I. Introduction
An ever-widening split developed between America and England. The Seven Years’ War played an important role in events, because the absence of the French altered relations between colonials and the English. Also, Britain levied taxes to pay for the war, and resistance to those taxes brought on the movement for independence.
II. Renewed Warfare Among Europeans and Indians
A. Iroquois Neutrality
During Queen Anne’s War and King George’s War, the Iroquois skillfully maintained their neutrality. Conflict over the region west of the Iroquois, however, touched off a war that spread from the colonies to Europe.
B. Albany Congress
In response to the French threat to the west, delegates from seven colonies met in Albany, New York, in 1754. They failed to create an Iroquois alliance against the French and they could not coordinate colonial defenses.
C. Seven Years’ War
William Pitt enacted policies that brought about a British victory. As a result of the Treaty of Paris, England gained Canada and Florida, and French holdings west of the Mississippi went to Spain.
D. American Soldiers
The war meant that many Americans had their first prolonged contact with Englishmen, an experience that taught them that the British were haughty and disrespectful.
III. 1763: A Turning Point
A. Neolin and Pontiac
Angered over British policy, an Ottawa war chief named Pontiac accepted ideas expressed by the shaman Neolin and led a violent uprising against western forts and settlements. The Indians, defeated in battle at Bushy Run, Pennsylvania, negotiated a treaty in 1766.
B. Proclamation of 1763
Pontiac’s war showed the English the difficulties they faced in governing their new territories, and Parliament outlawed any settlement beyond the Appalachians.
C. George III
George III, a man of mediocre intelligence and mediocre education, was an erratic judge of character. He chose George Grenville as prime minister in 1763, and assigned him the task of finding a way to pay the huge debt incurred by the British government in the Seven Years’ War. Grenville believed the Americans should bear more of the cost of running the empire.
D. Theories of Representation
The English believed that Parliament collectively represented the people, while Americans advocated individual representation. Americans also preferred limited government, but many Englishmen insisted on tighter controls.
E. Real Whigs
Americans identified themselves with theorists opposing centralized governments.
F. Sugar and Currency Acts
Many Americans believed that the Sugar and Currency Acts revealed the potential threat from the government. Still, the laws met with feeble resistance in the colonies.
IV. The Stamp Act Crisis
A. James Otis’s Rights of the British Colonies
James Otis, Jr., cogently argued that Americans had to obey English laws, and many prepared reluctantly to accept the Stamp Act.
B. Patrick Henry and the Virginia Stamp Act Resolves
Patrick Henry proposed a series of resolutions protesting Parliament’s policy toward the colonies. Passed in a limited form, they revealed the difficulty Americans faced in working out their relationship to Parliament.
C. Continuing Loyalty to Britain
Despite the clamor and protests, most American remained loyal British subjects.
D. Loyal Nine
In 1765, a Boston social club organized a demonstration against the Stamp Act that succeeded in getting Andrew Oliver to promise not to collect the tax. This victory encouraged a more violent demonstration against the governor, which met with general disapproval.
E. Americans’ Divergent Interests
The colonial elite wanted effective, but controlled, protest against unpopular laws. Many people, however, felt empowered as they demonstrated, and they expressed themselves in ways that often threatened local leaders.
F. Sons of Liberty
In an effort to channel resistance into an acceptable form, merchants and artisans created the Sons of Liberty to protest the Stamp Act.
G. Repeal of the Stamp Act
Lord Rockingham withdrew the Stamp Act because he thought it was unwise and divisive, but to ensure the power of Parliament he also saw to passage of the Declaratory Act.
V. Resistance to the Townshend Acts
A. James Dickinson’s Farmer’s Letters
In these widely published essays, Dickinson contended that Parliament could regulate trade but could not do so for the purpose of raising a revenue.
B. Massachusetts Assembly Dissolved
The Massachusetts assembly responded to the Townshend Acts with a suggestion of joint protest. When representatives refused to follow Governor Francis Bernard’s order to recall the Circular Letter, he dissolved the assembly.
C. Daughters of Liberty
Women took an active role in the resistance by creating the Daughters of Liberty. They also performed public rituals, such as spinning cloth and denouncing tea, as expressions of their support for the American cause.
D. Divided Opinion over Boycotts
Differing economic interests led to a split in the alliance that had reacted to the Stamp Act. In response to the Townshend Duties artisans mounted successful boycotts, but their use of coercion angered many Americans.
E. Repeal of the Townshend Duties
A new prime minister, Lord North, persuaded Parliament to revoke duties on trade within the empire. The Tea Tax and the other Townshend Acts remained in force, but the repeal of taxes appeared to make the laws less offensive.
VI. Confrontations in Boston
A. Boston Massacre
On March 5, 1770, a group of soldiers facing an unruly crowd opened fire and killed five Bostonians. Patriot leaders used this “massacre” as effective propaganda, but they also worked to ensure a fair trial to keep the soldiers from becoming martyrs for the loyalist cause.
B. A British Plot?
Patriot writers editorialized that Britain planned the political enslavement of America.
C. Samuel Adams
This outspoken patriot worked to build anti-British consensus in Massachusetts.
D. Boston Committee of Correspondence
When the North ministry took steps to enforce the Townshend Acts, Boston Patriots created a Committee of Correspondence to publicize the move. The Committee sought to establish a consensus that recognized the need to protect American liberties.
VII. Tea and Turmoil
A. Tea Act
In May of 1773, Parliament approved a tea tax designed to save the East India Company from bankruptcy. Patriots feared the subtle implications of the law.
B. The Boston Tea Party
In Boston, protesters “disguised” as Indians dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor.
C. Coercive and Quebec Acts
Parliament responded to the Tea Party by passing four Coercive, or Intolerable, Acts to punish Boston and Massachusetts. At the same time, Parliament approved a bill that allowed the Catholic Church and French Civil Law in Quebec, while also increasing the size of that territory.
D. Implications of the Coercive Acts
Americans became convinced that the British planned to deprive them of their liberty.
