Chapter 07 - The Road to Revolution

Ch. 7 - The Road to Revolution (1763-1775)

I. The Deep Roots Of Revolution

1. Two ideas had taken root in the minds of the American colonists by the mid-18th century
   • Republicanism: a just society as one in which all citizens willingly subordinated their private, selfish interests to the common good
2. Both the stability of society and the authority of government depended on the virtue of the citizenry (selflessness, self-sufficiency, and courage, especially its appetite for civic involvement)
   • It was opposed to hierarchical and authoritarian institutions such as aristocracy and monarchy
   • A group of British political commentators know as Radical Whigs
3. They feared the threat of liberty posed by the arbitrary power of the monarch and his ministries relative to elected representatives in Parliament. They called the bribing and patronage of the King's ministers - "corruption in a sense of rot or decay. They warned the citizens to be on guard against corruption and to be eternally vigilant against conspiracies.
4. The Americans had grown accustomed to running their own affairs, distance weakens authority

II. Mercantilism And Colonial Grievances

1. Britain's empire was acquired in a "fit of absentmindedness;" all except Georgia, of the 13 colonies were haphazardly founded by trading companies, religious groups, or land speculators.
2. Mercantilism: wealth was power and that a country's economic wealth (military and political power also) could be measured by the amount of gold or silver in its treasury
3. The London government looked at the American colonists as tenants. They were expected to furnish products needed in the mother country
4. From time to time Parliament passed laws to regulate the mercantilist system
   • The Navigation Law (1650) was aimed at rival Dutch shippers trying to elbow their way into American carrying trade
5. Euro goods destined for America first had to be landed in Britain, the colonists regularly bought more from Britain than they had sold there, the difference had to be made up of hard cash. Currency issues came to a boil when dire financial need forced many of the colonies to issue paper money, which slowly depreciated
6. Parliament prohibited the colonial legislatures from printing paper currency and from passing indulgent bankruptcy laws - practices that might harm British merchants.
7. The British crown reserved the right to nullify any legislation passed by the colonial assembles if such laws worked mischief with the mercantilism system

III. The Merits And Menace Of Mercantilism

1. 1763 - the Navigation Laws imposed no intolerable burden mainly because they were only loosely enforced
2. John Hancock - wholesale smuggling
   • Benefits: London paid liberal bounties to colonial producers of ship parts, over the protests of British competitors Virginia tobacco planters enjoyed a monopoly in the British market The protection of British Navy and strong, seasoned redcoats for free
   • Burdens: Stifled economic initiative and imposed a ranking dependency on British agents and creditors Debasing - felt used, kept in a state of perpetual economic adolescence
3. Revolution broke out, as Theodore Roosevelt, later remarked, because Britain failed to recognize an emerging nation when it saw one

IV. The Stamp Tax Uproar

1. Wining the Seven Years' War brought on a huge debt
2. Prime Minister George Grenville first aroused the resentment of colonists in 1763 by ordering the British Navy to begin strictly enforcing the Navigation Laws
3. He also secured from Parliament the so-called Sugar Act of 1764 which raised tax revenue in the colonies for the crown
4. Resentment was kept burning by the Quartering Act of 1765, this measure required certain colonies to provide food and quarters from British troops; Stamp Act of 1765 raised revenues to support the new military
5. The Stamp Act mandated the use of stamped paper or the affixing of stamps, certifying payment of tax; Grenville regarded all these measures as reasonable and just. Both the Sugar and Stamp Acts provided for trying offenders in the hated admiralty courts, where juries were not allowed
6. Angry Americans made a distinction between "legislation" and "taxation"
   • The principle of no tax without representation was supremely important, and the colonists clung to it with tenacious consistency

V. Forced Repeal Of The Stamp Act

1. 1765 - the assemblage of the Stamp Act Congress which brought together NYC; 27 distinguished delegated from 9 colonies
2. They drew up a statement of their rights and grievances and beseeched the King and parliament to repeal; more effective than the Congress was the widespread adoption of non-importation agreements against British goods
3. Violence accompanied colonial protest, groups of ardent spirits known as the Sons Of Liberty and Daughters Of Liberty took the law into their own hands
   • When tax machines broke down stamp agents were forced to resign
4. England was hit hard, America then brought about one-half of British shipping was devoted to the American trade 1766 - Parliament repealed Stamp Act, then they passed the Declatory Act - It defined the constitutional principle it would not yield; absolute and unqualified sovereignty over its North American colonies

VI. The Townshend Tea Tax And The Boston "Massacre"

1. Charles Townshend persuaded Parliament in 1767 to pass the Townshend Acts - a light import duty on glass, white lead, paper, paint, and tea
2. The Americans became rebellious, the English government suspended the legislature of NY in 1767 for failure to comply with the Quartering Act
   • They found, however that they could secure smuggling tea at a cheap price
3. Liberty-loving colonists, resenting the presence of the red-coated "ruffians," taunted the "bloody backs" un-mercilessly
4. March 5, 1770, 60 people taunted redcoats. Nervous and provoked troops opened fire and killed or wounded 11 citizens, an event known as the Boston Massacre; one of the people who died was Crispus Attucks. Only two soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter. The soldiers were released after being branded on thumbs.

VII. The Seditious Committees Of Correspondence

1. Lord North persuaded Parliament to repeal the Townshend revenue duties, but tea was still taxed; flames of discontent still continued to burn
2. Samuel Adams: master propagandist and engineer of rebellion, he organized in mass the local committees of correspondence. Their chief function was to spread the spirit of resistance by exchanging letters and thus keep alive opposition to British policy
3. Within a short time every colony established a central committee. They evolved directly into the first American colonies

VIII. Tea Brewing In Boston

1. Non-importation was weakening, 1773 - British East India Company was facing bankruptcy. If it collapsed, the London government would lose heavily in tax revenue
2. Not a single one of the several thousand chests of tea shipped by the East India Company ever reached the hands of the consignees
   • December 16, 1773, a hundred Bostonians, disguised as Indians, smashed 342 chests of tea and dumped their contents into the Atlantic. The action was known as the Boston Tea Party. They wanted to make sure that its cheap price did not pose an "invincible temptation" to the people

IX. Parliament Passes The "Intolerable Acts"

1. 1774 - a series of acts was passed designed to chastise Boston and Massachusetts. Most drastic of all was the Boston Port Act. It closed the tea-stationed harbor until damages were paid and order could be ensured; By other "Intolerable Acts" many of the chartered rights of Massachusetts were swept away
2. The Quebec Act (1774) - The French were guaranteed their Catholic religion. They were also permitted to retain many of their old customs and institutions; the boundaries of Quebec extended southward all the way to the Ohio River

X. Bloodshed

1. A response to the "Intolerable Acts" was the summoning of the First Continental Congress in 1774. It was to meet in Philly to consider ways of redressing colonial grievances. 12 out of 13 colonies (Georgia missing) sent 55 men
2. John Adams led the argument in drawing up several dignified papers. This included a ringing Declaration Of Rights. This made the creation of The Association, it called for a complete boycott of British goods: non-importation, non-exportation, and non-consumption.
3. They sought out merely to repeal the offensive legislation and return to ht days before tax. Parliament rejected the Congress's petitions.
4. April 1775 - British Commander in Boston sent a detachment of troops to nearby Lexington and Concord. They were to seize stores of colonial gunpowder and to bag the "rebel" leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Minutemen refused to disperse fast enough and killed - "Lexington Massacre"

XI. Imperial Strength And Weakness

1. Britain boasted a professional army of 50,000 men but many earnest and God-fearing British had no desire to kill their American cousins.

XII. American Pluses And Minuses

1. They were fighting defensively against all odds; they were badly organized for war
2. The Americans enjoyed the moral advantages. Economic difficulties were nearly insuperable. They were forced to print "Continental" paper money in great amounts.

XIII. A Thin Line Of Heroes

1. Basic military supplies were dangerously scanty, sufficient stores of gunpowder, cannon, and other armament could not be found
2. At Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, shivering American soldiers were without bred for 3 days in the winter of 1777-1778. Manufactured goods were generally in short supply. American militia-men were numerous but highly unreliable.
3. Women maintained farms and businesses while men fought. Large numbers of Camp Followers accompanied the American army, cooking and sewing for troops in return for money or rations.
4. Virginia and Maryland heightened slave patrols but within one month, 300 slaves had joined "Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment"

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