Thursday, October 25, 2018

Issues Behind the Revolution 109-114


  • 1760 George III becomes king of England
  • Why are the colonies resentful? Colonies felt like they were overtaxed
  • Proclamation of 1763: settlement prohibition west of Appalachians
  • Pontiac's Rebellion: uprising against British by Indians 
area had been controlled by French
reserved for British 

Britain's Financial Problems
Causes: cost of goverment
-cost of defense (supporting a military)
-heavy debt
-high taxes
George Grenville, Finance Minister of England
What did he do to annoy the colonists? 
He thinks colonists should be responsible for some of England's tax burden 

Ben Franklin realizes Grenville wants to tax American colonists
new taxes are coming down the pike 
what are some new taxes?
duties on imports

Sugar Act 1764 (also molasses) 
why do we need it? baking. 
British try to cut down on smuggling
smuggling allows Americans to get goods without paying all of the taxes (evasion) 

Stamp Act 1765
what's the purpose? taxes support the British military 

who was effected? printers, merchants, lawyers

James Otis, Massachusetts lawyer, challenges search warrants

boycott, withdraw from buying goods as a protest
Hurting British merchants, they are frustrated

Townshend Act, 1767 
duties on glass and tea 
protests and violence began 

Boston Massacre, 1770
British soldiers mow down American crowd

Magna Carta, no sentencing with a trial of your peers
precedent, current legal decisions need to be made with regard to previous legal decisions 
John Adams did not his personal beliefs or politics to get in the way of the appropriate practice of law 
John Adams defends the troops that murdered the Americans 
POV: murder or self defense 




No comments:

Post a Comment