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17th and 18th Centuries
• Great Britain followed a policy of MERCANTILISM–The theory that a country should
sell more goods to other countries than it buys
–Favorable balance of trade:• Profit made on exports exceeds the costs of imports
MERCANTILISMIMPACT
• Positive– New England shipbuilding prospered– Chesapeake tobacco farmers had monopoly on British trade– Protection from England
• Negative– Limited manufacturing– Low price for crops– High prices for manufactured British goods
• Enforcement– Navigation officials in charge, but known for corruption– Led to smuggling
5
1600s• British government passed a series of
NAVIGATION ACTS– The colonies could trade only with England.
– American goods must be exported in British ships.
Early 1760s •WRITS OF ASSISTANCE
–British customs officials were given the authority to search people’s homes for smuggled goods without a warrant.
The French and Indian War
• French empire collided w/ British empire• British debt = high American Taxes
Treaty of Paris Proclamation of 1763
• Britain claimed land east of the Mississippi River
• Banned all settlement west of Appalachian Mts.
1764: Sugar Act
• British Action:– Raised taxes on goods
like…• Sugar• Textiles• Wine• Coffee• Indigo
• Colonial Response:– First time a tax had been
passed to raise revenue rather than regulate trade
– Colonial merchants protested the increased duties
• England had just won the Seven Years War/French and Indian War and was in debt– Felt that the colonist should have to
help pay for the war because they received more land
• became a rallying cry for colonists
• Americans didn’t feel they should have to pay taxes when they did not have anyone to represent them in parliament
No Taxation Without Representation
James Otis’ The Rights of the British Colonists
Stamp Act
• The Stamp Act of 1765 was passed by Great Britain.
• It required all legal documents, permits, commercial contracts, newspapers, pamphlets, and playing cards in the American colonies to carry a tax stamp.
Stamp Act• Colonists rioted &
threatened tax collectors with tarring and feathering.
• Unified the Colonists against Britain & directly led to the revolution
1765: Quartering Act
• British Action:– Colonists had to keep
British troops in their homes
– Purpose to keep troops in the colonies and reduce the cost
• Colonial Response:– Colonists did not get along
with army and did not want them there permanently
– They despised the British “occupation” and the soldiers
– Began to form meetings about the Acts they disliked
Sons of Liberty• This secret society
formed as a result of the Stamp Act
• Many times they would seize the stamps or the papers that were stamped and burn them.
• The Sons enforced boycotts and occasionally resorted to violence.
TOWNSHEND ACTS
• Britain bragged they could tax the colonies without them knowing
• Passed the Townshend Duties• British Rationale
– Internal (indirect) tax• Colonial Reaction
– Colonist slow to react
The Boston Massacre (March 5,1770)
Boston Massacre
• On March 5, 1770 the Boston Massacre occurred when a few troops fired on Bostonians who were throwing snowballs, rocks & clamshells at them.
• 5 colonists were killed• The soldiers and their officer were
charged with murder. – A jury found the officer and six of eight soldiers
not guilty.
The Boston Massacre
• Crispus Atticus, a dockworker who was part African, was the first man killed in the Boston Massacre
• Also killed were– Samuel Gray– James Caldwell– Samuel Maverick*– Patrick Carr*
• The Boston Massacre led many to call for stronger boycotts against British goods
*Died from their wounds afterward
Fill in the Blank
1. The Rallying cry for colonists was ___________________________________________.
2. The _________________________ required colonists to pay for an official stamp, or seal, whenever they bought paper items.
3. The _______________________________ were formed in protest against the Stamp Act.
4. ______________________________ was the first man killed in the Boston Massacre.
5. A total of ______________ people were killed in the Boston Massacre.
Tea Act (1773)8 British East India Co.:
Monopoly on British tea imports
Many members of Parliament held shares
This created an opportunity for cheaper tea
8 England expected the colonies to eagerly choose the cheaper tea
Boston Tea Party
• The Tea Act (May 1773) enraged the Colonists
• A group of colonists, led by Samuel Adams and Paul Revere disguised themselves as Native Americans, boarded ships on the night of Dec. 16, 1773, and threw the tea into the harbor.
Boston Tea Party (1773)
Intolerable Acts
• The British government responded by –closing the port of Boston and –Passed the Intolerable Acts (1774).
• The Boston Tea Party eventually proved to be one of the many causes that led to the American Revolution.
The Coercive or IntolerableActs (1774)
Lord North
1. Port Bill
2. Government Act
4. Administration of Justice Act
3. New Quartering Act
INTOLERABLE ACTS
• Britain called “Coercive Acts”• 1774• Boston harbor would remain closed until tea paid for• Closed Massachusetts Legislature & increased power
of royal governor• Expanded the Quartering Act• Allowed royal officials to be tried in England• British Rationale
– Punishment for Boston Tea Party, Reimburse merchants
• Colonial Reaction– First Continental Congress
• The British actions against Boston increased the colonists’ need to be more unified against the king
• Samuel Adams decided that a meeting, or congress, of representatives from all the colonies should be held
First Continental Congress (1774)55 delegates from 12
coloniesAgenda How to
respond to the Coercive Acts?
1 vote per colony represented.
First Continental Congress• Adams invited all colonies to a convention in
Philadelphia– A convention is a formal meeting called for a special
purpose• This Continental Congress would help to bring
about a better understanding of possible actions against the king
• The meeting was called a Continental Congress
• All of the colonies except Georgia elected delegates to the Congress
• Fifty-six outstanding men attended, including George Washington, Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, John Adams, and John Jay–These patriots were well educated and were
leaders in their colonies• A patriot is someone who loves his or her own
country• The Continental Congress was held in
Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia in September of 1774
• The delegates debated important issues for seven weeks– The delegates agreed that a Declaration of
Rights should be adopted and sent to the king– The Declaration made it clear that taxation by
the British would be unacceptable to the colonies
• Another Continental Congress would be held on May 10, 1775, if the king rejected the Declaration of Rights
The British Are Coming . . .
Paul Revere & William Dawes make their midnight ride to warn the
Minutemen of approaching British soldiers.
The Shot Heard ’Round the World!
Lexington & Concord – April 18,1775
The Second Continental
Congress(1775)
Olive Branch Petition• One last attempt to avoid a
full blown war with England• Reached the King at the
same time as John Adams letter discussing an “inevitable war with England”
England believed that the Petition was INSENCIRE as a result
Thomas Paine: Common Sense
Declaration of Independence
(1776)
Main Points of the Declaration of Independence
• All men are created equal.“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.
• Men are given by God certain unalienable rights.“They are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
• We have the natural right by God to declare our independence from England.“When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them…
• Governments derive their authority from the consent of the people.
“Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
• When a government abuses it’s power, the people have the right to overthrow it.
“That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it…
• The colonies tried repeatedly to compromise with King George, but he has been a tyrant.
“Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.
Main Points of the Declaration of Independence
Washington’s HeadachesOnly 1/3 of the colonists were in
favor of a war for independence [the other third were Loyalists, and the final third were neutral].
State/colony loyalties.
Congress couldn’t tax to raise money for the Continental Army.
Poor training
Military Strategies
Attrition [the Brits had a long supply line].
Guerilla tactics [fight an insurgent war you don’t have to win a battle, just wear the British down]
Make an alliance with one of Britain’s enemies.
The Americans The British
Break the colonies in half by getting between the No. & the So.
Blockade the ports to prevent the flow of goods and supplies from an ally.
“Divide and Conquer” use the Loyalists.
Phase I: The Northern Campaign[1775-1776]
Bunker Hill (June, 1775)
The British suffered over 40% casualties.
Phase II:
NY & PA[1777-1778]
Battles in NY and PA
• George Washington divides his army in two within New York– The British arrive and completely overwhelm
one half of his army.• The British DO NOT chase Washington and the
other half of his army and thus lose a chance to end the war.
Saratoga: “Turning Point” of the War
A modern-day re-enactment
Phase III: The Southern Strategy [1780-1781]
Britain’s “Southern Strategy”Britain thought that there
were more Loyalists in the South.
Southern resources were more valuable/worth preserving.
The British win a number of small victories
Good US General:Nathanial Greene
The Battle of Yorktown (1781)
Count de Rochambeau
AdmiralDe Grasse
• France sends troops to aid the Colonists in the war against England.
• England is in desperate need of supplies and moves to Yorktown, VA
• England was being spied on by one of their general’s slaves
• The colonists and France surround the British and force them to surrender
Cornwallis’ Surrender at Yorktown (1781):
“The World Turned Upside Down!”
Treaty of Paris (1783): The signed document that officially ended the war
