“Each new law or tax cost the British government some support without gaining it any revenue.” Barbara Tuchman
Prime Minister George Grenville: a “plodding minister of a plodding king.”
Results of Stamp Act in America 1. Stamp Act Congress 2. Non-importation agreements (boycott) 3. Sons of Liberty: Sam Adams and John Hancock 4. Patrick Henry in Virginia House of Representatives
Results of Stamp Tax in England 1. Repealed the Stamp Tax 2. Declaratory Act: emphasized England’s right to tax the colonies
What did America learn from the Stamp Act crisis?
What did England learn? ------1768 Townshend Act Indirect tax on paper, paint, tea, glass and lead Purpose: to pay the salaries of Royal Governors in America
Colonial Reaction to the Townshend Duties? 1770 Parliament repeals the Townshend duties- all except?
1768 England stations 4,000 soldiers in Boston; Boston population: 15,000
1770 Boston “Massacre” Sam Adams: Committees of Correspondence
Role of John Adams ------
1772 British Revenue ship: Gaspee runs aground in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island Rhode Islanders action?
British reaction?
1773 Tea Act: British East India Company given a monopoly on colonial tea trade
American reaction to the Tea Act: sees it as a bribe to buy obedience to taxes on cheap tea
December, 1773 Tea "party" in Boston Harbor role of Sam Adams and Sons of Liberty
Coercive Acts: England's reaction to the Tea "party" called by Americans: Intolerable Acts 1. closed the port of Boston 2. Massachusetts charter revoked 3. no town meetings 4. British soldiers to be tried in England 5. Quartering Act
Quebec Act "a good act in bad company" 1. Catholic religion recognized in Canada 2. maintain unrepresentative government 3. boundary of Canada pushed South into Ohio River Valley
October 1774 First Continental Congress
April 1775 Lexington and Concord
British: 700 soldiers under Major Pitcairn "Disperse ye rebels, damn you disperse!"
Americans: 70 Minutemen under Captain Parker "Let the British pass and don't molest them, but if they mean to have a war, let it start here."
Concord “By the rude bridge that arched the flood, their flag to April’s breeze unfurled. Here once the embattled farmers stood and fired the shop heard round the world.”
More Minutemen at Concord force British retreat back to Boston
April 1775 to July 1776 Americans are “Loyal Rebels”
American advantages and disadvantages in the American Revolution
May, 1775 Second Continental Congress: American government during the Revolution
Washington as Commander-in-Chief
May, 1775 Ft. Ticonderoga: yield 43 cannon Ethan Allen and his “Green Mountain Boys” Cannon cause “evacuation” of Boston in March, 1776
June 1775 Bunker Hill (really Breed’s Hill)
October, 1775 American invasion of Canada
1776 Decision for Independence January, 1776 Thomas Payne’s Common Sense first to attack George III as a “Royal Brute” America had a sacred mission to be independent
Summer 1776 New York Campaign Washington the “fox” harried by British “hounds”
Winter 1776 Washington crosses the Delaware River for Battles of Trenton and Princeton: great psychological victory for Americans
1777 British Offensive Objective: rendezvous at Albany; cut off New England from rest of America 1. General Burgoyne: defeated at Saratoga 2. General St. Leger defeated at Oriskany 3. General Howe captured Philadelphia
Winter of 1777-8: After defeat at Philadelphia Washington leads his troops to Valley Forge
Saratoga led directly to the French Alliance Role of Pierre Auguste de Beaumarchais and Hortalez et cie. Role of Ben Franklin in Paris; ambassador extraordinaire
Effect of the French Alliance 1. on America: France now supplied 50% of army in America all of its navy and gunpowder 2. on France a. loans France can’t afford b. gave 8,000 French soldiers a lesson in Revolution
War in the South General Nathaniel Green: guerrilla warfare
England’s promise to slaves
October 1781 British defeat at Yorktown Role of French army: Rochambeau Role of French navy: Admiral DeGrasse
1783 Treaty of Paris US delegates: Ben Franklin John Adams John Jay
Role of France in tripartite negotiations
Treaty of Paris 1. England recognized the independence of the US
2. England gave the US all land from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River Why? Result?
3. US given the right to fish off the coast of New England What group of people benefits from this provision? Who asked for this?
4. US promised no persecution of the Loyalists; US would “earnestly recommend” the return of the Loyalists property to them What Americans benefited most from this last provision?
5. US promised no obstacles to the payment of American debt to England Was this debt ever paid?
Why was England so generous to the United States?
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1781-1787 Articles of Confederation “A rope of sand” “A firm league of friendship”
Only one branch of government: Congress
Weaknesses of Articles of Confederation 1. no power over commerce 2. no power to tax 3. no national defense Shay’s Rebellion All of the above factors showed the need for a strong central government ------
George Washington as President
His Cabinet Secretary of State Secretary of the Treasury Attorney General: Randolph Secretary of War: Knox
Hamilton’s Financial Plan 1. Fund the national debt
2.Fund the states debts Who opposed this? Why? Compromise provided for…
3. Tariff a. tariff for revenue b. protective tariff
Note: Hamilton does not get a high protective tariff which he proposed in his Report on Manufacturing
4. National Bank
Jefferson’s opposition to the bank based on his belief in Strict Construction of the Constitution: do nothing unless the Constitution expressly say you can
President Washington's Administration
Whiskey Rebellion $.07cent tax in whiskey;
Effect of the Whiskey Rebellion ------Foreign Policy Problems for Washington A. France 1. Neutrality Proclamation: As a neutral country the US had the right to: trade with all countries, including countries at war (belligerents)except for contraband
2. Citizen Edouard Genet ------
B. England 1.violation of US neutral rights a. to trade with belligerents b. narrow definition of contraband: guns,
2. impressment of US sailors
3. English in US forts near Great Lakes ------Jay Treaty attempt to solve problems between England and US 1. England out of forts in the NW 2. England to pay damages of US ships already seized (L1.3) BUT no concessions on future seizures
US reaction to the Jay Treaty?
Good points of the Jay Treaty
Pinckney Treaty with Spain
Election of 1800 Jefferson 73 electoral votes Burr 73 Adams 65 Pinckney 64
House of Representatives decides disputed elections Pivotal role of Alexander Hamilton ------