Revolutionary Taxes and Tensions

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Revolutionary Taxes and Tensions

• a.k.a. how to pay for F and I war and wars in
  Europe by taking advantage of your colonies

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Wartime Economics

• 1760-1764 markets in America are full of excess
  goods
• Bumper crop of tobacco decrease in price by 75
• Economic slump threatens the entire Atlantic
  credit structure
• Business failures and bankruptcies everywhere

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How dependent was GB?

• 1750-1770 population of colonies doubles to
  2,000,000
• Post 1745 ½ of all British shipping was engaged
  in American Commerce
• 1747-1765 colonial exports to GB double
• Increased prices for colonial citizens
• Consumer revolution buying luxury goods from
  GB

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After the French and Indian War

• War debt 137 million pounds
• Interest 5 million pounds/year
• Unstable government in British Isles
• Significant dependence on the American colonies
• GB has to make long-postponed decisions about the
  colony that will become the downfall of the
  Empire
• Standing Army of 10,000 to deal with defense and
  administration of laws
• How to pay for debt cost of military presence

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The Revolution was not only about home rule it
was also about who should rule at home

• Make a note of this!
• At issue is BOTH economic and political power!

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So, how do we deal with this situation?

• Force the colonies to pay!

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Molasses Act
1733
Provisions heavy duty on all sugar, molasses, and rum imported from non-British islands in the Caribbean. passed the act at the request of the British West Indies, who feared American trade with other islands
Results proved ineffective due to colonial smuggling and Parliament's failure to enforce it. repealed by the Sugar Act.
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Proclamation of 1763
1763
Provisions lands west of the Appalachians set aside as an Indian reserve. (response to Pontiacs Rebellion) prohibited settlers west of the Appalachians ordered those already there to return to the East.
Results colonists strongly opposed and largely ignored the order.
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Sugar Act
1764
Provisions heavy duties on sugar, textiles, coffee, indigo, and wine imported from foreign countries Designed to help pay the costs of keeping British troops in America. lowered duty on molasses to discourage smuggling corruption
Results Huge increase in bureaucracy and paperwork needed for shipping businesses expensive and annoying! strictly enforced. Colonists saw it as taxation without representation, one of the causes of the American Revolution.
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Currency Act
1764
Provisions all taxes paid to the British government to be paid in specie rather than with paper money, abolished the colonial paper money system
Results Difficulty in procuring actual metal money upsets rural colonists makes further taxation even more difficult and obnoxious!
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Unrest Ratings

1. No problems, go on a picnic and prance in a field
2. Give it a passing thought, but doesnt impact
   life
3. Fairly annoying, but not worth getting upset over
4. Worthy of discussion over dinner
5. Time for an angry letter to the governor and
   colonial legislature leaders
6. Stand up and speak harshly at a public meeting
7. Meet with friends to make plans for a fight
8. Time for target practice and active preparations
9. Get out your uniform, set out your weapon, the
   fights coming
10. Time to pick up a gun and bring the ruckus

• As we go through, put yourself in the place of
  the colonists.
• Decide how unhappy youd be, and give a rating
  from 1-10

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Stamp Act
1765
Provisions required tax stamps on all legal documents, newspapers, almanacs, and pamphlets issued in the colonies.
Results Intended to help pay for the maintenance of British troops in the colonies, Stamp Act Congress (October 1765, NYC) issued a statement that only the colonial government, not the British Parliament, could levy taxes on the colonists. The colonists boycotted the Stamp Act, and it was repealed by Parliament in 1766. The congress was the first united colonial action against Great Britain, and the colonies WON!
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This single stroke has lost Great Britain the
affection of all her colonies

• Crisis unifies Americans more than any political
  event had at any time before this.

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Unrest Ratings

1. No problems, go on a picnic and prance in a field
2. Give it a passing thought, but doesnt impact
   life
3. Fairly annoying, but not worth getting upset over
4. Worthy of discussion over dinner
5. Time for an angry letter to the governor and
   colonial legislature leaders
6. Stand up and speak harshly at a public meeting
7. Meet with friends to make plans for a fight
8. Time for target practice and active preparations
9. Get out your uniform, set out your weapon, the
   fights coming
10. Time to pick up a gun and bring the ruckus

• As we go through, put yourself in the place of
  the colonists.
• Decide how unhappy youd be, and give a rating
  from 1-10

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Quartering Act
1765-67
Provisions required the colonists to provide food and housing for British troops
Results Upset colonists who felt that they should be compensated for this service and that it was unfair
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Declaratory Act
March 18, 1766
Provisions passed after repeal of the Stamp Act. stated that the king and Parliament had the right and power to make laws that were binding on the colonies "in all cases whatsoever"
Results Not that much. It made no actual difference just a statement on a piece of paper. Largely ignored by the colonists.
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Unrest Ratings

1. No problems, go on a picnic and prance in a field
2. Give it a passing thought, but doesnt impact
   life
3. Fairly annoying, but not worth getting upset over
4. Worthy of discussion over dinner
5. Time for an angry letter to the governor and
   colonial legislature leaders
6. Stand up and speak harshly at a public meeting
7. Meet with friends to make plans for a fight
8. Time for target practice and active preparations
9. Get out your uniform, set out your weapon, the
   fights coming
10. Time to pick up a gun and bring the ruckus

• As we go through, put yourself in the place of
  the colonists.
• Decide how unhappy youd be, and give a rating
  from 1-10

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But, we still have a money problem!

• Customs Duties
• 1764 2,000 pounds/year collected
• 1766 45,000
• But, thats only 1/10 of the cost of maintaining
  the army in America!
• Charles Townshend

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Townshend Acts
June -July, 1767
Provisions passed to raise revenue after the repeal of the Stamp Act. Initiated by Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend, one of the acts placed duties on glass, paper, paint, lead, and tea imported into the American colonies.
Results GB wanted to use to pay salaries of royal officials in the colonies MASS MAYHEM! Army pulled out of the West to save money chaos in the frontier!
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Ripple Effect

• 1767-68 Parliament creates
• new Secretary of State for American Affairs
• American Board of Customs
• located in Boston, reports directly to Treasury
• Feb. 1768 MA governor dissolves the legislature
• Mob violence, protests
• Paper war GB vs. the colonies
• Sons of Liberty organize a nonimportation
  associations
• By 1769-70, GB sales to North America are cut by
  2/3!
• 1770 Parliament withdrew all duties except the
  tax on tea, left as a mark of supremacy of GB
  govt

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Unrest Ratings

1. No problems, go on a picnic and prance in a field
2. Give it a passing thought, but doesnt impact
   life
3. Fairly annoying, but not worth getting upset over
4. Worthy of discussion over dinner
5. Time for an angry letter to the governor and
   colonial legislature leaders
6. Stand up and speak harshly at a public meeting
7. Meet with friends to make plans for a fight
8. Time for target practice and active preparations
9. Get out your uniform, set out your weapon, the
   fights coming
10. Time to pick up a gun and bring the ruckus

• As we go through, put yourself in the place of
  the colonists.
• Decide how unhappy youd be, and give a rating
  from 1-10

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Tea Act
1773
Provisions removed export duties on tea to help the financially troubled British East India Company.
Results allowed the company to sell tea directly to the colonies without first going to Britain. Because colonial merchants were being undersold, it caused many to go bankrupt protests eventually led to the Boston Tea Party.
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We are now to establish our authority or give it
up entirely

• (Lord North, GB PM)

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Intolerable Acts also called the Coercive Acts
1774
Provisions five laws passed by the British Parliament in response to the colonial defiance of the tea tax and the Boston Tea Party. Boston Port Bill, closed the port of Boston. Administration of Justice Act, provided that British soldiers arrested for serious crimes against colonists would be returned to England for trial. Massachusetts Government Act reduced the power of the colony's local government and forbade town meetings. Quartering Act in effect again (see 1765 note) Quebec Act (coming next)
Results The colonists strongly objected to the acts, calling them "intolerable," and their issuance prompted the calling, in September 1774, of the First Continental Congress.
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Unrest Ratings

1. No problems, go on a picnic and prance in a field
2. Give it a passing thought, but doesnt impact
   life
3. Fairly annoying, but not worth getting upset over
4. Worthy of discussion over dinner
5. Time for an angry letter to the governor and
   colonial legislature leaders
6. Stand up and speak harshly at a public meeting
7. Meet with friends to make plans for a fight
8. Time for target practice and active preparations
9. Get out your uniform, set out your weapon, the
   fights coming
10. Time to pick up a gun and bring the ruckus

• As we go through, put yourself in the place of
  the colonists.
• Decide how unhappy youd be, and give a rating
  from 1-10

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Quebec Act
1774
Provisions added western territory north of the Ohio River to the province of Quebec, eliminating the claims of some of the colonies to the region.
Results Allows French Canadians to establish French Law and Roman Catholocism Loss of frontier land BAD
the size of Quebec considerably increased to
include the Great Lakes region.
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Unrest Ratings

1. No problems, go on a picnic and prance in a field
2. Give it a passing thought, but doesnt impact
   life
3. Fairly annoying, but not worth getting upset over
4. Worthy of discussion over dinner
5. Time for an angry letter to the governor and
   colonial legislature leaders
6. Stand up and speak harshly at a public meeting
7. Meet with friends to make plans for a fight
8. Time for target practice and active preparations
9. Get out your uniform, set out your weapon, the
   fights coming
10. Time to pick up a gun and bring the ruckus

• As we go through, put yourself in the place of
  the colonists.
• Decide how unhappy youd be, and give a rating
  from 1-10