2. LEADING UP TO THE WAR
• Loosening ties (for a number of reasons) between
the colonies and England
• History of self-government
• Instability within the British government
• Reactionary policies that emerged in the aftermath of the
French and Indian War
• The war for the continent – the French and Indian
War
• Debt accumulation as a result of the war
3. MERCANTILISM
• “Centered on the belief that international power
and influence depended upon a nation’s wealth
and its ability to become economically self-
sufficient”
• This was practiced throughout the British Empire,
comparable to exploitation in certain colonies.
• The Navigation Acts fall under the category of
mercantilist policy
• Gave England a monopoly
• Served primarily to benefit the needs of the mother country
4. NEW MERCANTILIST POLICIES
• Most of these were enacted under the leadership of George
Grenville
• The Molasses Act of 1733 – “set a sixpence-per-gallon customs
duty on molasses in order to prevent trade with the French
sugar islands.”
• The Sugar Act (1764) – written in response to the failure of the
Molasses Act
• The Currency Act (1764) – colonies begin issuing their own
paper money. Due to a shortage of available currency
• The Mutiny Act (1765) – required colonists to the bear the cost
of outfitting, housing, and feeding occupying troops
• The Stamp Act (1765) – “created revenue stamps that were to
be purchased and attached to printed matter and legal
documents of all kinds”
5. The Stamp Act (1765)
The Boston Massacre
(1770)
The Boston Tea Party
(1773)
THE
BEGINNING OF
THE REVOLT
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamp_Act
_%281765%29
