Outline of US History by U.S. Department of State - HTML preview

CHAPTER 2: THE COLONIAL PERIOD

freedom of worship for Christians in stand the importance of what the

the colonies as well as in England colonial assemblies were doing and

and enforced limits on the Crown . simply neglected them . Nonetheless,

Equally important, John Locke’s Sec- the precedents and principles estab-ond Treatise on Government (1690), lished in the conflicts between as-the Glorious Revolution’s major semblies and governors eventually

theoretical justification, set forth became part of the unwritten “con-

a theory of government based not stitution” of the colonies . In this way,

on divine right but on contract . It the colonial legislatures asserted the

contended that the people, endowed right of self-government .

with natural rights of life, liberty,

and property, had the right to reb-

THE FRENCH AND

el when governments violated their

INDIAN WAR

rights .

By the early 18th century, almost France and Britain engaged in a

all the colonies had been brought succession of wars in Europe and

under the direct jurisdiction of the the Caribbean throughout the 18th

British Crown, but under the rules century . Though Britain secured

established by the Glorious Revolu- certain advantages — primarily in

tion . Colonial governors sought to the sugar-rich islands of the Carib-

exercise powers that the king had bean — the struggles were generally

lost in England, but the colonial as- indecisive, and France remained in a

semblies, aware of events there, at- powerful position in North Ameri-

tempted to assert their “rights” and ca . By 1754, France still had a strong

“liberties .” Their leverage rested on relationship with a number of Na-

two significant powers similar to tive American tribes in Canada and

those held by the English Parlia- along the Great Lakes . It controlled

ment: the right to vote on taxes and the Mississippi River and, by estab-

expenditures, and the right to ini- lishing a line of forts and trading

tiate legislation rather than merely posts, had marked out a great cres-

react to proposals of the governor .

cent-shaped empire stretching from

The legislatures used these rights Quebec to New Orleans . The British

to check the power of royal gover- remained confined to the narrow

nors and to pass other measures to belt east of the Appalachian Moun-

expand their power and influence . tains . Thus the French threatened

The recurring clashes between gov- not only the British Empire but also

ernor and assembly made colonial the American colonists themselves,

politics tumultuous and worked in- for in holding the Mississippi Valley,

creasingly to awaken the colonists to France could limit their westward

the divergence between American expansion .

and English interests . In many cases,

An armed clash took place in

the royal authorities did not under- 1754 at Fort Duquesne, the site where

32

OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is now lo- conflict with France, known as the

cated, between a band of French reg- French and Indian War in Ameri-

ulars and Virginia militiamen under ca and the Seven Years’ War in Eu-

the command of 22-year-old George rope . Only a modest portion of it was

Washington, a Virginia planter and fought in the Western Hemisphere .

surveyor . The British government

In the Peace of Paris (1763),

attempted to deal with the conflict France relinquished all of Canada,

by calling a meeting of representa- the Great Lakes, and the territory

tives from New York, Pennsylvania, east of the Mississippi to the Brit-

Maryland, and the New England ish . The dream of a French empire in

colonies . From June 19 to July 10, North America was over .

1754, the Albany Congress, as it

Having triumphed over France,

came to be known, met with the Iro- Britain was now compelled to face

quois in Albany, New York, in order a problem that it had hitherto ne-

to improve relations with them and glected, the governance of its em-

secure their loyalty to the British .

pire . London thought it essential to

But the delegates also declared a organize its now vast possessions to

union of the American colonies “ab- facilitate defense, reconcile the diver-

solutely necessary for their preserva- gent interests of different areas and

tion” and adopted a proposal drafted peoples, and distribute more evenly

by Benjamin Franklin . The Albany the cost of imperial administration .

Plan of Union provided for a pres-

In North America alone, British

ident appointed by the king and a territories had more than doubled .

grand council of delegates chosen by A population that had been predom-

the assemblies, with each colony to inantly Protestant and English now

be represented in proportion to its included French-speaking Catholics

financial contributions to the gen- from Quebec, and large numbers of

eral treasury . This body would have partly Christianized Native Ameri-

charge of defense, Native American cans . Defense and administration

relations, and trade and settlement of the new territories, as well as of

of the west . Most importantly, it the old, would require huge sums of

would have independent authority to money and increased personnel . The

levy taxes . But none of the colonies old colonial system was obviously

accepted the plan, since they were inadequate to these tasks . Measures

not prepared to surrender either the to establish a new one, however,

power of taxation or control over the would rouse the latent suspicions

development of the western lands to of colonials who increasingly would

a central authority .

see Britain as no longer a protector

England’s superior strategic posi- of their rights, but rather a danger

tion and her competent leadership to them .

9

ultimately brought victory in the

33