An Evaluation ofBritish Colonial Policies

1763-1776

The French and Indian War

Statistics and Effects

Staggering costs of the war nearly destroyed the English Government.

The British had to raise revenue to prevent bankruptcy.

Who should pay for the cost of this war; the British or the Colonists?

This debt caused the escalation of tensions leading to the Revolutionary War. Parliament’s objectives were to tax the colonies to recover monies expended on the battle over North America, and to restore the profitability of the colonies.

Problems Faced by the British in 1763

Crushing national debt In order to fund British forces on the frontier, new taxes and new laws threatened individual liberties and colonial self-government The Sugar Act of 1764 The Stamp Act of 1765 The Townshend Acts - 1767 The Coercive Acts in 1773 reduced legal rights of Colonials and ordered private citizens to house royal troops Angry colonists claimed that England did not have the right to tax America without representation in Parliament The united boycott of British goods by all thirteen colonies forced the repeal of most taxes, encouraging further joint efforts

Colonists Respond With Boycott 1767

SUGAR ACT replaced an earlier tax on molasses that had been in effect for years.

British Action: taxed the colonists on sugar and molasses.

Colonial reaction: protests and hatred for the British. Led to future boycotts.

Raised very little money for the British.

Evaluate the effectiveness of this policy

Describe the relationship of the thirteen colonies to the Province of Quebec,

Canada

Why is the Quebec Act important to the colonists?

Quebec Act

British Action: Established a government for colony of Quebec and

protected the rights of French Catholics. The act became the basis

for the religious and legal rights of French Canadians.

Colonial reaction: The majority of colonists were Protestant. They

always looked to Canada as a fourteenth colony. French Canadians

received rights the American colonists did not have. The colonists

resented the liberties granted to the subjects living in Quebec .

Evaluate the Policy:

The Townshend Act

British Action: Tax on glass, paper, lead, paint, and tea.

Colonial Reaction: Boycotted British goods. Americans protested the Townshend taxes with petitions, boycotts, and tar and feathering.  Duties on all items except tea were repealed. The tea tax was retained because it was the most lucrative and showed Americans that Parliament still had the right to tax them.

Evaluate the effectiveness of this policy (Act)

Charles Townshend

Tar and Feathering

The Gaspee Affair

British Action: The British would stop merchant ships to examine their cargo to enforced British customs and taxation laws.

Colonial Reaction: On June 9, 1772, while chasing a merchant ship, the British ship, the Gaspee, ran aground near Providence. The next night, colonial merchants boarded the Gaspee, wounded the ship’s lieutenant, and totally destroyed the ship by setting it on fire. Many Americans continued to defy the British navigation acts by smuggling taxable items. 

Evaluate the effectiveness of British taxation?

Stamp Act Cartoon

British Action: all printed material required an official stamp, which cost

moneyUnder the Stamp Act, colonists would be required to buy stamps from royal collectors and affix them to a wide variety of printed materials including legal documents, playing cards, newspapers, and land titles. Stamps had to be purchased with sterling, rather than local paper currency. This act levied a direct tax on the colonies designed to raise revenue rather than to regulate trade. http://www.tax.orgMuseum/1756-1776.htm

Colonial Reaction:

Repeal of the Stamp Act Cartoon

This cartoon shows a mock funeral along the Thames River for the Stamp Act. Because of the strong resistance and boycott of the Stamp Act, Parliament repealed it in 1766. The child's coffin is marked "Miss Ame-Stamp born 1765, died 1766." The British Treasury Secretary George Grenville is carrying the coffin.

British PerspectiveIf you were a member of the British Parliament, what would be your

attitude towards paying for the war?

This is what the British thought?

Colonial Perspective

If you were a colonist, what would be your perspective towards paying

for the cost of the French and Indian War? This is what the colonists

thought.

Thinking Visually – Activity 1

Students will imagine they are members of the Committees of Correspondence. Students will write to British representatives informing them about the Intolerable Acts and urging them to take a stand against these acts. The letter should include some kind of drawing to catch the reader’s attention and remind the reader why British laws should be opposed. Each group will have ten minutes to prepare its letter. Groups will pass their letters to other groups and write responses to the letters they receive.

Thinking Critically – Activity 2Students will be divided into groups. Half will be Loyalists, while the other group represents the Patriots. Each group will create a political cartoon expressing its reactions to the acts previously discussed.

Groups might also prepare newspaper headlines that describe these events, from a Patriot or Loyalist perspective.