Empire booklet 1: loss of american colonies Flashcards
background info
Philadelphia biggest city with 24000
European colonists: scots, Irish, germans, dutch, swedes, jews
Background govt
British crown with parliament, pas laws and tax colonists
Royal governor, appointed by the crown
colonial assembly, elected by eligible colonists, makes laws
Governors, stay in office for five years. veto acts
Colonial legislatures, upper house and lower house
navigation acts
1651
fishing rights by Britain
limit imports to give British manufactures and merchants an advantage
Mercantile system
economic policy equated wealth with power promote exports and discouraging imports, used tariffs 1750 Iron Act 1732 Hat Act
Stamp Act 1765
imposed taxes onto almost all written materials such as newspapers, licences, playing cards.
Enlightenment
Challenging traditional values
Dare to know
Freedom, equality, your right
Townshend Duties
1767
Britain gained power by taxing colonies
£40000 annually
colonial assembly 1767-68
1`767-68
opposed british taxation
sons of liberty
no taxation without representation
Boston massacre
1770
5 bostons killed
violent
British repealled taxes, but not on tea
Committess of correspondence
growing resistance towards british control
Division of society, patriots against loyalists
Tea Act
1773
East india company
Another attempt to tax the colonies illegally
Committees of correspondence urged for boycotts
Coercive Acts
1774
acts allowed murder trials transfered to england
Quartering Act gave broader authority to military commanders
continental congress supported radical views
Boston Tea Party
1773
60 sons of liberty sank £10000 worth of cargo
British sought punishment
Battles of Lexington and Concord
April 1775
First violence
269 british killed/wounded
Battle of Bunker Hill
June 1775
huge loss for british
1/3 of troops killed or injured
Publication of common sense
1776
Thomas Paine
United people
called for independence
Declaration of independence
1776 Angry at British for: Depriving trial by jury Imposing taxes Cutting trade to all parts of world
Saratoga
1777
Burgoyne defeat for british
5895 troops surrendered and imprisoned
Yorktown
1781
Cornwallis defeat
Washington led 16000 french/spanish troops
Partly due to Cornwallis splitting from clinton
Effects of independence
Diplomatic:
Britain retained canada, caribbean, india
Regained status quickly
offered ireland concessions
Empire:
Ireland concessions, altered Mercantile system
moved into australia
Political:
lord North resigned in 1782
George III still in power
Economic: short term bad, £232 million in internal debt in 1783 interest of £10 million yearly British exports doubled from 1783-1792 raised taxes to supply this supplied 4/5 of us imports
