Chapter IV
I.
Empire Under Strain
A. Revolutionary crisis emerged as a result of both longstanding differences
between the colonies and England and particular events in the 1760s and 70s.
B. A Loosening of Ties
1. Parliament passed a series of laws to strengthen the Navigation Acts
and the mercantilist program.
C. A Tradition of Neglect
1. Since the Glorious Revolution, Parliament established a growing
supremacy over the king.
2. Robert Walpole, first prime minister, refrained from strict enforcement
of Navigation Acts b/c he believed it would stimulate commerce.
3. England received information from colonies via agents who would
lobby for American interests (Benjamin Franklin).
4. England’s hold on colonies was due to incoherence of administrative
authority and ministerial policy of salutary neglect.
5. Resistance to imperial authority centered in the colonial legislatures.
D. The Colonies Divided
1. Colonists continued to think of themselves as loyal English subjects.
2. Resentments emerged amongst the different regions in the colonies –
only an accident of geography connected these societies together.
3. Growth of the colonial population led to the gradual construction of
roads and rise of intercolonial trade.
4. 1754 – faced a common threat from old rivals, the French, and
France’s Indian allies.
1. Albany Plan – delegates from the colonies met to discuss
alliance with the Iroquois and to form a colonial federation
for defense against Indians.
II.
The Struggle for the Continent
a. The war that raged in North America was part of a larger conflict w/
England and France, known as the 7 Years’ War, or French and Indian
War.
b. Final stage in a long battle with 3 dominant powers in North America:
English, French, Iroquois.
i. Established English dominance in North America.
ii. American contact with British authority raised awareness
underlying tension in colonial relationship.
c. New France and the Iroquois Nation
i. By the 1750s, as English and French settlements expanded,
religious and commercial tensions began to produce new friction.
ii. French empire in America was vast.
1. Louis Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette canoed as far
south as the junction of the Arkansas and Mississippi
Rivers.
2. Louisiana was founded in 1682 by de La Salle and
Cavelier.
iii. To secure all these lands, a string of widely separated communities
and trading posts was established.
iv. Quebec was the center of the French Empire, a highly fortified
city.
v. New Orleans, founded in 1718 to service the French plantation
economy, became one of the larger cities of the Atlantic.
vi. French settlers generally adjusted their behaviors to fir Indian
patterns (stark contrast to the English).
vii. Iroquois, the most powerful Indian nation, formed a commercial
relationship with the English and Dutch.
viii. As English settlement expanded westward, France’s ambitions
grew, and the Iroquois began to establish a presence as traders, the
Ohio Valley became a potential battleground.
d. Anglo-French Conflicts
i. Queen Anne (daughter of James II), ascended the throne in 1702
and continued struggle against France and Spain…result was a
series of Anglo-French wars.
1. King William’s War (1689-97), produces only a few
indecisive clashes.
2. Queen Anne’s War (1701-1713) generated more substantial
conflicts, like border fighting with Spaniards in South and
with the French and Indians in the North.
a. Treaty of Utrecht, 1713, brought conflict to a close
and gave substantial land from French to English,
including Acadia and Newfoundland.
3. 2 decades later, disputes over British trading rights in the
Spanish colonies produced another war…led to a larger
European dispute between Frederick the Great of Prussia
and Maria Theresa of Austria, in which France and England
were on separate sides King George’s War (1744-48).
a. Relations betw/ English, French, and Iroquois
quickly deteriorated in war’s aftermath.
4. Iroquois were forced to ally with the British and take
passive role in conflict.
ii. Summer of 1754 – governor of VA sent a militia force, under the
command of George Washington, into the Ohio Valley to
challenge French expansion.
1. Washington was trapped at Fort Necessity and after losing
1/3 of his force, surrendered  beginning of F&I War.
e. Great War for the Empire
i. F&I War lasted 9 years and it proceeded in 3 distinct phases.
1. 1754-56: primarily a local, North American conflict.
a. Newly appointed commander in chief of British
Army in America, Edward Braddock, failed
miserably.
III.
b. B/c of English defeat at Ft. Necessity, all Indians
except Iroquois allied w/ French.
2. Began in 1756, when governments of France and England
formally opened hostilites and a truly int’l conflict (7
Years’ War) began.
a. Fighting spread to West Indies, India, and Europe.
b. England was getting dominated.
c. William Pitt, English Secretary of State, in 1757,
transformed war effort by bringing it fully under
British control.
d. Began forcibly enlisting colonists and forced
colonists to shelter troops.
3. 1758 – Pitt initiated the 3rd phase by relaxing many of the
policies Americans found obnoxious and agreed to
reimburse colonies for supplies, etc.
a. 2 brilliant English generals, Jeffrey Amherst and
James Wolfe, captured the fortress at Louisbourg in
July 1758 and then Fort Duquesne.
b. The dramatic fall of Quebec in September 13, 1759,
marked the beginning of the end of the American
phase of the war.
c. Sept. 1760, French army formally surrendered to
Amherst in Montreal.
4. Peace of Paris, 1763: biggest piece was French
surrendering all title to the mainland of North America.
a. Greatly expanded England’s territorial claims in
N.A.
b. Greatly enlarged Britain’s debt.
c. British leaders greatly resented Americans.
i. New policy of increased authority over the
colonies began.
5. War had profound affect on colonists
a. United colonists and forced them to fight a common
foe.
b. Confirmed illegitimacy of English interference in
local affairs.
6. Iroquois confederacy began to crumble.
The New Imperialism
a. Because of the enormous debt accrued during the F&I War, England was
in desperate need of revenue from empire.
b. Burdens of Empire
i. Defiance of imperial trade regulations and other British commands
increased.
ii. British made a shift in imperial policy after 1763 – began to see
land itself as a valuable commodity, in addition to the trade.
iii. Territorial annexations from the Peace of Paris in 1763 caused
problems in the colonies because suddenly land was twice as large.
1. Disagreement on what to do with the new territories.
iv. Crown was running out of options to find a way to repay debt.
1. Landlords were angry with increases to already high taxes.
2. British felt the colonies contributed very little to the
support of F&I War.
v. King George III took crown in 1760.
1. He was very determined to be an active and responsible
monarch.
2. Serious intellectual and psychological limitations.
a. Suffered from periodic bouts of insanity.
vi. George Grenville – Prime Minister, 1763, took a hard line against
the American colonists.
c. The British and the Tribes
i. Traders immediately moved west after the victory over French.
ii. Natives made alliance under Ottawa chieftain Pontiac to strike
back.
iii. To prevent a clash, British passed the Proclamation of 1763, which
forbade settlers to advance beyond a line drawn along the
Appalachians.
1. Appealing to British for several reasons.
a. London controlled westward expansion of whites.
b. Wanted to keep population on the coast b/c most
important markets and investments were on the
water.
iv. Most tribal groups support the Proclamation, especially the
Cherokees.
v. John Stuart was in charge of Indian affairs in southern colonies and
Sir William Johnson in north  improved relations.
vi. Proclamation of 1763 was a dismal failure  line was constantly
impeded upon.
d. The Colonial Response
i. Grenville ministry wanted more authority in colonies.
1. Regular British troops now stationed in colonies.
2. Mutiny Act of 1765 – colonists were required to assist in
provisioning and maintaining army.
3. Customs service was reorganized and enlarged.
4. Sugar Act of 1764 – designed to eliminate illegal sugar
trade betw/ colonies and French/Spanish, it raised duty on
sugar and established new courts to try smugglers.
5. Currency Act of 1764 – required colonial assemblies to
stop issuing paper money and to retire all money in
circulation.
IV.
6. Stamp Act of 1765 (most momentous) – imposed a tax on
most printed documents in colonies, like newspapers,
almanacs, pamphlets, deeds, wills, and licenses.
a. All an effort to re-apply mercantilism.
b. British officials were soon collecting 10x more
revenue.
7. Caused more problems than those solved.
8. Tension betw/ colonists continued to persist, most notably
against established areas and “backcountry” folks.
a. Backcountry residents felt underrepresented in
colonial governments.
b. Paxton Boys – descended on Philly w/ demands for
relief from colonial taxes; bloodshed was avoided
and accommodated Paxtons.
9. 1771 – small-scale civil war broke out as a result of the
so=called Regulator movement in N.C.
a. Regulators were farmers of NC upcountry to oppose
high taxes.
10. These tensions began to ease after 1763 when British taxes
created common grievances.
a. Northern merchants would suffer from restraints on
commerce.
b. Backcountry settlers resented the closing of West.
c. Southern planters had to pay additional taxes and
unable to ease debts by speculating in west.
d. Small farmers suffered the most from taxes and
abolition of paper money, which was the main
source of their loans.
11. These new restrictions came in the heat of an economic
depression.
a. Boston suffered the worst economic problems
12. As bad as economic consequences were, political
consequences were far worse.
a. Nowhere in the world did so large a population take
such interest in public affairs.
b. British government was challenging the basis of
colonial political power: control over public
finance.
Stirrings of Revolt
a. The Stamp Act Crisis
i. Best method of uniting colonists b/c it effected everyone,
regardless of wealth, class, etc.
1. Evoked particular opposition from most powerful
Americans, like merchants, lawyers, tavern owners,
printers.
2. Printers were instrumental in distributing information and
ideas in colonial society.
ii. Stamp Act was direct attempt by England to raise revenue in the
colonies without the consent of the colonial assemblies.
iii. Virginia House of Burgesses roused Americans to action nearly
everywhere.
1. Patrick Henry, a famous orator, made a dramatic speech in
1765 to the House calling for the beheading of George III.
2. *Americans possessed the same rights as English,
especially the right to be taxes only by their own
representatives.
iv. In Massachusetts, James Otis persuaded his colonial assembly to
call an intercolonial congress.
v. October 1765 – Stamp Act Congress met in New York to petition
the king and two house of parliament.
1. Mobs began to take law into own hands.
2. Sons of Liberty began to terrorize stamp agents and burned
stamps.
vi. Crisis subsided because England backed down.
vii. English merchants begged Parliament to repeal Act b/c of losses at
colonial markets.
viii. Marquis of Rockingham, Prime Minister, 1765, had Stamp Act
repealed in 1766.
ix. Same day, Parliament passed the Declaratory Act to assert
Parliament’s authority over colonies.
b. Townshend Program
i. English reaction to Rockingham government was even worse than
the Americans.
1. English landlords claimed that the government had
sacrificed English interests for the colonists.
ii. George III dismissed Rockingham
iii. Called upon William Pitt to form a government.
1. Crippled by gout, ministry was actually run by Charles
Townshend, a brilliant and flamboyant politician.
iv. Townhend’s first task was to work on Mutiny Act, which the
colonists despised.
1. Colonists resented that they had to house troops.
2. Massachusetts Assembly refused to vote the mandated
supplies to the troops…New York followed suit.
3. To enforce law and raise revenues, two measures:
a. Disbanded New York Assembly in 1767 until
colonists agreed to obey Mutiny Act.
b. Levied new taxes (Townshend duties) on various
goods, such as lead, paper, paint, TEA.
v. New measures were just as egregious to colonists.
1. Massachusetts Assembly took the lead in opposing new
measures by circulating letter to all colonies encouraging
resistance against new duties.
2. In 1768, merchants of Philly and NY joined Boston in a
nonimportation agreement  Boycott.
vi. Lord North, Townshend’s successor, repealed all Townshend’s
duties in 1770, except the Tea tax.
c. Boston Massacre
i. Christina Little
d. Philosophy of Revolt