CHAPTER 3

AMERICA IN THE
BRITISH EMPIRE
The British Colonial System
3 branches:
 Governor (Executive)
 assemblies / legislature (legislative)
 Judges (judiciary)
Governor:
 head of a colony
 appointed by King
 some colonies - appointed by proprietors
Governor’s power :-
 executed local laws
 appointed low rank officials
 summoned & dismissed assemblies
 proposed legislation to assemblies
Each colony had a legislature
Legislature consisted of two houses
lower house
upper house (council)

lower house
members – chosen by voters
Role/powers – drafted & passed legislation

upper house
members – appointed by kings
known as councilors
primary role – advisors to governors
other power – legislative & judicial powers
Judges – appointed by kings

colonists ran their own affairs

Not much interference from British
government
legislature had more control in colonial
affairs
Mercantilism

British government developed a number

of policies (acts) – objective:
To control raw materials from colonies
To face commercial competitions from other
European superpowers
economists called these policies as
mercantilism
1660 –enacted Navigation Acts
The Navigation Acts main provisions:-
To bring gold & silver into Royal Treasury
To develop British merchant fleet
To channel flow of raw materials from
colonies into England
To keep foreign goods & vessels out of
British colonial ports
Effects of Navigation Acts:
English merchants controlled colonies’ trade
Other European merchants could not have
direct trade with colonies
Must go through English merchants
England monopolized American economy

Colonists:
complain on mercantilism
violated Navigation Acts
Anglo - French Wars
Britain,France & Spain competed for
markets & raw materials
caused wars that affected America
1756– Seven Years War (Britain X France)
Britain won the war
1763 – Treaty of Paris signed – effects:
Britain took over:
Canada from France
eastern Mississippi from France
Florida from Spain
JOAN OF ARC (1412 – 31):
a patron saint of France
honored as a defender of the French nation for
her role in the siege of Orléans & her
insistence on the coronation of Charles VII of
France during the Hundred Years' War (1337
– 1453)
Burden of an Extended Empire

Britainfaced financial burden after Seven

Years War
borrowed money to finance war
need to repay
national debt increased
cost of colonial administration increased
before 1763 – 70, 000 pound a year
after 1763 – 350, 000 pound a year
Solution - British Parliament taxed
American colonists
Before Seven Years War – colonists
never paid tax
colonists resented – denounced taxation
without representation was illegal
The Sugar Act

1764 – British Parliament passed Sugar Act

Tariffs - sugar, coffee, wines & other imports
Violators of the Act - prosecuted
Colonists:
 Parliament had no right to tax them
 No American colonists - member of Parliament
 argument – taxation without representation was
improper
The Stamp Act

1765 - British Parliament passed the Stamp

Act
taxes on printed materials – newspapers,
pamphlets, licenses, diplomas & legal papers
must buy special stamps for these printed
materials:
 2 shillings for advertisement in newspaper
 5 shillings for a will
 20 shillings for license to sell liquor
A day’s wage for urban laborer - 3 shillings
colonial states assemblies rejected Stamp
Act
Argued - Parliament had no legal
authority to tax colonies without their
consent
 American colonists formed organization
like Sons of Liberty to protest Stamp Act
Used violence to achieve their aims
Rioting & looting
destroying properties
Threatening & attacking stamp masters (all
Americans)
Threatening & attacking British officers
Destroying stamps
Colonists:
defied the law
refused to use stamps
issuing & accepting unstamped documents
The law was a dead letter
Why colonists protest the Stamp Act?
They were taxed by Parliament that had no
American representative
Buying a stamp means - to surrender self-
government
the Act violated their rights as British subjects
Americans boycotted British goods
Hurt British merchants
British merchants pressured British
Parliament to repeal the act
March 1776 - Stamp Act was repealed
The Declaratory Act

March 1776 - British Parliament passed

Declaratory Act
It declared colonies were “subordinate” &
British Parliament could enact any law “to
bind the colonies & people of America”
Americans view :-
Declaratory Act was unconstitutional
violation of their rights as British subjects
The Townshend Acts
June 1767 – British introduced levies on
certain goods imported into colonies
(glass, lead, paints, paper & tea)

Americans response:
boycotting British goods
manufacturing own goods

End 1769 – import from British reduced by

50 %
Colonies sent “Circular Letter” to England –
Townshend Acts were infringements of their
constitutional rights
WATCH GANDHI SALT MARCH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=wj8Gf1rkJK8
British ignored this letter
British responded by:-
Ordering governor to dissolve legislature of
Massachusetts
Sending two regiments of British troops to
Boston
The Boston Massacre

series of acts & placement of British

soldiers convinced Americans - British
government trying to destroy liberties
January 1770 – fights broke out between
Sons of Liberty & British soldiers in New
York
Caused a number of injuries
Boston Massacre:
 March 5, 1770
 British soldiers guarding Custom House
 Americans threw snowballs at British
soldiers
 British soldiers fired at the crowd
 5 Bostonians killed
 Americans were angry
BOSTON MASSACARE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=O05rNWygHF4
April 1170 – Townshend duties were
repealed
Only tea was taxed (3 penny)
The Tea Act Crisis

BritishEast India Company -almost

bankrupt
Causes - corruption, inefficient
administration & heavy military expenses
To save company - Parliament allowed
company to sell tea directly to Americans
Company monopoly tea trade in America
Americans had to pay tax on tea as stated
in Townshend tax
Americans:
angered by British actions
trick by Parliament to tax colonies
company shipped tea to colonial ports
Americans:
refused to led ships unload cargo
ordered them back to England
November 1773 –Bostonians took
actions:
 Led by Sam Adams
 prevented ships from unloading cargo
 refused to pay tax

December 16 – colonists:
 disguised as Indians
 rowed to ships
 dumped tea chests into sea
known as “Boston Tea Party”
British government:
 Angry
 Wanted to teach colonists a lesson
1774 - British Parliament passed the
Coercive Acts (the Intolerable Acts)
Closed Boston port to commerce until
Bostonians paid for tea
trade in Massachusetts reduced
BOSTON TEAPARTY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=vKE4uOgSwbo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=nXqmMZ2JbRI
The First Continental Congress

June 1774 – Massachusetts called for a

meeting of delegates from all colonies to
consider common action
September 1774 – First Continental
Congress in Philadelphia
Twelve colonies sent delegates - only
Georgia failed to send delegates (need
British aid – war with Indians)
Congress resolutions:-
Condemn British Parliament actions
Parliament had no authority to pass
legislation for colonies
Adopted Declaration of Rights & Grievances
Enforced a boycott of British goods
Enforced a stop of all exports to British
Endorsed a call to take up arms against
Britain