The Empire Under Strain Chapter 4

Distance After Glorious Revolution (1688) England made no serious effort to tighten control over colonies Kings Control

Distance (cont.) Mercantilist Laws –i. Navigation Acts

Loose Policy –Robert Walpole, PM, believed that little control was good First American Assemblies

Improving Communication –Trade = roads and seaports Still Weak –Ben Franklin proposes Albany Plan

Ben Franklin proposes Albany Plan –“one general gov.”

The War Before the War French and Iroquois –French and English coexisted peacefully for nearly a century

Tensions arise –Louis XIV wishes to expand empire

Iroquois Confederacy –five Indian nations Ohio Valley –French claimed it

More Drama in Europe! –William of Orange takes over England –France = Catholic ; Spain = Catholic ; Fake Smile

More Drama in Europe! Cont’d –Queen Anne (William’s sister in law) ascends the throne 1702 –France + Prussia vs. England + Austria = King George’s War

Phase One: French Indian War (aka Seven Year’s War) –Fort Necessity Debacle –Weak British Assistance –Indian Raids

Phase Two: French Indian War –Intercontinental Fighting in Europe, W.Indies, and India –William Pitt: America Under British Control

Phase Three: French Indian War –Pitt agrees to reimburse the colonists for all supplies taken during the war Turning the Tide –French were always outnumbered Peace of Paris –French give some West Indian islands

Effects –English Perspective Greatly expanded England’s territory in New World –Colonists Perspective colonial assemblies –Native perspective Ohio Valley natives: disastrous because allied with French = enemies with Britain

From Rash Recovery to Rebellion King George III –ascended to throne in 1760

King George III Cont’d –Marquis of Rockingham succeeds Grenville as PM in July 1765 –William Pitt becomes PM (again) 1766 –Lord North becomes PM 1767

Post War Policies –Proclimation of 1763 (Grenville) forbid settlers to advance beyond a line drawn along the Appalacian Mts. –British Incentives: control west. movement of colonial pop. –Cherokee supported it, hoped to end white expansion west –Colonial Response:

Post War Policies Cont’d –Sugar Act of 1764 (Grenville) British Incentives: Colonial Response; –hampered trade –Currency Act of 1764 (Grenville) stop issuing paper money

Post War Policies Cont’d –Stamp Act of 1765 (Grenville) –imposed a tax on most printed documents in the colonies: newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, deeds, wills, licenses –British Incentives: Profit –Colonists Response: taxes prior were intended to raise commerce, this one raised money –British Response to Colonial Response (Rockingham): New gov’t convinces king to end the Stamp Act in 1766

Post War Policies Cont’d –Declaratory Act 1766 (Rockingham) asserted Parliament’s authority over the colonies “in all cases whatsoever” –Mutiny Act of 1765 (Grenville) colonists required to assist in the provisioning and maintaining of the army British Incentives: –stop smugglers Colonial response: –trade limited, businesses go bankrupt

Post War Policies Cont’d –Townshend Acts 1767 disbanded NY assembly 1st Colonial Response: –British Response (North; Townshend dead): –repeals

The Boston Massacre (the “snowball” effect) –Townshend Acts had taken toll: –March 5, 1770 snowball fight turns into Boston Massacre killing 5 –Angry colonial propaganda by colonial writers fuel a fire (Samuel Adams)

The Boston Tea Party –Strict enforcement of Nav. Acts + continued British presence = rev. sentiment –In RI angry residents board the British schooner Gaspee and set in on fire –1773 British East India Company had a surplus of Tea, in response British government passed the Tea Act (1773)

The Boston Tea Party Cont’d –Many colonists responded by not buying tea: boycott –Women –Bostonians –Coercive Acts 1774 (North) –Closed the port of Boston –Colonist propaganda referred to these acts as the “Intolerable Acts”

Quebec Act 1774 (North) –object was to provide a civil government for the French-speaking Roman Catholic inhabitants of Canada and the Illinois country

Cooperation and War The First Continental Congress Sept. 1774, Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia Major Decisions:

First Battles: Lexington and Concord For months, farmers and townspeople had been gathering ammunitions and training as “minutmen”... preparing to fight on a minutes notice

Why the Revolution started: where historians disagree Brinkley (Greenville upset almost everyone) v. Zinn (“rich v. poor,” or the elitist theory) Brinkley –common grievances to Grenville policies

Zinn –Propaganda used by welathy to deflect attention on England –Locke was a racist, an elitist, and supported child labor