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The Navigation Law of 1650 & Practice of Mercantilism

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The Navigation Law of 1650 & Practice of Mercantilism

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The Navigation Acts were a series of English laws that promoted English trade and commerce between other countries and its own colonies. The reason for these acts was to encourage Britain to become self-sufficient by decreasing their dependence on imported goods. They also were to promote the economic theory of Mercantilism, which is the regulation of colonial activity and reintegrating the colonies into the mother country. Mercantilists believed that the sole purpose of the colonies was to supply raw materials to the mother country and purchase manufactured goods. Seeing that the British government was already responsible for equipping, overseeing, and managing natural resources, they felt as if they should also be responsible for trade. The colonists felt that the laws were unjust so they would break them by smuggling goods. This then furthered the hostility and distrust between the colonies and Britain, leading to the Revolutionary War.

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Pontiac's Rebellion was an armed conflict between the British Empire and Algonquian, Iroquoian, Muskogean, and Siouan speaking Native Americans following the Seven Years' War, that took place between 1763 and 1765. This violence represented an unprecedented pan-Indian resistance to European colonization in North America. The rebellion begins when a confederacy of Native warriors under Chief Pontiac attacks the British force at Detroit. Pontiac states in his speech addressed to the tribes in his area that he will kill any English settlers from their land. He compares the French and English and believes that the English are not good people, and need to be attacked.

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The Proclamation of 1763 and colonists reaction

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The Proclamation of 1763 and colonists reaction

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The Proclamation of 1763 was issued at the end of the French and Indian War by the British. It created a boundary called the proclamation line that separated the British colonies and the American Indians lands. It was created to appease the Native Americans by preventing the British colonies from intruding on their lands. In response to Pontiac Rebellion, the British government declared all lands west of the Appalachian Mountains to be off limits to British settlers. It forbade colonies from buying land or making agreements with natives. The proclamation was introduced as a temporary measure, but economic benefits caused Britain to keep it until the Revolutionary War. The colonists had a desire for good farmland, so this caused many colonists to defy the proclamation and others merely resented the restrictions on trade and migration.

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The Sugar Act of 1764 and introduction of Vice Admiralty Courts

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The Sugar Act of 1764 and introduction of Vice Admiralty Courts

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In order to decrease the smuggling of foreign goods as well as increase revenue for the British Empire, the tax on foreign goods was decreased to encourage paying it. This was mostly on sugar and molasses, but also affected many other foreign goods. This led to a quick decline of the rum industry in the colonies as they now had to pay high taxes in order to receive their ingredients. There were also many articles that dealt with higher enforcement on making sure the cargo was legal. However, if smugglers were caught they would no longer face a sympathetic local jury, and instead face the new Vice-Admiralty Courts. They were a juryless court with a judge who held all the power. Many new Vice-Admiralty Courts were established, and the one that dealt with the smugglers, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, was sent directly from England. This meant that the judge was very biased towards punishment, and this meant that sugar and molasses had to come from the more expensive British West Indies, lest one face a court that is against them.

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The purpose of The Currency Act was to assume total control over the colonies currency and prohibited them from printing new bills or reissuing old ones. They did this because of a colonial currency shortage which halted trade, because of this they replaced the British currency with bills they printed them selves. This caused fear in British merchants due to the instability of the new bills which lead to less trade. The British in reaction to this replaced the colonial currency with the pound sterling which was the same currency they used in mainland Britain. This act also gave British naval commanders who suspected someone of smuggling or other violations the right to start a hearing that was biased against the suspected smuggler.

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The Stamp Act of 1765 and the colonist reaction.

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The Stamp Act of 1765 and the colonist reaction.

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The Stamp Act of 1765 was the first internal tax on the American colonies by the British Parliament. The British Parliament taxed all papers and official documents in the American colonies but not in Britain. The Stamp Act was an attempt at raising revenue for the British after the French and Indian War. This attempt made the colonist mad and a man by the name of Patrick Henry, from Virginia, submitted a resolution to the House of Burgesses that would deny the British Parliament´s right to tax the colonies. Taking after Patrick Henry, the Stamp Act Congress wrote petitions to the king saying that only colonial assemblies had the authority to tax colonists. The Sons of Liberty which was a group of Boston colonists, hanged and beheaded the stamp distributor in Boston Andrew Oliver. The Colonists did not appreciate the forceful Stamp Act of 1765.

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The Quartering Acts of 1765 made the colonists house the British Solders and if the colonists couldn't house all the solders, places like an inn would need to take them in. This Act required them to make there homes fit for the British to live in them. The colonist were mad that they were forced to allow the British into there home and they would've liked to give there approval first. They refused this law so there was a Restraining Act passed in 1767 that forbid the governor from signing anything further until they agreed with the Quartering Act. 

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The Quartering Acts of 1765 made the colonists house the British Solders and if the colonists couldn't house all the solders, places like an inn would need to take them in. This Act required them to make there homes fit for the British to live in them. The colonist were mad that they were forced to allow the British into there home and they would've liked to give there approval first. They refused this law so there was a Restraining Act passed in 1767 that forbid the governor from signing anything further until they agreed with the Quartering Act. 

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After the Stamp Act had imposed taxes on all paper goods in an attempt to indirectly collect taxes in the colonies in 1765, colonists did whatever they could to get rid of this taxation without representation. For months the colonists boycotted British goods, protested, and even organized attacks on tax collectors. An appeal was held by Benjamin Franklin before the British House of Commons and on March 18th, 1766 parliament voted to repeal the Stamp Act in the colonies. On this same day the British parliament voted to impose the Declaratory Acts in an attempt to gain better control over the colonies.

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The Declaratory Act 1766 and colonist reaction 

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The Declaratory Act 1766 and colonist reaction 

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The Declaratory Act of 1766 is declaration by the British Parliament along with the repeal of the stamp act. This act stated that the parliament could make laws binding the American colonies. Many colonists saw this as a political win. But other colonists were angered by this because they knew there would be more acts to come. This angered colonists because they thought they should be allowed to settle wherever they wanted to. This also gave parliament the right to tax which the colonists did not like.

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The Townshend Acts of 1767 were a British attempt at taxing almost all goods imported to the American colonies. These acts were passed shortly after the repeal of the Stamp Act and acted as a way to gather revenue from the colonies. The 4 acts included are as follows: The suspending act, which suspended the New York Assembly from conducting any business until it agreed to pay for the British troops stationed there; The Revenue Act put taxes on items such as glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea; The Indemnity Act allowed for the British East India Company to import tea into England, allowing them to then export the tea back to the colonies at a cheaper rate; And lastly, the Commissioners of Customs Act established an American Customs Board, allowing 5 British appointed heads to enforce a strict set of trade laws and regulations onto the colonists. The colonist's reaction to these acts included protest, this led to the popularization of the phrase "No taxation without Representation". The colonists eventually decided to boycott any and all British imported goods until the acts were lifted.

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After the Townshend acts passed by parliament in 1767, Samuel Adams wrote on behalf of the Massachusetts legislature, the circular letter. This letter said that parliament had no right to tax Americans without proper representation. this called for unified resistance by all the colonies. In response to the letter, the British governor of Massachusetts dissolved the states legislature. British troops arriving in Boston were threatened armed resistance by the sons of liberty, but none was offered when they stationed themselves in Boston.

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These resolutions declared that only Virginia’s governor and legislature were able to tax their citizens. This was introduced to the House of Burgesses on May 16th, 1769. Most colonists viewed this as radical, and it angered the Americans.This made the Americans revolt more openly against the British Parliament.

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Tension began to rise in early 1770, Boston. Over 2,000 British soldiers occupied the city of Boston along with 16,000 colonists. Soldiers tried to enforce Britain's tax laws, the Stamp Act, and Townshend Act. American colonists began to rebel due to these taxes being repressive, creating the cry “No taxation without representation”. Conflicts arose between patriot colonists and loyalists (loyal colonists to the king). On February 22, a group of patriots attacked a loyalist’s store which resulted in the death of an 11 year old boy which enraged the patriots. Days later a fight broke out between British soldiers and local workers and ended with serious bloodshed. On the evening of March 5, 1770, Private Hugh White was the long soldier guarding the King's money stored inside the Custom House on King street. Soon enough angry colonists came to threaten and interrogate him, leading to White striking a colonist with his bayonet. Angry colonists retaliated with ice and stones. Bells were rung throughout the town, using a warning of fire sending male colonists into the streets. White eventually called for reinforcements. Captain Thomas Preston arrived with several soldiers and took the defensive position in front of the Custom House. Violence escalated and someone supposedly said “fire”, a soldier fired a gun we are still unclear if it was an intentional discharge. Other soldiers began to open fire killing 5 colonists. Within hours Preston and his soldiers were arrested and jailed with the propaganda machine in full force. Sons of Liberty leaders, Samuel Adams and John Hancock encouraged colonists to keep fighting the British. British troops fled from Boston to Fort William after tension rose. Paul revere encouraged anti-British attitudes by spreading how British soldiers recklessly murdered American colonists. Preston was later put on trial along with other soldiers and found not guilty. But two of them Hugh Montgomery and Matthew Kilroy were found guilty of manslaughter and were branded on the thumbs as first offenders per English law.

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Committees of correspondence and sons of liberty 1772

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Committees of correspondence and sons of liberty 1772

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The committees of correspondence were a series of provisional governments set up in response to the British policies in the lead up to the revolution. They were formed in many regions and helped organize resistance against the British throughout the colonies. The first Committee of correspondence was set up in 1772 in Boston by Samuel Adams to deal with the Gaspee affair which had occurred in nearby Rhode Island . The Boston committee of correspondence would later be an important part in the Boston tea party of 1773. The Committees of correspondence had many connections to the Sons of Liberty which was an organization formed in 1765 that used various forms of civil disobedience and violence to fight the British government and to get more people to join their side. There were many sons of liberty in committees of correspondence such as the Boston one which was made up almost entirely of members of the sons of liberty. Virginia's house of Burgesses set up its own committee of correspondence to establish communication between the colonies and organize resistance; these inter-colonial networks of committees would end up being very important in communication between revolutionary leaders and instrumental in later events of the revolution.

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The British Parliament passed the Tea Act in May 1773. It reinforced a tea tax in the American colonies. The act also allowed the British East India Company to have a monopoly on the tea trade there. This meant that the American colonists were not allowed to buy tea from any other source. It cut out colonial merchants iterfering with the colonists to free market trade.

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On December 16, 1773 the colonists were angry about the taxes on tea and taxation without representation. The colonists dressed up as Natives Americans and dumped 342 crates of British East India Company tea into the Boston Harbor before taxes were able to be collected.

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Know that the main purpose of these acts were to cut off Boston and Massachusetts from the rest of the colonies, but instead the colonies ban together and send aid to them. This created a sense of unity in the colonies.

The Boston port act was enacted to punish the people for what they d during the Boston tea party and would not open the port until the damages that were caused had been fully paid for.

The Massachusetts government act took the rights away from the people it took all power and control out of them they got appointed officials and were forbidden from gathering at town meetings to prevent an overthrow

The Administration of justice act Governor could have trials of british officials moved back to england not in the colonial courts getting their way out of trouble.

The quartering act was reinstated so that troops could be quartered in anyone's homes without asking they just made it a law that the government could rest their soldiers wherever they needed to

The Quebec act gave the freedom of religion however people were not happy specifically the protestants

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Reaction to the Intolerable Acts (2nd Boston Tea Party)

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Reaction to the Intolerable Acts (2nd Boston Tea Party)

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The reaction to the British cutting off the colonies resulted in unification. The British expected the other colonies to allow Boston to be cut off but quite the opposite happened. Other colonies sent supplies to Boston and began to altogether resist British rule. The colonies formed their own Provincial Congresses to talk about Britain’s unfair ruling. Shortly after the Intolerable Acts, the Second Boston Tea Party occurred. 60 men boarded a ship and dumped 30 chests of tea. This influenced other colonists, and people from Maryland, New York and South Carolina started to dump tea as well. This did not get as much attention as the first Boston Tea Party, but it influenced other colonies to consider the mistreatment of the mother country to a greater extent.

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The First Continental Congress was established in 1774. They discussed how they felt towards the intolerable acts, they obviously did not like them since they were a huge change in taxation that the British did to punish them. The colonists wrote a petition for King George III to sign asking for their rights to be acknowledged. This group of colonists served as the 13 colonies government from 1774-1789. They created a declaration of rights to establish what they wanted. This led up to the American Revolution in 1775.

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New England Restraining Act 1775 and their reaction 

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New England Restraining Act 1775 and their reaction 

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The New England Restraining Act was passed by parliament in 1775 in order to punish the colonies for their boycott of British goods. This law prohibited the New England colonies to trade with any other country but Great Britain or the British West Indies. American colonist responded to the act with organized protests. In their protest they boycotted British goods. They refused to buy any imported tea from the British West Indies. Throughout the colonies a network of secret organizations know as the "Sons of Liberty" was created. It was made to intimidate the stamp agents who collected parliament taxes.

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On April 18th, the Sons of Liberty learned that Redcoats were going to march to take Concord that night. Paul Revere and William Dawes were sent to notify the other Patriots, and would do this by hanging one lantern at the top of a steeple if the British were coming on land, and two lanterns if they came by sea. At dawn the next morning, the British arrived with about 700 men and were matched with approximately 80 minutemen (They were called this due to the ability to be ready ‘in a minute’). The minutemen were ordered to not attack until they were attacked first, thus creating the ‘shot heard round the world.’ The British then burned the weapons they found, which led the minutemen waiting on the hills to attack. As the British retreated to Lexington, they ran into reinforcements, but this did not stop the minutemen from attacking. This was the first battle of the revolution, and would give the patriots encouragement, as they could fight against this world power.

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Published in January 1776, in Philadelphia, "Common Sense," was an immediate best selling book. Thomas Paine had sold 120,000 copies by April of 1776. That was 4.8% of the 13 colonies population in just 4 months!!!! In this book he preached two main points; Independence from England and the creation of a Democratic Republic government. While writing "Common Sense" Paine refrained from writing with hard to read language and instead wrote in a people's language which was easy to understand, he also oftened quoted the bible in his writing. Many British colonists had and understanding of the Bible therefore many people bought into his book. Paine, even though he was not religious, used quotes of the Bible to lure in his readers and persuade them. He gave King George III the names "the Pharoh of England" and "the Royal Brute of Great Britain." He touched a nerve in the American countryside with this piece. After he had published his book during the American Revolution, "Common Sense" kept the Continental Army motivated and boosted the American troop's moral.

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The Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The Declaration was a summary of the colonists’ motivations to become independent from British rule. The colonists were frustrated due to the heavy taxes from the British government. England needed these taxes to pay back war debts from the French and Indian War and were expecting the colonists to provide all of them. The Continental Congress started boycotts of British goods to protest against them. British officials felt like their authority was being challenged and they were not happy. However, there was still a group of colonists who were loyal to the British that were in the way of gaining independence. The British cut off trade but the colonies still kept their ports open which was a huge step towards getting independence. On June 7th, the Continental Congress decided to declare independence. They had Thomas Jefferson write the document and the British were given it. The official date of independence was after the 1783 Treaty of Paris was signed and Britain finally recognized the United States as it’s own nation.

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