American Culture in the Eighteenth Century American colonial culture during the eighteenth century was vibrant, rich, and cosmopolitan. Fine arts and folk arts flourished. Printers and engravers published newspapers, books, and broadsides. Coffeehouses and taverns were centers for the exchange of ideas and information, and the consumer culture of the colonies was integrated into the global commercial network of the British Empire.

Edmund Burke’s Speech to Parliament on Conciliation with the Colonies Irish-born Edmund Burke (1729–1797) is regarded as one of the most influential political thinkers in English history. As a member of parliament, he opposed the government’s policies with respect to the American colonies and urged reconciliation. His famous speech of March 22, 1775, proved prophetic in his warning: “[The spirit of liberty] has grown with the growth of the people in your colonies, and increased with the increase of their wealth; a spirit, that has kindled this flame that is ready to consume us.”

The Seven Years’ War The Seven Years’ War (1756–1763), also known as the French and Indian War, pitted the major powers of Europe against one another in global conflict. Under the Treaty of Paris, which ended the war, Britain received all of Canada and the present-day United States east of the Mississippi River. Although this opened vast territories for British settlement, George III’s Proclamation of 1763 prohibited colonials from settling in the Ohio Valley. The proclamation, which was codified into law by parliament, sought to win peace with Indian tribes in the area, but it provoked bitter complaints from some colonies that the act violated their charters. Tensions between the colonials and Britain intensified as parliament began demanding that the North American colonies contribute to paying off the war debt through newly enacted revenue taxes.

The Sugar Act, the Molasses Act, and the Currency Act Among the revenue taxes Britain levied on her North American colonies were the Sugar Act, the Molasses Act, and the Currency Act. The Sugar Act and the Molasses Act strengthened customs regulations in order to curtail colonial smuggling. The Currency Act prohibited the colonies from printing their own currency, making it more difficult for colonials to pay off their debts with cheap money. The colonials predictably responded to these measures with great hostility, presaging the claims that would be made during the Revolution. On May 31, 1764, a group of Boston merchants wrote in The Boston News-Letter and New-England Chronicle, “if our trade may be taxed, why not our lands? Why not the produce of our lands and everything we possess or make use of? This we apprehend annihilates our charter right to govern and tax ourselves. It strikes at our British privileges which, as we have never forfeited them, we hold in common with our fellow subjects who are natives of Britain. If taxes are laid upon us in any shape without our having a legal representation where they are made, are we not reduc’d from the character of free Subjects to the miserable state of tributary slaves?”

Documents Relating to the Triangular Trade The Triangular Trade linked Great Britain, West Africa, and the British North American and Caribbean colonies, in a transatlantic economy of slaves, rum, sugar, and manufactured goods. The Middle Passage, so called because it was the second leg of the triangular trade, brought slaves from West Africa to North America. The mortality rate of the trade’s human cargo is estimated at between 11 and 13 percent.

Smuggling in the Colonies As Britain intensified trade controls on her North American colonies, Americans responded by ramping up smuggling activities. The Connecticut shoreline and Long Island Sound were dotted with smugglers’ coves through which enterprising traders circumvented British customs duties. Royal authorities sought to suppress smuggling by issuing writs of assistance to customs officials. The writs were generalized search warrants allowing customs officials to search any vessels or premises believed to contain smuggled goods. They also enabled officials to compel ordinary citizens to assist in the searches. The writs encountered a storm of hostility in the colonies, culminating in James Otis’s famed defense of liberty against intrusive and arbitrary searches and seizures.

Stamp Act The 1765 Stamp Act imposed a tax on printed materials in the North American colonies. As the first direct revenue tax levied on the colonies by parliament, the measure occasioned intense controversy on both sides of the Atlantic. The thirteen colonies that would eventually rebel against Britain sent delegates to New York City to discuss a coordinated response to the tax. Known as the Stamp Act Congress, the meeting underscored for the participants how much the American colonies had in common and set the stage for coordinated resistance against British rule. The British Parliament also vigorously debated the wisdom and constitutionality of the tax, even questioning Benjamin Franklin on the issue. The Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, delaying for almost a decade the culmination of the conflict over taxation without representation.

Quartering Act of 1765 The Quartering Act of 1765 required colonists to provide housing and provisions to British soldiers. The act only extended to uninhabited buildings, but nevertheless provoked protest from colonists concerned that a standing army in their midst could quickly be turned against them. The act expired in 1767 but was revived in 1774.

Sons of Liberty Starting in 1765, small groups emerged throughout the colonies to oppose parliament’s latest measures. Many of these groups combined in a formal network called the Sons of Liberty. Among its members were Samuel Adams, John Hancock, James Otis, and Paul Revere. Under the slogan, “no taxation without representation,” local chapters of the Sons of Liberty coordinated efforts with their counterparts in other colonies through committees of correspondence. The organization was effective in shaping public opinion and galvanizing action, often through mob violence.

Declaratory Act Passed in order not to concede too much with the repeal of the Stamp Act, the Declaratory Act of March 18, 1766, announced that Britain’s North American colonies were subordinate to the king and parliament, and that parliament possessed “full power and authority to make laws and statutes . . . to bind the colonies and people of America, subjects of the crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever.” The act was highly provocative, cutting to the heart of the colonists’ constitutional claims against Great Britain.

Townshend Acts The Townshend Acts, named for British Secretary of the Exchequer Charles Townshend, were a series of acts meant to consolidate royal authority in the colonies. The most controversial of these measures was the Revenue Act, which imposed duties on colonial imports. Because their obvious purpose was to raise revenue, the colonial response was swift and impassioned. Articles appeared on both sides of the Atlantic condemning the acts, and colonials organized boycotts of British trade.

The Boston Massacre On March 5, 1770, an angry crowd rioted in front of the Customs House in Boston, taunting the British soldiers standing guard and throwing small objects at them. The soldiers opened fire upon the crowd, killing five people. Although it occurred five years before the outbreak of hostilities, the event still resonates in popular memory as one of the first shots fired in the American Revolution.

The Gaspée Affair In March 1772, Britain dispatched the Gaspée to patrol the waters off Rhode Island for smugglers. When the Gaspée ran aground in June of that year, a group of colonials captured her captain and crew and set the vessel on fire.

The Tea Act Parliament passed the Tea Act in 1773 in an effort to save the British East India Company from bankruptcy. The act gave the company a virtual monopoly of the sale of tea in the colonies. The tea would be sold at a deep discount, but nevertheless carried a duty levied by parliament. Radicals recognized that acceptance of the cheap tea came at the high price of acquiescence to taxation without representation. They found support among otherwise moderate merchants who could not compete with prices set by the British East India Company. The Tea Act helped consolidate opposition to parliament’s policies and set the stage for the Boston Tea Party.

The Intolerable Acts The Intolerable Acts (also known as the Coercive Acts) were a series of statutes whose principal aim was to punish the city of Boston for the Boston Tea Party. Taken together, the acts closed the Port of Boston, placed the government of Massachusetts under the direct control of parliament, allowed the Crown to remove trials to other colonies or to Great Britain, and allowed the quartering of troops in vacant buildings. The Quebec Act, which related to British governance in Quebec, stirred controversy in the colonies because it conferred religious privileges upon Catholics and violated the territorial claims of some colonies with respect to Canada. Mob violence erupted in Massachusetts in response to the acts.

First Continental Congress (1774) As relations with Britain reached a point of crisis, delegates from all the colonies except Georgia met in Philadelphia to discuss a united response to the Intolerable Acts. The Congress agreed to a number of coordinated measures against Britain, including boycotts of exports and imports. Perhaps more significant than any of the measures adopted, though, was the emergence of a sense of national unity among the colonies. John Adams, who was present at the Continental Congress, remarked, “The more We conversed with the Gentlemen of the Country, and with the Members of Congress the more We were encouraged to hope for a general Union of the Continent.” When the Congress adjourned, the delegates agreed to meet again in May 1775 in the event that American grievances were not resolved.

The Outbreak of War The prospect of reconciliation between Britain and the colonies grew all the more remote with the Battle of Lexington and Concord in April 1775. The Patriot press exhorted Americans to arms. A Massachusetts broadside urged, “AMERICA’s Sons, yourselves prepare/ For LIBERTY now calls for War./ Exert yourselves with Force and Might,/ Show how AMERICANS can fight, /And only to maintain their Right—Farewell England.”

Second Continental Congress As hostilities escalated, the Second Continental Congress convened in an attempt to avoid full-scale war. On July 8, 1775, the Congress sent the “Olive Branch Petition” to George III, pledging the colonies’ loyalty to the king and asking, “that your royal authority and influence may be graciously interposed to procure us relief from our afflicting fears and jealousies occasioned [caused] by the system before-mentioned, and to settle peace through every part of our dominions[.]” The king rejected the petition on August 23, 1775.

Common Sense Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense did more to convert Americans to the cause of independence than perhaps any single event. Rather than distancing the king from the policies of parliament, Paine focused squarely on the person of George III and unleashed a rhetorical firestorm. He denounced George III as a “Royal Brute” and Britain as a mother country that devoured her young. The pamphlet was widely read and heatedly debated among colonials.

Declaring Independence With public opinion shifting toward independence, the Second Continental Congress entertained a formal resolution that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.” On July 2, 1776, Congress voted to adopt the resolution. Thomas Jefferson was charged with the task of drafting the Declaration of Independence, which was signed on July 4. Absent from the version adopted by the Congress was a provision condemning George III for his role in promoting the slave trade and for encouraging slaves to revolt against their masters in the colonies.

Revolution The American Revolutionary War raged for more than eight years. George Washington led the Continental Army as Commander in Chief while Congress and the states strove to raise troops, provisions, and supplies. Tens of thousands of Americans died during the war.