American Revolution: Long-term Causes and Taxation Turmoil

1. Chapter 7

2. Long term causes of Revolution • VA company of London Charter • Mayflower Compact • H of B • Fundamental Orders of Ct. • Dominion of New England • GB had a long history of ignoring the colonies and letting them “do their thing”…..

3. Mercantile Theory • Places restriction on economic activity • The Navigation Laws (1650) Stated: • American goods could only be shipped on British ships (no matter if it was the more expensive shipper) • Goods heading from Europe to America had to stop in England first to pay duties. (makes americans pay more) • Enumerated goods (ones that could only be shipped to GB instead of highest bidder).

4. Slackness of GB • Made lots of laws, like Navigation Acts, but never enforced them. • Salutary Neglect!!

5. Trouble Brews…. • In 1763 GB had largest debt in the world. Half was result of wars in America • Needs funds and decides to begin enforcing acts they had ignored for a while which will cause problems…

6. Tax time! • GB Parliament passed the Sugar Act (1764), . • This was the first tax on Americans for raising revenue. • Americans protested, the tax was lowered, and things calmed. • The Quartering Act (1765) colonists must house and pay for food of troops • Americans hate it

7. Stamp Act, 1765 • Requires a stamp as proof of paid tax • Must be put on virtually everything made of paper (legal documents, newspapers, playing cards, etc) • The act's stated purpose was to raise money to support a new military force to protect the colonies. • Grenville considered the tax fair—Americans would be paying for their own protection. • Brits were paying twice as much for a similar tax

8. It is the Principle • Colonists mostly mad a principle of tax rather than tax itself • Leads to debate of power to tax and representation….

9. Stamp Act Congress • 9 out of 13 colonies met, slowly colonies are uniting • 2 types of colonial protests, informal and formal • Informal: boycott, Sons and Daughters of Liberty • Formal: Non-importation agreements, Declaration of Rights and Grievances • Americans never paid one cent of the Stamp Act because there were no tax collectors

10. Repeal of Stamp Act and More! • Repealed in 1766 • Declaratory Act (1766): England still in control! • Townshend Acts (1767): taxed paper, lead, paint, and tea. • Indirect taxes vs direct taxes (like Stamp Act) • Colonists still protest

11. Boston Massacre • 1767, suspension of NY legislature • March 5, 1770: Boston Massacre. • Crispus Attucks

12. The 5 colonists killed at the Boston Massacre would become martyrs for the colonial cause • British soldiers were tried in court and 2 were found guilty of manslaughter. • Colonists write songs & poems for the colonists that died. • The event would be used as propaganda to convince people that the relationship between England & the colonies would never improve. Boston Mass.

13. Boston Mass.

14. Seditious Committee of Correspondence (C of C) • Townshend Acts not produced revenue only problems • King George III not too upset about it • Repeals Townshend Acts, except for tax on tea • This makes colonists made, especially Samuel Adams

15. C of C…. • Sam creates Committees of Correspondence (letter writing network) • Starts in Boston, spreads to all colonies • Made of colonial leaders

16. Boston Tea Party • British East India Company in financial trouble, given monopoly to sale tea in colonies by England (actually would have lowered price) • Colonists do not like, feel like it is a trick by the British

17. BOSTON TEA PARTY • Tea Act • Made it illegal for the colonies to buy non-British tea and forced the colonies to pay the tea tax of 3 cents/pound. • The Colonists had to buy tea from the East India Tea Company----gave them a monopoly • Colonists claimed it was “taxation without representation” • Sons of Liberty protested against the Tea Act in Dec. 1773 by dumping 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor

18. Boston Tea Party • December 16, 1773, led by Sam Adams • Mixed reaction from colonies

19. Boston Tea Party BOSTON TEA PARTY • To the British, the Boston Tea Party represented a crucial change in the relationship with the Colonies, an act of defiance. • The Colonists refusal to buy tea from the British and dumping it overboard was a “gesture” to the British that the Colonists were saying, “we do not want your tea because we are forced to buy it”.

20. Intolerable Acts • Repressive Acts (aka Intolerable Acts) passed in 1774 made to punish Boston • Boston Port Act- shuts down Boston harbor • Various Acts limit colonists right to rule themselves • British citizens accused of crimes in the colonies tried in England by English courts (applies only to certain crimes)

21. Quebec Act (1774) • Goal was to benefit French-Canadians living in English colonies • Guaranteed French that Catholicism is OK • French trials without juries (as was their custom) • Allowed to stay in Ohio Valley

22. First Continental Congress-- • Meets in Philadelphia Sept-Oct 1774 • 12 of 13 colonies there (no GA) • Did NOT DESIRE INDEPENDENCE!!!! • Drew up list of grievances • Declaration of Rights

23. CC continued…specifics… Results of the Congress’ meeting: 1) Formulated a set of parameters within which it considered Parliamentary interference in colonial affairs justified 2) In all other spheres, the colonists stated that they should be left to themselves 3) Towns set up committees of observation to enforce the boycott In time, these committees became their towns’ de facto governments Led acts of insubordination by collecting taxes, disrupting court sessions, organizing militias, & stockpiling weapons

24. George King George III (1738-1820) • King of England. • Instrumental in ending the French and Indian War in 1763. • Strong supporter of taxing the colonies to pay for the debt. • He opposed any compromise with the colonial government in America. “Once vigorous measures appear to be the only means left of bringing the Americans to a due submission to the mother country, the colonies will submit.”

25. BRITISH TROOP DEPLOYMENT

26. Lexington and Concord • April 1775, “shot heard round the world” • Lexington, first shot of war • British travel to Concord • Minutemen (colonial militia) • Killed ½ of the red coats

27. British were searching for stolen weapons. A small colonial militia, called minutemen (because they reputedly were ready to fight on a minute’s notice), attacked them. They stopped at Lexington & encountered 56 minutemen. BATTLE OF LEXINGTON

28. BATTLE OF LEXINGTON • British Captain Pitcarin orders Minutemen off the green. • Response by the Minutemen: “This is our green” • Controversy over who fired the first shot • 8 Americans killed.

29. After their victory in Lexington, the British proceeded to Concord. When they got there, a large contingent of minutemen awaited them & inflicted numerous casualties on the Redcoats The fact that a group of colonial farmers could repel the army of the world’s largest empire was monumental.

30. BATTLES OF LEXINGTON AND CONCORD • British find some weapons at Concord. • British return to Boston, 5,000 Minutemen attack British troops. Americans • 90 dead wounded or capturedBritish • 250 dead, wounded, or captured

31. Strengths of Britain • Population • Powerful Navy • Money, money, money • Hire Hessian soldiers • Colonial Loyalists

32. Weaknesses of Britain • International Troubles • (a) problems in Ireland required the attention of British troops • and (b) France was just waiting for a chance to get back at England • Lack of popular support • Officers not very good • the men were mistreated, the war was to be fought an ocean away, and supplies would often run low.

33. Advantages of Colonies • Leadership • Ex. George Washington as general and Ben Franklin as diplomat • French Aid • secretly at first and then openly. Support came in the form of money, guns, supplies, and then troops and a navy. • Only had to hold land not conquer • Knowledge of area • Belief in the “cause” • Geography

34. Weaknesses of Colonies • People are split into 3 groups (Patriots, Moderates, and Loyalists) • Sectional rivalries • Lack of Money • No Navy, Blockage by British • Not picked to win war, extreme underdogs

35. Struggles of the Colonial Army • Supplies are scarce • Training is not good • Desertion common • Apathy and Division among the colonists

36. Second Continental Congress • May 1775, Philadelphia. Still no vote for independence • Resent list of grievances • Raise money for army and navy • Appoint George Washington general of army • GW had never been given rank higher than colonel, but looked part and that boosted morale • GW had what was viewed as impeccable character • Did job for no pay, only an $100,00 expense account

37. Bunker Hill • May 1775 Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold lead Green Mountain Boys (Vermont) to victory at Ft. Ticonderoga and Crown Point • June 1775, Bunker Hill in Boston (lost but proved we could fight British way and win which gives big morale boost) • Olive Branch Petition---ask for peace

38. BUNKER HILL • June 17, 1775 • The British suffered over 40% casualties. • 2,250 men • 1,054 injured • 226 killed • Americans: Moral victory • 800 men • 140 killed • 271 wounded • King George sends 10,000 Hessian soldiers to help put down the rebellion.

39. US leaders AMERICAN LEADERS George Washington Horatio Gates Ben Franklin Nathan Hale Thomas Jefferson John Adams Marquis de Lafayette Baron von Steuben Count Casimir Pulaski John Paul Jones

40. GB leaders BRITISH LEADERS King George III General John Burgoyne General William Howe General Charles Cornwallis Benedict Arnold

41. OLIVE BRANCH PETITION • Second Continental Congress passed the Olive Branch Petition • The decision was to negotiate with King George III and send him a declaration of their willingness to remain British. • BUT, they have grievances (problems) which they want the King and Parliament to address. • AND, they instructed the local militias in each town to begin preparing for war with the MINUTEMEN!

42. Response of King George • Officially declared colonies in rebellion • Hiring thousands of German soldiers (Hessians) to fight war

43. Common Sense • Pamphlet by Thomas Paine, urges American Independence • Presents idea of a Republic

44. COMMON SENSE • Written by Thomas Paine in Jan. 1776….. • Came to America in 1774 from England and got caught up in the Revolutionary Spirit • Wrote a 50 page pamphlet that would convince many Americans that King George was a tyrant and declaring independence from Great Britain was our only choice.

45. Paine not only called for independence, but for a new kind of political society: a democratic republic. Power should be derived from popular consent. COMMON SENSE • Colonists’ experience in self-government prepared them for creation of republic. • Also, absence of hereditary aristocracy and equality among land-owning farmers contributed to idea of republic. • Believed civic virtue vital to republican form: if no king, then individuals must sacrifice for public good. • Some wanted “natural (talent) aristocracy” instead to keep power from “lower orders.”

46. 2nd Continental Congress • Decides on Independence • Richard Henry Lee makes motion on June 7, 1776, passes on July 2, 1776 • Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson

47. DOI-2 2nd CONTINENTAL CONGRESS • Would stay together throughout the war and became our first government of the United States. • Wrote Declaration of Independence: Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston • 56 signers sacrificed their lives, fortunes and honor when they signed the DOI • King George charged these men with “treason”.

48. Social contract THOMAS JEFFERSON • Plantation owner from Virginia • Renaissance man • Owned slaves • Representative to the 2nd Continental Congress from Virginia • Considered the father of the Declaration of Independence.

49. SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY Declaration of Independence The people have the right to abolish an oppressive government and establish a new one. All men are endowed with certain unalienable rights among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. John Locke A government’s power comes from the consent of the people. All people are born free and equal with natural rights to life, liberty and property Authority of Government Natural Rights To preserve himself, his liberty and property Government of laws not man Men being by nature all free, equal and independent To secure these rights History of the present King of England is repeated injuries All men are created equal Purpose of Government Limited Government Equality

50. Social contract SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY • John Locke was an English philosopher during the late 1680s. • He wrote several books on how people should be governed. • His ideas influenced Thomas Jefferson. • The power of government comes from the people….We give the government certain powers to force people to do things for the common good of the community……..If the government does not reflect the will of the people, than the people can change it…….