Towards the American Revolution
The colonies in 1750
• An outpost with a few small cities– Hierarchy and
stratification
• The countryside– 95% of the population– Running out of land
Colonial politics
• The Glorious Revolution of 1688– “English liberties”
• The role of royal governors
• colonial assemblies– “little parliaments”
Imperial economic policy
• Mercantilism– Theory– Navigation Acts
• Rules, regulations, enumerated goods, and enforcement
• Real benefits• Significance
“awash in a sea of faith”
• The Great Awakening– A long-term process, late
1730s to 1740s
• Jonathan Edwards – Northampton, Mass.– Crisis
• Predestination• Emotional conversion
experiences
The “Grand Itinerant”
• George Whitefield– His message– The implications
• Opposition to the “New Lights”– Why?
• Who cares?
The French and Indian War
• Albany Plan of Union– Inter-colonial
cooperation– Rejection
• American national identity– Differences – Inter-colonial similarities– “American”
Grenville’s Reforms
• The Sugar Act (1764)– Increased duties– Vice-admiralty courts
• The Currency Act (1764)• The Quartering Act
(1765)• The Stamp Act (1765)– Isaac Barre (pictured)
• The Declaratory Act (1766)
English radicalism
• English Whigs– Glorious Revolution of
1688– Aristotle
• Real Whigs– John Trenchard and
Thomas Gordon– Vigilance– Virtue– Cato’s Letters (1721)
The Townshend Acts (May 1767)
• The Suspending Act• The Revenue Act– External tax
• American Board of Customs Commissioners– Revived fears
American responses
• House of Burgesses– Patrick Henry and the
“Virginia Resolves”• Massachusetts General
Court– Calls for a Stamp Act
Congress• Crowd actions– Sons of Liberty
Crowd actions
• In Boston– Effigies– Destruction of property– Goals/symbolism
• In New York City– Fort George– Cadwallader Colden– Destruction of property– Goals/symbolism
• Committees of Inspection– “enemies to the
Liberties of America”
American responses
• Confusion and weariness– No clear unity
• Nonimportation• Merchants (such as “A
Trader”)
• “Save your money, and you save your country”
• John Dickinson– Letters from a Farmer in
Pennsylvania• Tone• Proposals and message
The redcoats arrive
• General Thomas Gage• Trouble– Discipline/desertion– Behavior– “Journal of the Times”
More trouble
• The “Body”– Theophilus Lillie– Ebenezer Richardson– Christopher Seider
• Resentment– John Gray’s ropewalk
(March 2, 1770)
The Massacre (March 5, 1770)
• King Street, 8PM– Edward Gerrish– Private Hugh White
• King Street, 9PM– Captain Thomas Preston– Richard Palmes– Private Hugh
Montgomery
The Tea Act (1773)
• Paradox– Reality vs. reception
• Sons of Liberty and mass meetings– Committees of the
“people,” threats, and violence
• Boston Tea Party– Mass meetings– Radical leadership
The Intolerable Acts
• Boston Port Act• Massachusetts
Government Act• Impartial
Administration of Justice Act
• Quartering Act of 1774• Quebec Act
American Response
• First Continental Congress (Sept.-Oct. 1774)– Suffolk Resolves– Continental Association
• Divisions• Who cares?