Chapter 5: Toward Independence: Years of Decision, 1763-1775

Zenger Case

- 1735 - John Peter Zenger: New York editor and publisher. Brought to trial on a charge of libelously criticizing New York's royal governor. - Libel: written lies. Slander: spoken lies. - Andrew Hamilton: Zenger's lawyer. Argued his client had printed the truth. English common law said that injuring a governor's reputation was a criminal act, even if what was said was true. - Jury ignored English law and voted to acquit Zenger. Did not guarantee complete freedom of the press, but encouraged newspapers to take greater risks.

British Debt

- 1757: 75 million pounds - 1763: 133 million pounds - 200,000 pounds = 50 million U.S. dollars today.

Deployment of Peacetime Military to the Colonies

- 1762: England decided to leave 10,000 English soldiers in the colonies. Mostly due to English tradition of not keeping a large army during peacetime. - Colonists felt but couldn't prove that it was to keep them in line. - Indicates that Britain would use force to preserve its authority over the colonies.

Sugar Act

- 1764 - England decided that since it fought in America during the French and Indian War, then Americans should help pay for the cost of the war. - Replaced the Molasses Act of 1733 that was set to expire. - Parliament decided to adjust the law because there was much smuggling of molasses. New law would tax any sugar or molasses that came into the colonies. It lowered the tax on imported molasses, but actually enforced it this time. - This tax helped foster feelings among the colonists that they were more citizens of their own colonies than of Britain.

Currency Act

- 1764 - Prime Minister Grenville won approval from Parliament to ban the use of colonial paper money. - Colonies printed their own money because gold and silver only came from Britain. No supply of their own to use. - Parliament favored a "hand currency" system based on the pound sterling but was not inclined to regulate colonial bills. Abolished them instead.

Stamp Act

- 1765 - Prime Minister Grenville called for a tax on the colonies unless the colonists could pay for their own defense. British troops in America were costing Britain 200,000 pounds a year ($50 million). - Colonial legislatures protested that Americans did not have a continent wide body that could impose taxes. Couldn't pay for their own defense. Had tried and failed to create a continent wide body in 1754 during the Albany Congress. - Deeds, newspapers, and marriage licenses could only be issued on special paper affixed with a special stamp.

Townshend Acts

- 1767 - Included the Revenue Act. - Merchants responded with a boycott but not all wen along with it. - Boston had a genuine revolutionary, Sam Adams. Wrote with emotion but was a poor speaker. - NY assembly was the first to oppose Townshend's policies when it refused to comply with the 1765 Quartering Act. - Boston assembly was forced to dissolve because they sent anti-Townshend Act petition. More soldiers sent to Boston in 1768 to control growing citizen activity. No more incidents for one and a half years.

Restraining Act

- 1767 - Suspended NY assembly until it submitted to the 1765 Quartering Act.

Liberty Seized

- 1768 - John Hancock, who was against the Townshend Act, owned a merchant ship called Liberty. - When it was seized, violence erupted in the Boston Harbor. - Sons of Liberty attacked homes of British customs agents. - Governor of Massachusetts had to request British troops to restore order. Occupied city.

Gaspee Incident

- 1772 - Gaspee was a British schooner that patrolled the waters of Narragansett Bay off of Rhode Island. Ran aground as it chased a smuggling ship. - Sons of Liberty and 8 boats of men rowed out at night/early morning, plundered the ship, and set it on fire. - Britain threatened to bring the guilty back to Britain for trial, but never could find anyone that took part. - Colonists very upset over the threat of a trial in England. England very upset about this attack on the Royal Navy.

Tea Act

- 1773 - Colonists continued to boycott English goods and smuggled huge amounts of tea into the colonies to keep from paying the British taxes. - East India Company world out a deal with Parliament to sell tea directly into the colonies at the lowest price, even with the tax included. - East India tea, which was imported to America by the British, was cheaper than the Dutch tea smuggled into America by the colonists. - Colonists saw this a power grab by the East India Company to force small colonial tea merchants out of business. Continued to fight against all of the British taxes.

Boston Tea Party

- 1773 - Three ships arrived in the Boston Harbor loaded with tea. - Sons of Liberty demanded that the ships leave without unloading their cargo. British governor Thomas Hutchinson ordered the tea to be unloaded. - Ship captains were afraid of both parties, so they just anchored the ships in the harbor. - December 16: Group of Patriots dressed as Indians snuck aboard the ships and dumped 90,000 pounds of tea into Boston Harbor. - One man was caught trying to steal tea. Stripped of his clothing and sent home with nothing.

The Coercive/Intolerable Acts

- 1774 - Passed to punish colonists for the Boston tea Party. Called the Intolerable Acts by the colonists. - Came in parts: 1.) Closed Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for. 2.) Moved all Loyal British trials to England to ensure a favorable outcome. 3.) More soldiers sent to Boston. 4.) General Gage was made the governor of Massachusetts. 5.) Cancelled Massachusetts charter and made it illegal for local governments to meet unless the royal governor called for the meeting. 6.) Required colonists to house British soldiers in unoccupied buildings (barns, vacant warehouses, etc.).

Quebec Act

- 1774 - Purpose: To keep the French-Canadian population loyal to the British. - Gave the French-Canadians land south all the way to the Ohio River. - Virginia had claimed this land and felt it belonged to them.

Breed's Hill and Bunker Hill

- 1775: After losing battles at Breed's Hill and Bunker Hill, the 2nd Continental Congress convened.

Percentage of Loyalists vs. Patriots in the Colonies

- 20-25% of Americans were Loyalist. The rest were Patriots or not interested.

Reversing Salutary Neglect

- Americans had been used to salutary neglect. - Felt that the new British policies were discriminatory and challenged the existing constitutional practices and understandings.

Rotten Boroughs

- An electoral district that was able to elect a representative to Parliament even though it had few voters. - Choice of representative was typically in the hands of one person or aristocratic family. - Developed by John Wilkes.

Lord Rockingham

- Appeased the colonists by repealing the Stamp Act and modifying the Sugar Act.

Lexington and Concord

- April 1775 - 20,000 colonial militiamen mobilized to safeguard supply depots. Most famous were the Minutemen of Concord, Massachusetts. - Gage dispatched 700 soldiers to capture colonial leaders and supplies at Concord. - Forewarned by Paul Revere and others, the local militiamen met the British first at Lexington and then at Concord. - Lexington: The Minutemen were ordered to disperse and were fired upon. 8 killed. The first shot was "the shot heard round the world." - Concord: British attacked by Minutemen and retreated to Boston. Militiamen ambushed them from neighboring towns. - Both sides suffered heavy losses.

Midnight Ride of Paul Revere

- April 18, 1775: Paul Revere was instructed by Dr. Joseph Warren to ride to Lexington, Massachusetts, to warn Sam Adams and John Hancock that British troops were marching to arrest them. -

Proclamation for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition

- August 1775 - Issued by King George III in response to the 2nd Continental Congress.

Writs of Assistance

- Blanket search warrants. - Allowed British soldiers/agents to search for contraband in houses and businesses and confiscate any items they deemed necessary. - Those arrested would have a trial with no jury and an English appointed judge. - Colonists felt this was a huge abuse of power by the crown.

British Response to the 1st Continental Congress

- Britain declared the Congress an illegal assembly and refused to send government officials to America to negotiate. - Ministry declared that Americans had to pay for their own defenses and administration and acknowledge Parliament's authority to tax them - Britain imposed a blockade on America trade with foreign nations and ordered General Gage to suppress dissent in Massachusetts.

Results of Britain Winning the French and Indian war

- Britain had more land to defend. - Had to bring over more troops to defend more land. - Had to tax colonists to pay for troops. - Passed Proclamation of 1763. - Increased (doubled) the size of its government bureaucracy in order to collect the new taxes.

General Gage

- British general. - Asked for the Quartering Act. - Made the governor of Massachusetts by the Coercive Acts. Ordered to suppress dissent after Britain imposed a blockade on America trade due to the meeting of the 1st Continental Congress.

Colonial Freedom

- Colonies had more freedom than England's citizens. Little bad feeling with England. American colonies were treated better than any in the world. - Virginia was the only state that had a tax to support a church. Individual New England towns often voted to support one church via taxes. Almost all towns in Massachusetts voted to support the Congregational Church. - No conscription, - More freedom of expression. Zener case of 1735 helped bring this about. - 1763: Britons were paying 4-5 times as much as the colonists.

Committees of Correspondence

- Communication network between Massachusetts towns that stressed colonial rights. - Formed by Samuel Adams. Named the small skirmish in Boston the "Boston Massacre" two years later and used it as propaganda against the British. - After the Gaspee Incident, committees were set up in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Connecticut, and Virginia.

Virtual Representation

- Concept that the American colonists did not need to elect their own representatives to Parliament. - Theory: Members of Parliament already represented everyone in the British empire. Did not just represent the people who elected them.

Declaration of Rights and Grievances

- Condemned and demanded the repeal of the Coercive and Declaratory Acts.

Taxation without Representation

- English government didn't realize that to tax people you must also involve them in a representative fashion. - Massachusetts House of Representatives said, "No taxation without representation," after the passing if the Sugar Act. Royal governor of Massachusetts said they had no right to claim this. - British officials insisted that colonist were not entitled to the traditional legal rights of Englishmen.

Prime Minster George Grenville

- Felt colonies should help England reduce huge debt caused in part by French and Indian War. - Won approval from Parliament to ban the use of colonial paper money. - Used writs of assistance. - Called for Stamp Act.

Ideological Roots of Resistance

- First American protests focused on particular economic and political matters. - Resistance movement had no acknowledged leaders, no organization, and no clear goals. - Patriot lawyers and publicists provided the resistance movement with an intellectual rationale, a political agenda, and a visible cadre of leaders. - Patriot lawyers drew on 3 intellectual traditions: 1.) English common law. 2.) The rationalist thought of the Enlightenment. 3.) An ideological agenda based on the Whig and Republican strands pf political tradition.

Proclamation of 1763

- Forbade colonists from moving west of the Appalachian Mountains to reduce future Indian problems. - Passed because of Pontiac's Rebellion (1763) and to keep better control of the colonists. - Many colonists already had land grants and felt England was being insensitive. Many moved past the Appalachian Mountains anyway. - England had no way to enforce it because it was a such vast area.

Sons of Liberty

- Formed in seaport towns. - Attacked homes of stamp collectors in Boston, NY, and Charleston. - Tarred and feathered people. No bloodshed. - Judges and collectors were threatened by Sons all over the colonies. - Otis and Joseph Warren gave speeches. - John Hancock: Wealthy merchant in his early 30s who gave money and support. - Paul Revere was also a Son.

Benjamin Franklin's Request

- Franklin was in England as the agent of the Pennsylvania assembly. - "If you choose to tax us, give us members in your legislature." - Officials in Britain rejected this, saying that colonists received "virtual representation."

Colonial Attitude After the French and Indian War

- French and Indian War: 1754-1763 (ended in America in 1759). - Felt they had done their part to win the war. - Felt a new wave of security because the French were gone and the Native Americans were moving farther west. - Native Americans no longer had French allies in the Americas.

Compromise of 1763

- George III and Parliament gave the colonial legislature the right to: Raise an army, control education, control religion, control land systems. - English attitude: George III (1760) and new Prime Minister George Grenville (1763-1765) felt colonies should help England reduce the huge debt caused in part by the French and Indian War.

Attitudes Toward Colonial Resistance

- Hard line British politicians: Some members wanted soldiers to suppress the rebellion and force colonists to recognize their authority. - Accommodationist British politicians: Some members wanted to repeal the acts because the colonies were more important for their trade than their taxes. - British merchants: Wanted a repeal of the acts because it hurt their sales of British goods in the colonies. - Former Prime Minister William Pitt: Saw the acts as a failed policy and demanded it be repealed.

Thomas Paine

- January 1776: Published Common Sense, one of the most persuasive and widely read pamphlets in history. - Attacked the argument of being loyal to the king, clearly supported independence, said the King and Parliament were corrupt and did not have the best interest of the colonies at heart, said that a continent should be ruled by a small nation who was mismanaging, and told what colonies stood to gain economically and politically from independence. - 47 pages total. 150,000 copies were sold in a colonial population of 2.3 million. - Followed by "The Crisis": "These are the times that try men's souls."

Response to Sugar Act

- John Hancock: A New England merchant who made his living and a lot of money smuggling French molasses. New England distillers relied on cheap French molasses to make their rum. - Violators of the act would be tried in a British vice-admiralty court. - John Adams defended John Hancock in court. - Massachusetts stated their should be no taxation without representation.

The Declaration of Indpedence

- June 1776: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution that the colonies "ought to be free". - Thomas Jefferson was part of a committee of 5 (included JohnAdams and Ben Franklin) that was organized to draft a document supporting Lee's resolution. - Over a month of debate ended with Jefferson drawing up the "Declaration of Independence". - July 2: Colonies approve of Declaration. - July 4: Declaration of Independence is adopted.

Crispus Attucks

- Killed in the Boston Massacre. - Black with some Native American genetics.

Declaratory Act

- March 1766 - In response to repealing the Stamp Act. - Parliament declared its sovereignty over the colonies "in all cases whatsoever."

Stamp Act Repealed

- March 1766 - Shortly after King George III dismissed Grenville, Lord Rockingham appeased the colonists by repealing the Stamp Act and modifying the Sugar Act. - Colonists put up a statue of George III in NY and all celebrated his birthday. - However, hardliners were mollified by the passing of the Declaratory Act.

Townshend Act Repealed

- March 1770 - Repealed by Prime Minister Lord North. - Britain kept only the tax on tea to show the colonists that it still had the authority to tax them and Parliament's supremacy.

Canons in Boston

- March 1776: Colonials brought 59 canons from captured Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, New York. - Pulled them over 300 miles in snow and put them on Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston Harbor. - Less than 2 weeks later, English soldiers left Boston for Nova Scotia. - June 1776: English fleet was chased from Charleston Harbor by a similar method.

Boston Massacre

- March 8, 1770: Same day the Townshend Act was repealed. - Soldiers had tried to be friendly but were jeered at and called Lobster Backs. - Crowd of mostly blacks and Irish went to the British Customs House. Angry that soldiers were applying for jobs when they were off-duty. Began throwing snowballs, rocks, and oyster shells. - One soldier was clubbed and fired without orders. Other soldiers followed. 3 people were shot and killed and 2 died later on. - For a time the situation got better because the Quartering Act expired.

Quartering Act

- May 1765 - British General Gage asked for the act. - Colonies had to provide certain supplies and living quarters for soldiers. - Pay for their protection. - NY especially mad because most soldiers were located there.

2nd Continental Congress

- May 1775: Created a continental army headed by George Washington. - Two main factions: 1.) Moderates: Middle colonies. Not ready for war. 2.) Revolutionaries: New England. - Passed Olive Branch Petition. - John Adams and Patrick Henry won passage of a Declaration of the Causes of Necessities of Taking Up Arms.

1st Continental Congress

- Met in Philadelphia in September 1774. - 55 men (members of committees of correspondence) attended to address a set of controversial and divisive issues. Only Georgia did not attend. - Galloway's Plan of Union was rejected. - Passed the Declaration of Rights and Grievances instead. - Began a program of economic retaliation, beginning with the non-importation agreement that went into effect in December 1774.

Combining Urban and Rural Forces

- Most of the Patriot movement was in urban seaport towns. However, the success and continuance of their movement would depend on the support of the rural population. - At first, most farmers had little interest in imperial issues. The French and Indian War, which took their sons for military duty and changed pre- and post-war taxes, changed their minds. - 1765 and 1769: Urban-led boycotts raised the political consciousness of many rural Americans. - Patriots appealed to the yeomen tradition of agricultural independence, as many northern yeomen felt personally threatened by British policy. Despite their higher standard of living, many southern slave owners had similar fears.

Charles Townshend

- New Prime Minister Charles Townshend wanted tax reform. - Called for reduction in the English land tax (in England) by finding something taxable in the colonies. - Felt it was high time the colonies did there share. - Favored restrictions on the colonial assemblies.

Stamp Act Congress

- October 1765 - 9 colonies met. GA, VA, NH, and NC didn't go because their royal governors had stopped them from selecting delegates. - Demanded trial by jury and repeal of Sugar and Stamp Acts. Merchants of seaports began a boycott (non-importation) of British goods. - Stated Americans "glory in being subjects of the best of Kings." Most of the delegates were moderate men who sought compromise. Simply asked for the repeal of the Stamp Act.

Olive Branch Petition

- Passed by Moderates following John Dickerson of Pennsylvania. - A petition that expressed loyalty to King George III and requested the repeal of the oppressive Parliamentary legislation.

Patrick Henry

- Patrick Henry led Virginia to be the first colony to complain of this tax without representation (specifically Stamp Act). Other colonies followed. - "Caesar had Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it."

Lord Dunmore

- Patriots invaded Canada and captured Montreal. - Lord Dunmore of VA organized two military forces (white and black) and promised freedom to slaves and indentured servants who joined the Loyalist cause.

Lord North

- Prime Minister - Repealed the Townshend Act except for the tax on tea.

Galloway's Plan of Union

- Proposed by Joseph Galloway of Pennsylvania. - America should have a president general appointed by the king and a legislative council selected by the colonial assemblies. - Council would have veto power over Parliamentary legislation that affected America. - Rejected because it was seen as too conciliatory (lenient).

Revenue Act of 1762

- Purpose: To enforce the existing Navigation Acts. - Royal Navy instructed to seize vessels carrying goods between the colonies and the Caribbean French West Indies. Attempted to curb corruption in customs system.

General Gage Acts

- Seized Patriot armories and storehouses at Charleston and Cambridge (Massachusetts).

Revenue Act of 1767

- Taxed paper, glass, lead, paint, and tea. - Violators would be tried in a vice-admiralty court, just like Stamp and Sugar Act violators.

Vice-Admiralty Courts

- Violators of acts such as the Sugar Act were not tried by a jury. - Tried in this type of court by a British appointed judge. - John Adams: Young lawyer who defended John Hancock in court. Said these courts "degrade every American... below the rank of an Englishman."

Loyalists

- Wanted to pursue peaceful forms of protest because they believed that violence would give rise to mob rule or tyranny. - Believed that independence would mean loss of economic benefits derived from membership in the British mercantile system. - Majority were small farmers, tenant farmers, the Regulators, some enslaved blacks, artisans, and shopkeepers. - Not surprisingly, most British officials remained loyal to the crown. Wealthy merchants and Anglican ministers tended to remain loyal, especially in Puritan New England.

Constitutional Confrontation with Great Britain

1.) Issue of taxation 2.) Issue of jury trials 3.) Issue of quartering of soldiers in homes 4.) Issue of representation in Parliament

Results of the Townshend Acts

1.) Reinvigoration of the American resistance movement after relative relief over the nullification of the Stamp Act. 2.) Public support for the non-importation (boycott) of British goods. 3.) Surge in domestic production of cloth (homespuns: yarn and cloth produced by women, the Daughters of Liberty). During political boycotts in 1760s, homespuns allowed the colonists to escape dependence on British textile manufacturers and created an opportunity for women to make a unique contribution to colonial resistance. 4.) American resistance solidified British determination. In 1765, it sparked Parliamentary debate. In 1768, it sparked military force (4,000 troops in Boston). 5.) Trade revenues decrease in Britain because of the America boycott of British goods.