American Pageant Chapter 7 Notes

Chapter 7 (14th)
The Road to Revolution
1. The Deep Roots of Revolution
1. And, those American colonists were growing independent.
1. The Americans felt separated from England; they felt as though they were the cutting edge of the British Empire.
2. The Americans were developing their own brand of politics.
1. The Americans were embracing republicanism, that is a society where citizens elect representatives to govern for them.
2. The "radical Whigs" of England influenced American thinking. They criticized how the king would appoint relatives to positions, accept bribes, or such corruption. These were a threat to liberty.
2. Mercantilism and Colonial Grievances .
1. Mercantilism-nation's wealth/power measured by treasury of gold /silver.
2. Thus, gold was sought after either by (a) finding or digging it, (b) stealing or winning it, or (c) earning it by exporting more than importing (by obtaining a "favorable balance of trade").
3. This setup meant America was being used for England's benefit in the form of ships, naval stores, lumber, tobacco, sugar, etc.
4. Mercantilism placed restrictions on economic activity.
1. Navigation Laws-first passed 1650, rules carry out mercantilism.
1. only be shipped on British ships (the Americans would rather go with the cheapest shipper, like the Dutch).
2. Privy Council in Britain could void American laws. Although it was ruled rather sparingly (only 469 times out of 8,563 laws), the principle bothered the Americans.
3. The Merits and Menace of Mercantilism
1. The merits of mercantilism…
1. The Navigation Laws were despised by Americans but weren't enforced (until 1763). This non-enforcement was called "salutary neglect" and effectively let the Americans do their own thing for a century.
1. Salutary neglect was the result of wide geography, British apathy, and American smuggling. John Hancock made a fortune and was called the "King of Smugglers."
2. Tobacco merchants were restricted to selling within the British Empire, but they did have a monopoly there.
3. The Americans enjoyed free protection of powerful British Army and Navy.
2. The menace of mercantilism…
1. Mercantilism hindered America's economic growth. Worse, it was to keep America in a state perpetually subordinate to England.
2. The Americans felt exploited and humiliated by the system, unable to come of age as a people.
3. Teddy Roosevelt later commented that revolution broke out because Britain failed to recognize an emerging nation when it saw one.
4. The Stamp Tax Uproar
1. In 1763, with the Seven Years' War over (French and Indian War), Britain had the largest debt in the world. 1/2 of the debt came via the wars in America.
1. Prime Minister George Grenville suggested enforcement of the much-ignored Navigation Acts.
2. Sugar Act (1764), a tax on sugar. This was the first tax on Americans for raising revenue. Americans protested, the tax was lowered, and things calmed.
3. Quartering Act (1765) required colonists to provide food and quarter for British troops.
4. Stamp Act
1. required using either stamped paper or affixing a stamp that showed payment of the tax.
1. The stamp was required on nearly everything paper, from legal documents down to newspapers and playing cards.
2. it was the principle of these acts that irked the colonists, more so than the acts themselves.

1. Local government/rule seemed under attack.
2. The Sugar and Stamp Acts would be tried in admiralty courts (courts set up and run by England). In these courts, defendants were guilty until proven innocent and there were no trials by a jury of peers.
3. Notion "taxation without representation" arose.
1. Grenville dismissed "taxation without representation" and said the colonists actually were represented via "virtual representation," figuring Parliament represents the British Empire, to which America is a member, and therefore America is represented in Parliament.
2. The Americans weren't convinced by this "U-turn logic."
5. Forced Repeal the Stamp Act This content copyright © 2010 by WikiNotes.wikidot.com
1. Stamp Act Congress was called and convened in New York City to plan objection to the act.
1. 9 of the 13 colonies met. Americans slowly united (only 7 of 13 colonies had met at the Albany Congress during the French and Indian War).
2. Protest could be divided into 2 types, informal and formal…
1. Informal protest took place in the streets.
1. Colonists boycotted British goods, either going without or making their own.
2. Formal protest was less dramatic and used pen-and-paper.
1. Non-importation agreements were signed by many Americans as pledges to boycott British goods.
2. The Stamp Act Congress also wrote Parliament, listed a "Declaration of Rights and Grievances" (foreshadowing the Declaration of Independence), and called for repeal of the Stamp Act.
3. When the act was set to go into effect, there were no tax collectors to carry it out. Americans never paid one cent under the Stamp Act.
2. The opposition led Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act (1766).
1. American colonists cheered; they even erected a leaden statue of George III in New York City.
2. Declatory Act (1766) declaring that London still ruled over the American colonies and could "bind" colonies "in all cases whatsoever." This foreshadowed more acts and conflict to come.
6. The Townshend Tea Tax and the Boston “Massacre”
1. Townshend Acts (1767) which taxed paper, lead, paint, and tea.
2. Despite being a hidden tax, it was the principle that bothered the colonists. They protested again, but with less passion since (a) the tax was small, (b) it was indeed hidden, and (c) smugglers found ways around it.
Quartering Act-troops could stay in homes
1. Boston Massacre British soldiers opened fire, killing or wounding 11 Americans.
7. The Seditious Committees of Correspondence
1. The status in the early 1770s was that the Townshend Acts had not produced revenue; they had produced a near-rebellion.
2. King George III was nonplussed over events. He was 32 years old, of good morals, but power hungry and a poor ruler.
1. Worse, he surrounded himself with "yes-men" and the manipulative prime minister Lord North.
2. Lord North eventually gave in to repeal of the Townshend duties, except for tea, just to retain the point that Parliament had the right to tax. Samuel Adams
3. -"committees of correspondence". These committees were really nothing but a letter-writing network with the goal of exchanging news/info and organizing and keeping resistance.
1. Committees started in Boston, but soon grew to all the colonies.
2. They eventually would grow into the first American congresses (the leaders were the men in the network).
3.
8. Tea Brewing in Boston
1. The Boston Tea Party took place on December 16, 1773.
1. Samuel Adams was the ringleader. After a "meeting" at the Green Dragon Tavern, protesters dressed up like Indians, then went to the harbor and threw 342 chests of tea overboard.
9. Parliament Passes the “Intolerable Acts”
1. The British reaction was clear. in 1774, Parliament passed the Repressive Acts which came to be called the Intolerable Acts to punish America
1. The Boston Port Act shut down Boston harbor. This was a huge financial blow to the colonies.
2. The Quebec Act was also passed in 1774.
1. The act's goal was to benefit French-Canadians who now lived in British America. Each part of the act had a reason the Americans disliked it.
2. The French were guaranteed Catholicism as okay. (Americans saw this as a threat to Protestantism and an extension of the pope's power).
3. The French could have trials without juries as they were accustomed. (Americans saw this as foreshadowing removal of trial-by-jury altogether).
4. The French were allowed to stay in the Ohio Valley. (Americans, despite beating the French in the war, were not allowed to move there per the Proclamation Line of 1763).
10. Bloodshed
1. The First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia September-October 1774.
1. 12 of the 13 colonies were present (Georgia absent).
2. The congress did not desire independence, but did (a) draw up a list of grievances (ignored by London) and (b) wrote a Declaration of Rights.
3. Plans were made to convene again in 1775 if the situation didn't change.
2. The "Shot Heard 'Round the World" in Lexington (April 1775) started the American Revolution.
11. Imperial Strength and Weaknesses
1. Britain had great advantages.
1. larger population (b) a powerful navy, and (c) wealth in hard money.
2. Britain had a few disadvantages.
1. international troubles: (a) problems in Ireland required the attention of British troops and (b) France was just waiting for a chance to get back at England.
12. American Pluses and Minuses
1. Leadership for America was terrific with George Washington as general and Ben Franklin as diplomat.
2. France lent aid, secretly at first and then openly. Support came in the form of money, guns, supplies, and then troops and a navy.
1. Marquis de Lafayette, 19 years old, was the most famous of the French officers.
3. The Americans fought only on the defensive meaning they just had to hold the land. The British had to actually conquer land.
4. They felt they were fighting for a cause—freedom. The British fought because they were ordered to do so.
5. Geography
2. America had real disadvantages.
1. The people were split into three groups: Patriots, moderates, and Loyalists (AKA Tories).
2. The lack of money was a real problem. America printed "Continental" paper money, which quickly became worthless.
3. America had essentially no navy at all.
13. A Thin Line of Heroes
1. The American army struggled throughout the war in many respects…
1. Supplies were scarce: clothing, wool, wagons, etc. And worse, money was scarce meaning these things couldn't just be purchased.
2. Training was quick, spotty, and often poor. Desertion was common.
1. Training was greatly improved by Baron von Steuben a Prussian drillmaster who whipped the American soldiers into shape.
2. African-Americans also served and fought in the war.
1. At the war's outset, blacks were sometimes barred from service. By the end of the war, over 5,000 African-Americans served.
1. Blacks also fought for the British.
3. Apathy and division within America hurt the fight for the cause.
1. Many people lived so remotely that they had no interest in a war with a nation an ocean away.
2. Merchants liked to sell to the British because the Brits paid in gold, not worthless paper money. The American Revolution was a "minority war" in the sense that it was only because a select few threw themselves into the cause with passion that the Americans won.