US History I: The American Revolution

Navigation Acts

• Britain viewed colonial merchants trading with foreigners as a threat to British market

• Laws that restricted colonial trade

• Colonists had to export raw goods to England and purchase the final goods back for a higher cost

• Goods being traded between colonies and Europe had to stop at a British port to collect taxes

• Colonies could export certain goods only to Britain

• Goods could only be shipped on British or colonial ships that had a crew who was ¾ British

Mercantilism

Governments power by restricting trade

Colonial response to Navigation Acts

• Colonists heavily disagreed with restrictions, kept on illegally trading and smuggling

• Puritan Leaders of MA did not believe they needed govt permission to operate charter

British response to colonial resentment

• Initially did very little to stop them

• Eventually King Charles II took action

  • Punished leaders and merchants of MA who thought they did not need govt permission

  • King revoked corporate charter

Strengthened Navigation Acts

• Trials for dishonoring these Acts were moved to Britain away from the colonies

• Board of Trade created to monitor trade

Salutary Neglect

Loosened restrictions on colonial trade in return for loyalty to Britain

Colonial governors

Governors for the colonies elected by British who did not have much power but gave the colonists a taste of independence + self govt

The French and Indian War

French and Native American allies vs. British and colonists (who sided with GB)

Colonists side in this war

Wanting to expand colonies, colonists sided with the British

Britain’s Greatest Rival

France

Ohio River Valley

The area that influenced and fueled this conflict

Britain’s promise to wealthy landowners

Land in Ohio River Valley

Battle of Fort Necessity

• Led by Col. George Washington

• First and inciting battle of French and Indian War

• Loss for Britain and the colonists

William Pitt

PM appointed by the King as a result of repeated British losses

Iroquois

Native allies that sided with the British

1963 Treaty of Paris

• Treaty that ended French and Indian War (end of war also marked end of salutary neglect in colonies)

• Gave British all French land in Canada and east of Mississippi (except New Orleans)

George Grenville

• Eventual PM of England

• Thought that colonists were smuggling goods into country

Sugar Act

• Halved taxes on foreign made molasses

  • Thought that colonists would want to smuggle less if they had to pay less taxes

• Placed taxes on imports

• Strengthened law enforcement to crack down on smuggling

Effects of French and Indian War (for the Colonists)

• United them against common enemy

• Had to pay more in taxes

• Lingering presence of Red Coats increased resentment for British

Effects of French and Indian War (for the British)

• Increased area of empire in Americas

• Significantly increased Britain’s debt

• Britain’s dislike for the colonists created bitter feelings because GB felt like they had to support colonists overseas

Stirrings of the Rebellion

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Stamp Act

Act that required colonists to pay taxes on special stamped paper (i.e. legal docs, playing cards, newspapers, pamphlets)

Mock stamps

Satirical or mock stamps created by American colonists to mock the official British revenue stamps and protest British taxation

Vice-admiralty courts

• Courts that disobeyers of the Stamp Act were sent, with a conviction probable

  • Were not made of a jury, rather a single judge

  • Differed from colonial courts because these were British, and did not have American judges/juries like in colonial courts

Stamp Act protests

Where colonists (mostly shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers) came together to protest the acts and merchants refused to import goods from Britain which prevented stamps from being sold

Sons of Liberty

secret, “underground” network of American colonists to fight against British taxation and protect colonial rights founded and led by Samuel Adams

Sons of Liberty vs Stamp Act

Harassed stamp agents to the point where many resigned

Patrick Henry

Founding Father who believed that Virginia should only be taxed by Virginian assembly

Townshend Acts

Introduced indirect taxes (taxes paid by merchants at ports rather than by everyday colonists directly) on items such as glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea

No Taxation without Representation

The idea that the colonists should not be taxed unless they have a voice, or representation, in British parliament to make decisions on how they will be taxed and their everyday life