Anton Campos Jay Angeles
• The bonds between Britain and its American colonies grew weaker over time. • Physically, an ocean separated the colonies from Britain. • The separated colonies then developed their own social, political, and economic institutions.
• The Parliament began imposing laws, because of this the colonies felt that their freedom was being interfered. • Tensions between Britain and the colonies increased. • This eventually led to a revolution.
• Britain expected the colonies to provide raw materials and to buy back British manufactured goods. • The Parliament regulated colonial trade to Britain’s advantage. • Colonial merchants resented these restrictions.
• The Parliament prevented the colonists from developing industries that would compete with British manufacturers. Ex: the Hat Act (1732) which restricted exports of hats made from the colonies. Ex: the Iron Act (1750) forced colonists to buy British-made iron products rather than making their own.
• Parliament’s restrictions were difficult to enforce on the colonial economy. • The colonists resented these restrictions, so the colonists smuggled in goods to avoid paying British taxes.
• The colonists weren’t the only problem faced by the British. • France and Britain were rivals for colonies and trade. • Because of France’s colonial policies, many Indians had fought with the French in the conflicts with Britain and the colonists.
• British colonists took over some land owned by the Indians. • The Indians were angered by the loss of land and British’s policies. • They united under Pontiac, an Ottawa leader, and they raided frontier settlements and captured British forts.
• After months of fighting, British forced Pontiac to give up the rebellion. • Britain’s prime minister, Lord Grenville, claimed that Pontiac’s war showed that it was necessary to keep British troops stations in the colonies.
• Because of the British troops on American soil, many Americans feared that the troops were used to control the colonists. • To further anger the colonists, Grenville issued the Proclamation of 1763. • This barred settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains.
• The Proclamation of 1763 was issued hoping.. – To prevent clashes between the Indians. – To keep the colonists more firmly under British rule. … but the colonists simply viewed the Proclamation as interference in their affairs.
• Grenville now decided that, as the American colonies had benefited from the wars, they should pay a large part of the cost. • Grenville’s ways: – Clamped down on smuggling. – Imposed “luxury” taxes on goods like sugar, coffee, and wine.
– The Sugar Act, which lowered tax on imported molasses in hopes that it wouldn’t be smuggled. – The Quartering Act, reduced the cost of stationing troops in North America and it forced colonists to provide living quarters and certain supplies for British troops. – The Stamp Act, placed tax on printed matter. Ex: newspapers, playing cards, pamphlets, licenses, deeds, and other legal documents.
• The colonists were outraged and believed that Grenville’s program violated long-standing rights of British subjects.
“Taxation without representation”
• They protested saying:
was against the principles of English law.
• Protests against the tax were widespread in the colonies. • Colonists were particularly angered by the Stamp Act. • Delegates from nine colonies met to challenge the Parliament’s right to tax the colonies for revenue.
• At the meeting, called the Stamp Act Congress, they sent petitions to the king and to the Parliament asking for repeal of the Stamp Act. • Delegates also called on colonial merchants to stop buying or selling British goods.
• Groups of patriots known as the “Sons and Daughters of Liberty” sprang up throughout the colonies. • Their members pressured merchants – sometimes by force – to stop dealing in British goods. • The British merchants soon complained, and the Stamp Act was repealed.
• The Parliament passed the Townshed Act, which imposed new taxes. • This raised the prices of many everyday items. – Particularly paint, glass, paper, and tea.
• The colonists became furious, especially those from Boston.
• In March, 1770, a squad of British soldiers fired into a Bostonian crowd that had been taunting them. • Five colonists were killed, and several were wounded. • This incident, as called by the American patriots, is known as the Boston Massacre.
• To punish the Bostonians, the Parliament passed a series of laws that colonists called the Intolerable Acts. – One law closed the port of Boston to all ships. – Another put an end to self-gov’t in Massachusetts. – A third, protected royal officials charged with crimes to avoid hostile colonial juries.
• A meeting called the Continental Congress was held due to the upset of the colonists of the Intolerable Acts. • This involved delegates from 12 colonies. • The British gov’t refused to give in to the colonists.
• The disagreements between Britain and the 13 colonies brought violence. • British troops were sent to Concord and Lexington to destroy weapons and gunpowder that the militia, or citizen soldiers, had stored there. • The British soldiers seized Samuel Adams and John Hansock, two resistance leaders.
• Both British and colonist troops gathered at Lexington and Concord and the fight began. • Although the colonists couldn’t stop the soldiers, they took cover behind trees and stone walls to attack. • In all, about 350 people were killed or wounded.
• This fight was a turning point in the relationship between Britain and the colonies. • Support for independence grew. • A pamphlet entitled “Common Sense” by Thomas Paine called upon the Americans to declare their independence from Britain.
• The Continental Congress broke economic ties. • On July 4, 1776 the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson, a Virginia planter, was adopted. • In signing the Declaration, the members of the Continental Congress formally made a break with Britain proclaiming that: “these United
Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Independent States.”
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