1. America’s History Seventh Edition
James A. Henretta
Rebecca Edwards
Robert O. Self
America’s History Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 4
Growth and Crisis in Colonial Society
Copyright © 2011 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

2. War, Trade and Social Conflict
Brainstorm the ways in which the colonies had grown and ‘matured’ by 1750.
How was land a divisive force in the colonies?

3. IV. The Midcentury Challenge: War, Trade, and Social Conflict, 1750-1765
The French and Indian War
1. The Albany Congress
2. The War Hawks Win
The Midcentury Challenge: War, Trade, and Social Conflict, (Key events: British war against French in America, surge in trade increases American debt to British, and an increase in westward migration leads to violence and rebellion.)
The French and Indian War
1. The Albany Congress – (1754) delegates from British colonies met in Albany to discuss relations with the Iroquois and French expansion; Franklin proposed a “Plan of Union” with a continental assembly to manage trade, Indian policy, and defense in the western territories; Franklin’s effort failed; war between France and England seemed imminent.
2. The War Hawks Win – Pitt and Halifax in England wanted a war in North America with the French; fighting began June 1755; expanded to Europe by 1756 with Britain vowing to destroy France’s ability to compete economically.

5. IV. The Midcentury Challenge: War, Trade, and Social Conflict, 1750-1765
The Great War for Empire
1. The Seven Years War
Brits ally with Americans one last time
2. Pontiac’s Rebellion
Attempt to get French back
Result: Proclamation of 1763
The Midcentury Challenge: War, Trade, and Social Conflict, (Key events: British war against French in America, surge in trade increases American debt to British, and an increase in westward migration leads to violence and rebellion.)
The Great War for Empire
1. The Seven Years War ( ) – Pitt directed the war successfully from England, controlling both the commercial and military strategies; British had stunning successes and acquired Cuba and the Philippines from Spain, French Senegal, Martinique and Guadeloupe (eventually returned to France); Treaty of Paris ending the war gave Britain control of over half of North America, including French Canada.
2. Pontiac’s Rebellion – British acquisitions in North America frightened the Native American population, who believed that they would lose more territory to Anglo-American migrants; inspired by a prophet (Neolin) Pontiac (Ottawa Chief) with a group of loosely affiliated tribes launched an uprising against the British; though Pontiac’s rebellion was put down, the Proclamation of 1763 prohibited white settlement west of the Appalachians; ignored by colonists. 5

7. IV. The Midcentury Challenge: War, Trade, and Social Conflict, 1750-1765
British Industrial Growth and the Consumer Revolution
1. Resources
2. American Consumers
The Struggle for Land in the East
1. Land Disputes
The Midcentury Challenge: War, Trade, and Social Conflict,
British Industrial Growth and the Consumer Revolution
1. Resources – since 1700 the dominant commercial power in Atlantic and Indian Oceans; first nation to use manufacturing technology and work discipline to expand output; mechanical power of water mills and steam engines (lathes for wood, jennies and looms for textiles, hammers for iron forging).
2. American Consumers – purchasing 30% of all British exports by exporting tobacco, rice, indigo, and wheat from the colonies; New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia supplied wheat to Europeans; profits from exports enabled colonists to buy goods from England; Americans became more dependent on overseas credit and markets.
The Struggle for Land in the East
1. Land Disputes – rising population of colonies meant more land needed; disputes over land broke out in Hudson River Valley of New York, in New Jersey, and in some southern colonies; tenant uprisings; courts favored wealthy land owners; increasingly, the landless moved west to the Appalachian Mountains region.

9. 1. What was the purpose of this image when it was created in the 18th century?
(Answer: advertisement for tobacco)
2. What does the image tell the audience about the origin of this product?
(Answer: ship indicates that it has been imported; people depicted in advertisement as being part of the production process appear to be Native American with skin darker than Englishmen and dress consistent with the warm climates of the southern colonies of North America; drawings of housing-styles consistent with earlier European depictions of native villages.)
3. What aspects of life in the tobacco fields of North America does the advertisement not reveal to consumers?
(Answer: no indication of whether production was completed or aided by African or African-American slave labor; no indication of the hardship of life in the southern colonies [disease, hard labor] of North America in this period leading to short life expectancies.)

10. IV. The Midcentury Challenge: War, Trade, and Social Conflict, 1750-1765
Western Rebels and Regulators
1. Paxton Boys and Racism in Pennsylvania
2. The South Carolina Regulators
3. Civil Strife in North Carolina
The Midcentury Challenge: War, Trade, and Social Conflict,
Western Rebels and Regulators (Movement of landless into the west meant clashes over Indian policies, political representation, and debts.)
1. The South Carolina Regulators – during Seven Years War, Anglo-American and Scottish settlers in South Carolina clashed with Cherokee; so-called Regulators were vigilante landowners who demanded that South Carolina’s eastern government provide courts for the western part of the colony, fairer taxation and representation for those who had settled the region; unsuccessful in gaining power.
2. Civil Strife in North Carolina – 1766 saw significant economic crisis in North Carolina as tobacco prices fell; to avoid losing their land mobs of farmers (also called “Regulators”) closed the courts and intimidated judges; proposed legislation to lower their taxes; May 1771 North Carolina’s royal governor sought to suppress the rebellion; violence ensued, ending with 30 men dead and seven Regulator leaders executed.

11. Paxton Boys…Indian Perspective

13. South Carolina Regulators
-Scotish and Anglos clash
with the Indians
-East v. West
-Backcountry….

14. Civil Strife in North Carolina
[Revisit Slide 9]
Debtors v. Gov’t
Wanted fairer taxes
30 dead = deadliest and most politically charged

15. Describe the forces that were bringing the colonies to the brink of war.
Unity: religion, science, anti-Indian,
Colonial Disputes: pietism v. deism, class tensions, challenges to traditional authorities, economic strife
Disputes w/ Britain: Proclamation of 1763, taxation, uprisings