THE EMPIRE IN TRANSITION
In the 1770s the relationship
between the colonies and the UK
began to fall apart, but the roots
of the schism began earlier…
Week 4: Chapter 4
TOPIC: LOOSENING TIES
From “salutary
neglect” to
1775/6, what
happened to the
Empire?
A DECENTRALIZED EMPIRE
Kings became weaker after Glorious Revolution
 Prime Minister=executive
 Dependent on merchants and landholders
 Less likely to tighten grip on colonies
 Could lose money
Fear of disrupting commerce with colonies
Colonial governors
 Susceptible to bribes
 Remain in England
 Select Substitutes
Gov. De La Warr, he actually did his
job!
GOVERNMENT IN THE COLONIES: THE ASSEMBLIES
 Levied taxes
 Made
appropriations
 Approve
appointments
 Pass laws
Began to view
themselves as the
Parliament for their
colonies
EACH COLONY IS MORE CLOSELY LINKED WITH THE
UK THAN WITH ITS FELLOW COLONIES, WHY?
THE COLONIES AND THE COLONISTS
1. Loyal English Subjects
2. Strong ties to England
3. Little inter-colonial cooperation
 Trade?
 Road Construction
 Postal Service
TOPIC: THE REAL “FIRST” WORLD WAR: ROAD TO
THE 7 YEARS WAR
1750s-1760s: England and France battle for
world supremacy
In the colonies it becomes a tripartite struggle
English vs. the Iroquois and English vs. the
French
NEW FRANCE: CONFLICTS WITH THE ENGLISH
String of forts, communities, trading posts
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Not well defended
St. Lawrence River most protected
Quebec, Montreal, Detroit in the North
New Orleans, Biloxi and Mobile in the South
Both sides would try to win the allegiance of
natives tribes
 English: Better and more plentiful goods
 French: Tolerance
The French had better relationships with the
Natives, had converted many to Catholicism
THE IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY
 Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga,
Onondaga, Oneida
 Formed in 15th C.
 Most powerful native group in
Ohio Valley since the 1640s
 Traded with both sides
 Played sides off of one another
ANGLO-FRENCH CONFLICTS AFTER THE GLORIOUS
REVOLUTION
King William’s War (1689-1697)
 Few clashes
Queen Anne’s War (1701-1713)
 Treaty of Utrecht gave Nova Scotia and Newfoundland from French to British
King George’s War (1744-1748)
 Begins as a dispute over British trading rights in the Spanish colonies
 Became a larger European war
 Led to the deterioration of relations between the E,F, and I.
Ohio Valley Expedition (1754) ---The Beginning of the French and Indian War
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Virginian Military force
Commanded by George Washington
Fort Necessity vs. Fort Duquesne (Pittsburg)
French crush the English, 1/3 are killed, Washington Surrenders
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR
1754-1663
Spreads to Europe in 1756 (The Seven Years War)
Iroquois remain neutral
Almost all tribes side with French
Phase 1 (1754-1757)
a. English losses consistent
b. Native raids on English settlements
c. Spreads to West Indies, India, Europe
F/I WAR: PHASE II (1757)
William Pitt, English Secretary
of State
Brought war fully under British
control
Appointed commanders
Issued orders to colonists
Forcibly enlisted colonists into
the Army (Impressment)
F/I WAR: PHASE III (1758-1763)
 Recruitment returned to the Colonial
Assemblies
 Large number of British troops sent to
America
 Mid-year, several British victories
 July 1758: Louisbourg
 Late Summer: Fort Duquesne falls without a fight
 1759: Siege of Quebec
 General Wolfe surprises Marquis de Montcalm
 Both Commanders killed in battle but English win
 Quebec falls on Septmberer 13,1759
 September 1760: French surrender Amherst
in Montreal
 Effectively ends the war in North America
THE TREATY OF PARIS (1763)
France: Surrender islands in west indies
(some)
France: Surrender colonies in India,
Canada
France: Surrender all territory east of
Mississippi
France: Give all land west of Mississippi
to Spain
France: 
IMPACT ON THE COLONIES
1. Increases British Debt
2. Resentment of Americans
 Military ineptitude
 No financial contribution
 Merchants selling to French! During
the War!
3. Anger at tribes allied with French
4. Iroqious=Neutral=untrustworthy
5. “Good” natives vs. “bad”
natives: no distinction
THE NEW IMPERIALISM
England has many debts from
nearly 50 years of war. It needs
new revenue, and the American
colonies are costing it tons of
money.
THE BURDENS OF EMPIRE
1. Colonial Assemblies: Defiant
 Ignore parliament’s trade rules
2. British Merchants: Taxed too
heavily
 The F/I war was a North American War
3. British troops permanently
stationed in North America
4. George III (1760)
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Reassert authority of monarchy
Serious intellectual limitations
Bouts of insanity
Immature and insecure
A British Cartoon on the eve of the American Revolution, about the troubles in the Colonies.
Does this appear to be a well liked king?
A NEW PRIME MINISTER
George Grenville
1763
Colonies should pay part of the cost
of defending and administering the
empire
How do you think Americans will
react to this?
THE PROCLAMATION OF 1763
1. Colonists begin to move into Ohio
River Valley
2. Ottawa under Pontiac fight back
3. Proclamation of 1763
 No settlements beyond the Appalachian
Mountains
 Cherokee among others support
 Relationships improve
 White settlers largely ignore.
THE SUGAR ACT (1764)
 Raised tax on sugar,
lowered tax on molasses
 Attempt to cut down on
smuggling
 Est. new vice-admiralty
courts in America to try
smugglers
 Cut them off from local
juries
 Will eventually be
repealed
THE CURRENCY ACT (1764)
The Colonies can not issue paper money!
What effect might this have?
MUTINY ACT OF 1765
Colonists required to help
provision and maintain the
army
Navy patrolled for smugglers
Royal officials could no longer
send substitutes
Colonial manufacturing
restricted
 end competition with England.
The Quartering Act of 1764 required colonists to
“quarter” English soldiers.
EARLY ATTEMPTS AT UNIFICATION
1763- Paxton Boys
 Pennsylvania frontiersmen vs. Philadelphia
 Demanded tax relief and financial support
for defense against natives
 Colonial assembly gave in
1771- Regulators
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North Carolina farmers from the interior
Armed resistance of high taxes.
Sheriffs hired to enforce levies
Eastern militiamen crush revolt
GRENVILLE UNINTENTIONALLY UNITES THE
COLONIES
Northern Merchants: Restraints on Commerce
West: closed to fur trading and land speculation
Small Farmers: abolition of paper money, source of most loans
Workers in towns: narrowing opportunities because of restraints
Everyone: increased taxes
Political: Loss of Self Government
Assemblies have sole right to issue taxes
British challenging basis of colonial political power
THE STIRRINGS OF REVOLT
Get Ready, things are about to
get much, much worse…
Look at this image.
What is the artist really
saying about those
seeking to rebel against
the laws of England?
What does the fact that
this even exists show us
about the attitude of the
colonists on the eve of the
American Revolution?
THE STAMP ACT (1765)
1. Tax on Printed Documents
 Almanacs, Newspapers, Deeds, Licenses,
Wills
2. Tax revenue increases 10X
3. Precedent: Taxation without
consent of Colonial Assemblies
COLONISTS RESPOND!
Virginia House of Burgesses
 Patrick Henry: George III a tyrant, might
lose his head
 The Virginia Resolves: Americans possess
same rights as English
 Taxation only by representative assemblies
 Parliament was an enemy to the colonies, as were
it’s supporters
Massachusetts Assembly
 James Otis calls for intercolonial congress
SUMMER 1765: URBAN UPRISINGS
The Sons of Liberty
Boston
Terrorize stamp agents
Burn stamps
Attack pro-British aristocrats
Lieutenant gov. Thomas
Hutchinson’s house destroyed.
(He didn’t support the stamp
act  )
THE STAMP ACT CONGRESS (OCTOBER 1765)
 New York
 Delegates from 9 colonies
 Petition to British
government: Colonies could
not rightfully be taxed
except by their own
provincial assemblies
ENGLAND BACKS DOWN?: STAMP ACT REPEALED
 Large colonial boycotts hurt British
merchants
 New Prime Minister: Marquis of
Rockingham
 Repealed: March 18,1766
 Declaratory Act (1766): confirms
parliamentary authority over the
colonies “in all cases whatsoever”
 The colonists ignore, they had defeated the
stamp act!
THE TOWNSHEND PROGRAM
William Pitt replaces unpopular Rockingham
 Sympathetic towards Americans
 Incapacitated by illness/age
Charles Townshend runs the government
Mutiny (Quartering) Act of 1765
 What was this all about?
 New York and Massachusetts refuse to vote the
mandated supplies to the troops
 1767: Townshend disbands the New York Assembly
until colonists agree to abide
 Singled out New York so as not to antagonize all colonies at once.
THE TOWNSHEND DUTIES
 Taxes on various goods
imported from England
 Taxes on “external”
transactions: imports from
overseas
 Stamp Act was a tax on “internal”
transactions
 Expects little resistance
 Colonists angry about
suspension of New York Asby.
 Protests of the new taxes
THE BOARD OF CUSTOMS COMMISSIONERS
 Headquarters in Boston
 Ends smuggling in Boston
 Merchants organize a boycott of
British goods that were subject of the
T. Duties.
 Philadelphia and New York joins in
1768
 Later southern merchants cooperate
 March 1770 Townshend Duties
repealed
 New Prime Minister: Lord North
 Keeps the tea tax.
THE BOSTON MASSACRE (MARCH 5, 1770)
Colonists harassing customs commissioners
British troops stationed in the city
 Poorly paid
 Worked in off duty hours, competing with local workers
“Liberty boys”
 Rocks and snowballs at the customs house
 Thomas Preston lines British regiments in front of building
 Scuffle
 Soldiers knocked down
 Soldiers fired into crowd
 5 people killed
Innocent Blood Crying to God from the Streets of Boston (Pamphlet)
Paul Revere engraving
British soldiers put on trial before a jury of Bostonians
 Found guilty of manslaughter and given light punishment
SAMUEL ADAMS (1772)
England: Morass of sin and corruption
America: Virtue Survives
A “Committee of Correspondence” in
Boston to publicize grievances against
England
Other colonies follow Mass. lead
IDEAS SUPPORTING REBELLION
Religious: Puritanism
Political Experiences: Salutary
Neglect
British “Radicals”
 Scots: England is tyrannical
 “Country Whigs”: felt excluded
from power
NEW CONCEPTS OF GOVERNMENT
Government must protect rights to
life/liberty/property
Government can become corrupt
Safeguards to protect from abuses of Power
The “Social Contract”
English Constitution: Not written down
 Checks and Balances?
 King becoming to powerful?
 English, ok with…Americans not so much
Colonial Charters: Power of gov. written down
“NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION”
English Argument
 : Parliament
represented
colonists just as it represented
non-voting Englishmen.
“Virtual representation”
Empire was a single
undivided unit.
American Argument
 Should have own representatives
in Parliament or parliament should
not tax. “Actual representation”
 Colonial assemblies play this role
 Federation of Commonwealths
 Own legislatures
 Loyalty to the king
THE TEA ACT OF 1773
British East India Company on the verge of bankruptcy
Large surplus of tea
Allowed to import tea directly to colonies without paying taxes
 Cut out the colonial merchants
 Undersell the merchants, monopolize the colonial tea trade.
Angers merchants
 Revives issue of taxation without representation
North assumes colonists would like it
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Lowered price of tea
Removed middlemen
Resistance leaders: it was an unconstitutional tax on American merchants.
Colonists boycott tea
Large segment of population involved
Linked colonies together
Daughters of Liberty
“Rather than Freedom, we’ll part with our Tea.”
THE BOSTON TEA PARTY
December 16,1773
150 men
Dressed as Mohawks
Stole tea from three ships
and dumped it into the
harbor
Other seaports stage
similar acts throughout
December
“THE INTOLERABLE ACTS”: 4 LAWS THAT LED TO
REVOLUTION
 Closed port of Boston
 Reduced power of self-government in
Massachusetts
 Permitted royal officers in America to be tried
for crimes in other colonies or in England
 Quartering of troops among the colonists
 Was an attempt to isolate Massachusetts
 Backfired!
 Made Mass a Martyr
 Colonial legislatures passed a series of
resolves supporting Mass.
 Boycotts of British goods extended
COOPERATION AND WAR
The war of rebellion begins, but
what exactly are its goals?
THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
(SEPTEMBER 1774)
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All colonies but Georgia
Colonial union under British authority
Moderate statement of grievances
Approved a series of resolutions
recommending military preparation for
defense against British attack in Boston
 A series of boycotts that they hoped would
stop all trade with Great Britain
 Continental Association set up to enforce
 Will meet again in spring
CONCILIATORY PROPOSITIONS (1775)
 Lord North
 Colonies tax themselves at
Parliament’s demand
 Hope to gain support of American
moderates (the majority)
 Too little, too late. War has
already started by time it arrives
I tried to find a picture to put here,
really I did. Just imagine Lord North
face-palming over the fact that the
colonies are rebelling, okay?
THE SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD
“Minutemen” vs. Redcoats
Boston: General Thomas Gage
 Officers wanted to attack, believed militia would crumble quickly. Gage didn’t believe them.
 Received orders to arrest Sam Adams and John Hancock in Lexington. Hesitated
 Stockpile of Gunpowder in Concord
April 18,1775: Night
 1,000 men to Lexington. Hoping to seize illegal supplies without bloodshed
 Colonists watching
 William Dawes and Paul Revere warn villages and farms.
April 19: British arrive at Lexington
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Colonists ready
Shots fired
8 killed, 10 wounded
Colonists flee
Advance to Concord
 Powder supply had been removed.
 Head back to Boston
 Attacked by farmers and militia the entire way back.
The “Shots heard ‘round the world”
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Who fired?
Major Thomas Pitcairn: Ordered colonists to disperse, ordered his troops to fire
British officers: Minutemen fired first
Colonists: British fired first and committed atrocities.
War has begun.
SOURCES
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