SHORT RESPONSE
Chapter 5 (p.150-157)
Answer the following questions in at 3-4 sentences.
You will have 4 minutes.
What was the impact of the Great War for Empire
on British policymakers and the colonies?
Answer
The Great War for Empire fundamentally changed
the relationship between Britain and its American
colonies because the war exposed the weak
authority of British royal governors and officials.
To assert their authority, the British began a strict
enforcement of the Navigation Acts and a
succession of taxes to help pay for the war. The
Great War thus left colonists in debt with a more
intrusive government.
An Empire Transformed
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Costs of Empire
Britain’s National Debt
British national debt soared from £75 million in 1756 to £133
million in 1763
British raised taxes on the poor and middle classes
Increased size of British bureaucracy to collect taxes
Those with little political power (poor, colonists) appeared most
vulnerable to increased taxation.
John Wilkes (Whig) publicly condemned rotten boroughs as
districts controlled by the wealthy who did not face these new
fiscal measures
Costs of Empire
British Troops in the Colonies
The decision by Britain to keep 7500 soldiers in
colonies during peacetime angered colonists
British wanted to maintain control over colonists,
Native Americans, and French in Canada
George Grenville and the Reform
Impulse
The Sugar Act (1764)
Set a 3 pence per gallon duty on French molasses
in the colonies
Americans publicly argued that the new tax would
destroy the French trade and the American
distilling industry
Americans sought ways to evade this new tax
(smuggling or bribing officials)
George Grenville and the Reform
Impulse
The End of Salutary Neglect
Debate began over whether the Sugar Act was unlawful as the tax did not “originate
with the people”
Those accused of breaking the law were to be tried by vice-admiralty courts with a
British-appointed judge
Old American fears were revived that the Sugar Act would make colonies “slaves”
to Britain
Argued that those in the colonies were being treated as less than Englishmen
Points of the act were debated, but reality was that the act revealed new efforts by
the British to take more control of the colonies
Some English parliamentarians argued that the colonists did not have the same
rights as Englishmen because they were living outside of Britain as “second-class
subjects of the king.”
The Stamp Act
First Imperial Crisis
Required stamps on all court documents, land titles, contracts, newspapers,
other printed materials
Intended to cover at least a portion of the cost of keeping troops in the colonies
Grenville held that either colonies pay for their own defense or face a stamp tax
British contended that colonies had “virtual representation” because of
Parliament members who were transatlantic merchants and sugar planters in
the West Indies
House of Commons ignored colonial protest of the Stamp Act and passed the
act by an overwhelming majority of 205 to 49
Parliament also passed the Quartering Act of 1765, which required colonial
governments to provide barracks and food for British troops
The Stamp Act
First Imperial Crisis
Required stamps on all court documents, land titles, contracts, newspapers,
other printed materials
Intended to cover at least a portion of the cost of keeping troops in the colonies
Grenville held that either colonies pay for their own defense or face a stamp tax
British contended that colonies had “virtual representation” because of
Parliament members who were transatlantic merchants and sugar planters in
the West Indies
House of Commons ignored colonial protest of the Stamp Act and passed the
act by an overwhelming majority of 205 to 49
Parliament also passed the Quartering Act of 1765, which required colonial
governments to provide barracks and food for British troops
Short Answer
Why did most British and colonial leaders reject
the idea that the colonies should be represented in
Parliament?