The Road to Revolution

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The Road to Revolution (1763-1776)
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Was the American Revolution Inevitable??
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Mercantilism

• Economic theory that a nations wealth depended
  upon its reserve of gold and silver and also a
  favorable balance of trade.
• Thus, in this context, colonies were expected to
  furnish products needed in the mother country
  (tobacco, sugar, ships masts etc) while only
  trading exclusively with the mother country and
  her other colonies.
• Required to import from Mother Country and have
  no dreams of economic self-sufficiency or
  self-government.

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Mercantilism

• Navigation Act
• Goods must be shipped trough England and a duty
  put on them
• Enumerated goods such as tobacco could only be
  sold to England.
• Money shortages in colonies due to unfavorable
  balance of trade printed paper money that
  depreciated. Parliament banned the printing of
  money in the colonies

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Mercantilism

• Negatives
• Burdened the colonists with annoying liabilities
• Stifled economic initiative and forced dependency
  on English agents and creditors.
• Most importantly, the colonists felt used and in
  a state of constant economic adolescence.
• Positives
• - Ship builders and suppliers benefitted
• - Monopoly on tobacco in England
• - Protection from the strongest Navy and military

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Mercantilism

• To prohibit a great people, however, from making
  all that they can of every part of their own
  produce, or from employing their stock and
  industry in the way they judge most advantageous
  to themselves, is a manifest violation of the
  most sacred rights of mankind.
• -Adam Smith (1776)

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James Otis

• A mans house is his castle, and whilst he is
  quiet he is as well guarded as prince in his
  castle. This writ, if it should be declared
  legal, would totally annihilate these privilege.
  Custom house officers may enter our houses when
  they please we are commanded to permit their
  entry. Their menial servants may enter, may
  break locks, bars, and everything in their way
  and whether they break through malice or revenge,
  no man, no court can inquire. Bare suspicion
  without oath is sufficient.

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George Grenvilles Program, 1763-1765

• 1. Sugar Act - 1764
• Currency Act 1764
• Quartering Act 1765
• Stamp Act 1765
• Greenville had to eliminate debt from the war
  (140 million pounds). First, strictly enforced
  Navigation Act in 1763. Then decided to raise
  tax revenue from the colonies, starting with the
  Sugar Act

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Stamp Act Protest

• Stamp Act Congress of 1765
• 27 delegates from 9 colonies meet to draw up a
  statement of their rights and grievances and to
  convince the King and Parliament to repeal stamp
  act.

Even though the statement was mostly ignored in
England and not well-known in America, the Stamp
Act Congress was one more step towards more
intercolonial unity.
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Stamp Act Protest

• Nonimportation Protests
• Against British goods
• A promising stride towards unity because average
  American colonists could participate
• Many signed petitions swearing to uphold the
  boycott
• Sons of Liberty and Daughters of Liberty
• Liberty, Property, and No Stamps
• They would tar and feather violators of the
  boycott and ransack British agents homes and
  hang effigies of stamp agents

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Tar and Feathering
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Stamp Act Protest

• England hard hit by boycott (1/4 of all exports
  go to the colonies and ½ of all shipping was
  devoted to American trade.
• English make appeals to have the Stamp Act
  repealed due to disruption to commerce and trade
• 1766, Stamp Act was repealed by Parliament

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Declaratory Act

• As soon as Stamp Act repealed, Parliament passed
  Declaratory Act
• Stated parliaments right to rule over the
  colonies in all cases and arenas.
• Basically, it claimed absolute sovereignty over
  the North American Colonies
• However, Colonists had already made it clear they
  wanted a measure of sovereignty of their own

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Townshend Acts

• Charles (Champagne Charlie) Townshend
• 1767, passes the Townshend Acts
• Light duty on imported goods such as glass, white
  lead (dont ask, I do not know), paper, paint,
  and tea.
• Makes distinction between internal and external
  taxes and this is an indirect tax paid at
  colonial ports
• Revenues earmarked to pay Royal Judges and Royal
  Governors

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Townshend Acts

• The tax on tea was the most hated due to the fact
  that an estimated 1 million people drank at least
  two cups per day.
• However, in Boston, a lot of tea was simply
  smuggled so the Townshend Acts were largely
  ignored and did not cause the same unrest as the
  Stamp Act
• So, British land two regiments of soldiers in
  Boston

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The Boston Massacre (March 5,1770)
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Boston Massacre
What is the difference between the two depictions
of the Boston Massacre?
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The Gaspee Incident (1772)
Providence, RI coast
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King George IIIand Lord North

• George III was 32 in 1770. Good man in private
  life, but an ineffective ruler. Surrounded
  himself with Yes men like Lord North

Lord North, what do you think of my fancy
outfit? Well your majesty, YES, I think you look
ravishing!!!!!!!!!!
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Townshend Acts Repealed

• Lord North, under pressure from British
  Manufacturers who were losing revenue due to the
  nonimportation agreements, convinced Parliament
  to appeal the Townshend Acts.
• However, he kept the three pence tax on tea to
  assert Parliaments authority to tax.

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Committees of Correspondence
Purpose ? warn neighboring colonies
about incidents with Br. ? broaden the
resistance movement.
First organized by Sam Adams, cousin to John
Adams. A great propagandist, he trained his mob
to resist British policy. The committees started
in Boston, then throughout Massachusetts, then
spread to other colonies. Main objective was to
exchange letters and keep alive opposition to the
British
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Tea Act (1773)

• British East India Co.
• Monopoly on Br. tea imports.
• Many members of Parl. held shares.
• Permitted the Co. to sell tea directly to cols.
  without col. middlemen (cheaper tea!)
• North expected the cols. to eagerly choose the
  cheaper tea.

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Colonists Reaction to Tea Act

• Even though the tea was cheaper- the colonists
  were still angry at the three pence tax.
• Saw the move as a way to make the colonists
  accept the tax with cheaper tea.

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Boston Tea Party (Dec, 16 1773)
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The Coercive or IntolerableActs (1774)
1.Port Bill-
2. Government Act
3. New Quartering Act
Lord North
4. Administration of Justice Act
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The Quebec Act (1774)

• -Act designed to administer the 60,000 French who
  lived in Canada.
• Gave French a guarantee of their Catholic
  religion and also permitted them to retain old
  customs and traditions such as not having a
  representative assembly and no trial by jury
• Area extended into the Ohio river Valley
• Horrible to colonists, because it had such far
  reaching implications Ohio river valley for
  Catholics and Parliament could suppress
  representative government and trial by jury

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First Continental Congress (1774)
55 delegates from 12 colonies (Georgia did not
attend)
Agenda ? How to respond to the Coercive Acts
the Quebec Act?
1 vote per colony represented.
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First Continental Congress

• The Association was formed. Complete boycott of
  British goods.
• April 1775- Lexington and Concord
• Small British force of Redcoats were ordered to
  seize stores of colonial gunpowder and capture
  Sam Adams and John Hancock. At Lexington, 8
  Minutemen were killed and several wounded. At
  Concord, the colonial militia forced the Redcoats
  to retreat

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The British Are Coming . . .
Paul Revere William Dawes make their midnight
ride to warn the Minutemen of approaching British
soldiers.
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The Shot Heard Round the World!
Lexington Concord April 18,1775
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The Second Continental Congress(1775)
Olive Branch Petition
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Imperial Strengths

• Population odds in their favor (2.5 million
  colonists to 7.5 million British)
• Greater Monetary Wealth and Naval power
• British had a professional army of 50,000
  soldiers, employed around 30,000 Hessians,
  attracted some Native Americans to fight on their
  side, and also had 30,000 Loyalists

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Imperial Weaknesses

• Ireland was on the brink of revolt and troops
  were sent to watch over it
• France was eager to stab Britain in the back due
  to recent defeat in Seven Years War
• British leadership was inept compared to the
  brilliance of William Pitt (King George III and
  Lord North
• English Whigs openly triumphed American victories
  (at least at the beginning) and this encouraged
  Americans
• Fighting in North America was difficult Generals
  were second rate, soldiers were treated poorly by
  officers, and provisions were scarce, rancid, and
  wormy.
• Distance made it difficult. England was 3,000
  miles away.
• Difficult to defeat colonists due to Geography
  The American Colonies were huge with no large
  city that served as a node.

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American Advantages

• Strong leadership
• Washington, Franklin, and Lafayette
• Americans were generally fighting a defensive war
  with the odds in their favor
• American agriculture kept the army well fed
• Americans were fighting for a just and moral
  cause that gave them greater morale and
  motivation
• Understood and new the terrain and environment
  much better

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American Negatives

• Poorly organized and loosely united
• Jealously and suspicions between colonies caused
  conflict and many resented the Continental
  Congress for trying to assert its authority
• Economic issues, in particular, currency issues.
  (No metal currency, so C.C printed money that
  quickly depreciated, and later individual states
  printed their own)
• The subsequent inflation forced many soldiers to
  desert the campaign and return home to work
• Military supplies were scarce
• Other shortages in manufacturing supplies and
  clothing and shoes.
• Generally, the American soldiers were a ragtag
  group that was poorly equipped to fight the
  trained professional Redcoats.

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Was the American Revolution Inevitable??
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Thomas Paine Common Sense
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Declaration of Independence (1776)
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Declaration of Independence
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Independence Hall
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New National Symbols