U.S. History

Chapter 3 continued

A. The Glorious Revolution
1. Introduction
a. James II proclaimed toleration for Protestants and Catholics
b. Louis XIV who prosecuted Huguenots (French Protestants), revoked Edict of Nantes, which granted toleration to Protestants
c. 160,000 Huguenots fled--many went to England, several went to English colonies
d. William of Orange was a stadholder (governor) of Netherlands and most prominent Protestant soldier in Europe
e. Mary was James's older Protestant daughter who married William of Orange
f. William III and Mary II were named joint sovereigns after James fled to France
g. Toleration Act gave Protestant dissenters the right to worship freely
h. Declaration of Rights guaranteed Protestant succession and condemned as illegal many of the acts of James II
i. Glorious Revolution brought England and Netherlands into war against Louis XIV who supported James
2. The Glorious Revolution in America
a. On April 18-19, 1689 the Boston militia overthrew Andros, who attempted to suppress news of William's landing in England
b. A global Popish plot was to undermine Protestant societies
c. The other New England Colonies followed Massachusetts and resumed old charter government
d. Fort James was taken by New York City militia at southern tip of Manhattan and was renamed Fort William
e. Francis Nicholson was a lieutenant governor in New York under Andros who refused to proclaim William and Mary as sovereigns without direct orders from England; he later sailed for home
f. Jacob Leisler was a Dutch leader who dreaded conquest by Catholics from New France and acted like a Dutch stadholder in a nominally English colony--military defense was his highest priority
g. In Maryland Protestants overthrew Lord Baltimore's Catholic government in 1689 and Maryland governor refused to proclaim William and Mary
3. The English Response
a. The Maryland Rebels won royal government they requested and established Angelican church
b. In New York Leislerians suffered defeat as enemies manipulated Dutch king of England into undermining Dutch supporters in New York
i. Henry Sloughter was a new governor who named Anti-Leislerians to his council and arrested Leisler and his son-in-law in 1691
ii. Charter of Liberties (1683) denied toleration to Catholics; it was later disallowed
iii. Leislerian-Anti-Leislerian struggles characterized New York politics until after 1700
c. Massachusetts:
i. Increase Mather was the colony's agent in London and failed to persuade Parliament to restore Charter of 1629
ii. The 1691 Charter gave the crown power to appoint governors, judicial appeals, tolerated Protestants, and based voting rights on property qualifications and not religion
d. The Salem Witch Trials
i. Samuel Parris was the reverend and village ministerwhose nieces were "victims" of witchcraft
ii. The girls accused neighbors (most were old women who opposed Parris's ministry)
iii. New England judges were those who compromised Puritanism through service of Dominion of New England
iv. The court hanged 19 people
v. These trials were ended when the girls accused the governor's wife
4. The Completion Empire
a. The Glorious Revolution killed absolutism in England
b. It guaranteed royal government would be representative government in colonies
c. Both Crown and colonists took for granted that any colony settled by English got to elect assembly to vote on taxes and consent to local laws
d. Royal government soon became normal after New Jersey proprietors surrendered powers in 1702
e. The Navigation Act of 1696 plugged in earlier loopholes and extended to America the English system of vice admiralty courts
f. Vice admiralty courts dispensed quick justices without juries
g. The Board of Trade replaced Lords of Trade in 1696 (purely advisory)
h. John Locke was an English philosopher and economist, one of the board's first members
i. The Act of Union merged Scotland and England into single kingdom (Great Britain)
i. Placed Scotland inside Navigation Act System
ii. Legalized Scottish participation in tobacco trade
iii. Opened to ambitious Scots numerous colonial offices
iv. The tobacco trade built Glasgow
5. Imperial Federalism
a. Transformations between 1689-1707 defined structure of British Empire before American Revolution
b. Woolens Act of 1699 was designed to protect English woolens industry from Irish and others; it did not prohibit woolens manufacture in the colonies--only its export
c. The Hat Act 1732 limited apprentices or slaves a colonial hatter could keep
d. Parliament's policies on oceanic trade were enforceable
e. Inland trade: compliance to policies were minimal to nonexistant
f. The Iron Act of 1750 prohibited erection of certain kinds of new iron mills
g. De facto federalism was a system no one could quite explain or justify; Parliament exercised limited powers and colonies controlled the rest
6. The Mixed and Balanced Constitution
a. The Glorious Revolution transformed British politics and affected colonies after 1700
b. The British constitution was remarkably stable and made ministers legally responsible for their actions
c. James Harrington was a republican thinker
d. Free societies degenerate into tyrannies
e. England had defied history
f. The explanation lay in England's "mixed and balanced" constitution
g. The underlying drama was the struggle of power against liberty
h. Power had to be controlled or liberty lost
i. The real danger was corruption
j. Wars with France aroused acute constitutional anxieties
k. To support Britain's growing power, the kingdom created a funded national debt for the first time; the state agreed to pay interest due to its creditors ahead of all other obligations
l. This gave Britain enormous borrowing power
m. The bank of England facilitate state finances
n. Huge new financial resources vastly increased patronage
o. The Court favored policies that strengthened war-making capabilities
p. The Country stood for liberty
q. Both parties (Whigs and Tories) had court and country wings
r. By 1720, the Tories were a country opposition
s. Whigs were strong advocates of court policies of George I
t. Court Whigs emerged victorious
u. Sir Robert Walpole was the prime minister who led whigs to victory
v. Opposition Tory writers included Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, John Gay, and Henry St. John
w. Radical whigs included John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon
x. Central theme of the opposition was corruption
y. Corruption threatens independence of Parliament and English liberty
z. Debate over liberty reaches America
aa. Especially popular reading was Cato's Letters in the northern colonies
B. An Empire of Settlement: The British Colonies
1. The Engine of British Expansion: the Colonial Household
a. Colonial families rejected the English customs of entail and primogeniture
i. Entail prohibited a landowner, or his heir from dividing (selling) his land or estate during his lifetime
ii. Primogeniture obliged landowners to leave all his land to his eldest surviving son
iii. They failed to structure social relations
iv. Colonial households tried to pass on their status to all sons and provide sufficient dowries to allow daughters to marry into a family of equal status
b. For younger sons the colonies presented a unique opportunity
i. Benjamin Franklin was the youngest son of the youngest son for 5 generations
ii. Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin was colonial America's greatest success story
c. Colonial households "Americanized" during early settlement
d. Settlers accepted temporary dependency among freemen; sons accepted temporary dependency from parents, indentured servants from masters, and apprentices from master craftsman
e. Those who accepted permanent dependency lost the respect of the community
2. The Voluntaristic Ethic and Public Life
a. The quest for independence
b. Military service
i. Only when it suited their future plans
ii. Blind obedience to orders was regarded as slavery
iii. Military service led to land ownership and earlier marriage
3. Three Warring Empires: 1689-1716
a. Four colonial wars between Britain and France
i. King William's War (1689-1697): William Phips of Massachusetts forced Acadia to surrender, but was bluffed into retreating; in the end, the attack on Montreal (France) collapsed
ii. Queen Anne's War (1702-1716)
(a.) Deerfield, Massachusetts: French and Indians destroyed it in winter attack and prisoners were marched to Canada
(b.) John Williams was the pastor of Deerfield
(c.) Eunice Williams was the daughter of John; she was a captive who decided to remain in Canada, eventually converting to Catholicism and marrying an Indian
(d.) Esther Wheelwright was the daughter of a prominent family who also remained in Canada; she converted to Catholicism and became mother superior in a nunnery: Ursuline Order