Learn AP® U.S. History - Seeds of Revolution 1754 - 1776

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They are the same war. They have two names that are often used interchangeably.

Salutary neglect describes the hands-off policy the British adopted towards the colonies prior to 1763. The British did not enforce parliamentary law or interfere in trade.

This resulted in the colonists becoming more self-reliant and independent.

The war was fought by the British mainly for control of the colonial frontier.

The French and Indian War (1754-1763) was fought by the British against France and Indian tribes that were allied to the French. Victory in the war gave the English control of Canada and the entire Mississippi River valley, while limiting France to their small colony in present-day Haiti.

He fought in the war and gained his most important pre-revolutionary military experience during this conflict.

As a result of this, it made him the best-known soldier among the colonies.

Treaty of Paris (1763)

The Treaty gave control of North America up to the Mississippi River and the entirety of Canada to the British.

Pontiac’s Rebellion was an attack by a group of allied Native American tribes against British outposts who were protecting settlers who were flooding the area west of the Appalachian mountains.

In response, the British issued the Proclamation of 1763, which banned colonization west of the Appalachian Mountains. The British did this to save on the military costs of having to protect settlers.

In response to Pontiac’s Rebellion, the Proclamation of 1763 banned colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains.

The area from the Appalachians to the Mississippi River was set aside as reserved for the Native Americans.

The Proclamation of 1763 marked the end of the period of salutary neglect, and marked the first time the British directly interfered with colonial affairs.

Further British interference would come in the form of taxation, as the British government sought to have the American colonies pay for some of the costs of the French and Indian War.

Grenville was Prime Minister of Great Britain between 1763-1765.

As Prime Minister, he was responsible for the Stamp Act, Sugar Act, and Quartering Act. Grenville believed that the colonists in the 13 colonies had an obligation to pay more in taxes because the government protected them during the French and Indian War.

Writs of Assistance were general search warrants designed to stop smuggling.

They allowed British customs agents to search wherever they pleased and without having to pay for any damages. So if you were walking down the street, one of these British customs agents could go to you and search your belongings without your consent, damaging some of them, and it was 100% legal, so long as they showed that they have a Writ of Assistance. So it’s basically a vague warrant.

James Otis argued that the writs violated natural law, and many Americans felt that Writs of Assistance infringed upon their rights as British subjects.

The Stamp Act required the purchase of a stamp for newspapers, advertisements, and legal documents.

The Sugar Act increased taxes on luxuries such as sugar.

It also provided for stronger enforcement of the Navigation Acts; any smugglers caught would be tried by an admiralty court, without a jury.

Quartering Act

The three acts were passed to increase revenue from and decrease costs of the North American colonies to the British government after the British amassed a large debt from the French and Indian War.

The Sugar Act and the Stamp Act increased colonial taxes (revenues). The Quartering Act, which required colonists to house and feed British soldiers, decreased costs.

Passed by Virginia’s House of Burgesses (Virginia’s Colonial Government), the British government had no right to tax the people without their consent.

Called in 1765 by James Otis of Massachusetts, representatives of nine colonial governments attended the Stamp Act Congress to protest the British government’s taxes on the American colonies.

The Stamp Act Congress resolved that only elected representatives had the power to tax citizens.

The Sons and Daughters of Liberty were a secret society opposed to the Stamp Act.

The Sons of Liberty regularly intimidated and tarred and feathered British tax agents, as well as destroying private property and property that belonged to the British government. As the Revolutionary War approached, it served as a shadow government dedicated to independence.

American outrage at the Stamp Act proved a unifying force throughout the colonies. People started to forget the things that made them different and started to focus on issues that concerned all of the 13 colonies.

The boycott severely impacted British trade and merchants pressured the British government into repealing the Stamp Act.

Britain repealed the Stamp Act in 1766, although the British government also passed the Declaratory Act at the same time.

The Declaratory Act (1766) reaffirmed the power of the British government to tax and make laws for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.” Passed along with the repeal of the Stamp Act, few noticed the reaffirmation of the British taxing power.

Townshend Acts

The Acts were named for Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was responsible for raising revenue for the British government.

John Dickinson wrote Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer.

In it, Dickinson argued that even though the Townshend Acts were indirect taxes, they violated English law. They were impermissible because they were enacted by a government body in which the colonies were not represented.

As a face-saving measure, Parliament retained a small tax on tea.

Phillis Wheatly

She was the first Black American in US History to publish anything on poetry, and the second woman in US history to do so as well.

George Whitefield was a person of great notoriety in the 13 colonies and in England for his Christian ministry throughout the 1st Great Awakening.

She learned to read and write.

She was kidnapped and sold into slavery from the Gambia river region in Africa at age 8. The couple that enslaved her were still grieving over the daughter they had lost almost a decade earlier.

As a result, Phillis's enslavers were kind to her, relative to how the average enslaved person was treated. As such, Phillis, despite still being enslaved, was able to learn to read and write, and within the first 4 years of her captivity, was educated enough to compose poetry and write letters.

In March 1770, a number of Bostonians harassed the British troops with snowballs and taunts. British troops fired into the crowd, killing five Americans. The British troops were tried for murder. Defended by John Adams, the troops were acquitted.

The Committees of Correspondence were groups organized in 1772, by Samuel Adams, in several Massachusetts towns to keep an eye on British activities.

It made the price of British tea, plus tax, cheaper than Dutch tea.

Tea was an important component of the British economy. After the American colonies began boycotting tea from Britain (instead using smuggled Dutch tea), the British East India Company suffered a financial crisis.

Hoping to ease the crisis, the British government passed the Tea Act, which made the price of British tea, plus the tax, cheaper than Dutch tea.

To protest the British government's actions in the Tea Act.

The Sons of Liberty, disguised as Indians boarded the ship carrying the tea on December 16, 1773, and threw 1.7 million dollars worth of tea (in today's US dollars) overboard.

Profoundly angered by the Boston Tea Party, the British government passed the Coercive Acts in 1774 to punish the colonies, specifically Massachusetts.

Passed along with the Coercive Act in 1774, the Quebec Act extended Quebec's territory onto the Ohio River Valley, which was land that the 13 colonies thought belonged to them, as well as making Roman Catholicism the official religion of Quebec.

The Coercive Acts and the Quebec Act were jointly termed the Intolerable Acts by disgruntled colonists.

Delegates from the 13 colonies (except Georgia) met in Philadelphia and:

• Asked for relief from the Intolerable acts.

• Passed the Suffolk Resolves.

• Which called for more local militias and increased boycott of British goods.

The British ignored the First Continental Congress.

Massachusetts was declared to be in an open state of rebellion, and troops under British General Gage were dispatched to Boston.

Colonial militia

The Minutemen was a nickname given to the colonial militia, who were trained to respond at a moment's notice.

After the British Army was detected moving out of Boston, Paul Revere and another rider, William Dawes, rode through the Massachusetts countryside warning that "the British are coming."

A small force of Minutemen assembled at Lexington to oppose the British advance.

British General Gage believed that there were guns and ammunition stored in Concord.

Lexington

When the British arrived in Concord, the arms and ammunition stored there were already gone. As the British Army marched back to Boston, they were attacked by the Minutemen from natural cover.

Unlike the British soldiers, the Minutemen were well trained to fight from cover from hunting experience.

After the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the British Army retreated to Boston. As a result of the battles, American militiamen swarmed to join the ragtag forces besieging General Gage's army.

The defeat of British regulars by informal militia provided a morale boost to the Americans.

The Second Continental Congress' two factions:

1. One group, mainly from New England, advocated for immediate independence.

2. The other group, mainly from the Middle Colonies, sought to reconcile with the British: led by John Dickinson, this group convinced Congress to send the Olive Branch Petition.

Olive Branch

An olive branch was an ancient symbol of peace.