APUSH Unit 04 Road to the Revolution

Why were the Coercive Acts passed?

- When Bostonians refused to pay for property they had destroyed during the Boston Tea Party;
-George III and Lord North decided on a policy of coercion

Who did the Coercive Acts target?

Massachusetts

What were the 4 Coercive Acts of 1774 passed by Parliament?

1. Parliament closed the port of Boston
2. Drastically reduced colonial self government
3. Permitted royal officers to be tried in other colonies
4. Provided for the quartering of troops in colonists barns and empty houses

What was the goal of the Coercive Acts?

British Parliament to punish the colony of Massachusetts Bay for Boston Tea Party

What did the Currency Act of 1764 do?

- Required colonial assemblies to stop issuing paper
- Retire on schedule all the paper money already in circulation

When was the Declaratory Act passed?

Same day the Stamp Act was repealed

What was the Declaratory Act?

- Asserted Parliament's authority over the colonies
- Parliament declared power

What 2 inflammatory measures did William Townshend take through Parliament in 1767

1. Disbanded NY assembly until they agreed to Mutiny Act
2. Levied new taxes on various goods imported to the colonies from England: lead, paint, paper and tea

What were internal taxes?

Taxes based strictly on colonial affairs/taxed goods in the colonies

What type of taxes did Benjamin Franklin denounce the stamp duties as?

internal tax

What were external taxes meant to be?

Tariffs/Goods meant to benefit the whole empire

What was the purpose of external colonists in the colonists eyes?

Raise revenue from the colonies without their consent

What did the Massachusetts Assembly do in regards to external and internal taxes?

Massachusetts Assembly took the lead by circulating a letter to all colonial government urging them to stand up against every tax (external or internal) imposed by government

What was the British Response to the Massachusetts Assembly letter?

Lord Hillsborough (secretary of state) issued a circular letter of his own from London in which he warned that assemblies endorsing the Massachusetts letter would be dissolved

What did Townshend do after external and internal taxes?

Townshend tried to strengthen enforcement of commercial regulations in the colonies

How did Townshend try to strengthen the enforcement of commercial regulations in the colonies?

- Established a new board of custom commissioners in America
- Hoped the new board would stop the rampant corruption in colonial customs houses

Why was Townshend's attempt unsuccessful?

New commissioners ended up smuggling in Boston

What was the Quartering Act?

Required the colonists to provide quarters and supplies for the British troops in America

What was the Quebec Act?

Object was to provide a civil government for the French-speaking Roman Catholic inhabitants of Canada and the Illinois country

Where did the Quebec Act extend to?

The law extended the boundaries of Quebec to include the French communities between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers

What did the Quebec Act do?

Granted political rights to Roman Catholics and recognized the legality of the Roman Catholic Church within the enlarged province

What was the colonists' response to the Quebec Act?

- Alarmed by rumors that the Church of England was scheming to appoint a bishop for America who would impose Anglican authority on all the various sects

- Convinced some that a plot was afoot in London to subject Americans to the tyranny of the pope

-Those interested in western lands believed that the act would hinder westward expansion

What were the Stamp Acts?

British government Imposed a tax on most printed documents in the colonies: newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, deeds, wills, licenses

Why were the Stamp Acts imposed?

New imperial program was an effort to reapply to colonies old principles of mercantilism

What did the colonists believe about the Stamp Act?

- The Stamp Act was a direct attempt by England to raise revenue in the colonies without the consent of colonial assemblies
- If this new tax passed with resistance, the door would be open for more burdensome taxation in the future

What was the impact of the Stamp act?

- British officials were collecting more than 10x as much annual revenue than before 1763
- American colonists felt very threatened

What did Patrick Henry do in regards to the Stamp Act?

- Already achieved fame due to his occasional defiance of British authority
- Made a dramatic speech to the House of Burgesses concluding with a vague prediction that if present politics were not revised, George III might lose his head

What was the purpose of the Sugar Act?

- Designed to eliminate the illegal sugar trade between the continental colonies and the French and Spanish west indies
- Strengthened enforcement of the duty on sugar

What did the Sugar Act do in terms of courts?

Established new vice-admiralty courts in America to try accused smugglers (deprived them of the benefit of sympathetic local juries)

Why was the Tea Act passed?

An effort to save the British East company (on the verge of bankruptcy)

What did the Tea Act do?

- Gave the British East company the right to export its merchandise directly to the colonies without paying any of the navigation taxes that were imposed on colonial merchants
- Tea Act revived American passions about the issue of taxation without representation

With special privileges what did the colonists believe the British East Company could do?

British East Company could undersell American merchants and monopolize the colonial tea trade

What was the colonists' response to the Tea Act?

- Enraged influential colonial merchants, who feared being replaced and bankrupted by a powerful monopoly
- The East India Company's decision to grant franchise to certain American merchants for the sale of its tea created further resentments
- Tea Act revived American passions about the issue of taxation without representation
- Resistance leaders in America argued that it was another example of the results of an unconstitutional tax → colonists boycotted tea

What was the role of women in the Tea Act resistance?

- Played a significant role in resistance
- Important in writing the dissident literature
- Mobilized and determined that rather than Freedom, we'll part with tea

What did Mercy Ottis Warren do?

Wrote satirical plays that did much to fan colonial resentments in the 1760s

What were the Townshend Duties?

Passed by Parliament, Levied new taxes on various goods imported to the colonies from England: lead, paint, paper and tea

Why were the Townshend Duties enforced?

To raise money in the colonies

What is virtual representation?

All boroughs were represented in the Parliament at London, even though they elected no representatives of their own

What is actual representation?

Every community was entitled to its own representative, elected by the people of that community, and not directly responsible to them

What were the Writs of Assistance?

- Documents that served as a search warrant
- Allowed customs officials to enter any ship or building that they suspected for any reason might hold smuggled goods.

What was the Iroquois Confederacy?

- Most powerful Native group
- 5 indian Nations which formed a defensive alliance

What were the relationships formed with the Iroquois Confederacy?

- Formed important commercial relationship with English/Dutch,
- Traded with French

What was the Iroquois Key to Success?

- Stayed independent by avoiding too close of a relationship with either group
- Played the French and English against each other

What was the area of conflict the Iroquois were in and what were they trying to establish?

- Ohio Valley area of conflict
- Iroquois attempt to establish trading presence

What was the impact of the Iroquois siding with the British?

- Decision to side with British was a disastrous decision → began fearful of antagonizing French
- Iroquious nations continues to contest English for control of Ohio Valley, Tribe was divided and outnumbered

Who inaugurated the Committees of Correspondence in Massachusetts?

Samuel Adams

Who established the first intercolonial committee of correspondence and what did it do?

- Virginia established the first intercolonial committees of correspondence
- made possible continuous cooperation among colonies

What step did Virginia take for United Action?

- 1774 royal governor dissolved the assembly
- A special session met in the Raleigh Tavern at Williamsburg
- Declared the Intolerable Acts menaced the liberties of every colonies
- Sought to coordinate opposition to British Parliament

Who were the Daughter of Liberty?

- Women had participated in anti-British riots and formed an informal organization the Daughters of Liberty which occasionally mocked their male counterparts as insufficiently militant
- Wrote "that Rather than freedom, we'll part with tea" which helped women mobilize

Who was in the First Continental Congress?

Variously elected by the assemblies and by extralegal meeting, delegates from all 13 colonies except Georgia were present

Where did the First Continental Congress take place?

First Continental Congress convened in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia

What were the 5 major decisions made in the First Continental Congress?

1. Rejected a plan for a colonial union under British authority

2. Endorsed a statement of grievances whose tortured language reflected the conflicts among the delegates between moderates and extremists

3. Approached a series of resolutions, recommending that colonists make military preparations for defense against possible attack by British troops in Boston

4. Agreed to nonimportation, nonexportation, non consumption as means of stopping all trade with Great Britain, formed a Continental Association to enforce the agreements

5. Delegates adjourned, agreed to meet again new spring, indicated that they considered the Continental Congress a continuing organization

What was the Massachusetts Circular Letter?

Massachusetts Assembly took the lead by circulating a letter to all colonial government urging them to stand up against every tax (external or internal) imposed by government

What was the British Response to the Massachusetts Circular letter?

Lord Hillsborough (secretary of state) issued a circular letter of his own from London in which he warned that assemblies endorsing the Massachusetts letter would be dissolved

What did the Paxton Boys do after the Tea Act was enforced?

- Paxton Boys descended on Philadelphia
- Demanded for relief from colonial taxes and for money to help them defend themselves against Indians

What did the Sons of Liberty do?

- Men belonging to Sons of Liberty terrorized stamp agents and burned the stamps
- The agents (Americans) hastily resigned and sale of stamps in continental colonies ceased
- Colonial boycott spread and Sons of Liberty intimidated colonists who were reluctant to participate in it

Who was the most prominent leader of the Sons of Liberty?

Samuel Adams

Where did the Stamp Act Congress meet?

Met in New York with delegates from 9 colonies and decided to petition the king and two houses of Parliament

What was in the Stamp Act Congress petition?

Their petition conceded that Americans owed to Parliament but it denied that the colonies could rightfully be taxed except through their own provincial assemblies

Who introduced the Virginia Resolves?

Patrick Henry introduced a set of resolutions declaring that Americans possessed the same rights as English

What were the 3 things listed in the Virginia resolves?

- Right to be taxed only by their own representatives
- Virginians should pay no taxes except those voted by the Virginia assembly
- Anyone advocating the right of Parliament to tax Virginians should be deemed an enemy of the colony

What did James Otis of Massachusetts do?

James Otis (Massachusetts) persuaded his fellow members of the colonial assembly to call an intercolonial congress for action against the new tax

What happened when the Stamp Act Congress met in New York?

- October 1765, Stamp Act congress met in New York with delegates from 9 colonies and decided to petition the king and two houses of Parliament
- Their petition conceded that Americans owed to Parliament but it denied that the colonies could rightfully be taxed except through their own provincial assemblies

What did the Treaty of Paris do?

Treaty that ended French and Indian War/Seven Years War

What happened to the British as a result of the Treaty of Paris?

- Britain because supreme power in America
- War debt military threats → Great Britain had to reorganize control over colonies

What happened to natives as a result of the Treaty of Paris?

divided and weakened

What happened to salutary neglect as a result of the Treaty of Paris?

ended

What happened to France as a result of the Treaty of Paris?

France gave up all its territories in mainland North America, ending any foreign military threat to the British colonies there.

Who developed the Albany Plan of Union (1754)

Developed by Benjamin Franklin

What did Benjamin Franklin propose in the plan?

- A plan by which Parliament would set up in America "one general government" for all the colonies (except Georgia/Nova Scotia)
- Each colony would retain its present constitution
- Grant to the new general governments powers (govern all relations with Indians)

What was the significance of the Albany Plan of Union (1754)

1st important proposal to conceive of the colonies as a collective whole, united under one government

Why did the Albany Plan of Union fail?

Ultimately failed because colonial assemblies didn't want to lose right to enforce taxes

What was Impressment?

- Forcibly enlisting colonists
- Forced quartering of British troops
- Land and weapon seizures (without compensation)

Who were regulators?

Regulators were farmers of the Carolina upcountry who organized in opposition to to the high taxes that local sheriffs collects

Why weren't Regulators' grievances met?

Western counties were badly underrepresented in the colonial assemblies

What did the Regulators do in the Regulator Movement?

Regulators armed themselves and began resisting tax collections by force

Who suppressed the Regulators revolt, and what did he do?

- Governor William Tryon suppressed the revolt
- Raised an army of militiamen, defeated a band of 2,000 Regulators in Battle of Alamance
- Exceptional bloodshed

What counterpolicied internal divisions during the Regulator Movement?

1763, new policies of British government began to create common grievances among virtually all colonists

How did the Grenville program antagonize northern merchants?

- Believed they would suffer from restraints on commerce
- Closing opportunities for manufacturing, and increased taxes

How did the Grenville program antagonize the northern backcountry?

Resented the closing of West to land speculation and fur trading

How did the Grenville program antagonize the southern planters?

-In debt to English merchants, feared having to pay additional taxes, and losing ability to ease their debts

How did the Grenville program antagonize the small farmers?

Believed they would suffer from increased taxes, and the abolition of paper money which enabled them to pay their loans

What did Paul Revere's engraving cause?

Widely circulated falsely portrayed the "massacre" as a carefully organized, calculated assault on a peaceful crowd

What did the Boston Massacre symbolize?

Symbol of British oppression and brutality to colonial leaders

Why were British troops in Boston during the Boston Massacre?

British troops occupy Boston to protect government official in 1768 (goal: maintain order)

What happened during the Boston Tea Party?

- Three companies of 50 men each masquerading as Mohawks went aboard the 3 ships, broke open the tea chests, and heaven them into the harbor
- Dumped chests of tea, imported by British East Company into the harbor

What did the Boston Tea Party lead to?

Led to coercion policy when Bostonians refused to pay for the property they had destroyed, George III and Lord North decided on a policy of coercion, to be applied only against Massachusetts

What was the impact of salutary neglect (1690- French and Indian War)

- Colonies were increasingly independent
- Colonial assemblies checked power of royal governors, levied taxes, answered to citizens (gained control)

What was the first phase of the French and Indian War?

Lasted from Fort Necessity to expansion of war to Europe

What was the second phase of the French and Indian War?

Governments of France/England formally opened hostilities and a truly international conflict → 7 Year's War began

What was the third phase of the French and Indian War?

- Pitt relaxed many policies America found oppressive
- Agreed to reimburse colonists for supplies requisitioned by army
Returned military recruitments to colonial assemblies
- Dispatched large number of additional troops to America

What did the French and Indian War due to the relationship of colonists and British?

Brought Americans into closer contact with British authority

What did the French and Indian War do to the British?

- Enlarged Britain's debt due to financing war
- Greatly expanded England's territorial claims in the New World

During the French and Indian War what did the tribes allying with French lead to?

huge losses

What did Colonial troops view themselves in the French and Indian War?

part of "people's army"

What Peace agreement was a result of the French and Indian War/ London reorganizing colonies?

Peace of Paris

During Pontiac's Rebellion what did Native Americans in the Ohio River Valley object?

English intrusion

Who struck back in Pontiac's rebellion?

Alliance of tribes under the Ottawa chieftain Pontain struck back

What were the causes of Pontiac's Rebellion?

- Too difficult to ward off settlers, British dropped prices for furs, took land from natives
- British stooped gift giving which told natives they were allies (Natives saw as a threat)

What was happening prior to the battles of Lexington and Concord?

- For months, farmers and townspeople of Massachusetts had been gathering arms and ammunition and training as "minutemen" preparing to fight on a minute's notice
- Continental Congress approved preparations for a defensive war, citizen-soldiers awaited an aggressive move by British regulars in Boston