Friday, October 3, 2014

Progress Reports

All students received a progress report from me today.  Please sign and return this document on Monday.

Thank you,
Ray King

HUS I and US I 10-3-14


New Tensions Strain
 Old Loyalties

Unit 3

1763

Great Britain had won over its rivals

Great Britain now could claim an empire that circled the globe

Battered units of the British army and navy were returning home to their families

British military personnel were being sent to far-flung outposts of the empire



French statesman Count Vergennes – “The American colonies stand no longer in need of England’s protecting.  She will call on them to help contribute toward supporting the burden they have helped to bring on her, and they will answer by striking off all dependence.”



War Debt

British had fought four costly wars between 1689 and 1763

The Seven Years War had seen British troops fighting in America, Europe, Asia, and Africa

All of these years had left Great Britain heavily in debt

British government now needed even more money to maintain the military and naval defenses of its expanding worldwide empire

British leaders expected the American colonies, who were also subjects of the king, to help pay the war debts and the cost of their defense

British government now had to collect more taxes from their American colonists

Florida and Canada

Governments of Florida and Canada had to be reorganized

Spaniards and Frenchmen, long time enemies, were now British subjects

British subjects in name only

How could they be made loyal subjects?

What kind of government would work best in these newly acquired regions?

Western Lands

Government had to be organized for the wilderness beyond the Appalachian Mountains

All semblance of law and order had vanished since the defeat of the French

1763 – Natives, fearful of British colonists crossing the Appalachians and destroying their hunting grounds, rose up in revolt under the leadership of Pontiac

For nearly a year, settlers fled eastward as flames of their burning cabin and war whoops range all around them

Claims to the Western Lands

How to deal with western lands? 

1) Led by the Hudson Bay Company who was only interested in the fur trade; thus, urged the government to keep settlers from moving across the mountains

2) Colonists urged the government to do all it could to develop the western lands as a farming region

3) several colonies claim to own the lands beyond the Appalachians; these claims were based on the original charters with such phrases as “from sea to sea”

Opposing Views

George III, surrounded by yes men, viewed the colonies as only dependencies of Great Britain

British pointed out that they had saved the colonists from the French and Indians; that the British army and navy protected the colonies; therefore, the colonists should help pay part of the cost for protecting them

Colonists – the war was now over and they simply wanted to be left alone to pursue their own interests without being bothered with problems of holding the empire together

George III

Came to the throne in 1760 at the death of George II

Died mentally insane in 1820

Proclamation of 1763

Announced by George III

All lands west of the Appalachian Mountains in the area formerly claimed by France now belonged to the British Crown

Ordered all settlers to withdraw temporarily to the east of a line along the crest of the Appalachian Mountains (Proclamation Line)

This would reduce tension between the colonists and the Natives

Royal control was extended over the fur trade of the entire western region, no trader was permitted to cross the mountains without the permission of British officials

Average Englishman saw this as reasonable

Americans, eager to settle this land, were filled with resentment of this Proclamation



Proclamation Line of 1763

Sugar Act of 1764

Parliament hoped to raise money toward the expenses of “protecting and securing” the colonies against attack

Duty placed on molasses, sugar, and other products imported from palaces outside the British Empire

Naval patrols began to inspect ships entering harbors

Royal inspectors started searching warehouse and even private residences for smuggled goods

Collectors offered a share of the confiscated goods if they turned in their friends and neighbors

Interfered with the business fo colonial merchants, ship owners, and distillers of rum – all of whom had been earning profits on duty-free molasses from the French, Dutch, and Spanish islands in the Caribbean

Primarily affected the New England colonies

Currency Act of 1764

Forbid the colonies from issuing paper money

All taxes must be paid in gold or silver coin

“hard” money had always been hard to come in the colonies

Quartering Act of 1765

Parliament enacted an act requested by General Tomas Gage, commander in chief of the British forces in America, that required  colonial authorities to provide barracks and supplies for British troops  stationed in America 

A 10,000 man standing army was to be sent to keep the peace between the colonists and Natives

Affected New England – particular Boston area

Other colonies saw it as not applying  to them

Stamp Act of 1765

Designed to raise revenue for the defense of the colonies

Named as such because all documents or materials had to bear a stamp showing the tax had been paid

College diplomas, playing cards, newspapers, advertisements, deeds, marriages, wills – all fell under the Stamp Act

George Grenville, British prime minster, announced in 1764 that he intended to ask Parliament to impose a stamp act; however, Parliament did not act until 1765


This gave the colonists a year to propose an alternative tax that was more agreeable to them – they did not

Parliament was amazed at the outcry from the colonies because of the year and the fact that Parliament argued that the colonists had always paid revenue to support the empire

Colonists argued that the revenues raised before had been done by imposing indirect taxes that were hidden in the price of the goods and only the people who purchased the goods had to pay the tax

Colonists argued that this was a direct tax which individuals must pay directly to the government


Up until this time, any direct tax had been levied by the colonial assemblies and were paid by the colonists because they had elected the assemblies; therefore, they had a voice/representation

The colonies did not have representatives in Parliament; therefore, they had no voice/representation in the Stamp Act

The watch words became “taxation without representation”

The British argument was that Parliament represented and spoke for all British subjects


One Penny Stamp showing that the tax had been paid

The Stamp Act was passed in Parliament

Opposition to the Stamp Act

Colonial assemblies produced resolutions condemning the Stamp Act

Colonial assemblies declared that all taxes were illegal except those levied by representatives of the people in their own legislatures/assemblies



Stamp Act Congress, October, 1765

Delegates from 9 colonies met in New York

They first asserted their loyalty to the king and promised “all due subordination” to Parliament

Delegates vowed resistance to all taxes levied without the consent of their own colonial legislatures

New York City’s City Hall is where the Stamp Act Congress meet

Nonimportation Agreements

Merchants and leading citizens signed nonimportation agreements where in they promised not to buy or import British goods

Within a few months products from Great Britain had almost vanished from store shelves

Patrick Henry, Virginia

"Caesar," said he, "had his Brutus, Charles his Cromwell, and (pausing) George the third (here a cry of treason, treason was heard, supposed to issue from the chair, but with admirable presence of mind he proceeded) may profit by their examples. Sir, if this be treason," continued he, "make the most of it.“

John Burk, History of Virginia (1805)

Patrick Henry was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and opposed the Stamp Act

He delivered his famous “Caesar and Brutus Speech” during these debates



Portrait of Patrick Henry as Governor of Virginia

Sons of Liberty

Organized by townsmen as a secret society to demonstrate their dislike of the Stamp Act by rioting in large towns, destroyed the offices of stamp tax collectors, burned stamps in the streets, pillaged the house of royal official, and applied tar and feather to citizens sympathetic to Great Britain

They argued they were battling for their rights as Englishmen

Membership was a guarded secret

During a series of protests linked to the Sons of Liberty, colonists burn and sack the house of the Massachusetts lieutenant governor, Thomas Hutchinson.

Protesting against the Stamp Act

Stamp Act is Repealed

Parliament and George III were shocked that the colonies protested the Stamp Act

British merchants were also shocked, because the nonimportation agreements had brought British-American trade almost to a standstill

Merchants faced with financial ruin demanded Parliament repeal the Stamp Act

Influential men who were sympathetic to the colonists called for a repeal as well

Edmund Burke , statesman and writer, expressed pride in the men who would thus oppose an “illegal” measure

William Pitt, the Younger, future PM, declared, “I rejoice that America has resisted.”

Under this heavy pressure, Parliament backed down and repealed the Stamp Act in 1766

Rejoicing Colonists

The news was received with widespread joy and relief

British businessmen and American merchants were overjoyed with the news of the repeal

Members of Parliament turned upon George Grenville, the PM responsible for the Act, and forced him to resign

Declaratory Act of 1766

Most missed this act passed by Parliament in conjunction with the repeal of the Stamp Act

Parliament asserted its “full power and authority to make laws to bind the colonies and people of American…in all cases whatsoever.”

The basic questions remained unanswered:

Did the British Parliament have the right to make laws for the colonists and to tax them when they had no elected representatives in Parliament?

Townshend Act, 1767

Parliament once again attempted to collect duties from the American colonies

Charles Townshend, a member of the House of Commons,  lead Parliament to pass this act which would once again collect “indirect” taxes

Parliament hoped that this route would not cause the same issues as the Stamp Act

Townshend Act levied import duties on articles of everyday use in America – wine, tea, paper, glass, lead, and painters colors

The act included Writs of Assistance

Part of the money was to be used to pay colonial governors and thus prevent the colonial assemblies from withholding a governor’s salary


Charles Townshend 

Parliament


Writs of Assistance

In order to put teeth into the law  - they legalized writs of assistance

Writs of assistance were written statements giving government officials the legal right to search a man’s ship, his business, or his home

Writs allowed these officials to ransack the place with the hope of finding smuggled goods

American merchants had been arguing that the use of writs was illegal and an invasion of their rights as Englishmen


Opposition to the Townshend Act

New Yorkers refused to provide living quarters for British soldiers who enforced the law – Parliament answered by dissolving the New York Assembly – depriving New Yorkers of their rights to representative government

Angry pamphlets, resolutions, and petitions were drafted, published and sent to Parliament and the king

Massachusetts legislature drafted a letter to the other colonies, urging them to unite for resistance

Assemblies of Maryland, South Carolina, and Georgia endorsed the letter – again Parliament dissolved the legislatures of these colonies


Resolutions of the Virginia House of Burgesses

Introductory statement by George Washington in which he referred to “our lordly masters in Great Britain”

Claimed, once again, only colonial legislatures had the right to levy taxes on the colonists

These resolutions summed up the entire colonial answer to the Townshend Act and the Writs of Assistance

Direct Action and Violence

Nonimportation Agreements were signed again – they had worked with the Stamp Act

Mobs smashed up revenue cutters (armed ships used to enforce custom laws and to arrest smugglers), attacked British customs officials, tar and feathered anyone who dared to inform on smugglers

Bostonians taunted the soldiers by calling them “lobsters”, “redcoats”, and “bloody backs”

Now and then patrols were attacked with snow balls containing rocks

Tensions built, and then an incident finally occurred

The Boston Massacre – March 5, 1770

a mob started to gather and taunt a sentry at the Boston Custom House, then they started throwing rocks and sticks

Captain Thomas Preston came to the sentry’s rescue with 8 British soldiers

Now the mob had a small unit of British to yell at, the crowd grew as they called the British all kinds of names and started throwing snowballs with rocks in them, sticks, stones from the street

The crowd pushed in; the soldiers panicked and fired into the crowd


Propaganda

Five Americans died and seven were wounded

Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty used this as propaganda to advance their cause of separation from England

Sam Adams called it the “Boston Massacre” and Paul Revere engraved a picture of the event so it could be reproduced numerous times and sent to all the colonies


Every individual is entitled to a fair trial

The soldiers were tried and John Adams, a patriot, took the case to represent them

Adams argued that the soldiers had only defended themselves against an angry mob

The jury found six of the soldiers not guilty; two were found guilty of manslaughter and were branded on their thumbs


Repeal

1770 – Lord Frederick North became PM, he urged Parliament to repeal the Townshend Act

Lord North pointed out that the nonimportation agreements were once again ruining British merchants

Parliament repealed the Townshend Act and allowed the Quartering Act to expire; however, the tax on tea remained

Calm Before the Storm

1771 – 1773 was a period of relative peace in the colonies and between the colonies and Great Britain

Trade reached its highest peak at about L4 milli0n per year – all appeared to be going well

1772 – Massachusetts Assembly established a Committee of Correspondence to discover the early movements of Parliament and then to spread that information to all other colonies.  Also a way for the colonies to follow the same tactics in opposing British policy that was deemed as “against” the colonies and to spread propaganda

These Committees of Correspondence became the beginning of the American Union

…and then the calm was broken….



Tea Act of 1773

Tea Act of 1773 – gave a monopoly in the tea trade to the East India Company – thus making them the only company eligible to sell tea in the Colonies

The East India Company only had 17 million pounds of unsold tea

The tea could only be sold to British merchants – who would sale the tea cheaper than it had been before

Protests broke out, especially in the Boston area as the Sons of Liberty, a small, liberal group of men aggravated the situation

December, 1773 – The Boston Tea Party staged by the Sons of Liberty destroyed 342 chests of tea, which brought condemnation from Parliament and King



Boston Tea Party courtesy of the Sons of Liberty

Why Protest????

By now many colonists were opposed any taxes imposed by Parliament

Granted a monopoly to the East India Company

If a monopoly was granted to one British Company, was it not reasonable to expect that other monopolies would soon be granted to other British companies????????

Intolerable Acts of 1774

Parliament, by overwhelming majority, passed four measures designed to discourage further violence and to strengthen the power of British officials over the colonists

Boston Port Bill or Coercive Acts 1774 – stated that Boston Port, the busiest in the colonies, would be closed from all traffic entering or leaving the Port until the tea that was destroyed was paid for

Revoked the Massachusetts Charter of 1691 and forbade the Massachusetts colonist from holding town meetings

New Quartering Act – required colonist to provide food and housing for British soldiers sent to American to enforce the laws

British officials in Massachusetts charged with crimes committed while enforcing British laws could have their cased tried, not in that colony, but in England

Quebec Act of 1774

Enlarged the province of Quebec – southern boundary of Canada would be the Ohio River and the western boundary would be the Mississippi River

French laws would continue and French Canadians who were Roman Catholics were granted religious freedom

Colonists were angered and viewed the Quebec Act as an attempt to punish them by destroying the claims of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Virginia to the western lands

Map after the Quebec Act

Reaction to the Intolerable Acts

It became clear that Great Britain intended to enforce the Intolerable Acts

General Gage, commander of British forces in North America, was named governor of Massachusetts and sent reinforcements to uphold laws with physical force

George III declared that, “The New England governments are in a state of rebellion.  Blows must  decide whether they are to be subject to this country or independent.”

“Give me Liberty or give me Death”

The Virginia Convention met in Richmond at St. John’s Church to discuss the blockading of Boston Harbor

Patrick Henry presented a resolution to arm the Virginia Militia – this could be seen as treason

Members spoke against such a move

Henry decided he would have to defend his resolution with a speech – his most famous one that ended with the historical phrase

Virginia Convention voted 60 to 61



Give me Liberty, or Give me Death!

First Continental Congress

Peyton Randolph of Williamsburg, VA chosen president

Convened in Philadelphia – September – October 1774

Wanted to make a clear statement of colonial rights

Wanted to place economic pressure on Parliament

Wanted to develop a stronger colonial union with the term “United Colonies”

Drew up a Declaration of Rights and Grievances

Petitioned the King for his support

Adopted the Continental Association which was a complete non-importation, non-exportation, non-consumption agreement; trade between England and her colonies dropped 97% within a year

Agrees to give a year for the Crown to make changes before they were scheduled to meet again in the spring of 1775



Peyton Randolph of Williamsburg

Some believe that had Peyton Randolph lived, he would have been the first president of the United States instead of George Washington

Response from both sides

Parliament refused to repeal the Intolerable Acts until the colonists paid for the tea that had been destroyed

Colonial leaders refused to pay for anything until Great Britain repealed the Intolerable Acts

Few were ready for independence, but they viewed their actions as preserving their rights as Englishmen