Historical Thinking Skills:
Chronological Reasoning
• Historical causation: Historical thinking
involves the ability to identify, analyze, and
evaluate multiple cause-and-effect
relationships in a historical context,
distinguishing between the long-term and
proximate.
French North America
• New France (Canada)
– Population of only 60,000 in 1750
– French concentrated on wealthy Caribbean
possessions (sugar and rum)
– Beaver fur trading
– Catholic missionaries (Jesuits)
1754
Anglo-French Conflicts
• Early conflicts with France and Spain
– King William’s War (1689-1697)
– Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713)
• British win Nova Scotia and Newfoundland
– War of Jenkins’ Ear (1739-1742)
French and Indian War
French and Indian War
• 1754 - 1763
• Started in North America
• Became a worldwide conflict known as the
Seven Years’ War
• Britain and Prussia vs. France, Spain, Austria
and Russia
• Why called French “and Indian” War?
French and Indian War
• Albany Congress (1754)
– Seven colonies sent delegates
– Iroquois Indians
– Albany Plan of Union
• Read the proposed plan. What is the purpose of the
Albany Plan of Union?
• Why do you think the plan was not ratified by colonial
legislatures?
• Describe Franklin political cartoon as a response.
French and Indian War
• War ends in 1763 with the Treaty of Paris
Impact of War
• Optimism and self-confidence on the part of
Americans
– European enemies, fear of French or Spanish
attack eliminated
– Pride in British military might
– More cheap land! Western lands now opened for
settlement by British colonists
– Colonists gain valuable wartime experience,
confidence in ability to provide for own defense
– Revolutionary War military and political leaders
get their start.
Impact of War
• Americans’ attitudes about British
– Colonial soldiers serve alongside British
“regulars”
– British officers would not recognize colonists’
rank above Captain.
– Read Massachusetts soldier’s diary entry. What does it
say about the ways that American soldiers were treated
by British military officers? What do you learn about
the relationship between British officers and British
“regulars”?
Impact of War
• Americans’ attitudes about
British
– Colonists complain about
mistreatment by British
officers – feel like “secondclass English citizens”
– Colonists appalled at
deference demanded by
British commanders.
Americans not used to such
pronounced social hierarchy.
“In general the dirtiest,
most contemptible,
cowardly dogs that you
can conceive.” – British
General Wolfe
“The regulars are but
little better than slaves
to their officers.” –
Mass. Soldier’s diary
Impact of War
• Americans’ attitudes about
British
– Colonists appalled at
brutality of punishment
meted out by British leaders
on regular infantrymen.
Daily “shrieks and cries”
of whipped soldiers.
“There was a man
whipped to death
belonging to the Light
Infantry. They say he had
twenty-five lashes after
he was dead.”
– American soldier’s
diary
Impact of War
• Americans’ self-image
– Read Washington’s letter
to Robert Orme. What
attitudes does Washington
reveal about his allegiance
to the British crown?
Impact of War
• Americans’ self-image
– Still strong loyalty
among most to British
crown
– Many begin to view
themselves as different
from British (recall
Crevecoeur) but not yet
strong cohesion between
colonists (failure of
Albany Plan of Union)
Impact of War
• Colonists’ relationship with Native Americans
– Indians in the interior lose French and Spanish
allies, vulnerable, have to negotiate only with
British now.
– Conflict between British colonists and Native
Americans increases as whites move into former
French territory.
Pontiac’s
War
(1763-1769)
“I am French, and I want to die
French.”—Chief Pontiac
End of Salutary Neglect
• New imperial program
initiated by King
George III (1760) and
Prime Minister George
Greenville (1763)
• British need to recover
cost of war, maintain a
standing army in the
colonies to protect
against Indians along
the frontier.
End of Salutary Neglect
Proclamation of 1763
British government wanted
to protect valuable fur
trade.
But colonists didn’t want to
be told where not to live!
End of Salutary Neglect
• Permanent standing army
– British navy and army regulars permanently
stationed in colonies to defend the frontier.
– But English Declaration of Rights (1689) prohibited
“standing armies”!
End of Salutary Neglect
• New rules for searches and seizures
– “Writs of assistance” used to enforce navigation
and trade laws more strictly (e.g. by allowing
British customs officials to search for smuggled
goods anywhere without a warrant)
– But searches without warrants were supposed to be
prohibited by English law and custom!
End of Salutary Neglect
• Sugar Act or Revenue Act (1764)
– Duties (import taxes) on sugar and other goods.
– First time that taxes used to raise revenue for
Britain and not just to regulate trade.
– Smugglers would be tried in vice-admiralty courts
by crown-appointed judges, not by a jury of their
peers.
– But trial by jury was one of the rights of English
citizens!
End of Salutary Neglect
• Currency Act (1764)
– Colonists not allowed to print paper money
– Had to pay debts to British merchants and
bankers in specie (gold/silver)
– Made the price of existing paper money
depreciate.
– Exacerbated chronic shortage of money in the
colonies.
End of Salutary Neglect
• Quartering Act (1765)
– Colonial governments required to provide food
and living quarters (in unoccupied shelters) for
British soldiers.
– New York legislature suspended for six months
by Governor for resisting to enforce the law.
End of Salutary Neglect
• Stamp Act (1765)
– First direct (“internal”)
tax imposed by Britain
on colonies
– Tax on most printed
documents:
newspapers, almanacs,
pamphlets, deeds, wills,
licenses.
Opposition to New Policies
• Why opposition to
stricter British imperial
program?
– Impact on availability of
currency (gold, silver)
in colonies
– Impact on merchants
and other elites
– Danger to colonists’
rights as English
citizens
Samuel Adams
notorious Boston
smuggler
Opposition to New Policies
• Anti- Stamp Act
resolution passed by
House of Burgesses in
Virginia (May 1765)
– What does the resolution say?
Why do you think the last
three resolutions rescinded or
not considered? How do those
sections change the tenor of the
text?
Patrick Henry
Opposition to New Policies
• Stamp Act Congress, NYC (October 1765)
– Nine colonies send delegates
– Issue “Declaration of Rights”
– Read Declaration of Rights. Why are these colonial
leaders opposed to the Stamp Act? What attitude do
they demonstrate with respect to English authorities
and England in general? How does it compare with
the Virginia resolutions?
Opposition to New Policies
• Benjamin Franklin testifies
in the British Parliament
– What does Franklin say are the
rights that Parliament does have
over the colonies? What powers
should be prohibited to
Parliament with respect to the
colonies? How does Franklin say
the colonists’ general attitude
toward the mother country has
changed?
Opposition to New Policies
• Benjamin Franklin testifies
in the British Parliament
• Working with the system,
like many colonial elites back
home.
“I am a BRITON.”
Opposition to New Policies
• Mob actions
– “Sons of Liberty” secret groups formed, harass,
humiliate, tar and feather stamp collectors
– Civil unrest, esp. in cities during summer of 1765
– Largest in Boston, including mob attack on
Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson’s home
– Attacks on symbols of British authority and
colonial wealth.
Opposition to New Policies
• Boycotts
– Sons of Liberty intimidate colonists reluctant to
participate in boycotts.
– Generates pressure on Parliament from English
merchants with falling profits
– Probably most effective tactic
• Tories = royalists
• Does this depiction
of a Stamp Act riot
favor the “Patriots”
or the royal official?
Opposition to New Policies
• Parliament repeals Stamp Act on March 1766
but passes Declaratory Act on same day
– What does the Act state?
Cartoon Analysis
• List the objects or people you see in the cartoon.
Describe the action taking place.
• Which of the objects or people you see in the cartoon
are symbols? What do you think the symbols mean?
• Summarize the text in your own words.
• What is the point of view of the cartoon and the
accompanying text?
• What is the message of the cartoon and the
accompanying text?