Independence Lecture

Key Questions

• What events pushed moderates to the patriot position?
• What part of the government did Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence attack?
• What were the three aims of the Declaration of Independence?

British East India Company (BEIC) Crisis

• BEIC facing bankruptcy
• England wanted to bail out the BEIC to save the economy and jobs
• Similar to modern bailouts of major companies
• England's dilemma: save BEIC without spending much money due to existing debt

Tea Act of 1773

• Exempted BEIC tea from taxes imposed by the Townshend Acts
• Cracked down on smuggling of Dutch tea
  • Enforced laws more strictly
• Allowed BEIC to sell directly in the colonies
  • Cut out colonial merchants (threatened their business)
• Colonists saw it as a tax despite lowering tea prices
  • Outrage among colonial merchants
  • Boycotts and non-importation agreements renewed

Colonial Reaction

• Effective resistance involved preventing BEIC ships from unloading tea
• Sons of Liberty and other colonists formed mobs to stop ships
• Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson's stance:
  • Refused to be intimidated by colonial resistance
  • Sons were BEIC agents
  • Threatened to call troops to ensure BEIC tea was unloaded

Boston Tea Party

• Sons of Liberty's famous act: destruction of tea
• Threw large amounts of tea into Boston Harbor