France vs. Britain

• France and Great Britain were almost always at war from 1688 to 1815.– Since New France bordered New

England, Americans were soon drawn into the fighting

– Four wars spilled over into the colonies• Wars included King William’s War,

Queen Anne’s War, King George’s War, and the Seven Years’ War

– During the Seven Years’ War (aka The French and Indian War), the fighting began in the colonies and spread to Europe.

English-French

rivalry

worldwide

would erupt into

a world war.

War begins over land disputes in the Ohio Valley

England and the

13 Colonies

fight together to

defend their

empire.

British want part

of fur trade and

the 2 openings

into North

America

FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR OR SEVEN YEARS OF

WAR

FOUGHT FOR

THE CONTROL

OF NORTH

AMERICA

Against the

French, Indian

allies and

Spanish

George

Washington

starts this war

Indian Relations• France had better relations and more Indian allies

– France’s fur trade, gifts, and low population = good relations.

• The Iroquois League ruled the Northeast– Proud and ruthless warriors– The Iroquois tried to stay neutral & play the

French & British against each other.

•The English and French wanted control over the same land—the Ohio River Valley. France wanted the lands so that they could increase the fur trade.

•New France’s governor (Marquis Duquesne) built a series of forts to mark France’s claims to the land.

•When the French took an English fort and built Ft. Duquesne on it, Va. Governor Robert Dinwiddie asked 22-year-old George Washington to raise a militia and kick the French out.

Washington’s most controversial moment was during the fighting at Jumonville Glen, where a group of allied Natives massacred French soldiers as they attempted to surrender.

After gaining a small initial victory, Washington’s troops surrendered to a superior force of Frenchmen and their Indian allies on July 3, 1754 at Ft. Necessity. With this military encounter

in the wilderness, the final war for empire began.

Washington witnessed the defeat of the British at the Battle of the Monongehela. He suggested that the troops fight like the Natives, but his suggestions were dismissed.

•The British government suggested that the American colonies form an alliance with the Iroquois at the Albany Conference.

•The Iroquois agreed to remain neutral at the Albany Conference and the colonists agreed that Britain should name one supreme commander of all the British troops in the colonies.

•The conference also issued the Albany Plan of Union—a plan for an intercolonial government and system for recruiting troops and collecting taxes from the various colonies for their common defense.

•It never took effect—but the congress was important because it set a standard for later, more radical congresses in the 1770s!

This was America’s first political cartoon, which appeared in Benjamin Franklin’s newspaper shortly after the Albany Congress.

This drawing was based on the popular superstition that a snake that had been cut in two would come to life if the pieces were joined before sunset.

This drawing immediately caught the public’s eye and was reproduced in other newspapers.

1. What does each segment of the snake represent?

2. What does the order of the segments illustrate?

3. What does the entire snake represent?

4. What does the caption mean?

5. What statement best describes the message of the political cartoon? Why?

a. To kill a snake, you must cut it upb. The colonies must unite together to be strong or they will perishc. If a snake grows back together, the colonies will be strong.

• British Prime Minister William Pitt decided to focus on America rather than the rest of the world.

– The goal was to take CANADA from the French. – Quebec fell in 1759; Montreal in 1760.

– The British treated the colonists as allies rather than subjects during battle.

– Created a spirit of nationalism in the British colonies

• The British Navy cut off New France from Europe while the Redcoat & colonial armies moved in.

• After the Battle of Quebec in 1759 French power was eliminated in North America

– Most decisive battle in the war

• The war ends with the Peace of Paris in 1763– Canada becomes British

territory.– Spanish Florida was given to

the British– France gave up Louisiana to

Spain and all western claims to land beyond the Mississippi River.

– War was EXPENSIVE and caused Britain to go into debt!–What sort of expenses would

the British have to pay for to win the war?

The British came away with a low opinion of the colonial military abilities. They took note of the fact that some colonies did not send troops or money

to help with the war effort. However, the colonists were proud of their contributions and were not impressed by the old tactics of British warfare.

• Indian tribes were dejected after the French defeat

– French allies gone—no more gifts

– British moved into the French frontier forts

– British also cut off the trade and gift giving that tribes were used to having from the French.

Pontiac’s Rebellion• As Americans pushed west, Chief Pontiac (of the Ottawa) led

a series of attacks on frontier forts & settlements in1763.

– British troops were dispatched; NOT COLONISTS!

– England DID NOT want to pay for another war—they would have to come up with a solution FAST!

• British agreed to limit colonial expansion to pacify the Indians.

– The Proclamation of 1763 said no more colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains.

– Also brought back gift giving to Indians.

• Colonial reaction: We just fought a war against these tribes, and the British are taking their side?

• Many cross the line anyway in defiance of the British.

“We apprehend that as freeman and English subjects, we have an indisputable title to the same privileges and immunities with His Majesty’s other subjects who reside in the interior colonies… and therefore ought not to be excluded from an equal share with them in the very important privilege of legislation… We cannot but observe with sorrow and indignation that some persons in this province are at pains to extenuate the barbarous cruelties practiced by these savages on our murdered brethren and relatives… by this means the Indians have been taught to despise us as a weak and disunited people, and from this fatal source have arisen many of our calamities… We humbly pray therefore that this grievance may be redressed.”

- The Paxton Boys, to the Pennsylvania Assembly, “A Remonstrance of Distressed and Bleeding Frontier

Inhabitants,” 1764

Salutary neglect ended in 1763– Remember: the British didn’t tell the colonists

what to do for a long time during the era of Salutary Neglect!

– King George III and the Whig Party in England wanted to increase control over England and its colonies and make them pay the debts from the French and Indian War.

• Remember: Before the French and Indian War, the colonists used to tax themselves and weren’t bothered very much by the English government.

• King George III saw this as necessary—we protected you… now help us pay for this war!

Two Important Questions

• Were the colonies represented in Parliament?

• Did Parliament have the right to tax the colonists if they had the right to regulate trade?

• The Sugar Act was a tax on raw sugar and molasses—basically an alcohol tax.

– Merchants caught smuggling were assumed to be guilty until proven innocent.

– Those accused of smuggling would be tried in admiralty courts by crown-appointed judges without juries.

– British could seize goods without due process.

James Otis began printing papers

reading “No Taxation Without

Representation!”

The Quartering Act required colonists to supply British troops with supplies and places to live. If they didn’t have an open room in their

homes, colonists were supposed to let them use inns & other buildings

The Stamp Act had long been in place in Britain. The Stamp Act placed a stamp on any legal document—newspapers, leases, and board games. It was the first

direct tax—paid by the people in the colonies, as opposed to the taxes on imported goods, which were paid by merchants.

Who would be affected by the Stamp Act if you use LEGAL documents?

WHOOPS.

News of the Stamp Act sparked widespread protests. Patrick Henry demanded that

the king’s government recognize the rights of all

citizens—including the right not to be taxed without

representation. In the so-called Stamp Act Congress,

representatives from nine colonies met in New York in

1765. They resolved that only their own elected

representatives had the legal authority to approve taxes.

The Stamp Act was means of raising colonial tax revenues to help pay the cost of the French and Indian War in North America.

Patrick Henry in the Virginia House of Burgesses stated, “No Taxation without Representation!”

1. What do the dolls hanging in the trees represent?

2. How did the colonists protest this tax?

3. What does the sign “The Folly of England and the Ruin of America” mean?

4. What does “No taxation without representation” mean?

England was disturbed over the violent colonial opposition to the stamp tax. English merchants suffered severely from the

colonial boycott of English goods.1. What does repeal mean?

2. Who is the funeral for?

3. What does the coffin represent? Why a child’s coffin?

4. Look at all of the items left in the harbor. Where is this taking

place?5. Why are there ships in the

harbor?

• The Sons of Liberty encouraged colonists to support the boycott of British goods.

– In 1769, colonial imports from Britain declined sharply from what they had been the year

• Burned British stores, intimidated British agents, and tarred and feathered those who actually enforced British law.

– It was an INTERRACIAL group.

• Colonial merchants signed a nonimportation agreement, agreeing not to buy any British goods until the Stamp Act was repealed.

• Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, but later passed the Declaratory Act to regulate colonies "in all ways whatsoever."

– Business went on as usual; newspapers affixed a skull & crossbones instead of a stamp

• The newly appointed chancellor of the exchequer Charles Townshend sought new ways to find sources of revenue for the British government.

• The Townshend Acts later taxed paper, paint, glass, and tea.– The revenue raised had to be used to

pay crown officials, and the Acts provided for the search of private homes for smuggled goods.

• All you needed was a writ of assistance (a general license to search anywhere) rather than a judge’s warrant.

• Another part of the Acts suspended New York’s assembly for its defiance of the Quartering Act.

The Townshend Acts were indirect taxes paid by merchants, and so there wasn’t a huge outcry when they were first implemented. However, soon leaders (such as

John Dickinson in his Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania) wrote that Parliament could regulate commerce but argued that the colonies could not be

taxed in Parliament without representation.

“If the Parliament may lawfully deprive New York of any of her rights, it may deprive any or all the other colonies of their rights; and nothing can possibly so much encourage such attempts as a mutual inattention to the interests of each other. To divide, and thus to destroy, is the first political maxim in attacking those who are powerful by their union.”

- John Dickinson, Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania

In 1768, James Otis and Samuel Adams wrote the

Massachusetts Circular Letter and sent copies to every

colonial legislature. It urged the various colonies to petition

Parliament to repeal the Townshend Acts. British officials

ordered the letter retracted, threatened to dissolve the legislature, and increased

troops in Boston. The colonists resumed boycotts and

smuggling activities to avoid the Townshend duties.

The Daughters of Liberty was a group of political dissidents

that formed in the North American British colonies

during the early days of the American Revolution. In

August of 1768, when Boston merchants signed a non-

importation agreement in which they pledged not to

import or sell British goods, this caused a shortage in the colony of specific goods like

textiles. To help ease this shortage, the Daughters of Liberty organized spinning bees to spin yarn and wool

into fabric

Women brought their spinning wheels and spent the day spinning wool into yarn, weaving yarn into cloth until they produced homespun cloth. Spinning Bees

became political acts of resistance.

Meanwhile in London, Lord Frederick North became the

new prime minister. Lord North urged Parliament to repeal the Townshend Acts

because they hurt trade and didn’t general enough

revenue. Parliament did repeal the Townshend Acts,

and the colonies enjoyed about three years of

prosperity. However, the British kept a small tax on

tea as a symbol of its right to tax the colonies.

1770—Boston Massacre

• Colonists hated the standing British Army—especially in Boston.– Many soldiers were in Boston just so that they

could get jobs.

• A crowd threw snow, ice, and rocks at a British sentry on duty, who soon called for help.– Supposedly a runaway slave named Crispus Attucks

was at the front.

• The soldiers panicked and opened fire, killing five and wounding eight.– The British were viewed as tyrants who were killing

people standing up for their rights.

Title Genre Creator DateThe Bloody Massacre in King-Street

Engraving Paul Revere 1770

Dogs tend to symbolize loyalty and fidelity. The

dog in the print is not bothered by the mayhem

behind him and is staring out at the viewer.

• The British soldiers were put on trial for murder

– Defended by Boston lawyer John Adams (Sam’s cousin)

– John Adams convinced the jury to acquit all but two soldiers, who were convicted of manslaughter & branded.

– Samuel Adams called it a “massacre” to inflame anti-British feelings.

In response to the Boston Massacre, Britain repealed the Townshend Acts, leaving only one tax—on tea—to uphold

its right to tax the colonies.

Samuel Adams still kept a close eye on British activities in the years after the Townshend Acts. Adams began the practice of organizing committees that would

regularly exchange letters about suspicious or threatening British activities.

Hercules Mulligan was a tailor by trade, a member of the Sons of

Liberty, and a friend of Alexander Hamilton. Mulligan saved

Washington's life when a British officer, told Mulligan of their plans: "before another day, we'll have the

rebel general in our hands." Mulligan quickly informed Washington, who

changed his plans and avoided capture. Mulligan’s slave Cato used

his status as a slave, letting him pass on intelligence to the Continental

Army without being stopped.

1772 – The Gaspee Affair• Britain sent customs ships to patrol North

American waters. The Gaspee was ordered to search for smugglers.

• One incident frequently discussed in the committees’ letters was that of the Gaspee, a British customs ship that had caught several smugglers.

• In June of 1772 the British customs ship, the Gaspee, ran aground and was seized by nearly 150 colonists and burned.

– The British took suspects to England for trial.

• Colonists felt this was a violation of their right to a trial by a jury of their peers.

•Thomas Jefferson thought each colony should create a committee of correspondence to communicate with other colonies about British activities.

•This helped unify the colonies and coordinate plans for British resistance.

• The British helped the British East India Company, which was almost bankrupt by passing the Tea Act of 1773, which made East India’s tea cheaper than smuggled Dutch tea.

– The colonists had been smuggling in cheaper tea from the Dutch, which caused the British East India Company to fall into debt.

– Many colonists refused to buy the tea because to do so would recognize Parliament’s right to tax the colonists.

Colonists were angry over the Tea Act because they didn’t want to pay the tax and they viewed it as the British

monopolizing the tea industry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xSrZaze14k

Download the clip

The Boston Tea Party - 1773• American merchants feared it was the first step

by the British to force them out of business.

– In December 1773, tea ships from the East India Company arrived in Boston Harbor, but there were no buyers.

• The Sons of Liberty (dressed as Indians) boarded the ship and dumped 342 boxes of tea into the harbor at the Boston Tea Party.

– It’s estimated that the protestors tossed more than 92,000 pounds of tea into Boston Harbor. That’s enough to fill 18.5 million teabags. The present-day value of the destroyed tea has been estimated at around $1 million.

• Prime Minister North and Parliament responded to the Tea Party with the Coercive Acts which:1. Closed Boston Harbor—prohibiting trade until the destroyed tea was paid for.2. Politicians elected by governor instead of elections—bans town meetings.3. Allowed royal officials accused of crimes to be tried in Great Britain instead of the colonies.4. Expanded the Quartering Act to allow British troops to be quartered in private homes. It applied to all colonies.

Colonists called the Coercive Acts “The Intolerable Acts” and argued that they violated several English rights, including the right

to trial by a jury of one’s peers and the right not to have troops quartered in one’s home.

The Quebec Act was passed along with the

Townshend Acts, and it organized the Canadian

lands gained from France. It made Roman Catholicism the official religion of Quebec, set

up a government without a

representative assembly, and extended Quebec’s boundary to

the Ohio River.

The colonists saw the Quebec Act as an attack on the colonies since it took away lands they claimed along the Ohio River. They also feared similar laws

taking away representative governments would be passed. They also resented the recognition given to Catholicism.

The Enlightenment reached its peak during the mid-18th Century—the

very years that future leaders of the American Revolution (Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton, and Adams) were coming to maturity. Many Enlightenment thinkers in

America were Deists—those who believed God had established

natural laws in creating the universe, but that the role of divine

intervention in human affairs was minimal. Locke, Rousseau, and

Montesquieu all had a profound influence on their thinking.

The Revolutionary Cause

•The First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in 1774 to discuss how to respond to Britain’s threats to their liberties.

•The Congress called for the Intolerable Acts to be repealed.

•The congress wrote the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, which expressed loyalty to the king but condemned the Coercive Acts.

• The delegates also approved the Continental Association, a plan for every county and town to enforce a boycott of British goods.

• Finally, it declared that the delegates would meet again if colonial rights were not recognized.

King George III dismissed the First Continental Congress and ordered troops to be sent to Massachusetts (which he declared to be in a state of rebellion).

Meanwhile, at the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, a Committee of Safety was created with John Hancock as its leader. Hancock had the

power to call up the militia if needed.

•The town of Concord, Mass. created a special unit of minutemen, trained militiamen who would be ready to fight at a minute’s warning.•In the summer and fall of 1774, the British officials lost control of the colonies as the colonists created provincial congresses and militias raided military depots for ammunition and gunpowder.

While debating if Virginia should raise a militia, Patrick Henry famously said, “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

- Patrick Henry

•Loyalists, or Tories, remained loyal to the king and felt British laws should be upheld. Estimates run from 5-700,000 Tories or 20-30% of the colonial population.

•Landowners in the south depended on the British for protection and certain businesses relied on good economic relations with England didn’t want war!

•The Patriots, or Whigs, thought the British were tyrants.

American Indians tried to stay out of the war, but many supported the British, who promised to limit colonial settlements in the West.

On April 18, 1775, British troops set out to seize the militia’s supply depot at Concord, Mass. To get there, they

had to pass through Lexington.

Patriots Paul Revere and William Dawes were sent to

Lexington to warn the people that the British were coming.

Dr. Samuel Prescott went on to warn the people of Concord.

•When the British arrived in Lexington, about 70 minutemen were waiting for them. The British fired at the minutemen, killing 8 and wounding 10.•Nobody knows who fired the first shot—but it was the shot heard ‘round the world!

•The British moved on to Concord where they found 400 minutemen waiting for them behind stonewalls. The British suffered 250 casualties and were stunned that “amateur” fighters could inflict such damage.

•The minutemen forced the British to retreat!

The British later found that the militia’s warehouse to be mostly empty by the

end of the battle.

• After the battles at Lexington and Concord, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to address the issue of defense. The Congress voted to

1. adopt the militia army around Boston

2. Name it the Continental Army.

3. Appoint George Washington to head the Continental Army.

•The Battle of Bunker Hill turned back two British advances. •The British had more than 1,000 causalities—including many officers killed!•The only reason the colonists lost was because they ran out of ammunition!

•It was a huge boost to American confidence that the untrained colonials could stand up to the British!

•The situation reached a stalemate with the British trapped in Boston surrounded by militia.

The battle actually took place on Breed’s Hill—the battle was named wrong!

•The colonists expressed loyalty to the king and attempted peace with Britain with the Olive Branch Petition.

•At the same time, radicals in Congress had ordered an attack on the British troops in Quebec.•King George refused to even look at the Petition.

The British promised African Americans their freedom if they fought for their side.

•Washington later made the same promise; around 5,000 African Americans fought as Patriots—most were free citizens from the North.

•In December 1775, the king shut down trade with the colonies and ordered the British navy to blockade the coast in the Prohibitory act.•The British began recruiting mercenaries from Germany (called Hessians).

•Caused chaos, robbed people, were known to be low-class soldiers—colonists hated them!

Common Sense sold

120,000 copies.

•In January 1776, Thomas Paine published his famous pamphlet, Common Sense and made a case for Independence.

•In it, Paine argued that it was contrary to common sense for a large continent to be ruled by a small and distant island.

•On July 4, 1776, a committee of Patriot leaders approved a document written by Thomas Jefferson that became known as the Declaration of Independence.

“Small islands, not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island.”

― Thomas Paine, Common Sense

•Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence.

• Heavily influenced by John Locke and the Enlightenment.

•The declaration drafted by Jefferson listed specific grievances against George III’s government and expressed the basic principles that justified revolution.•Jefferson asserted the principle of equality and proclaimed that men are born with certain inalienable rights.

•The Declaration concluded with a list of complaints against the King and asserts the colonist right to declare independence.

•Once it was signed, the 13 colonies became states.

•The Declaration’s ideas also formed the groundwork for the United states Constitution.•The congress adopted Richard Henry Lee’s resolution for independence on July 2; Jefferson’s work, The Declaration of Independence, was adopted on July 4, 1776.

Thomas Jefferson later became America’s ambassador to

France while the Revolutionary War was being fought.

What is happening in this painting?

What Americans are not depicted

here?

What do you think these men are

doing?

How does this painter want us to

think about this event?