An Evaluation of British Colonial Policies 1763-1776

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An Evaluation ofBritish Colonial
Policies1763-1776
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The French and Indian War Statistics and
Effects

• Staggering costs of the war nearly destroyed
  the English Government.
• The British had to raise revenue to prevent
  bankruptcy.
• Who should pay for the cost of this war the
  British or the Colonists?
• This debt caused the escalation of tensions
  leading to the Revolutionary War. Parliaments
  objectives were to tax the colonies to recover
  monies expended on the battle over North America,
  and to restore the profitability of the colonies.

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• Problems Faced by the British in 1763
• Crushing national debt
• In order to fund British forces on the
  frontier, new taxes and new laws
• threatened individual liberties and colonial
  self-government
• The Sugar Act of 1764
• The Stamp Act of 1765
• The Townshend Acts - 1767
• The Coercive Acts in 1773 reduced legal rights
  of Colonials and ordered
• private citizens to house royal troops
• Angry colonists claimed that England did not
  have the right to tax
• America without representation in Parliament
• The united boycott of British goods by all
  thirteen colonies forced the
• repeal of most taxes, encouraging further
  joint efforts
• Colonists Respond With Boycott 1767

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• SUGAR ACT replaced an earlier tax on molasses
  that had been in effect for years.
• British Action taxed the colonists on sugar
  and molasses.
• Colonial reaction protests and hatred for the
  British. Led to future boycotts.
• Raised very little money for the British.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of this policy

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• Describe the relationship of the thirteen
  colonies to the Province of Quebec,
• Canada
• Why is the Quebec Act important to the
  colonists?

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• Quebec Act
• British Action Established a government for
  colony of Quebec and
• protected the rights of French Catholics.
  The act became the basis
• for the religious and legal rights of French
  Canadians.
• Colonial reaction The majority of colonists
  were Protestant. They
• always looked to Canada as a fourteenth
  colony. French Canadians
• received rights the American colonists did not
  have. The colonists
• resented the liberties granted to the subjects
  living in Quebec .
• Evaluate the Policy
• 
  

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• The Townshend Act
• British Action Tax on glass, paper, lead,
  paint, and tea.
• Colonial Reaction Boycotted British goods.
  Americans protested the Townshend taxes with
  petitions, boycotts, and tar and feathering. 
  Duties on all items except tea were repealed. The
  tea tax was retained because it was the most
  lucrative and showed Americans that Parliament
  still had the right to tax them.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of this policy (Act)
• 
  
• 
  
  
  

Tar and Feathering
Charles Townshend
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• The Gaspee Affair
• British Action The British would stop
  merchant ships to examine their cargo to enforced
  British customs and taxation laws.
• Colonial Reaction On June 9, 1772, while
  chasing a merchant ship, the British ship, the
  Gaspee, ran aground near Providence. The next
  night, colonial merchants boarded the Gaspee,
  wounded the ships lieutenant, and totally
  destroyed the ship by setting it on fire. Many
  Americans continued to defy the British
  navigation acts by smuggling taxable items. 
• Evaluate the effectiveness of British taxation?

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Stamp Act Cartoon British Action all printed
material required an official stamp, which cost
money

Under the Stamp Act, colonists would be required
to buy stamps from royal collectors and affix
them to a wide variety of printed materials
including legal documents, playing cards,
newspapers, and land titles. Stamps had to be
purchased with sterling, rather than local paper
currency. This act levied a direct tax on the
colonies designed to raise revenue rather than to
regulate trade. http//www.tax.orgMuseum/1756-177
6.htm Colonial Reaction
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Repeal of the Stamp Act Cartoon

This cartoon shows a mock funeral along the
Thames River for the Stamp Act. Because of the
strong resistance and boycott of the Stamp Act,
Parliament repealed it in 1766. The child's
coffin is marked "Miss Ame-Stamp born 1765, died
1766." The British Treasury Secretary George
Grenville is carrying the coffin.
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British Perspective If you were a member of the
British Parliament, what would be your attitude
towards paying for the war? This is what the
British thought?
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Colonial Perspective
If you were a colonist, what would be your
perspective towards paying for the cost of the
French and Indian War? This is what the
colonists thought.
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Thinking Visually Activity 1
Students will imagine they are members of
the Committees of Correspondence. Students will
write to British representatives informing them
about the Intolerable Acts and urging them to
take a stand against these acts. The letter
should include some kind of drawing to catch the
readers attention and remind the reader why
British laws should be opposed. Each group will
have ten minutes to prepare its letter. Groups
will pass their letters to other groups and write
responses to the letters they receive.
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Thinking Critically Activity 2 Students will be
divided into groups. Half will be Loyalists,
while the other group represents the Patriots.
Each group will create a political cartoon
expressing its reactions to the acts previously
discussed. Groups might also prepare newspaper
headlines that describe these events, from a
Patriot or Loyalist perspective.