Download POWER POINT "From Elite Protest to Popular Revolt"

To Rebel
or
Not to Rebel?
By L. Clark-Burnell
November 2003
The text for these 8th grade U.S. history notes is
based in large part upon chapter five, “The
American Revolution,” of the following college
history text.
Divine, Robert A., T.H. Breen, George M.
Fredrickson, R. Hal Williams. America Past and
Present. Longman: New York, 1999.
Images usually come from corbis.com
How did the American
Revolution shift from
an elite protest among of the
•Planters
•Merchants
•clergymen
To…
Popular Revolt
Petitioning Citizens—
Boycotting Housewives—
Rioting Mobs—
Farmers turned Soldiers--
From Elite Protest to Popular
Revolt
• Demographics
• Leaders
• Ideas
I. Demographics
Changes in America in 1760
– Period of post war (French and Indian War)
prosperity
• per capita income in 1760’s colonies higher than
in most developed nations today!
• Wealth not evenly distributed: South better than
New England (few exports for trade)
– Increase population and over 60% of Americans are
under 21
• how did all those young people become
politically mobilized?
II. Leadership
Changes in Great Britain– a new king George III
– 22 years old, sheltered life, poorly educated, ignored
by his father (who was too busy gallivanting around
to parent)
– His grandfather, the King, George II, thought him
“dull-witted”
– Young George III grew up resenting his grandfather
and everything about George II’s reign
King George III:
Resentful & ill-prepared youth
Wants to change
everything
associated with
King George II’s
reign
So takes aggressive
role in gov’t  by
issuing decrees
about the colonies.
Parliament gets mad– they think King George is
disrespecting their power (turning back the clock
to days of Stuart monarchs who weren’t restricted
by Parliament.)
III. Ideas– philosophical disagreements
What causes these differing disagreements?
A. Poor physical communication between
America & Britain
• 4 weeks by boat– so inaccurate info
• Most Englishmen have never been to America
B. Don’t understand each other because
different perspectives on parliamentary
sovereignty
Two views on
Parliamentary Sovereignty
We didn’t VOTE for
legislators in
Parliament 
Parliament members
are NOT our
representatives, 
Parliament doesn’t
have the right to make
laws for us or tax us.
England & Scotland
Only Americans
North Americacan
India
represent
us
Parliament has absolute
power to make laws for
ALL British subjects
We, in Parliament, ARE
your representatives, 
we, Parliament, have the
right to tax colonists in
America.
IV. A series of Events:
actions-reactions
Colonists surge into
lands won from
French in French &
Indian war 
American Indians
attack colonist to
protect land  King
George III issues
proclamation of 1763:
“Colonists stay out!”
Proclamation
of
1763
A. Proclamation of 1763
10,000 British soldiers in
colonies to
– Protect Amer. Indians
from colonists and vice
versa
– Keep order in Florida
and Quebec
– $$$-- Interest alone
from Fr. & I. War = ½
British annual budget
• How to pay for
standing army in
colonies?
• British in England are
already rioting over
20% taxes to pay for
wars…
B. Sugar Act
BRITISH ACTION:
To pay for army, B.
revises an existing
duty on sugar,
molasses, coffee, tea,
wine and other
imports called
THE SUGAR
ACT OF 1764
Redefines relationship
between Colonies &
Great Britain
– expects colonies to
generate tax revenue,
not just favorable
balance of trade.
Sugar Act…
• BRITISH ACTION:
• Grenville (British
Treasurer) knows the
colonies will balk at this
tax– will call it illegal–
• So, he reduces the
molasses duty of 1733,
hoping to prevent
smuggling while placing
a tax on SUGAR
COLONIAL REACTION:
• Sugar Act taxed colonists
“inconsistent with their
rights and privileges” –
James Otis of Rhode
Island Assembly
• Colonial Assemblies
protest (still not regular
folks protesting)
C. Stamp Act– the turning point
Regular folks are
affected weekly, if not
daily, by the Stamp
Act
therefore
Ordinary people are afraid the
taxes or stamp fees will increase
unemployment and spell death
to colonial businesses, so
ordinary people protest en
masse.
1765 Stamp Act
transforms protests
among the gentry to
a mass movement
Stamp Act’s purpose is to raise revenue
Introduction of Stamp Act: “An
act for granting and applying
certain stamp duties, and other
duties, in the British colonies and
plantations in America, towards
further defraying the expences
[sic] of defending, protecting, and
securing the same”
What gets stamped?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be
ingrossed, written or printed, any declaration, plea, replication, rejoinder, demurrer, or other
pleading, or any copy thereof, in any court of law
Every…piece of paper, on which shall be…any [official business] in ecclesiastical matters in
any court of probate
every … sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be … written … any donation, … to any
benefice… or certificate of any degree taken in any university,
every … sheet or piece of paper, on shall be … writtenany appeal, writ of error, writ of dower…
any record or proceeding in any court whatsoever within the said colonies and plantations
every… piece of paper, on which shall be… written… any licence, to practice in any court,
every…sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be..written… any note or bill of lading, which
shall be signed for any kind of goods, wares, or merchandize, to be exported from
every…sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be..written… any grant, appointment, or
admission of or to any publick beneficial office or employment
Every…sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be..written…any licence for retailing of
spirituous liquors
Every…sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be..written any probate of a will, letters of
administration, or of guardianship for any estate
Every…sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be..written order or warrant for surveying or
setting out any quantity of land
What gets stamped? Nearly every
official document
•
Every…sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be..written order or warrant for surveying or setting
•
Every…sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be..written any indenture, lease, conveyance,
contract, stipulation, bill of sale, charter party, protest, articles of apprenticeship, or covenant
(except for the hire of servants not apprentices, and also except such other matters as are
herein before charged) Every…sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be..written
Every…sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be..written any notarial act, bond, deed, letter,
of attorney, procuration, mortgage,
And for and upon every pack of playing cards, and all dice, which shall be sold or used within
the said colonies and plantations, the several stamp duties following (that is to say) For
every pack of such cards, the sum of one shilling.
And for every pair of such dice, the sum of ten shillings.
And for and upon every paper, commonly called a pamphlet, and upon every news paper,
containing publick news, intelligence, or occurrences, which shall be printed, dispersed, and
made publick
For every advertisement to be contained in any gazette, news paper, or other paper, or any
pamphlet which shall be so printed, a duty of two shillings.
For every almanack or calendar
•
•
•
•
•
•
out any quantity of land
For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which any instrument,
proceeding, or other matter or thing aforesaid, shall be ingrossed, written, or printed, within the said colonies
and plantations, in any other than the English language
The Stamp Act kills this newspaper because
the cost of the stamp is too expensive for the publisher to bear.
This is their death issue or last issue.
The times are
dreadful, dismal,
doleful, dolorous,
and dollar-less
Oh!
The
fatal
Stamp!
I am sorry toExpiring
acquaintinmy
readers
as the Stamp
ACT
is feared to be
hopes
of athat
resurrection
to life
again
upon us… the publisher of this paper, unable to bear the burden, has
thought it expedient to stop awhile, in order to deliberate whether any
methods can be found to elude the Chains forged for us, and escape this
insupportable slavery.
Reaction to the Stamp Act reveals the
power of the pen.
The preceding slide of the newspaper,
shows how the written word was
used to spread news of how British
policies were hurting colonist and to
increase resentment towards British
taxation policies.
Colonial Reaction to Stamp Act: Rioting
Mob riots in Boston
Does this famous saying apply?
“One man’s patriot is another
man’s terrorist.”
• Mobs attack the office
where stamps are sold,
destroy the building, &
burn local stamp
distributer, Oliver
Andrews in effigy.
• Mobs nearly destroy
home of Lt. Gov.
Thomas Hutchinson
• Mobs threaten merchants
with tarring and
feathering if they don’t
boycott British goods
Colonial Reaction: Virginia
Resolutions
Colonial press fuels
popular anger by
spreading word to
other colonies of
the Virginia Resolutions
– even though the
most radical resolutions
didn’t pass the
Virginia
House of Burgesses. This shows
the power of the pen.
• Patrick Henry writes the
Virginia Resolutions
stating it is illegal for
Britain to tax its colonies
& hints that George III is a
tyrant to be overthrown!
• Virginia Resolutions seen
as radical defiance of
Parliament’s power (event
though most radical of 5
resolutions aren’t passed
by V. House of Burgesses
Colonial Reaction to Stamp Act:
Stamp Act Congress
• Nine colonies send delegates to first joint meeting
of colonies
• Sign of unity– beginning to see that colonies have
more in common– problems with England, than
they have differences
Colonial Reaction to Stamp Act:
Boycott Movement
• Boycott movement involves women, who were
excluded from voting and civil office
• Still, women are the ones running households–
buying goods. Women
– alter styles of clothes,
Wielding
economic power
– make homespun cloth,
– avoid imported products on which Britain placed a tax.
• “Save your money and you can save your
country.”– slogan in a colonial newspaper
Colonial Reaction to Stamp Act: distrust
royal officials in America
• Royal governors, customs officials,
military men, these all seem almost
like foreigners
• Why? Because their interests are
suddenly not the same as the colonists’
interests.
D. Townshend Acts of 1767
• What are they? A hodge-podge of taxes or duties on
paper, glass, paint, lead, and tea
• Britain needs to enforce these new duties creates
American Board of Customs Commissioners, based
in Boston
• Townshend (chancellor of the exchequer making bad
policy decisions while Prime Minister Pitt is away)
reinstates courts w/o juries to prosecute crimes
• Blackmail: Townshend orders New York governor
to veto all bills passed by New York assembly until
the colony provides quarter (shelter and food) for
British troops.
Colonial Reaction to the Townshend
Acts: boycotts
More boycotts of British goods–
organized by Sons of Liberty in
major ports
Colonial Reaction to the Townshend Acts:
Circular Letter
• Feb. 1768 Massachusetts House of Rep.
Drafts a letter and circulates it to other
colonies asking for suggestions on how to
resist the Townshend Acts.
• Other colonies ignore it– busy. They think
it isn’t important.
• Lord Hillsborough, a British official,
disagrees.
British Reaction to the Circular Letter: “take it
back” & Colonial Reaction to threat: “make me”
• Lord Hillsborough does think it a big deal. Calls it that
“seditious paper” [treasonous] He demands that the
Massachusetts legislators rescind it (take it back)
• Challenged, the Massachusetts legislators essentially say
“make me” by voting 92-17 NOT to take it back
Now the Circular Letter is a big deal! 92 becomes a synonym
for patriotism– it’s the number of legislators who voted to defy
Hillsborough. Again, the pen is powerful!
British Reaction to Massachusetts’
defiance (Spring 1768)
• Hillsborough dissolves Mass. Legislature
• Other colonies think this is an outrage, thus this
• Hillsborough has just done the opposite of what
Britain wanted: given the colonies more reason to
work together Colonies start communicating with
each other more
E. British Move 4000 troops to
Boston, October 1768
•
•
•
Colonists ask why troops are here.
American pamphleteers answer– a conspiracy to oppress
Bostonians
Colonists resent troops’ presence:
1. Suspect troops are their to police them, not protect them
2. Bad influence on children
3. Disobedience soldiers are brutally whipped in public– appalls
civilians
•
March 5, 1770 boys and street thugs taunt British troops.
Mob taunting soldiers grows, becomes more menacing.
Troops fire, killing 5 Americans.
Pamphleteers put spin on the event
“Boston Massacre”
• Joseph Warren’s propagandists speech about the
“murdered husbands” and “orphaned children” of
the 5 bachelors spreads throughout colonies
• Paul Revere makes popular and gory engraving of
the event.
• People are outraged at the “massacre.”
• Two more examples of the pen dramatically
influencing how people respond to events.
British Response to the “Boston
Massacre”
• Appoint a new chancellor
• Repeal Townshend duties on everything
except tea.
• Tea tax retained as a reminder that B. thinks
Parliament has the right to tax the
colonies Parliament is sovereign.
• Both sides trying to avoid further
confrontation
1770-1773
Calm before the storm
A period of relative peace
1772 Committee of Correspondence
• Colonies keep in contact with each other to
communicate complaints about British
government’s treatment to each other
• This is a colonial government apparatus
completely independent of the royal crown
• Power of the Pen– keeping people informed
allows colonists to see a pattern of events beyond
their own town or colony. They start thinking
more continentally, rather than focusing solely on
their own colonial affairs.
May1773: Tea Act
• Parliament gives the
East India Company a
monopoly on selling
tea to the colonies.
Thus lowers the cost
of tea, America’s
favorite drink.
• BUT…
Colonial Reaction to May 1773 Tea Act
• Colonists are
suspicious of this
monopoly– since it
lowers the price of tea
while leaving the tea
tax in place. Colonist
think it is a scheme to
get them to pay the tax
on tea!
• Colonial merchants in
the North who
smuggle tea from
Dutch companies are
mad– this threatens to
cripple their business
Colonial Reaction to May 1773 Tea
Act: Ships can’t dock or unload
• Colonists don’t let
East India Company
ships (carrying tea)
dock in their ports in
Philadelphia and New
York
• In Boston, merchants
won’t let the ships unload,
but the royal governor,
Hutchinson, won’t let the
ships sail back to England.
• On December 16th, 1773,
Sons of Liberty disguised as
Amer. Indians, dump 342
chest of tea into the harbor!
Colonial Reaction to 1773 Tea Act:
Boston Tea Party, December 16th, 1773
Disguised as
Amer.
Indians, Sons
of Liberty
sneak onto
ships and toss
340 chest of
tea into the
harbor
10,000 English pounds of tea are destroyed
British Reaction to Tea Party:
Coercive Acts March-June 1774
•
Parliament and King George find the Tea Party an act
of utter contempt for Parliamentary power that they
pass a series of acts designed to force (hence the
name, coercive) the colonies into obedience
1.
2.
3.
4.
•
Close port of Boston until Boston pays for the tea
Change Mass. Gov’t: upper house is appointed by British gov’t not elected, and
limits town meetings to one a year.
Lets royal governor transfer criminal cases of British officers to friendly
jurisdiction (tried in England, not colonies)
Gives army power to quarter soldiers anywhere, including uninhabited private
buildings.
Thomas Gage becomes the new colonial governor of
Mass.
Governor Gage announces
In the colonies, “nothing can be
done but by forcible means”
Colonial Reaction to the Coercive Acts
• Colonist call the Coercive Acts, the Intolerable
Acts (meaning they can’t or won’t tolerate them!)
• Radicals, like John Adams, see this act as evidence
that England intends to deny colonist’s their rights
as Englishmen
• Moderates in colonies begin to believe that the
Radicals might be right.
• People are NOT clamoring for independence, yet,
just mad about not getting their rights as British
citizens.
Quebec Act of June 1774
• Quebec, is the territory England won from France
in the Fr & Indian War.
• Had had military rule. England now organizes the
territory– no elected assembly and gives French
Catholics large political voice.
• Why do colonists care? Because this territory
extends down to the Ohio River– this includes
parts of the New England colonies!
Colonial Reaction to Quebec Act &
st
Intolerable Acts: 1 Continental
Congress – Sept. 1775
• Committees of Correspondence agree to send
representatives to continental wide meeting on
Sept. 5th 1775 & 6 months later. (Example of
power of the pen?)
• Famous influential men are delegates: John
Adams, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, Richard
Henry Lee, Christopher Gadsden, and George
Washington
First Continental Congress – Sept. 1775
• Tough meeting at first– delegates don’t know much
about economy and customs of other colonies. Some
delegates urge caution. Others want confrontation.
• Create Suffolk Resolves– statement encouraging
Massachusetts to use force to resist the Intolerable acts.
Revolutionary words!
• Create the Association an inter-colonial agreement to
boycott all British goods until Britain repeals the
Coercive (Intolerable) Acts = non-importation
• Agree to meet again in May, 1775 if King George &
Parliament doesn’t meet their demands to repeal I. Acts
Lexington & Concord: April 1775
• Shots are fired on April 19th, 1775 when part of
the British army marches to Lexington and
Concord to confiscate the gunpowder the
Massachusetts militia had be secretly storing.
• Massachusetts militia meet the British soldiers and
a small fight ensues.
• Word spreads of the skirmish at Concord and the 8
dead American militiamenthousands of
minutemen (militiamen trained to respond w/ a
minutes notice) attack the British at Lexington and
on their return to Boston. It turns into a rout!
Concord & Lexington: First Shots of
War– even though war hasn’t been declared
One month later…
• The Second Continental Congress meets in
May 1775, as scheduled back in September,
just a month after Lexington and Concord.
• The Continental Congress begins managing
the war against Great Britain, even though
they won’t declare independence from
Great Britain for another year.
Parliament Passes the Prohibitory Act
• Parliament declares war on
colonial trade– prohibits colonies
from trading with any country.
Blockades colonial ports.
• Also hires German mercenaries to
fight against colonists
Thomas Paine Publishes Common
Sense
• Paine, a pamphleteer, publishes Common
Sense
• It sells 120,000 copies in 3 months.
• Calls the king “a royal brute”
• Persuades common people to want
independence
• “We have it in our power to begin the world
over again.”
• The power of the pen!
July 2, 1776
• The 2nd Continental Congress
finally votes in favor of declaring
independence.