APUSH Focus Questions (Ch. 7)
1) Describe the theory and practice of mercantilism? What were its actual effects on the colonies and why did the colonists resent it so much? (Discuss: Mercantilist beliefs, Navigation Laws, "enumerated goods", currency shortage, royal veto, Mercantile System-advantages/disadvantages)
Even though only one of the thirteen original colonies was formally established by the British government, they adopted the theory of mercantilism which justified their control over the colonies. Mercantilists believed that money meant power and that a country's economic wealth and military and political power could be judged based upon the amount of money in its treasury. To attain more wealth, countries needed to export more than it imported. Colonies were important to the mercantilist theory because they supplied raw materials to the mother country and provide a guaranteed market for exports. Concerning the direct impact mercantilism on colonists, the British saw them as nothing more than tenants of sorts and were expected to produce products for the mother country, buy manufactured goods exclusively from Britain, and to not indulge in dreams of self-sufficiency or self-government. To regulate the mercantilist system, England passed laws like the Navigation Law of 1650. This law was specifically aimed at enemy Dutch shippers trying to edge their way into the American trade system. It also forced all commerce coming to and from the colonies to be transported only by British or colonial ships. Following this, another law was passed so that all European goods traveling to America must first pass through Britain. This was done so that tariff duties could be collected and middlemen could take a cut of the profits. Another law forced American merchants to ship certain "enumerated goods" (such as tobacco) only to Britain even if these merchants could get a better price elsewhere. The British government also forced a currency shortage on the colonies. The colonists bought more from Britain than they sold and the difference had to be made up in money. Gold and silver coins that were mostly earned from trade with the Spanish and French constantly drained from the colonies every year. The colonists themselves resorted to exchanging butter, nails, pitch, and feathers to get by. This currency shortage reached the point to where the colonists had to issue paper money that constantly went down in value. British merchants hated this and complained so much that the British government had to ban the colonists from making more paper currency. Because of this, Americans felt that their well-being was being sacrificed for the contentment of British commercial interests. The king also reserved the right to royal veto which meant that he could nullify and colonial legislation if it messed with the mercantilist system. The colonies hated its existence even though it was used 469 times out of the 8,563 laws. In theory, the mercantilist system seemed selfish and oppressive towards the colonists, however until 1763 the various Navigation Laws were loosely enforced and many early American fortunes were achieved through smuggling. Americans benefited from mercantilism just like England. London paid considerable amounts of money for colonial ship parts, colonists had monopolies in the British market (such as the tobacco industry) and colonists were also under the protection of the royal military. As expected, even with these benefits, they also experienced annoying liabilities from mercantilism. It stifled economic initiative, forced dependency on British agents and creditor, and it made the colonists feel used. They felt trapped in economic adolescence with no open door to escape through.
5) What was so intolerable about the Coercive (Intolerable) Acts? (Discuss: Boston Port Act, Massachusetts Government Act, Administration of Justice Act, Quartering Act of 1774, Quebec Act)
In 1774 the British Parliament passed a series of Coercive Acts (or better known as the Intolerable Acts in the colonies) to specifically punish Boston and all of Massachusetts. The most devastating of these acts was the Boston Port Act which closed down the port of Boston. At the Tim the Boston harbor was the busiest oof all the colonies and affected everyone in America. The Massachusetts Government Act restricted the town meetings. The Administration of Justice Act allowed British soldiers to be tried for the killing of colonials, but they were most likely to be let off the hook as they were sent to Britain where they would be safe. One of the last of the Intolerable Acts was the Quartering Act of 1774 which forced all Bostonians to house and care for a few British soldiers. By pure coincidence Parliament had passed the Quebec Act at the same time. After protest from the French living in Quebec, Parliament allowed them to freely practice Catholicism, retain many of their old customs and intuitions (not including representative assembly or trial by jury), and had their boundaries extended to the Ohio River. The French saw this as the government making amends with them while the colonists saw this as unfair. In their eyes, the French caused little commotion and got everything they wanted while the colonists were always protesting and they got nothing.
4) What methods did the colonists use in their continued struggle with British authorities and how did the British try to counteract them? (Discuss: King George III, Lord North, Tea Tax, Samuel Adams, Committees of Correspondence, British East India Company, Tea Act of 1773, Boston Tea Party)
KIng George III was the king of England in 1770. The thirty-two year old king was attempting to assert more power upon his empire and surrounded himself with "yes men". Most notable of his men was the corrupt prime minister, Lord North. The failed Townshend Acts had almost started a rebellion and did not generate any profit for the British government. The Nonimportation agreements, though weakly enforced, hurt many pockets of British manufacturers. Pressured, Lord North persuaded to repeal the Townshend revenue duties, but still kept the small direct tax on tea. This angered the colonists and helped maintain their resentment towards Parliament. Events like more strict enforcement on the Navigation Acts further angered the colonists and strengthened resistance. Samuel Adams, master propagandist, helped kindle the fire of rebellion. His biggest contribution was organizing the committees of correspondence. It's main goal was to keep the spirit of rebellion and British opposition alive by exchanging letters. The next step was to make intercolonial committees and in time all the colonies were united in exchanging information with each other. By 1773, no events happened to start any rebellion, that is until Parliament gave the king's company, the British East India Company, a monopoly on the American tea trade. To distract the colonists from this news, they significantly lowered the price of tea. However, colonists saw right through it and saw this as a flimsy attempt to trick them. Upon enforcing this new law, all of the colonies did what they could to stop any and all tea ships from touching American soil. Methods like protesting, burning the ships, or manipulation of British officials and merchants helped make their goal successful. Most famous of these protests was the Boston Tea Party. Roughly about a hundred Boston locals came dressed as Native Americans to dump millions of dollars worth of tea into the Boston Harbor. The Native American garb did not act as a disguise, but more of a way to differentiate themselves from the English. The radical colonists applauds the efforts of these demonstrators while the more conservative colonists complained about the property damage, rising anarchy, and the destruction of civil decorum. Instead of taking the high road and giving what the colonists wanted, British Parliament decided to punish the colonists and JP them in line. This lead to even more tensions between them and the colonists.
6) Discuss the specific actions taken by the First Continental Congress. What was the response of the British? (Discuss: First Continental Congress, Declaration of Rights, The Association, Tar and Feathers, Minute Men, Lexington and Concord)
One of the most important colonial responses to the Intolerable Acts was the creation of the Continental Congress in 1774. Fifty-five men from twelve different colonies joined together in Pennsylvania to discuss colonial grievances. This strengthened colonial unity as these men constantly spent time together both on and off the clock. The first meeting met for seven weeks and considered themselves to be more of a convention rather than an actual legislative body. After much debate, these men drew up a few documents, one of which was the Declaration of Rights. The most significant thing they had done was create The Association. This called for a complete boycott of all British goods. It applied methods such as nonimportation, nonexportation, and nonconsumption. However, this assembly of men did not talk of plans of independence as that was still considered treason at the time. They only sough to repeal the unjust laws and acts against the colonists. Parliament rejected the Congress's petitions and the colonists were furious. Violators of The Association were tarred and feathered and intent for war arose. In April of 1775 a British military officer based in Boston sent out troops to Lexington to seize arsenals and rebel ringleaders. Upon arrival, the colonial militia, or "Minute Men", stood defended their town. Shots were fired and eight colonists were killed while several soldiers were injured. The troops moved on to Concord where they were promptly chased out of all the way back home to Boston. By the end of it all, three hundred British soldiers were killed. The war had begun.
7) What advantages and disadvantages did the Americans and the British each possess as the war began? (Discuss: Hessians, Tories, George Washington, Ben Franklin, Marquis de Lafayette, "Continentals", Valley Forge, Baron von Steuben, Continental Army, African Americans)
Some advantages that the British had on the colonists were in numbers, wealth, and naval power. The British outnumbered the colonists three to one and King George III had German Hessians and allied Native American to fight for him. However, they also had many disadvantages. In Europe the army had to deploy troops to Ireland, there were no competent men in Parliament, and a minority of people in England fully supported the colonists. English Whig factions wanted a win against the Tories and many thought that the battle for British freedom was being fought in America. In America they had to operate and command under difficult situations such as terrible generals and their poorly treated soldiers, old and scarce provisions, long distance letters form the motherland, America's geographical obstacles, and America's lack of a capitol. The British tended to go for the smaller towns close by and eliminating them would not make a difference. Some advantages of the colonists included strong leadership from Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Lafayette, they fought defensively, and mad the moral advantage as they believed they were fighting for a just cause. However, just like the British, they also suffered disadvantages such as bad organization, weak unity (until the Articles of Confederation in 1781), jealous states and military personnel who did not get a military leader role, and economic problems. Their coin money had been all spent, so the colonists resorted to printing excess "Continental" paper money which resulted in inflation so now that money is almost worthless. The colonists also suffered from a large scarcity of military supplies as they had previously relied on England for supplies for large wars. In Valley Forge men had to go without bread for three days in a row in the middle of winter. This is what prompted the colonists' eventual alliance with the France. These men were not only stuck with a scarcity of food, but clothes too. Their uniform was reduced to rags. The troops themselves were unprepared. There were a lot of soldiers, but almost all of them never had any real militiary training. German officer Baron von Steuben was one of the few men who whipped the continental army into shape. Though most states originally banned them from fighting, more than five thousand black people had fought in this war. They did fight in combat, but they mostly served as cooks, guides, drivers, and road builders African Americans has also fought on the English side. In 1775 Lord Dunmore promised freedom to all African Americans if they had joined the British military. In the end they mostly kept their promise and got out as many black men and women as possible. Morale was low too during the war as American profiteers roamed the land and speculators raised the prices.
3) How did the Townshend Acts lead to even more difficulties? (Discuss: "Champagne Charley", Townshend Acts, Indirect Taxes, Boston Massacre, Crispus Attucks, John Adams)
Soon after "Champagne Charley" Townshend, an eloquently spoken drunk, became the new Prime Minister. Promising to take care of the colonies with as little struggle as possible, he convinced Parliament to pass the Townshend Act of 1767. Unlike the Stamp Act, this was an indirect tax that was adjusted at the ports. It taxed goods such as glass, white lead, paper, paint, and tea. The colonists saw right through this as to them any tax was still a tax without representation. The most profitable of the goods for Britain was tea as the colonists drank it everyday twice. The money would go towards the salaries of royal governors and judges in America. The colonists having to deal with corrupt leaders before, saw this as another way to restrict their freedom. The rebellion against this act was less intense as the Stamp Act because it was indirect and did not affect most colonists. Another way to get cheaper tea was to get it imported from smugglers. Due to that realization, tea smuggling became fore common. To handle the commotion in Boston, British officials sent two regiments of troops, most of whom were drunk. Adding on the fact that these soldiers were being taunted by Gary colonists, a fight was bound to happen. On March 5, 1770 a mob of angry colonists threw snowball at soldiers as payback for the accidental killing of an eleven-year-old boy earlier in the week. Acting without order and on fear, the troops opened fire and killed and wounded eleven Bostonians. Among the first of them to fall was the mob's leader, Crispus Attucks. Future president, John Adams acted as the defense attorney for the soldiers. Two of them were found guilty while the other three were let go after a quick branding to the hand.
2) Why were the colonists so upset over relatively mild taxes and policies? In what ways did colonists actively resist the Stamp Act? (Discuss: George Grenville, Sugar Act, Quartering Act, Stamp Act, Admiralty Courts, Virtual Representation, Stamp Act Congress, Nonimportation Agreements, Homespun, Sons of Liberty, Declaratory Act)
The colonists' resentment towards the English government's taxes and policies started with Prime Minister George Greenville's decision to strictly enforce the Navigation Laws in 1763. Greenville also passed the Sugar Act of 1764 which increased taxation on various provisions including sugar imported from the West Indies. After protest from the colonists, the taxation was lowered, however tension still brewed because of the Quartering Act of 1765. This act forced certain colonies to provide food and living quarters for British troops. The same year Greenville passed the Stamp Act which taxed all paper products to support the new military force. This act got its name from the use of stamps used to validate the purchase of these paper products. The Prime Minister saw these taxes as just because the British citizens back home had taxes that towered over the ones in the colonies. However, the colonists also angered about the fact that these new laws attacked their right to local representative government. Going further, Greenville's legislation seemed to attack the colonists' basic rights as Englishmen. Offenders were tried in the admiralty courts where there was no trial by jury and the offenders were guilty until they proved themselves innocent. Radical Whig suspicion travelled amongst the colonists as they started to wonder why the British army was still in the colonies after all of the more dangerous threats were gone. They began to suspect that the only reason why the royal troops were still there was to keep the rebellious colonists in check. Ironically, the colonists started to adopt the motto, "No taxation without representation". The irony here is that the colonists simply refused representation in Parliament because if they accepted, parliament had even more of a right to tax and raise taxes on them. Greenville believed that the colonists were already represented in parliament through "virtual representation" which meant that every member of Parliament represented all British subjects, even ones in the colonies who could not vote for their representative. The principle of no taxation without representation became deeply important to the colonists. The British government would not split up, so the colonists started coming up with ideas for their own government. To combat the stamp tax the colonies assembled the Stamp Act Congress of 1765. This brought together 27 delegates from nine colonies in New York to write up a document of their rights and grievences to send to the king. Though it did not make such an impact at the time, it did pave the way towards intercolonial unity. More impactful than this was the Nonimportation Agreements against British goods. This also helped strengthen future colonial unity. Growing support for nonimportation gave all colonists, both men and women alike, the ability to help protest. People signed petitions or made American-made products to replace British ones. Often, violence was a common thing during protest. Groups known as the Sons/Daughters of Liberty terrorized loyalists and unpopular British officials to enforce nonimportation. Shocked by this, Parliament nullified the Stamp Act. England was hit hard and Americans prospered. The colonists bought one-quarter of all British exports, putting many British citizens out of a job. Members of Parliament grew frustrated as they could not understand why colonists did not want to pay for one-third of their defense costs while people on the motherland were paying far more expensive taxes. Upon repealing the Stamp Act, Parliament also at the same time passed the Declaratory Act. This assured Parliament's right "to bind" the colonies "in all cases whatsoever". It also established Britain's constitution as the one true constitution.
