Build-up to the American Revolution

Written Assignment 3 HIS-113 1David Spencer

Written Assignment 3

The disagreements between the American colonists and the British policymakers largely

on issues arising from the consequences of the French and Indian War and spiraling policy and

rebellious response distinguish the period of 1763 to 1776.

Consequences of War

The path to the American Revolution began in the aftermath of the French and Indian war

with the signing of the Peace of Paris in 1763 (Brinkley, 2012, p. 108). British policymakers

were ill at ease with their position as a result of the peace. Broadly, the British saw the war as

largely benefiting the American colonists at the expense of the British (p. 108).

The French and Indian War had a heavy financial toll on the British, specifically the

constituents of the policymaking British Ministers. The British financed the war with royal debt

(p. 108). This debt was secured by levying heavy tax burdens on British merchants and

landowners, the constituents of the British parliament and ministers (p. 111). The debt and

following taxes were onerous because of the high cost of stationing British troops on the colonial

frontier to protect the colonial settlements after the peace of 1763 (p. 111). Additionally, the

Americans had been unwilling to be taxed during the war (p. 109).

If the Americans had been unwilling to pay a meaningful contribution towards the cost of

the war and the following garrison during the war, they were largely unable to do so after the end

of hostilities. The large volume of capital that flowed into the colonies during the war had

created a bubble economy. The peace ended the steady increase in the money supply that

created the bubble and left a recession instead (p. 111). This economic recession was

compounded by the injurious British policies and taxes that came in the years following 1763.


The British were not only frustrated by the lack of colonial fiscal support for the war, but

also by what was seen in Britain as American military ineptitude (p. 108). If not for the colonial

military failures, much British blood and treasure may have been spared in the view of the

policymakers and their constituents (p. 108).

The British views of the consequences of the French and Indian war informed the tone of

policymaking in London. Indeed this created an almost adversarial relationship between the

policymakers and the colonists.

George III

The role that the British monarch, King George III, played in creating instability in the

American colonies in the years leading up to the American Revolution cannot be discount. The

role of the King and the monarchy was not directly in contention between the policymakers and

the colonist; however, King George’s choices exacerbated the increasingly adversarial

relationship across the Atlantic.

Shortly after George III became king in 1760, he removed the “stable coalition of Whigs”

(p. 111) who had run a moderate administration that was working towards a more effective form

of colonial governance. The king distrusted this network of Whigs, over which he had only

marginal influence. In their stead, he installed his own coalition of ministers through patronage

and bribes to gain control of parliament.

During this era of cronyism, the King installed George Grenville as Prime Minister of

Great Britain in 1763. Grenville “agreed with British opinion that colonists had long been

indulged and that they should be compelled to obey the laws and to pay a part of the cost of

defending and administering the empire" (p. 111).


Expansion of the Navigation Acts

During the Grenville administration, British policymakers enacted numerous acts that can

be best described as Imperial mercantilist policies. The acts passed between 1763 and 1774

primarily served as means to protect British industry from colonial disruptors and to generate

revenue.

The Royal Proclamation of 1763 forbade colonists from advancing their settlements past

a line drawn through the Appalachian Mountains. The purpose of this measure was to reduce

hostilities with the indigenous tribes caused by colonial settlement on their lands and thereby

reduce the requirement for military garrisons and frontier protection. The proclamation was

ineffective at stemming colonial expansion and mainly served to embitter colonists and war

veterans who were promised land on the Ohio.

The expansion of the navigation acts began in 1764 with Sugar Act and the Currency Act.

The Sugar Act was passed to combat the illegal sugar trade between the colonies and the

Caribbean possessions of Britain’s imperial rivals France and Spain. The act strengthened

enforcement of trade restrictions and established vice-admiralty courts in America to adjudicate

those accused of smuggling. The act also damaged the American sugar industry through the

reduction in import tariffs on molasses. The Currency Act “required the colonial assemblies to

stop issuing paper money” and to schedule the retirement of all paper money in circulation at the

time of enactment (p. 112). These acts that damaged the colonial economy were followed a year

later by the Mutiny Act of 1765. This act required the colonists to assist in provisioning and

maintaining the Army which was permanently stationed in the colonies.


Stamp Act of 1765 may have shown the greatest area of disagreement between the

American colonist and the British policymakers. The Stamp Act imposed a direct tax on the

American colonists by the British Parliament on most printed documents such as newspapers,

almanacs, pamphlets, deeds, wills, and licenses (p. 112). The Act was widely opposed in the

colonies, and unlike the previous acts this act directly affected the vast majority of the colonists.

It especially affected the printers, landowners, and lawyers who had significant political sway in

the colonies.

Another round of acts shortly preceded the beginning of the American Revolution. The

Tea Act of 1773 allowed direct trade by the British East India Company to American ports duty

free. This bypassed the American merchants who were normally middlemen in the trade of tea

(p. 121). The Tea Act revived American passions about 'taxation without representation' and

resulted in a wide colonial boycott of tea and led to the Boston Tea Party and copycat resistance

in other colonies (p. 121). The Coercive Acts of 1774 specifically targeted Massachusetts as the

center of the rebellion (p. 124). The Quebec Act did not directly affect the colonists in the

American colonies; instead it granted civil rights to the Catholics of Quebec. This was seen in

the American colonies as a threat to the colonists’ anti-establishment of the Anglican and

Catholic Church (p. 124).

The acts of the 1760s served to unite the American colonies that had previously had few

common interests. The act of the 1770s served to rekindle the opposition and propel the colonies

into the Revolution.

An Era of Avoidable Errors


The era of 1763 to 1776 is rife with adversarial behavior on the part of both the British

policymakers and the American colonists. As demonstrated by the treatment of former enemies

in Quebec, the initial state of the colonists did not need to end in rebellion and war. The attitude

of the British policymakers towards the American colonists led to increasingly punitive instead

of conciliatory policy that pushed the colonies away from the crown and towards one another.

These policy errors were all avoidable, and under other circumstances the American colonies

may have been in the commonwealth instead of confederation and later union.


References

Brinkley, A. (2012). American history: A survey (14th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

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Build-up to the American Revolution