British Rule

More than 150 years passed between the founding of the Jamestown colony in Virginia and the start of the Revolutionary War. Jamestown was founded in 1607. The Revolutionary War started 168 years later, in 1775.

Jamestown was the first successful English colony in North America. More colonies soon followed. The colonies grew quickly over the next 160 years. By the start of the Revolutionary War, the Thirteen Colonies had a population of 2.4 million!

In 1750, the Revolutionary War was still 25 years away. At the time, the Thirteen Colonies and Great Britain had a friendly relationship. In general, people in the Thirteen Colonies were happy to be a part of Great Britain.

Most colonists loved and respected Great Britain. They were fond of British laws, manners, and even fashion.

Did everyone feel that way?

Not everyone in the colonies loved Great Britain. In fact, some of them came to the colonies to get away from Great Britain. However, in 1750 they were not rebelling or trying to break away from the country.

A friendly relationship

In 1750, the Revolutionary War was still 25 years away. At the time, the Thirteen Colonies and Great Britain had a friendly relationship. In general, people in the Thirteen Colonies were happy to be a part of Great Britain.

In 1766, Benjamin Franklin went to Great Britain and spoke in Parliament. Here is part of what was said.

Parliament member: "What was the temper of America toward Great Britain before the year 1763?"

Benjamin Franklin: "The best in the world . . . they had not only a respect but an affection for Great Britain; for its laws, its customs, and manners, and even a fondness for its fashions . . ."

temper: attitude or feeling

Was Benjamin Franklin's statement true for everyone?

Not all colonists loved Great Britain. In fact, some people came to the colonies to get away from Great Britain. However, in 1750 they were not rebelling or trying to break away.

Colonists, not Americans

In 1750, the people living in the British colonies did not think of the Thirteen Colonies as single country. Each colony had its own government, its own history, and its own customs. A man from Pennsylvania would have considered himself a Pennsylvanian, and a person from Virginia would have considered himself a Virginian. But the idea of being an "American" did not yet exist.

Becoming Americans

Over the next 25 years, however, people in each colony began to think of themselves as part of something bigger.

Patrick Henry encouraged the colonists to think of themselves as part of a single group. He led the way by telling them, "I am not a Virginian, but an American."

In 1754, a war broke out between Great Britain and France. It is sometimes called the French and Indian War because many Native Americans fought with the French.

The Thirteen Colonies helped the British defeat the French in the French and Indian War. The colonies put a lot of effort into the war:

• Nearly 25,000 colonists fought in the war on the side of the British. One of these colonists was a young land surveyor named George Washington.

• The colonial governments spent a lot of money on soldiers' uniforms, weapons, and pay.

• The Thirteen Colonies supplied the British military with important resources. These resources included tar, copper, and turpentine (an oil made from trees).

Great Britain taxed the Thirteen Colonies before the French and Indian War. However, the taxes were low and easy to avoid.

For many years, the British government placed taxes on colonial imports, or goods sold to the colonies from overseas. Taxes on imports are called duties or tariffs.

Why did the government put taxes on imports?

Before the French and Indian War, duties and tariffs were not meant to raise money from the colonists. Instead, they were meant to regulate trade. Duties and tariffs regulate trade by making certain goods more expensive than others. The British government wanted the colonies to buy British goods. Therefore, the government taxed goods from everywhere else.

Why did the colonists smuggle?

Smuggling was a way for the colonists to trade with anyone they wanted. British laws known as Navigation Acts said the colonies could only trade with Great Britain or British colonies. Smugglers ignored these laws and traded with other countries anyway.

Smuggling was also a way for colonial merchants to avoid paying taxes. If the British tax collectors did not know a product was coming into the colonies, they had no way to tax it.

The Sugar Act of 1764 gave British officials more power to enforce taxes on the colonies.

The act was intended to cut down on smuggling in the colonies.

The Sugar Act actually cut sugar taxes in half, but it made those taxes harder to avoid. It sent more British ships to the colonies, and it gave tax officials more power to arrest suspected smugglers.

Smuggling sugar

Sugar usually came from British or French plantations in the West Indies, or the Caribbean. The Thirteen Colonies often bought sugar from the French, because it was cheaper than buying sugar from the British.

Great Britain tried to stop this behavior by placing high taxes on foreign sugar. However, many colonial merchants avoided the taxes by smuggling.

In 1764, the Sugar Act gave British officials new powers to enforce the taxes. Smuggling became more difficult, so tax collections increased. The colonists ended up paying more than they had before.

Trial by jury was an important right in both Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies. According to this right, a jury must decide whether a person is guilty of a crime. A jury is a group of people from the same community as the person on trial.

Smuggling was a crime, but colonial juries rarely found people guilty of smuggling. Smuggling helped the colonists make money, so most colonists did not think smuggling was wrong.

Guilty until proven innocent

Under the Sugar Act, however, juries no longer decided smuggling cases. Instead, smugglers had to face vice-admiralty courts. Vice-admiralty courts allowed a single judge, not a jury, to decide cases. In addition, people accused of smuggling were now considered guilty until proven innocent. Beforehand, anyone accused of a crime had been considered innocent until proven guilty.

Finally, judges had a reason to be unfair. If a judge found a smuggler guilty, he would be rewarded with part of the smuggler's illegal goods.

The Stamp Act of 1765 placed a tax on many paper materials produced or sold in the colonies. The following list includes just some of the taxed materials:

• receipts

• newspapers

• playing cards

• school diplomas

• court documents

Paper materials now needed a special stamp to be official. People had to pay extra to get that stamp.

The Stamp Act stamps were not like the sticky stamps we use today on envelopes. They were a ink pattern pressed onto paper. There were many different stamps, depending on the type of paper product.

This is a stamp that was used on regular newspapers. Every copy of every newspaper needed its own stamp.

The colonists could get stamps in two ways. They could buy pre-stamped paper, or they could have a British official add a stamp to ordinary paper.

Breaking the law

The Stamp Act included harsh punishments for people who refused to pay the tax. For example, a colonist caught selling a newspaper without a stamp would need to pay a fine of 10 British pounds. At the time, 10 pounds was about two months' pay for a schoolteacher. Even worse, anyone caught using a fake stamp could be sentenced to death.

The colonists argued that the Sugar Act and Stamp Act were wrong because the colonists never had a voice in deciding the taxes.

Taxation without representation

One old tradition of English politics was that people could not be taxed unless they had representation in the government. People gained representation by voting for people who passed the laws. Elected officials would be expected to represent, or speak for, the voters.

Colonists living in the Thirteen Colonies could not elect members of Parliament. In other words, they had no representation in the central government of Great Britain. In theory, this meant the central government had no right to tax the colonists.

In fact, Parliament did tax the colonists, but the taxes were small and indirect. The colonists did not object to British taxes until the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act. These new taxes were more annoying and more expensive than any previous taxes.

Throughout the colonies, people began to use the slogan, "No taxation without representation!" This slogan became very popular throughout the colonies. Soon, many colonists were united against the new taxes.

Samuel Adams was a popular politician in Boston. In 1765, he helped to organize a group of men called the Sons of Liberty.

What did the Sons of Liberty Do?

The members of the Sons of Liberty used violence and intimidation to make the Stamp Act difficult to enforce. One of the group's first protests took place on August 14, 1765. Samuel Adams and other members made dummies, or effigies, that looked like British officials involved in the Stamp Act. An angry mob gathered and carried the effigies through the streets of Boston. Eventually, the mob set the effigies on fire. The group's goal was to make the officials afraid to enforce the Stamp Act.

Who was Samuel Adams?

Samuel Adams was a popular politician in Boston. He was known for being honest but rebellious. Before the Stamp Act, he served as a tax collector. He often refused to collect taxes from his fellow colonists. After the Stamp Act, Samuel Adams became a leading figure in the movement toward American independence.

The colonists protested the Stamp Act in many ways. Some protests were peaceful, and others were violent.

• • Colonial assemblies held meetings to urge Parliament to cancel the Stamp Act. At these meetings, the colonists wrote petitions, or formal requests, to Parliament.

  • Groups of colonial merchants boycotted British goods. In other words, they refused to buy goods imported from Great Britain. Boycotts were an effective way to harm Great Britain without breaking any laws.

• The Sons of Liberty protested the Stamp Act by burning the stamped paper. Without the stamped paper, the British officials could not enforce the tax.

• The Sons of Liberty also threatened British officials. Members of the group broke into some officials' houses and stole or destroyed their property.

As a result of the colonists' protests, the British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 1766.

Why did Parliament repeal the Stamp Act?

Colonial protests had kept the Stamp Act from working. By the time the stamp tax was repealed, it had only collected about 3,000 British pounds. During the same time, the Sons of Liberty had destroyed or stolen property worth at least that much money.

Colonists celebrated when they learned that the Stamp Act was repealed. They took the news as proof that organized protests could work.

After the Stamp Act failed, the British government tried another way to raise money. In 1767, Parliament began taxing goods that the colonists needed to import. The new taxes, and a few other laws to help enforce them, were known as the Townshend Acts.

Taxed goods included the following:

• • paper

  • tea

  • lead

  • paint

  • oil

All of these items were hard to make in the colonies.

Why did the British think these new taxes would work?

The colonists would have to pay a little extra for some goods, but they wouldn't have to go out of their way to buy stamped paper. The earlier taxes had been more inconvenient.

The Daughters of Liberty were a group of women who protested the Townshend Acts. Starting in 1768, they led boycotts of all British goods, even goods that were not taxed.

Women of the revolution

At the time, women could not vote. It was uncommon for them to participate in politics. Some men made fun of the Daughters of Liberty for getting involved. However, the Daughters of Liberty were very important to the revolutionary cause.

The Daughters of Liberty included Benjamin Franklin's daughter, Sarah Franklin Bache, and George Washington's wife, Martha Washington. One of their leaders, Deborah Sampson, later disguised herself as a man to fight in the Revolutionary War.

After Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, many colonists decided to boycott all British imports. However, the colonists depended on Great Britain for a few major products, including clothing. The Daughters of Liberty asked the colonists to wear homemade fabrics in order to avoid buying clothes from Great Britain.

The politics of clothing

Most women in the Thirteen Colonies were only allowed to do housework. As a result, many women knew how to spin yarn and sew fabric. The Daughters of Liberty decided to use these skills to help the protests against Great Britain. By making homemade clothing, they made the colonists less dependent on British goods.

Spinning bees

Sometimes the Daughters of Liberty would hold public competitions called "spinning bees" to see who could spin yarn the fastest. Many colonists would come out to cheer the women on as they worked. Spinning bees helped to build support for the boycott of British goods.

John Hancock was one of the richest merchants in Boston. He was also a successful smuggler.

In May 1768, John Hancock's ship, named Liberty,

came into Boston Harbor. As soon as the ship docked, a British tax official pushed his way on board to search for illegal goods. One of the sailors locked the official in the captain's cabin. While the official was trapped, the sailors snuck goods off the ship to avoid taxes.

The British officials were furious. On June 10, the officials seized the Liberty.

A crowd of colonists formed on the shore to protest. As a British warship began to tow the Liberty away, the crowd started to riot.

The riot on June 10, 1768, quickly became violent. The crowd caused major damage to the tax offices in Boston. They also set fire to a boat that belonged to a tax official. The officials were so frightened that they fled to an island in the harbor.

Who was John Hancock?

John Hancock was an important member of the Sons of Liberty. He used his great wealth to pay for many of the group's activities. The colonists knew that John Hancock was breaking the law, but they thought the law wasn't fair. They also thought that the British officials were targeting John Hancock for his political beliefs.

John Hancock was never found guilty of smuggling. He eventually became the president of the Second Continental Congress and the first governor of the state of Massachusetts. He also signed the Declaration of Independence. His signature is so large and stylish that many Americans still use "John Hancock" as a slang term meaning "signature."

British soldiers first arrived in Boston in October 1768. The colonists did not want the soldiers there, and the soldiers did not like the colonists. The groups often insulted each other or got into fist fights in the streets.

From a fight to a massacre

On March 5, 1770, one of these fights turned deadly. A group of colonists surrounded a lone soldier named Hugh White. They began to insult him and throw snowballs at him. Eight more British soldiers came to help him. When the colonists surrounded them, they panicked and began firing their guns into the crowd. Five colonists were killed, and six more were wounded.

Crispus Attucks

The first colonist to die during the Boston Massacre was named Crispus Attucks. Attucks was born into slavery but escaped to Boston. He is remembered as one of the first Americans to die in the struggle for independence, even though the war was still years away.

John Adams was a well-known lawyer in Boston.

John Adams was a well-known lawyer in Boston. He opposed the Townshend Acts, and later became a leader of the American Revolution. However, he volunteered to defend the British soldiers in court after the Boston Massacre. He did this because he believed the soldiers deserved a fair trial.

Thanks to John Adams' strong defense, none of the British soldiers were found guilty of murder. The jury, made up of colonists from Boston, found that the soldiers were acting in self-defense.

John Adams eventually became the second president of the United States. Still, he called his defense of the British soldiers "one of the best pieces of service" he had ever done for his country.