HST 121: History of the United States to 1877

American Revolution

During the 1760s, why did the British government develop a new colonial policy? Why were colonists inclined to oppose the new policy? How did the new policy and the colonial reaction to it lead to the Revolution?

I: Reasons for a new colonial policy

A: Vast empire to administer requiring more revenue

1: Size: 7 Years War and Treaty of 1763

2: Problems: Pontiac and Indian resistance

B: Mercantilism & Navigation Acts versus the French

II: Reasons for colonial distrust

A: Colonists had liked the way the imperial system worked

1: It worked like federalism

2: Tradition of how the system had worked--the British unwritten constitution

B: Country Opposition thought

1: Power corrupts--continuous growth of wealth and power at the center

2: Conspiracy at the center to take from the Country

C: Colonial Indebtedness

III: British policy

A: Regulation

1: Proclamation Line

2: Sugar Act

B: Revenue

1: External taxes: Sugar Act and Townshend Duties

2: Internal Tax: Stamp Act

IV: Colonial reaction escalates

A: Resolutions of colonial legislatures

--Patrick Henry's Virginia Resolutions vs. the Stamp Act

B: Pamphlets, propaganda

--John Dickinson, Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania

C: Action taken: Smuggling, riots, boycotts

--Sons of Liberty

V: Division among the colonists

A: Patriots

B: Loyalists

C: Moderates

VI: Rebellion or War of Independence

A: George III's Declaration of Rebellion

B: Thomas Paine, Common Sense, and Congress votes for independence