The Road to Revolution

1763–1775

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I. Roots of Revolution

• America was a revolutionary force from the day of its discovery by Europeans:
• The New World nurtured new ideas about the nature of society, citizens, and government.
• Republicanism—defined a just society as one in which all citizens willingly subordinated their private, selfish interests to the common good.
• Stability and government depended on the virtue of the citizenry.
• Americans had grown accustomed to running their own affairs.
• The great distance from Britain weakened royal authority.

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II. Taxes

• After the Seven Years’ War, Britain held one of world’s largest empires and the biggest debt.
• It moved to redefine its relationship with the colonies.
• 1763: Prime Minister George Grenville ordered the navy to strictly enforce the Navigation Laws.

Taxes

• 1764: He secured from Parliament the Sugar Act, the first law passed by Parliament to raise revenue for the crown from colonies:
• Increased duty on sugar from the West Indies.
• After bitter protests, duties were lowered substantially, and agitation died down.
• Resentment renewed when the Quartering Act (1765) required colonies to provide food and quarters for British troops.

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Taxes

• 1765: Stamp tax was imposed:
• It aimed to raise revenue to support the new military force.
• It mandated the use of stamped paper or affixing of stamps, certifying tax payment.
• Stamps were required on bills of sale for about 50 trade items.
• Grenville regarded these measures as reasonable.
• People in England paid a higher stamp tax.

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Taxes

• But Americans were angry:
• The new law pinched pocketbooks and seemed to strike at local liberties.
• Some colonies refused to comply with the Quartering Act; some voted only to supply a fraction of the supplies requested.
• The acts also seemed to jeopardize the basic rights of colonists as Englishmen.
• Offenders were tried in admiralty courts without juries and “innocent until proven guilty” concept.

Taxes

• Americans made a distinction between “legislation” and “taxation”:
• They conceded the right of Parliament to legislate matters related to the entire empire.
• They denied the right of Parliament, in which no Americans were seated, to impose taxes on Americans.
• Such taxes were seen as robbery.
• Only colonial assemblies could tax colonists.

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Taxes

• Grenville used the theory of “virtual representation”:
• All citizens were represented by Parliament.
• The dispute eventually caused Americans to:
• Deny the authority of Parliament
• Consider their own political independence

Forced Repeal of the Stamp Act

• Colonial protest against the hated stamp tax took various forms:
• Stamp Act Congress of 1765:
• Stated the rights and grievances of colonists
• Beseeched the king and Parliament to repeal the repugnant legislation
• Was ignored in England
• Was a significant step toward intercolonial unity

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Forced Repeal of the Stamp Act

• Nonimportation agreements:
• Agreements against importing British goods
• Were a promising stride toward union
• Helped unite the American people for the first time in common action
• Gave Americans new opportunities to participate in colonial protests

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III. Repeal of the Stamp Act

• Sons of Liberty and Daughters of Liberty:
• Took law into their own hands
• Cried, “Liberty, Property, and No Stamps”
• Shaken by colonial commotion, the machinery for collecting the tax broke down.
• By the time the act was to go into effect (1765), all stamp agents had been forced to resign.
• The boycott also hurt the English economy.
• Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 1766.

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Repeal of the Stamp Act

• Parliament then passed the Declaratory Act reaffirming its right “to bind” colonies “in all cases whatsoever.”
• The British government defined its constitutional principle: absolute and unqualified sovereignty over the colonies.
• The stage was set for continuing confrontation as colonies wanted a measure of their own sovereignty.

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IV. The Boston “Massacre”

• 1767: Townshend Acts:
• Imposed a light import duty on glass, white lead, paper, paint, and tea
• Was an indirect customs duty payable at American ports
• Colonists refused any taxes without representation.
• They were especially concerned because these taxes would pay salaries of royal governors.

The Boston “Massacre”

• Nonimportation agreements were renewed against Townshend Acts, but
• Colonists took the light new tax less seriously.
• They found they could get cheap tea via smuggling.
• To enforce order, British then landed two regiments of troops in Boston in 1768.
• March 5, 1770: A clash erupted that became known as the Boston Massacre.

V. Committees of Correspondence

• Parliament eventually repealed most Townshend duties but kept the tax on tea.
• But discontent continued because:
• British officials increased efforts to enforce the Navigation Laws.
• Zealous Samuel Adams continued to incite what was called his “trained mob.”
• Adams organized first committees of correspondence in Massachusetts.

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Committees of Correspondence

• Committees of correspondence:
• After one was organized in Boston (1772), some 80 towns set up similar organizations.
• They exchanged letters that kept alive opposition to British policy.
• They played a key role in stimulating and disseminating sentiment in favor of united action.
• They evolved directly into the first American congresses.

VI. Tea Party

• By 1773, the powerful British East India Company was facing bankruptcy:
• It had 17 million pounds of unsold tea.
• British ministry awarded it a complete monopoly of the American tea business.
• It could sell its tea at a very low price.
• But colonists saw this as an attempt to trick them into accepting taxes.

Tea Party

• British authorities decided to enforce the law:
• Colonists rose up in anger.
• Mass demonstrations forced tea-bearing ships to return to England with their cargo.
• Only in Boston did a British official refuse to be cowed.
• Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to budge.

Tea Party

• Hutchinson infuriated Boston’s radicals when he ordered tea ships not to leave Boston until they had unloaded their cargoes:
• December 16, 1773: About 100 Bostonians, loosely disguised as Indians, boarded the ships.
• They smashed open 342 chests of tea and dumped the contents into the harbor.
• This action became known as the Boston Tea Party.

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Tea Party

• Reaction varied:
• Sympathetic colonists applauded.
• Referring to tea as “a badge of slavery,” they burned the hated leaves in solidarity with Boston.
• Hutchinson, chastened and disgusted, retreated to Britain, never to return.
• The British chose a perilous path that led only to reprisals, bitterness, and escalating conflict.

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VII. “Intolerable Acts”

• Parliament responded with measures in 1774 that brewed a revolution:
• It passed a series of acts to chastise colonists, especially in Boston.
• The acts were branded in colonies as “the massacre of American Liberty.”
• Most drastic was the Boston Port Act:
• It closed the port until damages were paid.

“Intolerable Acts”

• Other Intolerable Acts limited rights traditionally practiced in Massachusetts:
• Restrictions were placed on town meetings.
• Unlike before, officials who killed colonists in line of duty could now be sent to Britain for trial.
• New Quartering Act gave local authorities power to lodge soldiers anywhere, even private homes.

VIII. Quebec Act

• Quebec Act (1774) covered French subjects in Canada:
• It guaranteed their Catholic religion.
• They could maintain institutions (which did not include representative assembly or trial by jury).
• Québec’s boundaries extended to the Ohio River.
• From French viewpoint, the Quebec Act was a shrewd and conciliatory measure.

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Quebec Act

• From American viewpoint, the act was noxious:
• It had a much wider range.
• It set a dangerous precedent by denying jury trials and by allowing unrepresentative assemblies.
• It alarmed land speculators by snatching a huge trans-Allegheny area from their grasp.
• It angered anti-Catholics by extending Catholic jurisdiction south into a region about the size of the 13 colonies.

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IX. War

• First Continental Congress in 1774:
• It met in Philadelphia to redress grievances.
• 12 of 13 colonies (except Georgia) sent 55 men: S. Adams, J. Adams, G. Washington, P. Henry.
• Deliberated for 7 weeks in fall 1774.
• Not a legislative but a consultative body.
• A convention rather than a congress.
• John Adams played a key role.
• It drew up a Declaration of Rights as well as a solemn appeal to other British colonies, to the king, and to the British people.
• Delegates were not calling for independence.

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War

• But fatal drift toward war continued:
• Parliament rejected Congress’s petitions.
• Violators of Association were tarred and feathered.
• Muskets were gathered and men began to drill openly.
• April 1775: British commander in Boston sent troops to Lexington and Concord to seize stores of gunpowder.

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War

• Troops were also supposed to arrest ringleaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock.
• At Lexington, “Minute Men” refused to disperse.
• Shots were fired, killing 8 Americans and wounding several more.
• Redcoats then pushed on to Concord, where they suffered heavy losses.
• Britain now had a war on its hands.