Discusses major events in U.S. History from 1607-1776 and the developing appetite for independence from England in the North American Colonies

1. From Colonies to
States 1607-1776
Chapter 4

2. Mercantilism
Enforcing the Navigation Acts
The Dominion of New England
An Emerging Colonial System
Salutory Neglect
English Administration of the Colonies

3. Royal Control of the Colonies
• Monarchy: the legal authority in the colonies.
• All colonies except Georgia received their charters before the Glorious Revolution
of 1688 when the crown lost supremacy to parliament.
• Colonies continued as “dependencies of the Crown.”
• Appointed officials served at the “pleasure of the King.”
• During the English Civil War the Dutch became the dominant shipping power in
the North American Colonies and Caribbean.
• 1561 Parliament adopted the Navigation Act
– All goods imported to England or colonies carried on English ships with majority
English crews.

4. Economic Theory: Mercantilism
 Assumed that the total of world’s gold and silver remained the same and only a
nation’s share of that wealth was subject to change.
 The only way to gain was to take another country’s gold and silver.
 Essential: maintain a favorable balance of trade by controlling every aspect of exports
and imports.
 Colonies were a source of raw materials and markets for goods and existed to benefit
the mother country
 Navigation Acts intended to insure English mercantile dominance in the colonies

5. Navigation Act of 1660
Ship’s crews had to be ¾ English
 Products shipped only to England
 Tobacco
 Rice
 Hemp
 Masts
 Copper Ore
 Furs

6. Navigation Act of 1663
 All imports to colonies from Europe had to stop in England, offload and pay
duty (tax) before shipment to colonies.
 England had monopoly to sell Tobacco and Sugar produced in Chesapeake
colonies and West Indies .
 All colonial commerce channeled through English merchants.
 All ships built had to be sold to English buyers.
 Increased customs and duties on good shipped through England (everything).

7. Enforcement of Navigation Acts
 During English Civil War, colonies ignored the navigation acts. England could not
enforce Navigation Acts due to Civil War.
 1675: Charles II designates “Lords of Trade” (appointed by the king) to force colonies
to abide by Navigation Acts.
 Lords of Trade named Colonial Governors.
 Lords of Trade wrote/reviewed governor’s instructions and handled all correspondence with
colonial affairs.
 Edward Randolph: Appointed Governor of Massachusetts by Lords of Trade
 Arrived in Boston in 1676
 Demanded Massachusetts abide by Navigation Acts
 1678 Massachusetts legislature declares that Navigation Acts had no legal standing in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
 1684 Lords of Trade annul the charter of Massachusetts Bay Colony

8. James II, the Glorious Revolution & Massachusetts
Resistance
 1685 James II creates “Dominion of New England” --includes all colonies from
New England south to New Jersey
 Dominion government appointed by royal authority
 Governor & council but no assembly
 1686 Sir Edmund Andros appointed Governor in Massachusetts
 In Massachusetts, Andros enforced Navigation Acts, punished smugglers and
suppressed town hall government.
 Andros and his lieutenants took over a Puritan Church for Anglican worship
 1688 Glorious Revolution ends
 1689: colonists arrest Andros when news reached Boston that Mary Stuart and William
of Orange had assumed the throne as joint monarchs and James II had fled to England.

9. James II by Peter Lelly
Sir Edmund Andros
Engraving by unknown
Author.
William & Mary: Historic Royal Palaces

10. Arrest of Sir Edmund
Andros
1689 Boston Revolt by
William A. Crafts, 1876

11. William and Mary 1689
Peace & Liberty Triumphing Over
Tyranny 1716 Sir James Thornhill
William & Mary Signed
The English Bill of Rights

12. John Locke: 1632-1704. Protestant philosopher and teacher who
fled England during English Civil War and returned with
William and Mary in 1687.
Locke’s Second Treatise on Government was basis for
Principles of the Declaration of Independence.
Second Treatise on Government: The Law of Nature entitles
all men to life, liberty and estates. No man can be subjected to
the political power of another without his consent…that which
begins and actually consitutes any political society is nothing but
the consent of the majority of free men to incorporate into such a
society. And this is that and only that which did or could give
beginning to any lawful government in the world.

13. Act to Prevent Frauds and Abuses and the Board of
Trade
 1696 Act to Prevent Frauds and Abuses: passed to catch colonial smugglers in
North America. The colonists considered these acts to be unjust restrictions on
their liberty.
 Writs of Assistance:
 general search warrants that did not have to specify the place to be searched
 Violators (smugglers) tried in Admiralty Courts which did not permit trial by jury
 1696 Board of Trade
 Investigate enforcement of Navigation Acts

14. Salutary Neglect
 1696-1725 vigorous enforcement and oversight from England
 1714-1760 Hanoverian Kings George I and George II (German protestant princes)
were less interested in the North American colonies.
 Allowed their councils to control administration of the colonies.
 Robert Walpole, First Minister from 1721-1742 deliberately followed a liberal
policy of allowing the colonies to pursue their economic interests.

15. The Habit of Self-Government
Evolution of Government within American Colonies
Evolved without planning
All colonies except Georgia were founded by trading companies or feudal
proprietors who held charters from the Crown.
In corporate and proprietary colonies and in Massachusetts, the Colonial charter
acted as a Constitution
English government tradition of enacting Constitutions so even Royal colonies
were based on a constitution-like document
Magna Carta
English Bill of Rights

16. America, 8th Edition
Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company
The Boston State House

17. Spanish Colonies in North America
New France
Troubled Neighbors

18. New France
Centered in Canada
Focused on trading posts
Focused on converting Native Americans
French settlers—mostly men, married Native American women and adopted Native American
customs
Did not focus on creating sustainable settlements
French alliances with Native Americans intended in part to counteract British power in North
America
Samuel de Champlain’s alliance with the Huron's and Algonquin angered Iroquois who became
allies of the British.
Champlain’s charter from Louis XIV limited settlers in New France to Roman Catholics.
French exploration of Mississippi River led to founding of New Orleans in 1718.
By 1732 the population of New Orleans was 2,000 white settlers and 3,800 slaves.
New Orleans was a financial burden to French government.

19. The French in North America
America, 8th Edition
Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company

20. Colonial Wars
• James I and Charles I pursued good relations with Louis XIV (Roman Catholic).
William III a committed Calvinist, did not.
• Balance of Power policy among European monarchies intended to check the rising
power of France in Europe and around the world.
• British Balance of Power foreign policy resulted in several wars in Europe.
• King William’s War (1689–1697)
• Queen Anne’s War (1702–1713)
• King George’s War (1744–1748)
• Little initial effect on England’s governance of North American colonies
– Until English government incurred huge debt as a result of foreign wars
– 7 Years War/French & Indian War (1754-1763)
• Fought primarily in North America but spread around the world
• England incurred huge expense to defend North American colonies
• Parliament expected colonies to pay their share of the cost

21. Nationalism in Britain and the American Colonies
The French and Indian
War (1754-1763)

23. The Ohio Company
Both the British and the French claimed the Ohio Country but neither had created
forts or settlements there.
Ohio Company: a land speculation firm organized by Virginians including
Thomas Lee and George Washington’s two half brothers, Lawrence Washington
and Augustine Washington, Jr.)
The King (George II) had given the principals a land Grant of 200,000 acres in Ohio
Country (generally the same area as present day Ohio)
Purpose: to encourage settlement (land purchases) and trade with the Indians. Ohio
Company had 7 years in which to settle 100 families and create a buffer between the
French and the British colony of Virginia.
Loyal Land Company (a rival company) also granted land by George II in the
same area. The principals in this firm included Peter Jefferson (father of Thomas
Jefferson). They had same goals as Ohio Company.

24. Lawrence
Washington, 1718
Mount Vernon
Thomas Lee, 1747 Major George
Washington

25. VA Governor Dinwiddie Peter Jefferson

26. Competing Forts
 By 1753, the French had constructed 3 forts and had expelled British traders from the area
claimed by both Britain & France.
 Iroquois Indians were angered by the French forts.
 Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie (an investor in the Ohio Company) ordered Major
George Washington (brother of two principals in the Ohio Company) to warn the French to
leave “Virginia Territory.” Major Washington was 21.
 Washington reached Fort le Bouef in December, 1753 and General Jaques La Pierre refused
Washington’s claim to British ownership of the territory.
 Dinwiddie sent a company of 40 men with William Trent (another Ohio Company principal)
to construct a fort in January, 1754.
 Trent was ousted by the French.
 Spring 1754: Washington led 150 Colonial militia and Iroquois to build a fort at the
Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers (Pittsburgh).
 Before Washington’s arrival, he learned that the French had already completed Fort
Duquesne at the site.
 Washington made camp 40 miles away to await reinforcements.

27. Fort Necessity

28. Albany Congress
(June 19-July 10, 1754)
Meeting of Colonial Commissioners from Maine to Maryland
Representative chiefs from the Iroquois Confederation
Plan of Union (a proto-constitution)
Drafted by Benjamin Franklin
Adopted by unanimous vote of the commissioners
Chief Executive/Supreme Governor called “President-General of the United Colonies”
Supreme Assembly called “Grand Council” with 48 members chosen by colonial assemblies
Oversee defense
Indian relations
Trade and settlement in the West
Levy taxes to support its programs
 British accepted only Supreme Colonial Commander and suggestion to appoint a New Yorker
as a commissioner for Indian affairs.

29. Albany Congress– JOIN or DIE
Created by Ben Franklin

30. Young Ben Franklin
"I've begun to wonder if Parliament best
serves our interests. The Colonies might be
better off independent and autonomous.
Most of my peers however, haven't taken
kindly to the suggestion."
―Benjamin Franklin speaking with Haytham Kenway

31. Braddock Expedition: 1755
• General Edward Braddock and two English Divisions along with Colonial militia
and George Washington as a staff officer.
125 mile wilderness road
Hauled heavy artillery to surround French fort
Ambushed 6 miles from Fort Duquesne
Braddock mortally wounded
Washington led retreat of 500 militia to Virginia
900 British and Colonial soldiers died
Washington letter to his brother
 British army “scandalously beaten by a trifling body of men.” The Redcoats “broke and run as sheep
before hounds.” The Virginians, “behaved like Men and died like Soldiers.”

32. A World War
1754-1756 War limited to North America
1756 war spread to Europe: 7 Years War
France, Austria, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, Spain
Britain, Prussia and Hanover
 William Pitt: British Primer Minister (“I know I can save England and no one else can!”)
 Confine 7 Years War to North America
 Mobilized 45,000 troops in North America (1/2 British & ½ colonists)
 Treated the colonies as allies & gave subsidies for participation
 Used British Navy to cut off French supply routes to North America
 3-pronged land offensive to defend French invasion routes
 Niagara River, Lake Champlain and St. Lawrence River
 Battle of Quebec

33. The Peace of Paris
1763
Britain:
 all French possessions east of the Mississippi River except New Orleans
 All of Spanish Florida
Native American anger
French gave Native American lands to Britain
Pontiac’s Rebellion
 Native Americans attacked British (formerly French) forts in the Ohio River Valley and Colonial
settlements on the frontier.
 Fort Duquesne changed to Fort Pitt—Americans allegedly distribute blankets infested with smallpox to
Native Americans causing a smallpox epidemic
Spain
 New Orleans and French territory West of the Mississippi River

36. Pontiac was leader of a
confederacy of Native American tribes
Opposed to British settlement in the
Great Lakes region. Britain issued
Royal Proclamation of 1763 which
Created an Indian Reserve between
The Appalachian Mountains and the
Mississippi River. This angered the
Colonists who saw this land as
Prime for expanding settlements.

37. Royal Proclamation
Line Of 1763