AMERICANS AND THE EMPIRE

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1 PATH TO REVOLUTION THESIS: A belief in principle and a search for equality shaped the founding of the United States. The revolutionary generation found common ground and united around the principle of human equality. In 1818 John Adams contended: The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the hearts and minds of the people.

2 AMERICANS AND THE EMPIRE Colonies diverse, quarrelsome, litigious, divisive; wrought by sectionalism Unifying bonds English heritage, historic liberties, Protestant, common assumption that power corrupts, largely agricultural, most owned their land, sense of economic and political independence, experience with representative government, part of greatest empire on earth Freedom, inefficiency of colonial rule on part of Crown, and prosperity coexisted in colonies Colonists prized freedom and prosperity

3 CAUSES OF REVOLUTION Effects of distance nurtured spirit of self-reliance, local autonomy, independent thinking and action American environment and experience Lack of effective imperial authority; communication, correction, and protection difficult

4 END OF SALUTARY NEGLECT Self-government: colonial legislatures little Parliaments with historic powers taxes, appropriations, appointments, laws Intercolonial disunity French and Indian War gave Britain dominance in world trade and naval power Growth and movement of population Economic expansion

5 IMPACT OF MERCANTILISM Object of mercantilist system to subordinate entire economic life of colonies to parent country Mercantilism clashed with colonists economic interests and political ideals of self-government and free trade Salutary neglect

6 NEW ATTITUDE England faced enormous debt, needed revenue Taxation (pay part of cost); obey laws George III: reassert authority over monarchy; immature, intransigent, insane; system of patronage/bribery Pontiac s Rebellion Proclamation of 1763

7 REGULATING THE EMPIRE Plans to send 10,000 soldiers for security and to put an end to smuggling New taxes After French and Indian War, Americans looked forward to future of greater freedom and less regulation Conflicting points of view led to collision

8 NEW IMPERIALISM Mutiny Act (1765): quartering of soldiers, combat smuggling, restrict colonial manufacturing Sugar Act (1764): eliminate illegal sugar trade Vice admiralty courts Writs of assistance Currency Act (1764): ban on colonial paper money Stamp Act (1765): tax on every printed document in the colonies British collecting 10 times annual revenue they had prior to 1763

9 WHO IS GOING TO RULE? Historian Carl Becker said the American Revolution was not only about home rule but also who was going to rule at home Paxton Boys demanded tax relief and financial support of Indian War Regulator movement Restraints on commerce, closing of West, constriction of opportunities for manufacturing, increased tax burden, debt, abolition of paper money, narrowing opportunities in the cities, economic depression, etc.

10 STAMP ACT Stamp Act set ominous, dangerous precedent in eyes of colonists Property sacred: source of life and liberty; fears king and aristocracy would dominate No taxation without representation every single duty viewed as attack on security of property because taxes levied without consent Grenville argued for virtual representation on grounds that most British subjects in England could not vote either and that each member of Parliament represented the whole empire.

11 STAMP ACT CRISIS Protests and mob action Sons of Liberty Andrew Oliver hanged in effigy, shop and home destroyed, resigned post as stamp master Liberty and No Stamps No taxation without representation

12 STAMP ACT CONGRESS I Intercolonial unity: Americans could not agree on boundary lines and Indian wars, but they could agree without argument on opposition to taxes. British believed Parliament had absolute supremacy, whereas colonists asserted it had limits short of the right to tax them. That the People of these colonies are not, and from their local circumstances cannot be, Represented in the House of Commons in Great Britain.

13 STAMP ACT CONGRESS II In reality, colonists rejected notions of actual and virtual representation. Acknowledged subordination to Parliament but made distinction between legislation and taxation Taxes gift from people to their representatives only a representative could grant them Parliament had power to supervise and regulate the empire, but otherwise should continue to leave the colonists alone

14 STAMP ACT CRISIS II Virginia Resolves Patrick Henry: If this be treason, then make the most of it. Nonimportation agreements Sons of Liberty: terrorized stamp agents, mob action, burned stamps, intimidated those reluctant to boycott Repeal Declaratory Act: confirmed Parliamentary rule over colonies

15 TOWNSHEND PROGRAM Townshend sought to reorganize the empire by rendering governors, judges, and other officials independent of the provincial assemblies. Townshend observed the distinction between internal and external taxes by levying duties on various imports, such as glass, tea, lead, painter s colors, and paper. Townshend sponsored a law to suspend the New York Assembly because of its refusal to comply with unpopular Quartering Act. Associations boycotted British goods, cutting British sales to the northern colonies by 2/3

16 EXTERNAL VERSUS INTERNAL John Dickinson s Letter s from a Farmer in Pennsylvania rejected internal and external taxes levied for the sole purpose of raising revenue. Dickinson rejected the Townshend duties as unconstitutional and assailed the suspension of the New York Assembly as an attack on the liberties of all the colonies.

17 MASSACHUSETTS Daughters of Liberty held spinning bees Samuel Adams decided on independence in Massachusetts circular letter urged colonial opposition to every tax imposed by Parliament. Governor Bernard dissolved the Massachusetts Assembly Hancock s Liberty seized Riots Townshend duties repealed Revere s exaggerated engraving aroused passions of outrage

18 COLONIAL PROTESTS Continued protests and friction Harassment of customs officers British troops threat to sense of independence Boston Massacre ultimate symptom of the ineffectiveness of British government s authority Sam Adams led campaign to build colonial outrage. Propagandists transformed the incident into symbol of oppression and brutality; colonial martyrdom Committees of correspondence Troop withdrawal prevented general uprising

19 PHILOSOPHY OF REVOLT Locke s social contract theory English constitution at risk due to corruption/tyranny Wilkes and Liberty Parliament has the right to legislate for England and empire as a whole, but only provincial assemblies could legislate for individual colonies Popular sovereignty Subordination vs. independence

20 TEA EXCITEMENT Americans opposed the Tea Act because it gave a monopoly to the East India Company and was taxation without representation. Boston Tea Party Coercive Acts provoked open rebellion Close port of Boston Reduce self-government, increase in governor s powers Quartering of troops Quebec Act viewed as Catholic plot and threat to western expansion

21 NEW SOURCES OF AUTHORITY First Continental Congress (1774) Endorsed Suffolk Resolves Fell one vote short of Galloway s Plan of Union Conceded Parliament s right to regulate trade Demanded repeal of all oppressive legislation Made military preparations for defense of Boston Boycotts; declaration of rights and grievances Breakdown of royal authority led local communities to form new popular governments, committees, provincial congresses Continental Association Popular ideas and movements

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25 LEXINGTON AND CONCORD Failure of compromise King George III told Lord North that blows must decide whether they are to be subject to the country or independent. Patrick Henry: I am not a Virginian but an American. Gage to arrest Sam Adams and John Hancock Concord arsenal, minutemen British lost 3 times as many men Shot heard round the world Irreconcilable passions

26 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, Faragher, John Mack. The Encyclopedia of Colonial and Revolutionary America. New York: Da Capo Press, 1996 (1990). Fleming, Thomas. Liberty! The American Revolution. New York: Penguin Books, Morgan, Edmund S. The Birth of the Republic, Third Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Wood, Gordon S. The American Revolution: A History. New York: The Modern Library, 2002.