HUS I and US I Notes 9-25-14

•Albany Plan of Union

•Delegates from 7 Colonies met at Albany, New York to discuss common measure of defense

•Iroquois Confederation (Six Nations) occupied present central New York sent delegates as well – they would side with the British in the coming conflict

•Plan of Union proposed by Benjamin Franklin stated that the British colonies in America unite for defense in a permanent union; first concept of uniting colonies who saw themselves as 13 separate colonies

•Plan was rejected by the Colonies and England

•General Edward Braddock’s expedition, July, 1755

•Braddock arrived from England with regiments of British regulars – “redcoats”

•Combined with Virginia Militia led by Washington would attack the French at Fort Duquesne

•The force was ambushed – Braddock killed – 63 of 89 officers were killed

•Washington, became commander,  who managed to get the survivors out of harms' way

•“I know that I can save England, and that nobody else can”
 William Pitt The elder

•British lost early battles to the French

•1756 – William Pitt became Prime Minister and was determined to win the war

•Pitt replaced aging generals and civilian staff, whose only claim was birth, wealth, or influence, and replaced them with men of merit (younger)

•Gave colonial officers equal rank to British troops

•Moved more troops to America

•Strengthened the Royal Navy

•Pitt put the British forces on the offensive

•British Victories

•1758 – Great Britain started captured French forts in New France

•Fort Duquesne was captured and renamed Fort Pitt

•1759 – British won more victories and in September, 1759, captured Quebec

•Quebec was a fortress built on heights above the St. Lawrence River called the Plains of Abraham

•British successes brought then victories in America, Europe, Mediterranean, and in India

•1760 – French surrendered Montreal

•British will also seize the Philippine Island and Cuba from Spain since Spain had entered the war on the side of France

•Treaty of Paris, 1763

•Great Britain gained most of India, all of North America east of the Mississippi, except the city of New Orleans

•Spain was forced to give Florida to the British

•France gave Spain New Orleans and all the territory west of the Mississippi River

•British returned Philippines and Cuba to the Spanish

•Mercantilism

•Mercantile system was developed during the 1600s and 1700s by the Dutch, Spaniards, Portuguese, French, as well as by the British

•Mercantilism – an economic and political policy where by a nation tries to gain greater wealth and power than its rivals

•Specific purpose – to build a powerful, self-sufficient empire in a world full of religious wars and bitter commercial rivalry

•Countries use it to attempt to build greater military power by building a larger army and navy, which meant money

•A country would need to gain a favorable trade balance by exporting more than it imports

•Mercantilism and Great Britain

•Colonies were an essential part of the plan for the British

•Colonies would provide raw materials which the small island kingdom could not supply  on its own

•Colonies would provide markets for goods produced in Great Britain (manufactured goods)

•Colonies would help make Great Britain powerful by  encouraging the growth of a strong merchant fleet, which would serve as a training school for the Royal Navy; provide basis for the Royal Navy

•Application of Mercantilism in Britain

•Series of laws that restricted  nearly all the manufacturing of the Empire to England

•1699 – colonists forbidden to export wool to a neighboring colony

•1732 – forbade colonists from manufacturing beaver hats

•1750 – forbade colonists from manufacturing iron products

•British government tried to prevent mechanics form leaving Great Britain – they might help the colonists to start their own manufacturing plants

•Navigation Acts

•Starting in 1651 – restricted all trade within the empire to British ships; forbade the importation of goods form Africa, Asia, and the non-British colonies of America into any port fo the British Empire except in British ships

•Powerful merchant fleet soon developed going between the colonies and the mother country

•American colonists, being British citizens, were allowed to build, operate, and man their own vessels – by 1760s and 1770s – American merchants were making fortunes

•Colonial shipyards produced 1/3 of all merchant vessels sailing under a British flag

•Navigation Act of 1660

•Enumerated specific products that should be shipped only to England – tobacco, cotton, sugar, etc.

•Colonists could not sell these products to countries on mainland Europe perhaps for a higher price

•By the 1700s – British government started paying bounties (payments that governments make to stimulate production of certain goods)

•Bounties ere paid on tar, resin, turpentine, hemp, etc.

•These were restrictions on selling

•Navigation Act of 1663

•Colonists were forced to purchase most of their goods from England

•All European goods heading to the colonies had to be sent first to England, where the English unloaded the goods and collected an import duty on them; then reload them and send the items to the colonies

•Duty – sum of money that is collected by law on the import or export of goods; also called a tariff

•This prevented European competition for the British manufacturers

•Enforcement of Trade Laws

•Great Britain failed to enforce all of the laws; hence, the colonists often ignored the laws

•Colonists were involved in illegal trade by smuggling goods without paying the duty on the products

•If the laws were enforced it was only for a short period of time

•The colonies were allowed to do pretty much as they pleased

•1763; however, British government needed money to pay off French and Indian War Debt as well as money to pay for the defense of its growing empire; needed money pay officials

•Troubles

•Early mercantile laws were intended to regulate trade

•The new mercantile laws were intended to raised revenue

•The colonists would oppose these taxes on the basis of what they called “charter rights” – that the colonists were to be treated as though they had never left the island