Transatlantic Economy
And Revolution
Building the Atlantic Economy
Mercantilism and Colonial Wars
• 1. English mercantilism was
characterized by government
regulations that served the
interests both of the state and
of private individuals.
Mercantilism in other
European countries generally
served only state interests.
•2.The Navigation Acts of
16511663 were a form of
economic warfare against
Dutch domination of Atlantic
shipping. They gave British
merchants and ship owners a
near monopoly on trade with
Britain’s North American
colonies.
• After defeating the Dutch,
England fought a series of wars
with France for maritime
domination of the world.
• a) War of the Spanish Succession
(17011713)
• b) War of the Austrian Succession
(17401748)
• c) The Seven Years’ War
(17561763) ended with British
winning full control over India and
B.
Land and Labor in British America
• 1. In Britain’s North American colonies
cheap land and scarce labor resulted in
the following:
• a) rapid increase in the colonial
population in the eighteenth century.
• b) import of African slaves to tobacco
plantations in southern colonies.
• c) growing prosperity for British
colonists.
• C. The Growth of Foreign Trade
•1.Britain and especially
England profited from the
mercantile system.
•2.As trade with Europe
stagnated, colonial markets
took up the slack.
•3.English exports grew more
balanced and diverse.
Atlantic Slave Trade
• 1. The forced migration of
millions of Africans was a key
element in the Atlantic system
and western European
economic expansion.
• 2. After 1700, Britain was the
undisputed leader of the slave
trade.
• 3. Increasing demand led to
rising prices for African
slaves.
• 4. Africans participated in the
trade.
• 5. After 1775, a campaign to
abolish slavery developed in
Britain.
E.
Revival in Colonial Latin America
1. Under Philip V (r. 17001746)
Spain recovered economically and
successfully defended her
American colonies.
• 2. Rising silver exports in the
eighteenth century helped create
a class of wealthy Creole
(American-born white)
merchants.
•3.Creole estate owners
dominated much of the
peasant population
through debt peonage,
really a form of serfdom.
War of Jenkin’s Ear
• Great Britain vs Spain
• Treaty of Utrecht: 1713—Great
Britain gains two privileges over
Spain: 30 year asiento, or treaty
to supply Spanish colonies with
slaves and
• Britain allowed to send 1 ship to
Portabello Fair
• British kept ships offshore and
at night re-supplied the one
legal ship
• 1731—Jenkin’s ship boarded
• Spanish cut off his ear, which
he then kept in a jar of brandy
• 1738—Jenkin’s addresses
Parliament w/his ear as
evidence to prove Spanish
atrocities to Britain
• British merchant interest in
the West Indies forced Sir
Robert Walpole to go to war
w/Spain.
• This became the opening for
additional wars in Europe
1740-1748: War of Austrian Succession
• December 1740: Frederick II
seizes Austrian province of
Silesia
• Results: ignored the
Pragmatic Sanction
• Upset the Balance of Power in
Europe
• France drawn into war by
aristocrats, who forced Cardinal
Fleury to support Prussia’s
aggression against Austria, the
traditional enemy of France
• French move against Austria
brought a response from Great
Britain: she enters war on side of
Austria to ensure Low Countries
remained under Austria’s power
• 1744: War spreads to New World
• France supports Spain against
Britain
• French military and economic
resources badly divided and
could not strongly support either
struggle
• 1748—Stalemate ended war and
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle signed
• Treaty gave Silesia to Prussia
and Spain had to renew the
asiento w/Great Britain
Treaty was truce, not
permanent peace
Diplomatic Revolution 1756
• Old system:
• Great Britain
• Austria
• (Russia)
France
Prussia
(Spain)
Convention of Westminster, 1756
• Great Britain and Prussia sign
defensive pact, to prevent
invasion of Prussia (Russia and
France)
• Maria-Theresa upset, but PM
Kaunitz arranged a defensive
pact w/France
• New alliances:
• Great Britain
• Prussia
France
Austria
Russia
France would fight to restore
Austrian supremacy in central
Europe
1756-1763: Seven Years’ War
• Aug 1756: Frederick II invades
Saxony (Preemptive strike?)
• Continuation of defensive pact
• Invasion triggered destructive
alliance that Frederick II feared:
France and Austria joined by
Russia, Sweden, smaller German
States unite to try to destroy
Prussia
• Two factors save Prussia:
• Great Britain gives Prussia
much financial aid
• 1762:Empress Elizabeth of
Russia died; replaced by
Peter III
• Prussia on verge of
destruction
• Peter III had unending
adoration for Frederick II
• Peter III makes peace
w/Prussia
• Takes no compensation
• Gave up Russian gains
(including Berlin)
• Signed alliance w/Prussia
(discontinued under
Catherine II)
• Frederick left to fight France
and Austria
• 1763: Treaty of Hubertusburg:
• Ended continental fighting
• No change in pre-war borders
• BUT Great Britain successful
around the globe, under William
Pitt the Elder (1708-1778)
• With French troops diverted on
continent, Pitt sent 40,000
troops to North America France
North America in 1750
• In Canada, France was
unable and unwilling to
devote similar resources and
troops against English in New
World
• French military admin corrupt
• Mil/pol commands in Canada
divided
• Inadequate provisions to N.
Am. forces
• England also had support of
colonists, who wished to expand
westward;
• Sept. 1759: Plains of Abraham:
British General James Wolfe
defeats Fr. Lt. General Louis
Joseph de Montcalm
• Fr. West Indies also fell to Great
Britain: income from captured
sugar helped to finance Britain’s
war effort
• British slave interests captured
most of French slave trade
• 1755-60—value of French
colonial trade fell more than
80%
• In India, Robert Clive defeats
French forces at Battle of
Plassey, 1757.
• Britain conquered Bengal, and
later all of India
Treaty of Paris 1763
• Britain receives: all of Canada,
the Ohio River Valley, and
eastern half of Mississippi River
Valley, except New Orleans
• Britain returned French
settlements of Pondicherry and
Chandernagore in India and
Guadeloupe and Martinique
North America in 1763
Results of 7 Years’ War
• Thousands killed/wounded
• Global battles
• Prussia more dominant
• Holy Roman empire ineffective
• Austria dependent upon
Hungary’s territories
• French no longer great
colonial power
• Spanish empire intact, but
could not withstand British
• British East India Company
imposed its own authority on
indigenous governments in
India
• N. America: Britain had to
organize new land
• All countries faced a financial
crisis: need to increase
revenues to pay war debt
Steps toward American Revolution
• Cost of Great Britain’s empire
immense
• British national debt rose
700% as a result of the 7
Years’ War
• Britain needed to raise taxes
to pay for new territories and
the national debt
• Britain believed, since colonists
were beneficiaries of new
territories, they should bear cost
of war, protection, and
administration of those
territories
• 1764: Sugar Act passed—
rigorous collection of what was
really a lower tax
• Smugglers who violated law
were tried w/out juries in
admiralty courts
Interrupting Trade
• Any goods not from the
Americas were taxed;
• Traders shipped their wares to
Cuba, stayed one or two days,
picked up crate from Cuba:
entire shipment was “from
America”
Admiralty Courts
• Ships arrive in harbor
• Accuser claims ship is illegal
• Accuser:1/3
• Judge: 1/3
• British Treasury: 1/3
• Cargo, ship are sold; nothing
happens if accuser is wrong
• 1765: Stamp Act passes
• Americans felt these were
illegal—no representation in
Parliament
• October, 1765: Stamp Act
Congress, led by Sons of Liberty,
drew up protest to crown
• November 1, day Stamp act
went into effect, all facilities
requiring a stamp were
boycotted
• 1766: Parliament repealed
Stamp Act
• Declaratory Act allowed
Parliament to legislate laws
for the colonies
• 1767: Townshend Revenue
Act passed: taxes on all
imports: paper, tea, glass,
lead, paint
1768: Sam Adams writes
circular letter opposing
taxation w/out representation
Calls on colonists to unite
against
Great Britain
Colonial governors ordered to
halt endorsement of letter;
NH, CT, NJ endorse it
• May 1768: British Ship of War
sails into Boston Harbor as a call
for help by British customs’
commissioners
• Boycott of British goods spreads
• March 5, 1770: Mobs harass
British soldiers in Boston: boy
threw a snowball? British soldiers
fire back—5 die—Boston
Massacre
Tar and Feathering
The Boston Massacre (March 5,1770)
• Soldiers arrested and tried for
murder, but found innocent
• April 1770, Townshend Acts
repealed
• All duties on imports removed
except tax on Tea; Quartering
act not renewed
• May 1773: Tea Act passes: 3
penny/pound import tax on tea
• Tax gives East India Company,
almost bankrupt, a monopoly on
tea
• EIC sells directly to colonial
agents—no middlemen
• Oct 1773: Mass meeting in Philly
opposing Tea Tax
• Nov, 1773: three ships sail into
Boston Harbor
• Nov 29/30th—mass meetings in
Boston re tea on ships
• Britain wants taxes paid on ships
• Colonists want ships to leave
Boston
• Dec 16: 8000 Bostonians gather to
protest
• That night, Boston Tea Party
• March 1774: Intolerable Acts
passes: all commercial shipping to
Boston halted until Boston pays
Boston Tea Party (1773)
• Boston must pay for tea and
taxes on tea
• Ben Franklin offers to pay for
tea, but Great Britain wants
justice
• May 12, 1774: Boston calls for
boycott of British goods;
Massachusetts placed under
military rule of General Thomas
Gage
• May 20th: next set of Coercive
Acts passed:
• Massachusetts Regulating Act
and Government Act
• Administration of Justice Act
• Quebec Act
• June, 1774: New Quartering
Act—all colonies
• Gov. Gage seizes weapons at
Charlestown, MA
The
Quebec Act
(1774)
First Continental Congress (1774)
55 delegates from 12 colonies
Agenda  How to
respond to the
Coercive Acts &
the Quebec Act?
1 vote per colony
represented.
• Sept. 5-Oct 26: First
Continental Congress meets at
Philly
• Oct. 14th:Declaration and
Resolves adopted
• 1775: Battles of Lexington and
Concord
• May 10, 1775—Second
Continental Congress
• June—Battle of Bunker Hill
Thomas Paine: Common Sense
Declaration of Independence
(1776)
• 1776: Thomas Paine: Common
Sense
• April 1776: American ports
opened to all nations
• July 4, 1776: Declaration of
Independence
• 1778: Ben Franklin convinces
French to aid colonists
• 1779: Spanish also give aid to
colonists
• 1781: Cornwallis defeated at
Yorktown
• 1783: Treaty of Paris:
American colonies free from
Great Britain
• New sense of liberty w/out
monarch
• Republican ideals
War of Independence or Revolution?
• Elite classes remained in
charge
• Poor whites not represented
• Blacks still enslaved
• Women and native Americans
forgotten
Revolutionary Social Change
• Departure of 60,000 loyalists
• Leveling effect of inflation
• Creation of new mythology:
country w/a mission
• Liberty for all
• Social status could improve