Alan Brinkley,
AMERICAN HISTORY 13/e
Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition
Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition

I. Loosening Ties


Mid-18th century – colonists liked the British b/c they left
them alone and allowed freedoms (salutary neglect)
1760s-1770s – changes in international & domestic affairs
led England to increase control over the colonies
– A Tradition of Neglect
 Growing Power of Parliament – they didn’t care as much to have a lot
of power over the colonies
 Decentralized Colonial Administration – they were corrupt; didn’t care
about policy, so allowed legislature to rule
 Powerful Colonial Legislatures – took over duties of taxing, spending;
thought of themselves as sovereign
2
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition

I. Loosening Ties
– The Colonies Divided
 Albany Plan of Union (1754) – Benjamin
Franklin tried to unite colonies against a
common foe (French/Indians) for the war
 Colonies refused
From the
Pennsylvania
Gazette, 1754
3
Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition

II. The Struggle for the Continent
 An Uneasy Balance of Power
 France & Britain
Name of Conflict
fought over Atlantic
supremacy over trade King William’s War
and naval power
- Resulted in many wars Queen Anne’s War
Date of Conflict
1689-1697
1701-1713
King George’s War 1744-1748
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Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition

II. The Struggle for the Continent
– New France and the Iroquois Nation
 New Sources of Conflict – Ohio Valley
 French had good relations with Indians, except the
Iroquois (largest Indian nation)
 The Iroquois Confederacy – after King George’s War,
they granted trade concessions to England
 Upset French, who began to build forts
5
Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition

II. The Struggle for the Continent
– English-French Conflicts
 English created own forts
 Fort Necessity (Fort Duquesne)
 Area near present-day Pittsburgh,
fought over by French and English (led
by George Washington)
 G.W. defeated, begins French and
Indian War
6
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Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition

II. The Struggle for the Continent
– French and Indian War (Seven Years’ War)
 Gen. Edward Braddock defeated due to little help from
England or Iroquois
 P.M. William Pitt Takes Charge
 Used forced enlistment, impressments, & confiscation
of goods w/o payments to support war efforts
 Caused colonial resistance
 British siege of Quebec – beginning of the end
 Peace of Paris – ended war, all of North America east of
MS River (except New Orleans) now British
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Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition

II. The Struggle for the Continent
– French and Indian War (Seven Years’ War)
 Consequences of the Seven Years’ War
 United colonists against a common foe
 Resisted British interference in local affairs
 American militia, who fought with the English, began
to notice stark differences between them
 Indians receive British enmity; now Iroquois
confederacy unravels
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Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition
The Seven Years’ War
9
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Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition

III. The New Imperialism
– Burdens of Empire
 Commercial Versus Territorial Imperialists
 Now British government wants more control over colonial affairs
 Ended salutary neglect
 Britain’s Staggering War Debt
 Major debt from war; British taxes already high, so they began to
tax the colonies
 George III’s Shortcomings
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 Wanted to be an involved monarch, but had mental problems and
was immature
 Appointed ministry with George Grenville
 He believed colonies should obey the law and pay their fair
share
Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition
King George III
The Thirteen Colonies in 1763
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Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition

III. The New Imperialism
– The British and the Tribes
 Proclamation of 1763
 Pontiac’s Rebellion – an attempt by Indians to stem
the tide of westward migration
 Result – proclamation (by Grenville) stating no
colonists could move west of Appalachians
 White Encroachment – Indians happy, but colonists
ignore and still move past the line
12
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Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition
North America in 1763
13
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition

III. The New Imperialism
– Grenville’s Program
 Quartering Act – stationing troops and ships in the
colonies
 Sugar Act – reorganized duties on sugar and molasses
 Vice-admiralty court established in colonies
 Currency Act – stopped the use of paper currency
 Stamp Act – tax on all printed documents
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© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition

III. The New Imperialism
– The Colonial Response
 It did collect revenue, but also increased anger in
colonists
 Anxiety increased due to a postwar depression; more
taxes made life harder for colonists
 Paxton Boys and Regulator Movement did move attention
away from the British policies for a little while
 Political Consequences of the Grenville Program –
stirrings of revolt
15
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition

IV. Stirrings of Revolt
– The Stamp Act Crisis
 Effects of the Stamp Act
 Focused colonial antagonism to, and unification against, new
British policies
 Virginia Resolves (Patrick Henry)
 Only representative assemblies could tax colonists
 Sons of Liberty (MA)
 Encouraged mob action & sacked Lt. Gov. Thomas Hutchinson’s
house
 Parliament Retreats
 Rescinds Stamp Act; adds Declaratory Act simultaneously
16
The Tory’s Day of Judgment
(Library of Congress)
17
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Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition

IV. Stirrings of Revolt
– The Townshend Program (Charles Townshend took control
of British gov’t)
 Mutiny (Quartering) Act
 Since colonists refused to follow it, Townshend suspended the
New York Assembly until they followed them (NY=scapegoat)
 Internal and External Taxes – new taxes on lead, paint,
paper, glass, and tea;
 Colonists upset b/c they felt it was an internal tax; Townshend
blew it off; said it was external, so they should like it
 Colonial Boycotts
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 MA urged all colonies to resist all taxes
 Promoted American production (all homespun – Daughters of
Liberty)
 Result – all duties repealed, except on tea
Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition

IV. Stirrings of Revolt
– The Boston Massacre
 Troops sent to Boston to protect Board of Customs
Commissioners
 Upset Bostonians b/c British troops competing with
them for scarce jobs
 March 1770 – mob harassed British troops, troops fire on
mob, 5 killed (1st casualty of American Revolution =
Crispus Attucks)
 Result – Samuel Adams created and led Committee of
Correspondence; used propaganda
 Meant to communicate to all colonies
19
The Boston Massacre
(Library of Congress)
20
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
IV. Stirrings of Revolt
– The Philosophy of Revolt
 Took ideas from both Puritan ideology and Whig ideology
 England’s Balanced Constitution
 The colonists liked England’s power distribution; felt it would
avoid corruption and tyranny
 Didn’t want a single power; felt it was corrupt (e.g., King George
III)
 Virtual Versus Actual Representation
21
 Colonists felt they could be taxed only by their consent as
expressed through direct representatives
 Rejected virtual representation – Parliament legislating for the
nation as a whole
 Advocated active representation – legislation by a body of their
peers directly accountable to them
Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition

IV. Stirrings of Revolt
– The Tea Excitement
 Revolutionary Discourse – calm in the colonies, but still
talks of revolution
 The Tea Act – allowed British East India Company to sell
tea to colonies w/o duties; colonists upset b/c it set up a
tea monopoly
 Boston Tea Party – March 1773
 Response to Tea Act; Sons of Liberty “Dump the Tea
into the Sea!”
 Set off other retaliatory actions in both England and
the colonies
22
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition

IV. Stirrings of Revolt
– The Tea Excitement
 Coercive Acts – aka the Intolerable Acts (as dubbed by
colonists)




Closed port of Boston
Limited MA self-governing
Required quartering of troops
Royal officials were tried in England
 Consequences
 With the Coercive Acts and the Quebec Act, the colonists felt
England was being tyrannical
 The colonists unified their resistance to these actions by passing
resolves and boycotting goods
23
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition

V. Cooperation and War
– New Sources of Authority
 First Continental Congress
 Endorsed grievances
 Approved Suffolk Resolves (recommended military
preparation to defend against the British)
 Enforced boycotts
 The Conciliatory Propositions
 Britain rescinded Coercive Acts; tried to appeal to
colonial moderates (to no avail)
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© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition

V. Cooperation and War
– Lexington and Concord
 General Thomas Gage sent troops to Lexington
and Concord in April of 1775
 Sent to arrest Samuel Adams and John
Hancock and seize gunpowder
 Alerted by Paul Revere and William Dawes,
minutemen resisted; 8 were killed
25
© 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition

V. Cooperation and War
– The Revolution Begins
 British troops burned what little powder they
found
 Attached by minutemen as they returned to
Boston
 “Colonial” version of events at Lexington and
Concord rallied Americans to a patriot cause
 Now most colonists see the clear difference
between Americans and the English
26
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Chapter Four:
The Empire in Transition
The Battles of Lexington and Concord, 1775
27
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Recruiting Poster
28
(Library of Congress)
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SOURCE 2:
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