APUSH Period 3 Unit A
French and Indian War AKA The Seven Years’ War
The Seven Years’ War (1754-1763)-a.k.a. The French and Indian War was fought as a continuation of the war of Austrian Succession. This time, though, France and Britain brought the war to North America. The war centered on what nation was going to control the Ohio River Valley (Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia area).
The French trappers “chased the beaver” south into the Ohio River Valley, establishing a series of forts. The English colonial frontiersmen migrated west into the Ohio River Valley to claim their future.
A young colonel, who was sent by the Governor of Virginia to prevent the French completion of the strategic Fort Duquesne (Pittsburg), initiated the spark that caused the French and Indian War, in the Ohio River Valley. George Washington, at first successful, surrendered to the French and their Native American allies.
While Washington was confronting the French on the frontier, seven colonies sent representatives to Albany, New York to plan an approach of colonial defense and a more centralized colonial government. The British also wanted the Albany Plan of Union to bolster the colonies’ relationship with the Iroquois. This would help keep them loyal to the British during the oncoming war years.
The mastermind behind the Albany Plan was newspaper editor, (and later, eldest statesman of the American Revolution) Ben Franklin. A visionary, he viewed the Albany Plan as a step towards a much greater cause—a step towards colonial Union without Britain! Franklin’s famous political cartoon, Join or Die, illustrates that the colonies could not remain semi-autonomous; choices had to be made. Even though the colonies rejected the Albany Plan, it set a precedent for the calling of the Revolution congresses. At the war’s beginning, British General Edward Braddock met a disastrous defeat in the Ohio River Valley.
A new British Prime Minister, William Pitt, refocused the British war effort toward conquering French Canada. With successful victories over Quebec and Montreal, French power came to an end and France lot all of its possessions on the continent.
The French and Indian War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, 1763. Conditions:
Great Britain acquired French Canada and Spanish Florida.
France ceded to Spain its territory of Louisiana.
Significance of the War:
France lost all of its continental land.
The war changed the relationship between the colonies and mother Britain.
**Need to study comparison maps of the U.S. from 1754 and 1763!!
At the end of the French and Indian War 1763, the British realized that the policy of Salutary Neglect had to be changed. Four wars had been very costly and Britain believed that the colonial forces did a poor job representing themselves during the last war.
To support the abrogation of Salutary Neglect, a post war Native American uprising, known as; Pontiac’s Rebellion, developed on the frontier when Chief Pontiac renewed the Indians’ position in the war effort. Two thousand backwoods colonists died and the British cruelly responded. They even used small-pox infected blankets as weapons.
Pontiac’s rebellion was put down with the use of British troops.
As the colonists were preparing to expand across the Appalachians and claim their destiny and land for which they fought, the British were busy drawing a line across the peaks and hollows of the same mountains. The Proclamation Line of 1763 was a temporary fix by Britain to give the mother country time to find a non-confrontational approach for the Indian problem. Because of the cost of defense, it also put in place new measures to protect the colonies.
Causes of the American Revolution
By 1760, the colonies were in debt. For years, agricultural products and raw materials were shipped to Britain and British high-price products were shipped to the colonies. This huge trade imbalance placed the colonial economy in danger of collapse.
Due to the French and Indian War (1754-1763) and Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763), the British believed that the colonies must pay their fair share for the cost of protection, and they must assist the established British army in the colonies.
The death of Salutary Neglect was assured when King George III allowed his new Prime Minister, George Grenville, to pass three acts through Parliament to make the colonies more responsible for their own economic cost. These acts, known as the Grenville Acts were:
The Sugar Act (Sugar Tax) 1764
The Quartering Act 1765
The Stamp Act 1765
The Sugar Act 1764-forced the colonies to buy sugar from British colonies and charged a high duty (tax) to raise money for England. The Sugar Act differed from the Navigation Acts because it only taxed non-British (and British colony) products.
The Quartering Act 1765-This act required the colonists to provide quarters for British soldiers. This included food and a place to sleep.
The Stamp Act 1765- Passed by Parliament to raise money to support the British army in America. A stamp was placed on goods that were purchased within the colonies; newspapers, legal documents, (printed materials). The Stamp Act was the first direct tax imposed on the colonies.
To protest the Stamp Act, representatives from nine of the 13 colonies met in New York in 1765 and formed the Stamp Act Congress, (which successfully fulfilled the idea of the former Albany Plan of Union).
Importance:
The meeting gave colonies another chance to establish ties and develop themes of common causes.
They voiced that only elected representatives of the colonies could vote to tax the colonies.
The colonial reaction toward the Stamp Act became active. Colonists began to intimidate tax collectors. Tax collectors were tarred and feathered by a secret organization called the Sons of Liberty. The Sons were a radical revolutionary group that advocated the undermining of British rule in very saucy ways. The most prominent of its leaders was Samuel Adams, who wrote his Harvard’s masters thesis on resisting British oppression. However, the most effective form of protest in reference to the Stamp Act was the boycott. The colonists simply stopped buying British –made products, forcing Parliament to repeal the hated Stamp Act.
Chancellor Charles Townshend, a new policy-maker, replaced George Grenville. As the colonists rejoiced with the departure of Grenville, Parliament passed the Declaratory Act (1766). This “face-saving” act insisted that Parliament represented all of the British Empire and Parliament had the right to make all laws and to tax the colonies in all cases whatsoever. However, the colonists did not buy into the concept of “Virtual Representation.”
After the passage of the Declaratory Act, Townshend adopted a second wave of acts to force-tax the colonies. Different from the Stamp Act (Stamp Tax), the Townshend Acts taxed indirectly. Merchants paid the tax as a duty at ports; it was just passed off at higher prices to consumers.
The Townshend Acts 1767, included taxes on tea, glass, paper, paint, and lead.
To enforce the acts (taxes), Parliament also included a method to search for illegal products that might have been smuggled into the colonies, thus avoiding the tax. This general search warrant was called a Writ of Assistance. This document gave official permission to search for “contraband” anywhere. A court-issued search warrant, on the other hand, designates a specific place to be searched.
At first, the colonists were slow to react to the Townshend Acts because of the indirect nature of the tax.
A Philadelphia lawyer, John Dickinson, wrote a pamphlet titled, “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania”, which pointed out that the concept of taxation without representation was a violation of British Law. “No taxation without representation” became the colonial response to the British taxation policies.
As with the Stamp Act, the most effective colonial measure in repealing the Townshend Acts was the boycott.
Other colonial writers began to “use the pen” as their primary weapon. James Otis and Samuel Adams wrote the Massachusetts Circular Letter. The letter urged the colonial legislatures to boycott and petition Parliament to end the Townshend Acts.
The acts were repealed due to pressure on Parliament from British merchants involved in colonial trade. Only a small tax on tea remained.
A small conflict did take place in Boston, which was the developing hotbed of hostilities between the colonies and Britain. British guards, protecting a customs-collecting house (for Townshend taxes) fired on a mob of harassing colonists, killing five people. The 1770 event became known as the Boston Massacre. British guards found not guilty. Then a relative peace developed between the colonies and Britain from the Boston Massacre that lasted from 1770-1773.
The colonists were living with the Tea Act. Those that were dead set against the tea purchased smuggled tea from the Dutch. Smuggled tea from the Dutch was actually higher priced than the tea from Britain!
Western world trade was dominated by trading companies that were granted monopolies from their governments such as the Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company. These companies were in continued competition for contracts. The British East India Company asked Parliament to grant it permission to sell tea to the colonies directly, in lieu of delivering tea to England and then the colonies. The idea was to supply the colonies with much cheaper tea even with the British tax still in place. The idea was to end the smuggling of the Dutch tea with a choice of a much cheaper tea. Parliament passed the Tea Act of 1773 in favor of the request of the British East India Company. The purpose of the Tea Act was to assist the British East India Company from financial collapse.
The colonists did not accept the English right to tax, no matter how cheap the tea would be! They boycotted, tarred and feathered, mobbed, and squawked. They refused to allow the British ships to unload the tea at American ports. The problem became acute in Boston. Tea ships sitting in the harbor cost money. The pro-British governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson, ordered the tea ships of the British East India Company to stay. He was going to figure out a way to force the tea on the citizens of Boston.
As a result, in the dead of night, a group of Bostonians, dressed as Native Americans, boarded the tea ships and dumped the cargo overboard. Reactions to the 1773 “Boston Tea Party” were missed in the colonies, but in Britain, an angry Parliament reacted by passing the Coercive Acts and the Québec Act 1774. Together the colonists labeled these acts “The Intolerable Acts”.
(Known as the Intolerable Acts by the colonists and the Coercive Acts by the British.) These acts were directed against the people of Boston. The conditions were:
1) The Port of Boston was closed by the British.
2) Massachusetts’ legislative power was decreased; the royal governor’s power was increased.
3) Crimes against royal officials were tried in England—not the colonies.
The Quebec Act extended the boundary of Quebec (the province) to include the area from the Ohio River Valley to the Mississippi River. The official religion of the region was now Catholic. Britain now owned French-Canada and gave the French-Canadians more consideration than their own blood-kin colonies.
The colonists viewed the Intolerable Acts of 1774 as a direct attack because the acts took away the very land they fought for during the French and Indian War. The key issue of the debate between the colonies and Parliament was simply a matter of sovereignty. It was now time to settle the issue.
As a direct result of Parliament’s Intolerable Acts 1774, the colonies’ representatives met in Philadelphia to discuss colonial reaction. The meeting was called the First Continental Congress (1774). The First Continental Congress (excluding Georgia) petitioned Parliament to withdraw the Intolerable Acts. Parliament responded to the organization of the First Continental Congress and its petition by sending more troops to Boston and declaring Massachusetts in a “state of rebellion”.
Course of the War
The British General Gage was commissioned to put down the rebellion, arrest its leaders, and bring order to the area. In the Spring of 1775, he planned to march to Concord (New Hampshire) and destroy a stockpile of colonial weapons. On the way, he was confronted by 70 minutemen, colonial militia who could be ready at a minute’s notice. 1/3 of Massachusetts boys between the ages of 16-20 were “minutemen”. Paul Revere and William Dawes gave the warning. The confrontation was at the small town of Lexington. Eight colonists were killed. The British troops continued toward Concord only to be confronted by more minutemen answering the call-to-arms. At Concord, the swarming colonists pushed back the British and the belief of the invincibility of the British Empire was shattered. 1/3 of Red Coats were killed or wounded! The British had fought on over 5 continents in the past 20 years and won every war! The shots fired at Lexington and Concord were truly “shots heard around the world”—(Concord Hymn, Emerson). After Lexington and Concord, events began to move quickly.
The British took over Boston and the “Americans” fortified Breed’s Hill, an extension of Bunker Hill, 1775. At a great expense, the British charged the colonists’ superior position and finally conquered the hill with the loss of 1000 soldiers. Ironically, this beginning battle of Breed’s Hill (Bunker Hill) would be the bloodiest of the war. In response to Bunker Hill the British passed the Prohibitory Act, 1775, that cut off all trade between the British and the Colonies.
The First Continental Congress authorized an invasion of Canada, hoping now to ally with their enemies—the French. The colonists hoped the French would forsake their bad relations with them for a chance to get out from under British rule. The colonial leaders, including Benedict Arnold, failed in their attempt to take British Canada.
While events in Canada unfolded, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in May 1775. The congress appointed George Washington as commander of the armed forces. Even though the colonies were at war, the Second Continental Congress was reaching out to King George III, offering the loyalty of the colonies as long as Parliament would “acknowledge and protect” colonial rights. Gradually, because Britain made no offer to reconcile, a change in public opinion shifted from “olive branch peace” to the decision of independence. The call for independence was written in a pamphlet by Thomas Paine called Common Sense. The pamphlet called for immediate independence and it had a profound effect on the mood of the country. His arguments: Did it make sense to give allegiance to a corrupt government? Should a small country control a large country?
In June, Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution to the Second Continental Congress that called for independence.
The Congress formed two committees to develop a plan for independence. One was to draft a formal statement of independence, and the other was to draft a working government without Britain.
The Declaration of Independence was adopted by the 2nd Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. It was primarily the work of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson formed the document from the “enlightened” ideas of the British philosopher John Locke.
John Locke, who wrote a century before, theorized that people possess natural rights simply because they were human. They gave their sovereignty to certain rulers in a social contract. The rulers were obligated to protect people’s natural rights. If the rulers failed to do so, the people being ruled could revolt (break the social contract).
The Declaration of Independence had three parts:
The document identified natural rights and the terms of the social contract. “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The document listed the “wrongs” that King George III committed against the colonies.
The document proclaimed the colonies as free and independent.
The “patriots” were the name given to the colonial fighters.
The “Tories or loyalists” were the names given to the colonists that remained loyal to the king. It is estimated that 30% of the colonists remained loyal to the crown during the Revolution. Even though most were wealthier than the patriots were, they came from all groups and classes.
The Hessians (foreign mercenaries) were German men who were hired by King George III.
From 1775 to 1777, the war went badly for Washington’s rag-tag army. He lost Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.
He had minor success when he surprised an army of Hessians across the Delaware River at Trenton. His momentum continued and he won a small victory at Princeton, New Jersey. These minor victories proved that the colonists and their leaders were committed to the Revolution.
The loss column was longer than the wins and the colonial economic system was in shambles. Colonial paper money was called “continentals” and the more Congress printed, the less it was worth.
If the American Revolution was going to be successful, it needed foreign help, and if America was going to receive help, it must first demonstrate that it could win.
France was secretly supporting the colonies after Lexington and Concord. A win for the colonies would weaken the entire British Empire and then France might be able to get its former colonial empire back, thus re-establishing its former prestige that was lost during the French and Indian War.
The Battle of Saratoga, 1777 was the win that the colonies were looking for. The British Army that was led by General Burgoyne became bogged down between Lake Champlain and Albany (New York) at Saratoga. Burgoyne surrendered to American General Gates.
Significance of Saratoga-As a result of Saratoga, France openly allied with the colonies. The alliance would be a short-term blessing for the colonies and a long-term curse.
Saratoga was the turning point of the war. After this:
France signed a Treaty of Alliance with the colonies. The French king committed monetary funds and troops.
The Netherlands joined the war against Britain in an attempt to weaken British trade monopolies. The Dutch also gave financial assistance.
Spain joined to support France. Spain also wanted to get Gibraltar back from Britain. (Spain lost Gibraltar to England because of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.)
The war found a place for certain people in history. VIP in the War
Benedict Arnold: American war hero turned traitor. He was wounded at Saratoga. He felt unappreciated and he felt that promotions were given to others and that he deserved it. He attempted to turn the military fort of West Point over to the British. His treason was discovered. He escaped to Britain and after the war, he lived in England. He died in 1801.
Chief Joseph Brant (Christian name): led the Mohawks and Senecas against the French and colonists during the Revolutionary War. He translated the Book of Common Prayer and some of the Gospels to the Mohawk language. He survived the war and died in British Canada in 1807.
John Paul Jones-American naval hero of the Revolution. He was Captain of the American warship Bonhomme Richards. He became famous during the course of a naval battle between the Richards and HMS (His Majesty’s Ship) Sarapis. The captain, sensing victory, asked Jones to surrender. Jones replied, “Sir, I have not yet begun to fight.” Jones’ crew tied their badly damaged Richards to the side of the Sarpis and continued the battle hand-to-hand. Even through the Bonhomme Richards sank; Jones took over the HMS Serapis, turning himself into a war hero and legend.
Nathan Hale-A young captain that served under Washington in 1776. He volunteered to gather information behind British lines. He was caught and hung as a spy by the British. He achieved immortality with his last words, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”
Marquis Lafayette-A French nobleman and Army Captain that came to America and offered his services to Washington at the beginning of the war. He was instrumental in persuading the French Monarchy to join the war on behalf of the colonists. He also played an important part in the Battle of Yorktown. He pinned down the forces of the British General Cornwallis until reinforcements could come.
End of the War
The final battle of the American Revolution was at Yorktown, Virginia, 1781. The British General Cornwallis and his 7,000 troops fell back to the Chesapeake to wait on supplies. For weeks, he fought off small American forces while waiting on the British navy to bring reinforcements and supplies. The French navy, under the command of Admiral de Grasse, arrived first. General Washington managed to force-march his troops to the Chesapeake (Virginia and Maryland), and completely corner Cornwallis’ men. Cornwallis surrendered on October 17, 1781. The war was over (1775-1781).
Ben Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay were sent to Paris to sign the peace treaty. The newly created United States, Spain, Britain, and France all had vested interest in the peace treaty. The U.S., France, and Spain, had Britain on the ropes. The pro-French Congress of the young United States ordered the three peace negotiators to “make no separate peace” with England and consult France on every move.
Spain wanted Florida, Gibraltar, and the Trans-Allegheny area. France wanted a very weak United States controlled by the French monarch. Britain lost the war and its negotiating position was very weak. The three American negotiators had wants too! They did not fight war for the interest of France, Spain, or a pro-French Congress. Their only interest was a strong America. The colonies summoned themselves into being while fighting the war. They would sign the treaty as one being—the United States of America. Their own self-interest would dictate the terms of peace.
Effects of the War
The Treaty of Paris 1783:
The United States would be a free and independent nation.
The land between the Mississippi and the former Proclamation Line (the Appalachian Mountains) would belong to the United States.
Florida would be transferred from British control to Spanish control.
The United States obtained fishing rights off the coast of British Canada.
Loyalists (those who remained loyal to the King and Britain) were no longer to be persecuted and Congress was to recommend that the states restore any property they had lost.
When the Second Continental Congress first met, it formed two committees. One was to draft a statement of independence. The Second Committee was charged with the task of organizing a government to put in place after the Revolution was over. The Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation in 1777.
A confederation is a government of states in which the states retain their sovereignty.
Even though Congress adopted the “Articles”, the states had to ratify them before they became the “law of the land”. A problem over ratification developed.
An argument developed over the ownership of western land. Who owned it? States whose original charters ran from the east coast to the west coast claimed that the land was theirs. States that had defined western boundaries said this was unfair! New York and Virginia finally agreed to give up their western claims to the country, and Maryland who had no claims, became the last state to ratify the Articles.
The Articles of Confederation proved to be too weak to govern. The shortcomings of the Articles were a reaction to the strong “absolute” monarch, the main reason for the Revolution. Under the Articles, the government:
Could not tax citizens of the separate states.
The states were sovereign, not the confederation.
Its executive branch was very weak without a strong separate leader, like a king or Prime Minister.
To amend (change) the Articles, all states had to approve of it, meaning the bad features of the Articles would be hard to change.
While the national government floundered under the articles, state governments showed strength. When they summoned themselves into being by writing Constitutions during the war years, they also made efforts to protect the civil liberties of their citizens. The Constitutions listed coveted Bills of Rights, protecting freedoms of speech, press, religion, and many more.
The states also followed the lead of the Articles and gave the legislative branch of government more power than the executive and judicial branches. They rationalized that to give more power to the legislative branch would be to give more power to the people.
Most state constitutions wrote in provisions or amendments to separate church and state. (The influence of the state-supported Anglican Church in England had too much power in the king).
It was illegal to grant titles of nobility and all aristocratic titles were weakened or eliminated altogether.
Even though the Articles were proving to be very weak, Congress did enact two very important land acts under the Articles:
The Northwest Land Ordinance of 1785-This law established a public policy concerning what to do about the “western lands”. Beginning in Ohio, this ordinance called for lands to be surveyed into townships and sections. It denoted the 16th section to be set aside for support of public schools.
The Northwest Land Ordinance of 1787- Focused on the land in the Ohio River Valley.
The ordinance established the rules for creating new states from the territories.
It established population (60,000) and other procedures for the territories to become states.
It prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory. (Region of Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and border of Minnesota.)
It granted self-government to the territories as it worked towards statehood.
In the summer of 1786, Captain Daniel Shays, a revolutionary war veteran and now a Massachusetts farmer, led a farmer’s uprising against the collection of taxes by the state of Massachusetts.
Massachusetts set high, unfair taxes and required payment in Specie (hard money). If the farmers could not pay their debts, “debtors’ courts”, set up by the state, would foreclose their mortgage and sell their farms. Hundreds of farms were sold. Most of the farmers acquired their debts as they fought during the war years. The government under the Articles were powerless to help put down the rebellion and the Massachusetts militia finally brought the rebellion under control.
From Shay’s Rebellion, many people believed that the Articles were too weak and a stronger central government was needed to maintain order.