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- By the mid-eighteenth century, the French had better and closer relations with most of the Indians than did the English.
- Tensions between the English and the French increased.
* 1754-1756: local, North American conflict.
* 1756- the Seven Years’ War began in Europe and beyond.
* 1758- returned control over recruitment to the
colonial assemblies. -
- the French army formally surrendered to Amherst in Montreal (1760).
- the French ceded to Great Britain some of their West Indian islands, most of their colonies in India and Canada, and all other French territory in North America east of the Mississippi.
- The French and Indian War greatly expanded England’s territorial claims in the New World.
- the cost of the war greatly enlarged Britain’s debt
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- the colonists were required to help provision and maintain the army.
- colonial manufacturing was restricted so that it would not compete with rapidly expanding industries in Great Britain.
- the colonial assemblies stopped issuing paper money.
- The Paxton Boys demanded tax relief and financial support for their defense against Indians.
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- In addition to the Stamp Act crisis and other challenges to London, there were internal rebellions
- Englanders had stopped buying English goods *Boycott *Stopped paying rent
- The new prime minister, Lord North, hoping to end the American boycott, repealed all the Townshend Duties except the tea tax. (1770).
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A mob of workers “liberty boys,” and others began pelting the sentries at the customs house with rocks and snowballs. Hastily, Captain Thomas Preston of the British regiment lined up several of his men in front of the building to protect it. There was some scuffling; one of the soldiers was knocked down; and in the midst of it all, apparently, several British soldiers fired into the crowd, killing five people. -
- a small-scale civil war broke out in North Carolina
- resist high-taxes
- London policies were a threat to all Americans (restraints on commerce, land closing, restriction of manufacturing, abolition of paper-money)
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Britain’s East India Company was sitting on large stocks of tea that it could not sell in England. The government gave the company the right to export its merchandise directly to the colonies without paying any of the regular taxes that were imposed on colonial merchants. The colonists responded by boycotting tea. (The Daughters of Liberty). -
- colonists declared that the Intolerable Acts menaced the liberties of every colony, and issued a call for a Continental Congress. *They made 5 major decisions: 1) rejected a colonial union under British authority. 2) demand for the repeal of all oppressive legislation. 3) approved military preparations be made for defense against possible attack by the British troops. 4) agreed to a series of boycotts; formed “Continental Association”. 5) delegates agreed to meet again the next spring.
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- Parliament proposed that the colonies would tax themselves at Parliament’s demand.
- Lord North hoped to separate the American moderates, whom he believed represented the views of the majority, from the extremist minority.
- It did not reach America until after the first shots of war had been fired.
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British troops, marched from Boston toward Concord to seize the weapons. At Lexington, they encountered a small group of "minutemen".
A shot was fired but no one knows from which side. (the shot heard around the world).
8 colonists left dead and others wounded. On the way back, the British troops were harassed by thousands of militiamen firing from behind trees, walls, and buildings. By the end, the British suffered about 273 casualties. -
Showed that colonial militia could stand up to the professional British army. Boosted American confidence, even though they retreated and made the British realize the war would be long and costly. -
The Continental Congress in Philadelphia was moving toward a complete break with England.
Thomas Jefferson, wrote most of the Declaration, with help from Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. -
- it had become clear to the British that the conflict was not just a local phenomenon.
- The American campaigns in Canada, the agitation in the South, and the growing evidence of colonial unity.
- England must prepare to fight a much larger conflict.
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The British regrouped quickly after their retreat from Boston. General William Howe offered Congress a choice: surrender with royal pardon or face a battle.
Washington had no navy at all. Even so, the Americans rejected Howe’s offer. -
- armed uprising
- Massachusetts
- led by farmers, many of them Revolutionary War veterans who were angry about high taxes, crushing debts, and the threat of losing their farms.
- revealed the weakness of the U.S. government under the Articles of Confederation
- influenced the push for a stronger central government, leading to the U.S. Constitution.