Chapter 7: The Road to Revolution
Saturday, August 01, 2009
3:43 PM
Events:
Date
Event
1500s-1700s Mercantilist ideas sweep throughout Europe.
1650
Navigation Laws are passed, restricting trade with colonies exclusively for British vessels.
1763
George Grenville orders strict enforcement of Navigation Laws by British navy.
1764
Sugar Act of 1764 is passed by Parliament, levying a tax on imported sugar from West Indies.
1765
Quartering Act of 1765 is passed by Parliament, requiring colonists to provide food and shelter for troops.
1765
The much-resented Stamp Act of 1765 is passed by Parliament, levying a tax on many trade items, commercial
products, and legal documents.
1765
Stamp Act Congress of 1765 brings 27 delegates from 9 colonies together in New York City to draw up a list of
rights and grievances against the king and Parliament, which was ignored in England.
1765
Nonimportation agreements are adopted by the colonies, boycotting English goods.
1766
Stamp Act is repealed by Parliament after British merchants and manufacturers are put out of work by American
boycott.
1766
Parliament passes the Declaratory Act in place of the Stamp Act, giving Parliament the right to bind colonies,
regardless of situation.
1767
Townshend and Parliament pass the Townshend Acts, placing a customs tax on tea and several products.
1767
New York's legislature is suspended for failure to comply with the Quartering Acts of 1765.
1768
Two regiments of British troops are sent to Boston to instill law and order.
Mar 5, 1770
The Boston Massacre results after 60 townspeople hit a member of a group of 10 Redcoats with a club and
the Redcoats retaliate by opening fire, killing or wounding 11 citizens.
1770
All Townshend Acts (except tea tax) are repealed by Parliament.
1772
First Committee of Correspondence is founded by Samuel Adams in Boston to spread propaganda.
1773
First House of Burgesses is established in Virginia to share information and ideas between the colonies.
1773
British East India Company granted monopoly of American tea business.
Dec 16, 1773 White townspeople dressed as Indians dump 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor at the Boston Tea Party.
1774
The "Repressive Acts" (aka "Intolerable Acts") are passed to punish Massachusetts and Boston.
1774
Quebec Act is passed to deal with administration of French Canada and the Province of Quebec.
1774
(Sep 5 to Oct 26) First Continental Congress is summoned to Philadelphia, where 55 delegates from 12
colonies meet to discuss and rectify grievances against Britain. The group issues the Declaration of Rights and
The Association, calling for a complete boycott against Britain.
April 1775
British soldiers march to Lexington and Concord in an attempt to seize colonial gunpowder stores and to
capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock. The resulting skirmish, "Lexington Massacre", ends in the death of
8 Americans and an embarrassing retreat for the British, who are thinned out by hidden Americans.
Nov 1775
Gov. Lord Dunmore or Virginia offers emancipation to all African Americans who fought with the British.
1781
The Articles of Confederation are adopted as the first written constitution between the colonies.
Key Terms:
Term
Definition
Mercantilism
(1500s-1700s) Theory which stated that the wealth of a country determined its power. Colonies became
very important as a source of raw materials and an end market to sell manufactured goods.
Navigation Laws
(1650) Set of laws passed in order to satisfy England's mercantilist goals by giving British vessels exclusive
access to American colonies.
Privy Council
King's advisors in England who had royal veto power.
Sugar Act of 1764 (1764) Act passed by Parliament which taxed colonists for imported sugar from the West Indies.
Quartering Act of (1765) Act passed by Parliament which required colonists to provide food and shelter for British troops.
1765
Stamp Act of
1765
(1765) Act passed by Parliament which levied a tax on many trade items, commercial documents, and legal
documents.
Admiralty Courts Court with no juries where accused violators of the Stamp Act and Sugar Act had to prove innocence.
Stamp Act
(1765) Conference where 27 delegates from 9 colonies met to draw up list of grievances and rights to the
AP US History Reading Notes Page 1
Stamp Act
(1765) Conference where 27 delegates from 9 colonies met to draw up list of grievances and rights to the
Congress of 1765 king and Parliament to consider, though it was ignored in England.
Significance: brought colonies closer together and began breakdown of intercolonial suspicions.
Nonimportation
Agreements
(1765) Agreement between American colonies to boycott British goods.
Significance: first time colonies united together towards common action.
Declaratory Act
(1766) Act passed by Parliament after repeal of Stamp Act, giving Parliament authority to bind colonies.
Townshend Acts
(1767) Indirect customs duty placed on glass, white lead, paper, paint, and tea, with revenues used to pay
the salaries of the royal governors and judges. Taxation of tea and the purpose of the tax enraged
Americans.
Boston Massacre (Mar 5, 1770) Resulted when group of 60 townspeople hit member of group of 10 Redcoats with a club.
Redcoats retaliated by opening fire, killing or wounding 11 citizens.
Committee of
Committee established to spread propaganda throughout communities in order to spread dissent against
Correspondence the crown and unite the colonists together through use of letters.
House of
Burgesses
Intercolonial version of the Committee of Correspondence, designed to spread ideas and information
across all of the colonies.
Significance: further united colonists together and served as model for future American congresses.
Boston Tea Party (December 16, 1773) White townspeople disguised as Indians dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston
Harbor in protest of monopoly of British East India Company.
"Repressive Acts" Known in colonies as "Intolerable Acts", laws designed to punish Boston and Massachusetts for Boston Tea
Party passed in 1774. Included numerous clauses, including the closure of Boston Harbor and a change in
trying officials who killed civilians in line of duty (who would now be sent to England for trial).
Boston Port Act
Passed as one of the "Intolerable Acts", which closed Boston Harbor until damage was paid for.
Quebec Act
Passed in 1774 to deal with administration of French Canadians in Quebec Province. French allowed to
retain Catholicism, customs, and traditions, as well as expanded area of province into Ohio Valley.
First Continental (Sept 5-Oct 26, 1775) 55 delegates from 12 colonies meet in Philadelphia to discuss colonial grievances
Congress
against Britain. The Declaration of Rights and The Association are both drawn up for the colonies.
The Association
Document drawn up at First Continental Congress, calling for a complete boycott of Britain -nonimportation, nonexportation, and nonconsumption.
Lexington
Massacre
Skirmish between British soldiers and colonial minutemen in Lexington, resulting in the deaths of 8
Americans after British soldiers attempt to seize colonial store of gunpowder.
Articles of
Confederation
(1781) First written constitution between colonies, which surfaced after much of the Revolutionary War
had been fought.
Key People:
Person
Achievement
George Grenville
English Prime Minister who passed numerous measures designed to tax colonists for maintaining
redcoat garrison in colonies.
"Champagne
English Prime Minister who succeeded George Grenville and was notorious for passing the Townshend
Charley" Townshend Acts in 1767.
Crispus Attucks
Leader of the Boston Massacre mob and one of the first to die.
Lord North
Unpopular Prime Minister who attempted to restore declining power of English crown. Repealed all of
the Townshend Acts except tax on tea.
Samuel Adams
Engineer of rebellion known as "Penman of the Revolution", known for establishing Committees of
Correspondence in Boston, which were replicated elsewhere.
John Adams
Steered First Continental Congress away from American home rule under British guidance to revolution.
Benjamin Franklin
Master diplomat who greatly helped revolutionary army through superb leadership.
Marquis de Lafayette Young French nobleman who secured French aid after becoming major general in colonial army due to
his family and political connections.
Baron von Steuben
German drillmaster who trained American regulars until they could hold out against British regulars.
Gov. Lord Dunmore
Royal governor of Virginia who offered emancipation for any slave in Virginia who fought with British.
Notes:
The Deep Roots of Revolution
• Emigrants from Old World to New World were rebels
○ Great distance between Old World and America = limited reach of authority from Old World
○ Tough voyage of 6-8 weeks left survivors scarred, becoming physically and spiritually separated from Old World
○ America's vast forests nurtured feelings of independence from Old World society
 England: villagers lived near ancestors' graves, with no change in life -- never questioned low position in society
○ Shared common belief: Old World was unfit to rule New World settlers
 Colonists established own parliaments in America and became "Americans" instead of "transplanted Britons"
AP US History Reading Notes Page 2
Colonists established own parliaments in America and became "Americans" instead of "transplanted Britons"
The Mercantile Theory
• British authorities never envisioned building empire, but later relied on overseas colonies heavily to become one
○ None of the American colonies were planted by British government except Georgia
 Planted mainly by trading companies and religious groups
○ Justified control of colonies through mercantilism: (1500s-1700s) theory that a nation's wealth = power, with wealth
measured by the amount of gold and silver in treasury
 Country had to export more than it imported to amass gold/silver in treasury
□ Colonies provided definite market for exports and resources for imports
 Relied on strong central government to enforce mercantilist ideas
□ Colonies expected to help mother countries achieve mercantilist goals as first priority
□ America expected to help Great Britain achieve mercantilist goals:
 Keep Britain's naval supremacy by furnishing ships, ship stores, sailors, and trade
 Provide profitable market for England's manufactured goods
◊ Colonists discouraged from buying foreign goods
 Continue to grow cash crops (ex. tobacco and sugar) to prevent England from buying from foreign
countries, thus keeping more gold and silver within treasury
Mercantilist Trammels on Trade
• Parliament passed numerous acts to restrict foreign trade with colonies in order to satisfy mercantilist goals:
○ Navigation Laws: (1650) restricted commerce to/from colonies to English vessels only
 Kept money within Empire and bolstered British merchants
○ Foreign goods bound for American colonies had to pass through England, where duties were collected
○ Certain colonial exports (ex. Tobacco) had to pass through England, even if prices elsewhere in Europe were higher
○ Colonists forbidden to manufacture goods (ex. Woolen cloth and beaver hats) that would compete against English
industry
• Colonial trade deficit led to currency problems in America
○ No banks in colonies = gold and silver money (mainly Spanish coins left over from West Indies) drained from colonies
○ Everyday purchases had to be made through barter or other currency -- feathers, butter, nails, etc.
○ Climax: paper money issued, leading to depreciation of currency
 Parliament banned colonies from printing paper currency and passing lax bankruptcy laws to protect British
merchants
• Great Britain held royal veto power for any colonial laws if declared null by Privy Council (king's advisors)
The Merits of Mercantilism
• Mercantilism and Navigation Laws helped, rather than oppressed colonists until 1763 due to salutary neglect
○ Ingenious methods of smuggling allowed Americans to amass early fortunes
• Mercantilism allowed Americans to reap numerous benefits since British officials sought to benefit empire as a whole:
○ London authorities paid bounties to shipbuilders who built parts and stores
○ Tobacco planters enjoyed monopoly of market, though plant had to be shipped to England
 Planters not allowed to grow crop in Europe
○ Colonials enjoyed benefits of English citizenship without the burdens through self -government opportunities
 Not compelled to maintain own professional army
□ Americans trained some colonial militias by choice
□ Enjoyed protection of strong army (British Redcoats) and the world's strongest navy without tax
□ Had to maintain small, less experienced army after independence with own tax money
○ Manufacturing bans had little effect on colonial manufacturing
 Regulation was loosely enforced
 Numerous other goods could be produced more profitably
 Would have dealt with British middlemen regardless of regulation due to common language, currency, credit
arrangements, and familiar business methods
• Remnants of mercantilism today: protective tariffs and quotas used to ensure prosperity of manufacturers, farmers, etc.
The Menace of Mercantilism
• Annoying liabilities associated with mercantilism eventually resulted in American Revolution after 1763:
○ Americans could not react to market forces and buy/sell under the most profitable conditions of market
○ Preferential treatment for Southern colonies led to resentment in New England
 Southern colonies favored because they produced non -English products (ex. Tobacco, sugar, rice)
 New England's proud Puritan descendants resented being less desirable
 Virginia forced to sell tobacco in England = price gouging by British merchants
□ Virginia planters dipped into debt as tobacco price dropped
□ Daily needs had to be purchased by mortgaging future crops of tobacco
□ Debt passed from generation to generation
○ American colonists believed they were being used by England
 Economies and industries kept young, not allowed to grow
 "England failed to recognize an emerging nation when it saw one." -- Theodore Roosevelt
The Stamp Tax Uproar
• Seven Years' War (ended 1763) gave Britain largest empire with highest debt, a significant portion incurred in colonies
○ British officials did not ask colonists to help pay off debt of £140 million
British officials believed Americans should pay for 1/3 of cost of maintaining redcoat garrison in America
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○ British officials believed Americans should pay for 1/3 of cost of maintaining redcoat garrison in America
• Prime Minister George Grenville earned resentment of colonists through numerous tax measures he believed were fair:
○ Ordered strict enforcement of Navigation Laws in 1763 by British Navy
○ Passed Sugar Act of 1764, taxing imported sugar from West Indies
○ Passed Quartering Act of 1765, requiring colonies to provide food and shelter for British troops
○ Passed Stamp Act of 1765, mandating use of stamp for certain trade items, commercial documents, and legal documents
(ex. Playing cards, pamphlets, newspapers, diplomas, marriage licenses, etc.)
• Americans resented Grenville's new policies as a menace to both pocketbooks and liberty (which they took for granted):
○ Stripped basic right of colonists as Englishmen -- trial by jury and innocence until proven guilty
 Offenders tried in admiralty courts: courts with no juries which forced defendants to prove innocence
○ Aroused suspicion of colonists -- why was British army necessary in North America?
 Foreign powers (France, Indians) already crushed or expelled from continent
 Possibly needed to control rebellious colonists
○ "No taxation without representation."
 Americans originally believed Parliament could legislate laws affecting entire empire (ex. Trade regulations) but
should leave taxation of Americans to Americans (no Americans in Parliament)
□ Grenville's Response: Americans virtually represented in Parliament, since all members of Parliament were to
represent interests of entire British Empire
□ Americans did not want representation in Parliament -- would be outvoted by other members and stripped of
excuse to resist taxes
 Denied authority of Parliament after English denied request to divide legislative and taxation authority
□ Led Americans to dream of own political independence
Parliament Forced to Repeal the Stamp Act
• Colonists united to force England to repeal Stamp Act
○ Stamp Act Congress of 1765 brought delegates from 9 colonies together to draw up statement of rights and grievances
 Largely ignored by England
 Significance: began to bring colonies closer together and break down suspicions between rival colonies
○ Widespread adoption of nonimportation agreements boycotted British imports
 Homespun woolen garments worn and consumption of lamb discouraged to allow sheep to mature
 Gave ordinary colonists ability to participate in colonial protests
□ Petitions signed to uphold consumer boycotts
□ Women gathered for spinning bees
 Significance: United colonists together for first time in common action
○ Groups organized to take law into own hands (ex. Sons of Liberty, Daughters of Liberty)
 Enforced nonimportation agreements against violators, dumping tar and feathers on violators
 Mobs ransacked homes of unpopular officials
• Tax collection system broke down
○ All stamp tax agents forced to resign by date of effect, so no one could sell stamps = law defied
• London was hard hit:
○ Colonists originally imported 25% of all British exports and responsible for 50% of merchant traffic
 Unemployment caused by boycotts forced Parliament to reconsider Stamp Act:
□ Stamp Act reluctantly repealed by Parliament in 1766 after much debate
□ Declaratory Act passed in its place in 1766: Parliament had right to bind colonies regardless of situation
The Townshend Tea Tax and the Boston Massacre
• Prime Minister "Champagne Charley" Townshend took control of Parliament following Grenville
○ Passed Townshend Acts in 1767
 Placed an import tax on glass, white lead, paper, paint, and tea, to be collected at American ports
 Enraged Americans for numerous reasons:
□ Tea, a very popular beverage, was taxed
□ Tax revenues used to pay salaries of royal governors and judges
 Americans would no longer be able to control governors by withholding pay
◊ Suspicions confirmed when New York's legislature was suspended in 1767 for not complying with
Quartering Act of 1765
 Americans responded with nonimportation agreements, which were less effective now
 Americans began smuggling tea, esp. in Massachusetts, due to low price of obtaining smuggled tea
• British officials sent 2 regiments of troops to Boston in 1768 to keep law and order
○ Colonists taunted "bloody backs", who were often drunk and profane characters
 Boston Massacre resulted on March 5, 1770 in Boston as tensions continued to rise
□ Crowd of 60 Bostonians hit a member of a group of 10 Redcoats with a club and pushed another over
□ Provoked soldiers fired without orders, killing or wounding 11 citizens
□ Led by Crispus Attucks, one of the first men to fall
The Seditious Committees of Correspondence
• Prime Minister Lord North and King George III sought to restore declining power of British monarchy:
○ Responded to feebly-enforced nonimportation agreements, which hurt British manufacturers, by repealing all
Townshend Acts except for tax on tea to retain principle of parliamentary taxation
○ Bolstered efforts to enforce Navigation Laws
○ Led to organized resistance, primarily led by Samuel Adams (the "Penman of the Revolution") of Boston
Organized the Boston Committee of Correspondence in 1772, which was replicated across the colonies
AP US History Reading Notes Page 4
 Organized the Boston Committee of Correspondence in 1772, which was replicated across the colonies
□ Chief function: spread propaganda and information via letters
□ Resulted in an intercolonial version, the House of Burgesses, created in Virginia in 1773
 Allowed colonies to exchange ideas and information with other colonies
 Significance: Further helped spread sentiments against Britain and united colonists together
 Evolved into future American congresses
Tea Parties at Boston and Elsewhere
• By 1773, nonimportation agreements were weakening
○ Smuggled tea became more expensive than legal tea
• British East India Company on verge of bankruptcy
○ British authorities granted company monopoly of American tea business in hopes of retaining tax revenue in 1773
○ British East India Company's tea sold at lower prices for colonists
○ Colonists believed this was Britain's attempt at trying to accept the tea tax, resulting in revolt
 Colonists in Annapolis, Maryland, burned both tea and ship
 White townspeople disguised as Indians dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor during Boston Tea Party on
December 16, 1773
Parliament Passes the "Intolerable Acts"
• Parliament passed the "Repressive Acts" (known as the "Intolerable Acts in the colonies) in 1774, designed to punish Boston
○ Branded as "the massacre of American liberty"
○ Boston Port Act: drastic measure which closed harbor until damages were paid
○ Numerous chartered rights of colonial Massachusettts removed
 Ex. Officials who killed civilians in line of duty would be tried in England
• Quebec Act, passed in 1774, was mislabeled as a repressive measure in America
○ Extended boundaries of Quebec down to Ohio Valley
○ Guaranteed French right to retain Catholic religion and old customs/religions (including no assembly or trial by jury)
○ Angered Americans:
 Alarmed colonial land speculators -- loss of land originally designated for themselves
 Set dangerous precedent -- colonists thought England was against jury trials and assemblies
 Aroused anti-Catholics, who were shocked that Catholics would be granted land designated for Protestants
The Continental Congress and Bloodshed
• Dissenting colonials, angry from Quebec Act of 1774, supported Boston against England's brutal punishment of the city
○ Colonies flown at half-mast on date Boston Port Act went into effect
○ Sister colonies sent food to Boston -- including rice sent from South Carolina
○ First Continental Congress summoned in 1774 to discuss and rectify colonial grievances
 55 delegates from 12 colonies met in Philadelphia, including Samuel Adams, John Adams, George Washington, and
Patrick Henry
□ Georgia missing
 Social activities partially reduced intercolonial tensions
 John Adams steered congress away from policy of American home rule under British guidance by narrow margin
and towards policy of revolution
 Drew up Declaration of Rights and The Association: complete boycott of British goods -- nonimportation,
nonexportation, and nonconsumption
□ Designed to coax Britain into repealing the "Intolerable Acts" and other taxes
□ Rejected by Parliament, bringing Americans closer to war
 Muskets collected and colonial men trained for imminent clash
□ Significance: closest document to a constitution thus far
• British commander dispatched troops to Lexington and Concord to seize colonial gunpowder and capture Samuel Adams and
John Hancock (leaders of rebels) in April 1775
○ "Lexington Massacre" resulted when colonial minutemen refused to disperse and 8 Americans were killed
○ British troops forced to retreat from Concord as hidden Americans shot from behind bushes
Imperial Strength and Weakness
• America appeared disadvantaged against powerful British empire at first:
○ Britain was more populous than America by ratio of 3:1
○ Britain's professional army and ability to hire German Hessians were much better than America's colonial militias
 Britain also enlisted American Loyalists and Indians, which spanned entire frontier
• Britain had numerous internal problems which weakened it:
○ Oppressed Ireland required troops to monitor it
○ Bitter France waited for opportunities to backstab Britain
○ London government was confused and unorganized
○ Many Britons did not want to kill Americans, who were viewed as English -speaking cousins
○ English Whigs, who opposed Lord North's Tories, cheered American victories, encouraging Americans
○ Army encountered numerous difficulties of its own:
 Second-rate generals led brutally-treated soldiers to fight
□ Scarce and spoiled provisions
 British had to conquer American colonies, which were spread out over thousands of miles without an urban nerve
center (ex. Paris in France or London in Great Britain)
AP US History Reading Notes Page 5
center (ex. Paris in France or London in Great Britain)
American Pluses and Minuses
• Revolutionists were blessed from the start:
○ Strong leaders such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, a great diplomat
○ Open foreign aid eventually came from France
 Unemployed European officers volunteered to fight for pay
 Marquis de Lafayette, a noble-born Frenchman, became major general due to family and political connections who
ended up securing the aid of France
○ Fought defensively with odds favoring defender:
 Colonies were self-sustaining in agriculture
 Colonial marksmen far more accurate than British soldiers
• Revolutionists suffered from numerous disadvantages:
○ Lacked organization for war
 Continental Congress directed conflict feebly due to lack of unity between colonies
□ Fought most of war before adopting Articles of Confederation in 1781
 Jealousy between individual states resented fighting under officers from other sections
○ Economic difficulties resulted in massive inflation
 Metallic money was heavily drained away
 Continental Congress resorted to printing paper money instead of raising taxes, resulting in inflation
 Individual states became to issue own paper money
 Inflation of currency led worried husbands and fathers to desert from army
A Thin Line of Heroes
• Major shortages in Revolutionary Army resulted in military setbacks:
○ Basic military supplies were very scanty
 Firearms and gunpowder so scarce that Benjamin Franklin proposed bow and arrow
 Lack of wagons to haul abundant food for army
 Lack of clothing and shoes left patriots wearing ragged, if any, clothing, leaving trails of blood in snow
• American army was not well trained or reliable
○ American men given rudimentary training and served short terms in rebel armies
 Very accurate marksmen
 Could not hold ground against British regulars in open fields
○ Some army regulars eventually drilled by stern drillmasters
 German Baron von Steuben drilled American soldiers and trained them until they could fare well against British
regulars
• African Americans fought in war on both sides
○ Became heroes at numerous important battles, such as Trenton, Brandywine, and Saratoga
○ Gov. Lord Dunmore offered slaves in Virginia emancipation if they fought in British army in November 1775
 African American soldiers evacuated to Nova Scotia, Jamaica, and England at war's end for freedom
• Low morale in Revolutionary Army due to American profiteers
○ American merchants sold to British because payment was in gold
○ Bostonians made sky-high profits on military clothing while American army froze at Valley Forge
○ Lack of commitment to independence reduced number of soldiers fighting and supplies
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