“The Revolution was
effected before the war
commenced. The Revolution
was in the minds and hearts
of the people”
1818, John Adams
Conclusion of French & Indian War made
England the supreme power in North
America
Kept 10,000 troops in the frontier= very
costly
English government had 144 million
pounds in debt after the war (4.4 million/year
interest) (1/2 of this debt was from defending
the North American colonies)
After the conclusion of the French & Indian War in
1763, the colonist in North America appeared closer
to England than ever (Anglicization)
• Strong commercial ties to England (transatlantic
trade), desire for British products & access to
British markets.
• Strong military ties to England
• Cultural ties to England (language, dress,
•“Americans were reluctant revolutionaries”
•Until very late, they only wanted the “rights
of Englishmen”.
Long Term Origins:
Years of Salutary Neglect- Political divisions & wars had
prevented England from having a coherent program to manage
the colonies AND American colonists saw themselves as British
subjects entitled to all rights as British citizens (Rights of
Englishmen) from the start.
Effects of Salutary Neglect:
1.Colonist grew & prospered= because of salutary
neglect=thought they had a special place in the British
empire.
2.Developed their own political institutions: colonial
assemblies (taxed, set budgets, set salaries of Royal
officials & Governors in the colonies).
3.They had a Different “political culture” from
England: In England & America, voting & holding office
were tied to land ownership. Since there was more land
available in North America= more male colonists
participated in government functions & voting; heavily
influenced by idea “republicanism”
Ideological Roots of Revolution
1.
•
•
2.
•
•
•
•
*Republicanism- (1750’s) a just society is one in
which all citizens willingly subordinate their private
interests to the common good.
Power can corrupt individuals…those involved in selfgovernment should be virtuous.
Opposed to hierarchical & authoritative institutions
*“Radical Whigs”- British political commentators;
feared the threat to liberty posed by arbitrary power of
the monarch & his ministers.
Warned citizens to watch out for corruption &
conspiracies to rob them of their liberties.
Predisposed colonist to be suspicious of any threat to
their rights.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
John Locke, Adam Smith, Adam Ferguson, Thomas
Paine and David Hume influenced by Radical Whigs.
Ideological Roots of the Revolution
In the 1740’s two conflicting bodies of thought
became popular in the American colonies and
challenged old ideas about authority:
1.The Enlightenment: Especially John Locke; his
essays “Concerning Human Understanding”—the
human mind as “tabula rasa” or blank slate—we are
formed by our environment.
•‘Some Thoughts Concerning Education”- education
will produce rational humans who think for
themselves & question authority.
2. The Great Awakening (1730’s & 1740’s)protestant religious revival swept the colonies;
George Whitefield preached Calvinist sermons &
challenged church hierarchy.
Immediate Origins
At the end of the French & Indian War, Britain
controlled an empire larger than the Roman empire
and had large amounts of debt therefore, in the late
1760’s tried to consolidate control of North
American colonies.
•King George III brought Tories into his ministry
after 3 decades of Whig Rule= more authoritarian
rule of colonies.
•Proclamation of 1763
•New taxes
•New Enforcement of Trade Laws
Mercantilism & Tenancy v. Liberty
• Mercantilism: A country must export more than it
imports to amass wealth in gold or silver = power.
• Colonies provide raw materials & a provided a
guaranteed market for British goods.
• Navigation Act 1650 (first in a series of laws
meant to enforce mercantilism)
• All commerce to & from the colonies could be
transported only in British (including colonial) ships
• Other laws- American merchants must ship
“enumerated” products like tobacco exclusively to
Britain
Problems Caused by Mercantilism
British mercantilist polices cause
problems in the North American
colonies:
1.Cash shortages- colonists resorted to nails, pitch,
feathers for exchange= colonies issued paper
money= British Parliament prohibited the practice
with new laws.
2. Parliament reserved the right to nullify colonial
assembly laws if they interfered with
Mercantilism=but, Parliament only used the veto 469
times out of 8,563 laws= a history of not interfering
with colonial assemblies laws very much.
Advantages of British Mercantilism
• Until 1763-Mercantilst policy like
Navigation Acts- loosely enforced
(Salutary Neglect)
• Many Americans smuggled &
disregarded laws (John Hancock)
• Britain paid bounties to American
producers of ship parts over British
competitors
• Virginia tobacco = monopoly
• Colonists protected by British army &
navy
New Colonial Policy
The Sugar Act (1764)- Passed by
Parliament to combat molasses smuggling in
New England.
•Actually cut the old Molasses Act (1733) Tax
of 6 pence per gallon to 3 pence per gallon.
•Britain increased enforcement of the tax
collection (major change).
•Colonial smugglers would be tried in
“English Admiralty” Courts not by a jury of
their peers ( a change).
The Currency Act (1764): English
Parliament restricted the American colonies
from printing paper money.
* A Post war recession hit & made things
worse.
The Quartering Act (1765)
• Required certain colonies to provide
food & quarters for British troops.
Suspension Act (1767)
• Province of NY refused to comply;
England moved to suspend NY
Governor & colonial
legislature…but NY gave in an
began to comply.
Stamp Tax
•**Tax on legal documents, playing cards, newspapers, etc.
•A direct tax (internal tax) which went to the British government.
•**Paid for debt and British troops in the Colonies.
•**Colonists hated the Stamp Tax = “taxation without representation”
•British tax collectors were tarred and feathered…..
•* Colonist offenders= tried in admiralty courts
•Stamp Act protests led by the Sons of Liberty…..
Colonial Resistance to the Stamp Act
American Colonial Resistance took three forms, mostly by
social class:
1.Resistance through Colonial assemblies by colonial
elites through resolutions.
Ex) The Virginia Resolves (May 30, 1765)- declared
colonist’s were entitled to “all liberties, privileges,
franchises, and immunities…possessed by British
people”. Later printed in the colonies and added “only the
assembly could make laws for the colony”.
The Stamp Act Congress (Oct. 1765)- Nine colonies
sent delegates such as Ben Franklin to meet in New York.
•Issued The Declaration of Rights and Grievances: swore allegiance to the
King and subordination to Parliament.
•Reasserted Colonist rights as British citizens like trial by jury, taxed by their
own representatives, innocent until proven guilty
•The cry “No Taxation Without Representation” became a common protest
now
The Irony of “No Taxation with
Representation”
*Colonial seaport & tidewater towns had
denied representation to backcountry
pioneers.
• “Legislation” vs. Taxation”- Colonists
believed that Parliament had the right to
legislate (make laws) for the empire
(including regulation of trade).
• BUT…Only colonial assemblies could
legally tax them
The English Government’s Response
• PM Grenville argued that the colonies
were “virtually represented” in
Parliament.
• Did the colonies really want true
representation in Parliament??
Theories of
Representation
Q-> What was the extent of Parliament’s
authority over the colonies??
Absolute?
OR
Limited?
Q-> How could the colonies give or
withhold consent for parliamentary
legislation when they did not have
representation in that body??
Colonial Resistance to the Stamp Act
2. A second type of Colonial Resistance:
Economic Resistance by Merchants:
•Non-Importation Agreements—merchants in
major American cities agreed not to import,
sale, or buy any goods, wares, or merchandise
from Great Britain.
•1766- London merchants sent a letter to
Parliament complaining.
3. A third type of colonial resistance was
Popular Protest by common people.
Paul Revere
Samuel Adams
•In Boston, crowds burned the stamp distributor (Peter
Oliver), in effigy & tore a building he owned down.
Oliver resigned the next day.
•The next week, a crowd destroyed the home &
belongings of Lt. Gov. Thomas Hutchinson.
•Violence spread to other colonies.
•By 1766- all 12 original stamp collectors had resigned
•Women made “Home Spun”- cloth made in the
colonies rather than Britain
*The Sons of Liberty was a secret society formed to
direct & organize popular resistance in protest of
British rule.
•9 original members which included the leaders
Samuel Adams and Paul Revere
Britishlaws
•Between 1765 to 1766, the
Sons of Liberty led over 40
protests up and down the
colonial coastline.
•Most of the protests are
located in the Middle
Colonies up through the
New England Colonies.
•Successful in forcing the
British Parliament to repeal
the Stamp Act.
Stamp Act Protests: 1765 to 1766
Britishlaws
Stamp Act collection fell apart in 1765 when it was to go
into effect (no colonist would work as tax collector)
•British citizens hurt by colonial boycotts urged
Parliament to **repeal the act-1766.
• Colonist celebrated the collapse of the Stamp Act (NYcolonist made a lead statue of George III in honor of the
repeal.
*Declaratory Act, 1766
•declared Parliament had the power to tax the
colonies both internally and externally, and had
absolute power over the colonial legislatures
The Cost to Britain of
Colonial Resistance
*The Townsend Acts 1767
A series of about 6 acts in total BUT, one of the most
notable was:
•The Revenue Act (1767): Britain passed a new tax
which Included a Tax on glass, lead, paper, paint, &
tea (common items).
•Charles Townsend (New British Treasurer) argued
that the new tax was an “indirect tax” not a “direct tax”
as the colonists had said of the Stamp Act.
•Tax on tea= 1 million colonist drank it
***Money from tax was to be used to pay salaries
of Royal Governors &Vice Admiralty judges =
ending “power of the purse” held for years by
colonial assemblies (a major change)
Disbanded the NY legislature (1767) for noncompliance of the Quartering Act of 1765.
Enforcement of the Townshend Acts
To better collect the new taxes, the Commissioners
of Customs Act of 1767 was passed which created:
1.The American Board of Customs
Commissioners
•Five commissioners appointed to the board
•Headquartered In Boston, Mass.
•The board used ‘Writs of Assistance” to enforce
2. Vice Admiralty Court Act 1768:
•There was ONE Vice Admiralty court (Nova
Scotia) before this new law.
•This new act created 4 district courts (Nova Scotia,
Boston, Philadelphia, Charleston)
•Used to prosecute colonial smugglers esp. in
Boston
Colonial Resistance to The Townshend
Acts
New Forms of resistance emerged with elite, middle,
& working classes and women:
•Merchants- re-instituted Non-Importation
Agreements (Boston, NY, Philadelphia, Va.)
• Commoners agreed not to buy British products
(Non-Consumption Agreements)
Women involved in protests against Townshend:
•The Daughter’s of Liberty (1765) formed (Martha
Washington-was one of the members) and held
“Spinning Bees” (public competitions for spinning
“Home Spun” cloth.
• circulation of subscription lists & gathering
signatures, writing political commentaries in colonial
newspapers by women first appeared.
Colonial Responses to the
Townshend Duties
John Dickinson  1768
* Letters from a Farmer in
Pennsylvania
12 essays uniting colonist against Townshend
Acts.
“If at length it becomes undoubted that an inveterate resolution is
formed to annihilate the liberties of the governed, the English
history affords frequent examples of resistance by force. What
particular circumstances will in any future case justify such
resistance can never be ascertained till they happen. Perhaps it
may be allowable to say generally, that it never can be justifiable
until the people are fully convinced that any further submission
will be destructive to their happiness.”
—Letter III
Effects of Colonial Protest Against the
Townshend Acts
•
Revived Non-Importation agreements
(not as effective as those against
Stamp Act because:
1. American colonists were enjoying
general prosperity
2. The tax was light & indirect (collected
outside the colonies)
3. Colonists Could smuggle tea at cheap
prices (esp. in Mass.)
** 1768- two regiments of troops landed in
Boston
Colonial Resistance in Boston
The Townshend Acts so unpopular in Boston, the American
Board Customs called in British navy (HMS Romney) May
1768.
•June 1768- Customs officials seized a ship (Liberty) owned
by John Hancock suspected of smuggling (John Adams
defended Hancock in Admiralty Courts—charges dropped)
•Commander of the Romney was impressing local sailors
(forcing) into British navy service= angered Bostonians= riots
occurred.
•Oct. 1768- 4 British army regiments sent to Boston
•“Journal of Occurrences” –anonymously written newspaper
articles circulated describing clashes between civilians &
soldiers (exaggerated stories)
•Feb. 1770- Boston teen killed by a customs agent.
1770
1768—1770,
British 4
regiments of soldiers
arrived in Boston, MA to
maintain order and enforce
Townshend Acts & protect
customs offices.
The
people of Boston
resented the British
soldiers.
Boston Mass.
•
March 5, 1770, @60
colonists gathered &
threw snowballs at a
squad of English
soldiers.
 5 citizens killed (1st Crispus
Attucks free black dock
worker;6 wounded
5 days pervious- a 10 year
old boy was killed during a
protest of a merchant who
defied the boycott of England

Used
as propaganda to
convince people of the colonial
cause.
The Boston Massacre
An eyewitness account
"An unruly gang of civilians (colonists), to the
amount of thirty or forty, mostly boys and many of
them drunk, left a local tavern and saw a regiment
of British soldiers. The gang assembled ... near
the sentry at the Custom-house door, began
taunting the British, calling them names and
throwing snow balls, along with horse manure
and ice balls ... I saw a party of soldiers come
from the main guard, and draw themselves up ...
the people still continued in
The Boston Massacre
An eyewitness account
the street, crying, 'Fire, fire, and be damned,' and
threw more snow balls. British Captain Preston
could not control the crowd as they taunted the
soldiers. He ordered his troops "Don’t fire!" but
with the commotion I heard the word 'fire' given ...
and instantly the soldiers fired one after another."
The troops fired and killed three men instantly;
another two died later. The first man to die was
Crispus Attucks, a black man. “
Aftermath of the Boston Massacre
• The British soldiers involved in the
shootings were put on trial in Boston
(defended by John Adams) & won
acquittal (set free).
• News of the violence spread through the
colonies thanks in part to engravings
which were printed in colonial
newspapers---the most famous by Paul
Revere.
• **March 1770—Parliament REPEALED
ALL OF THE TAXES IN TOWNSHEND
ACTS EXCEPT THE TAX ON TEA.
Boston Mass.
1770
Committees of
Correspondence
• Organized by Samuel Adams, cousin to John
Adams
• 1772- formed 1st local Committee of
Correspondence in Massachusetts
• 80 towns Massachusetts set up Committees of
Correspondence = exchanged letters in
opposition to British policy
• 1773 on… all colonies had Committees of
Correspondence = increased unity = forerunner
of the 1st American Congress.
• Significance: stimulated united action; evolved
directly into the 1st American congress.
Was Rebellion Inevitable?
After the Boston Massacre, the conflict between
colonist & Britain cooled.
•Colonial recession ended=economy improved
•By 1773- nothing happened to make rebellion
inevitable.
•Non-importation was weakening
•Colonists were reluctantly paying the tea tax
(legal tea now cheaper than smuggled tea)
British East India Company in Trouble
This British company was drowning in debt & had
fallen behind in payments to Britain.
• Had 17 million pounds of unsold tea in
warehouses= faced bankruptcy.
• English government would lose tax revenue if it
failed.
• The Regulating Act (1773): England gave the
company a complete monopoly of the American
tea market.
• Tea could be sold cheaper (even with the tax
added) = but still angered Americans
Tea Act
•Made it illegal for the colonies to buy non-British tea and
forced the colonies to pay the tea tax of 3 cents/pound= still
very cheap
•The Colonists had to buy tea from the East India Tea
Company----gave it a monopoly and did not have to pay
usual custom duties!
•Colonists angered- refused to buy the tea even if it was
cheaper…because it would admit Britain could tax them.
•Sons of Liberty blocked..Not a single chest of tea shipped by
the company reached consumers (ships forced back to
England)
•Gov. Thomas Hutchinson of Boston refused to submit to
the crowd
The Boston Tea Party (1773)
• Hutchinson- tea tax is unjust
but, colonists cannot disobey
the law.
• Ordered tea ships to unload all
tea at Boston harbor
• Dec. 16, 1773- @ 100
Bostonians disguised as Indians
boarded the ships & dumped
342 chests overboard
• Hutchinson left Boston
•Word Spread through the colonies about the Boston Tea
Party= similar events happened in Charleston, Philadelphia, &
NY & OTHER “tea parties” taking place through 1774.
•To the British, the Boston Tea Party represented a crucial
change in the relationship with the Colonies, an act of
defiance.
•Parliament passed a series of new laws to punish the
colonists
•Called the “Intolerable Acts”
Boston Tea Party
1. Boston Port Act- Closed the port of Boston
from Colonial trade until colonists paid for
the damages to the tea.
2. The Massachusetts Government Act- dissolved the colonial
assembly in Mass. & town meetings.
3. Administration of Justice Act- allowed royal officials
accused of crimes to be tried in Britain…not Mass. Courts.
4. The (New) Quartering Act- passed for all 13 colonies,
allowed British army to quarter troops in colonist’s homes
* Colonists throughout the colonies set food to Boston, prayer,
etc.
Boston Tea Party
Exports & Imports: 1768-1783
The Intolerable Act
closed the port of
Boston from
Colonial trade and
placed
Massachusetts
under martial law.
•After the Boston
Tea Party the British
send more troops to
enforce the
Intolerable Acts.
•Colonial militias
prepare for war.
The Quebec Act-1774
• Purpose- help Britain manage 60,000
plus French subjects in Canada.
• Gave French subjects of Britain right to
Catholic religion
• Right to old institutions but still no right
to trial by jury or representative
assemblies
• Extended Quebec boundaries into the
Ohio River Valley.
• Outcome- angered land speculators in
British American colonies, angered antiCatholics.
• Seemed a threat to American colonial
rights of representation & jury trials.
DOI-2
•Colonies send their
representatives to
Philadelphia to form a
Congress in response
to the Intolerable Acts
in 1774
•Main goal was to try
and negotiate with
King George and
Parliament
•* 12 of 13 colonies sent delegates (55 men)
•Moderates argue with Radicals whether or not to go to war.
•Representatives send a document **“Declaration of Rights and
Grievances” in 1774 to King George and Parliament
The Continental Association
One of the most important outcomes of the
1st Continental Congress.
•Called for creation of Committees of
Inspection (made up of colonists in each
town, county, & city to report all enemies of
liberty).
•Called for complete boycott of British
goods: non-importation, non-exportation,
non-consumption.
•Most radical step yet…
•Britain rejected Congress’s petitions
•Militias began to drill
Loyalists in America
Not all American colonists were patriots.
Many remained faithful to King &
Parliament.
•Elite merchants who traded with mostly
Britain, Anglican clergy, colonists
holding royal offices.
SHOT HEARD ‘ROUND THE WORLD
•British commander in
Boston sent troops to
Lexington & Concord to
seize gunpowder & arrest
leaders Sam Adams &
John Hancock
•Stopped at Lexington,
Mass and encountered 56
“Minutemen”
•8 Colonists killed
Concord
•1775-British Captain Pitcarin
orders Minutemen off the green.
•Response by the Minutemen, “this
is our green”
•Controversy over who fired the
first shot
•Battle at Concord- American
militia inflicted heavy casualties
(guerilla warfare).
•British= 300 casualties (70 killed)
in both battles
British Military Advantages &
Disadvantages
•
•
•
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Population- 7.5 million Britons to 2.5 million colonists
Professional army= 50,000 men (money to hire foreign
mercenaries like German Hessians)
50,000 American Loyalists & Indians
Disadvantages:
Second-rate generals
Soldiers brutally treated
Provisions were scarce
Distance- operating 3,000 miles away from home
base- communication issues
Colonists geographical area 1000 miles by 600 milesno apparent nerve center (Britain captured every major
city during the war-but without effect).
British Weaknesses
• Conflict in Ireland- drew British
troops from America
• France waiting to attack a weakened
Britain
• Many British people had no desire to
war with American cousins
• Whigs (a minority) openly cheered
colonial victories—at first.
American Plusses & Minuses
Military
1. Outstanding leadership- George
Washington- Ben Franklin; European
officers (Marquis de Lafayette)
2. Fighting a defensive war –that favored
them
3. Self-sustaining agriculture for food
4. Moral advantage- a just cause
American Disadvantages
1.
•
Unorganized for war- lacked unity
Continental Congress directed the war –was a debating
society.
•
Fought war without a constitution (1781-Articles of
Confederation).
2. States resented attempts by Congress to exert control
3. Sectional rivalry- some NE military leaders preferred British
officers to Americans
4. Shortage of currency- printed “Continentals”= depreciated=
inflation skyrocketed= desertions.
5. Shortage of military supplies (leads to alliance with France)
6. Shortage of manufactured goods (clothing, shoes)
7. American militia= unreliable, poorly trained, served short
terms
•
7,000-8,000 regulars trained by war’s end- Baron von
Steuben helped train troops.
8. Morale – undermined by American profiteers & speculators
African-Americans
• 5,000 served for America by war’s
end– initially barred from service.
• Mostly from northern states (mostly
free blacks).
• Blacks also served on the British
side Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation
:(1775)- offered freedom for any
enslaved black in Virginia who joined
the British).= 1000’s joined
• After the war- 14,000 blacks
evacuated to Nova Scotia, Jamaica,
& England to freedom
A Thin Line of Heroes
American militiamen were numerous but highly unreliable:
•Got very little training
•Hard to fight well-trained British troops in open terrain
•Small pox outbreaks occurred among troops
•“minute men”- American colonists who could be ready with
muskets at a minutes notice.
Women & the war:
•Maintained farms & businesses while fathers, husbands,
sons were away.
•Served as “Camp Followers”- who traveled with the
colonial army cooking & sewing for the soldiers.
•Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley (Molly Pitcher)- attended to
soldiers at Battle of Monmouth June 1778 & took her
husband’s place at the cannon when he was wounded.