Imperial Conflict

1. Imperial Conflict 1763 - 1776

2. Republican (Whig) Ideology • Sources: • Classical authors (Plato, Cicero, Cato, Plutarch) • Enlightenment philosophes (Locke, Voltaire, Montesquieu) • Country (Real) Whigs (Milton, Harrington, Priestly, Molesworth, Trenchard & Gordon) • Americans saw a conspiracy in British actions • One of the 3 estates (Commons) had gained too much power • The other 2 estates (Lords & Crown) went along • Standing armies enforced usurpation

3. Americans’ Changed View of Constitution • Understood a constitution to be a written document defining & limiting the powers of government • Demanded actual representation, not virtual • Believed rights are inherent in people, not granted by King • Believed the people are sovereign, not government

4. Effects of French & Indian War on Imperial Relationship • Each side’s view of the other soured • British viewed Americans as cowards unfit for battle • Americans viewed British as immoral snobs – resented being treated as inferiors • Withdrawal of French removed reason for working together • Enormous expense of war left Britain in debt – needed to raise taxes • King George III determined to administer empire more effectively King George III (1760-1820)

5. The Crisis Begins • 1763 – French & Indian War ended • Proclamation Line set new western boundary to colonies, violating charters • Troops remained after the French left • 1764 - Revenue (Sugar) Act • lowered duty but increased enforcement • 1765 – Stamp Act • Sons of Liberty staged mob actions in cities to protest act and threaten collectors • Stamp Act Congress met in October & drew up petition to protest the act

6. Patrick Henry’s Speech Against the Stamp Act, by Peter Rothermel

7. Declarations of the Stamp Act Congress • That his Majesty’s subjects in these colonies, owe the same allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain, that is owing from his subjects born within the realm, and all due subordination to that august body, the Parliament of Great Britain. • That his Majesty’s liege subjects in these colonies are entitled to all the inherent rights and liberties of his natural born subjects within the kingdom of Great Britain. • That it is inseparably essential to the freedoms of a people, and the undoubted right of Englishmen, that no taxes should be imposed on them, but with their own consent, given personally, or by their representatives. • That the people of these colonies are not, and from their local circumstances, cannot be represented in the House of Commons in Great Britain. • That the only representatives of the people of these colonies, are persons chosen therein, by themselves; and that no taxes ever have been, or can be constitutionally imposed on them, but by their respective legislatures.

8. The Crisis Deepens • 1766 – Stamp Act repealed • Declaratory Act asserts Parliament’s right to legislate for the colonies “in all matters whatsoever” • 1767 – Townshend Act sets new duties on all goods imported from England • John Dickinson’s Letters from a Farmer states colonists’ case • 1768 – Nonimportation Agreement; troops occupy Boston after Liberty incident. • 1770 – Boston Massacre led to removal of troops to island John Dickinson

9. The Boston Massacre – March 5, 1770 • 5 dead, 6 wounded • Samuel Adams seized on incident for propaganda • John Adams and Josiah Quincy defended soldiers Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, & Joseph Warren Paul Revere’s engraving of the Boston Massacre

10. The Crisis Simmers • 1770 – most Townshend duties repealed • 1771 – S.C. legislature prorogued after voting to send money to Wilkesites • 1772 – Gaspee incident in Rhode Island; Committees of Correspondence formed The Burning of the Gaspee, Charles DeWolfe Brownell

11. The Boston Tea Party – Dec. 16, 1773 • 1773 – Tea Act was bailout for the British East India Company • Standoff between Mass. Gov. Thomas Hutchinson & Sons of Liberty, Nov. – Dec. • Boston Tea Party destroyed 342 chests of tea Tea Chest

12. 1774 – The Showdown • The Coercive (Intolerable) Acts (1774): • Port of Boston closed until tea paid for • King would appoint Council, and town meetings allowed only for elections • Any official indicted for a capital offense could be tried in Nova Scotia or England • Soldiers quartered in private homes • Quebec Act kept French system & expanded borders to include Ohio Country • 1st Continental Congress • Sent petition & organized boycott • Galloway’s Plan of Union rejected • Adjourned until May 1775 Boston, then & now

13. 1775 – The War Begins • 1775 – war began April 19th at Lexington and Concord, Mass. • Siege of Boston by militia ensued • Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17th) was pyrrhic victory for British • 2nd Continental Congress met in May 1775 • created Continental Army & made George Washington commander-in-chief • Sent Olive Branch Petition to London

14. Boston Area Monuments Bunker Hill Monument Concord Minute Man

15. 1776 – Independence • Thomas Paine’s Common Sense attacked notion of monarchy • Richard Henry Lee introduced motion for independence, backed by John Adams – passed July 2, 1776 • Thomas Jefferson drafted Declaration of Independence – approved July 4, 1776 Thomas Paine Signing the Declaration of Independence