The Road to American
Independence:
An Overview of the Events Leading to the
Revolutionary War
Colonial America
• British rule
• French rule
• and Spanish rule
Mercantilism:
Rules to Live…Trade…by
– The colony exists solely for the economic benefit of
the mother country
– All trade rules and routes are dictated by the mother
country
– Raw materials in the colonies are for the sole benefit
of the mother country
– Finished goods are returned to the colonies and sold
at a great profit.
– Export more than import
– Only let gold and silver (bullion) into the country,
never out of the country
MERCANTILISM:
AN ECONOMIC SYSTEM IN
WHICH NATIONS SEEK TO
INCREASE THEIR WEALTH BY
OBTAINING GOLD & SILVER AND
WITH A FAVORABLE BALANCE OF
TRADE
Navigation Acts (1650-1696)
(Mercantilism and English Law)
*Required colonies to trade primarily with
England, always through England, and always
on English (or English colonial) ships sailed by
English (or English colonial) sailors.
*Set import taxes on goods shipping into
England (for the first time)
*Some colonists resisted the Navigation Act
laws (especially in New England – why?), most
did not –why not?
Beginning in the late 1600’s – France, England, and
Spain competed for European power and colonial
control. These Imperial wars (such as King
William’s War, Queen Anne’s War, King George’s
War) broke out in Europe, and quickly spilled over
into the various (American and Asian) colonies,
sucking their respective colonists (and their
respective native allies) into battle with
colonists from the the other nations.
Some side notes:
• In the wars over control of North
America – Most Indians sided with France
• French believed that British were trying to take
away their fur trade
• British believed that the French were stopping their
expansion westward
As a result of these continuous Imperial
Wars, and the fact that they diverted
England’s attention and resources:
SALUTARY NEGLECT
England imposed little,
to no, political authority, over the
colonies, AS LONG AS they adhered to
Mercantilism and satisfied England’s
needs. Over time, colonists became less
“British” and more “American” in
their attitudes
French and Indian War
1754-1763
Like KW’s War, QA’s War and KG’s War, The French and Indian
War was part of a much bigger European war (Seven Years War)
that soon spilled over into the American (and Asian) colonies, pulling
both French and English colonists and their Native American allies
into the larger conflict between France and England.
“French and and Indian War” is a bit of a mislabel – Native
Americans fought on both the English and French sides in the war,
though more on the French side at first, until the tide of the war
changed, and more native groups flipped to the British side,
anticipating a British win…
3 comments/questions here…
Both the French and the British wanted to control the Ohio River
valley, as well as two rivers, the Allegheny River and the
Monongahela River. These rivers converge in what is today known
as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Controlling this Ohio territory and
these two rivers meant controlling good routes for TRADE: Access
to the Ohio River, and thus, access to the Mississippi River
*Pittsburgh
Young George
Washington of the
Virginia Militia
What is now considered the French and Indian War (though at the time the war
was undeclared), began in November 1753, when the young Virginia militia major, George
Washington, and a number of men headed out into the Ohio region with the mission to
deliver a message demanding that French troops withdraw from the Ohio territory. The
demand was rejected. In 1754, Washington received orders to build a fort near the present
site of Pittsburgh. In May, Washington's troops clashed with local French forces, resulting
in Washington having to surrender the meager fort he had managed to build. The incident
set off a string of small and , for the British and British Colonial forces, disastrous battles.
After a year and a half of undeclared war, the French and the English formally declared
war in May, 1756. For the first three years of the war, the outnumbered (but heavily allied
with Native Americans) French dominated the battlefield, soundly defeating the English in
battles at Fort Oswego and Ticonderoga. Perhaps the most notorious battle of the war was
the French victory at Fort William Henry, which ended in a massacre of British soldiers by
Indians allied with the French.
The tide turned for the British in 1758, as they began to make peace with
important Indian allies and, under the direction of Lord William Pitt (hello –
“Pittsburgh”?) began adapting their war strategies to fit the territory and landscape of the
American frontier. The British had a further stroke of good fortune when the French were
abandoned by many of their Indian allies. Exhausted by years of battle, outnumbered and
outgunned by the British ( and also losing in Europe and Asia), the French collapsed during
the years 1758-59, culminating with a massive defeat at Quebec in September, 1759. By
September 1760, the British controlled all of the North American frontier; the war between
the two countries was effectively over.
Bottom Line:
England won.
Treaty of Paris –
1763 peace treaty
ending the war
1. French lost most of
their North American
territories (kept
islands in West Indies
and off coast of
Newfoundland)
2. England controlled
everything east of the
Mississippi – Spain
controlled everything
west of Mississippi
River
• After the war, English colonists (pioneers) began
expanding west into the Appalachians and Ohio River
Valley “backcountry”
• Conflicts with Native Americans resulted– Indians did
not believe European treaties applied to them and would
not give up their land – ex.: Pontiac’s Rebellion – 1763
• Proclamation of 1763 – British government wanted to
avoid future conflicts with natives:
– 1. Banned British settlers from moving west of the
Appalachians
– 2. Any settlers already there had to move back
• Caused great anger in the colonies and was widely
ignored. Plus, all these conflicts (such as F-I W and P’s
R) had left the British in financial difficulty, looking for
new ways to pay these debts  Tax the colonists!!!
WHAT HAPPENED TO SALUTARY NEGLECT!?!?!
“Mad”
King George III
Sugar Act 1764
• British needed money to pay back war
debts.
• George Grenville – British Prime Minister
• 3 cent tax on foreign sugar.
• Higher import tax on non-British cloth,
coffee, indigo, and Madeira Canary wines.
• Resulted in…
– Banning of importation of foreign rum
and French wine
– Local production increased.
– Colonies begin to protest British
taxation.
– Increased smuggling
No Taxation Without
Representation
• James Otis/Sam Adams – first colonial
leaders to speak out against British taxes
• Parliament could not tax the colonies since
the colonies had no representatives in it.
This was unfair.
• Committees of Correspondence – spread
info about British acts and how to resist
them – Boycotts
Quartering Act 1765
• England kept a standing army in
the Colonies after the French and
Indian War.
• Act required colonial assemblies to
house and provision the British
soldiers.
Stamp Act 1765
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Americans had to pay a tax on…
Paper
Legal Documents
Newspapers
Playing Cards
Other Documents
Americans had to buy the special
stamp to put on these
• Tax equaled half a penny
• Resulted in…
• Stamp Act Congress – asked
England to repeal Stamp Act Declaration of Rights and
Grievances
• Colonists’ boycott of British
goods.
• King George repealed the Stamp
Act on March 18, 1766
• Sons of Liberty – secret
protest group created in
Boston – used violence
to protest British acts –
created by Sam Adams
• Colonists were never
asked to pay any taxes
that people in England
were not paying – British
were paying 25 times
more – Colonists would
have paid an extra dollar
per year.
Stamp Act Protests
Sam Adams
Townshend Acts 1767
•
•
•
•
Established a board of customs collectors
in Boston.
Writs of Assistance – search warrants for
smuggled goods
Money from taxes paid salaries of British
colonial officials.
New import taxes…
– Glass
– Lead
– Paints
– Paper
– Tea
• Colonists boycotted all
imports from England.
• Daughters of Liberty
• March, 1770, repealed all
taxes, expect for tax on tea.
The Regulators
• Western NC was increasingly unhappy with
all political power being held by Eastern
NC – corruption/Embezzlement
• Tryon’s Palace – William Tryon
• Regulators – Westerners who refused to pay
taxes or follow state government’s laws
• Herman Husband
• Battle of Alamance – May 16, 1770 –
Regulators lose
Boston Massacre
• Sons of Liberty began attacking tax collectors –
British soldiers begin arriving in Boston in 1768 to
restore order
• Boston Massacre – March 5, 1770 – five
colonists are killed by British soldiers (Crispus
Attucks – free black – maybe runaway slave)
• Sons of Liberty used this as propaganda (only
telling one side of the story) against British
• John Adams defended the British in court case
• All but two British soldiers found not guilty – the
two get light punishments
Tryon’s Palace
Battle of Alamance
Boston Massacre
John Adams
Tea Act 1773
• Created to save the ailing East
India Company.
• The Company could sell its
surplus tea in the American
colonies.
• The act retained the import tax
on tea (Townshend Acts).
• 3 pennies per pound
• This Tax resulted in the
Boston Tea Party.
The Boston Tea Party
December 16, 1773
• Group of men disguised as
Blacks and Mohawk Indians.
• Led by Samuel Adams.
• Dumped 342 chests of British
tea into the Boston Harbor.
• 3 million dollars damage
Boston Tea Party
INTOLERABLE ACTS (COERCIVE ACTS)
• Intolerable Acts – 1774 – shut down
Boston
• Disbanded Massachusetts legislature
• Put Massachusetts under military rule
• – made colonists even angrier since it
violated their rights as British citizens
• Proposed total boycott of British goods –
(refusal to buy or use)
• NC – Edenton Tea Party – Penelope Barker
“No Taxation Without Representation!”
First Continental Congress Meets in Philadelphia
September 1774
First attempt to unite the colonies to protest British
taxation
Boycott of British goods
No one yet willing to pursue independence