week 8 - grenville and the stamp act Flashcards
bute as prime minister
negotiated the treaty of paris in 1763
proposed a cider tax in britain, 1763 to pay for the national debt after war
john wilkes satirised bute and the dowager princess of wales in his paper, the north briton
resigns soon afterwards
grenville in power
persecutes john wilkes for an article deriding george III’s speech in 1763
focused on restoring britain’s finance after war
has to deal with the defence of the american colonies after pontiac’s war
that cider bill was pushed through in 1764, anger in west of britain
john wilkes
started a radical paper in 1762 called the north briton to attack the scottish bute.
angry at bute’s “betrayal” - generous terms for the french at the treaty of paris.
faced charge of seditious libel over george III’s speech endorsing the treaty of paris in 1763.
king was personally offended - wilkes arrested in 1763.
an mp, and argued parliamentary privilege.
declared outlaw in 1764 while in france
member of sir frances dashwood’s hellfire club.
drinking parties, dressing as monks, questionable behaviour - seances and invoking the devil?
held in caves below a church near dashwood’s property in west wycombe park.
fought two duels - shot in one of them.
attracted enemies, but became a figurehead for liberty in the face of censorship and power.
1768 massacre of st george’s fields - “no liberty, no king.”
marquess of rockingham
repeal of stamp act in march 1766.
declaratory act 1766 followed to assert the right of the crown and parliament to make laws that bind the colonies in america.
rockingham and the stamp act
gage (commander in chief of the colonies) informs rockingham that the stamp act cannot be enforced.
there were only 10,000 british soldiers in america and most of these were stationed on the western frontier and in nova scotia.
british merchants were very concerned by american boycotts of british goods so campaigned for repeal of the stamp act.
charles townshend
chancellor of the exchequer for chatham’s government.
townshend proposed “external” import taxes instead of internal taxes.
these were known as the townshend acts in 1767. - taxed exports to america, such as glass, paint, paper and tea.
the townshend acts established a board of commissioners in boston to enforce them.
seen as a threat to the american colonial tradition of self-government.
the stamp act
radical voices warned that the tax was part of a gradual plot to deprive the colonists of their freedoms and to enslave them beneath a tyrannical regime
mobs in seaport towns turned away ships carrying the stamp papers from england without allowing them to discharge their cargoes
the virginia house of burgesses claimed the rights of englishmen under the magna carta and argued it was a “fundamental principle of the British constitution . . . that the people are not subject to any taxes but such are laid on them by their own consent.”
colonists were electrified by the boldness of patrick henry’s resolutions
the high taxes on lawyers and college students were designed to limit the growth of a professional class in the colonies
thomas wately, one of the treasury secretaries, advised grenville to find a less burdensome way of raising money - leave matters to the colonies
boston’s violence captured attention everywhere
end of october, all but two stamp distributors had resigned
