3. Early Tensions

Question 1

Timeline

Answer 1

• 1764 - The Sugar Act reinstates mercantilist policy and introduces new taxes
• 1764 - The Currency Act makes it so that only British currency would be viable
• 1765 - The Stamp Act places a tax on paper / stamps
• 1765 - The Virginia Resolves - “…manifest Tendency to destroy…American freedom.”
• May - June, 1765 - The Sons of Liberty meet for the first time in response
• 1765 - The Quartering Act forced colonists to house British troops
• 1768 - 2000 soldiers were quartered in Boston, limiting job opportunities.

Question 2

Timeline 2

Answer 2

• August, 1765 - Sons of Liberty burn an effigy of Andrew Oliver
• October, 1765 - 9 of the 13 colonies meet for the Stamp Act Congress
• 1766 - The Declaratory Act brings America under British sovereignty in exchange for a repeal of the Stamp Act
• 1767 - The Townshend Duties are introduced by Charles Townshend, taxing items like glass, paper, paint and tea.
• 150 riots accredited to the Townshend Duties
• 1767 - Massachusetts Circular Letter (Samuel Adams) / Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania (John Dickinson)
• 1773 - Colonists paid 1/26th of the tax of the average Britain

Question 3

Early acts of indirect taxation

Answer 3

• The colonial assembly had the power to tax in its own colony
• Impact of mercantilist policies led colonists to demand direct representation in British Parliament if they were to be taxed
• Colonists desired representation through their own colonial assemblies.
• Americans were perceived as part of the lower classes, preventing their representation in the British Parliament.

Question 4

First Hand Quotes

Answer 4

• Washington - “…a temporary expedient to quiet the minds of the Indians”

Question 5

Historian Interpretations

Answer 5

• Brogan - “…a catalyst, touching off fundamental change.”
• Hartz - “…a most dangerous innovation.”
• Zinn - “This accumulated sense of grievance against the rich in Boston may account for the explosiveness of the mob action after the Stamp Act of 1765.”
• Countryman - “…grew out of the British conviction that Parliament had the power to tax the colonists directly.”
• Zinn - “Perhaps once the British were out of the way, the Indians could be dealt with.”
• Wood - “…disabled the natives to retain their dominance in the regions west of the line.”