chapter 4

Walpole, a Whig, was elected to the House of Commons in 1701. An outstanding orator, Walpole was appointed Secretary of War in 1708 and Treasurer of the Navy in 1710. After the collapse of the Whig government Walpole was accused of corruption and spent a short period in the Tower of London.

A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation concerning the exercise of executive authority, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government.

1706–1757was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author and printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. He invented the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, a carriage odometer, and the glass 'armonica'. He formed both the first public lending library in America and the first fire department in Pennsylvania.

was the area colonized by France in North America during a period extending from the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River, by Jacques Cartier in 1534, to the cession of New France to Spain and Britain in 1763. At its peak in 1712 (before the Treaty of Utrecht), the territory of New France extended from Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains and from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. The territory was then divided in five colonies, each with its own administration: Canada, Acadia, Hudson Bay, Newfoundland (Plaisance), and Louisiana. The Treaty of Utrecht resulted in the relinquishing of French claims to mainland Acadia, the Hudson Bay and Newfoundland colonies, and the establishment of the colony of Île Royale (Cape Breton Island) as the successor to Acadia.

wage system in the colonies.

It is proposed that humble application be made for an act of Parliament of Great Britain, by virtue of which one general government may be formed in America, including all the said colonies, within and under which government each colony may retain its present constitution, except in the particulars wherein a change may be directed by the said act, as hereafter follows.

is the common U.S. name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756 the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war. In Canada, it is usually just referred to as the Seven Years' War,

known as the Sun King (French: le Roi Soleil), was King of France and of Navarre.His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days, and is the longest documented reign of any European monarch

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Louis Jolliet (September 21, 1645–1700), also known as Louis Joliet, was a French Canadian explorer known for his discoveries in North America. Jolliet and Jesuit Father Jacques Marquette, a Catholic priest and missionary, were the first Europeans to explore and map the much of the Mississippi River in 1673.

Father Jacques Marquette S.J. (June 10, 1637 – May 18, 1675), sometimes known as Père Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste. Marie, and later founded St. Ignace, Michigan. In 1673 Father Marquette and Louis Jolliet were the first Europeans to see and map the northern portion of the Mississippi River.

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, or Robert de LaSalle (November 21, 1643 – March 19, 1687) was a French explorer. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico. La Salle claimed the entire Mississippi River basin for France.

The Iroquois Confederacy was a sophisticated political and social system. It united the territories of the five nations in a symbolic longhouse that stretched across the present-day state of New York.

The first of the French and Indian Wars, King William's War (1689–97) was the name used in the English colonies in America to refer to the North American theater of the War of the Grand Alliance (1688–97). It was fought between England, France, and their respective American Indian allies in the colonies of Canada (New France), Acadia, and New England.

The confrontation at Fort Necessity in the summer of 1754 was the opening battle of the war fought by England and France for control of the North American continent. It was also the opening episode of a worldwide struggle known in North America as the French and Indian War and elsewhere as the Seven Years' War. It ended in 1763 with the expulsion of French power from North America and India. The action at Fort Necessity was also the first major event in the military career of George Washington, and it marked the only time he ever surrendered to an enemy.

William Pitt the Younger (28 May 1759 – 23 January 1806) was a British politician of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 (although at this period the term Prime Minister was not used). He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806. He was also Chancellor of the Exchequer throughout his premiership. He is known as "William Pitt the Younger" to distinguish him from his father, William Pitt the Elder, who previously served as Prime Minister of Great Britain. In 1766 he gained the title of The Hon. William Pitt when his father was created an Earl. In 1782, he became The Right Hon. William Pitt when he joined the government of Lord Shelburne as Chancellor of the Exchequer and was appointed a member of the Privy Council.

The Battle of Quebec (French: Bataille de Québec) was fought on December 31, 1775 between American Continental Army forces and the British defenders of the city of Quebec, early in the American Revolutionary War. The battle was the first major defeat of the war for the Americans, and it came at a high price. General Richard Montgomery was killed, Benedict Arnold was wounded, and Daniel Morgan and more than 400 men were taken prisoner. The city's garrison, a motley assortment of regular troops and militia led by Quebec's provincial governor, General Guy Carleton, suffered a small number of casualties.

The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. It ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War.The treaty marked the beginning of an extensive period of British dominance outside Europe.Notably, the treaty did not involve either Prussia or Austria who signed a separate Treaty of Hubertusburg.

The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War. The purpose of the proclamation was to organize Great Britain's new North American empire and to stabilize relations with Native North Americans through regulation of trade, settlement, and land purchases on the western frontier. The Royal Proclamation continues to be of legal importance to First Nations in Canada.

Pitt the Younger died on 23 January 1806 and his remaining Cabinet members were reluctant to carry on in office under a new PM. On 27 January 1806 the King invited Lord Grenville to form a Government 'without exclusion'. Consequently, on 11 February Grenville was appointed Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury. Charles James Fox became Foreign Minister and Lord Sidmouth became Lord Privy Seal in Grenville's so-called 'Ministry of All the Talents'. The administration was referred to by some as a 'Fox or a Sidmouth Government with a trace of Grenville', but Grenville had a very strong influence upon the ministry. He soon set to work on what he called his 'defensive and husbanding system', instigating administrative reforms in the Treasury and its accounting practices, and in the sphere of Scottish civil justice, and devising new financial mechanisms to meet the increasing costs of war

On April 5, 1764, Parliament passed a modified version of the Sugar and Molasses Act (1733), which was about to expire. Under the Molasses Act colonial merchants had been required to pay a tax of six pence per gallon on the importation of foreign molasses. But because of corruption, they mostly evaded the taxes and undercut the intention of the tax — that the English product would be cheaper than that from the French West Indies. This hurt the British West Indies market in molasses and sugar and the market for rum, which the colonies had been producing in quantity with the cheaper French molasses.

The colonies suffered a constant shortage of currency with which to conduct trade. There were no gold or silver mines and currency could only be obtained through trade as regulated by Great Britain. Many of the colonies felt no alternative to printing their own paper money in the form of Bills of Credit. But because there were no common regulations and in fact no standard value on which to base the notes, confusion ensued. The notes were issued by land banks, or loan offices, which based the value of mortgaged land. Some notes paid interest, others did not, some could be used only for purchase and not to repay debt. Some were issued only for public debts and could not be used in private transactions

The Paxton Boys was a vigilante group that murdered twenty Native Americans in events sometimes called the Conestoga Massacre. Presbyterian Scots-Irish frontiersmen from central Pennsylvania, centered in Paxton Township along the Susquehanna River, now part of Dauphin County, formed a vigilante group in response to fear and hatred of the American Indian caused largely by the French and Indian War and exacerbated by Pontiac's Rebellion. The Paxton Rioters also felt that the government of colonial Pennsylvania was negligent in using tax money to provide subsistence to the peaceful Indians living among them. At the time most people thought the killers were savage Presbyterians who saw themselves as the predestined elect and their victims as the heathens

The War of the Regulation (or the Regulator Movement) was a North Carolina uprising, lasting from approximately 1764 to 1771, where citizens took up arms against corrupt colonial officials. While unsuccessful, some historians consider it a catalyst to the American Revolutionary War.

The Stamp Act of 1765 (short title Duties in American Colonies Act 1765; 5 George III, c. 12) was a direct tax imposed by the British Parliament specifically on the colonies of British America. The act required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London and carrying an embossed revenue stamp.These printed materials were legal documents, magazines, newspapers and many other types of paper used throughout the colonies. Like previous taxes, the stamp tax had to be paid in valid British currency, not in colonial paper money.The purpose of the tax was to help pay for troops stationed in North America after the British victory in the Seven Years' War. The British government felt that the colonies were the primary beneficiaries of this military presence, and should pay at least a portion of the expense.

The Virginia Resolves were a series of resolutions passed by the Virginia General Assembly in response to the Stamp Act of 1765. The Stamp Act had been passed by the British Parliament to help pay off some of its debt from its various wars, including the French and Indian War ostensibly fought to protect the American colonies.

The Sons of Liberty was a political group made up of American Patriots that originated in the pre-independence North American British colonies. The group was designed to incite change in the British government's treatment of the Colonies in the years following the end of the French and Indian War. These patriots attacked the apparatus and symbols of British authority and power through both words and deeds.

Toryism is a traditionalist political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is one of the prominent political parties in Great Britain, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada. Historically it also had exponents in former parts of the British Empire, for instance the Loyalists of British North America who sided with Britain and Crown during the Revolutionary War. The Tory ethos can be summed up with the phrase God, King and Country. Tories advocate monarchism, are usually of a High Church Anglican or Recusant Catholic religious heritage, and are opposed to the radical liberalism of the Whig faction.

The Mutiny Act was an act passed yearly by Parliament for governing the British Army. It was originally passed in 1689 in response to the mutiny of a large portion of the army which stayed loyal to the Stuarts upon William III taking the crown of England.

Quartering Act is the name of at least two 18th-century acts of the Parliament of Great Britain. These Quartering Acts were used by the British forces in the American colonies to ensure that British soldiers had adequate housing and provisions. These acts were amendments to the Mutiny Act, which had to be renewed annually by Parliament.Originally intended as a response to problems that arose during Britain's victory in the Seven Years War they later became a source of tension between inhabitants of the Thirteen Colonies and the government in London.

The Townshend Acts were a series of acts passed beginning in 1767 by the Parliament of Great Britain relating to the British colonies in North America. The acts are named for Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who proposed the program. Historians vary slightly in which acts they include under the heading "Townshend Acts", but five laws are frequently mentioned: the Revenue Act of 1767, the Indemnity Act, the Commissioners of Customs Act, the Vice Admiralty Court Act, and the New York Restraining Act.

The English Navigation Acts(1650-1673) were a series of laws that restricted the use of foreign shipping for trade between England (after 1707 Great Britain) and its colonies, which started in 1651. Their goal was to force colonial development into lines favorable to England, and stop colonial trade with the Netherlands and France. On the whole, the Acts of Trade and Navigation were obeyed, except for the Molasses Act of 1733, which led to extensive smuggling because no effective means of enforcement was provided until the 1750s. Irritation with stricter enforcement in the 1760s became one source of resentment by merchants in the American colonies against Great Britain, helping cause the American Revolution. They formed the basis for British overseas trade for nearly 200 years.

The Boston Massacre was the killing of five colonists by British regulars on March 5, 1770. It was the culmination of tensions in the American colonies that had been growing since Royal troops first appeared in Massachusetts in October 1768 to enforce the heavy tax burden imposed by the Townshend Acts.

Samuel Adams (September 27 [O.S. September 16] 1722 – October 2, 1803) was a statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As a politician in colonial Massachusetts, Adams was a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and was one of the architects of the principles of American republicanism that shaped the political culture of the United States. He was a second cousin to President John Adams.

Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain (and the British monarchy) during the American Revolutionary War. They were often referred to as Tories, Royalists, or King's Men by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution. When their cause was defeated, about 20% of the Loyalists fled or were driven out of the US to resettle in other parts of the British Empire, in Britain or elsewhere in British North America, especially East Ontario and New Brunswick, where they were called United Empire Loyalists; some went to the British West Indies, especially the Bahamas. Black Loyalists made up some of the Loyalist community but were compensated by British claims procedures

Patriots (also known as American Whigs, Revolutionaries, Congress-Men or Rebels) was the name the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies, who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution, called themselves. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation. Their rebellion was based on the political philosophy of republicanism, as expressed by pamphleteers, such as Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Paine.

They called themselves Whigs after 1768, identifying with members of the British Whig Party, i.e., Radical Whigs and Patriot Whigs, who favored similar colonial policies.

As a group, Patriots represented an array of social, economic, ethnic and racial backgrounds. They included college students like Alexander Hamilton, planters like Thomas Jefferson, merchants like Alexander McDougall, and plain farmers like Daniel Shays and Joseph Plumb Martin.

The Gaspée Affair was a significant event in the lead-up to the American Revolution. HMS Gaspée, a British revenue schooner that had been enforcing unpopular trade regulations, ran aground in shallow water on June 9, 1772, near what is now known as Gaspee Point in the city of Warwick, Rhode Island, while chasing the packet boat Hannah.In a notorious act of defiance, American patriots led by Abraham Whipple and John Brown attacked, boarded, looted, and torched the ship.

The Tea Act was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain to expand the British East India Company's monopoly on the tea trade to all British Colonies, selling excess tea at a reduced price. (13 Geo III c. 44, long title An act to allow a drawback of the duties of customs on the exportation of tea to any of his Majesty's colonies or plantations in America; to increase the deposit on bohea tea to be sold at the East India Company's sales; and to empower the commissioners of the treasury to grant licenses to the East India Company to export tea duty-free.) It was passed on May 10, 1773.

The Daughters of Liberty was a successful Colonial American group that consisted of women who displayed their patriotism by participating in boycotts of British goods following the passage of the Townshend Acts. Using their feminine skills of the time, they made homespun cloth and other goods.

The Tea Party protests are a series of protests across the United States beginning in early 2009; see List of Tea Party protests, 2009. The protests are part of a larger anti-tax political movement called the Tea Party movement. The Tea Party focuses on smaller government, fiscal responsibility, individual freedoms and upholding a conservative view of the Constitution.

Properly known as the Restraining Acts, the Coercive Acts, as they were popularly known in England, were introduced in 1774 by the new government of Lord North, who acted with the direct encouragement of George III. Several voices of caution had been raised in Parliament, particularly those of Edmund Burke and Lord Chatham, who feared that stern measures were charting a course no one really wanted to follow; their advice, however, was not heeded.

The First Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from twelve of the thirteen North American colonies that met on September 5, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. Called in response to the passage of the Coercive Acts (also known as Intolerable Acts by the Colonial Americans) by the British Parliament, the Congress was attended by 56 members appointed by the legislatures of twelve of the Thirteen Colonies, the exception being the Province of Georgia, which did not send delegates. At the time, Georgia declined to send a delegation because it was seeking help from London in pacifying its smoldering Indian frontier.

John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American politician and political philosopher and the second President of the United States (1797–1801), after being the first Vice President of the United States (1789–1797) for two terms. He was one of the most influential Founding Fathers of the United States.

The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. They were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge, near Boston. The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in the mainland of British North America.

Thomas Gage, b. 1719 or 1720, d. Apr. 2, 1787, was a British general and colonial governor in America. His aggressive actions against the colonists contributed to the American Revolution. In 1774 he became governor of Massachusetts, where he attempted to quell agitation and enforce the Intolerable Acts. It was Gage who ordered the troops to Lexington and Concord in April 1775. After the Battle of Bunker Hill, he was recalled to England.

Paul Revere (bap. January 1, 1735 [O.S. December 22, 1734] – May 10, 1818 was an American silversmith and a patriot in the American Revolution.

John Dickinson (November 8, 1732 – February 14, 1808) was an American lawyer and politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Wilmington, Delaware. He was a militia officer during the American Revolution, a Continental Congressman from Pennsylvania and Delaware, a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, President of Delaware and President of Pennsylvania. Among the wealthiest men in the British American colonies, he is known as the "Penman of the Revolution" for his Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania; upon receiving news of his death, President Thomas Jefferson recognized him as being "among the first of the advocates for the rights of his country when assailed by Great Britain" whose "name will be consecrated in history as one of the great worthies of the revolution He is the namesake of Dickinson College.

The Massachusetts Circular Letter was a statement written by Samuel Adams and passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives in February 1768 in response to the Townshend Acts. Reactions to the letter brought tensions between the British Parliament and Massachusetts to a boiling point, and resulted in the military occupation of Boston by the British Army, which contributed to the coming of the American Revolution.