5.1 Virginia Resolutions on the Stamp Act (1765)

Virginia House of Burgesses on the Stamp Act

• They adopted the first four and rejected the last three

  • The last three resolutions were too radical and would have a worse result

  • The first four needed people to be treated equally, and not allow taxes passed without representation

• After the Seven Year’s War, England faced a drowning debt

  • The English did not take it as a concern

  • Their colonies became concerned because the British government wanted to impose taxes directly on them

• Stamp Act - required all printed material produced in colonies to carry a tamp purchased from authorities. Thus, a faster way to get the debt.

British Freedom vs. Universal Liberty

• British Freedom - limited freedom. British colonies live with British rules. There is no rights and it is necessary to obey the rules that were good for the empire. It is also required to work hard for the authorities granted by the King. Colonies had to pay increased taxes imposed upon them.

• Universal Liberty - indentured servants have rights. Colonies have freedom of expression. There is also freedom to stay in their land and practice their beliefs.

5.2 New York Workingmen Demand a Voice in the Revolutionary Struggle

Social Divisions in the Colonies

• There was separation like north and south

• The 13 colonies did not interact much

• South - slavery to plantation

• North - more religion, fewer enslaved people\

Equality in the Colonists

• The only thing uniting them is liberty from the British

5.3 Association of the New York Sons of Liberty (1773)

The British’s Motivation for the Tea Act

• Tea Act - passed by Parliament on May 10, 1773

  • The British East India Company sold many unsold surplus tea to markets in the markets of the American colonies

  • The BEIC was suffering financially due to military expeditions to extend Britain’s influence in India

Relationship between Property and Liberty

• The Sons of Liberty considered liberty and property to be intertwined

  • Without the ability to hold property, one could not ever be truly free

  • The ownership of property will help in the establishment of liberty and freedom

5.4 Farmington, Connecticut, Resolutions on the Intolerable Acts (1774)

The Feelings of Colonies towards Great Britain

• The Language of Resolutions showed anger and resistance to Great Britain

  • Created because of the Act of Parliament

• The gathering amassed one thousand colonists by the shrine of liberty where the Act of Parliament was read and burned

• The first resolutions were neutral, but the ones that follows had negativity and hate

• The most telling words described their feelings under the English rule

  • Enslaved

  • Chains of slavery

Limitations Imposed on American Loyalty by the Resolutions

• 1774 - the British government created laws against the colonies

  • They created these laws due to the Boston Tea Party

  • Intolerable Acts - dubbed by the Americans who felt negative towards the laws

  • As a result, the port would not be opened until the loss was paid for

  • Town meetings were disrupted and governors were given the power to select their own counsel

  • Soldiers were also allowed to live in the homes of the colonists.

  • These laws make the colonists mad and hate England even more.

  • Loyalty was not created at all, resistance grew stronger

5.5 Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776)

Paine’s Attack on the Principle of Monarchy & Hereditary Succession

• Paine argues that since all men are born equal, no man could have the right to establish his family as forever presiding over others

• In order for Americans to break free, they must believe Britain’s rules and philosophies to be unjust; otherwise, there would be no reason to be autonomous

Paine’s Main Arguments

• All men are born equal, no man should be able to usurp one another and compromise other’s liberties

• The current state of Americans is unstable under the rule of Britain.

5.6 Samuel Seabury’s Argument against Independence (1775)

Seabury on the Continental Congress and Local Committees

• Samuel Seabury - a minister of the Church of England. He came to the defense of England during the Revolution.

• Seabury believed that the Continental Congress was self-interested and by not working with England to seek resolution was not working on behalf of all the colonies

  • He disliked policies that prevented trade with Britain during the early tensions as he believed that it furthered tensions and hurt the vast majority of colonists

Difference of Seabury from other Advocates of Independence

• Boucher - tends to take a more libertarian view of freedom than many who were in favor of independence

  • He feels that personal, individual freedom is more important in general than the freedom of a nation

• Seabury - a loyalist