Unit 2: Rebellion, Revolution, and the ORGANIZING THEME(S):

Early Republic
A.P.U.S. History –Between 1763 and 1776, British attempts to exert control over the colonies led to violent, organized, successful
resistance.
Chapter 4 AMSCO
Imperial Wars and Colonial Protest
–The Articles of Confederation provided a reasonable and workable transition from the unitary system of British
rule to the federal system established under the Constitution.
Regulator Movement in the Carolinas •WHAT:
–South Carolina
•PROBLEM:
–groups of vigilantes who organized to fight outlaw bands along the Western frontier in 1767-1769
•SOLUTION:
–They fought an opposing group called the “moderators” in 1769.
–Later called vigilantes
•RESULT:
–stopped when regular courts were established in the backcountry

–North Carolina
•PROBLEM:
–Backcountry population elected only 17 of 78 assemblymen yet made up over half the population
•SOLUTION:
–Regulators refused to pay taxes
–Wanted the secret ballot, fixed salaries for public officials, and land tax instead of a poll tax
–Fought against the state militia and lost
•SIGNIFICANCE: Example of class tensions (rich v. poor)
Mercantilism •WHAT:
–Goal to get more gold and silver=power

•HOW:
–Export more than you import
–Get colonies for raw materials and markets

•EFFECT:
–Competition leads to conflicts between European powers
•King William’s War (1689-1697), Queen Anne’s War1702-1713), King George’s War (1744-1748), and The Seven
Years War (1754-1763) aka French and Indian War

•SIGNIFICANCE:
–Changes in British policy lead to the American Revolution
The Seven Years War •a.k.a The French and Indian War
–Fought in North America - 1754-1763

•Started when George Washington fought with French troops in Ohio Country (Fort Necessity)

•Ben Franklin proposed the Albany Plan of Union (1754):

–British colonies work together militarily and economically (defense against France)
–“Join or Die”
–Delegates voted for it, colonies turned it down

•Early defeat
–Braddock’s Blunder – 2000 Defeated by smaller French and Indian army near Fort Duquesne (George Washington
was a volunteer)
•72 French, 146 Canadians, and 637 Indians killed or wounded 977 of the 1,850 British forces
•Victory:
–British (under Prime Minister William Pitt) finally victorious by capturing the fortress of Lewisburg and the cities
of Quebec and Montreal

•Treaty of Paris officially ends war, 1763

Treaty of Paris, 1763 •WHAT:
–ended the French and Indian War in America (Seven Years’ War in Europe)
•RESULTS:
–Britain got French Canada
–Britain got French lands east of Mississippi River.
–Britain gave Cuba to Spain in exchange for Florida.
–French gave Spain its western claims and Louisiana
Change in views as a result of French •British View:
and Indian War
–COLONISTS
•poorly trained
•some unwilling and unable to contribute
•Colonial View:
–proud of their record
–gained confidence
–BRITISH
•poor leadership

Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763)
Results: The French and Indian War •British gained:
–Paxton Boys:
Proclamation of 1763
•WHO:
–Chief Pontiac UNITED tribes on western frontier
•WHAT:
–major attack against western settlements
–goal: stop westward movement
•RESULTS:
–Forts and settlements from NY to Virginia destroyed
–British used regular troops – not colonial militia
–all French lands east of the Mississippi River
–Top naval power in world!
–BIG DEBT: 140,000 Pounds!
•American colonials gained:
– confidence in their own abilities
•Ottawa Chief Pontiac’s unsuccessful rebellion (1763)
–Convinced British to continue stationing (10,000) troops in North America
–Paxton Boys:
•A mob of Pennsylvania frontiersmen who massacred a group of non-hostile Indians (1763).
•resented paying taxes to distant gov. that provided few benefits
•easterners viewed the west as a backwoods
•With foreign threats gone:
–colonistsunwilling to pay taxes for British protection
–resented Britain’s authority over them
–Colonists upset over Proclamation of 1763
•WHAT:
–British prohibited colonists from settling west of the Appalachian mountains:
•To stabilize the western frontier
•To not antagonize the Indians
•EFFECT:
–angered the colonists
•wanted to reap the benefits in western lands
–Colonists defied the imaginary boundary line and moved west!
Molasses Act - 1733
“Salutary Neglect”
THE END OF SALUTARY
NEGLECT:
New Revenues and Regulations
Prime Minister George Grenville
(1763-1765)
Sugar Act - 1764
•WHAT:
–taxed all molasses, rum, and sugar which the colonies imported from countries other than Britain and her colonies.
–6 pence per gallon, colonists paid bribe of 1 pence to get it certified British
•RESULT:
–angered the New England colonies
•imported a lot of molasses from the Caribbean as part of the Triangular Trade
–British had difficulty enforcing the tax
–most colonial merchants ignored it.
•Before: (French and Indian War)
–the British exercised little direct control over the colonies
–The British government was lax in enforcing the Navigation Acts
•Molasses Act - 1733
•Sugar Act -1764
•Currency Act - 1764
•Quartering Act – 1765
•Stamp Act – 1765
•Declaratory Act – 1766
•Revenue Act - 1766
•Townshend Acts – 1767
Britain argued that these policies were reasonable and just. WHY?
•WHO: Prime Minister George Grenville
•Purpose:
–to raise money for the crown for defense
–stricter enforcement of Navigation Acts
•aimed to stop smuggling
•What:
–dropped existing tax on foreign-produced sugar to 3 pence, but led to strict enforcement
–encouraged use of vice-admiralty courts
•WHAT:
Currency Act, 1764 –Forbade colonists to issue paper money
–Duties paid in specie (gold or silver)
•PROBLEM:
–wartime had inflicted a currency shortage
•WHY:
–When colonies printed more money, inflation occurred
•(more of something lowers the value because it is more common)
Quartering Act - 1765
•What:
–ordered colonial assemblies to provide food (beer), candles, and living quarters for British soldiers stationed in the
colonies
–Public buildings (taverns, village greens)
•EFFECT:
–created resentment
Stamp Act - 1765
•PURPOSE: raise revenue (money)
•WHAT: Required a stamp on most printed paper in the colonies
–Ex: legal documents, pamphlets, and advertisements (even playing cards and dice
•1st
direct tax:
–collected from those who used the goods
–PEOPLE DON”T LIKE CHANGE:
•Colonists used to paying indirect taxes (paid by merchants)
Stamp Act Argument •Colonists protested:
–Legislation… OK
–Taxes… NO WAY!

•“No Taxation Without Representation”

–Patrick Henry, House of Burgesses
–James Otis, Massachusetts

•Was this a fair plea?

–Crown’s answer…
•“Virtual Representation” –
Virginia Resolves, 1765
Stamp Act Congress
Sons and Daughters of Liberty
Stamp Act Boycotts
•WHO:
–Patrick Henry persuaded the Virginia House of Burgesses
•WHAT:
–to adopt several strongly worded resolutions that denied Parliament’s right to tax the colonies.
•WHY:
–To protest the Stamp Act
•EFFECT:
–They persuaded other colonial legislatures to adopt similar positions.
•STARTED BY:
–James Otis (Mass.)
•WHAT:
–Representatives (27) from nine colonies convened in New York (1765).
–“Please repeal the Stamp Act”
•ARGUED:
–external taxes were ok, but argued that only colonial legislatures had the authority to tax the colonists
•RESULT:
–step toward unity
•Radical protest groups formed:
–Sons and Daughters of Liberty - formed to intimidate tax agents:
•burned customs houses
•tarred and feathered revenue officials
•hung and burned effigies of stamp agents
•incited riots
–Some leaders: Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and John Adams
•RESULTS:
–British machinery for collecting taxes is “broken”
•Non-importation agreements:
–Boycotts (refusal to buy British goods) had the most lasting impact
–Colonists didn’t buy items shipped from Britain but bought American goods instead
–Allowed everyday people to participate
•Petitions, spinning bees
•RESULTS
–super successful!, hit’em where it hurts
Results of Stamp Act Protests
Declaratory Act - 1766
The Townshend Acts - 1767
writs of assistance
Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer
•London Merchants hurt
–Colonists bought ¼ of all British exports
–½ of British shipping devoted to colonial trade
•3 things that ended the Stamp Act Crisis!
–Declaratory Act of 1766
–Stamp Act repealed in 1766
•PROBLEM:
–7.5 million Britons paid heavy tax colonial defense
–2 million colonists refused to pay for only third of the cost for their defense
•Declaratory Act :
–Stated Parliament had the right to tax and make laws for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever”
–A “line in the sand”…
•WHAT:
–An INDIRECT tax on colonial imports of tea, glass, paper, lead, and paint
•PROBLEM:
–Money used to pay crown’s officials in colonies
•crown’s officials had been paid by the colonial assemblies
•Writs of assistance
–general search warrants that allowed the search of private homes
•WHAT:
–12 letters published by John Dickinson against Townshend Act
–Parliament could regulate commerce
•BUT:
–colonies had power over their own internal affairs
–taxes for raising revenue, rather than regulating trade, were a violation of English law.
•EFFECT:
–inspired anti-British sentiment throughout the colonies.
Massachusetts Circular Letter, 1768
Boston Massacre - 1770
Repeal of the Townshend Acts 1770
Burning of the Gaspee , 1772
•WHO:
–James Otis and Samuel Adams
•WHAT:
–written in Boston and circulated through the colonies
–urged colonies to petition for repeal of Townshend Acts
–Parliament threatened to dissolve all colonial legislatures which did not rescind letter.
•RESULT:
–more non-importation agreements (boycotts)
•Boston,New York, and Philadelphia
–increased smuggling
•WHAT:
–British soldiers worked for low wages taking jobs from the colonists
–Crowd of Bostonians harassed British soldiers
–soldiers fired into the crowd and killed five people
–Crispus Attucks was first to die, became a martyr
•PROPAGANDA:
–Paul Revere’s engraving played up the brutality of the British soldiers
•WHO:
–New prime minister Lord North
–called for repeal of the Townshend duties
•WHY:
–295 Pounds (Revenue) = 170,000 Pounds = Cost?
•All taxes except for the one of tea were repealed
–A matter of principle…
•Gaspee:
–British warship enforcing unpopular trade regulations
•ran aground off of Rhode Island
–burned by American patriots.
Committees of Correspondence
1772
Tea Act, East India Company
Boston Tea Party - 1773
Coercive Acts - 1774
• Known to the colonists as the
“Intolerable Acts”
•WHAT:
–Wrote letters to keep alive opposition to the British
–Organized groups in towns and cities
•PURPOSE:
–keep each other posted on British activities
•STARTED BY:
–Samuel Adams in Massachusetts
–spread all through the colonies
–became “first congress”
•WHEN: 1773
•WHAT:
–Repealed import duties on tea in England
•But kept townshend duty in the colonies
–Made British tea the cheapest available
–Gave British East India Co. monopoly on tea trade
–Made it illegal to buy non-British tea
–Forced 3 cent tea tax
•Response???
•Colonists boycotted tea because of its tax
•When: 1773
•WHAT:
–British tea ship entered Boston Harborbut the colonists refused to unload it!
•WHO:
–A group of Bostonians disguised as Indians
•boarded the ship
•dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston harbor
•WHEN: 1774
•WHAT: series of four acts passed in response to the Boston Tea Party
–Port Bill – closed port of Boston until the tea was paid for
–Massachusetts Government Act – reduced the power of the Massachusetts legislature (appointed v. elected)
–Administration of Justice Act – (took away local justice system) allowed royal officials accused of crimes to be tried
in England
–Quartering Act – enabled British troops to be quartered in private homes (in all colonies)
Quebec Act - 1774 •WHAT:
–Established Roman Catholicism as official religion of Quebec
–Allowed Quebec to keep much of their way of life (did not include a representative assembly or trial by jury in civil
cases)
–Extended Quebec’s boundary to the Ohio river

•EFFECTS:
–Protestant colonists mad! (didn’t want Britain to recognize the Catholic French)
–Colonists feared their assemblies would be shut down by the British
–Made land speculators mad by extending “French” area
Suffolk Resolves •WHERE:
–Massachusetts, 1774 (Sep)
•WHAT:
–declared that the colonies need not obey the 1774 Coercive Acts, since they infringed upon basic liberties.
•RESULT:
–Endorsed by the First Continental Congress
First Continental Congress •All colonies except Georgia sent representatives to Philadelphia (7 weeks)
(Sept – Oct) 1774
–(55 Delegates) John Adams, George Washington, Samuel Adams, and Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry
–Patrick Henry
•drafted the Virginia Resolutions in 1765 stating colonists could be only taxed by their own assemblies
Virginia Resolves
•“Give me liberty or give me death!” (eventually persuaded Virginia into the Revolution in 1775)

–Acts were a threat to their SELF-GOVERNMENT!

•CALLED FOR:
st
1 Continental Congress - ACTIONS

•(adopted Suffolk Resolves) immediate repeal of the Intolerable Acts and urged boycotts of English goods

•drafted declaration of rights and grievances

•“The Association”:
•Complete boycott – non-importation, non-exportation, non-consumption
•“Chickens squawked and tar kettles bubbled…”

•Called for another congress in May of 1775 if rights weren't recognized