America’s HistorySixth Edition

CHAPTER 5

Toward Independence: Years of Decision, 1753-1776

Copyright © 2009 by Bedford/St. Martin’s and Matthew Ellington, Ruben S. Ayala High School

Henretta • Brody • Dumenil

1. Imperial Reform, 1763-1765– The Legacy of War– George Grenville: Imperial Reformer– An Open Challenge: The Stamp Act

2. The Dynamics of Rebellion, 1765-1770– Politicians Protest and the Crowds Rebel– Ideological Roots of Resistance– Parliament Compromises, 1766– Charles Townshend Steps In– America Debates and Resists Again– Lord North Compromises, 1770

3. The Road to Independence, 1771-1776– The Compromise Ignored– The Continental Congress Responds– The Countryside Rises Up– Loyal Americans– The Compromise Fails– The Second Continental Congress Organizes for War– Thomas Paine’s Common Sense– Independence Declared

1A: The Legacy of War

• Differences over culture and military strategy between colonial and British soldiers led to bitterness

• A 10,000 man British army was deployed in North America to protect British war gains

• Britain’s huge war debt led to increased taxation in England, enforcement of mercantilist laws, and expansion of government and corruption

1B: George Greenville: Imperial Reformer

• English citizens paid 5 times as much tax as colonists

• In 1764, the Currency Act and Sugar Act (1774) signified an end to Salutary Neglect

• These new taxes threatened merchants’ profits and raised constitutional objections over taxation and prosecution

1C: An Open Challenge: The Stamp Act

• In 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp Act (a tax on colonial documents) and the Quartering Act to pay the cost of the British troops in the colonies

• Sugar Act and Stamp Act violators could be tried in vice-admiralty courts

• Greenville’s goal was to create a centralized imperial system in America

2A: Politician Protest and Crowds Rebel

• Nine colonies sent delegates to a Stamp Act Congress to protest against taxation without representation

• Mobs such as the Sons of Liberty in Boston used threats and violence to force tax collectors to quit

• Economics, liberty, British corruption, and religion all fueled tax protests

2B: Ideological Roots of Resistance

• Colonial resistance started in the seaports

• Patriot thinking was shaped by lawyers drawing on English common law, Enlightenment thinking, and Whig philosophy

2C: Parliament Compromises, 1766

• Colonial protests, a boycott of English goods, a divided Parliament, and a new prime minister led to the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766

• Parliament passed the Declaratory Act in 1766 to reassert its right to tax the colonies

• Taxation, parliamentary supremacy, and the large British war debt remained unsettled issues

2D: Charles Townshend Steps In

• The Townshend Acts of 1767 taxed imports of paper, paint, glass, and tea to pay for British military costs and administrative salaries in America

• Townshend Acts also provided for writs of assistance (general search warrants) which greatly angered many colonists

• The Restraining Act of 1767 suspended New York’s legislature and signaled a new attitude towards colonial assemblies

2E: America Debates and Resists Again

• Colonists protested these new taxes through nonimportation agreements and the use of homespuns created by the Daughters of Liberty

2F: Lord North Compromises, 1770

• Boston Massacre of 1770 illustrated the growing tension in New England cities

• The economic effects of nonimportation led to the repeal of all the Townshend taxes except for tea

3A: The Road to Independence, 1771-1776

Colonial Committees of Correspondence sprung up throughout the colonies after the Gaspee incident

Fear that the Tea Act of 1773 would give British tea an advantage over smuggled tea led to the Boston Tea Party

In response, Parliament passed the Coercive (Intolerable) Acts which closed Boston harbor, prohibited town meetings, annulled the MA charter, and allowed for capital trials to be moved

The Quebec Act (1774) which recognized Catholicism and extended Quebec’s border was also seen as “intolerable”

3B: The Continental Congress Responds

• In 1774, 12 colonies sent delegates to a Continental Congress, demanding a repeal of the Coercive and Declaratory Acts

• A boycott of all trade with Britain was also established

• England rejected these demands and launched a naval blockade

3C: The Countryside Rises Up

• Fear of British taxes, tyranny, and loss of landownership fueled rural support of rebellion

3D: Loyal Americans

• Most Americans were neutral or supported the war

• Conservatives, Anglicans, and government officials were loyalists

An engraving of a loyalist newspaper editor hanged in effigy by the Sons of Liberty, 1775

3E: The Compromise Fails

• By September 1774, MA was in open defiance and British rule was limited to Boston

• Gage’s attempt to arrest rebel leaders and seize arms cache in Concord led to “shot heard round the world”

3F: The Second Continental Congress Organizes for War

• Battle of Bunker Hill (1775) led Second Continental Congress to create an army led by Washington

• In August 1775, King George III declared colonies in rebellion and hired German mercenaries (Hessians)

3G: Thomas Paine’s Common Sense

• In 1775, patriot support grew in response to harsh British tactics

• Thomas Paine’s Common Sense became a bestseller and convinced thousands to support revolution

• Paine attacked the king and used reason and Biblical appeals to argue for separation from England

3H: Independence Declared

• On July 4th 1776, the Second Continental Congress issued its Declaration of Independence

• Jefferson’s Declaration argued that the King had violated colonists’ natural rights