Chapter 4: The Empire in Transition
1) Loosening Ties
a) A Tradition of Neglect
1) After the Glorious Revolution, Parliamentary leaders were less inclined to tighten
imperial control because they depended on support of merchants & landholders
who feared taxes & diminished profits.
2) The colonial administration was inefficient. It was split between Board of Trade
and Plantations, the Privy Council, the admiralty, & the treasury. Many Royal
officials in America were appointed because of bribery or favoritism.
3) Resistance was centered in colonial legislatures, who claimed the right to tax,
approve appointments, & pass laws. They saw themselves as little parliaments.
b) The Colonies Divided
1) Colonists often felt stronger ties to England than to one another, yet connections
still formed. Atlantic settlements created roads, trading centers, & colonial postal
services.
2) The colonists were loath to cooperate even against French and Indian threats. Still,
a delegation in Albany proposed establishing a general government with power to
govern relationships with Indians, but the colony retaining a constitution. This
Albany Plan was rejected by all the colonies.
2) The Struggle for the Continent
a) New France and the Iroquois Nation
1) By the 1750s growing English and French settlements produced religious and
commercial tensions. Louis XIV of France sought a greater empire. French
explorers had traveled down Mississippi River and looked westward ultimately
controlling the continental interior.
2) To secure the land, the French founded communities, fortresses, missions, &
trading posts. Seigneuries (lords) held large estates & Creoles in the South had
established a plantation economy.
3) The “Middle ground” of the interior was occupied by the French, British, & the
Indians. The English offered Indians more and better goods, but the French offered
tolerance & adjusted their behavior to Indian patterns. The French overall
developed closer relationships.
4) The Iroquois Confederacy created a defensive alliance, which was the most
powerful tribal presence in New England. They forged a commercial relationship
with the Dutch and English & played the French against the English to maintain
independence from both. The Ohio River Valley became a battleground among the
three.
b) Anglo-French Conflicts
1) The Glorious Revolution led William III and later Queen Anne to oppose the
French.
2) King William’s War took place in 1689-1687. Queen Anne’s War began in 1701 &
lasted until 1713.
3) Conflict over trade between the Spanish and English merged with conflicts
between the French and English over Prussia & Austria. This resulted in King
George’s War from 1744-1748.
4) Relations between the English, French, & Iroquois deteriorated. The Iroquois
granted concessions to the British. The French built new fortresses in Ohio valley
which led to land disputes. The Iroquois’s balance of power disintegrated.
5) In 1754, Virginia sent a militia under George Washington to challenge the French,
at Fort Duquesne located where three rivers meet in present-day Western
Pennsylvania. The French counter-assaulted on Washington’s Fort Necessity,
which resulted in his surrender.
c) The Great War for the Empire- The French and Indian War
1) The first phase of the war lasted from 1754 after Fort Necessity to the expansion to
European involvement in 1756. The Colonists fought with only moderate British
assistance. The British Navy did not prevent the landing of French reinforcements
& an attack by Gen. Edward Braddock on the Ohio River Valley failed.
(a) Local colonial forces were occupied with defending themselves against West
Indian tribes’ (except the Iroquois) raids who allied themselves with the French
after the Fort Necessity defeat. The Iroquois hesitant to go against the French,
but allied with English.
2) The second phase began in 1756 when the French and English opened official
hostilities in the Seven Years’ War. Beginning in 1757 the British Secretary of
State William Pitt began to bring the most important war effort in America under
British control. He forcibly enlisted colonists into the British army (impressments),
seized colonial supplies, and forced colonists out of their homes without
compensation. By 1758 much friction existed between the British & the colonists.
3) In the third phase, Pitt relaxed policies that upset the colonists. He reimbursed
colonists for supplies & shelter, returned military control to colonial assemblies, &
sent additional troops to America. Finally the tide of the war turned in England’s
favor. In 1756 the French suffered many defeats at hands of Generals Jeffrey
Amherst and James Wolfe. The Fall of Quebec in 1759 led by Wolfe resulted in a
French surrender in 1760.
4) Pitt didn’t pursue peace, but George III ascended to the throne in England and
signed the Peace of Paris in 1763. The French ceded Canada and all lands east of
the Mississippi River.
5) The War resulted in the expansion of England’s New World territory & enlarged
the English debt. English officials became angry at American ineptitude and their
few financial contributions throughout the war.
6) The colonists felt they had been forced to act in concert & expected a return of
authority to colonial assemblies. Problems of 1758 still festered.
7) The war proved to be a disaster for Indians in the Ohio Valley who were allied
with the French. Iroquois passivity resulted in a deteriorating relationship with the
English & a downfall of the Iroquois Confederacy.
3) The New Imperialism
a) Burdens of Empire
1) After 1763, managing the new British Empire became more difficult. In the past,
Britain viewed the colonies in terms of trade only, but now people argued that land
and taxing the population were valuable.
2) The territorial acquisitions of 1763 had doubled the size of the British Empire in
North America. A conflict over if & when the west resulted.
3) The English government had incurred a vast war debt as a result of the war.
English landlords & merchants objected to any tax increase. England couldn’t rely
on cooperation of colonial governments. Some argued a tax administered by
London was the only effective way of providing financial relief.
4) The new British King, George III in 1760 was determined to be an active monarch.
(a) He appointed Prime Minister George Grenville in 1763. Unlike his brother-inlaw William Pitt, Grenville didn’t sympathize with American views. He
believed colonists had been indulged for too long and should obey laws and pay
the cost of defending and administering the empire.
b) The British and the Tribes
1) To prevent conflict with the Indians as a result of settlers moving to western lands,
Britain issued the Proclamation of 1763 that forbade settlers to advance beyond an
established Appalachian line.
(a) This act allowed London to control westward movement, to limit depopulation
of coastal trade markets, & provided the land and fur speculation to the British
and not the colonists.
2) More land was taken from the natives, but many tribes still supported it because it
would limit colonial settlement.
3) The Proclamation was a failure. Settlers swarmed over the boundary without
regard to British law.
c) The Colonial Response
1) Grenville stationed British troops in America. The Mutiny Act of 1765 required
colonists to assist in housing & feeding of British troops. The British navy
patrolled the Atlantic coast for smugglers & the customs service was enlarged.
2) The Sugar Act 1764 tried to eliminate the illegal sugar trade between colonies &
foreigners.
3) The Currency Act of 1764 disallowed the use of paper currency by colonial
assemblies.
4) The Stamp Act of 1765 imposed a tax on all printed documents.
5) After 1763 common grievances began to counterbalance internal divisions.
Northern merchants opposed commercial & manufacturing restraint. The
backcountry resented the limited land speculation and fur trading opportunities.
The debted planters feared new taxes. Professionals depended on other colonists,
Small farmers feared taxes and the abolition of paper money. British restrictions
came at the beginning of an economic depression. The policies affected cities
where resistance first arose such as Boston that was suffering its worst economic
problems.
6) Anglo-Americans accustomed to self-government through provincial assemblies
and right to appropriate money for colonial governments created tension.
Circumventing the assemblies by taxing the public directly and paying royal
officials unconditionally challenged the basis of colonial power: public.
4) Stirrings of Revolt
a) The Stamp Act Crisis
1) The Stamp Act of 1765 affected all Americans. Economic burdens were light but
colonists were disturbed by the precedent it would set- past taxes to regulate
commerce and not raise money. The Stamp Act was an obvious attempt to tax
without assemblies approval.
2) Few colonists did more than grumble- Patrick Henry in 1765 in the VA House of
Burgesses spoke against British authority. Introduced resolutions known as the
“Virginia Resolves” stated that Americans possessed the same rights as English.
The right to be taxed only by their own representatives.
3) The Stamp Act was repealed because of a boycott of 1764 Sugar Act, which had
expanded to other colonies. Aided by the Sons of Liberty. Centered in Boston
(Also, Declaratory Act asserted Parl. control over all colonies)
b)The Townshend Program
1 )Negative reaction to appeasing the colonists resulted in England. Landlords feared
that the repeal would lead to increased taxes on them. Charles Townshend stepped
in to alleviate the problem.
2) The British believed the Quartering Act was reasonable since troops were
protecting the colonists. The col0nists objected because it made following this act
mandatory. New York and Massachusetts refused.
3) In 1767, the British disbanded the New York assembly until colonists obeyed the
Mutiny Act, the new tax (Townshend Duties) on goods imported from Englandtea, paper. The colonists believed that an “external” tax would be different than the
Stamp Act’s “internal” tax.
4) Colonists still objected because they saw the same purpose, which was to raise
revenue without consent.
5) The Massachusetts Assembly lead the opposition. They urged all colonies to stand
up against every tax by Parliament. Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord
Hillsborough, said any assembly endorsing Massachusetts would be dissolved.
Other colonies railed to support Massachusetts.
6) Townshend attempted a stronger enforcement of commercial regulations & an end
to smuggling through the new board of customs commissioners. Boston merchants
organized a boycott against products with tax duties. In 1768, New York and
Philadelphia joined the non-importation agreement.
7) In 1767 Townshend died. Lord North repealed all Townshend duties except the tax
on tea.
c)The Boston Massacre
1) Before news of the repeal reached America an event took place in Massachusetts.
Because of colonial harassment of customs commissioners in Boston, the British
government placed regular troops in the city. Tensions ran high, soldiers stationed
in Boston competed with Bostonians in the labor market.
2) On March 5, 1770 dockworkers & “liberty boys” pelted customs house sentries
with rocks. A scuffle ensued and the British fired into crowd killing 5 people.
3) The incident was quickly transformed by local resistance leaders into the “Boston
Massacre”. Paul Revere’s engraving pictured it as an organized assault on a
peaceful crowd.
4) Samuel Adams, the leading figure in the public outrage, viewed events in moral
terms. England had become sinful and corrupt. Committee of correspondence were
organized in 1772 along with other networks of dissent.
d) The Philosophy of Revolt
1) Three years of calm ensued but in the 1760s an ideological challenge to England
was aroused. Ideas that would support revolution stemmed from religion & politics.
2) A new concept that government was necessary to protect individuals from evils of
people, but because governments were made up of people safeguards were needed
against abuses of power. People were disturbed that king and his ministers were too
powerful.
3) The basic complaint was the right of people to be taxed only with their consent,
“no taxation w/o representation” was absurd to the English who employed “virtual
representation” (all Parl members rep all interests of whole nation). Colonists
favored “actual” representation elected and accountable to the community.
e) The Tea Excitement
1) The calm disguised a sense of resentment at enforcement of Navigation Acts in the
1770s. Dissent leaflets and literature & tavern conversation helped spread
dissenting ideas.
2) In 1773, the East India Company had a large stock of tea that it could not sell in
England. The Tea Act of 1773 passed by Parliament allowed the company to
export tea to America without paying navigation taxes that were paid by colonial
merchants. This allowed the company to sell tea for less than colonists &
monopolized the colonial tea trade. This enraged merchants.
3) Enraged merchants revived the “no taxation without representation” issue. Lord
North thought the colonists would be happy with reduced tea prices but resistance
leaders argued it was another example of an unconstitutional tax. A massive
boycott of tea followed.
4) In late 1773, with popular support, leaders planned to prevent the East India
Company from landing its cargoes in colonial ports. New York, Philadelphia,
Charleston stopped shipment. On December 16, 1773, Bostonians dressed as
Mohawks boarded ships & poured tea chests into the harbor, which became known
as the “Boston tea party”.
5) When Bostonians refused to pay for the destroyed property, George III and Lord
North passed four Coercion Acts (Intolerable Acts to Americans) in 1774. They
closed the port of Boston, reduced self-government power, royal officers could be
tried in England or other colonies, & the quartering of troops in empty houses.
6) The Coercive Acts didn’t isolate Massachusetts, but made it a martyr that sparked
new resistance.
5) Cooperation and War
a) New Sources of Authority
1) The passage of authority from royal governments to colonists began on the local
level where history of autonomy was strong. Example- 1768 Samuel Adams called
convention of delegates from towns to sit in place of a dissolved General Court.
Sons of Liberty became a source of power that enforced boycotts.
2) Committees of correspondence began in 1772 in Massachusetts. Virginia made the
first intercolonial committee, which enabled cooperation between the colonies.
3) The First Continental Congress met in September 1774 in Philadelphia (no
delegates from Georgia), made 5 major decisions:
(a)Rejected a plan for colonial union under British authority
(b) Endorsed a statement of grievances, called for a repeal of oppressive legislation
(c)Recommended colonists make military preparations for defense in case of a
British attack against Boston
(d) Nonimporation, nonexportation, nonconsumption agreements were established
to stop all trade with Britain. A “Colonial Association” to enforce agreements
was created.
(e)Agreed to meet in the spring, which indicated that the Continental Congress
could become a continuing organization.
4) The Continental Congress reaffirmed the autonomous status within the empire &
declared an economic war. In Eland Lord Chatham (William Pitt) urged withdrawal
of American troops, Edmund Burke for repeal of Coercive Acts. 1775 Lord North
passed Conciliatory Propositions- no direct Parl tax, but colonists would tax
themselves at Parls demand. Didn’t reach America until after first shot fired
b) Lexington and Concord (“The Shot Heard Round the World”)
1) Farmers and townspeople of Massachusetts had been gathering arms and training
“minutemen”. In Boston, General Thomas Gage knew of these preparations, &
received orders from England to arrest rebel leaders Sam Adams and John Hancock
in Lexington. He also heard of minutemen stock in nearby Concord and decided to
act on April 18, 1775.
2) William Dawes and Paul Revere road from Boston to warn the colonists of the
impending British attack. At the Lexington town common shots were fired and
minutemen fell. On the march back from Concord, farmers using guerilla style
tactics harassed the British army.
3) Rebels circulated their account of the events, which rallied thousands of colonists
in the north & south to the rebel cause.