A. What Changes Were Brought by the French Indian War?

Unit 3 = Colonies No More (1763-1783)

I. Farmers and Firebrands

A. What changes were brought by the French Indian War?

* England = new territories and huge DEBT

* France = lost territories and huge DEBT

* Colonies = restrictions and broken PROMISES

* Indians = lost territories and broken PROMISES

B. What happened to the British – Iroquois alliance?

* The Iroquois abandoned the British and formed an alliance with the Ottawa and Chief Pontiac

* WHY? The ever increasing number of settlers and traders moving into Iroquois territory and the Ottawa and Chief Pontiac offered an option to the British.

C. What did Britain create to avoid and Indian uprising?

* A policy preventing new settlers and new traders from going beyond a LINE to keep Colonial Indian conflicts from erupting.

(The Proclamation Line of 1763 = no settlement past the Appalachian Mts.)

* Protecting new settlers was costly and would continue to be costly especially if conflicts arose with the Indians so the British told the colonial settlers to STOP going west.

* Settlers already past the LINE who were traders with Indians could go past the LINE and were protected by the British and in essence were given monopoly like status as potential new trading competitors were kept out.

D. How did the Colonial Americans view the LINE?

* With disdain and continued to pour across the LINE in defiance as they likened the LINE to a PAPER FENCE that was impossible to monitor. The settlers moving across the LINE wanted protection from Indians like Chief Pontiac and Britain would not give it.

E. How did the Indians view the LINE?

* With discouragement and distrust as settlers kept coming and Britain did little to enforce it.

F. What did Chief Pontiac do as the settlers continued to pour into Indian Territory?

* Started a large scale attacks across the frontier and captured numerous forts.

G. How did the Pontiac Rebellion end?

* General Amherst defeated Pontiac and treaties were signed pushing the Indians west.

H. What happened to the Indians?

* Tribes preserved in certain SEGREGATED areas where assimilation and extermination were both unlikely but servitude likely inevitable. The Indians could not fight the British and win nor could they trust them and benefit.

II. Land Regulation and Revolution

A. What was the impact of the Proclamation Line of 1763?

* Traders disturbed by Britain

* Settlers alienated by Britain

* Indians disappointed by Britain

B. How did the Indians continue to deal with the frontier settlers?

* Some attacked the settlers

* Some sold land to the American settlers thinking they had tricked the settlers since land was not something that could be possessed by anyone so the Indians thought.

C. What did Britain do to protect the western frontier settlers?

* Collected TAXES from American settlers to provide protection but little protecting was done.

D. What did frontier settlers then do?

* Protected and defended themselves from the Indians at their own cost and sacrifice. They viewed taxes as oppressive when used incorrectly as in this case.

* EXAMPLES of settlers taking matters into their own hands:

- PAXTON Boys in 1763 in Pennsylvania = marched in Philly against the lenient Indian policies

- REGULATOR Movement in 1771 in North Carolina fought British at Battle of Alamance against taxes

E. What groups were more important than the frontier farmers to make a REVOLUTION?

(There are those that are helpful and those that are needed)

* Eastern merchants (business owners) of the North

* Large plantation land owners of the South

* WHY? Money, Means, and Education

* WHO? James OTIS, Samuel ADAMS, Patrick HENRY of Colonial Assemblies

F. What pushed the merchants and the plantation owners into an alliance with frontier westerners?

* British changes to the NAVIGATION Acts

* Colonies prior to 1763 accepted the system of MERCANTILISM because of its benefits: WHY?

- The guaranteed markets for goods and services and a guaranteed buyer securing market advantages

- The guaranteed protection from enemies and piracy

- The low financial cost of these guarantees to the Colonies as there was little if any tax for these services guarantees and services

- The salutary (benign) NEGLECT of Britain on policies like the Navigation Acts

G. What were the WRITS of ASSISTANCE?

* Agent of British “CROWN” allowed to enter a house or to board a ship to SEARCH for taxable or smuggled goods. British goal was to enforce Acts like the Molasses Act.

* The Writs was disliked but tolerated by Colonists prior to 1760 but during the latter part of the FIW it began to be challenged the Colonists and it was weakened.

H. Who contested any new “WRITS” and undercut British authority in the Colonies?

* James OTIS of Mass. = declared them against the British Constitution and therefore void

* Patrick HENRY of Virginia = annulled act involving tobacco smuggling and searching

* Benjamin FRANKLIN of Penn. = stated the acts, writs, taxes would lead to disunion

III. Mercantilism Reborn

A. Who became King of England in 1760?

* King GEORGE III at the age of 22 and he was dogmatic and authoritative exactly when the American “situation” certainly demanded flexibility. He also had bouts of insanity.

B. Who replaced W. PITT as Prime Minister?

* George GRENVILLE and his appointment combined with KGIII made matters even worse

C. How did the Rule of PITT differ from the Rule of GRENVILLE?

* Pitt = He practiced salutary (benign) neglect in hopes of unity, promised to reimburse FIW costs, and promised no land restrictions like the Proclamation LINE of 1763 as he believed land promoted wealth for Britain and the Colonies

* Grenville = He enforced the NAVIGATION Acts, (also Hat, Wool, Iron, Molasses Acts) and created land restrictions like the P/LINE, and believed the Colonists should be COMPELLED to pay more taxes as he concluded through an in-depth input and output analysis that the Colonists were too lightly burdened and were under taxed. He wanted to bring spending under control. The Colonists had VIRTUAL representation in Parliament and that was sufficient in his eyes.

D. What was the 1st new Act of Grenville?

* SUGAR Act 1764 = it put a tax on imports into the Colonies like sugar, wine, coffee, and more from foreign countries and ports. It was much like the Molasses Act of 1733 although it lowered actual tax rates.

* The strategy of Grenville was to offer lower rates to the Colonists while at the same time brandishing the stick of tighter enforcement and control

* Those caught smuggling would be tried in the Admiralty Courts where a British Judge would decide their case not a Colonial jury.

E. What British flaw was revealed in Grenville’s Plan?

* Incompetent British officials that allowed decades of non-enforcement and SALUTARY NEGLECT to become the norm and the expectation of the Colonists.

F. What was the 2nd new Act of Grenville?

* CURRENCY Act 1764 = it prohibited the Colonies from printing their own money $$$

* Why? When taxes came in the form of acts like the Sugar Act the Colonists would print more money $ to curtail INFLATION caused by the taxes. Colonists believed that more money in circulation was needed if prices went up so they wanted to print more to keep the money supply and the value of money constant and stable but Britain would not allow it anymore.

G. What was another Act of Grenville?

* QUARTERING Act 1765 = it forced Colonists to house and feed British troops and provide necessary supplies for them. Colonists okay with helping but not in mandate form like the Q Act

H. What was the prevailing Colonial view on Government?

* The more revenue a Government had the more mischief and meddling they could create

* Grenville never met a tax he did not like and the purpose was to raise revenue not just to regulate trade under Mercantilism. To him all British subjects should and will pay tax and share the burden

* Past taxes came with a benefit like voting with property tax but not these new taxes which greatly troubled the Colonists.

I. Did the Colonists receive benefits from Britain on the cheap for decades?

* Compared to overtaxed British citizens and landowners the answer was most definitely yes

* They received almost free protection and received market advantages of a guaranteed buyer in a Government controlled economy

* In this on the cheap process Colonists had one of the highest standards of living in the World. However, they linked assaults on their economic liberties with their political liberties and if Britain could assail their economies and finances then they could also attack political freedom of speech and religion next. The British were not dealing with native people of the land like Indians but dealing with people like themselves.

J. How did the economist ADAM SMITH impact the Colonists?

* His writings

- Theory of Moral Sentiments 1754 and Wealth of Nations 1775

* His theory

- The INVISIBLE HAND and the FREE market concept

- All humans have a natural SELF INTEREST based on knowledge only they can know (their likes, and dislikes, and their personal foibles). As humans act on their knowledge and self interest in a free market they will drove and create the markets and help themselves and others.

-Smith reformulated economics around INDIVIDUAL rights rather than a NATIONS needs

* Britain trying to enforce Mercantilism at a time when Smith’s free-market concepts were thriving in the Colonies. Personal economic liberty seeped into the American PSYCHE. (John Adams and T. Jefferson were examples) Economic liberties were linked in the American mind to political liberties.

IV. Stamp Act

A. What was the 3rd Act of Grenville?

* Stamp Act 1765 = tax on almost every paper document and transaction like legal documents, ship papers, newspapers, cards, dice, ……..)

B. Why was the Stamp Act created?

* Shift the burden from the overtaxed English landowners to the Colonists despite knowing Englishmen voted and Colonists did not

C. Who impacted by Stamp Act?

* Everyone as it was the 1st direct tax unlike the Sugar Act that affected Colonists indirectly with higher prices. The Sugar Act only directly impacted those who imported sugar and other goods.

(Whig Parliament member Edmund Burke warned the new policies would lead to a firestorm and the Colonies must be allowed to govern themselves)

D. How did the Colonists respond to the Stamp Act?

*Harassment of Stamp Act officials by the SONS of LIBERTY led by Samuel Adams

* The Sons destroyed stamps, boycotted stamps of which the press greatly encouraged, intimidated British officials, tortured officials with tar and feathering and burned the house of Royal Lt. Governor T. Hutchinson in Boston and colonial juries refused to convict the SONS of Liberty of any of their actions.

* The Daughters of Liberty spun their own clothes and boycotted

* House of Burgesses of Virginia led by J. Otis and P. Henry created 5 resolutions attacking the Stamp Act and called for the Stamp Act Congress in New York with delegates from each Colony. Patrick Henry stated, “If this be treason, make the most of it,” and “tax without representation is tyranny.”

E. What did the delegates at the Stamp Act Congress create?

* A bill of rights and a list of grievances that sought no tax without representation as they wanted actual not virtual representation

F. How did the British respond to the Stamp Congress?

* New Prime Minister Rockingham and Parliament repealed the Stamp Act

* WHY? British manufacture owners losing money as a result of the boycotts so they convinced Parliament to repeal the act. Not one Stamp was bought anyways.

*BUT? English landowners heavily burdened with taxes saw the repeal as appeasement to the Colonies so they encouraged British Parliament (Congress) to pass DECLARATORY Act 1766 where Parliament had the authority to pass new taxes anytime they chose and the Colonies had to obey.

V. A “Massacre” in Boston

A. What happened to Rockingham?

* KGIII replaced him with PITT 1765 after pressure from landlords

B. What happened to PITT?

* Replaced with Townshend 1767 because of Pitt’s dysfunctional uncooperative factions

C. What did Townshend do?

* Created new acts calling them the Townshend Acts where small import taxes were placed on glass, led, tea, and other items to stop Colonial trade with other countries much like the Molasses and Sugar Acts. The tax rates were small but signaled shifts in power again where Parliament could use its new powers over the Colonies oppressively. Also, the Acts used the money collected to pay British officials in the Colonies.

D. What else did Townshend do?

* Suspended the New York Assembly for their refusal to provide necessary supplies under the Quartering (Mutiny Act). He tried to isolate NY even though Mass. had refused as well. The Colonists were tolerant and understanding of the Q Act but not without 1st giving their consent through representation.

E. How did the rest of the Colonies respond the NY suspension?

* They expressed support thru written arguments. Pinckney and Rutledge of South Carolina, Dulany of Maryland, Dickinson of Penn. in “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania/ and S. Adams of Massachusetts promoting boycotts in Non Importation Agreements and Circular Letters until the New York Assembly was restored.

F. How did Britain handle the unified support?

* Britain was stunned as they thought other Colonies would abandon New York’s protest of the Quartering Act. Britain then issued the suspension of all Colonial Assemblies that supported NY or any boycott of British goods.

G. How did the Colonies react to the threat of suspension?

* All 13 Colonies supported the New York and the boycott of British goods

H. Where did Britain turn its focus to squash the rebellion?

* Massachusetts placing 4 new regiments (several thousand troops) in Boston which greatly increased British demands under the Quartering Act

I. How did the Bostonians react to the British troop presence?

* They reacted angrily as the British redcoats nicknamed Lobster Backs were rude, demanding, and competed for jobs with colonists after their duties as soldiers were done which made tensions high.

J. What did the heightened tensions erupt into in Boston?

* a BOSTON MASSACRE on March 5, 1770 where a street mob of 70 shipyard workers gathered around a handful of British troops and a street fight erupted as snowballs gave way to gunfire where 5 Colonists were killed including Crispus Attucks and 6 Colonists were wounded.

K. What happened to the British troops involved in the fight?

* The local colonial juries found the British troops not guilty for murder and guilty for only minor offenses. Colonial lawyer John Adams defended the British troops.

L. What was the impact of the Boston Massacre?

* American POLEMICISTS (those good at the art of creating controversy) labeled it a “Massacre” and a demonstration of “Oppressiveness”

* “Propaganda“ thru Broadsides ,Newspapers, and Engravings were widely spread in Colonies. S. Adams wrote 40 articles in 2 years, Paul Revere made an engraving, and pennames were used by Dickinson and others to write articles criticizing Britain making it almost impossible to forget about the Boston Massacre as Britain wanted to do.

M. What did S. Adams create in Nov. 1772?

* Committee of Correspondence which spread information and knowledge from place to place and Colony to Colony. House of Burgesses made a resolution to have the Correspondence Committee made permanent in each Colony and American unity and identity was further cemented.

N. By 1775 how was the Committee of Correspondence supported?

* They were supported by numerous clubs, organizations, and merchant groups, and 42 Colonial Newspapers, and in Churches (Clubs like the Sons of Liberty, the Sons of Neptune, and the Philly Patriotic Society)

O. What incident in 1772 made the C of C evident?

* The Gaspee where a British patrol ship ran aground and was burned by Colonists. The news of the Gaspee spread quickly and those Colonists involved in the burning were warned.

(Many days and months followed between the Stamp Act and Boston Massacre for example and most people just going were going about living their normal lives but S. Adams and many others would not let them forget past events and the many issues involved in the Colonial/British relationship)

VI. Boston’s TEA PARTY 1773

A. Why was tea a staple (common) drink in the Colonies?

* Water was undrinkable in many colonial areas polluted with bacteria and disease.

B. Who replaced Townshend in 1770 as Prime Minister?

* North

C. Why was there a tax on tea?