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Period of Benign Neglect
a) - 1607-1673
- England & American colonies
-England slowly paying less attention to colonies
-Parliamentary leaders did not work towards imperial
organizartion.
- Overlapping and confusion of Authority
- Few officials visited America
- People appointed by royal appointments led colonies
b) -Depended on support of merchants
- Did not strictly enforce Navigation Acts
c) - 1763: Ended b/c of Seven Years War
- Colonies allowed to grow on their own -
Navigation Act of 1651
Laws passed by Parliement, requiring all trade the colonies did be done using English vessels (ships). This eventually led to the Anglo-Dutch War of 1652. -
Navigation Act of 1663
a) July 27th 1663
American Colonists & Mother England
All trade that went to colonies must go through England
b) to protect England’s interests in the West Indies and North
America
c) Colonial trade restricted
Angry colonists
English taxes on goods to colonies -
Navigaiton Act of 1673
a) 1673
American Colonists & English Government
Imposed duties on colonial trade
b) people were ignoring the previous acts
c) Colonists even more angry -
French and Indian War (Seven Years War)
a) 1754-1763
French and Native Indian tribes
War between France and Great Britain over trade and land
b) France was in territory claimed by Virginia
French and British built and destroyed each other's forts
c) Britaim wins French territory in Canada
Third Carnatic War in Asia
Eventually led to American War of Independence -
Albany Plan
a) July ?, 1754
Proposed by Benjamin Franklin
Parliament sets up one general government & each colony
keeps present constitution.
b) Delegates met to decide on relations with natives (Iroquois)
Need for intercolonial unity
c) Central gov't. governs all relations w/ Indians
Union formed b/t colonies -
Pontiac's Rebellion
a) - 1763
- Ottawa, Wyindots , Ojibwa, Potawatamis Indians & Detroit
colonists
- Ottawa chief a.k.a Pontiac
b) - Ottawa attack on Detroit
- Campaign to rid British from previously French land
c) - Widespread sieges
- Indian alliances formed and broken
- Pontiac signs British treaty (1766) -
Treaty of Paris
a) -1763
- British and French
- Treaty signed @ end of 7 Years War
b) - British victory
c) - Frech cedes land to Britain
- colonies in West Indian Islands, Inda, Canada, and lands
east of Mississippi River
- High British debt
- English contempt for colonists -
Prime Minister, George Grenville
a) -1763-1765
- Brother-in-law of William Pitt
- Prime minister appointed by King George III
b) - agreed with British mindset against colonies
c) -tried to impose new system of control
- increased authority over colonies -
Paxton Boys & Rebellion
a) - 1763
- Group of outlaws in west Pennsylvania
- Marched/descended on Philadelphia
b) - Demanded lesser colonial taxes
- Wanted $$ to defend against Indians
c) - Gov't. made concessions
- Influenced other rebellions/movements
- Granted greater representation in Parliament -
Stamp Act of 1765
a) - 1765
- All Americans
- Required colonists to buy stamps for ship papers & legal
documents
b) - 7 Years War debt
- England wanted more control over colonies
c) - Colonists angered
- Taxes usually to regulate commerce, not to raise $$
- Virginia House of Burgesses call to action
- Patrick Henry: Americans have same rights as English
- Stamp Act Congress
- Intercolonial congress for action against new tax -
Stamp Act of 1765 (continued)
- Sons of Liberty
- Group of men that led Bostonian riots
- Terrorized stamp agents
- Sam Adams
- "Most effective radical in the colonies"
- Openly voiced outrage @ British
- Proposed "committee of correspondence
- Sons of Liberty
-
Declaratory Act
a) -1766
- Marquis of Rockingham
- George Grenville's successor
- Asserts Parliament's autority over colonies
b) - Marquis of Rockingham convinced Parliament to kill Stamp
Act
- Opposition not happy
c) - Sons of Liberty
- Rise in activism -
1767 Townsend Duties
a) - Charles Townshend
- 1767
- Levied taxes
b) - To enforce laws and raise revenue
c) - Colonies could not logically object
- Colonists angered
- felt like they were taxed w/o consent to raise revenue -
John Locke's Philosophy of Revolt
a) - 1770’s
- John Locke
- Ideas expressed by Enlightenment speaker John Locke
b) - Gov't. needed boundaries
c) - Inspired colonists to begin to think for themselves -
1770 Boston Massacre
a) -1770
- Customs officers & Bostonian colonists
- Attack on "guilty" customs commissioners
b) - Still angry over Townsend Duties
c) - Many dead
- Victims considered martyrs
- Sam Adams attracted support -
Regulator Movement Revolts (Carolinas)
a) - 1771
- Small civil war - Regulatorsb)
c) - Increased resistance
- Many did not pay taxes -
Samuel Adams& Creation of Committee of Correspondence
a) - 1772
- Samuel Adams
- Openly voiced his opinion on England
b) - Looked at things differently than most others
c) - Committee of Correspondence
- Kept colonists aware of each others' complaints -
Tea Act of 1773
a) - 1773
- East Indian Company
b) - Company going bankrupt
c) - Boycotts
- Brought colonies together
- BOSTON TEA PARTY -
1774 Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts)
a) -1774
- Massachusetts
- Parliament and colonies
b) - Bostonians refused to pay for what was destroyed in Boston
Tea Party
c) - Massachussetts isolated
- Increased colonial resistance Proclamation of Edenton:
- October 1774
- 51 women
- declared adherence to andi-British resolutions -
1774 First Continental Congress
a) - 1774
- Philadelphia
- 12 colonial delegates
b) - response to Intolerable Acts
c) - Declaration of Rights of Grievances
- Discontinued Declaratory Act of 1766 -
1775 Lexington
a) - 1775
- Lexington, Massachusetts
- General Thomas Gage
b) - To surprise colonists & seize illegal supplies
c) - Patriots found out and were prepared with minutemen
-Rallied colonists
- First steps toward The War for Independence -
1775 Concord
a) - 1775
- Concord, Massachusetts
- British & Patriots
b) - Intended to surprise colonials and seize illegal supplies
w/o bloodshed
c) - Patriots found out and were prepared with minutemen
- More colonists joined the cause -
Thomas Paine's Common Sense
Thomas Paine's Common Sense
a) - 1776
- Philadelphia
- Thomas Paine
b) - Exposed unintelligence of continuing to believe in reconciling
with Britain
c) - Changed American outlook
-turned anger towards English constitution -
Declaration of Independence
a) Philadielphia
1776
Expressed ideas voiced throughout colonies
b) Colonies wanted freedom from British Empire
c) American Revolution
Inspired French Revolution
-Declaration of Rights of Man
Encouraged Patriotism
Divisons within American society Thomas Jefferson:
Argued they had same rights as their ancestors, so they should be able to govern themselves.