facts Flashcards
The Seven Years War led to…
A doubling of great Britain’s National debt: by 1764 debt was £130 million - greater by a fifth of the annual output of the nations economy
In 1763 British North America ran from _____ in the North to Florida in the south
Hudson Bay
Pre-1763 most colonists lives to the east of _____
the Appalachian mountains
What were the New England colonies?
- New Hampshire
- Massachusetts
- Rhode Island
- Connecticut
What were the middle colonies?
- New York
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
- Delaware
What were the southern colonies?
- Maryland
- Virginia
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
- Orgy
Between 1700 and 1763 the population of the thirteen colonies increased….
eightfold from 250,000 to reach 2 million
Between 1750 and 1770 the thirteen colonies’ population expanded from….
1.25 million to over 2.3 million - an almost 100 per cent increase
What were the three reasons for population growth?
- A high birth rate
- A low death rate
- Immigration
Why was there a high birth rate?
The average American woman had a family of seven children
How many colonists lives in the South?
Half
How many colonists lives in the middle colonies?
A quarter
How many colonists lives in New England
About a quarter
How big was the population of Virginia by 1770
500,000 inhabitants
What were the five towns of any size (all of which are seaports)
- Philadelphia
- New York
- Boston
- Newport
- Charleston
What was the population of the 5 seaports by 1760
73,000 (only 3.5 percent of the total population)
How many people from Europe and Africa migrated to the thirteen colonies between 1700 and 1763?
400,000 (less than a fifth of the eighteenth century migrants were English)
What were the largest group of immigrants?
Scots-Irish Protestants from Ulster (about 150,000 left for economic reasons)
How many Germans settled?
65,000: mainly peasants from the Rhineland
Between ______ of all white immigrants during the colonial period were indentured Servants
A half and two-thirds
By 1763 there were _____ slaves, one in six of the overall population
350,000
______ of African Americans lived in the South
90 per cent
By 1760 only about ____ of the American population was of English stock
Half
What are the Proprietary colonies
Colonies in which the crown had vested political authority in the hands of certain families: the Calvert’s (in Maryland) and the Penns (in Pennsylvania and Delaware). The proprietor who ran he colony appointed the governor.
What are the Corporate colonies
Connecticut and Rhode Island possesses charters granted by the king, which gave them extensive autonomy. Governors were popularly elected and responsible to the legislatures.
What did the colonial legislatures (assemblies) consist of
- Upper houses (or councils)
2. Lower houses (elected)
At least ___ per cent of American white adult males could vote, compared with only fifteen per cent in Britain
50 (in some as much as 80)
What are freeholders?
People who own, rather than rent, their land. In New England all freeholders had voting rights.
What were Charters?
Formal documents, granting or confirming titles, rights or priveleges
Whats the Privy Council
The private council of the British king, advising on the administration of government
Between 1650 and 1770 the colonial economy grew by an annual average of ____.
3.2 per cent
Farming remained the dominant economic activity, employing ______ of the working population.
nine-tenths
New England economy?
lacked extensive rich soils, so fisherman brought back great quantities of cod, to be dried and exported. Nearly half of export trade was with the West Indies, which supplied colonies with sugar and molasses (which the NE distillers turned into rum)
Middle colonies economy?
major source of wheat and flour products for export
Southern colonies economy?
tobacco (mainstay), rice, indigo and grain.
Statistic for tobacco exports in the South
tobacco exports rose from £14 million in the 1670s to £100 million by the 1770s
what is mercantilism?
the belief that colonies existed essentially to serve the economic interests of the mother country
what were enumerated commodities?
listed items which were affected by the Trade and Navigation Acts
the list of enumerated commodities was steadily extended, and by 1763 it included practically everything the colonies produced except _____.
fish, grain and timber
The Woollen Act
1699 (forbade the export of woollen yarn and cloth outside the colony in which it was produced)
The Hat Act
1732 (prohibited the export of colonial beaver hats)
The Iron Act
1750 (banned the export of colonial iron outside the empire)
The laxity of control particularly prevailed during PM ____’s long rule.
Robert Walpole (1721-42)
By the 1770s the colonies had outstripped Britain as producers of ____
crude iron.
By the 1760s _____ of British imports and exports crossed the Atlantic
a third
The colonies imported British manufactured goods, exporting ______ in return.
tobacco, flour, fish, rice and wheat
Between 1650 and 1770 the colonial economy grew by an annual average of ____.
3.2 per cent
Farming remained the dominant economic activity, employing ______ of the working population.
nine-tenths
New England economy?
lacked extensive rich soils, so fisherman brought back great quantities of cod, to be dried and exported. Nearly half of export trade was with the West Indies, which supplied colonies with sugar and molasses (which the NE distillers turned into rum)
Middle colonies economy?
major source of wheat and flour products for export
Southern colonies economy?
tobacco (mainstay), rice, indigo and grain.
Statistic for tobacco exports in the South
tobacco exports rose from £14 million in the 1670s to £100 million by the 1770s
what is mercantilism?
the belief that colonies existed essentially to serve the economic interests of the mother country
what were enumerated commodities?
listed items which were affected by the Trade and Navigation Acts
the list of enumerated commodities was steadily extended, and by 1763 it included practically everything the colonies produced except _____.
fish, grain and timber
The Woollen Act
1699 (forbade the export of woollen yarn and cloth outside the colony in which it was produced)
The Hat Act
1732 (prohibited the export of colonial beaver hats)
The Iron Act
1750 (banned the export of colonial iron outside the empire)
The laxity of control particularly prevailed during PM ____’s long rule.
Robert Walpole (1721-42)
By the 1770s the colonies had outstripped Britain as producers of ____
crude iron.
By the 1760s _____ of British imports and exports crossed the Atlantic
a third
The colonies imported British manufactured goods, exporting ______ in return.
tobacco, flour, fish, rice and wheat
eighty per cent of free males were ____.
farmers
By 1763, ___ per cent of white male American adults were literate, compared with 60 per cent in England
75 per cent
how many colleges and universities were established by 1763?
9
more than ____ newspapers were in circulation by 1763
30
When was the War of Austrian Succession
1740-48
Franklin’s _______ adopted a scheme for a permanent inter-colonial confederation
Plan of Union
When was William Pitt recalled to power in Britain?
1757
Triumphs of 1759
- Admiral Hawke smashed French fleet at Quiberon Bay
- Britain captured Guadaloupe in the Caribbean
- Three-pronged attack on Canada
12th September 1759
General Wolfe defeated Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham to ensure the capture of Quebec, destroying French power in Canada
In 1760 ____ took Montreal and the capture of Canada was complete.
Amherst
key terms of Peace of Paris (1763)
- Britain received Canada and all French possessions east of the Mississippi
- Britain acquired most of France’s Caribbean islands
- Britain acquired Florida from Spain
- France ceded Louisiana to Spain
The national debt had almost doubled between ___.
1755 and 1763
In February 1763 the new PM, the Earl of Bute, announced that _____ British troops were needed as a permanent army in North America and that the Americans should contribute something to the expense
10,000
In April 1763 Bute was succeeded as PM by____
George Grenville
the annual interest of the national debt was ____ at a time when the government’s annual income was only £8 million.
£4.4 million
the cost of colonial administration and defence had risen from….
£70,000 in 1748 to £350,000 in 1763
May 1763
Pontiac’s Rebellion; Ohio Valley tribes, led by the Ottawa chief, Pontiac, rose in revolt, destroying every British post west of Niagara, except Detroit.
When was the Proclamation Line issued?
October 1763 by Grenville’s ministry
Who did the Proclamation Line anger?
- Colonies (especially Virginia)
- Frontiersmen
- Land Speculators
statistic for ignoring Proclamation Line
over 30,000 American settlers ignored it, moved west in the five years after 1763. By 1768 Britain had accepted the breakdown of the Proclamation Line.
1763 measures to reduce smuggling
- colonial customs officials had to reside in America rather than delegating their duties to deputies
- to counter leniency of colonial juries to smugglers, jurisdiction in revenue cases transferred from colonial courts to a vice-admiralty court in Halifax, Novia Scotia.
April 1764 Sugar Act
as the 1733 Sugar Act yielded only £21,652 over 30 years, the new Sugar Act reduced the duty on foreign molasses from 6d. a gallon to 3d. Predicted to yield £78,000 rather than £21,652!
Only ____ Americans sat in the Commons between 1763 and 1783
five
The Sugar Act affected primarily just…
New England, where distillers turned molasses into rum
other terms of Sugar Act
- added wine, silk and coffee to list of enumerated commodities
- customs officials convinced of accepting a bribe was subject to a £500 fine and disqualification from serving in any government post
The Currency Act
- Placed a ban on colonial paper money. Deflationary effects threatened Americans.
John Wilkes
radical British MP demanded freedom of press and a more democratic parliament; became an American as well as a British hero.
By 1765 ___ colonial assemblies had sent messages to London arguing that Parliament had abused its power by introducing the Sugar Act.
nine
James Otis influence
published ‘The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proud’ in 1764 in which he said there should be no taxation in America without the people’s consent
What’s a Stamp Duty?
a tax on legal documents, its payment being confirmed by the affixation of a stamp.
What was Grenville’s mistake in introducing the Stamp Act?
he gave the Americans a year’s warning of the Stamp Act so they had time to prepare their opposition
When did the Stamp Act take effecT?
1st November 1765
Facts of the Stamp Act
- affected fifty items (newspapers, legal docs, insurance, tavern and marriage licenses, playing cards)
- the Treasury estimated that the new duty would raise £60,000 in its first year (only a quarter of the sum needed for colonial defence)
Whereas the Sugar Act had only affected _____, the Stamp Act applied universally, antagonising some of the most influential groups of colonists - lawyers, printers, and tavern-keepers.
New England merchants
The Virginia Resolves
29th May 1765; Patrick Henry introduced seven resolutions attacking the Stamp Act
Since Henry’s resolutions were printed in their entirety in many colonial newspapers…
the impression given as that Virginia had rejected the Stamp Act and sanctioned open resistance if Britain tried to enforce it
Stamp Act Congress
1765 October New York; twenty-seven delegates from nine colonies attended, denounced the Stamp Act as having a ‘manifest tendency to subvert the rights and liberties of the colonies’
the Loyal Nine
group of artisans and shopkeepers in Boston, most important leader was Samuel Adams.
14th August 1765 effigies of Oliver and Bute were hung from
the Liberty Tree in Boston
When was the Repeal of the Stamp Act??
March 1766 by 275 votes to 167.
The Declaratory Act
asserted that colonies were subordinate to the ‘Crown and Parliament of Great Britain’ and that Parliament had full authority to make laws ‘to bind the colonies and people of America… in all cases whatsoever’
Townshend Duties
May 1767; Townshend introduced new duties on colonial imports of glass, wine, china, lead, paint, paper and tea.
New York Restraining Act
March 1767; the New York assembly was prohibited from taking any legislative action until it complied with the Quartering Act
John Dickinson
wrote influential attack on Townshend’s measures; ‘Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer’ printed in most colonial newspapers.
Political response to Townshend duties
February 1768 Massachusetts assembly sent out circular letter denouncing Townshend duties for violating principle of ‘no taxation without representation’; document by Samuel Adams and James Otis.
boycott statistics
by 1769 every colony except New Hampshire had organisations pledged to boycott British goods
statistic for influence of the Wilkesite movement
In 1769 South Carolina’s assembly donated £1500 for Wilkes’ cause as liberty being suppressed.
Rising tensions Boston
22nd February 1770: suspected customs informer killed an eleven-year-old boy during a riot; Sons of Liberty turned funeral into a political demonstration (5000 Bostonians attended)
2nd March 1770: workers at rope factory attacked soldiers seeking jobs
5th March 1770
Boston Massacre; 5 Bostonians killed. Paul Revere’s engraving + Adams’ political machine gave impression it was a deliberate massacre.
statistic committees of correspondence
By February 1775 every colony except Pennsylvania and North Carolina had committees
Examples of American disunity
- disputes between colonies over boundaries
2. 1768 Regulator movement led to a period of virtual civil war with 300 Regulators killed
1773 Tea Act worthlessness of antagonisation
the tea imported into America had netted only £400 in 1772 and yet North was risking the export of £2 million of tea and antagonising the Americans into the bargain
The Boston Tea Party
16th December 1773; 60 Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk Native Americans and directed by Sam Adams, boarded tea ships and threw their cargoes - 342 tea chests worth about £10,000 - into the harbour
The Coercive Acts
1774; dubbed intolerable acts;
- Boston Port Act
- Massachusetts Government Act
- The Impartial Administration of Justice Act
- New Quartering Act
what did the Boston Port Act do?
closed Boston to all trade until the destroyed tea had been paid for
What did the Massachusetts government act do?
allowed the royal governor to appoint and remove most civil officials. Town meetings could not be held without his permission.
What did the Impartial Administration of Justice Act do?
provide the transfer to Britain of murder trials
What did the new Quartering Act do?
gave broader authority to military commanders seeking to house their troops
Who spoke against the Coercive Acts
Chatham and Burke.
Quebec Act
June 1774; tried to solve the problem of governing the French inhabitants of Canada by placing authority in the hands of a governor without an elected assembly and limited trial by Jury.
What was the consequences of the June 1774 Quebec act?
- suggested to colonists Britain intended to put NA under authoritarian forms of government
- extension of the Quebec boundary south and west to the Ohio and the Mississippi looked like an attempt to check westward expansion by the thirteen original colonies.
most prominent radical figures in the Continental Congress (September 1774)
- Richard Henry Lee
- Patrick Henry of Virginia
- John and Sam Adams of Massachusetts
leading moderates in the continental congress
John Dickinson
Joseph Galloway of Pennsylvania
When were Committees of Inspection set up?
late 1774
Defeat at Yorktown
Cornwallis and his 8000 strong army surrendered on the 19th October 1781 after a three-week siege.
