America - Aspects in Depth

Question 1

What was the economic nature of early colonial society?

Answer 1

• Agriculturally based but varied across states
• New England had small subsistence farming and large fishing industry
• Middle colonies and Pennsylvania had wheat and flour
• Southern colonies, Tobacco farmed by slaves

Question 2

What was the social nature of early colonial society?

Answer 2

• Majority of settlers Protestant
• Most white men worked their own land juxtaposed to England’s reality
• Most employed in agriculture in small towns across 1.1 million km
• 1770, 5 towns of any size such as Boston having 20,000 people
• scarcity of labour meant higher wages for skilled workers
• More people able to vote and own land
• No sense of America yet, people loyal to communities

Question 3

What was the political nature of early colonial society?

Answer 3

• Each colony had a governor appointed by the crown and legislative assembly responsible for bills and expenditure
• Lower houses elected by 50-80% of male voters compared to just 10% in Britain
• Colonists heavily involved in self democratic government
• Women and slaves could not vote

Question 4

What was nature of Government-colonial assemblies in early colonial society?

Answer 4

• Legislative, raising funds for local services , local officials and passing of local laws
• 1960s, created discursive reaction to British taxes such as sugar tax in 1964 sending representation letters to England and eventually unifying the states
• When unified acted as stronger opposition than independent colonies.

Question 5

Why did Britain need to tax American society in 1770?

Answer 5

• Winning of Sevens year war meant expansion of empire and therefore more citizens to govern and protect.
• American colonies require defence from native American and French attacks
• Government needed provisions for 80,000 French Canadian citizens
• Consolidation of America needed to take place
• Winning of the sevens year war meant national debt had increased to 4.4 million annually and annual income was only 8 million

Question 6

Why did the Americans oppose British taxation in 1770?

Answer 6

• Taxation was tyrannical and taxation should be used to improve local communities and not the empire
• 1760’s and 1770’s there was no American representation so the Americans had no say in where the taxes were spent

Question 7

How did the Americans oppose British taxation in 1770 and before?

Answer 7

• Non-Military governor of Boston, Thomas Hutchinson had house ransacked in 1765 in response to his loyalism during the stamp act
• Tarring and feathering and violenting against tax collectors
• No official method of consultation with British so only influence was through protests and pressure.

Question 8

What was the stamp act of 1765?

Answer 8

• Had been announced a year before being enforced allowing tensions to build
• Every official document had to be stamped and taxed
• Inter-colonial congress of 9 colonies formed in response condemning the act causing Sons of Liberty formed led by Sam Adams in Boston, Formal and informal boycotts of British goods
• All protests led to repeal of the act in 1966
• Deceleration act followed stating Britain had the right to pass any law at any time

Question 9

What were the 1967 Townshend Duties?

Answer 9

• Taxes introduced on Wine, glass, China, Lead, paint, paper and tea
• Taxes were light and expected to raise 40,000 annually but colonists argued the British had no right to tax internally.
• Attempts to tighten up on old taxes raised tensions further

Question 10

How did the colonists respond to the Townshend duties?

Answer 10

• Strong political opposition
• Massachusetts assembly posted denunciation ‘no freedom without representation’ endorsed by 7 other colonies
• Violent protests and boycotts in Boston led by paramilitary organisation sons of liberty formed in 1765 and their leader Sam Adams.

Question 11

How did the British respond to the colonist response to the Townshend duties?

Answer 11

• Suspending of New York who had refused quartering of the troops stationed there
• Naval and military presence increased in Boston in 1768 to ensure duty collection and protection of the American board of customs commissioners

Question 12

What was the repeal of the Townshend duties?

Answer 12

• 1770, acts repealed preventing American revolution
• Act still remained for tea but colonists smuggled them across borders to resist taxes on British Tea.

Question 13

What was Boston like in 1770?

Answer 13

• One of the largest cities in the colonies
• 600 British troops stationed in Boston in 1768 which increased tensions
• Young boys and men rioted every Thursday
• February 1770, Suspected informant kills young boy, funeral attended by 5000
• March 1770, rope factory workers attacked redcoats
• March 1770, Boston Massacre, redcoats killed 5 ‘civilians’

Question 14

What divisions were there among colonists 1770?

Answer 14

• Patriots 1/3, seemed unified but still some divisions such as religion or and class divisions. Committee of Correspondence set up to communicate with all 50 towns in Massachusetts and by 1774 11/13 colonies had committees which was a powerful tool for converting neutrals.
• Loyalists 1/3, either loyal to the British or weren’t prepared to join a conflict. Made up of minor sparse communities such as Southern back country farmers and the Germans of New York. Slaves fought for the British for the promise of freedom but no large scale recruitment took place
• Neutral 1/3, opposed taxation and satisfied with the repeal of the Townshend duties meaning they were happy.

Question 15

Why did the Boston Massacre not begin the American war of independence?

Answer 15

• The Townshend acts were repealed in 1770 appeasing neutrals
• Sam Adams and the sons of liberty had not converted enough neutrals and linguistic divisions remained and many were still loyalists

Question 16

What was the tea act of 1773?

Answer 16

• East India company faced bankruptcy due to famine in Bengal and a British payment of 400,000 in 1767 and 1768 and the tea act was introduced in order to revive the company
• Allowed tea to be directly traded with the colonies instead of through British ports allowing it to compete with smuggled tea
• Committee of correspondence condemned the act encouraging disobedience and boycotts. Tea sent to Philly and NY was sent back and tea was not sold in Charleston

Question 17

What was the Boston tea party November 1773?

Answer 17

• East Indian tea lands in Boston
• Loyalist, Hutchinson appointed after Boston Massacre allowed the tea to land
• 60 sons of a Liberty boarded the ship and sunk 10,000 worth of tea, 342 chests
• British respond by locking down of Massachusetts under military control

Question 18

What were the coercive acts of 1774?

Answer 18

• Closure of Boston from 1st of June until tea is paid for
• Revising the charter to allow governor, General Gage, to appoint or demote officials at any time
• transfer of murder trials to England to prevent bias Juries
• Giving more power to military commanders to arrange quartering

Question 19

What events prelude the American war of independence?

Answer 19

• The Colonial assemblies dissolved but continue to meet illegally
• All Colonial representatives met together for the first time in September 1774 at the Continental Congress
• Congress accepted views of radicals and called Massachusetts to arms for defence and for each Colony to determine its own need for troops
• The Committees of Correspondence became the Committees of Safety and took over the day-to-day running of the country
• Britain declared Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion on 9th February 1775 a proposal to remove all duties and to recognise the Continental Congress as an American parliament was rejected 2-1 by the House of Lords

Question 20

What happened at the battle of Lexington and Concord 1775?

Answer 20

• Gage knew where colonist supplies were but failed to seize them
• 18th April 1775 A secret mission to concord failed when Gage was met with 75 volunteers and first shots of war began
• Pushed all the way back to Boston and saved by relief soldiers
• 273 casualties and Boston was surrounded by 20,000 colonial militia

Question 21

What happened at the battle of Bunker Hill 1775?

Answer 21

• British Reinforcements in Boston such as Howe, Clinton and Burgoyne arrived with thousands of troops.
• 25% of British became casualties and America lost half the amount
• Britain kept bunker hill but soon retreated to to Nova Scotia in 1776
• 1775, George III announced all colonies in open rebellion

Question 22

What impact did the military action have on the colonists?

Answer 22

• Sparked a mood of American Patriotism
• Showed the Americans that beating the British was possible

Question 23

What important decisions were made June 1775?

Answer 23

• Issued paper money to meet costs of the war
• George Washington became commander of the continental army

Question 24

What were the reasons for the formal declaration of independence being delayed?

Answer 24

• The delegates had to prepare themselves for the creation of a new nation and democracy.
• communication with local committees and assemblies took place at every step with horse and print meaning it was very slow
• Members of continental congress had to convince moderates that every effort had been made for peace with the British and a peace treaty may be offered to George III if America wanted separation with America

Question 25

What was the impact of George III refusal of the Olive Branch Petition?

Answer 25

• George III declared the colonies in open rebellion and called soldiers and officials to help suppress the rebellion
• This justified the Americans to create their own government
• April-July 1776, Local assemblies authorised congressional delegates to declare independence
• 2nd July, 12/13 colonies voted for independence, NYC did not .and adopted formally 2 days later

Question 26

What were Britain’s strengths in the civil war?

Answer 26

• Had 48000 soldiers in 1775 and could hire mercenaries from Germany
• Royal navy had 340 ships reinforcing British troops and blockading American ports
• Economy diverse and established allowing them to absorb debt to continue financing the war
• Population of 8 million allowed large armies and people to provide for them too

Question 27

What were Britain’s weaknesses?

Answer 27

• The British relied on pincer tactics meaning forces were divided due to elongated supply lines and delayed relief efforts.
• Lack of strategy direction from London, only strategy was chasing the continental army which meant a loss of supplies
• Out of Britain’s 48,000 soldiers only 8000 were in America because they had to meet militarial obligations elsewhere.
• The navy needed to be re-equipped due to under-investment in the 1760’s
• As debts piled throughout the war, British political will faded

Question 28

What were the strengths of the Americans?

Answer 28

• The declaration of independence and the increasing signs of Britain’s weaknesses converted neutrals into patriots
• The Continental army knew the terrain and performed better on home ground
• The continental army were more ideologically committed to winning the war than the British were
• George Washington was good at regrouping the army after a defeat repeated
• The coastline was so huge the British could never starve the colonies

Question 29

What were the weaknesses of the Americans?

Answer 29

• Reliant on issuing of paper money as there was no tax
• Americans were very short of weapons and other supplies such as shoes
• Had to rely on the British overstretching supply lines

Question 30

Why did the British lose the battle of Saratoga?

Answer 30

• Burgoyne was overconfident placing bets on the length of the war and taking 30 carriages of his personal belongings with him
• Neutrals would not join an army that contained native Americans
• Burgoyne’s plan was not coordinated with other generals, Clinton and Howe and sacrificed an army in Saratoga due to overestimating the speed of Clinton’s reinforcement arrival
• Peace terms allowed British soldiers to march to Boston and leave as long as they didn’t fight again but the Americans kept the soldiers as prisoners instead until 1783

Question 31

How did Spain and France enter the war?

Answer 31

• The French were persuaded to join the war by Benjamin Franklin aided by the news of Burgoyne’s defeat and the French want to take back land lost in the sevens year war and an ally treaty was signed in February 1778 and war was declared in June 1778
• The Spanish enter the war as an ally of the French in June 1779

Question 32

What was the significance of Spain and France entering the war?

Answer 32

• Defeat of the French became more important than defending the colonies
• % of British troops in North America dropped from 65% in 1778 to 20% in 1780 due to defence of Britain from a possible French invasion.
• French fleet at Chepaseake bay by de grasse led to the British defeat in Yorktown which was the most decisive battle of the war
• 1781, Spanish troops cleared British from Mississippi valley

Question 33

What did Britain do in response to the loss at Saratoga?

Answer 33

• Moved their focus south where they thought there were more loyalists and a base of operations to invade New England colonies one by one
• Invasion of Charleston was successful in 1980 and the British moved in

Question 34

How and why were the British defeated at Yorktown under General Cornwallis?

Answer 34

• The population of the south was not loyalist as the British hoped it’d be, just because battles were won did not mean the territory was loyal
• After the siege of Charleston Clinton returned to New York only 4000 men remained in Charleston leaving the army weak

Question 35

Why did Britain accept the Peace of Paris treaty?

Answer 35

• Political will in London had been reduced due to financial pressure from the city of London and speakers in debates onto the king and his ministry to end the war

Question 36

What was the Peace of Paris treaty?

Answer 36

• Signed by the USA, Britain, Spain and Holland on the 3rd September 1783
• Required the recognition of America as a nation and its boundaries
• Division of imperial possessions between Britain, France and Spain

Question 37

What was the impact of the defeat on the British empire

Answer 37

• Resignation of Lord North and the formation of a coalition government replaced by William Pitt in 1784 2 years later
• National debt of £232 million and disruption of Britain’s trade
• Despite defeat, Britain showed political, economic and social resilience by 1785 trade with colonies had reached pre war level and British exports to Britain doubled between 1783 and 1792