Toward American Independence

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Toward American Independence
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French Indian War (1754-1763)

• Part of the Seven Years War
• War began by Virginians.
• 1754, Virginia sent George Washington and a
  militia to the Ohio River valley to expel the
  French.
• 1754, Washington had to surrender at Fort
  Necessity
• 1755, Maj. Gen. Edward Braddock and Washington
  later defeated again while trying to capture Fort
  Duquesne
• Ambushed by French and Indians.
• British not prepared for frontier war
• Iroquois and Spanish now allied with France

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Seven Years War in North America
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Pitts Victory

• William Pitt took control of British army during
  war.
• Focused on fighting the French in America (Seven
  Years War was a world war).
• British gained control of St. Lawrence River in
  July 1758.
• British captured Quebec in 1759.
• Treaty of Paris ends the war in 1763.
• French surrender all major New World colonies to
  Britain and Spain

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British Nationalism

• Surge in British nationalism in America following
  war.
• Britain had won a major victory, and American
  colonists were British subjects.
• Celebrations took place all over the British
  Empire.
• Imperial oppression/Imperial reform begins in
  1763.

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Growth of Population to 1760
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Pontiacs Rebellion

• British troops stayed in America.
• British could now expand west since French are
  gone.
• Pontiac urges Indians to return to old ways.
• Pontiacs Uprising.

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Proclamation of 1763

• As a result of the trouble with Indians, Britain
  issued the Proclamation of 1763.
• Prohibited white settlement past the Appalachian
  Mountains.
• Restricted westward movement in an attempt to
  pacify natives.
• Keep colonials confined to the seaboard.

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Beginning of Reform

• Britain went into debt defending American
  colonies during Seven Years War.
• Colonists should help pay the costs of the war.
• Passage of several acts, or taxes, on consumer
  and luxury commodities.
• Who was responsible for taxation in British
  America?
• The people must consent to taxation through their
  representatives.

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The Acts

• Sugar Act of 1764tax on sugar products such as
  table sugar and molasses.
• Currency Act of 1764colonies could not make
  paper money (which had become popular).
• Stamp Act of 1765tax on paper products (legal
  documents, newspapers, books, diplomas, playing
  cards, etc.)

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The Result

• Riots in the major cities.
• Denunciations by colonial legislatures.
• Sons of Liberty
• Stamps destroyed and tax officials burned in
  effigy, some tarred and feathered.

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Stamp Act Repealed, But . . .

• Stamp Act repealed a year later in 1766.
• Intolerable Acts had become a unifying agent to
  most colonists.
• No taxation without representation.
• Townshend Revenue Acts of 1767tax on lead,
  paint, paper, glass, and teaproducts imported
  from Britain.
• New York legislature suspended, followed by
  Massachusetts legislature for protests.

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Samuel Adams

• Massachusetts legislator from Boston.
• Had been a merchant and tax collector.
• Condemned the Townshend Acts, encouraged other
  colonial legislatures to do the same.
• Incited Sons of Liberty further.

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Crisis in Boston

• 4000 redcoats and 15,000 Bostonians
• British troops in Boston now unwelcome.
• British regulars competed with laborers for jobs
  when off duty.
• Pelted with stones, dirt, snowballs, horse
  excrement.
• Boston Massacre
• March 5, 1770 crowd inspired by Sam Adams.
• 6 rioters wounded, 5 killed by 7 soldiers
• Crispus Attucks
• John Adams

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Tea Act of 1773

• Tea Act of 1773.
• Designed to bail out bankrupt East India Company
• Boycott on tea as a result of Townsend Acts
• Ships refused entry by Bostonians
• Samuel Adams
• 50 men dressed as Indians boarded three ships in
  the wharf.
• Threw 90,000 pounds of tea into Boston harbor
  worth about 10,000

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The Empire Strikes Back

• Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts)
• Closed port of Boston until colonists pay East
  India Company for losses.
• All of Massachusetts government handed over to
  royal officials.
• Royal officials accused of crimes tried in
  England.
• Quartering Act.
• Quebec Act of 1774no local assembly and
  Catholicism made official religion.
• Not intended as a punishment for Bostonians
• Maintained loyalty of French Canadians
• Control of Ohio Valley to Quebec

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First Continental Congress

• Same organizers of Albany Congress called for
  another meeting of colonial representatives.
• Sought repeal of Coercive Acts
• Many concerned about the radicalism in Boston
• First session met in September 1774 in
  Philadelphia everyone showed up but Georgia.
• Southern colonies unwilling to participate in
  what they saw as treason
• Adopted a Declaration of Rights and Grievances.
• Attempt to end mercantilism
• Nonimportation, nonexportation, nonconsumption of
  British goods

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Resistance Becomes Revolution

• Boston and Thomas Gage
• Lexington and Concord
• Second Continental Congress
• Revolutions