Toward Revolution
England and Her
Colonies
- The Great War for
Empire
- Colonists in the War
Regulation of Colonies
- Taxes, taxes, taxes!
Ideas of Revolution
The Shot Heard
'round the World
England and the Colonies
Decentralized
government.
Parliament and Prime
Minister
King George III – less
and less control.
Wars in North America
King William's War –
1689-1697
Queen Anne's War –
1702-1713
Iroquois Confederacy
French and Indian War – 1754 1763
British-controlled
Atlantic coast.
French-controlled MidWest and Canada.
Dispute over Ohio
Valley
English Reaction
George Washington led
expedition.
Fort Necessity
Fort Necessity
World War Begins
1757 – William Pitt as
PM
War Expands
1758 – British ally with Prussia.
War throughout central Europe.
European and N. Am Theaters
End of War
1763 – Treaty of Paris
Massive debt for
England.
Native Americans
• French immediately try to • British also try to ally.
ally.
• 1761 – suspension of
trade.
North American Colonists
Impressment of
American colonists.
Creation of American
“self”
Increased regulation
after the war.
England and Empire
George III – More
control over colonies.
Sugar Act – 1764
Currency Act – 1764
Stamp Act – 1764
Mutiny (or Quartering)
Act - 1765
Taxation: The American POV
Virginia Stamp Act
Resolution
Stamp Act Resolution
Resolved, that the first . . . settlers of His
Majesty's colony and dominion of Virginia
brought with them . . . all the liberties, privileges
. . . and immunities . . . possessed by the people
of Great Britain.
Stamp Act Resolution
Resolved, that the taxation of the people by
themselves, or by persons chosen by
themselves to represent them . . . and [who]
must themselves be affected by every tax laid
on the people, . . . is the [right of British
citizens].
Stamp Act Resolution
Resolved, therefor that the General Assembly of
this Colony have the only and exclusive Right
and Power to lay Taxes and Impositions upon
the inhabitants of this Colony
Oct. 1765 – Stamp Act
Congress
Stamp Act repealed in
March. 1766.
English Response
Charles Townshend –
Townshend Duties
Revenue Act – 1767
American Customs
Board
Boston, 1770
March 5, 1770 – Cpt.
William Preston.
Massacre of colonists?
Cpt. Preston Account of Shooting
On Monday night about 8 o'clock two soldiers
were attacked and beat. . . . About 9 some of
the guard came to and informed me the town
inhabitants were assembling to attack the troops
...
In a few minutes after I reached the guard, about
100 people . . . went towards the custom house
where the king's money is lodged. They
immediately surrounded the sentry posted there,
and with clubs and other weapons threatened to
execute their vengeance on him.
Cpt. Preston Account of Shooting
On Monday night about 8 o'clock two soldiers
were attacked and beat. . . . About 9 some of
the guard came to and informed me the town
inhabitants were assembling to attack the troops
...
In a few minutes after I reached the guard, about
100 people . . . went towards the custom house
where the king's money is lodged. They
immediately surrounded the sentry posted there,
and with clubs and other weapons threatened to
execute their vengeance on him.
I immediately sent a non-commissioned officer
and 12 men to protect both the sentry and the
king's money, and very soon followed myself to
prevent, if possible, all disorder . . . Nay, so far
was I from intending the death of any person
that I [told] the troops to go to the spot where
the [shooting] took place without any loading in
their [weapons]; nor did I ever give orders for
loading them.
“The Bloody Massacre”
Boston Again
May 1773 – Benefit to English East India
Company.
Dec. 1773 – Boston Tea Party
Coercive or Intolerable Acts, 1774
Closes the Port of
Boston
Fined MA government.
Royal soldiers
throughout Boston.
Taxes: English POV
English Government

King

Parliament

Commoners
Virtual Representation
v.
Actual Representation
Enlightenment Thinkers



John Locke
Second Treatise on
Government (1689)
An Essay Concerning
Human
Understanding
(1690).
Second Treatise
There is [a way] whereby . . . a government may
be dissolved, and that is this; When he who has
the supreme executive power neglects and
abandons [his duty]. . .
In these and the like cases, when the government
is dissolved, the people are at liberty to provide
for themselves . . a new [government]
Second Treatise
. . . a revolution happen[s] not [because of] every
little mismanagement in public affairs. Many
wrong and inconvenient laws. . . will be born by
the people without mutiny. . .
But if a long train of abuses . . . all tending the
same way make the design [of abuse] visible to
the people . . . they should [rouse] themselves. .
. to put the rule [in new hands].
Essay Concerning Human
Understanding
If we will attentively consider new born children,
we shall have little reason to think that they
bring many ideas into the world with them . . .
. . . by degrees afterward, ideas come into their
minds.
*** Tabula Rasa
The Public House
Taverns are common.
Mixing of groups.
Organization of Patriot
groups.
Fraunces Tavern, NY
Liberty Pole in NY, 1770
First Continental Congress
Reject colonial union under
British control.
Prepare for military
response
Official message to
King.
Meet again.
The British are Coming!
Tomas Gage in Boston
April 18, 1775 - Concord
April 19 - Lexington
Sources
Calloway, Colin G., The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation
of North America
Carp, Benjamin L., Rebels Rising: Cities and the American Revolution
Ferling, John, Independence: The Struggle to Set America Free
McCoullough, David, 1776