Covers the end of the French and Indian War and the events preceding the War of Independence, including the Royal Proclamation of 1763, Pontiac's Uprising, the establishment of writs of assistance, and the passage of the Sugar Act of 1764 and the Quartering Act of 1765.

1. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 1: Colonialism and Nationhood
Part 11: An Urgent Need for Revenue

2. THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR, 1754-1763
French Victories
Fort Oswego (1756)
Fort William Henry (1756)
Fort Ticonderoga (1758)
Britain officially declared
war on France in 1755.
Although France won
most of the battles in
America in 1756 and
1757, the declaration of
war turned the dispute
into a global conflict.
British Victories
Fort Frontenac (1758)
Fort Niagara (1759)

3. THE SEVEN YEARS WAR,
EUROPEAN THEATER, 1756-1763
A range of international
alliances meant that
Spain, Prussia, Austria,
Portugal, and Sweden
were dragged into war
from about 1756. After
1760, very little of the
fighting continued to
occur in America.
The Seven Years’ War
was won by Great
Britain and its allies.
Peace was established
with the Treaty of Paris
in 1763, which allowed
Britain to claim most of
the French territory in
North America.

4. BRITISH TERRITORIAL GAINS IN NORTH AMERICA
After 1763, Great Britain took control of most of Canada and
all of the territory east of the Mississippi River. As a result, it
was also responsible for maintaining relations with the Native
Americans whose tribal lands were located on this territory.
One of the first steps
that Great Britain took
in order to maintain
these relations was the
issuing of a Royal
Proclamation regarding
Native American land
claims in the same year
as the Treaty of Paris.

5. WESTWARD EXPANSION
AND THE ROYAL
PROCLAMATION OF 1763
In his Royal Proclamation, King
George III created a boundary line
on the westernmost edge of the
English colonial settlements and
promised to punish anyone who
attempted to settle beyond it. The
land beyond it was reserved
exclusively for Native Americans.

6. PONTIAC’S UPRISING
When King George III failed to
uphold his promise to punish
settlers who laid claim to Native
American land, the Indians rose up
in rebellion under the leadership of
the charismatic warrior Pontiac.

8. PONTIAC’S UPRISING
Between 1763 and 1764, Pontiac
engaged British soldiers in military
conflicts across the Midwest. The
British entered peace negotiations
in 1765 and 1766, and modified
their Native American policies as a
result of the uprising.

9. BRITISH NORTH
AMERICA IN 1764
• By 1764, three significant new
problems had arisen in British
North America.
• First, the cost of victory in the
French and Indian War had cast
Britain into enormous and
unsustainable public debt.
• Second, the cost of Pontiac’s
Uprising and protecting unruly
settlers from further Native
American attacks required the
presence of a standing army in
North America, putting British
soldiers on duty in peacetime.

10. BRITISH NORTH
AMERICA IN 1764
• Third, the cost of maintaining
the standing army in North
America was even greater than
usual because it threatened to
add to the public debt.
• As a result, Britain needed to
find new revenue, new money
to pay off the debt and to pay
for the standing army.
• The solution of the British
Government was to increase
taxes on the British colonists
living in North America.

11. FIRST…
…the British Government attempted to raise revenue by
more strictly enforcing the Molasses Act of 1733, which
placed taxes on sugar, molasses, and similar products.

12. A SIMPLE SOLUTION IN THEORY.
But how do you actually enforce something like that?

13. WRITS OF ASSISTANCE…
…were documents that worked like permission slips issued
to customs officers by the British Government. They gave
the officers unqualified permission to seize and search the
private property of any person they chose. The Government
validated their use in 1760 and again in 1761.

14. WRITS OF ASSISTANCE…
…were officially intended to make it easier for officers to
search for illicit goods, but the officers did not have to give
any reason for searching someone’s property and they did
not have to repay or accept responsibility for any property
damage that their search might cause.

15. JAMES OTIS
• Lawyer in Massachusetts.
Because Boston had the largest
port in New England, the city’s
merchants had been especially
hard hit by newly empowered
customs officials.
• In January 1761, Otis led sixty
merchants in a legal challenge
to the writs of assistance.
• They incurred a countersuit by
the customs agent Charles
Paxton. Paxton won his case,
but Otis gained public notoriety
and sympathy for his cause.

16. THE SUGAR ACT
• In 1764, the British Parliament
passed the Sugar Act. This
overrode the Molasses Act with
increased taxation on sugar,
molasses, and similar products.
• The text of the act declared it
“just and necessary, that a
revenue be raised, in your
Majesty’s said dominions in
America, for defraying the
expences of defending,
protecting, and securing the
same.” This was the first time
that a tax had been created
explicitly to raise revenue.

17. THE QUARTERING ACT
• In 1765, the British Parliament
passed the Quartering Act
which forced British colonists in
North America to provide
supplies and accommodation
to soldiers in the standing army.
• The colonists were therefore
forced to pay for the French
and Indian War that caused
great destruction on their
continent, and to pay and
provide assistance to the
soldiers in a standing army that
most of them disapproved of.

18. A SURVEY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Unit 1: Colonialism and Nationhood
Part 11: An Urgent Need for Revenue