Unit 2: Early Revolutionary Era

• French and Indian War

  • Known in Europe as Seven Years' War
  • Last of Anglo-French colonial wars
  • Start in North America then spread to Europe
  • Issue of land possession
  • Britain, Prussia vs. France, Austria, Spain
  • 1754-1763
• The Albany Congress of 1754


  1. Delegates from New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Iroquois Confederacy

  2. Agenda: considering a collective colonial response to the conflict with New France and the Indians of the interior

  3. Negotiation of a settlement with the Iroquois Confederacy- unhappy with colonial land-grabbing
• Albany Plan of Union

  • Offered by Benjamin Franklin
  • Permanent union of colonies calling for a grand council of delegates from each colony
  • Heavily influenced by the Iroquois Confederacy
  • Delegates elected by colonial legislatures
  • Heading the council would be president general, appointed by the British crown
  • Delegates approved plan but colonial legislatures rejected plan (feared would lose control)
• Colonial Aims and Indigenous Americans Interests

  • Weakness of British Empire: lack of cooperation among colonies in North America
  • Land Rivalry: British vs. French
  • 3 principal flash points of conflict: 1. The northern Atlantic coast where British Nova Scotia and French Louisburg faced each other, 2. The border region between New France and New York from Niagara Falls to Lake George where competition for the Indian trade was fierce, 3. The Ohio country was the primary focus of British and French attention due to competition over land
  • The Iroquois Confederacy and Creeks successfully played the European powers off one another
• Frontier Warfare


  1. News that Colonel George Washington, who was sent to expel French from Ohio Valley, surrendered

  2. Defeat of General Braddock (killed, small force of French and indigenous Americans) in 1755 was followed by the outbreak of war between Britain and France in 1756

  3. French achieved early victories in New York

  4. Fighting style: British in open more than French

  5. British harshly treated French-speaking farmers of Acadia by expelling them from their homes

  6. Many moved to Louisiana where they became known as "Cajuns"
• The Conquest of Canada

  1. William Pitt became British Prime Minister promising to win the war

  2. Pitt's plan called for the conquest of Canada and the elimination of all French competition from North America

  3. Pitt: war would be fought "at his Majesty's expense" - won over colonists

  4. British supported by Iroquois Confederacy and Ohio indigenous Americans and committed over 50,000 British and colonial troops to the Canada campaign

  5. British troops overwhelmed French and Indian forces in western Pennsylvania and New France (present-day Canada)

  6. French on defensive

  7. British forces captured Louisburg, the French forts on the New York border, Quebec, and, lastly, Montreal in 1760
• Fall of Quebec


  1. General James Wolfe commanded British troops; Marquis de Montcalm defended Quebec

  2. Quebec in siege

  3. Enemy force is surrounded, trapped and without access to fresh supplies, enemy is starved into surrendering

  4. British and French battle and heavy losses inflicted on French

  5. City surrendered few days later

  6. British soon took over Montreal
• Treaty of Paris (1763)

  • Representatives of Great Britain, France, and France's ally Spain signed a treaty in Paris
  • Ended French and Indian War in America and Seven Years' War in Europe
  • France turned present-day Canada over to Britain and surrendered its claim to all lands east of the Mississippi River
  • Only exception was the city of New Orleans, which France had given to Spain in a secret treaty the year before
  • British returned Cuba to Spain in exchange for Florida
• Outcome of the French and Indian War?
• Crash Course: The Seven Years War and the Great Awakening: '(beginning-8:45)'
• The Struggle for the West


  • Natives angry about land cessions
  • Removal of the French stimulated a revitalization movement among the Ohio Indians led by Neolin, the Delaware Prophet
  • Corrupted by Europeans; return to tradition, prepare for war
  • Pontiac's Rebellion: Pontiac (Ottawa) forged a confederacy that achieved early success, but crippled by a disease epidemic then failed
  • Native Americans in the Great Lakes region rebelled against the British in the spring of 1763; British forts destroyed
• The Royal Proclamation of 1763


  • Closed the region west of the Appalachian Mountains to all settlement by colonists
  • Area placed under control of British military
  • Colonists still moved into forbidden territory
  • British authority undermined
• Development of Americanism


  • French and Indian War promoted a new spirit of nationalism and wider notion of community
  • Strained relationship between British and American colonists
  • Colonists demanded to be led by colonial officers, which was viewed as treason
  • Disrespect: British soldiers called New Englanders "Yankees" and colonist called British "Lobsters"
  • 2 impressions: loss of respect for British military power; British did not treat them with proper respect
• My Sugar Stamp Will Declare Your Townshend Tea Intolerable
• The Proclamation of 1763

  • Pontiac's Rebellion: Native Americans in Great Lakes region rebelled against the British; British forts destroyed
  • Closed region west of the Appalachian Mountains to all settlement by colonists; under control of British military; colonists still moved into forbidden territory; British authority undermined
• Britain's Financial Problems


  • George Grenville became prime minister in 1763
  • Believed colonists should pay for cost of government and defense
  • New form of taxation would be in addition to the duties (tax on imports)
• Sugar Act


  1. 1764

  2. Actually cut the duties on molasses in half (not collected previously; 6 pence to 3); hoped to increase tax collections; presented as a way to regulate trade

  3. British navy patrolled coast to discourage smuggling

  4. Smuggling cases would be tried in British rather than colonial courts; case decided by judge alone who received 5% commission on guilty

  5. Nonimportation
• James Otis Jr.


  "no taxation without representation"
• Quartering Act


  1. 1765

  2. Colonies provide housing and supplies for British troops who remained in America

  3. Colonists believed this violated their rights as British subjects but obeyed
• Stamp Act


  1. 1765

  2. Tax on newspapers, pamphlets, legal documents, and most other printed materials

  3. Required an official government stamp be printed on or attached to these materials to show that the tax had been paid

  4. Affected printers, lawyers, tavern owners, other influential colonists
• Reaction to Stamp Act

  • Colonial concerns included the long-term constitutional implications regarding representation of the colonists in the British government
  • Virtual representation: Parliament represent not only district but all citizens of empire
  • Actual representation: direct relationship must exist between people and political representatives
  • Several colonies passed resolutions denouncing the Stamp Act
  • Massachusetts, especially Boston, emerged as a center of protest
  • To counter the growing violence, the Sons of Liberty was formed
• Stamp Act Congress


  1. Held October 1765 in New York

  2. Main organizer was James Otis

  3. Demanded same rights and liberties that the people of Great Britain had

  4. British merchants worried about the effects of the growing nonimportation movement petitioned Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act

  5. Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress
• Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in March 1766 but passed the Declaratory Act
• Sons of Liberty


  • Boycott: refusal to buy certain products or use certain services as an act of protest
  • Group to enforce boycott (esp. Stamp Act)
  • Samuel Adams one of founders
  • Most stamp distributors resigned or fled
• Declaratory Acts


  • 1766
  • Stamp Act repealed
  • Parliament had the authority to make laws that applied to the colonists "in all cases whatsoever"
• Townshend Acts


  1767 (Charles Townshend)
• Stamp Act


  British tax on printed materials in the colonies
• Stamp Act protest


  Angry mob carrying banner "The Folly of England, the Ruin of America" through the streets of New York
• Stamp Act Congress


  Held in October 1765 in New York, main organizer was James Otis, demanded same rights and liberties as people of Great Britain
• British merchants worried about effects of growing nonimportation movement


  Petitioned Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act
• Sons of Liberty


  Group to enforce boycott (especially of Stamp Act), most stamp distributors resigned or fled
• Declaratory Act


  Passed in 1766, stated that Parliament had the authority to make laws that applied to the colonists "in all cases whatsoever"
• Townshend Acts


  Passed in 1767, duties on certain imported goods including glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea, money would be used for "the support of civil government" in the colonies
• Issue with Townshend Acts was being taxed without their consent
• Nonimportation


  An early political boycott, associations reformed to protest the Townshend Acts, appeals to stimulate local industry had strong appeal, reduced British exports by 41%
• Massachusetts Circular Letter


  Drafted by Samuel Adams and James Otis in February 1768, stated Townshend Acts were unconstitutional and violated natural rights, led to British forcing the Massachusetts House of Representatives to rescind the letter
• Rumors of mob rule and riots in Boston led to the British army occupying the city
• Boston Massacre


  Occurred on March 5, 1770, 4,000 British soldiers in Boston (city of 15,000), Paul Revere's engraving, analysis by Henry Pelham and John Adams, British reaction was to cancel Townshend Acts
• Committee of Correspondence


  Founded by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and other Bostonians in 1772, coordinated resistance throughout the colonies, established communication network with nearly all the colonies by 1774, exchanged letters about suspicious or potentially threatening British activities, helped lead to cooperation and coordination of views and actions
• Gaspee Incident


  British naval vessel patrolled Narragansett Bay in 1772, seized small boats, cut orchards for firewood and took livestock, ran aground, people of Providence disguised as Native Americans ordered crew ashore and burned ship, colonists believed the Gaspee Commission bypassed Rhode Island courts and infringed on their rights