Growing Discontent In The Colonies

A. Political Growth By The Colonists

    1. England had a bicameral government

        a. bicameral government - government with two houses

        b. House of Lords - members of the British aristocracy (elite)

            • you inherit your position and serve for life

        c. House of Commons

            • you were elected by the people and serve for a certain amount of years

B. Mercantilism

    1. economic system where nations sought to acquire gold and silver

    2. wanted to control trade - so the mother country exported more goods than they (the colonies) imported

    3. In the 1650s and 1660s Parliament passed a series of laws known as the Navigation Acts:

        a. the colonists were only to use British-owned ships for exporting

        b. certain goods were to be sent straight to England (tobacco, rice, indigo)

        c. all goods sold to the British colonies by other foreign countries had to be shipped to England first

C. Early Signs of Trouble

    1. Bacon's Rebellion - in Virginia, Nathaniel Bacon rebelled against the royal governor in 1676 - because he thought the common people were being treated unfairly

    2. the colonists felt like England wasn't protecting them enough

D. The French and Indian War (in Europe it's known as the Seven Years' War)

    1. they fought over control of trade and land in North America

    2. In 1756 Great Britain and France declared war

    3. England gained the Prussians as an ally

    4. William Pitt became prime minister of Great Britain (1757)

        a. Prussians fought France in Europe, William Pitt sent troops to the colonies

    5. Fort Duquesne fell in 1758 (say it like doo-cain)

    6. in 1759 Quebec (the main French settlement) fell

    7. Treaty of Paris - 1763

        a. All of the French land east of the Mississippi River became British land

        b. Spain had to give Florida to England; but got all land west of Mississippi River

E. Major Conflicts Begin

    1. Britain's Tightening Controls

        a. left the army in the colony

        b. people were forbidden to move west of the Appalachian Mountains

        c. Parliament passed the Sugar Act:

            • actually lowered taxes on sugar

            • tightened enforcement:

                ○ writs of assistance - search warrants who could search more than one place for smuggled goods

    2. The Stamp Act - 1765

        a. direct duty on paper

            • duty - tax on imported goods

        b. specifically to earn money; Parliament had no right to pass laws

        c. late in 1765, Stamp Act Congress said

            • they would not import goods from England until it took away (repealed) the law

        d. in 1766 England repealed the Stamp Act

    3. The Townshend Acts

        a. Parliament passed a law saying they could pass laws

        b. laws put new taxes on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea imports

        c. colonists did no importing

            • if a merchant imported something the colonists would boycott them

                ○ boycott - refuse to buy

        d. Parliament repealed all taxes except the one on tea

    4. The Boston Massacre - March 5, 1770

        a. Sam Adams said in newspaper that British troops were committing crimes

        b. the colonists started throwing snowballs, rocks, and ice at the soldiers; then the soldiers shot at them; two people were mortally wounded, 3 people were killed (one was a runaway slave)

            • caused propaganda

                ○ propaganda - exaggerated and one-sided account of a story used to stir up emotions about an issue

    5. The Wilkes Affair

        a. John Wilkes - Englishman who wanted freedom of speech

        b. the colonists sent money for John Wilkes' cause, but the kind got mad

        c. William Bull had to keep the Assembly from meeting - the colonies had no Assembly from 1770 - 1775

    6. The Tea Act

        a. this act gave the East India trade a monopoly on the tea trade in America

            • monopoly - only one company or individual can sell something

        b. The Boston Tea Party - colonists dressed up like Indians and threw tea off a ship

        c. The intolerable acts - Boston didn't get any imports - SC sent them lots of rice to help

F. The First Continental Congress

    1. each state picked people to represent in Continental Congress

        a. SC picked John Rutledge, Edward Rutledge, Thomas Lynch, Henry Middleton, & Christopher Gadsden

    2. They made a law against importation & exportation, but SC could export rice so they could earn money


Terms that were not mentioned throughout these notes:

  1. frontier - the area just beyond or at the edge of a settled region
  2. imports - goods brought into a country to sell
  3. smuggling - bringing goods into a country without paying the duties on the goods or recording the shipment with officials
  4. speculator - one who invests in a risky business deal in hopes of making a high profit
  5. strategy - a detailed plan for using military forces or for achieving a goal
  6. tyranny - the oppressive and unjust use of power
  7. veto - to refuse to approve something, such as a law