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CHAPTER 5 |
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REFORM,RESISTANCE, REVOLUTION |
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Pine Tree
Flag, New England, 1775 |
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STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS |
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Three Imperial
Crises: a Schematic Overview 5.d.2 Cleavages in
Colonial Society 5.e.1 British East India
Company 5.f.2 Battle of Bunker
Hill WWW Links to
related Sites |
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THREE IMPERIAL CRISES: A SCHEMATIC OVERVIEW |
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[d.2] |
CLEAVAGES IN COLONIAL SOCIETY |
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Overview of section "d'" |
Section "d" asks you to understand internal cleavages that had developed in colonial society before the Revolution began in 1775. Notice how the slave question arose long before it was national issue number one in the 1850's. Tory's and Patriots, as you should have surmised, were the respective names of people who supported royal authority in the 13 colonies and those who increasingly questioned it. This short entry will address 3 other cleavages: |
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The friction points |
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1. The Feudal Revival, 1730-1750 |
Cause. Landlord and proprietors in the colonies realized they could turn profits by rigorously collecting dues and rents from farmer-tenants. Scope. From Maine & New York to North Carolina (see map p.187). Outcome. Resentment grew between poorer farmers and the wealthy land owners. Continued immigration to America pushed people into Indian lands. White encroachment touched off the Cherokee War in South Carolina, which in turn triggered the Regulator movement there. |
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2. South Carolina Regulator Movement |
Cause. Lack of law and order in the Carolina back country. Displacement caused by the Cherokee War (1760-61) led to violence and destruction. The more well-to-do back country settlers obtained commissions and chased the rowdies into NC. They returned and persecuted the "little people," who they thought had aided the bandits that had plundered the Piedmont (back country) region. In 1769, Regulators and "little people" squared off for a fight. Scope. Pitted back country settlers against each other. The movement inspired the NC Regulator movement. Outcome. A
messenger from Charleston arrived to inform the two "armies"
that courts were coming to the back country. This ended the
crisis, though ill-feeling remained on both sides. It was
not until the invention of short-fiber cotton, which grew in
the back country as well as the coastal area, that both
halves of SC were bound together. |
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3. North Carolina Regulator Movement |
Cause. Corruption in NC politics. Wealthy landowners used their political connections to fleece the people of the western Granville District. At this time, the back country didn't have political representation. It elected only 17 of this royal colony's 78 representatives yet it contained over half the population. Scope. All of NC was in an uproar. Outcome. Royal governor William Tyron responded with force. At the Battle of Almanac Creek, 1771, 1,300 eastern county militiamen defeated a force of regulators. One regulator leader, James Few, was hung on the field of battle; 6 others followed him to the gallows later. NC entered the Revolutionary War a deeply wounded society. |
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4. Classes in 3 Northern Seaport Cities |
Cause. As the colonies grew more complex, people divided into classes depending on what type of job they had. It was long believed by historians that scarcity of labor ensured that employment was high, and that all laborers commanded a decent wage. Gary Nash, UCLA, in his book The Urban Crucible, contends this was not true. Republican values of 1) individualism, 2) opportunity, 3) self-sufficiency, 4) public service, and 5) individual dignity were eroded by materialism and the profit motive long before the Industrial Revolution. The French and Indian War (1754-1763) generated profits and high wages for the everyone. But the was also created widows, orphans, dislocation, and addiction to a higher standard of living. The boom and bust cycles after the war were hard, hitting low point in 1765 and 1772. Scope. Nash looked at Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Outcome. Unemployment rose, construction fell off, begging increased, and the debtors prisons filled. The lower classes began to blame the wealthier import merchants, ships captains, and royal administrators for their problems. In this case, lower class radicalism was an expression of class antagonism, not a yearning to create a "free America." In fact, many radicals, like Ebenezer McIntosh, demanded that the lower classes be protected from economic misfortune. This turn away from republican values to an embryonic socialism demonstrates the class aspect of the revolutionary era. |
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[e.1] |
THE BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY AND TEA |
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[f.2] |
THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL (more correctly known as "Breed's Hill") |
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situation around Boston |
After Lexington and Concord, the New England militias surrounded the British garrison in Boston. Colonial troops under the command of Israel Putnam seized the high ground near Charleston (north across Boston over the Charles River) known as Breed's Hill. |
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Three British assaults |
British casualties were heavy: about 1,000 killed or wounded out of 2,400 who had participated in the assaults. American losses totaled over 400. |
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Impact of the battle in America and England |
The British had won the battle. But the losses incurred by both sides had escalated the fighting to a higher level of violence. Bunker Hill was important because it made peaceful reconciliation impossible. |
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WWW LINKS RELATED TO CHAPTER 5 |
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On
17 June 1775, General Gage ordered an all-out British attack
on the hill. The dug-in colonial troops mowed the British
redcoats down on the first two attempts. A third assault
drove the colonials from the Charles Peninsula.