Unit III
1763-1800
Part 1
The Road to Revolution
After The Peace of Paris
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France was no longer a major colonial power
The American colonists wanted to move West
The Americans no longer needed the British for
protection from the French and the Indians
The British extended the policy of extermination
to the Iroquois.
Brits believed that the Iroquois did not do their
fair share during the war
The British were angry with the
American colonists
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During the war Americans refused to fight,
avoided taxes which paid for the war, and
smuggled with the enemy
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British believed it was time for the Americans to
do their fair share for the Empire
British Debt after the War
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Land given to the Brits from the French added
much territory…expensive to maintain
British national debt doubled between 17541763
Cost of administrating the empire 5 times as
high as before the war
Debt fell on the shoulders of the British
taxpayer
The End of Benign Neglect
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New taxes
Enforcement of laws
Note: The taxes were reasonable and just and
were used to pay off the debt incurred by the
British during the French and Indian War
BUT the new taxes will be the spark for the
Revolutionary War
1763
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The end of the French and Indian War
Pontiac’s Rebellion
Proclamation of 1763
The Paxton Boys
The End of Benign Neglect
The West
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Americans believed the end of the Fr. and
Indian War meant opening up the West
The British could not afford it:
Would need more troops to protect the Americans
from the Indians
 Could not afford to administrate in this vast area
 The British Board of Trade would not be able to
curtail colonial manufacturing in the interior of the
country
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The West
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American Fur Traders wanted access to the
West but wanted to deny others
Farmers were always looking for new
land…tobacco exhausted soil
Land Speculators wanted opportunities
Different colonies had boundary disputes
regarding western claims
1758 The Treaty of Easton
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During the war, the British made a treaty with
the Ottawa tribe promising not to allow
settlement west of the Appalachians
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After the war, Americans went West
Pontiac’s Rebellion 1763: The Ottawa Indians
led by Pontiac struck back at the colonists
The Brits sent troops and defeated the Indians
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The Proclamation of 1763
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The British forbade access to the west to the
colonists
Was meant to be temporary
Colonists angry
British offered new settlements in East and
West Florida and in Quebec (but no local
assemblies)
Americans wanted West…not south or north
1763 The Paxton Boys
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Scotch-Irish in mountains of western
Pennsylvania murdered a village of peaceful
Indians and then threatened to burn
Philadelphia to the ground
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Benjamin Franklin talked them down by
promising to get the colonial legislature to put a
bounty on Indian scalps
The End of Benign Neglect
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1763 Mass. Writs of Assistance: general search
warrants enabling customs agents to invade
homes and warehouses to search for smuggled
goods
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The British had cause: colonists smuggled
during the war
BUT American resentment: claimed it was a
violation of their civil liberties
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New Courts to try smugglers
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Eliminated sympathetic colonial juries
BUT under new system judges were corrupt and could
sometimes keep 1/3 of confiscated items
Salaries of colonial governors to be paid by the crown
rather than by colonial legislatures
Customs Service revamped: Royal customs officials
were required to take up their posts. They could not
hire an underling to do the job for them
Customs Officials
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Would no longer accept bribes
Became very unpopular
Brits had to send troops to protect them from
the American colonists
1763 Grenville (Prime Minister)
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Introduced new taxes to pay the war debt
New taxes were the spark for the Revolution
1764 The Sugar Act similar to the old 1733
Molasses Act: Colonists had to pay duties on
sugar and molasses
Colonists objected to this one (1764) because it
was enforced (the other was not) but said they
objected on principle
More taxes
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Taxes on imported European products were doubled
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1765 Mutiny Act said Colonies were required to assist
in provisioning and maintaining British troops (WHY
were the troops there? To protect customs officials
from the Americans!)
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Colonies that resisted would have assemblies dissolved:
Mass in 1767, NY in 1768
Colonial Manufacturing
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Was restricted in ALL British colonies
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1764 Currency Act: required colonies to stop
issuing paper money
This one DID cause hardship: no specie in
colonies, trade imbalance, colonists could not
pay off British creditors, colonists were reduced
to bartering with each other
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1765 The Stamp Act
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The first internal tax in the American colonies
Taxes on paper items produced and sold within
the colonies
Wills, deeds, newspapers, almanacs, cards
Impacted the most verbal element of society:
ministers, newspaper publishers, lawyers
They lived in the city and could organize easily
Had captive audiences
The Stamp Act
There was a real fear that a new series of internal
taxes would follow
 Internal taxes seemed unnatural
 Totally unlike taxes regulating trade
 Import duties were considered Britain’s right;
internal taxes were different
 Everyone else in the empire had been paying
internal taxes all along
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Challenge to the Stamp Act
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Patrick Henry in the Va. House of Burgesses:
denied the right of Parliament to levy internal
taxes
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James Otis in Mass. Colonial assembly called for
an intercontinental congress to act against the
tax
Cited John Locke: Property ought not to be
taken from a man without his consent…
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Taxation without Representation
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Was the least important reason for the
revolution
As far as the British were concerned, the
colonists WERE represented…in the House of
Commons just like the rest of the empire
Taxes were justified…The Brits spent big bucks
protecting the colonists
The Stamp Act Congress
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The very first sign of colonial unification
Representatives from 9 colonies met
They petitioned the King and Parliament for
relief
Pledged loyalty but claimed that the colonists
should be taxed only by their own assemblies
Colonial Action
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When the ships carrying the stamps showed up
in NY harbor…
….All vessels in port lowered their colors in
protest
Some stamps were burned
All universally barred
Business at a standstill for days
Sons of Liberty
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Created by Sam Adams
Terrorized customs agents, burned stamps,
incited riots…especially in Boston
Organized a boycott of British goods
Used much intimidation
Merchants (American and British) suffered
Non-importation Agreement
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Boycott was a huge success
1766 Stamp Act was repealed
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BUT 1767 Declaratory Act: said that England
had the right to bind the colonies in all cases
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Brits believed the colonists: that they objected
to the Stamp Act because it was an internal tax
So…
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1767 Charles Townshend (Chancellor of the
Exchequer) introduced…
The Townshend Acts: New taxes on “luxury”
goods imported from England: Lead, paint,
paper, tea
Purpose to pay off the British debt
To replace the Stamp Act with “acceptable”
taxes
Violations of the Townshend Acts
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Trials to be held in England without juries
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BY THIS TIME colonists were objecting to
England’s right to tax them at all
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John Dickenson wrote “Letters from a Farmer
in Penn. to the Inhabitants of the British
Colonies in North America” convincing the
Americans that the Brits had no right to tax
them at all!
Another Colonial Boycott of British
goods
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Circular Letter from the Mass. Assembly to the
other colonies urged all to resist all British taxes
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Brits were made aware of the Circular Letter and
sent one of their own saying that colonies
supporting the resistance would have their
assemblies dissolved
The French and Indian War
Revealed that closer colonial cooperation was
needed to solve common problems
1767 Charles Townshend died
suddenly!
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Lord North (Prime Minister) repealed
Townshend Acts
North was sympathetic to colonists
Wanted to mend relations so no new taxes
All was quiet for three years and then…
1770 The Boston Massacre
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Since Americans continued to harass British
Customs Officials (because they would not be
bribed) More British soldiers were sent here to
keep order
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Soldiers were not paid well so they sometimes
looked for part-time jobs to make ends meet
Colonists resented this THEY wanted the jobs!
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What Happened?
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A few British soldiers were walking toward a
factory to look for work
A colonial mob began jeering and pelting them
with snowballs
Mob grew
More soldiers came to protect job seekers
Lots of name-calling, chaos
British commander yelled, “Hold your fire!”
It was noisy…
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The soldiers only heard, “Fire!” and they did
Five were killed
Colonists called it a “Massacre”
Paul Revere, a silversmith, did an etching
making it LOOK like a massacre
Soldiers were defended by John Adams who
thought that the only way the soldiers would get
a fair trial in front of a colonial jury would be if
he personally defended them
The Verdict
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A colonial jury found three of the soldiers
innocent and two guilty of manslaughter
(accidental death) and the two were branded on
the thumb.
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So…was calling the incident “a massacre” an
exaggeration?
1772 The Gaspee Incident
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A British Revenue ship was chasing suspected
smugglers along the Delaware River
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A group of Rhode Islanders caught up with the
British ship, put the captain and crew on a rock
in the middle of the river, and burned the ship
1772 Committees of Correspondence
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Sam Adams Organized it
Patrick Henry and other joined
John Hancock bankrolled the troublemakers
It was a loose network to publish grievances and
coordinate activities of colonists resisting British
rule
The Boston Tea Party (late 1773)
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Began a chain of events leading directly to the
Revolutionary War
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When the Townshend Acts were repealed, the
tax on tea remained
The East India Tea Co. was in trouble:
mismanagement, shrinking American market
(due to smugglers)
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East India Tea Co.
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The company was relieved of its taxes at home
and was given a monopoly of the American tea
trade
AND the Company could sell the tea
directly…eliminating the middleman saved $
This was done to save the corporation (a
bailout)
American objections
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Americans objected to the tax on tea and to the
monopoly of their business
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BUT even with the tax the tea was 75% cheaper
than it had ever been before!
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If the colonists bought the tea, it meant that
they accepted the tax and the monopoly of their
tea trade
The Tea Party
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The EITC sent 4 ships to America: Boston,
NY, Philly, Charleston
At Charleston, the tea was loaded into a
warehouse and the warehouse was locked
up…no tea was sold
At NY and Philly, the ships were not allowed to
dock and were turned away
Boston
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In Boston, 3 groups of 50 colonists (Sons of
Liberty) dressed up like Mohawk Indians and
dumped the tea into the harbor.
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Vandalism. The tea was valuable and no one
was forcing the colonists to buy it
Mercy Otis Warren formed the Daughters of
Liberty. Pushed coffee, pamphlets, etc
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The Brits could not let this one slide
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What really irked the Brits was their certainty
that no colonial jury would convict the tea
dumpers
The Intolerable Acts
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aka The Coercive Acts
An effort by the British to make the punishment
fit the crime
The Brits really thought the other colonies
would see the fairness of it…NOT
The Intolerable Acts (1774)
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The Boston Port Act: The port would be closed
until the tea was paid for
The Administration of Justice Act: British
officials accused of crimes would be tried in
England and troops could be quartered
anywhere in Mass.
The Mass. Government Act: Assembly would
be appointed-not elected and Town meetings to
be held only once a year.
The Quebec Act
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As far as the Brits were concerned the Quebec
Act had nothing to do with the American
colonies
Americans believed the Quebec Act was part of
the Intolerable Acts
French in Quebec could practice their own religion
 French in Quebec could continue using their own
legal systems
 Quebec boundary extended to the Ohio River
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1774 Virginia assembly called for a
Continental Congress
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In Philadelphia September 1774
12 colonies represented (not Georgia)
Listed Grievances
Petitioned the king for relief
Boycott British goods
Continental Association to enforce boycott
Demanded a repeal of all oppressive legislation since
1763 (colonial objections were escalating)
Agreed to meet again
The Americans wanted the British to
recognize American “rights”
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Volunteer armies set up in every colony
Planters armed workers and drilled them at their
own expense
The Quaker Blues
Towns ordered to stockpile weapons and ammo
The Revolution may not have
happened if…
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…the British had adopted a policy similar to
what she later adopted with Canada and
Australia…Commonwealth status
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The Brits didn’t get it. No member of
Parliament had ever visited the colonies 16071776
Lord North’s offer
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North offered the colonists the Resolution on
Conciliation: Any colony willing to pay for its
own administration and defense would be free
of all taxes
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Not one colony responded
Think
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First the colonists objected only to “internal
taxes”…after the Stamp Act (1765)
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Then colonists objected to Britain's right to tax
us at all (after the Townsend Acts (1767) and
John Dickenson’s “Letters…”
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Then (1774) the First Continental Congress
claimed the British could not legislate for us!
Wanted an end to all “oppressive” legislation
since 1763! (the end of Benign Neglect)
Think Again
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Were the British actions and laws reasonable?
Were Americans asked to do more than any
other part of the British Empire? Why did the
Brits need money? (Why did they HAVE a
debt?)
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Were American actions reasonable or were they
overreactions?...Boycotts, Tea Party, calling the
Boston Massacre a “massacre,” calling the Acts
of 1774 “Intolerable” or “Coersive”
Was the War caused by
political issues or
economic issues?
Was there EVER an objection to the
amount of the tax?