Colonial Unrest…
The British Empire and the Colonial Crisis: 175... > The Seven Year's War: 1754-1763
The Seven Year's War: 1754-1763
• The French and Indian War pitted the Royal French forces
and various Native American forces against British colonial
forces in North America. (F & I against British)
• The main causes of the French and Indian War include
territorial expansion and concern over religious
freedoms (b/w France, Spain & Great Britain).
• While the French enjoyed battle success during the early
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portion of the war, this success reversed in 1756 until
French surrender in 1760.
• (OHIO was a main territorial conflict in war)
• Battle of Jumonville Glen:
Where the French & Indian War
began & battle over Ohio
• *To compensate its ally, Spain, for its loss of Florida, France ceded its
control of French Louisiana west of the Mississippi.
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A battle during the Seven Years War between British and Indians in North America
The British Empire and the Colonial Crisis: 175... > The Seven Year's War: 1754-1763
The Albany Congress
• ALBANY CONGRESS:
• The Albany Congress was a meeting of representatives from
seven of the thirteen British North American
colonies in 1754: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.
• Representatives met daily at Albany, New York from June 19 to July 11 to
discuss better
relations with the Indian tribes and
common defensive measures against the French during the
French and Indian War
Side Note: Delegates did not view themselves as builders of an American nation;
rather, they were colonists with the more limited mission of pursuing a treaty with the
Mohawks.
*Consequences of the F & I War: Creation of the Proclamation
ofprint,
1763
Freeline
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The British Empire and the Colonial Crisis: 175... > The Seven Year's War: 1754-1763
Pontiac's Uprising and the Royal Proclamation of 1763
•PONTIAC’S REBELLION:
(1763–66) was an unsuccessful effort by a loose confederation of Native American
tribes who were dissatisfied with British postwar policies in the Great Lakes region
following the British victory in the French and Indian War.
•The rebellion was launched by Native
Americans to prevent Great Britain
from occupying the land previously
claimed by France.
• Following the peace treaty that ended the war, King George III issued the Royal
Proclamation of 1763 on October 7, 1763, which outlined the division and
administration of the newly conquered territory.
The British Empire and the Colonial Crisis: 175...
British Territorial Expansion
This map shows Britain's greatest territorial expansion, which occurred in 1763 with
the Treaty of Paris. The Treaty marked the beginning of an era of British dominance
outside Europe.
The British Empire and the Colonial Crisis: 175... > The Seven Year's War: 1754-1763
Navigation Acts
• The English Navigation Acts were a series of laws that restricted the use of
foreign shipping for trade between England and its colonies.The process of
restriction was begun in 1651.
• The goal of Parliament was to force colonial
trade development into patterns that would
be favorable to England.
Navigation Acts lead to conflict between the
British and the Dutch
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• The Acts of Trade and Navigation were largely obeyed, with the exception of the
Molasses Act of 1733, a tax on molasses which
proved a great temptation to extensive smuggling
because no effective means of enforcement was provided until the 1750s.
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Sugar Act
• The Sugar Act, aka: the American Revenue Act, was a
revenue-raising act passed by the British Parliament in April,
1764. Taxes from the earlier Molasses Act of 1733 had never
been effectively collected, largely due to colonial evasion as
the molasses trade grew.
• By reducing the tax's rate by half and then expanding
measures to enforce the act, the British hoped that the more
reasonable tax could be effectively collected.
• These incidents increased the colonists' concerns about their
rights as British citizens, and the intent of the British
Parliament to more directly rule the colonies. These concern
helped the growing movement of colonial resistance that
became the American Revolution.
Resistance Strategies
• Following the Molasses, Sugar, and Quartering Acts,
Parliament passed one of the most infamous pieces of
legislation: the Stamp Act.
Previously, Parliament imposed only external taxes on
imports.
• However, the Stamp Act provided the first internal tax on the
colonists and faced vehement opposition throughout the
colonies.
• Merchants threatened to boycott British products.
• Thousands of New Yorkers rioted near the location where the
stamps were stored.
• In Boston, the Sons of Liberty (see flag), a violent group led
by radical statesman Samuel Adams, (do you remember his brother?)
destroyed the home of Lieutenant Governor Thomas
Hutchinson. *(quick note on radical…)
Stamp Act…Continued
• The Stamp Act 1765 required that many printed materials in the
colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London,
carrying an embossed revenue stamp.
• The purpose of the tax was to help pay for troops stationed in North
America after the British victory in the Seven Years' War.
• The British government felt that the colonies were the primary
beneficiaries of this military presence, and should pay at least a
portion of the expense.
• The Act was met with great resistance in the colonies as many
colonists considered it a violation of their rights as Englishmen to be
taxed without their consent. (what is this again?)
• Local protest groups, led by colonial merchants and landowners,
established connections through correspondence… Very soon all stamp tax
distributors were intimidated into resigning their commissions, and the tax was never
effectively collected.
• American newspapers reacted to the Stamp Act with anger and predictions of the demise of
journalism.
Boston Tea Party
• Whether or not Samuel Adams helped plan the Boston
Tea Party is disputed, but he immediately worked to
publicize and defend it.
• Protesters had successfully prevented the unloading of
taxed tea in three other colonies, but in Boston, embattled
Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to allow the tea
to be returned to Britain.
The Boston Tea Party, a famous
symbolic action against the Tea Act
of 1773, was a culmination of a resistance
movement throughout the colonies.
The Coercive…INTOLERABLE
ACTS
• The Coercive Acts describe a series of laws passed by the British Parliament
in 1774 relating to Britain's colonies in North America.
• Tensions escalated over the Coercive Acts and the American Revolutionary
War broke out the following year.
• The Coercive Acts, passed in response to the Boston Tea Party, sought to
punish Massachusetts as a warning to other colonies.
"The able Doctor, or America Swallowing the Bitter Draught.“
This picture depicting the Intolerable Acts as an assault upon a Native American woman (a symbol of the
American colonies) was copied and distributed in North America
The First Continental Congress
• The First Continental Congress was called in response to the passing of the
Coercive Acts by the British Parliament.
• The Congress was attended by 56 members appointed by the legislatures of
twelve of the Thirteen Colonies, the exception being the Province of Georgia,
which was hoping for British assistance with Indian conflicts on its frontier.
• The Congress met briefly to consider options: including an economic boycott of
British trade; rights and grievances; and petitioning King George III for redress
of those grievances…they decide on petitioning the King.
• The Congress also called for another Continental Congress in the event that
their petition was unsuccessful in halting enforcement of the Coercive Acts…By
the time of the Second Continental Congress, fighting was underway.
Common Sense – Written by Thomas Paine
• Thomas Paine wrote and reasoned in a style that common
people understood.
• Paine connected independence with common dissenting
Protestant beliefs as a means to present a distinctly American
political identity.
• Popular support for independence was formed in part due
to the popularity of Thomas Paine's Common Sense.
(portrait by Auguste Millière)
The British Empire and the Colonial Crisis: 175...
United States 1789-1789
Map of the states and territories of the United States as it was from March, 1789 to August
1789.On March 4, 1789, the Constitution was ratified, though not all of the states had joined
the union by then.
On August 7 1789, the Territory North West of the Ohio River (Northwest Territory) – as we
have learned the Northwest Ordinance organized.
Townshend Acts - 1767
• The Townshend Acts were a series of laws passed beginning in 1767
by the Parliament of Great Britain relating to the British colonies in
North America.
• The acts are named after Charles Townshend, who proposed the
program.
• Five laws are frequently included in the Townshend Acts: the
Revenue Act of 1767, the Indemnity Act, the Commissioners
of Customs Act, the Vice Admiralty Court Act, and the New
York Restraining Act.
• The purpose of the Townshend Acts was multifold, but the most
notable reason was to raise revenue in the colonies to pay the
salaries of governors and judges so they would be independent
of colonial rule.
• The Townshend Acts were met with resistance in the
colonies, prompting the occupation of Boston by British
troops in 1768, which eventually resulted in the Boston
Massacre of 1770.
Economic Retaliation & Reaction to the Townshend Acts
• Charles Townshend was aware that the Townshend
Acts would be controversial in the colonies, but was
prepared to push the Acts through.
• As a result of the Townshend Acts, boycott
movements aimed at limiting British imports became
widespread, though they were not to the economic
benefit of the colonies.
• Writers and activists such as James and Mercy Otis,
and Samuel and John Adams emerged as a partial
result of the acts.
The Sons of Liberty
• After 1765, the major American cities saw the
formation of secret groups set up to defend their
rights.
A political group made up of American
patriots formed to protect the rights of the
colonists from the usurpations of the
British government after 1766.
• They coordinated responses to Britain and
shared their plans; by 1773, they had
emerged as shadow governments,
superseding the colonial legislature and royal
officials.
• Usurpation means taking someone's power or property by force
A Painting: Depicting Betsy Ross presenting the first U.S. Flag
to Washington