Point, and Fort Ticonderoga

Treaty of Paris

• After the fall of Quebec the war ended.• Great Britain and France signed the Treaty of

Paris.• Treaty of Paris- brought French and Indian

war to an end.– Spain allied with the French, they lost Florida– French lost all of the land west of the Mississippi

River to Spain.

Trouble on the Frontier

• Native American groups living in the Ohio Valley.– Shawnee– Ottawa– Miami– Huron

• Colonists moving to the valley often clashed with Indians.

• 1762 Lord Jeffery Amherst sent to keep order

French treatment vs British treatment

French• Treated Indians as friends• Held feasts and gave

presents • Did not build farms on their

lands

British• Raised prices on trade

goods.• Built farms and forts on

Indian lands.

Pontiac’s War

• Ottawa chief who spoke out against the British• Led attack on British troops at Fort Detroit• Captured all British forts in Ohio country.• British regained what they lost.• Proclamation of 1763- drew an imaginary line

along crest of Appalachian Mountains that colonists were forbidden to settle west of line.

Proclamation of 1763

• Angered colonists because New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia claimed land in Ohio country.

• Colonists moved west anyway.• Daniel Boone moved to Kentucky

British Impose New Taxes

Sugar Act 1764• New Taxes on molasses• Replaced earlier act which

traders got around.• Old tax would have

bankrupted merchants.• 1764 Sugar Act lowered tax

and made it easier to capture sugglers

Stamp Act 1765• Placed new taxes on legal

documents.– Wills– Diplomas– Marriage papers

• Also taxed – Newspapers– Almanacs– Playing cards– dice

“No Taxation Without Representaion”

• Colonists believed the Stamp Act was unjust• Went against the principle of no taxation

without representation.– Colonists believed only their elected

representatives could tax them.– Colonists did not elect members of Parliament so

they could not tax them.• Colonists were willing to pay tax only if their

representatives passed them

Uniting in Peaceful protest

• In Oct 1765 delegates from all 9 colonies met in New York City to form a Stamp Act Congress.

• Delegates drew up a petition to King George III and Parliament.– Rejected the Stamp Act – Specified that Parliament had no right to tax them.

• Petition- a formal written request to someone in authority, signed by a group of people.

Ignored by Parliament

• Colonists took steps to change the law.– Joined together to boycott British goods.

• The colonial boycott took a toll on the British economy.– Trade fell 14%– Merchants were facing ruin– British workers were being laid off

• 1766 Parliament repealed the Stamp Act.– Passed a law stating that Parliament could raise taxes on

English Citizens as well as English Colonists

Townshend Acts

• Arguments in Parliament over taxing America sparked taxes in America on many goods.

• June 1767 the Townshend Acts were passed.– Glass– Paper– Paint– Lead – tea

• Colonists still believed that Parliament had no right to tax without their consent.

Protest against Townshend Acts

• In order to control smuggling Parliament set up writs of assistance.

• Writs of assistance- allowed custom officials to inspect ships and cargo without reason– Colonists said this violated their rights as English

Citizens.• Merchants and farmers agreed to not import

goods that fell under the Townshend Act

Sons and Daughters of Liberty

Sons of Liberty• Staged mock hangings of

cloth or straw likenesses of British officials.– Showed tax collectors what

might happen if they tried to collect the tax

Daughters of Liberty• Boycotted British cloth

– Wanted colonial women to raise more sheep.

– Spin and weave their own cloth.

– “ It’s better to wear a Homespun coat than to lose our Liberty.”

New Colonial Leaders in Massachusetts

Samuel Adams • From Boston, Mass• Despised British

government.• Loved politics• Failed businessman• Worked to organize protests

John Adams • Cousin of Samuel Adams • Schoolteacher• Skilled lawyer• Knowledge of British law

helped with protests

Women Colonial Leaders

Mercy Otis Warren • Wrote plays that made fun

of British officials.• Plays were published in

newspapers throughout the colonies

Abigail Adams • John Adams wife• Helped Warren write the

plays• Fought for greater rights of

women in the colonies.

New Colonial Leaders in Virginia

George Washington• Member of the House of

Burgesses.• Protested the ActsPatrick Henry • Lawyer who aided in

understanding British law

Thomas Jefferson• 22 year old law student • Moved by Henry’s words

Boston Massacre

• March 5, 1770 a crowed gathered outside Boston customs house.

• Soldiers panicked and fired into the crowed.– 5 people were killed

• Outraged colonists protested the deaths – Paul Revere made engravings that showed the

event– Sam Adams wrote letters to all colonies to build

outrage

Tea time

• Tea was very popular. By 1770 1million Americans brewed tea twice a day.

• Tea was brought to colonies by British East India Company.

• Colonists refused to buy the tea. • 15 million pounds sat in warehouses

Tea Act

• BEIC was struggling to survive.• Parliament passed Tea Act of 1773• Allowed BEIC to bypass the merchants and sell

straight to the colonists.• Colonists protested Tea Act• Americans felt being forced to buy tea from

BEIC. The Americas were not allowed to conduct free enterprise.

New Tea boycott

• Daughters of Liberty served coffee or liberty tea made out of raspberry leaves

• Sons of Liberty kept BEIC from unloading cargoes of tea.

Boston Tea Party

• 3 ships loaded with tea came into Boston Harbor in late Nov 1773.

• Sam Adams and Sons of Liberty asked the Governor of the colony to send the ships away.

• Sons of Liberty were dressed in Indian disguises headed to harbor and began to throw the tea in the harbor

Parliament Strikes back

• British government was furious over the lawlessness in Boston.

• Parliament and the king passed four laws that punished Massachusetts

• The laws became know as the Intolerable Acts by the colonists.

Intolerable Acts

• 1st Parliament shut down Boston Harbor– No ships were allowed to leave or enter– Remain closed until colonists paid for all the tea

and personal property.• 2nd forbade Massachusetts to hold town

meetings more than once a year.– Had to have governor approve meetings – All juries would be selected by kings officials

instead of being elected by colonists

Intolerable Acts

• 3rd all customs officers or other officials that may be accused of a crime to be tried in Britain or Canada.– Colonists protested because they thought the

officers and officials would get away with crimes• 4th Parliament passed a new Quartering Act

that forced colonists to house all British soldiers when no other places were available

Quebec Act

• Set up a government in Canada• Gave complete religious freedom to French

Catholics • Extended borders of Quebec to include land

between the Ohio River and Missouri River • Angered Colonists because most claimed land

in this area

Other Colonies Support Boston• September 1774 colonial leaders called a

meeting in Philadelphia• Delegates from 12 colonies gathered at the

First Continental Congress– Georgia did not send delegates.– Backed Boston in its struggle– Asked to boycott all British goods until Intolerable

acts were repealed– Set up and train a militia – Planned to meet again May 1775

Preparing for the Powder Keg

• Massachusetts colonists were preparing for to resist the Intolerable Acts.

• They called it “ the Massacre of American Liberty”

• Volunteers known as minutemen trained regularly.

• Minutemen- men who were prepared to fight at a minute’s notice.

• Minutemen collected weapons and gun power• British built up its own military forces.– British brought more troops to Boston, raising the total

to 4,000• 1775 British scouts were sent out to spy in towns

near Boston– Scouts found that in Concord( 18 miles from Boston) the

minutemen had a huge store of arms.• General Thomas Gage planned a surprise march to

Concord to seize the arms.

Sounding the Alarm

• April 18 1775, 700 British soldiers left Boston in Darkness

• Sons of Liberty were watching.• When the British were left, Ameriucans hung

two lamps from the Old North Church in Boston.

• It signaled the colonists across the Charles River that the Redcoats were on the way

Riding with Speed

• Messengers mounted their horses and headed toward Concord.

• One midnight rider was Paul Revere. He shouted the message “ The redcoats are coming! The redcoats are coming!” as he passsed through each village along the way

“Shot heard around the World”

• Daybreak April 19, 1775 redcoats reached Lexington, town near Concord.

• 70 minutemen were waiting on the redcoats• A shot fired out when most of the minutemen

were leaving.• After a struggle 8 colonists were killed.

Onward to Concord

• British troops get to concord and find no arms.• On the way back to Boston, redcoats are met by

300 minutemen• British troops retreated • By the time they reached Boston 73 redcoats

lost their life.• 200 were wounded or missing• No idea of peace after battles was the thought.

Only war would end the battles