Chapter 5
 British tried to get more money from the colonies
through two main tactics:
 1-actually enforcing their mercantilist laws and taxes on
shipping and imports
 2-passing taxes on the colonists themselves (not on
imports)
 Efforts to enforce mercantilist laws:
 Admiralty Courts
 Accused presumed guilty until proven innocent
 Trials held in Novia Scotia (Canada) not in the colonies
 Writs of Assistance
 Customs officials could search warehouses, ships, houses
without a warrant
 New Taxes passed on the colonists: Lord Grenville
 1764-Sugar Act—tax on imported sugar
 James Otis—no taxation without representation in
Parliament
 Legislation vs taxation
 1765-Quartering Act
 Colonies had to help pay for the cost of housing/feeding
British soldiers
 1765-Stamp Act—tax on official paper documents
 Not a tax on imports, a tax on colonists themselves
 Stamp Act Congress 1765 (9 colonies met)
 Non-Importation Agreement—wouldn’t buy British goods
 Taxation through representatives only
 Statement of rights and grievances
 1767-Townshend Acts
 Stamp Act repealed
 Other taxes on imports increased (paint, led, nails, tea)
 Non-importation agreements not as effective
 Customs officials in Boston attacked—Sons of Liberty
 Soldiers sent to protect them—Boston Massacre 1770
 Boston Massacre 1770
 Townshend Acts abandoned, except one. . .
 Tea Act 1773—beginning of the chain of events that led
directly to the beginning of the Revolution
 Colonists refused to allow importation of tea—that way
no taxes would be paid
 Ships stuck in Boston Harbor
 Boston Tea Party—December 1773
 Repercussions to Tea Party
 Coercive Acts 1774
 Port of Boston closed
 Massachusetts assembly shut down
 New Quartering Act (soldiers in homes)
 British soldiers tried in England not Boston
 (Quebec Act)
 1st Continental Congress 1774
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Met in response to the Coercive Acts
12 of 13 colonies attended (all except Georgia)
Non-importation agreement
Communication among the colonies
Stockpiling of weapons and ammunition in case of war
 Lexington and Concord 1775
 Massachusetts government (in hiding) began to stockpile weapons
in Lexington and Concord
 British went to seize weapons and colonial leaders
 Colonists attacked them
 Beginning of the Revolutionary War
 2nd Continental Congress called in response to Lexington and
Concord 1775
 Functioned as the government of the 13 colonies(states) throughout
the war
 American Advantages
 Defending instead of attacking
 Highly motivated
 Could possibly get help from Britain’s enemies
 Geographically isolated
 Britain’s Advantages
 Highly trained/disciplined army and navy
 Massive financial resources
 Many Americans were still loyal to the British govt.
 Still not clear what was happening, war, independence,
revolution?
 2nd Continental Congress made George Washington head
of the Continental Army
 Bunker Hill June 1775
 Major British casualties—no turning back point
 George III proclaimed the colonies in open rebellion
 Common Sense-1776
 By Thomas Paine convinced many to seek independence
 Declaration of Independence July 1776
 Influenced by the ideas of John Locke
 Colonies no longer, now the 13 states, United States began
 Support for the Revolution was not universal inside the colonies
 Patriots/Whigs—supported the Revolution
 Loyalists/Tories—supported the British Government
 Largest group of people were indifferent to the Revolution—didn’t
pick one side or the other
 Who were the loyalists?
 Wealthy who didn’t want to risk their property (not always)
 Recent immigrants from Britain (not always)
 British soldiers who settled in America after the French and Indian
War (not always)
 Religious minorities who felt gratitude towards the British
government for protecting their rights
 African American loyalists
 Promised freedom by the British—some got it some didn’t
 Native American loyalists
 5 of the seven nations of the Iroquois confederacy remained loyal
 Status after the War
 American forces faced numerous setbacks in the early
days of the war
 Defeated at Long Island/New York 1776
 Lost control of Philadelphia 1777
 Forced to flee to Valley Forge for the winter of 1777
 A few exceptions
 Trenton/Princeton winter of 1776—American victories
 Battle of Saratoga significantly changed the course of
the war
 British army under General Johnny Burgoyne
surrounded in upstate New York (near Saratoga)
 Americans forced the British to surrender—major
victory
 Significant: convinced the French to formally enter the
war on the American side—1778
 Others soon joined
 Spain, Netherlands 1779
 After Saratoga the British retreated back to New York
City—hemmed in by Washington and the Continental
Army
 British attention shifted to the South
 More loyalists there
 Gain control of the South, divide the colonies, finish off
Washington in the North later
 Early British successes
 British conquest of Georgia 1778-1779
 Capture of Charleston (worst US defeat until WWII)
 Americans strike back
 Nathaniel Greene (from RI) the fighting Quaker
 Americans win several minor battles against the British
 British retreat to Yorktown Peninsula in Virginia to
rest/recover
 Yorktown 1781
 British thought the sea would protect them, why?
 British navy defeated by the French at the Battle of the
Chesapeake 1781
 Washington and French Army under command of
Rochambeau snuck south to Yorktown
 British surrounded and defeated, surrendered fall 1781
 Last major battle of the war, war continued for 2 more years
but it was clear that the US would win independence
 Battles in the “West” (Upstate NY, Midwest)
 Iroquois (British allies) defeated-1779
 George Rogers Clark captured the west 1778-1779
 13 colonies achieved independence: United States formally
recognized by Britain
 In addition to the territory of the 13 colonies Britain gave
the United states the eastern half of the Louisiana territory
that it had taken from France after the French and Indian
War in 1763
 Spain regained Florida from the British
 United States government was to recommend that the
states reimburse loyalists for their lost property, stop
persecuting loyalists, and repay British merchants for
goods confiscated/destroyed during the war
 Persecution of loyalists stopped, but repayment often did not
 Often people think of the American Revolution as
patriotic Americans trying to fight for democracy
against a tyrannical British king, how is this
description accurate and inaccurate?
 What explains how a disunited and relatively
disorganized United States was able to defeat the
British Empire—the most powerful Empire in the
world during that time?