Chapter 4- Independence

Section 1- The Seeds of Unrest

Pages 100-106
Governing the new territories:
The Treaty of Paris forced France to give up its North American Empire. Then Great Britain
had control over Canada, Spanish Florida, and the rich land between the Appalachian mountains and
the Mississippi river except for New Orleans. Having these rich lands this attracted farmers and
speculators. But they were stopped by Britain fearing a conflict with the American Indians.
The British were concerned. After the French and Indian war the British had limited the
amount of trade with the American Indians. They even banned the French from giving the American
Indians presents as a payment for using their land. This angered the American Indians. What angered
the American Indians was that the amount of people coming and seeing their traditional life and
losing their land. An American Indian named Neolin went around disapproving the European goods
and customs, he also urged people to drive out the settlers. Pontiac heard Neolins message and acted
upon it. Pontiac called more American Indians and formed the Pontiac Rebellion. This made them go
into war with the British. After fighting for months killing 2000 settlers and destroying many British
forts they lost. They lost because of the shortage of supply and they had no aid from the French.
Losing this war gave the British access to have military control over them.
Since the British gained the military control they cannot protect the settlers. So the British
issued the Proclamation of 1763, which separated the American Indians from the settlers using the
Appalachian mountains, the settlers needed to obtain royal permission before entering the American
Indian territory. They believed that will prevent war. But the Proclamation of 1763 was hard to
enforce because the settlers were land-hungry and kept on going to the American Indians territories
without permission.

Financing the Empire:

The Proclamation of 1763 was not the only thing that angered the colonist but also of having to
pay money to protect the Frontiers. The British had to do this because they were deeply in dept and
they needed support from the colonies. The only way to increase the revenue was by using taxes. So the
parliament passed the Sugar Act that imposed a duty, or imported tax on foreign sugar and several
other items entering Great Britain's American colonies. This time they were so serious that they passed
the Stamp act which placed a tax on printed matter. This was used to stop people from smuggling
things.

Colonial Protest:
Before the colonies accepted taxes. But this tax was different, it has been passed by the
parliament. So colonial traders signed the Nonimportation agreement promising not to buy or import
British goods. At the same time the workers and the artists who opposed the Stamp act went to the
streets and protested. These were peaceful protest but some turned violent. The British singled out Mac
Intosh as the mobs leader but also suspected the Sons Of Liberty to be involved. The Sons of Liberty
were a group of artist, lawyers, and merchants who opposed the Stamp Act, they sometimes used
violence to succeed. The leader of the Sons of Liberty was Samuel Adams. In October 1765 delegates
from nine different colonies gathered in New York city to voice their rejection to the stamp act which
was called the Stamp Act Congress. When the British merchant protested the Stamp Act, the
Nonimportation agreements were hurting their businesses, fearing financial ruin they pressed the
Parliament to repel the Stamp act. Finally repealing the stamp act in March 1766 the colonist were
happy not noticing the passing of the Declaratory Act. The Declaratory act was a law passed at the
same time of the repeal of the stamp act which was that the parliament had full power to make laws. A
fight began whether the parliament had the right to tax or not which remained unresolved.
The Townshend Act:
The colonists had objected to the Stamp Act because they believed that the parliament had the
right to tax. The parliament decided to pass the Townshend Act which placed duties on certain items.
To enforce the Townshend act they used warrants called the writs of assistance who were armed and
had the right to search every house, warehouse when suspecting that it contained smuggled goods. The
Townshend act was strongly opposed by the colonists. So the Crown (King) put additional soldiers in
the colonies. The colonists in New York responded by using the Quartering Act which refused to
provide the soldiers with money, housing and food supplies. On March 5, 1770 a group of colonists
pressed so hard on a crowd of soldiers that made them have no room to move. Then they heard a
gunshot, which made the soldiers open fire. They killed 5 colonists. This event was labeled as the
Boston Massacre by the Sons of Liberty.
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Section 2- The Shot heard around the World

Continuing Unrest:
When the Frederich, Lord North, became Great Britain's prime minister he made the
Townshend Act repel and the Parliament agree to allow the Quartering Act to expire. But King George
III kept a small tax to prove that they still have the power and right to vote.