The British Empire and the Colonial Crisis, 1754–1775

CHRONOLOGY 1754 Seven Years’ War begins. Albany Congress. 6 1755 Braddock defeated in western Pennsylvania. 1757 William Pitt fully commits with Indian policy. His plan of union ultimately failed, however, and a to war. The British Empire and the major war — the Seven Years’ War — ensued, pitting the British and 1760 Montreal falls to British. colonists against the French and their Indian allies in the backcountry George III becomes British Colonial Crisis, 1754–1775 of the American colonies. When the war ended and the British king. government proposed to tax colonists to help pay for it, Hutchinson 1763 Treaty of Paris ends Seven was certain that the new British taxation policies were legitimate Years’ War. Pontiac’s Rebellion. CONTENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES — unwise, perhaps, but legitimate. Proclamation of 1763. Not everyone in Boston shared his opinion. Enthusiastic crowds After reading and studying this chapter, you should be able to: Paxton Boys massacre protested a succession of taxation policies enacted after 1763 , from friendly Indians. • Distinguish archaeology and history as disciplines, and understand the the Sugar Act to the Tea Act,. But Hutchinson maintained his stead- 1764 Parliament enacts Sugar Act. possibilities and limitations of both. fast loyalty to Britain. His love of order and tradition inclined him to • Identify the earth’s first human inhabitants and what developments 1765 Parliament enacts Stamp Act. unconditional support of the British empire, and by nature he was a Virginia Resolves challenge allowed them to migrate to the Western Hemisphere. measured and cautious man. “My temper does not incline to Stamp Act. • Differentiate between Archaic hunter-gatherers and the Paleo-Indians, and enthusiasm,” he once wrote. Sons of Liberty stage crowd identify the main characteristics of their cultures. actions. • Explain how the Archaic peoples transitioned from being nomadic hunter- In another irony, Thomas Hutchinson early recognized the Stamp Act Congress meets. difficulties of maintaining full rights and privileges for colonists so gatherers to relying on agriculture and permanent settlements. 1766 Parliament repeals Stamp • Identify the major Native American cultures that flourished in North far from their supreme government, the king and Parliament in Act, passes Declaratory Act. America on the eve of Columbus’s arrival and the similarities among them. Britain. At a crisis point in 1769, when British troops occupied 1767 Parliament enacts • Describe the structure, influence, and expanse of the Mexica (Aztec) Boston, he wrote privately to a friend in England, “There must be an Townshend duties. empire on the eve of Columbus’s arrival. abridgement of what are called English liberties. I doubt whether 1768 British station troops in it is possible to project a system of government in which a colony Boston. n 1771, Thomas Hutchinson became the royal governor of the three thousand miles distant from the parent state shall enjoy all the 1768– Merchants sign colony of Massachusetts. Most royal governors were british aristo- liberty of the parent state.” He could not imagine the colonies 1769– nonimportation agreements. crats sent over by the king for short tours of duty, but Hutchinson without a parent state, existing independently. I 1770 Boston Massacre was a fifth-generation American with a long record of public service in Thomas Hutchinson was a loyalist, as were most English- Parliament repeals local institutions. He lived in the finest mansion in speaking colonists in the 1750s.. But the Seven Years’ War, in which Townshend duties. Boston; wealth, power, and influence were his in Britain and its colonies were allies, shook that affection, and imperial 1772 British navy ship Gaspée abundance. He was proud of his connection to the policies in the decade following the war shattered it completely. Over burned. British empire and loyal to his king. the course of 1763 to 1773, Americans insistently raised serious 1773 Parliament passes Tea Act. Hutchinson had the misfortune to be a loyal questions about Britain’s governance of its colonies. Many came to Tea dumped in Boston colonial leader during the two tumultuous decades leading up to believe what Thomas Hutchinson could never accept — that a harbor. the American Revolution. He worked hard to keep the British and tyrannical Britain had embarked on a course to enslave the colonists 1774 Parliament passes Coercive colonists aligned in interests, even promoting a plan to unify the by depriving them of their traditional English liberties. Acts. Powder Alarm shows colonies with a limited government (the Albany Plan of Union) to deal The opposite of liberty was slavery, a coerced condition of non- colonists’ readiness. freedom. Political rhetoric about liberty, tyranny, and slavery heated First Continental Congress up the emotions of white colonists during the many crises of the 1760s meets. PATRICK HENRY’S MAP DESK and 1770s. But this rhetoric turned out to be a two-edged sword. The 1775 Battles of Lexington and This map table with pullout extensions belonged to Virginian Patrick Henry, a major call for an end to tyrannical slavery meant one thing when sounded by Concord. speculator in lands west of the Appalachian Mountains. Yet Cherokee Indians lived Dunmore promises slaves Boston merchants whose commercial shipping rights. there, leading the British to prohibit land purchases there. freedom. 224 Roark_CAP6_v3_02.17.16.indd 224-225 2/18/16 10:16 AM.

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