British North America

• British exclusive control, 1763–1776• much mis-management– let whites into Indian Reserve– mercantilism

• Stamp Act (1765)– micro-managing

• stationed troops• controlled colonial legislatures• Declaratory Act (1766)• Coercive Acts (1774)

the colonies unite• after Boston Tea Party

& Coercive Acts (1774), other colonies:

– aided Boston & Massachusetts– boycotted tea & other British goods• wealthy plantations owners

(G. Washington, T. Jefferson, etc.):– wanted more farm land, but stopped by:

• Indian Reserve / Proclamation Line (1763)• Quebec Act (1774)

– feared British would seize farms & plantations– feared would be charged with treason

colonial response to British oppression

• wanted better treatment– representation in British Parliament

(Adams & Pitt in 1765/1766)

– limit power of King– what Parliament didn’t decide

was left to the colonies & people• (will become 10th amendment to U.S. Constitution:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”)

— OR —• independence

colonies unite

• First Continental Congress (1774)—12 colonies** Georgia not invited b/c it was a penal colony* other British North American colonies didn’t want to participate (Québec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Jamaica, Barbados)

–recommended militarizing in case of British attack

• Revolutionary War / War for American Independence–British troops investigated Patriots’ large supply of gunpowder in Concord (near Boston)–shots fired btw. Patriots & British (April 1775)

colonies declare independence

• Second Continental Congress (1776)– Declaration of Independence:• declared independence from Britain:

“…these United Colonies are, and, of right, ought to be free and independent states…”• established style of government desired:

derived “from the consent of the people”• long list of complaints about King & Parliament:

“The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world….

Loyalists

• 80,000 Loyalists left United States– felt threatened in new, independent United States• went to Canada, Jamaica, Bahamas, Bermuda, India,

Australia, “Moskito Coast” (Nicaragua/Honduras), Sierra Leone (former slaves)

– felt British & didn’t want to change• cultural (food, clothes, books, etc.)

– worked for British gov’t– did business w/ British

“The Savages Let Loose; or, The Cruel Fate of the Loyalists”British etching, 1783 (Library of Congress)

JOURNAL ENTRY 05

• What is going on in the drawing called “The Savages Let Loose…”?

• Who were “the savages”? (hint: they were not Native Americans)

after the War for American Independence

• Britain proud of tradition of representative government (Davies, p. 22)– but didn’t allow it in North America– started treating other colonies (Ireland, Canada)

better• self-government (colonies saw United States as inspiration)• no taxation w/o colonial assembly permission

– United States accepted aid from France and Spain, which were: “absolute monarchies . . . that fed off the labors of ordinary people” (Davies, p. 35)

after the War for American Independence

• Treaty of Paris (1783)– 13 colonies become 1 nation– land east of the Mississippi,

south of Great Lakes & St. Lawrence River

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