Prelude to the American Revolution (1763-1775)

Treaty of Paris 1763 & Pontiac’s Rebellion

• Treaty of Paris officially ends the French & Indian War (a.k.a. Seven Years’ War).
  • France cedes vast North American territories to Britain and Spain.
  • Native nations not invited into negotiations → sense of betrayal.
• Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763–1766)
  • Led by Ottawa chief Pontiac.
  • Core argument: French had neither conquered nor purchased Native land, therefore could not transfer it to Britain.
  • Early sign that any diplomatic realignment in Europe would face Native resistance on the ground.
• Significance
  • Forces Britain to keep a standing army on the frontier (expensive!).
  • Shapes later British policy to limit colonial expansion westward.

Royal Proclamation of 1763 and Colonial Reaction

• King George III draws a boundary along the Appalachian Mountains → Proclamation Line.
  • Territory west of the line reserved for “Indian lands.”
  • Goal: reduce frontier warfare & lower costs.
• Colonial backlash
  • Land-hungry colonists (e.g., Virginia planter George Washington) see it as royal interference.
  • Adds to the tradition of Americans disliking external control.

British Fiscal Crisis After the War

• French & Indian War leaves Britain with enormous debt.
  • Prime Minister George Grenville looks toward the colonies: they benefited from British defense, so they must help pay.
• Political principle: Parliament may “govern colonies as if they were people of England,” yet colonists have no seats in Parliament.

Grenville’s Regulatory Program

Stricter Enforcement of Navigation Acts

• Target smugglers → vice-admiralty courts (no jury) used to convict.

Sugar Act (American Revenue Act) 1764

• Cuts molasses duty in half \left(\text{rate} \rightarrow \frac{1}{2}\,\text{old rate}\right) in hope of reducing smuggling.
• Simultaneously raises or adds duties on sugar, wine, coffee, etc.
• Immediate colonial claim: taxation without consent.

Currency Act 1764

• Colonies prohibited from printing paper money.
• Trade must be settled in gold, silver, or high-value commodities (e.g., tobacco).
• Effect: deflation, shortage of specie, tougher to pay British merchants.

Quartering Act (first version) 1765

• Requires colonists to house & supply British troops.
• Later echoed in the U.S. Constitution’s 3^{\text{rd}} Amendment.

Stamp Act 1765

• Direct internal tax: all printed matter must carry a paid royal stamp.
  • Affects newspapers, legal docs, diplomas, playing cards, etc.
• Universally condemned across 13 colonies.

Ideological Counterattack: “No Taxation Without Representation”

• Colonists: only their own elected assemblies may levy taxes.
• Parliament’s rebuttal: Virtual Representation (all British subjects are “virtually” represented).
  • William Pitt calls the theory “the most ridiculous idea ever to enter the minds of men.”

Charles Townshend & the Townshend Acts 1767

• New Chancellor of the Exchequer (Townshend) insults colonies as “children.”
• Townshend Duties on glass, lead, paint, paper, tea.
  • Revenues used to pay royal officials in America → erodes colonial power of the purse.
• Colonists judge them harsher than Grenville’s taxes.

Colonial Resistance Organizations

Sons of Liberty

• Founded in Boston; leader Patrick Henry (Virginia) & Samuel Adams (Massachusetts).
• Coin slogan “No taxation without representation.”

Daughters of Liberty

• Female counterpart; boycott British textiles & tea.
• Spin homespun cloth, brew herbal teas → economic self-reliance becomes patriotic badge.

Loyalists vs. Patriots

• Loyalists (Tories): accept Parliamentary supremacy, oppose rebellion.
• Patriots: view British acts as tyranny; advocate active resistance.

Escalation: British Troops in Massachusetts 1768

• Royal governor requests help → Britain stations 4\,000 redcoats in Boston.
• Ben Franklin predicts their presence will create the rebellion they seek to prevent.

Boston Massacre 03/05/1770

• Spark: Crowd taunts soldiers guarding customs house; snowballs & oyster shells thrown.
• Soldier knocked down; fires musket → others follow.
• Casualties: 5 dead, incl. Crispus Attucks (former enslaved dockworker, first martyr).
• Soldiers arrested; some branded after trial.
• Propaganda: Boston Gazette labels event a “horrible massacre.”

Committees of Correspondence 1772 onward

• Organized by Samuel Adams.
• Network for exchanging written lists of colonial grievances.
• Lays groundwork for inter-colonial unity & later Continental Congresses.

Tea Act 1773 & Boston Tea Party

• Tea Act lets East India Company ship tea directly to colonies duty-free (except Townshend tea tax).
  • Intent: bail out company & tempt colonists with cheaper tea.
• Patriots see it as trick to make them accept Parliamentary taxation.
• Boston Tea Party 12/16/1773
  • Sons of Liberty (dressed as Mohawk “Indians”) board 3 ships, dump 342 chests (≈90,000 lbs) of tea into harbor.

Coercive (Intolerable) Acts 1774

• Championed by new Prime Minister Lord North.
• Key provisions
  1. Boston Port Act: harbor closed until tea is paid for → unemployment & skyrocketing prices.
  2. Administration of Justice Act: royal officials & soldiers tried in England, not local juries.
  3. Massachusetts Government Act: suspends colonial assembly; power concentrated in royal governor.
  4. (Others): renewed Quartering Act, Quebec Act (enlarges Catholic Quebec—seen as threat).
• Colonists rename them “Intolerable Acts.”
• Other colonies send money & supplies to suffering Bostonians → solidarity.

Toward the First Continental Congress 1774

• Tavern meetings & town halls debate coordinated response.
• Delegates from 12 colonies (all but Georgia) convene in Philadelphia → First Continental Congress.
• Objectives: petition King George III, organize boycotts, prepare colonial militias.

Ethical, Philosophical & Practical Implications Discussed

• Question of consent of the governed: Whose authority is legitimate when distance & representation diverge?
• Spheres of loyalty: empire vs. local community.
• Economic self-sufficiency as political statement (home-spun cloth, coffee vs. tea).
• Precedents for U.S. constitutional protections (e.g., no quartering, trial by jury, taxation by representation).

Key People & Terms Quick Reference

• Pontiac, King George III, George Grenville, Charles Townshend, Lord North.
• Patrick Henry → Virginia Resolves (declares Stamp Act void in VA).
• Samuel Adams → Boston agitator; brews resistance.
• William Pitt → critic of virtual representation.
• Crispus Attucks → first martyr of colonial resistance.

Frequently Tested Lists

• Townshend Act items: glass, lead, paint, paper, tea.
• Chronological anchors
  • Pontiac’s Rebellion 1763.
  • Sugar/Currency Acts 1764.
  • Stamp & Quartering Acts 1765.
  • Townshend Acts 1767.
  • Troops arrive 1768.
  • Boston Massacre 1770.
  • Tea Act & Tea Party 1773.
  • Coercive Acts & 1st Continental Congress 1774.

By following these milestones, you can trace the rapid erosion of imperial-colonial relations that sets the stage for the Revolutionary War.