The Townshend Crisis

Who replaced Rockingham as PM in July 1766? Who did he pass responsibility to due to poor health?

William Pitt, now given title of the Earl of Chatham, passed responsibility to the inexperienced Augustus Henry Fitzroy, the Duke of Grafton

Who was Charles Townshend?

Chancellor of the Exchequer

What was Charles Townshend’s stance on specific economic policies in America?

• Determined that royal officials in America should be paid directly by Britain, not by the colonial assemblies

• Believed colonies should shoulder the burden of this expense

When were Townshend Duties?

May 1767

What were Townshend Duties?

Duties on colonial imports of glass, wine, china, lead, paint, paper and tea

What type of taxes were Townshend’s, and how did this mean that the colonists should not have objected to them?

External taxes (and relatively light) - during Stamp Act crisis Americans (like Franklin) had drawn a distinction between internal and external taxes, denying Parliament’s right to impose internal taxes on them but conceding its right to regulate trade (even if this produced revenue)

What did MPs think Townshend Duties were raise per year, and hence they were consequently a mistake?

Only £40,000

Who was Edmund Burke?

A prominent MP

What did Edmund Burke, say about taxes?

No longer mattered if taxes were internal or external - if they were levied by Britain, Americans would oppose them

To tighten trade enforcement, what did Townshend do?

Established an American Board of Customs Commissioners stationed in Boston, directly responsible to Britain, American customs officials had greater powers

Townshend took steps to enforce which act?

The Mutiny (or Quartering) Act of 1765

The Mutiny (or Quartering) Act of 1765

To remedy the shortage of military accommodation - required colonial assemblies to make provision for quartering and supplying British troops

Most of colonies complied to enforcement of the Mutiny Act - which colony did not, and why?

New York, the headquarters of the British army in America - burden of the act fell disproportionately on the colony

New York Restraining Act when?

March 1767

Terms of New York Restraining Act

• New York assembly prohibited from taking any legislative action until it complied with the Quartering Act

• Consequently, New York agreed to support the troops

When did Townshend die?

September 1767

John Dickinson who?

Prominent Philadelphian lawyer - wrote letters and pamplets that were critical of British actions 1760s and 1770s, largely responsible for writing Articles of Confederation

John Dickinson attack on Townshend measures - what and when

Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer, 1768 - printed in most colonial newspapers

Contents of Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer

• Dickinson argued while Parliament could regulate colonies’ trade, did not have right to tax them without their consent (internal taxes or external duties)

• Condemned suspension of New York assembly - blow to liberty

Other arguments about Townshend’s measures

• Would strengthen executive

• Make colonial governments less accountable

• New position of customs official - rich field of patronage, patronage corrupt a majority in assemblies, therefore their members creatures of British government

What did Massachusetts assembly do in February 1768?

Sent out a circular letter denouncing Townshend Duties

Contents of Massachusetts circular letter

• Denounced Townshend Duties for violating principle of ‘no taxation without representation’

• Appealed to other colonies for common action

Who largely wrote Massachusetts circular letter?

Samuel Adams + James Otis

Who branded the Massachusetts circular letter as seditious

Governor of Massachusetts, Governor Bernard

How many colonial assemblies quickly approved Massachusetts letter?

7

Which assembly issued a circular letter of its own, and contents

• Virginia’s House of Burgesses

• Advocated joint measures by the colonies against any British actions which ‘have an immediate tendency to enslave them’

Which colony led the way in organising a new economic boycott against Britain?

Boston

Why was boycott never watertight?

Many merchants opposed non-importation

By 1769, every colony except _ had organisations pledged to boycott British goods

New Hampshire

What did American housewives do in the spirit of non-importation?

Stop serving British tea

Alternative to boycotted British goods

Home manufacturing - simplicity, virtue and independence of colonial life

What were the unofficial bodies set up in most colonies to enforce non-importation called?

Committees of inspection

What often happened to merchants who did not comply/violators?

Merchants who did not comply had their warehouses broken into and goods damaged, generally those who violated non-importation risked violence e.g. tarring and feathering

Why was placing the American Board of Customs Commissioners in Boston a major error?

From time arrived in November 1767 - commissioners targets of popular wrath, and faced an impossible task trying to tighten up customs service

Problems with commissioners in Boston and John Hancock

• Far too customs men to stop smuggling

• Commissioners sought help from the Royal Navy

• June 1768 - warship Romney sailed into Boston harbour as reinforcement

• Commissioners seized the Liberty which belonged to leading radical John Hancock

• Mob marched to wharf, scuffle with customs men

• Sailors from Romney boarded Liberty and took boat out into harbour

Where did customs officials in Boston take refuge?

Castle William, island in Boston harbour

By summer of 1768 what was the case in Boston?

Sons of Liberty controlled Boston

Wilkesite Movement

• 1768 Wikesite returned from France to England

• Promptly arrested and fined (£1000)

• Sentenced to 22 months in prison

• May 1768 around 30,000 men gathered near his prison in London and demanded his release

• Troops fired into crowd - killed 6 (and wounding 20)

• While in prison Wilkes elected to Parliament 3 times, each time expelled for libel + fourth try Commons illegally installed a rival

• Well documented in colonial newspapers - Br. suppressing liberty on both sides of Atlantic

1769 how much money did South Carolina’s assembly donate to Wilkes’ cause?

£1500

January 1768 what position did Grafton create?

Secretary of state for colonial and American matters - Earl of Hillsborough, lacked tact and political wisdom

What did Hillsborough do in role as secretary of state for colonial and American matters as one of first acts?

Order the Massachusetts assembly to recind circular letter it had sent out - penalty of dissolution

Massachusetts response to Hillsborough ad consequences

• Governor Bernard did best to obey Hillsborough’s orders

• Massachusetts assembly voted not to recind letter

• Dissolved by Bernard

• Sons of Liberty - Otis and Adams - marches and meetings, radical newspapers

• By 1768 Boston had disciplined cadre of men who were essentially professional revolutionaries

Further unrest in Boston

Royal officials threatened, houses of customs commissioners damaged

Bernard forced to ask for troops to restore order

Late September 1768 - 600 British troops arrived in Boston

Why were British troops aggravation in Boston?

• Problems of barracking and quartering

• Bostonians (used to lack of interference) harassed by British patrols

• Off-duty soldiers sought to improve meagre incomes by doing part-time jobs - prepared to work for less money, discontent

• Boston newspapers (often fabricated) - stories of brutality and debauchery among troops

Events in lead up to massacre; Boston tensions 1770

• 22 Feb 1770 - suspected customs informer killed 11-year-old boy during riot, funeral turned into demonstration (Sons of Liberty; 5000 attendees)

• 2 March 1770 - workers at a rope factory attacked soldiers seeking jobs; pitched battle

When was Boston Massacre?

5 March 1770

Events of Boston Massacre

• Detachment of British soldiers guarding customs house attacked by a mob hurling hard-packed snowballs

• Troops opened fire

• Killed five Bostonians

Sam Adams response to Boston Massacre

Newspaper articles - impression that there had been a deliberate massacre, American cause now had martyrs

Aftermath of Boston Massacre

8 of soldiers brought to trial - 6 acquitted after skilful defence by counsel John Adams, 2 branded on thumb (found guilty of manslaughter)

Situation America by 1770

• Insufficient troops colonies to impose order

• Relations between British authorities and assemblies broken down

• Edmund Burke - ‘The Americans have made a discovery […] that we mean to oppress them’, ‘[British] have made a discovery […] that they intend to rise in rebellion against us’

Repeal of Townshend Duties why

• Failing to raise significant revenue

• Penalising British exports to colonies

When did Grafton resign?

January 1770

Who did problem of overseeing repeal of Townshend Duties fall to?

New Prime Minister, Lord North (PM 1770-82)

When were Townshend Duties repealed, save one?

March 1770 - save the one on tea

What did North sea the duty on tea as?

‘A mark of the supremacy of Parliament’

What happened after repeal instantly?

• New York quickly abandoned non-importation

• Other ports followed suit; crisis ended

• 3 years of comparative calm

• Anglo-American trade resumed

1772 who replaced Hillsborough as secretary for the colonies

Earl of Dartmouth - believed in accommodation rather than confrontation

1771 Boston Town meeting, at Sam Adam’s behest, what was created?

A Committee of Correspondence - to communicate colonial grievances throughout Massachusetts

By mid-1773 how many Massachusetts towns had their own committees?

50

Other colonies on committees of correspondences- by February 1774 all but _

North Carolina and Pennsylvania

Lack of unity colonies

• Disputes between colonies over land claims - e.g. between New York and New Hampshire over what became Vermont

• Rich and poor tensions some colonies

• 1768 Regulator movement North Carolina (and spread to South Carolina) - backcountry farmers protested against oppressions and corruption of tidewater officials. Period of virtual civil war Regulators crushed 1771 at Battle of Alamance by eastern militia forces, some 300 Regulators killed