Imperial Reform (1763-1765)
● War => Imperial Reform
The Legacy of War
● Strained ties between colonies and Britain, hostility between colonists and soldiers
Disputes over Trade and Troops
● Theory: absolute royal governors, reality: with assemblies
● Revenue Act (1762) enforced trade duties
● Seized ships from colonies bringing food to French West Indies
● 10,000 army in colonies in peace (French or NA rebellion?)
● Secure dependence of colonies on Britain
The National Debt
● 130 million pounds debt, 60% of which was war budget
● Higher taxes (but not on land because that would only affect the rich and powerful) on imports and sales tax in Britain
● Double tax bureaucracy
● Punishments for smugglers
● More government, more taxes in Great Britain
● Wanted representation for all classes, no more rotten boroughs, higher representation for cities
George Grenville: Imperial Reformer
● Tax colonies?
● Currency Act y1764: no paper money (so merchants would be paid in full amounts)
The Sugar Act
● 1764 replaced ignored Molasses Act of 1733
● Customs enforcers
● Equivalent of $5 per gallon tax on molasses
● Smuggling
Constitutional Conflict
● “Taxes should originate from people”
● Merchants tried by harsh vice admiralty courts
● “Equality of colonies and homeland”
● End of salutary neglect
● “No taxation without representation”
● Limited colonial rights
An Open Challenge to the Stamp Act
● 1765 keep troops in America
● On printed items
● Pay tax or pay for troops
● No continental union
● Virtual representation because noble planters
● Quartering Act: colonists had to put up soldiers
● Vice admiralty courts
The Dynamics of Rebellion
● Patriots vs Townshend
Political Protest and the Crowd Rebels

● Patrick Henry and James Otis called for revolution in 1765
The Stamp Act Congress
● In New York City 1765
● Loss of American rights and liberties
● No trial by jury no representation
● Boycott of British goods
● Mobbed collectors
● Sons of Liberty in Boston
The Motives of the Crowd
● Guy Fawkes Day riots
● Nullified Stamp Act
The Ideological Roots of Resistance
● Resistance resistance began in port cities and came from all classes
● Based in English common law and the Enlightenment
● Supported by radical Whigs
Parliament Compromises (1766)
● American trade is more important than the tax (Old Whigs)
● Negative effect on trade (Merchants)
● Stamp Act is a mistake (Pitt)
● There is no authority to tax the colonies
● The Stamp Act was repealed and the Sugar Act was reduced
● Declaratory Act of 1766: absolute power over colonies
Charles Townshend Steps In
● Unsympathetic to America
● Townshend Act of 1767: tax on paper paint glass and tea
● To pay for military and imperial salaries, strengthened imperial power
● Revenue Act 1767: courts and customs
● Restraining Act 1767: suspended New York Assembly for not complying the
Quartering Act
America Debates and Resists Again
● External vs internal taxes
A Second Boycott and the Daughters of Liberty
● Taxed with consent
● Boycott of British goods, both foreign and domestic
● Women made homespun cloth and donated to charity
● Patriotism celebrated in articles
● Still many British imports
● Harassed merchants
● Wanted a return to salutary neglect
Britain Threatens Coercion
● Military action threatened
Lord North Compromises
● Famine in Britain
● John Wilkes, a Radical Whig, was pro Patriot in Parliament
Nonimportation Succeeds
● American surplus
● Anti Townshend in Britain and anti military
● Prime Minister North repealed all Townshend Acts except the Tea Tax

● Boycott in America ended but there was still violence
Sovereignty Debated
● Claimed Equality and prepared for revolution
The Road to Independence
A Compromise Repudiated
● Committees of Correspondence tried to gain colonial rights
The East India Company and the Tea Act
● The East India Company was a royal corporation deeply in debt
● A royal loan lowered their prices so the colonies would stop boycotting their tea
● This skipped the merchants
The Tea Party and the Coercive Acts
● Destroyed British tea (1773)
● Boston Tea Party was the reason for the Coercive Acts (1774)
● Imperial authority
● Boston Port Bill: closed Boston Harbor
● MA gov’t Act: end of colony’s charter, no more town meetings
● Quartering Act: new barracks
● Justice Act: transferred trials
● Quebec Act: allowed Catholicism in Quebec, to control American domestic affairs
The Continental Congress Responds
● 12 colonies, not GA
● 1774, Philadelphia
● South wanted boycott, North wanted union and army, Mid wanted compromise
● Galloway Plan (New continental body for general assembly, colonial assemblies sent legislative council, leader appointed by king) was vetoed
● Declaration of Rights and Grievances: asked Parliament to repeal Coercive Acts, anti Declaratory Act, believed control should only be over trade, boycott, would stop exports if Coercive Acts were not repealed within a year
● William Pitt: “Parliament should renounce power to tax colonies and recognize
Continental Congress, Congress should acknowledge Parliamentary supremacy and should provide a revenue source in the colonies to solve debt”
● Americans must pay for defense and administration, must acknowledge taxation
● General Gage sent, Naval blockade
The Rise of the Countryside
● Farmers wouldn’t care if they were not heavily taxed
● Most Patriots were urban
● The boycott was enforced rurally
● Imperialism threatens yeomanship
● Arable land was scarce and farms were seized for debts
● Planters were dependent on Britain
● Liberty in all classes
Loyalist Americans
● The upperclass believed that Patriotism would cause anarchy
● Pacifists were neutral
Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense”

● Many believed that an end to Imperial rule would disrupt society, but resistance grew
● The political beliefs of many were rooted in their culture and religion
● Enlightenment and Deism
● “Common Sense”: a pamphlet, anti monarchy, republican, independence (very popular)
Independence Declared
● June 1776: The 3rd Continental Congress was filled by Patriots because all others had left
● Declaration of Independence
● “All men are equal, unalienable rights, consent of governed, right to overthrow government, individual liberty, popular sovereignty”
● Pen > Sword
● Gained French and German Support