Chapter 5
Reform, Resistance, Revolution
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English Position in North America
Tenuous after 1763
 Seven Years’ (French and Indian) War was very
costly

National debt nearly doubled during the war
 Decision to retain troops in North America
 Expect colonists to pay most, or all, of the cost
 Proclamation of 1763
 Attempted to regulated expansion beyond the Appalachians
 Encouraged settlement elsewhere in North America
 Designed to keep peace with Indians
 Caused great resentment among colonists
English Position in North America
Tenuous after 1763 (cont.)
 Pontiac’s War, 1763-64
 Response to continued frontier pressure
 Brought Indians together in unprecedented coalition
 Peace restored, but tensions remained high
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Pontiac’s War and
the Proclamation
Line of 1763
Post 1763 British Efforts to
Control the Colonies
 Sugar Act, 1764
 Effort to stop smuggled molasses from French West Indies
 Widely resisted in Colonies
 Currency Act, 1764
 Forbade colonies to issue paper money as legal tender
 Quartering Act, 1765
 Colonies forced to support troops materially
 Troops to be housed only in public buildings
Stamp Act Crisis, 1765-66
 Raise revenue for England by imposing tax on
printed materials in the colonies
 First direct tax on colonies
 Sparked outcries against taxation without
representation

Gave rise to arguments about “virtual representation”
 Colonists responded with Stamp Act Congress
 Denounced parliamentary oppression
 Sons of Liberty in Boston sparked violent protests
Stamp Act Crisis, 1765-1766 (cont.)
 Nonimportation agreements adopted to prevent
implementation
 Colonists eventually nullified Stamp Act
 Repealed by Parliament in 1766
 Declaratory Act, 1766

Affirmed Parliament’s authority to pass laws and statutes for
the colonies
 Revenue Act, 1766
 Imposed tax on all molasses, British or foreign
Townshend Crisis, 1767
 New duties imposed on tea, paper, glass, lead, painter’s colors
 Goal to raise revenue to pay salaries of the governors and
judges in the colonies
 Sparked outcry in colonies

Divided ideas about response
 Duties ultimately implemented with little direct opposition
 Continued opposition in Massachusetts led to Circular Letter
urging other assemblies to oppose the duties

Parliament’s denunciation of Circular Letter led to colonial nonimportation agreements
Boston Massacre, 1770
 Resulted from tensions generated by presence of
British troops in Boston
 Marked failure of Britain’s first attempt at military
coercion in the colonies
Reconsideration of British
Colonial Policy in 1770
 All Townshend duties except one on tea repealed
 Colonists blamed each other for failing to get all
duties repealed
 British efforts to crack down on smuggling raised
colonial concerns

Created committees of correspondence to keep in touch and
plan responses to anticipated British assaults on colonial
liberties
 Colonists increasingly determined to resist
parliamentary encroachment
Internal Cleavages within the
Colonies
 Artisans in cities clamoring for increased role in public affairs
 Farmers protested limited access to land
 General opposition to large subsidies paid to colonial proprietors
and their descendants
 Regulator movement in the Carolinas, 1765-1771

Sought to provide order on frontier
 Eliminate government corruption
 Emergence of early antislavery movement

Forced slaveholders onto defensive, even before Revolution
 On eve of Revolution, colonies were divided and internally
conflicted
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Feudal Revival:
Great Estates of
Late Colonial
America
Tea Crisis and Mounting BritishColonial Conflict
 Tea Act, 1733
 Repealed tea duty in England but retained it in colonies
 Monopoly control of East India Company Colonists saw as
beginning of end of their liberties

Opposition forced tea Party in December destroyed tea worth
£11,000 )$700,000 in today’s dollars)
Tea crisis and Mounting BritishColonial Conflict (cont.)
 Coercive (Intolerable) Acts, 1774
 Boston Port Act closed Boston until restitution had been paid
 Quartering Act allowed soldiers to be housed among
civilians
 Administration of Justice Act allowed British soldiers
accused of crimes in colonies to be tried elsewhere
 Massachusetts Government Act took away self-government
privileges
 Quebec Act, 1774
 Established French Civil law and the Roman Catholic
Church in Quebec
 Fueled colonial fears about perfidity of Parliament
First Continental Congress, 1774
 All colonies except Georgia represented
 Agreed unanimously on need for non-importation
against England
 Affirmed principle of no legislation with representation
 Petitioned king for redress of their grievances
 Created the Association to enforce trade sanctions
against England
Drift toward Open Conflict
between Colonies and Britain
 Resistance to Massachusetts Government Act
 Formation of Massachusetts Provincial Congress
 Creation of Militia
 Stockpiling of arms at Concord
 British response to Massachusetts resistance
 Efforts in spring 1775 to destroy stockpiled weapons
 Battles at Lexington and Concord
 First skirmishes of what became Revolution
 Struggle for control of Boston
 Battles at Bunker Hill
 Eruption of fighting elsewhere
Second Continental Congress,
1775
 Appointed George Washington commander of Continental Army
 Launched two ill-fated invasions of Canada
 Colonial objective still to restore government by consent under
the Crown


“Olive Branch Petition” to king affirming continued loyalty
“Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking up Arms:”
justified armed resistance and affirmed loyalty
 Crown response not favorable

Declared colonies in open rebellion in August 1775
 Congress began acting more like a government by the autumn

Assumed royal rather than parliamentary powers
Early Conflicts of the Revolution
 Weak British forces had difficulty gaining ground
 Colonists took control of Boston in early 1776
 Patriots had won control of territory in all colonies by summer
 Resulted in colonial debate over question of independence



Thomas Paine’s Common Sense helped to push doubters
Spurred by fears that England and France planned to divide
eastern North America between them
Declaration of Independence, 1776


Detailed self-evident truths justifying independence
Indicted George 111 as tyrant
Lexington, Concord, and Boston 1775-1776
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