Post - French and Indian War

• british debt raises from 72M pounds to more than 143M pounds

• george grenville chosen as prime minister + addresses economy

Sugar Act (1764)

lowered tax on foreign molasses by half, but retained a high duty on foreign refined sugar

• taxed coffee + wine

• inc enforcement of tax

Stamp Act + Quartering Act (1765)

• put direct tax on stamps that get put on paper products → legal docs, newspapers, pamphlets, almanacs, playing cards, dice

• quartering act → british soldier can choose to go live in anyone’s residence

Reaction to Stamp Act

• this new law caused great dissent among colonists

• sons of liberty was formed in boston by samuel and john adams to protest and resist law → harassed customs workers, stamp agents, royal governors

Declaratory Act (March 1766)

• parliament repeals stamp act but issues declaratory act → asserted parliament’s rights to make laws concerning taxing colonies

• england can tax anyone at anytime (worse than stamp act)

Townshend Acts (1767)

• one year after stamp act, charles townshend imposed indirect tax on glass, lead, paint, paper, and TEA

• imposed writ of assistance (general license, not judge’s warrant) to search house for smuggled goods

• taxes raised to be paid to crown officials in colonies (used to be paid by colonies themselves)

Boston Massacre (March 5th, 1770)

• street fight happening between a “patriot” mob and a squad of british soldiers, throwing sticks, snowballs, and stones

• one of the men from the patriot mob yelled “fire!” behind the british soldiers, and they thought that order was from their captain, who was really in front of them, not behind

• seven british soldiers fired into a crowd of volatile bostonians, killing five, wounding another six, and angering an entire colony

The Boston Tea Party (December 16th, 1773)

• england passes tea act

  • british east india tea company was near bankrupt because of american boycotts and smuggled dutch tea

  • eitc got permission from england to sell their tea to colonies without input from english merchants

  • tax on tea remains + fears of monopolizing eic on all trade

• 65 men dressed as mohawk indians boarded tea ships + dumped nearly 350 chests of tea into harbor

  • sons of liberty knew mohawk indians were allies with england + disguised themselves to sabotage

Tarring + Feathering (1774)

• sons of liberty strip custom worker and humiliate him by torturing him and tying him to log and marching around

Intolerable Acts (May 1774)

• the coercive acts

  • port of boston closed except for military ships and ships specifically permitted by british customs officials

  • upper house of massachusetts assembly would be appointed by king instead of being elected by lower home

  • town meeting could not be held without governor’s consent + quartering act was again put into effect

  • royal officials accused of crimes to be tried in britain instead of colonies

The First Continental Congress (September 5th, 1774)

• declaration of rights and grievances → stated that colonists would not object to measures designed to regulate their external commerce; colonists would resist any measures that taxed them without their consent

• suffolk resolves → stated that colonies would continue to boycott english imports and approve efforts of massachusettes to operate colonial gov free from british control until intolerable acts were rescinded

• colonies were also urged to raise and train militia of their own

Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775)

• acting governor of massachusetts, british general thomas gage sent group of regular british troops to concord to seize colonial arms and arrest any “rebel” leaders

• paul revere’s ride to warn countryside that that british were coming

• lexington → several hundred british soldiers ran into 75 colonial militiamen; 8 colonist killed, 10 wounded

• concord → british destroys stores and food supplies, but were engaged by large militia; 275 british dead, 93 colonists dead

The Second Continental Congress (May 1775)

• aim was to get american colonies ready for war

• authorized printing of paper money to buy war supplies

• established committee to supervise foreign relations with other countries

• created continental army with george washington as commander in chief

• olive branch petition → asked king to formulate “happy + permanent reconciliation” // king refused to even receive document

Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17th, 1775)

• charlestown, massachusetts

• leaders of colonial forces learned british were planning to send troops from boston to fortify unoccupied hills surrounding city, which gave them control of boston harbor

• 1200 colonial troops under command of william prescott occupies bunker + breed’s hills to prevent it

• after three attacks, colonial forces ran out of ammunition, causing them to retreat to cambridge

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense (January 1776)

had only been in colonies for two years prior to publishing this pamphlet

• every educated person in colonies read this doc with 120K copies sold within three months

• attacked monarchy + empire → expressing confidence that colonies would flourish once they were removed from british control

Declaration of Independence (July 4th, 1776)

• written by thomas jefferson

• men had certain “unalienable rights” that includes life, liberty, pursuit of happiness

• when gov “becomes destructive of these ends," those living under it can revolt against it and create gov that gets its “just powers from consent of governed”

• list of grievances + personally blamed king george iii

Long - Term Causes

• french + indian war → end of salutary neglect

• mercantilistic policies + taxation

• colonists’ desired for western land

• lack of political rep

• enlightenment philosophy

• quartering, abuse of privacy + rights of accused

Short - Term Causes

• battles at lexington + concord

• “shot heard ‘round the world”

US Advantages + Disadvantages

• fighting defensive war of attrition

• knew landscape

• strong belief in cause

• foreign military advisors + possibility of foreign alliances

• …but sectional jealousy and economic crisis weakened patriot cause

British Advantages + Disadvantages

• powerful navy

• professional but maltreated army

• anglican followers + loyalist allies

• hiring of hessian mercenaries

• …but ireland + france were distractions for britain

• …long supply lines

• …whigs in parliament

US Leaders

• civilian

  • diplomats → benjamin franklin, john adams, john jay

  • propagandists → thomas paine, samuel adams

• military

  • commander of cont. army → george washington

  • prussian advisor → baron von steuben

  • french commanders → lafayette, rochambeau, degrasse

  • northern campaign → horatio gates

  • southern campaign → nathanael green

  • frontier campaign → george rogers clark

British Leaders

• civilian

  • monarch→ king george iii

  • parliament → lord north

• military

  • northern campaign → john burgoyne

  • southern campaign → charles cornwallis

Battle of Saratoga (1777)

• significant patriot victory

• led to formation of franco-american

Battle of Yorktown (1781)

• cornwallis’ forces were surrounded by land and sea

• british surrendered

• war ended

Treaty of Paris (1783)

• america gets independence from england

• extend territory to mississippi river

• end of confiscation of loyalist property

• americans promised to repay war debts to france + others who aided them