Transatlantic EconomyAnd Revolution

Building the Atlantic EconomyMercantilism and Colonial Wars• 1. English mercantilism was

characterized by government regulations that served the interests both of the state and of private individuals. Mercantilism in other European countries generally served only state interests.

•2. The Navigation Acts of 16511663 were a form of economic warfare against Dutch domination of Atlantic shipping. They gave British merchants and ship owners a near monopoly on trade with Britain’s North American colonies.

• After defeating the Dutch, England fought a series of wars with France for maritime domination of the world.

• a) War of the Spanish Succession (17011713)

• b) War of the Austrian Succession (17401748)

• c) The Seven Years’ War (17561763) ended with British winning full control over India and North America.

B. Land and Labor in British America

• 1. In Britain’s North American colonies cheap land and scarce labor resulted in the following:

• a) rapid increase in the colonial population in the eighteenth century.

• b) import of African slaves to tobacco plantations in southern colonies.

• c) growing prosperity for British colonists.

• C. The Growth of Foreign Trade

•1. Britain and especially England profited from the mercantile system.

•2. As trade with Europe stagnated, colonial markets took up the slack.

•3. English exports grew more balanced and diverse.

Atlantic Slave Trade

•1. The forced migration of millions of Africans was a key element in the Atlantic system and western European economic expansion.

•2. After 1700, Britain was the undisputed leader of the slave trade.

•3. Increasing demand led to rising prices for African slaves.

•4. Africans participated in the trade.

•5. After 1775, a campaign to abolish slavery developed in Britain.

E. Revival in Colonial Latin America

1. Under Philip V (r. 17001746) Spain recovered economically and successfully defended her American colonies.

• 2. Rising silver exports in the eighteenth century helped create a class of wealthy Creole (American-born white) merchants.

•3. Creole estate owners dominated much of the peasant population through debt peonage, really a form of serfdom.

War of Jenkin’s Ear

• Great Britain vs Spain• Treaty of Utrecht: 1713—Great

Britain gains two privileges over Spain: 30 year asiento, or treaty to supply Spanish colonies with slaves and

• Britain allowed to send 1 ship to Portabello Fair

•British kept ships offshore and at night re-supplied the one legal ship

•1731—Jenkin’s ship boarded•Spanish cut off his ear, which

he then kept in a jar of brandy•1738—Jenkin’s addresses

Parliament w/his ear as evidence to prove Spanish atrocities to Britain

•British merchant interest in the West Indies forced Sir Robert Walpole to go to war w/Spain.

•This became the opening for additional wars in Europe

1740-1748: War of Austrian Succession

•December 1740: Frederick II seizes Austrian province of Silesia

•Results: ignored the Pragmatic Sanction

•Upset the Balance of Power in Europe

• France drawn into war by aristocrats, who forced Cardinal Fleury to support Prussia’s aggression against Austria, the traditional enemy of France

• French move against Austria brought a response from Great Britain: she enters war on side of Austria to ensure Low Countries remained under Austria’s power

• 1744: War spreads to New World• France supports Spain against

Britain• French military and economic

resources badly divided and could not strongly support either struggle

• 1748—Stalemate ended war and Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle signed

•Treaty gave Silesia to Prussia and Spain had to renew the asiento w/Great BritainTreaty was truce, not permanent peace

Diplomatic Revolution 1756

•Old system:•Great Britain France•Austria Prussia•(Russia) (Spain)

Convention of Westminster, 1756

•Great Britain and Prussia sign defensive pact, to prevent invasion of Prussia (Russia and France)

•Maria-Theresa upset, but PM Kaunitz arranged a defensive pact w/France

•New alliances:

•Great Britain France•Prussia Austria Russia France would fight to restore

Austrian supremacy in central Europe

1756-1763: Seven Years’ War

• Aug 1756: Frederick II invades Saxony (Preemptive strike?)

• Continuation of defensive pact • Invasion triggered destructive

alliance that Frederick II feared: France and Austria joined by Russia, Sweden, smaller German States unite to try to destroy Prussia

•Two factors save Prussia:•Great Britain gives Prussia

much financial aid•1762:Empress Elizabeth of

Russia died; replaced by Peter III

•Prussia on verge of destruction

•Peter III had unending adoration for Frederick II

•Peter III makes peace w/Prussia

•Takes no compensation•Gave up Russian gains

(including Berlin)•Signed alliance w/Prussia

(discontinued under Catherine II)

•Frederick left to fight France and Austria

• 1763: Treaty of Hubertusburg:• Ended continental fighting• No change in pre-war borders• BUT Great Britain successful

around the globe, under William Pitt the Elder (1708-1778)

• With French troops diverted on continent, Pitt sent 40,000 troops to North America France

North America in North America in 17501750

North America in North America in 17501750

•In Canada, France was unable and unwilling to devote similar resources and troops against English in New World

•French military admin corrupt•Mil/pol commands in Canada

divided•Inadequate provisions to N.

Am. forces

• England also had support of colonists, who wished to expand westward;

• Sept. 1759: Plains of Abraham: British General James Wolfe defeats Fr. Lt. General Louis Joseph de Montcalm

• Fr. West Indies also fell to Great Britain: income from captured sugar helped to finance Britain’s war effort

• British slave interests captured most of French slave trade

• 1755-60—value of French colonial trade fell more than 80%

• In India, Robert Clive defeats French forces at Battle of Plassey, 1757.

• Britain conquered Bengal, and later all of India

Treaty of Paris 1763

• Britain receives: all of Canada, the Ohio River Valley, and eastern half of Mississippi River Valley, except New Orleans

• Britain returned French settlements of Pondicherry and Chandernagore in India and Guadeloupe and Martinique

North America in North America in 17631763

North America in North America in 17631763

Results of 7 Years’ War

•Thousands killed/wounded•Global battles•Prussia more dominant•Holy Roman empire ineffective•Austria dependent upon

Hungary’s territories

•French no longer great colonial power

•Spanish empire intact, but could not withstand British

•British East India Company imposed its own authority on indigenous governments in India

•N. America: Britain had to organize new land

•All countries faced a financial crisis: need to increase revenues to pay war debt

Steps toward American Revolution

•Cost of Great Britain’s empire immense

•British national debt rose 700% as a result of the 7 Years’ War

•Britain needed to raise taxes to pay for new territories and the national debt

• Britain believed, since colonists were beneficiaries of new territories, they should bear cost of war, protection, and administration of those territories

• 1764: Sugar Act passed—rigorous collection of what was really a lower tax

• Smugglers who violated law were tried w/out juries in admiralty courts

Interrupting Trade

•Any goods not from the Americas were taxed;

•Traders shipped their wares to Cuba, stayed one or two days, picked up crate from Cuba: entire shipment was “from America”

Admiralty Courts

•Ships arrive in harbor•Accuser claims ship is illegal•Accuser:1/3•Judge: 1/3•British Treasury: 1/3•Cargo, ship are sold; nothing

happens if accuser is wrong

• 1765: Stamp Act passes• Americans felt these were illegal

—no representation in Parliament

• October, 1765: Stamp Act Congress, led by Sons of Liberty, drew up protest to crown

• November 1, day Stamp act went into effect, all facilities requiring a stamp were boycotted

•1766: Parliament repealed Stamp Act

•Declaratory Act allowed Parliament to legislate laws for the colonies

•1767: Townshend Revenue Act passed: taxes on all imports: paper, tea, glass, lead, paint

1768: Sam Adams writes circular letter opposing taxation w/out representation

Calls on colonists to unite against

Great BritainColonial governors ordered to

halt endorsement of letter; NH, CT, NJ endorse it

• May 1768: British Ship of War sails into Boston Harbor as a call for help by British customs’ commissioners

• Boycott of British goods spreads• March 5, 1770: Mobs harass

British soldiers in Boston: boy threw a snowball? British soldiers fire back—5 die—Boston Massacre

Tar and Feathering

The Boston Massacre The Boston Massacre ((March 5,1770March 5,1770))

• Soldiers arrested and tried for murder, but found innocent

• April 1770, Townshend Acts repealed

• All duties on imports removed except tax on Tea; Quartering act not renewed

• May 1773: Tea Act passes: 3 penny/pound import tax on tea

• Tax gives East India Company, almost bankrupt, a monopoly on tea

• EIC sells directly to colonial agents—no middlemen

• Oct 1773: Mass meeting in Philly opposing Tea Tax

• Nov, 1773: three ships sail into Boston Harbor

• Nov 29/30th—mass meetings in Boston re tea on ships

• Britain wants taxes paid on ships• Colonists want ships to leave

Boston• Dec 16: 8000 Bostonians gather to

protest• That night, Boston Tea Party• March 1774: Intolerable Acts

passes: all commercial shipping to Boston halted until Boston pays

Boston Tea Party Boston Tea Party (1773)(1773)

•Boston must pay for tea and taxes on tea

•Ben Franklin offers to pay for tea, but Great Britain wants justice

•May 12, 1774: Boston calls for boycott of British goods; Massachusetts placed under military rule of General Thomas Gage

•May 20th: next set of Coercive Acts passed:

•Massachusetts Regulating Act and Government Act

•Administration of Justice Act•Quebec Act•June, 1774: New Quartering Act

—all colonies•Gov. Gage seizes weapons at

Charlestown, MA

TheTheQuebeQuebec Act c Act (1774)(1774)

First Continental First Continental Congress Congress (1774)(1774)

55 delegates from 12 55 delegates from 12 coloniescolonies

AgendaAgenda How How to respond to to respond to the Coercive the Coercive Acts & the Acts & the Quebec Act?Quebec Act?

1 vote per colony 1 vote per colony represented.represented.

•Sept. 5-Oct 26: First Continental Congress meets at Philly

•Oct. 14th:Declaration and Resolves adopted

•1775: Battles of Lexington and Concord

•May 10, 1775—Second Continental Congress

•June—Battle of Bunker Hill

Thomas PaineThomas Paine: : Common SenseCommon Sense

Declaration of Declaration of Independence Independence

(1776)(1776)

•1776: Thomas Paine: Common Sense

•April 1776: American ports opened to all nations

•July 4, 1776: Declaration of Independence

•1778: Ben Franklin convinces French to aid colonists

•1779: Spanish also give aid to colonists

•1781: Cornwallis defeated at Yorktown

•1783: Treaty of Paris: American colonies free from Great Britain

•New sense of liberty w/out monarch

•Republican ideals

War of Independence or Revolution?

•Elite classes remained in charge

•Poor whites not represented•Blacks still enslaved•Women and native Americans

forgotten

Revolutionary Social Change

•Departure of 60,000 loyalists•Leveling effect of inflation•Creation of new mythology:

country w/a mission•Liberty for all•Social status could improve