CHAPTER 5: The Making of a Revolution (1754-1783)
5.1 PRELUDES TO REVOLUTION
1.French and Indian War (1754-1763)
a.Called the “Seven Years’ War” (despite lasting nine years) in England and the “War of Conquest” by French Canadians, the French and Indian War began two years after George Washington led a troop with the Iroquois to attack French soldiers to attempt and regain the Ohio River Valley. Tensions between the English+Iroquois and France culminated into war in both North America and Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. b.Key turning points: Britain took today’s Pittsburgh from France, naming it after William Pitt who led Britain as prime minister during the war, and, with the Delaware losing faith
in the French and turning to the British, Britain ended the war by capturing Quebec, the capital.
c.Outcomes: Britain took control of Benegal under Robert Clive, planting the seeds for Britain’s 200-year rule in India, and the profitable slave-trading island of Goree off Senegal’s coast. By the 1760s, however, both sides were tired of fighting, and King George III wanted peace; thus, the Treaty of Paris was signed.
2.Treaty of Paris 1763
Treaty signed to end the French and Indian/Seven Years’ War, not to be confused with the Treaty of Paris (1783) that ended the American Revolution. After the war, those involved were deeply in debt, land ownership was changed around (British presence in India, coast of Africa and in Caribbean, and Spain relinquished Florida to England, along with France losing control of Canada and thanking Spain with its claim to American lands). 3.SAP: Compare + Contrast the position of the European powers in North America before and after the Seven Years War. What were the most important changes?
The Seven Years’ War shifted European territory dramatically, along with pushing the Native Americans off their land more than they already had. To begin, both France and Spain lost territory to the tea-chugging British, France losing Canada (and giving other territories to Spain as thanks), and Spain relinquishing Florida to England. While France lost land to Britain, however, both countries ultimately ended up in debt from the costs of war. This debt was not helped by Britain’s new territory of Canada, as the land produced no cash crops and was of little financial value. Additionally, the debt propelled
revolutions in Britain and France. The American Revolution and the French Revolution were due partly to the Seven Years’ War, as both countries taxed their people heavily to recover financially. In conclusion, Britain became dominant in North America, also planting the seeds for its rule in India, but both Britain and France were in debt due to the war, leading to revolutions in both countries.
4.Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763-1766)
Britain’s relations with the Native Americans heavily relied on the threat of French and Spanish presence, thus, when France and Spanish influence faded after the war, Britain had no reason to ask the Iroquois for anything and ceased gift-giving ammunition and gunpowder that the Natives saw as “rent” for usage of their land. Tribes allied with the French were especially threatened, and Neolin, a Delaware, sparked the “Indian movement to return to former Indian ways.” Pontiac, an Ottawa chief, agreed, thus beginning Pontiac’s Rebellion after the Treaty of Paris was signed and Indians began attacking British forts across the Ohio River region, some surrendering instead of fighting back; however, after receiving a letter that the French would not aid them, Pontiac attempted making peace and signed a contract in 1766 only to be murdered three years later by those resenting the deaths his rebellion caused.
5.Proclamation of 1763
King George III and his first minister Goerge Grenville attempted peace in North America
by honoring commitments made in 1758 to the Delaware and Iroquois tribe by protecting their rights to western territory forever and land from settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains to quell future rebellions. This upset colonists (land-hungry farmers and rich speculators) and did little to protect the Native Americans, for the Grenville administration and Parliament were too far away and efforts to enforce the line were minimal. 5.2 “THE REVOLUTION WAS IN THE MINDS OF THE PEOPLE” 6.Loyalists
Americans supporting Great Britain and opposing independence. Lived through the same events, but came to different conclusions.
7.Republicanism & Revolutionary thinking
a.Republicanism’s virtues spawned from “a broad distribution of power to people, enabling them to determine how and by whom they would be governed.” Ideals holding
that self-government provided more reliability for society and individual freedom than rule by kings or distant elite.
b.John Locke’s defense of Britain’s Glorious Revolution of 1689 (“all government rested on
the natural rights of the governed” and that “humans were born free in a state of nature and only agreed to a social compact when it suited their purposes.”) influenced colonists, along with French philosophers such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu and authors from Greece and Rome. i.These revolutionary ideas spread, and in the 1770s-1780s, such as in France (off with his head!), Germany, Poland, Scandinavia, Italy, and Haiti. Additionally, Latin American revolutions happened between 1810 and 1826.
8.Sugar Act (1764)
The first tax of many in the 1760s-1770s to raise funds for England to recover from the Seven Years’ War debt that would escalate tensions between colonists and England. The
Sugar Act taxed rum and molasses and the proceeding Currency Act prohibited colonies from issuing their own paper money as legal tender for public debts (taxes) or private debts (merchants for British goods).
9.Stamp Act (1765)
a.A tax on legal and commercial documents (magazines, newspapers, playing cards) requiring them to be printed on paper showing an official stamp which required payment in British currency. This stamp enraged lawyers and merchants (who would pay
the highest amount) who wrote articles against it and eventually formed the Sons of Liberty, an underground resistance against the Stamp Act. b.The Stamp Act and Sugar Act were both repealed after unrest such as the Sons of Neptune breaking into the home of Major James of the Royal Artillery, drinking all his liquor and burning down his house (which they could not have stolen from The Talking Heads, given the date); however, while repealing the taxes in 1766, Parliament voted the Declaratory Act which claimed its right to tax and regulate the colonies “in all cases Whatsoever.” Parliament also passed the Revenue act of 1766, restricting sugar trade at
the expense of colonial merchants. 10.Tea Act (1773)
a.Though the Townshend duties of 1767 (taxes on lead, paint, paper, and tea) were repealed, the tax on tea remained as the Tea Act of 1773 to assert Parliament’s authority but also attempted to protect the British East India Company from bankruptcy as customers were purchasing smuggled tea for less. The act allowed the company to ship tea without paying required duties, making it cheaper than smuggled teas, but the city refused to pay the tax even with the discount on tea. The Sons of Liberty convinced merchants not to purchase the tea, rallying the colonists with, “No taxation without representation.”
11.Sons of Liberty
Secret organizations formed in the colonies who opposed the Stamp Act that began in 1765 and lasted until independence was gained. Delegates from nine colonies gathered (Stamp Act Congress) in New York in October of 1765 where they issued a Declaration of
Rights and Grievances, saying that Parliament had no right taxing the colonies and petitioning for a repeal of the Stamp and Sugar Acts. Leaders of the organizations met together and began to sense their unity, a new sentiment that hadn’t been considered given the colonies’ striving for independence. The working class opposed the acts, taking
them as a sign of British arrogance and due to the threat of slowing colonial economy putting them out of work. 12.Charles Townshend & Townshend Duties (1767)
A year after the Stamp Act’s repeal in 1766, Charles Townshend, the chancellor of the Exchequer (treasurer) in the new British government, enacted new taxes on lead, paint, paper and tea, known as the Revenue Act of 1767 (or the Townshend Duties of 1767), in
an attempt to raise more war debt and assert Parliament’s authority over the colonies such as curbing smuggling from merchants and controlling the riots in Boston and New York. 13.Boston Massacre (1770)
a.The culmination of months of British-American friction on March 5th, 1770 after British troops were stationed in the city. An angry crowd threw snowballs at the soldiers, others taunting Private Hugh White who was sentry at the State House, until British Captain Thomas Preston had to send soldiers to support White in the growing crowd. When one of the soldiers was knocked down, other soldiers began firing, killing fire and fueling more rage toward British authorities that would linger even after the Royal Governor pulled the troops out.
b.Some of the troops involved were accused of murder and defended by John Adams, who said that there was “no Reason why the Town should call the Action of that Night a Massacre.” Paul Revere described the event as a “deliberate military attack on a peaceful crowd.”