Notes 2010-10-04

-1765 Stamp Act continued

-Stamp Act Congress 1765
-Representatives from 9 colonies met in New York to discuss the Stamp
Act
-Colonists are starting to make a claim that Parliment doesn't have the
authority to tax them
-they are saying Parliment can still regulate them, but not tax
them
Sons of Liberty
-Formed in response to the stamp act
-supported the boycotts
-supported the harassment of the stampmasters
-later become the radical wing of the Patriot Movement from 1765
through the Revolution (violence tends to work)
-some colonists begin a boycott of English goods
-StampMasters were the ones who gave out stamps and collected the money
-they were locally apointed by England
-some colonists harassed the stampmasters
-all eventually resigned from the job
-Colonists hate the act, merchants hate it because of the boycotts and Parliment
hates it too because its not working
-Parliment wont repeal it because it will make them look weak for giving
into the colonists wishes
-1766 Parliment passes the Declaratory Act
-Parliment has the right to tax the colonists whenever they want
-they repeal the Stamp Act after that
-1767 Townshend Acts
-put a tax on certain goods imported into the colonies
-i.e. glass, paint, lead. tea
-send official tax collectors to the colonies
-the Board of Customs Commissioners
-set up shop in Boston
-colonists hated the commissioners
-government sends troops into boston to protect the Customs
Commissioners
-colonists hate the troops too
-Colonists antagonize the local troops protecting the commissioners
-a large crowd gathers and harasses the troops
-a random shot was fired and the troops got scared and fired at
the crowd
-5 colonists were killed and 6 wounded
-Boston Massacre (March 1770)
-Sons of Liberty use this to get people rialed up
-England pulls troops out of Boston
-Lord North is now the head of the English government
-realizes the colonial situation is terrible
-wanted to take a new approach to the colonies
-gets Parliment to repeal the townshend acts
-left the tea tax though, for show of power and needed money
-relations improved between England and the colonies for a while
-1772 Hutchinson is the appointed Royal Govenor of Massachucettes
-a decendent of Anne Hutcinson (stubborn and a colonists)
-Hutchinson was a supporter of England like many colonists were
-says he will no longer take his salary from the Mass. Assembly
 -it will now come from the King
-colonists are upset
-now they dont have power of money over governor
-1773 Parliment passed the Tea Act
-changed how tea was sold in the colonies
-it cut out the middle man in the tea sales
-the middle man was the colonial merchants
-it made the tea cheaper
-didn't like the tea act
-it hurt the colonial merchants
-some thought it was an English govt trick
-to get people to pay the tax
-it was not a trick
-set up a boycott on tea
-Boston Tea Party
-Hutchinson says the ships will remain in the port of Boston until the colonists
buy the tea
-December 1773 colonists dump the tea into the harbor
-a group of men disguised as Mohawk Indians but were really the Sons
of Liberty
-strained the relations between the colonists and England
-in response to the Tea Party, Parliment passes the Coercive Acts 1774
-to punish Boston (called the Intolerable Acts by the colonists)
-the Acts closed the port of Boston until the tea was payed for
-Acts also changed the structure of the Mass. government
-Royal Governor got more power and the people got less power
First Continental Congress 1774
-in response to the Coercive Acts
-Delegates from all colonies except Georgia meet in Philidelphia
-decided to boycott all English goods
-colonists begin to reasess their relationship with Parliment
-believe Parliment now has no authority over the colonies
-mid to late 1774 begin to use the word Independence in newspapers and public
speaches etc.
-up until now they wanted England to change its policies
-they are talking about Independence from Parliment not England at the First Contiental
Congress
-wanted to be under the King and on the same level as Parliment
-Colonial Assemblies would serve as Parliment in the colonies
-England would never go for it
-England hoped that Coercive Acts would scare the other colonists into submission
-other colonies supported Mass. during the Coercive Acts
-sent supplies over land
King appoints Thomas Gage to Royal Governor in Mass.
-Gage was a military man in charge of troops in Mass.
-he was supposed to enforce the Coercive Acts
-sends a request to England for 20,000 troops to control the situation
-they send 3,500 troops
-colonists in Mass. have been secretely storing arms
-many were stolen from English warehouses
-London orders Gage to retreive the guns and munitions
-they were stored in Concord
-April of 1775
-Gage sends 700 men to Concord to retrieve them
-Paul Revere went out to ride to warn Concord about the incoming British
-he was captured but the others went to warn the militias
 -about 70 Minutemen gather in Lexington very disorganized
-British soldiers order the Minutemen to disperse
-a shot rings out
-British soldiers panic and they fire at the Minutemen
-10 are killed and 8 are wounded
-were the first the shots of the American Revolution
-soldiers move on to Concord
-there is a larger skimish
-very few arms were found at Concord
-as they were leaving Concord the British soldiers were ambushed
-270 were killed and wounded by the time they got back to Boston
Second Continental Congress 1775
-start taking action this congress
-form an army under George Washington
-issue money (nearly worthless)
-form a committee for forgein relations
-try to get other nations on their side
-First time they are acting like a national government
-still dont want total independence
-dont want to be under Parliment anymore
-send the Olive Branch Petition to King George III
-says they are loyal to the King
-but dont like Parliment
-asks the King to help with the Parliment issue
-wants them to take their side over Parliment's
-doesn't even read the petition
-George III was supporting the tough acts sent out by Parliment
-officially declares that the colonies are in rebellion
-by rejecting the Olive Branch the colonists have a decision to make
-cant be under the King and not Parliment
-they can stay loyal or rebell for total independence
Decision for Indenpendence
-everyone is still English citzens
-some people belive it isn't possible to win against England
-some peoples family still live in England

Thomas Paine publishes a pamphlet called Common Sense

-was an immigant from England (was in the colonies for about a year before this)
-he hated monarchs
-Common Sense says all the colonies problems come from the King and
Parliement
-first public claim against the king
-it was a good seller
-could have helped sway the common people towards independence
-not much historical information about the common people because they were
illiterate and much of history was written down
-common people in the colonies were better educated than the common people
of England and many were literate
July 2, 1776
-Congress approved a Resolution for Independence
-Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence
-one major change the Congress had was about denouncing of slavery
-Southern states wouldn't ratify it otherwise
-Ratified on July 4, 1776
-states in the declaration that they have been economically and politcally
oppressed
 -were doing pretty well economically
-it basically a piece of PR work aimed at the other European nations explaining
why these colonies should have their independence
Theories for Reasons for the Revolution
-Whig Theory
-Revolution was the freedom loving Americans fighting against the English
Tryrants who were trying to destroy our liberty
-theory didnt completely fit
-the English colonists had more rights, liberties and voice in their
government than most people in Europe did
-every time the English govt "threaten liberites" because the colonists
broke the law i.e. smuggling, dumping of the tea
-Imperial Theory
-the distance and the time the colonies existed created two seperate
peoples/nations
-Revolution made that break official
-Economic Theory (Class-Conflict)
-English and some Americans(Loyalist/Tories) vs. other Americans (Patriots)
-techincally a civil war (English-English or Americans-Americans)
-theory states that Loyalists were upper class vs everyone else
-class difference was the cause of the war
-revolted against the upper-class and England
-a fight for power between the classes
-there was a statistical tenency to support this theory but not to confirm it
-The Conservative Political Theory
-the colonists liked the English system
-but the English govt. started to change the system
-taxation w/o representation, trial w/o jury, closing ports
single causation theory - only has one major reason for theory
Multiple Causation Theory - encompasses many ideas for the theory
-parts of each theory fit the idea