British-American Relations in the 17th Century
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Through most of the 1600’s the monarch was absolute
o Ruled by being born into the royal family
Was the ultimate source of authority
Awarded a lot of land in the colonies to individuals (proprietary)
Exercised a great deal of power in colonial policy
o Was the ultimate say on appointment of officials
Privy Council
 Under the Monarch
 An elite board of advisors
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On average 10-15 people
Were heads of various departments and offices
Would meet with the monarch behind closed doors and issue
reports and make recommendations to the monarch
o Monarch would say yes or no
English Civil War (1642-1649)
 Severely tested the English policy of a hands off approach to the
colonies
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Had a tremendous impact on the colonies
Charles I
o Epitome of an absolute monarch
o Raised taxes arbitrarily by decree
 A lot of $ not intelligently spent
 Ex. A personal yacht
o Imposed the Anglican Church on mostly Presbyterian Scotland
 Religious conformity
o Suspended Parliament in 1628
 Decreed that parliament could no longer officially meet
 Made him the single handed ruler
Two camps in the civil war
o Cavaliers
 Supporters of Charles I and the Monarchy
o Roundheads
 Supported Parliament
 Led by Oliver Cromwell
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A number of very large and bloody battles
Impact of the English Civil War on the colonies
 Colonies found themselves on their own/cut off
o Who was in charge back in England?
 Confederation of New England (1643-1684)
o Was a military and political between the key New England
colonies at that time
 MA, Plymouth, CT, and New Haven
o First time the colonies every created a political or military
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alliance amongst each other
Created without the approval of the British gov’t
Engaged in formal diplomatic negotiations with the French in
Canada and the Dutch in the Chesapeake region
Played a big role in King Philip’s War (1675-1676)
Operated as thus:
 Each colony sent 2 official representatives
 Would meet in a room and discuss
Left a very important political legacy
A lot of American overseas trade fell to the Dutch
o British hated this as they were archrivals
o Eventually the civil war ends and the British gov’t passes the
Navigation Acts
o Navigation Acts (1651-1673)
 4 separate pieces of legislation meant to put greater
restraints and control over American overseas trade
 3 key components
 American overseas trade had to be conducted on
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British owned or licensed ships
American goods sent overseas could only be sent
to British or British controlled ports
List of “enumerated goods”
 Goods subject to special controls
 Any products not produced in England but
produced in America, could only be sold in
England
o Navigation Act: Myth vs. Reality
 Represented an excellent example of mercantilism
 A practice where a mother country enriches
herself by economically gaining from her overseas
colonies, especially in precious metals
 British gov’t never had a systematic grand plan to
exploit the colonies
 British actually lacked the means to enforce the Acts
 Americans basically ignored them
 America actually benefited from mercantilism
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“Sun
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British were aware that their American colonies
were their most valuable
Didn’t want to mess that up
First thing the British did when a European war
broke out was make sure that the British Navy
was protecting American shipping
never set on the British empire”
Guaranteed access to all British ports around the
world for American exporters
Many cases where the British gov’t paid Americans
above market value for products
 Tobacco, indigo, etc.
Roundheads win the Civil War (1649)
o Charles I placed under arrest and put in prison
o Put on trial and then executed
o Changed Americans perspective on the British Monarchy
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Charles I
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Died 1649
Oliver Cromwell
 Leader of Roundheads
 Replaces Charles I
 Essentially made himself dictator of England
 Died 1658 which led to a weird power vacuum in England
o Decided to re-install the monarchy
Charles II
 Comes to power in the “Restoration” of 1660
 Dies
James II
 Replaces Charles II in 1685
 Was much like Charles I
o Arrogant and power crazed
 Wanted to make sure the Americans obeyed the Navigation Acts
o Created the “Dominion of New England”
 Took all of the New England colonies and smashed them
into one giant colony ( the D.O.N.E)
 Placed Edmond Andros in charge of the colony
 Andros was allowed to single-handedly rule the
colony
 No longer would America ignore the Navigation
Acts
 Wanted to curb American “smuggling”
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“Glorious Revolution” (1688)
o Parliament stood up to James II and kicked him out
o James II flees to Holland
o Leaving Parliament in charge
 Decides to keep the monarchy but restructure it
 British monarchy was forever changed
 Monarchy becomes basically a ceremonial monarchy
Andros authority in New England challenged
o Arrested by New England authorities and sent back to
England
o Dominion of New England was disbanded
“Glorious Revolution” (1688)
 Parliament stood up to James II and kicked him out
o James II flees to Holland
o Leaving Parliament in charge
 Decides to keep the monarchy but restructure it
 British monarchy was forever changed
 Becomes a “limited” monarchy
 No longer an “absolute” monarchy
 Monarchy becomes basically a ceremonial
monarchy
 Andros authority in New England challenged
o Arrested by New England authorities and sent back to
England
o Dominion of New England was disbanded
 Original colonial gov’ts in New England restored
 Bloodless and brought about beginning of civil liberties
William and Mary of Orange
 Offered position of King and Queen of England
 Had to accept 2 pieces of legislation:
o Bill of Toleration
 Essentially granted religious toleration throughout
England
o Bill of Rights
 Essentially drained the authority from the British
monarchy
 Powers taken away:
 Power over military
 Power to impose taxes
 Guaranteed right of parliament to convene
 Restrictions against excessive fines and bail
 Restrictions on cruel and unusual
punishment
 Torture
 Later became 8th amendment of US
constitution (1791)
 Become new King and Queen of England