History

THE TOWNSHEND ACTS The year 1767 brought another se- ries of measures that stirred anew all the elements of discord . Charles Townshend, British chancellor of the exchequer, attempted a new fis- cal program in the face of continued discontent over high taxes at home . Intent upon reducing British taxes by making more efficient […]

THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY 55 The American leaders argued that their only legal relations were with the Crown . It was the king who had agreed to establish colonies be- yond the sea and the king who pro- vided them with governments . They asserted that he was equally a king

TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION The issue thus drawn centered on the question of representation . The colonists believed they could not be represented unless they actually elected members to the House of Commons . But this idea conflicted with the English principle of “virtual representation,” according to which each member of Parliament rep- resented the interests

THE STAMP ACT A general tax measure sparked the greatest organized resistance . Known as the “Stamp Act,” it re- quired all newspapers, broadsides, pamphlets, licenses, leases, and oth- er legal documents to bear revenue stamps . The proceeds, collected by American customs agents, would be used for “defending, protecting, and securing” the colonies .

A NEW COLONIAL SYSTEM In the aftermath of the French and Indian War, London saw a need for a new imperial design that would involve more centralized control, spread the costs of empire more eq- uitably, and speak to the interests of both French Canadians and North American Indians . The colonies, on the other

THE WITCHES OF SALEM In 1692 a group of adolescent girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, became subject to strange fits after hearing tales told by a West Indian slave. They accused several women of being witches. The townspeople were appalled but not surprised: Belief in witchcraft was widespread throughout 17th-century America and Europe. Town officials

AN EXCEPTIONAL NATION? The United States of America did not emerge as a nation until about 175 years after its establishment as a group of mostly British colonies. Yet from the beginning it was a different society in the eyes of many Europeans who viewed it from afar, whether with hope or apprehension. Most of

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR France and Britain engaged in a succession of wars in Europe and the Caribbean throughout the 18th century . Though Britain secured certain advantages — primarily in the sugar-rich islands of the Carib- bean — the struggles were generally indecisive, and France remained in a powerful position in North Ameri-

The English Bill of Rights and the Toleration Act of 1689 affirmed freedom of worship for Christians in the colonies as well as in England and enforced limits on the Crown . Equally important, John Locke’s Sec- ond Treatise on Government (1690), the Glorious Revolution’s major theoretical justification, set forth a theory of government based

who peered out of the forests at the first white settlers of Virginia and Massachusetts? Jennings says the elite of the Puritans wanted the war; the ordinary white Englishman did not want it and often refused to fight. The Indians certainly did not want war, but they matched atrocity with atrocity. When it was over,