Chapter 6

Conflicts in the Colonies(1675-1774)

Chapter 6Conflicts in the Colonies

(1675 – 1774)Section 1

Trouble on the Frontier

Colonists’ Relations with American Indians

• Metacomet nicknamed King Philip opposed the colonists’ efforts to take his people’s land– Colonists were afraid he wanted to destroy them

• King Philip’s War– Colonial militia with the help American Indian trading partners fought

American Indian warriors– Both sides attacked each other’s settlements– Approximately 3,000 Indians, 600 colonists killed

• Some American Indians allied with colonists (based on trade)– Indian leaders wanted tools, weapons and other goods; colonists wanted furs

• French traded with Algonquian and Huron; English traded with the Iroquois League– French trusted more than English

• Smaller French settlements less threatening than rapidly growing English colonies

Conflicts with France• Series of wars between England and France over who

would dominate Europe and North America:– King William’s War

• 1689 – 1697• Did not change colonial boundaries in North America

– Queen Anne’s War• 1702 – 1713• England fighting both France and Spain• In the colonies, England and France had American Indian allies• English captured Port Royal (French Canada); burned St. Augustine

(Spanish settlement)• Treaty that ended war gave England Hudson Bay, Newfoundland and

Nova Scotia from France

– King George’s War – 1740s – had little lasting effect on colonies

Conflicts with France (continued)• Great Britain and France continued to compete for the Ohio Valley

and Great Lakes– British wanted to settle region; French believed settlement would harm their

fur trade• French built three forts in the Ohio Valley on land claimed by the

colony of Virginia– British colonists felt that the French were keeping them from expanding west– 1753 Virginia demanded France give up forts

• British colonists knew they were poorly organized; fighting French would be dangerous; needed a strong united colonial leadership

• 1754 – seven delegates were sent to Albany, New York to make a treaty with the Iroquois League– Albany Plan of Union – called for all colonies except Georgia to unite – one of

the authors was Benjamin Franklin– Colonies and parliament rejected the Albany Plan

The French and Indian War• British began building a fort along the Ohio

River while the delegates were meeting in Albany– French drove them off and built Fort Duquesne on

the site• George Washington arrived with more soldiers

and built a simple fort – Fort Necessity• French attacked Fort Necessity and forced

Washington to surrender– His defeat in 1754 marked the start of the French

and Indian War• Fighting began in Europe in 1756 (Seven Years’ War)

The French and Indian War (continued)

• General Edward Braddock sent to command British forces in North America – fought an alliance of French and American Indian troops– Knew little about frontier fighting – led to disaster when

he attacked Fort Duquesne in 1755• Turning point in the war = 1759 – General James

Wolfe captured Quebec (capital of New France)• Fighting continued until 1763 – Britain won most of

the important battles

The Treaty of Paris• Signed by Great Britain and France in 1763 – officially

ended the war• Redrew the political map of North America• Canada and all French lands east of the Mississippi

River (except the city of New Orleans) given to the British

• British received Florida from Spain (who had allied with the French)

• Treaty of Paris changed the balance of power in North America – Britain had a claim to almost all land east of the Mississippi– Spain was the only other European nation with land in N. America

Chapter 6Conflicts in the Colonies

(1675 – 1774)

Section 2Consequences of the French and

Indian War

The Frontier• Settlers slowly moved in the Virginia and Carolina

backcountry or frontier• Pioneers – first Europeans to settle the frontier– Risked attacks from American Indians who resisted settlement

on their land– little colonial settlement in Kentucky and Tennessee until the

1770s• Pioneers crossed Appalachians farther to the north• Moved into forested lands along the Ohio River (1750s)– Soil in the Ohio River valley good for farming; full of wild

game– Fear of native attacks kept settlements small and isolation– After the French and Indian War, more settlers began crossing

the Appalachians

Conflict in the Ohio River Valley• Great Britain replaced France as the European power in

the Ohio River valley– British believed they were entitled to all land France had

controlled – including all of American Indian lands in the Ohio River valley and Great Lakes region

– Wanted to build settlements which led to problems between British and American Indian leaders

• American Indian leaders had not signed treaties with the British and did not recognize the treaty between Britain and France

• Pontiac’s Rebellion began May 1763 when American Indians attacked British forts on the frontier– Leader of rebellion = Pontiac– Destroyed or captured 7 forts at the beginning, but failures

(unsuccessful attacks) led to surrender in 1766

The Proclamation of 1763• British leaders feared more fighting on the frontier

– Conflicts would disrupt trade and force Britain to spend money on defense

• King George III (Britain) issued the Proclamation of 1763 which banned the British from settling west of the Appalachians– Created a border between colonial and American Indian lands– Ordered colonists from upper Ohio River valley to leave

• Proclamation was difficult to enforce– Most people who wanted to trade or settle in the valley

ignored it; colonial settlement expanded west of the Appalachians

– Disregard for the Proclamation showed their increasing unhappiness with British attempts to control them

Chapter 6Conflicts in the Colonies

(1675 – 1774)Section 3

Trouble over Colonists’ Rights

Raising Taxes

• Had to pay for French and Indian War

• Had to keep army in North America to protect colonists against American Indian attacks

• Prime Minister George Grenville asked Parliament to tax colonists

Raising Taxes

• Sugar Act – 1764 – set duties on molasses and sugar imported by colonists; first act passed specifically to raise money (rather than regulate trade) in the colonies

• Colonies not allowed to print their own money• Vice-admiralty courts given greater powers to

punish smugglers – no juries, treated guilty until proven innocent

Taxation without Representation• James Otis – lawyer from

Boston – one of the first colonists to protest taxation by Parliament

• No one had asked colonists if they wanted to be taxed

• Colonists had no direct representatives in Parliament; had little influence on their decisions

Taxation without Representation• Samuel Adams – agreed with

Otis; their ideas helped spread the slogan “Taxation without Representation”

• Committees of Correspondence – (Samuel Adams helped start) – established contact between the colonies, shared information about new British laws and ways to challenge them

• Boycott = popular protest method

The Stamp Act• Grenville proposed the Stamp Act

(1765 - British citizens paid similar tax)– Affected most colonists– Required colonists to pay for an

official stamp, or seal, whenever they bought paper items• Legal documents, licenses,

newspapers, pamphlets, even playing cards

– First effort to raise money by taxing colonists directly

The Stamp Act• Sons of Liberty – secret societies formed in places such as

New York and Massachusetts– Samuel Adams helped to organize in Boston– Sometimes used violence to scare tax collectors– Many colonial courts shut down because people refused to buy the

stamps required for legal documents• Patrick Henry presented resolutions to the Virginia House of

Burgesses that stated the Stamp Act violated the rights of the colonists as British citizens – Stamp act denied the accused trial by jury

Repealing the Stamp Act• In Boston, members of the

Massachusetts legislature called for a Stamp Act Congress after Virginia House of Burgesses supported some of Patrick Henry’s resolutions– October 1765 – delegates

from 9 colonies met in New York

– Issued a declaration that the Stamp Act violated their rights and liberties; asked Parliament to repeal the act

Repealing the Stamp Act• Benjamin Franklin spoke

before Parliament asking for the act to be repealed– Act repealed in 1766

(supported by Parliament member William Pitt)

• Parliament issued the Declaratory Act – stated Parliament had the power to make laws for the colonies in all cases

Chapter 6Conflicts in the Colonies

(1675 – 1774)

Section 4New Taxes and Tensions

The Townshend Acts

• Townshend Acts (June 1767) – placed duties on imported glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea

• Money paid for military costs and salaries of colonial governors– Payments violated the

guarantee of having no standing army in peacetime without colonists’ consent

• British officials used writs of assistance to enforce – allowed tax collectors to search for smuggled goods

The Townshend Acts• Colonists responded by boycotting British goods – method of

protest supported by the Daughters of Liberty• In February 1768, tax collectors seized the Liberty (suspected

of smuggling) owned by John Hancock who opposed the Townshend Acts– Sons of Liberty supported Hancock; began to attack houses of

customs officials in protest– Governor Francis Bernard broke up the Massachusetts legislature;

asked troops to restore order; British soldiers arrived October 1768

The Boston Massacre• Many Bostonians believed troops

were there to silence critics• March 5, 1770 – a British soldier

standing guard got into a fight with a colonist– A crowd gathered around the

soldier; threw snowballs, shouted insults

– Small group of troops arrived and fired into the crowd killing several colonists (Crispus Attucks, James Calwell, Patrick Carr)

The Boston Massacre

• Samuel Adams and others used propaganda against the British – called the shootings the Boston Massacre

• Soldiers and their officer charged with murder; lawyers Josiah Quincy and John Adams argued and a Boston jury agreed they acted in self-defense

A Tax on Tea• Parliament repealed almost all

Townshend Acts (to reduce tensions) but kept the tax on tea

• Demand for tea was high in the colonies despite the boycott; colonies smuggling to avoid duties

• British East India Company offered to sell its tea directly to colonies and charge less hoping to lead to less smuggling and more collection of taxes

A Tax on Tea• Tea Act passed by Parliament in 1773• Colonial merchants and smugglers feared cheap

tea would put them out of business; others feared a British East India Company monopoly

• Boston Tea Party – 3 ships carrying tea in Boston Harbor; Sons of Liberty demanded they leave; governor would not allow them to leave without paying duty; colonists dressed as American Indians dumped tea into the water

The Intolerable Acts• Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts) – passed in spring of

1774 to punish Massachusetts for Boston Tea Party• Several effects:

– Boston Harbor closed until Boston paid for lost tea– Massachusetts charter canceled; governor decided if and when

legislature could meet– Royal officials accused of crimes sent to Britain for trial; more

friendly judge and jury– Quartering Act forced colonists to quarter, or house and supply,

British soldier– General Thomas Gage became the new governor of Massachusetts

The Intolerable Acts

• British hoped they would restore order; only made people more angry