Chapter 6: From Empire to Independence (1750-1776) The Seven Years War (The French and Indian War) -Britain

(allied with Prussia) vs. France, Austria, and Spain -In 1754, representatives from NE, NY, PA, and MD met to consider a joint approach to the French and Indian Challenge. -Final and most destructive armed conflict between the British and the French before the French Revolution. -Conflict on Ohio River Valley: Farming Land vs. Trade Route The Albany Conference of 1754 -Benjamin Franklins Plan of Union: Indian affairs, western settlement, and other items of mutual interest must be placed under the authority of one general government for the colonies, consisting of a president-general appointed and supported by the Crown, and a Grand Council, a legislative body empowered to make general laws and raise money for the defense of the whole, its delegates chosen by the several colonial legislatures, the seats allocated by population and wealth. -Response to continuing conflict with New France and Indians of the interior. Colonial Aims and Indian Interests -1713: France ceded to Britain its colony of Acadia (Nova Scotia) -France built the fortress of Louisburg: Guaranteed fishing ground, and St. Lawrence approach to New France. -Border between New France and New York (Niagara Falls Lake Champlain) -Ohio River Valley (Inhabitants of Delawares, Shawnees, Hurons, and Iroquois). Frontier Warfare -Colonel George Washington to fight against French troops -New England militiamen captured two French forts in Nova Scotia. -Offensive in New York was repulsed, and in 18th century, Braddocks British troop was destroyed, and Braddock was killed. Full scale Seven-Years War in Europe. -Acadians were expelled because Acadians refused to fight on the British side.

The Conquest of Canada -1757: William Pitt became Prime Minister of Great Britain. -Pitt committed the British to the conquest of Canada and the elimination of all French competition in North America. -Promised the Indians for clear boundary of land -Captured Louisburg in July 1758 -Captured Quebec -Invaded Havana and Cuba, took possessions of Spanish and French colonies, achieved dominance in India, and captured Spanish Philippines. -Treaty of Paris (1763): France lost all its possessions on the North American mainland. East of Mississippi was ceded to Britain, and remainder was ceded to Spain. Spain ceded Florida to Britain in return for Caribbean colonies. The Struggle for the West -Indians complained of Frances rights to give away their lands -Hundreds of Ohio Indians followed Neolin (The Enlightened One; the Delaware Prophet) back to old tradition -Royal Proclamation of 1763: The British government set aside the region west of the crest of Appalachian Mountain as Indian Country. -Created conflicts with the colonists, because they thought that removal of French threat would open the western land. -The press of population growth and economic development created conflict. The Emergence of American Nationalism -Military conflict: Strict British military rules vs. Loose American military -Colonists began to see them distinct from British (Yankees vs. Lobsters) -Farmers began to interact with others from other colonies. The Press, Politics, and Republicanism -Peter Zenger: Accused of publishing antigovernment articles -The press revealed the opinions of colonies -Editors sometimes republished the radical works of the Whigs Party (such as John Trenchard, Thomas Gordon, Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift) -Republicanism: Truly just society provides the greatest possible liberty to individual. The Sugar and Stamp Acts -The Sugar Act: Placed a duty on sugar imported into the colonies and revitalized the customs service, introducing stricter registration procedures for ships and adding more officers. -British now intended to enforce it Unfair trials -Boston was especially vocal: Boycott -Taxation without representation

The Stamp Act Crisis -American reaction: a crisis of unprecedented proportions: Tax had to be paid in hard money, but it was during economic stagnation -Virtual Representation (British Parliament) vs. Actual Representation (Daniel Dulanys Considerations on the Propriety of Imposing Taxes) -Massachusetts formed Loyall Nine: Samuel Adams formed anti-British alliance that spanned Bostons social classes. -Sons of Liberty: Encouraged moderate forms of protest, circulated petitions, published pamphlets, and encouraged crowd actions only as a last resort, always emphasized limited political goals. -Agreed to stop all importation from Britain until the offending measures were repealed. Repeal of the Stamp Act -Nonimportation Movement: Spread throughout the colonists -British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act and reduced the duties of the Sugar Act. -Declaratory Act: British Parliament affirmed its full authority to make laws binding the colonies. The Townshend Revenue Acts -Charles Townshend: A new revenue measure for the colonies that placed import duties on commodities such as lead, glass, paint, paper, and tea. -Townshend hoped to redress colonial grievances against internal taxes such as those imposed by the Stamp Act The Politics of Revolt and The Boston Massacre -Sons of Liberty: Erection liberty poles, proclaiming their cause -Confrontation in Boston: Boston Massacre -Became infamous throughout the colonies, in part because of the circulation of an inflammatory print produced by the Boston engraver Paul Revere, which depicted the British as firing on a crowd of unresisting civilians. The Intolerable Acts -Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts): Calculated to punish MA and strengthen the British hand. -Quartering Act: legalized the housing of troops at public expense, not only in taverns and abandoned buildings, but in occupied dwellings and private homes as well. -Quebec Act: British authorized a permanent government for the territory taken from France during the Seven Years War. -Committees of Correspondence: Committees formed in MA and other colonies in the pre-Revolutionary period to keep Americans informed about British measure that would affect the colonies

The First Continental Congress -Philadelphia, 1774 -Declaration and Resolves, assorted that all the colonists sprang from a common tradition and enjoyed the rights guaranteed by the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the English constitution, and the several charters or compacts. Lexington and Concord -Committee of Safety created minutemen: In correspondence to British plan to invade the arsenal -April 18, 1775: Skirmish The Second Continental Congress -Colonies still wanted to reconcile with the King -King rejected the offers -Path towards independence The Revolutionary War -George Washington led the American troops -American troops won: In the last battle, Britain surrendered -Declaration of Independence.