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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: 1650 – 1774

CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: 1650 – 1774. Two Revolutions? Anti-Imperialist or Social/Domestic. KEY CONCEPTS. Prior to 1763, American capital goes across the pond. French and Indian War transformed the relationship between Britain and the American colonies.

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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: 1650 – 1774

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  1. CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: 1650 – 1774

  2. Two Revolutions? Anti-Imperialist or Social/Domestic

  3. KEY CONCEPTS • Prior to 1763, American capital goes across the pond. • French and Indian War transformed the relationship between Britain and the American colonies. • American colonists were divided over what course of action to take. • The Americans created a government, the Continental Congress, to address the deteriorating relationship between Britain and the colonies.

  4. EUROPEAN COLONIES IN THE NEW WORLD

  5. By mid 1700s, France and Britain in inter-imperialist struggle for dominance in N.A. • French allied with Native American tribes (ex. Algonquin and Huron against Iroquois) • Focal point of French and Indian War is the Ohio River Valley (stop westward expand.)

  6. Albany Congress created • Led by Benjamin Franklin • Goal was to keep Iroquois tribes loyal to Britain • American colonial response to the French became known as the Albany Plan of Union • Carryout diplomatic relations with tribes • Control public territory • Raise an army • Tax colonial citizens

  7. Albany Plan was not accepted: • Colonists too concerned about their own interests • Unwilling to relinquish control to a provincial congress • Created a foundation for future colonial cooperation

  8. British defeat French in the French and Indian War • Results of the Peace of Paris • Britain receive all of French Canada and all territory south of Canada and east of the Miss. • France and Spain lose West Indian colonies • Britain received Florida from Spain • Spain receive from France its territory west of the Mississippi, including control of New Orleans.

  9. PROBLEMS INHERITED BY BRITAIN FOLLOWING THE WAR

  10. Political and Economic problems for the British post war • Large debt and a fiscal crisis, force British to respond to needs of empire building: • New land must be governed • Revenue must be raised to absorb costs (citizens in Britain were already taxed heavily) • Native Americans in Appalachian region • French Canadians need to be assimilated • Economic competition from colonists

  11. PRE-REVOLUTIONARY WARBRITISH POLICY IN THE COLONIES • Salutary neglect: 1750-1763 • Limited intervention and management as long as ‘mercantilist policy is profitable • Policies not challenged; infrequently enforced, difficult to implement

  12. British Mercantilist Policies Pre-1760 Period • Overseeing trade: British Board of Trade • Navigation Laws – establishes British authority to regulate colonial trade • The Wool (1669), Hat (1732) and Iron (1750) Acts • The Molasses Act (1733) – Rum, not well enforced

  13. 1763 – TURNING POINT • Cost of empire exceeding its benefits • King George III appoints George Grenville as Prime Minister. Under Grenville, Britain transforms political, economic and trade relationship w/ colonies. • Policy of Salutary Neglect is abandoned • Proclamation of 1763

  14. DISCONTENT ON THE FRONTIER

  15. POST PROCLAMTION OF 1763 ACTS • Sugar (Revenue) Act of 1764 – replaces ineffective Molasses Act of 1733 • Currency Act of 1764 – Forbade colonies from printing currency; all taxes had to be paid in hard (specie) currency • Quartering Act – Provide food and supplies to British troops stationed in the colonies

  16. Stamp Act (1765) – Taxing all virtually all printed material • Virginia’s Patrick Henry, ‘No taxation without representation’ • Raises up the colonial middle class • 1765- Nine colonies form the Stamp Act Congress; issue a Declaration of Rights • Boycotts and rebellion groups like Sons and Daughters of Liberty and the Loyal Nine

  17. Declaratory Act (1766) – Britain repeals the Stamp Act, but declares right to tax through: ‘virtual representation’

  18. Colonial response: • Boycott • Circular letter • John Dickinson, ‘Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer’ (1767) • Tar and Feathering • Boston Massacre (1770) – Crispus Attucks • Paul Revere and Sam Adams • Committees of correspondence- exchange of ideas and unified response by colonial govt’s.

  19. TEA TIME!!! • Gaspee Incident • Boston Tea Party • Tea prices fall dramatically • Parliament passes regulations to give British East India Company monopoly on tea trade • December 16,1773 – Boston Tea Party • Governor Hutchinson returns to England

  20. BRITISH RESPONSE:INTOLERABLE (COERCIVE) ACTS OF 1774 • The Boston Port Bill – • closed the port of Boston; relocated customs house • The Administration of Justice Act – • trials for royal officials held in Britain • The Massachusetts Government Act- • limited right to organize freely; Crown appointments

  21. CHARLES TOWNSHEND

  22. CHARLES TOWNSHEND • British elites critical of Parliament’s appeasement of the colonies • ‘Champaign Charlie’ new Prime Minister • Townshend Acts (1767) • Prices inflated to cover taxes • Suspended New York Assembly • American Board of Customs; admiralty courts

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