Ch. 7
Road to Revolution
AP U.S. History
Ch. 7 – Road to Revolution
• "Salutary Neglect" (beginning about 1713)
• Between 1713 - 1763 American colonials saw reduced
govt intervention in colonial affairs.
– 13 separate colonial governments emerged; often
undermined authority of Parliament.
– Americans became used to regulating their own
affairs without significant interference.
– Smuggling became rampant as British policy
(Navigation Laws) became lax in 18th century.
Road to Revolution
• Mercantilist System
• Mercantilism: Colonies existed for the benefit of the mother country;
allow empire to become wealthy & self-sufficient.
– Ensure British naval supremacy by providing ships, ships' stores,
sailors and trade.
– Provide raw materials: tobacco, indigo, lumber, fish, etc.
– Provide a large consumer market for British goods.
– Keep gold & silver (bullion) in the empire through economic selfsufficiency.
• Britain would not need purchase good from foreign countries.
• Navigation Laws
– Purpose: enforce the mercantilist system.
– Restricted commerce to and from the colonies to English or
American vessels.
– Certain "enumerated" articles like tobacco couldn’t be shipped
to any other foreign market except England, despite higher prices
in other markets.
– All European goods going to America had to go through England
first.
Road to Revolution
• End of "salutary neglect"
– The year 1763 marked a new era in
relations between England and the
colonies.
– George Grenville new Prime Minister,
sought to enforce Navigation Acts.
– British debt from the Seven Years' War
was enormous.
• Half the debt due to protection of the
colonies
• British thought colonists should pay
1/3 of cost to maintain 10,000 British
soldiers to protect against Indian
uprisings.
• King George III
– Extremely stubborn, sought to exercise
increased control over colonies.
– Infuriated colonials when he prohibited
expansion west of Applachain Mtns w/
Proclamation of 1763.
Road to Revolution
• Sugar Act (1764)
– First act ever passed specifically that raised revenue
for the crown.
– Aimed to regulate the illegal triangular trade by
collecting duties that colonists had not paid for years.
• Quartering Act (1765)
– Certain colonies required to provide food & quarters
for British troops.
– Some colonial assemblies refused to cooperate.
Road to Revolution
• Stamp Act (1765)
– Purpose: Raise revenue to support new military force
in colonies.
– English parliament imposed tax on all documents and
printed items sold in American colonies. Stamp was
placed on items to prove tax had been paid.
– Both Sugar & Stamp Acts tried offenders in admiralty
courts by a single judge, not a jury sympathetic to
colonists.
– Grenville’s view:
• Stamp Act was reasonable and just.
• Only required colonials to pay their fair share for colonial
defense.
• Stamp Act in Britain had been much heavier and in effect for
2 generations.
Road to Revolution
• Stamp Act Congress (1765)
– Angry colonists & merchants agreed to
on Non-importation agreements against
British goods (boycott).
– Sons of Liberty led by Samuel
Adams violently enforced nonimportation agreements against
violators; (tarring & feathering).
– Houses of pro-British officials were
vandalized, theft occurred, warehouses
where stamps were stored were
destroyed.
– All stamp act agents forced to resign;
no one risked selling stamps.
– “No taxation without representation”
became a rallying cry throughout
colonies.
– Stamp Act repealed in 1766.
Tar and Feathering
Road to Revolution
• Townshend Acts (1767)
– Charles Townshend took control of
Parliament and sought to punish the
colonies for Stamp Act uprising.
– Taxed goods imported into the colony
from Britain, such as lead, glass, paint,
paper. Also taxed tea, the most popular
drink in the colonies.
– Revenues from taxes to pay salaries of
royal governors and judges
– Non-importation agreements pinched
British manufacturers.
– Townshend Acts repealed in 1770
– Three-pence tax on tea remained to
demonstrate Parliament's right to tax.
• Taxed tea still cost less than
smuggled tea.
Road to Revolution
• Boston Massacre
(1770)
– Angry colonists
taunted British
soldiers. British fired,
killed five colonists.
Sons of Liberty made
sure depictions of
massacre (grossly
exaggerated) printed
in newspapers
throughout the
colonies.
– Used as anti-British
propaganda.
Road to Revolution
• Committees of
Correspondence
(1772-1773)
– Purpose: Warn
neighboring colonies
about incidents with
GB and broaden
resistance movement
through the
interchange of letters.
– Samuel Adams &
Sons of Liberty used
propaganda to whip
up colonial
resentment.
Road to Revolution
• Boston Tea Party (1773)
– Protesting the tea tax, the Sons of Liberty
dressed as “Indians” & dumped 18,000 lbs. of
British tea into Boston harbor.
Road to Revolution
• The Intolerable or Coercive Acts (1774)
• King George III tightened control over colonies in response
to American actions.
– Boston Port Act - closed Boston Harbor until damages
paid and order restored.
– Enforcing officials who killed colonists could now be tried
in England instead of the colonies (thereby avoiding
colonial justice).
– Quartering Act: Provided for the quartering of troops once
again in Boston.
Road to Revolution
• Quebec Act (1774) -- coincidentally
accompanied "Intolerable Acts"; not
intended to punish the colonies
– French in Canada were guaranteed right
to practice Catholicism.
– Quebec territory was extended down to
the Ohio river, next to NY & PA.
– French allowed to keep old customs and
institutions which did not include a
representative assembly or trial by jury in
civil cases.
– Colonial reaction:
• Viewed act as insidious attempt to
create a new French Canadian &
Indian threat in the Ohio Valley region.
• Anti-Catholic sentiment arose; seen
as an attack on Protestantism.
Road to Revolution
• First Continental Congress (1774)
• Formed by colonial leaders in response to Intolerable
Acts.
– Drew up declaration of colonial rights known as
Suffolk Resolves:
• Urged colonies to organize militia for defensive
purposes.
• Called on colonies to suspend all trade with rest
of British empire.
• Urged citizens not to pay taxes.
• Main purpose: Petition for redress of grievances
(Declaration and Resolves)
– Gave colonists the legal right to assemble in order
to seek redress.
– Yet, Congress restated allegiance to the King.
– No real desire to independent; merely wanted
grievances redressed.
– King and Parliament did not respond to Declaration
and Resolves.
– Would have recognized Congress’ right as a
legislative body.
Road to Revolution
• Fighting at Lexington & Concord (April
1775)
– GB General Gage & British troops marched toward
Concord, Massachusetts to seize illegal weapons
stockpiled by colonists. Also intended to arrest
leaders of rebellion (Sam Adams & John Hancock).
– April 18, 1775 - Paul Revere & others rode out to
spread the word that British were coming.
– British soldiers fought w/ colonial militia at
Lexington & Concord. Began when Minutemen
refused to disperse on the Lexington Green and
shots were fired.
– Concord -- British forced to retreat by American
reinforcements.
• Militia picked-off British soldiers as they retreated to
Boston.
• By day’s end, 273 British casualties; 95 American
casualties.
• Minutemen encamped outside the city and lay siege
to Boston.
– First battles of the American Revolution.
The Shot Heard ’Round the World!
Lexington & Concord – April 18,1775
Road to Revolution
• Second Continental
Congress (1775)
– Colonial leaders met
again in May 1775.
Agreed to recognize
colonial militia as the
Continental Army &
appointed George
Washington as its
commander
American Strengths
• Outstanding leadership (George Washington;
Benjamin Franklin [diplomat])
• Economic aid from France at the outset; later
military aid was decisive.
• Defensive military tactics worked to their
advantage
• Agriculturally self-sustaining
• Colonials were competent marksmen; better
than the redcoats
• Moral advantage from belief in a just cause
American Weaknesses
• Badly organized for the war, lacked unity from the
beginning
• Continental Congress was weak and ineffective
– Fought almost the entire war without a constitution
• Jealousy among colonies
– Regarded themselves as sovereign, resisted Congress' to
exercise its weak power
– Quarrels over the appointment of military leaders
• Economic difficulties
– Little metal money, paper money was nearly worthless
• Only a select minority of Americans truly committed
themselves to the cause (1/3 Patriots).
British Strengths
• Population favored Britain: 7.5 million to 2.5 for the
colonies
• Superior monetary advantage and best navy in the world
• 20,000 slaves in Carolinas and Georgia joined British
– British promised slaves freedom if they fought on their side
– Many fled with the British after the war and left the country
• Many Indians also sided with Britain and attacked
Americans along the frontier
– British represented last hope for keeping land-hungry colonists
out
• Britain possessed a 50,000 man professional army
– King George hired an additional 30,000 German "Hessians" as
mercenaries.
• British also enlisted about 50,000 loyalists
British Weaknesses
• Enormous distance from England to the Colonies
– Communication was inefficient to meet the need for immediate
action
• America too large a region for Britain’s army to
effectively occupy; population was too dispersed
• British generals in America were poor leaders
• Many British soldiers did not want to kill Americans,
whom they saw as their countrymen
• Provisions for the army were poor
• France was waiting for an opportunity to exact revenge
• London govt was ineffective; King George & Lord North
inadequate
– Whig factions in Parliament cheered American victories at the
outset