CHAPTER FOUR LOOSENING TIES from the beginning ideas an institutions different from those in Britain X for many

years no problems-objections to sudden changes in administration of the empire in 1763 -in Britain the Parliament (the prime minister and his cabinet) is more powerful than the king, unlike monarchs, the Parliament does not try to tighten control over empireadministration of the colonies remained loose (royal officer in America usually used bribery to obtain the office and continued to accept bribes, they were weak, often stayed in England and hired substitutes in America...) =>Colonial assemblies took the power and started seeing themselves as sovereign parliaments X still loyal to England THE STRUGGLE FOR THE CONTINENT -vast French Empire in America (they claimed the whole interior of the continent-Rocky Mountains, Rio Grande, Mississippi-Louisiana...), North: established seigneuries (large estates) along St.Lawrence river, cities: Quebec, Montreal, Detroit... South: plantations owned by Creoles (white immigrants of French descent), slavery, cities: New Orleans, Biloxi, Mobile -E and F knew that to win the continent they need to befriend the native tribes, F were more succesful at this X most powerful nations remained seperate and formed The Iroquois Confederacy Anglo-French Conflicts small conflict-King Williams War Queen Annes War-12 years, ended by The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, F looses part of territory (Nova Scotia, Newfoundland) then E X Spain conflict over trading rights-war in Europe colonists drawn into struggle called King Georges War: New Englanders capture F bastion Louisbourgh, then peace treaty ends the conflict -after this war relationships between F, E and Iroquois went bad, in 1754 Virginia sent a militia force (colonel Washington) to attack Fort Dusquesne X in the end Washington was surrounded at Fort Necessity and he surrended=beginning of the war: 1750s-70s war between England and France=Seven Years War , E wins (=The French and Indian War, Indians were figting too-with F against E) -began as a local conflict in North America, later spread to Europe (7yearswar) in 1756, after that British took control of the war-William Pitt planned strategy and began enlisting colonists (=impressment), taking supplies from Am. farmers...all without compensationA protestPitt relaxed many of the policies and gave part of the power back to colonial assemblies -first the F were winning, in 1758 the British began to seize one stronghold after another1759 Quebec falls, 1760 the F army formally surrended in Motreal, peace came in 1763 with Peace of Paris, F lost most of their colonies in India and Canada, islands, territory east of the Mississippi... AFTER THE WAR In 1750s Americans didnt object to membership in the Empire X by the mid-1770s the relationship between colonies and their British rules had become strained in spring 1775 the War of Indepence begun -after the war the British started to resent Americans-they tought Americans didnt contribute to the victory enough and that was the reason why E was in a debt after the war...and Americans felt that E had no right to interfere with their local issuesin short, A and E started to dislike each other -E is in the debt X landlords in E refuse to pay higher taxes the only solution is to tax Americans directly X local assemblies began to govern on their own -Geore III. on the throne-he suffered a mental disease, also wanted to rise authority of the monarchy unstable and rigid reign during critical years, new prime minister George Grenville wanted to make

Americans pay for the war...=>A grew to hate E even more Grenvilles administration: 1765 the Mutiny Act-colonists required to help provision and maintain the army, royal officials had to take up their posts instead of sendind substitutes, colonial manufacturing restricted so that it would not compete with Es industries 1764 the Sugar Act-raised duty on sugar 1764 the Currency Act-assemblies had to stop issuing paper money 1765 the Stamp Act -imposed tax on every printed document (newspaper, wills, licenses....), unlike other acts, this one affected everyone in the country -at first it was hard to resist new laws, but this time they began to unite against the British because everyone in the country suffered from increased taxes -the Virginia House of Burgesses was the first to speak out-Patrick Henry had a dramatic speech declaring that the American have the same rights as the English especially the right to be taxed only by their own representatives -1765 a group called Sons of Liberty terrorized stamp agents and burned stamps -people stopped buying English goods to protest Sugar and Stamp Act -in E Charles Townshend became the chancellor of echequer, who disbanded the New York Assembly in 1767, which other colonies opposed to, he also imposed tax on several goods (lead, paper, tea) and sent comissioners to colonies-those in Boston became smugglers which caused problems four regiments of soldiers sent there-paid poorlylooked for a job, competed with local workers fightsthe Boston massacre: 1770 so called liberty boys caused ruckussoldiers went to stop them, there was some fighting, several soldiers were knocked down and then they fired into the crowd killing five peoplethis small incident was transformed into the Boston massacre by local resistance leaders and even later was used to raise anger again England -ideas of Revolution began to flow into America, many people considered the english political system the best, but there were some corrections needed-for example Americans believed, that people should only be taxed with their consentpopular slogan No taxation without representation, colonial assemblies demanded a partial sovereignity which seemed absurd to the British=>resistance keeps growing-mostly through writing and talking (people were gathering at schools, in churches...and mainly taverns to discuss politicstavern culture) THE TEA EXCITEMENT -1773 Britains East India Company had large stocks of tea in Boston which was free of tax unlike the tea sold by local merchantscolonists boycotted tea, this boycott involved large part of population (The Daughters of Liberty rather than Freedom, well part with our tea), in Boston local patriots masquerading as Mohawk Indians went aboard three ships and threw the tea into the water=Boston tea party =>1774 the port of Boston was closed, power of self-government in Massachusetts reduced=Coercive (Intolerable) Acts, these were followed by the Quebec Act-extended the boundaries of Quebec, gav rights to Roman CatholicsAmericans were afraid of the growth of the authority of the pope =>many colonists symphatized with Boston, resistance grew once again, colonies united, groups of resistance formed in colonies-most effective were the committees of correspondence -in 1774 the First Continental Congres in Philadelphia: plan for colonial union under British was rejected, military preparations approved and recommended, series of boycotts was prepared, Continental Association was formed in Boston so called minutemen were preparing to fight (on minutes notice), British General Gage recieved orders to arrest Sam Adams an John Hancock (rebels) in Lexington, in the meantime the minutemen gathered in Concord, on April 18, 1775, Gage sent 1000 men to Lexington hoping to surprise the minutemen and win without bloodshed X minutemen were watching his steps and during the night William Dawes and Paul Revere rode to warn the villageswhen the redcoats arrived in Lexington, minutemen were prepared, several people were shot and then British gave up and went back to Boston=BEGINNING OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE