Over the like this, years. In other words, as the colonies to along from jamestown 1776, more and more people, as passes, decide that they are able to handle this on their own. Need to be ruled from westminster, and eventually, of course, enough of them decide to declaration of independence. That graph would make the evolution pretty easy to understand. Just like you growing up. The last thing you want is for your parents to dump you out the door an run life. N by the time youre 12 you can see it might look pretty good an the time youre 18, here you are. If this graph is right then the going through st the normal process of maturing and a smart parent, of course, eye on things and as the child gets more competent and more confident, ease up on strings. Separation can come about reasonably nicely. Doesnt see whats happening and doesnt changing e the competence and confidence of the child, then there is likely to eventually maybe some kind of explosion. Graph would make the revolution pretty easy to explain. Of what one case normally happens with people and with societies. Unfortunately, thats not the way the graph looks at all. The graph looks more like this. No one wants to be independent until almost the very winter of 1775 and 1776. Lexington iring at and concord. Paynes pamphlet queen and thisnse comes out makes the revolution much harder to figure out because the are probably never glad to be more ritish than at any time before or after 1776. They just won this great war. Gone. Rench are the indians temporarily are quelled. These people are celebrating. Glad to be part of the most powerful and freest country in the western world. So what we have to explain, society not how a gradually gets more and more away from in breaking the Apron Strings and being independent but what we have to how did these proud and happy englishmen in 1763, how did so many of them turn out to be traitors and 12 years later against a government they would have said was the best fore and freest in the world . Long term are some trends in colonial history that, make think about it, independence more possible as the years go by. It doesnt mean people want to independent, but population, for instance, you start out with coupleundred people in a of spots on the coast. Looking at , youre 250,000 people maybe. Population of e Lebanon County stretched out coast. 500 miles of by 1776, a couple of Million People. Population of england herself. Ore people than you have in some european countries. Now, if you had to do it, you can certainly imagine, you could make a go of it, as your own nation. Nd along with growing population comes a growing sense f what would we call it, political competence. The local elite people like ben like william le bird, we talked about him a couple of weeks ago, these are dominate the local elected assemblies, and if you assemblies are getting more and more powerful and the governors who are from overseas are having less and Less Authority as the years go by. You get to the middle of the 1700s, youve got pretty much local in almost every colony. O not only is population reaching the level where you can imagine an independent country youve got a governing class that thinks, by george, if they have been for the heir colony last few decades, they ought to be able to run a country. Has also, of course, been growing. S population increases, as people push the indians out and occupy more land, as they the labor of more slaves, the prosperity of the grows. S by the time of the revolution, a all the ships built in the british empire, built right here on the shores, a fifth or a sixth of all the iron in the world is produced in the colonies. So while you might have a city or a really fancy england,ansiones nature if you averaged people out the white population of the colonies probably the most populace i mean, most protestant plus empire. The whole so growing population, growing olitical competence, improving economy, all of these things means if you had for some go off on reason to your own you might be able to do it. But again, it doesnt mean you independent. These people are intensely proud being british. And they are even trying, at least people at the upper trying to imitate how the British Population of their lives. So again, it becomes tough to of these so many people a dozen years later take against their own government. There are probably three fairly new developments in the colonies, that, again, dont independence likely, or even desirable, but at least lay the groundwork for something. Aeat awakening, remember, for hundred years, people in the colonies, from the very had been thinking of s, mselves as provincial at thisacross the ocean glittering metropolis. Here they are living on the edge staring out at an endless forest and back home there is london, which, by people than all the colonies for many decades. Their great universities, other than harvard, where are the reat universities in the colonies . Where are the shakespeare plays, even a guyphers, and like william bird, who can feel ood because his mansion has 15 for houses, even he knows perfectly well that the really britain have in mansions of a hundred or more houses. And so there is this sense that really, untry pumpkins looking at your betters over in england. Be like them, o always striving to more and more but the english pattern, coming f course, quite close. Youre definitely a second class in your on mind in the empire and here comes this great awakening this huge surge of evangelicals in the colonies. Faded out by the s, but its left behind a whole lot of evangelical christians who have been told by that britain is not necessarily the best model for them. Matters in this world is ot how educated you are, how cultured you are, how good your family is, how much wine you have in your basement, how well read philosophy. What matters in this world is ready l are you getting for the next world . How do you live this life, but live the u going to next one . And so the example these people told to follow, the people arent told to admire, so much the local elite, or the country of england back home. What they are supposed to model is the mostn is who godly person . It isnt necessarily going to be with the fancy house, it isnt necessarily to be the guy like william bird with his plantation and his laves and his wine and his fancy clothes. It could be your husband or your wife. Could be the slaves out in williamsburgs tobacco field. Carpenter in e town. It isnt very likely to be one f those people you used to admire and the same is drew when you look at your place within the empire. To can look across the ocean britain and you can see, at least in your mind, here is a people who arent as godly as we are. Here are people who do put the good things of this life, on the luxuries, on the away at ns that eat morality. And maybe were not so bad, then, compared to them. In fact, what the great awakening is telling you, you people on this side of the tlantic should stop being embarrassed and ashamed of who ou are and stop being envious of those people over in britain because you are better than they in the one thing that matters. And that is the question every christian has to ask, of course, what must die to be saved . I do to be saved . Would feel if you had grown up your whole life inferior to s felt your older sister. And someone comes along and gets to you realize, wait a minute. In the ways that really matter, than yourually better sister. Its going to change the way you relationship. Ur so there is one thing. The second thing thats going n, remember, is a lot of the elite in the colonies are wig writers who are telling them history is a power t struggle between and liberty and liberty regrettably always loses. And liberty is in danger in freest itself, the country in the western world eating corruption is away at the vitals of the country. Offices are sold, votes are bought. Government operates not policy, but according to what office can i get . Make . Alary can i how can i get some goodys for my relatives . Sort of thing. Ambitious lows the would be caesars in any that sort of use attitude. Whats in it for me . Corrupt the house of commons. By saying, hey, you support me, office. T you a good you support me, your agent aunt can have a government pension. College. Can get into weve got a little clergyman post here for your nephew and who are and more people bought off by the government, he less and less likely the house of commons is to be a bulwark against liberty. Liberty is safest, the wigs are telling these folks, in a a big broad land Holding Middle class, farmers who are independent conomically, they dont need anything from government. They dont have to go get a what good would it do them . And, of course, where do you the society with the big broad land Holding Middle class . America, not in england, which can never have that kind of society because for every g enough different chunk of land. If the core of being english is free, and if liberty is with this society big land Holding Middle class, then the colonies are the best of the empire. The most english part of the empire and the freest part of the empire. So stop thinking of yourselves ith as a bunch of backward pumpkins. Think of yourselves as more people of n the england, even. Youre the one leading way for erhaps europe and maybe the whole world, toward a future where freedom is more and more would be caesars less chance to destroy it and exalt themselves. Ere are two ways in which the colonists are learning to think infier mselves as inferiors, but as the best part empire. That will change how they look at things. And then there is a growing identity. Merican the whole idea of what community of yourself as belonging to is kind of iffy for try to figure out. Ut one enterprising historian decided about 50 years ago or so ets look at newspapers, and lets ask ourselves what do people mean when they use words like we and us and our. Words of inclusion . And what do they mean when they se words like they, them, and those, words for the other. Through, oh, about the when s or 1740s, mostly people talk about we, they ean pennsylvanians, or we britains in the empire. You have your colonial identity, you have your british identity. When you talk about they and them, you mean, those foreigners france or spain, or sometimes those people in the next colony down the road who we know about and dont really much care about. As you get ngly, into the 1950s and 1960s, when ou look at newspapers and see how people used those pronounce, a lot of times now, when they we, they mean we americans. Than just we in our colony, less inclusive in the whole empire. Ou have this identity, in the sense that you have some things in common with other colonies on that ide of the atlantic you dont share with people in england, jamaica, or other parts and when you talk about the outsiders, they and them, a lot of times now its just those foreigners, its those people over in england. Now, this doesnt mean, of course, that if you think of americans you think of yourself as less british any im ahan someone who says new englander is any less american by thinking that. That for the an time, you can imagine that something binds you to the colonies the other that, again, is different from in the ds you to people rest of the empire. And you can see a greater sense, american identity, but a greater sense of american unity. The first three wars against the french and the indians, the government in banging its head against the wall to get the colonies to see, you face a common threat. You should all be pulling together. Attacking massachusetts. People in South Carolina say me . Ts to it indians are bothering people in virginia, people in rhode its none of their business. Finally, in this last war, the rench and indian war, finally the colonies begin to see, yes, maybe were all in this together. Maybe we share something in common nd that is a enemy and a common threat. Threat. Ben franklin, remember, tries to get the Colonial Leadership together in albany in 1754 to work out not just the common pproach to the indian problem, but even a colonial government. They had one governor pointed for the colonies. One assembly for the whole colonies. Nothing comes of it. But just the fact that it could of, and that some of the colonial leaders would come and talk about it and think its good idea, is something brandnew. Long term ot these developments, growing population, growing political competence, growing economy, that while they dont make people want to be independent, independence if should unfortunately come, we probably can handle it. Sense n youve got this that, hey, wait a minute. The backward r empire look n this agent the great metropolis across the seas. Even just the equal but perhaps superior in some poor folks because here were more religious, more here freedom is safer because we have a huge group of who need ss farmers nothing from anyone. Now, with that as background, take a look at 1763. Here you are in america, youve ust won this big war against and the indians, and you think that you won it. It kind of slips your mind that the British Government sent 25,000 regular troops across the capture montreal and quebec and drive the french out of canada. Course, a british navy ommanded the seas, but you remember what you remember is raddick marching his army pennsylvania being ambushed and practically destroyed by the indians and the rench, saved only by the courage of the colonial troops led by george washington. A terribly have thatimpression of the part the British Military played in winning this war. A think more of it being colonial victory. Has been the victory won, future looks great. Presence outooding there in the forest, thats laying like a shadow over your gone now. The french are out of america. They arent coming back as far as youre concerned. French without the indians, are less ench help, able to oppose colonial expansion. The future looks great. Mississippi. O the your world now. Well, across the atlantic in westminster, things dont look good. That i mean, they are glad to have won the war, of course, who ouldnt be glad to beat the french. Your traditional enemy but the victorypleteness of the means the friendch will be all hat more anxious for re french will be all that more anxious for revenge. Cant say hot dog, we won, lets go home. Who knows n britain about the state of the world knows there will be a war every generation or so and you have to ready to defend what you won. Victory y is great but brings its own problems. For one thing, a bigger empire to defend. Got more land in america to defend. In india toore land defend. And youve got a couple of slands here and there extra to worry about. So you need to keep the navy and need to keep the army at higher than the levels you had war. E the that costs money. Big problems facing america that were british policymakers, after they finished the toast to victory, one is, what in the world do we about these indians . The native American Population has been the enemy for 75 years. On you as ve looked the enemy. Now these people have to learn as good, loyal, british subjects. Easys not going to be very considering that there are a lot of white loyal british subjects than to nothing more indian land. About this. Nk if you were a native american your great 63 and fear is that the english get more are going to of your land what are you going to do about it . When they start saying, hey, we do everybody out a ice big chunk of your territory . Yeah. They arent going to be happy with it. And if they persist . Retaliate. Exactly, of s course what happens in pontiacs rebellion. Ontiac leads the northwest indians even before the war with france is over to besiege almost every single british outpost detroit and pittsburgh. Because they are worried without face a pretty ey dismal future. The government doesnt want to indian war after indian war in the interior of north america. So they have got to figure out a that. Deal with he second problem they are looking at is law enforcement. Colonial t all empires, the british try to ollow Economic Policy of mercantilism. Which means basically, you need to accumulate wealth in your going because there is to be another war coming along money to fighted wars. And the idea of the wealth is ts is basically gold and silver. E is only a immaterial limited fixed amount. Some ountries have more, countries have less. Acquire and nations wealth the same way families do. You bring in more money than you in trade terms, you sell more to other countries han your people buy from other countries. So you have to manage your trade olicy in a way that helps prepare the country for the next war, reduces the amount of goods your people buy spur exports. Well, there is a lot of smuggling going on in the whole s because its a lot better from the merchants point of view if you can sneak our products in, dont have to pay the import duty on them, sell them at a lower cost to your customer. Hasnt been able to do much about this because of wars that s like pushed themselves to the forefront of policy. Over, that the war is now is the chance maybe to crack the on smuggling, and get trade of the colonies moving more in tune with the good of country. It got so bad that during this last war with france, there were colonial merchants actually selling goods to the french while the french are out hooting their fellow british countrymen. Youve got to put a stop to that. No government can allow that to happen. So thats problem two. Need oblem three is, you money. To going to cost money defend north america. Where is it going to come from . Colonies are the most prosperous part of the empire and they pay the least taxes. The average tax per person in the British Isles is about 25 as the average in the colonies. So if youre going to raise more money to help defend the colonies, it seems logical to peopleask the undertaxed in the colonies to help chip in than to lay more burdens on the home. Xed people at so those are three problems the got to wrestle with in order to be able to take of the fruits of victory. Problem pops up first because of pontiacs rebellion. To deal with ing that . If your problem is, that the indians dont like having their bunch of white a colonists, then the only way to calm the indians down is protect them against that danger. 1763 saysclamation of what . Proclamation of 1763, come on, on, you people know this. Okay. The colon colonists cant territory. Indian right. And they hope that will prevent conflict. Comes a, of course, pretty well up against the colonists idea, hey, everything now of the mississippi is open for us. But surprisingly, perhaps, there a lot of grumbling and riping about the proclamation of 1763 in the beginning. People in the colonies dont want to have indian wars either they can help it. Especially the people along the coast where most of the ruling elite live. They dont want to have to be paying taxes to go fight indians who are only fighting because on the frontier want to take away their land. Supposed to be a permanent barrier. The idea the government has, as up in some uilds spot on the frontier youll go out and negotiate with the carve out another chunk of land, pay them for it and open it up. O settlement will continue, expansion will go on. It will just be slower and more rderly and they hope more peaceful. Later on, however, as people paranoid loping these fears that there is some conspiracy against the britain, then people start looking back at the proclamation and saying, hey, maybe this indian thing was just a front. Point is, they want to keep us crowded up between the mountains and the well be easier to control. But in the beginning, the doesnt cause a whole lot of stir. Its a little bit different when to enforcing the law. The problem existed because there are not enough revenue arent enough customs collectors to catch very little inlet along the coast where people might struggle stuff in and when do you catch them, what happens . By a jury of their friends, relatives, and the local jury, as often as not, laughs at the criminal or the measly fines them some little amount that makes a joke of law enforcement. Governments cant let that happen. You have an unpopular law youve either got to repeal it it. Nforce you cant let a whole generation of people grow up scoffing at the law. Do . What does the Government Police ically put more on the streets, more customs officials, more revenue cutters, it easier to catch the smugglers when they try to bring stuff in. You do get them, instead of having them sit down their t of a jury of buddies, well ship them off to nova scotia to be tried by a who isnt going to be swayed by any local friendships, and justice can finally be done. Now, you would expect, right, that a good citizen, who looks boy, crime is s, getting out of hand, would be overjoyed when the government to crack down on the criminals. Shock comes as rather a when thats not the attitude at comes out of the colonies. Remember the wigs had been people that the way you lose your freedom in not by Julius S Caesar marching an army down and london and installing by elf as a dictator, but the new caesar just hiding in some room somewhere in estminster and hauling the members of parliament in one at a time an basically saying what ill it take to get you to go from a watch guard of public liberty into somebody who will want . E do what i heres your payoff. Ell, the more government ffices there are, the more patronage the government has. You want your uncle, your brother, your son, or even yourself to have that nice alary, well, then, if youre a member of parliament, you better wants. T the government so instead of people saying, thank gosh were finally getting enforce the s to law and keep crime down they this. Complaining, look at patronagereating more jobs, to get congress to look while other , conspiracies against our liberties proceeds step by step. Youve got guys like john hancock, one of the biggest colonies, n the people who get caught and are jury off, not before a but before a judge, they are not going to get much sympathy if whining, hey, the government is not letting me break the law and stuff my of money anymore but if they go around saying, hey, government has taken away a jury trial, one of the most fundamental liberties of the free englishmen, and if do it to me, they can do it to you, then people are a lot of attention. And so youve turned yourself victim. Criminal into a the victim of the evil overnment thats little by little trying to turn everybody from free borne english subjects into slaves. Trying to enforce the law and keep colonial trade ways that help the country instead of hurt it outrage. Lot of all, of orst of it course, is trying to deal with the revenue problem. If youre going to get money, part of your population paying practically wealthiest part, and another part paying more, if youre the government, who would you go tax . You go after . Ld youve got to make the people overtaxed pay more or people who are make the people who arent paying must have. Thats right. And even if you didnt think right thing morally to do, can you imagine the British Government telling the decided eople, hey, we to let the colonists go on being more. Loaders and tax you thats not going to go over very constituents. And while the government is obviously to some considerable from public ted opinion, if youre raising the land tax on the land holders in people and they are the that vote for the house of commons, you could be in some danger. Especially since there are, of opponents to the government that are always looking for ways just as political opponents always are, of making the current government look evil and bad and corrupt and getting voters to turn away from them. You have to raise more colonies infend the the new world, it only makes sense to have the people in colonies at least pay a cost of their own defense. It . How are you going to do well, the stamp tax is the answer. Pretty good ke a deal to the government. Is basicallyit is, a tax on most forms of legal activity. Tax stamp on put a wills, for instance, that you file with the court k. You go lead in court, youve got to put a tax stamp on the pleadings you submit to the judge. You want to take your ship out cargo, youve got to put a tax stamp on the papers, pamphlets. Like you want to publish a pamphlet got w to catch fish youve to put a tax stamp on it. It papers, same thing, so only affects a very small number Million People in the colonies. Basically, lawmakers, of ishers, and a couple other groups of people. Second, its a puny tax. Schillings out to one per person per year. Hardly anything compared to what england. Y in and third, and maybe best of and its hard to evade easy to detect evasion. You dont have to send a tax swarming out over the landscape the way you would if you had land tax. Ll you need to do is look at the pamphlet, does have it the tax stamp on it or not . Will, they are trying to file in court, does have it the stamp on it or not . Figure out if people are paying or not paying. Either way you look at it, it be about the simplest, easiest way you could tax the 95 of the d the people who are sitting out on their farms growing food for families would never see a tax stamp in their lives. Wealthy be if they are enough to have a will, they have there. K one on people in england are astounded totally ised and stamp tax when the produces not gratitude for, hey, taxing us so much and for still paying most of the cost of defending us, and not indifference. We dont like taxes but its just a little one, who cares. Outrage, t produces anger and fear. Again, one of the fundamental, undoubted rights of englishmen is not to be taxed but by your open representatives. Cant take your money unless your representatives say so. Who represents the colonists in america . S far as the colonies are concerned, house of commons represents anyone the house of commons makes no ense as a representative body if you think of it as full of a bunch of politicians who are to look out for the interest of their little slice of the country. Franchises for electing members of the commons who are passed out back in the late and they are big cities like birmingham and manchester and have no people lected to the house of commons because they were just villages hundreds of years ago. And there are a few other places used to be towns with in People Living o in them anymore. Pen n, where hes from, it has no living people so it all, right to at say, here are towns who have no one representing them, and here cemeteries who have a couple of people every two years to go or two people every year so go up there and represent dead bodies. The house of commons makes sense if you think that its not a collection of politicians, who for local out interests. Its a collection of statesmen. There, whoever they are elected from, is supposed to be taking big, broad, outlook thinking of whats good for the whole empire. So if the house of commons is to represent the interest of people in of birminghamople cant complain when they have to pay a tax even though they dont because everybody in the house of commons is for them. Ut and everybody in the house of for ns is watching out pennsylvania. Now, the british call this virtual representation. You may not elect anybody virtually ut youre represented by everybody. Now, we know today, you know, he difference between Virtual Reality and real reality, and it gets pretty close sometimes, but a cheese burger in reality. And so, the colonies have a very different way of looking at representation, from the very of the Virginia House f burgesses in 1619, the colonial idea, you can only be represented by someone you elect among you in your geographic area. Fromhould somebody elected somewhere else represent you . It makes no sense. Lebanon county, you cant depend on the guy from county representing your interests, you cant punish him if he does wrong. Ou cant reward him with reelection if he does right. Would be a fool to represent your interest. The only thing that matters to him is whether the people in ancaster county what the people in Lancaster County want. If you cant be represented by in the next county you certainly cant think youre represented by somebody 3,000 somebody who has never seen you and you have never seen him. The erybody agrees that nglishman is entitled to be taxed only by his own representatives. What they dont seem to agree on, who are his representatives . If you think the house of ommons represents the whole empire, including pennsylvania, they can certainly tax pennsylvania. View of people back home. F you think the Pennsylvania Assembly is the only representative body for the house of then commons cant possibly constitutionally tax people in pennsylvania. In england should be able to see that. Big problem, the right . Ask you this. Lets suppose youre a member of assembly. Ylvania and lets suppose the government agrees, hey, look, if the king your money, hes got to come ask the pennsylvania it. Embly for so the government says to you, Pennsylvania Assemblyman, ets say youre that assemblyman, the government says willu, we need some money, you please tax your constituents and send us the money. Your attitude likely to be . So would you be willing to go constituents your next election, reason why youre paying this extra tax is, that i money send some of your overseas. Do you think your voters would or that and reward you, would they kick you out . They probably wouldnt like that. They probably wouldnt and england at folks in think the attitude in america is likely to be. F you have to ask the local assemblies in all these colonies please send us money, the if mblyman says, hey, wait, i do that, im going to get defeated in the next election never going to get any. So if you look at the of amental vital interests the people in colonies, it is, in their view, that we should enjoy all the rights of englishmen. Were no less english for being over here and one of those is, no one can take our money but our elected representatives and they are philadelphia, or harleston or wherever your colonial capitol might be. We cant concede that point because once we elect the overstep the bounds of the constitution, where does stop . It stops with another caesar. Loss of liberty. We cant take that first step. The people in england, of ourse, look at it very differently. If we cant have the government from the most prosperous part of the country, and the rest of us have to pay not because of it, were that. To put up with how can the government let this happen . Youre in the British Government you know whatever fast foot work and compromises might conduct in the meantime, in the long run, one ay or another, youre probably going to have to be able to get the people in america to pay ome at least of the cost of running their country. Benefits get all the of being in it. Well, thats tough. Compromise can sometimes work. But for compromise to work you have one side or the other interests. Vital do eres a case where, how you compromise this . Lets re some proposals, let the colonists elect members to the house of commons. Colonies is,in the forget it. That would never work. Miles away, 000 five to eight weeks. We dont know whats going on over there. We cant construct our representatives about what to do, et cetera, et cetera. Looks like a lot of people in england are saying, look, we ont care what excuse we come up with, we just dont want to pay taxes. You guys pay more. Well. Doesnt go over too so how do you fight the stamp act if youre a colonist . A l, for one thing, you get mob up and go to the people who are appointed to distribute the and say, hey, would you rather resign your office or get beaten up and most of them rather resign their offices, so pretty soon, there isnt anybody in any colony who willing to risk his life actually selling the tax stamps. And just so the government oesnt misunderstand what the colonists are trying to say, and kind of as a way to regain mobs that from the of hanging around in all these coastal cities, the elites decide to meet together in new Stamp Act Congress and tell the British Government is. Tly what the story number one, were english, just as much as you. Means we have t all the rights people in tinge do. Number three in england do. Number three, you cant tax us except through our representatives. Tober four is, youre trying do it anyway. And number five is we arent going to let you. Ust to drive the point home, well have a boycott of british goods. The americans colonies are among the biggest, most profitable merchants british and manufacturers. Not, of course, if no one buys stuff. So after a while, the merchants britain go urers of swarming down to westminster telling the government, get rid of this stupid tax. Us money. Ting and besides, since no one is stupid, or brave enough actually distribute the tax any s, youre not raising money from it anyway. Is repealed. Agent hey, these guys finally nderstand our constitutional righ efforts to are drunk, to george iii, patriot king, who politics e party and and looks out for the good of his people. Celebrating, sy colonists dont sufficiently i l realize, at the very same time that parliament repealed the tamp act, they passed the declaratory act that said, parliament has a right to bind the colonies, in all cases, whatsoever. Including, of course, taxation. Didnt really nt accept the argument made in america. We they said was, look, could tax you any time we want. We just dont happen to feel like it right now. Thats not much of a victory. But it calms things down. But you still have the problem of money. Can you ask the people in to pay extra to defend america when americans arent willing to defend america . O, a new Prime Minister comes in, charles townsend, comes up with a new idea. The townsend act. Gets the mistaken impression that the objection to the stamp act really was that it as opposed nal tax o a duty on imports, where people have never really objected to parliaments right to regulate trade. Stamp stuff. Et the ell have a tax on things the colonists import. Paper. Lead. Glass. Tea. And well collect it at the ports. Bothered e has to be and thats that. Big surprise. And outrage, more anger, more fear. More mobs. Nother boycott of british goods. More angry protests going back across the ocean. Guys get it. Ou any money you extract from us is a tax. You cant do it whatever you call it, however you try to hide do it. Cant its unconstitutional, and just to remind you of that we arent again, bit goods way. More boycotts. More lost money. Merchants and manufacturers go to parliament again and say stop this nonsense, and once government backs off and epeals all the townsend taxes, except the one on tea. More big celebrations in the colonies. People breathe a big sigh of relief. Made our point that we arent paying taxes. A numbernext few years of things happened to reawaken these fears of conspiracy against liberty. Its not the tax issue, its something else. The government sends troops over to boston in 1768. One of the great fears englishmen have is fear of army. Ng so when there is a war going on you need an army to fight the enemy. You dont is no war need an army. Now, no continental country could say that, of course. Youve got potential enemies on every border. The government would be complete keep an they didnt army up in peace time to prevent somebody invading them. A britain, of course, is bunch of islands. As long as the british navy is to have ure going plenty of notice before you have fight. Ready to you dont need an army. So if you see your government beginning to build up an army enemy around, o you have to ask yourself who are it against . To use if its not the enemy, is it us . Why would the government need an unless its planning to do something really horrible to its own people and it wants to put the inevitable protests. Englishmen have seen armies in peace time be used for precisely that purpose under the steward kings and even cromwell, the of parliamentary rights, who after he lobbed the ings head off made himself dictator, and ran an even ighter ship than the stewards did. So here are troops in boston. Why . Are they to defend us from the indians . In the ans are out frontier. Why are they Government Troops sitting in boston . To start asking that question. So again, remember the wigs. Wig writers have been telling people over and over again, how do you lose your liberty . You lose it to your own government. You lose it to some ambitious a group of r politicians who decide to snipping away at it. Youre far more likely to fall to your own government than to a foreign enemy. So if you have this sort of generalized suspicion of overnment and they are trying to tax us without our consent, they are trying to take away our right to a jury trial, they have got troops here and there is no it does make some to wonder. T massacre, ofboston course, only brings the fear of to an even rmy greater peak. Here they are shooting down our own people. Going on is more even than that. The church of england is the church back home. It is the state church in most of the southern colonies and new york, and the anglicans in america have a problem. Clergyman, you have to be anointed or consecrated by at bishop. E all the bishops are back in britain. Youre a pennsylvanian, and you want to be a minister in the church of england youve got back across way the ocean, an expensive and angerous trip, for the laying on of hands. To be r clergymen have englishmen and scotts men sent over here. To have be a lot easier an anglican bishop right here in he colonies so a lot of the anglicans in america start asking for one. Now, you would think, who cares, right . If youre a presbyterian or a anything, nalist or why do you care . How easy it is for the anglicans to get clergymen. But remember, the church of england is part of the government. In the house of lords. Politicians, ally not religious people. Anglican minister is another piece of patronage used o corrupt people using public liberty but instead they are looking out for what they can get for themselves. Expand the power of the church of england in america, this looks suspicious. Would you want to do this now . Be ven things like that can turned into fearsome things. Then youve got the question of judicial independence. England, judges are in there for life. The whole point is to make them independent of government. They dont have to look over shoulder all the time and ask, how is my decision going to in authority . Ys the problem you have in the very es is, there arent many educated competent lawyers. Government isnt willing lawyer in ahalf ass Judges Office for life. You might have him be a judge now because you have no choice in another 1020 years when educated lawyers, you want to get rid of this person and put in a decent judge. So lets dont have lifetime tenure for judges in the colonies. From theyou look at it standpoint of we want the best qualified judges, that makes some sense, right . If you look at it the way a conspiracy minded person would you would ask yourself, why is it that they ont want the judges to be independent . Why do they want the judges to by ubject to removal government at any time . Obviously, because they are planning to do bad things and the judges to stand in their way. Of the s another part conspiracy. So, if you have already been by these wig writers to suspect your government anyway, governmentu see your doing things that, as far as youre concerned, any sensible person would see was either unconstitutional or dangerous, taxing you when they dont you, not letting you have a trial by jury, keeping expanding westward to get further away from their ontrol, making the judges subject to removal any time they and a judge. Id of helping the church of england get bigger and more powerful here when Everybody Knows its another quasi governmental body. Going to start worrying. Stuff hough all of this looks really stupid from the lookin england, it doesnt stupid to you. Nd so you get more and more suspicious people and the more their suspicion and people learn about it in england, the more people in england have to scratch their heads. The heck are these people talking about, conspiracy . Here is no conspiracy against liberty in westminster. No taxes, why should they have taxes . Everybody else does. No bishop in america . Care about that. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Englishman, and youre reading all of this stuff. These tal phony baloney people are coming up with as excuses not to have to obey the law or pay their taxes, you to wonder, maybe there is a conspiracy but its not here in london. In america. Re there are a few of these malcontents like sam adams and a like that, who are doing their best to stir up phony fears, to turn people against the overnment so they can perhaps, line up as bosses of an independent america. We cant let this happen without trying to do something about it. So every time there is protest colonies the government slaps them back. The people in england get madder of the just makes some people in the colonies madder from one step to another. It goes from one step to another. Then, of course, here are a bunch of people swarming on to docks, destroying thousands owned by worth of tea the east india company. Clearly an illegal act. Of people in the colonies who believe in the law are offended by this. Yeah, usually, of course, if you go destroy somebodys property, ne or two things is going to happen, right . The person whose property you destroyed is going to sue you in it, t and make you pay for or the government is going to grab you and put you in jail for crime. But the government doesnt do that in the case of the tea party. Or one thing, it would be awfully hard to figure out who this, eople were who did but what the government does instead is say were going to whole city of boston bostonianians agree to reimburse for tea. Youre going to starve the city out. Youre going to cost the workers and sailors money and eventually pain will be sufficient that they will have down and pay for the tea. Nd youre going to punish the colony in massachusetts because they need to be taught a lesson, too. Outrage and, again, fear. This is not the way you deal with a criminal act. Punish a whole population, because somebody a bank. Why is the government doing this . It must be that they are just rying to think of another excuse to put the screws on the colonies and make us cave in to their demands. If we do that we dont deserve the name of englishmen. Worse, maybe almost otally unconnected with the Boston Tea Party but at the same as passing the act boston and massachusetts, Parliament Passes try to get ct, to the french catholics in canada resigned to being run by england. Canadiensg to let the have the same kind of government they had before. Appoint a governor and judges, assembly, they have the had one, and to make catholics feel comfortable, were going to have the catholic be the official church of canada. We wont try to force throat ntism down their a little more content. The outrage is tremendous. The protestant is the one great enemy of human freedom. They are saying that Catholic Church can dominate canada. This is a little suspicious. Why would they be doing that . Have extendedthey the borders of canada down to the ohio river so it includes. Ost of the modern midwest a good chunk of what the was theirwas assuming future expansion will now be dominated by a catholic controlled colony with no elected representative. Pretty suspicious. All of this stuff comes together to produce the growing sense of outrage that leads to things like the first continental congress, and leads the British Government to respond with sterner measures. Is highly go with a country full of happy proud englishman for love traders and rubble. Not of course that everybody buys into the conspiracy, but enough to produce the end result. A lot of the stuff can be compromised. You could probably make it not so severe. You can have a relax at the jury trials. You maybe not put the troops in boston. You can compromise almost all these disputes, except one. How do you get around the fact that the colonists are insisting we wont pay any taxes. Unless our local assemblies approve them. Otherwise, it is unconstitutional, and the people in england saying, we will netlist not let you get away with paying no taxes, but we have to pay more. Every good citizen has to be willing to take on the enjoy thelities and advantages. We cannot let you guys get away with escaping your responsibility. Neither side can afford to back down. Because the colonists think their vital interest is wrapped up in the sending their constitutional rights, and this is perhaps one of the biggest. The government cannot take your money. Opens you up that to more and more unconstitutional actions and you are headed down a slippery slope towards dictatorship. Give uprnment cannot either singly will not let the wealthiest part of the imparting nothing and everybody pays more. No government can do that. Once the argument about taxation and representation gets set in stone, so that neither side can back down without giving up that istal interests, where it seems really difficult to figure out how a compromise could ever be possible. Colonists comp have to submit to unconstitutional actions by their government, joinder liberties into danger, or the government has to submit to leading a big chunk of their without living up to the responsibilities of their citizens. Neither is possible. Once the issue is that way, it is really hard to see how it except any other place, the spot that he wrote about. The bridge that parks the flood. Here once the embattled farmers fired the shot heard round the world. That is all for today. We will get into the actual revolution itself. Not next time, because you have an exam next time. Join us every saturday evening at 8 00 p. M. And midnight eastern as we join students in College Classrooms to hear lectures on topics ranging from the American Revolution to 9 11. Lectures in history are also available as podcasts. Website, cspan. Org history podcast, or download them from itunes. The cspan bus continues its 50 c or with columbia, atlanta and montgomery. Withch visit we will speak state officials during our live washington journal program. Follow the tour and join us on wednesday at 9 30 a. M. Eastern for our stop in rally, North Carolina raleigh, North Carolina. Coming up monday on American History tv, coauthors talk about their book unseen unpublished black history from the New York Times photo archives. Here is a preview. Series, this was one of my favorite finds because of the suspect subject. This was the same month that the big battle over the Confederate Flag was happening in South Carolina. We were sos shocked wally saw this. Smith. Reverend kendall he was rather annoyed that the Confederate Flag was still being flown in parts of new york city. In particular, i believe it was part of a display, or part of a series of flags in a hall. To city hall with a Confederate Flag, waved it around, got all mad about it, then took the flag outside to City Hall Park across the street and lit it on fire. At this picture, there is City Hall Park, not too many people standing around. What is interesting is this was about to to four weeks after the big protests in central part. The antivietnam war protest weather were hundreds of thousands of White College students burning the american flag. Kendall smith was arrested for inciting riot. [applause] [laughter] not much of a right going on there. What is more fascinating, and i do not have rough records from the previous events in central park, but i cannot recall reading the paper and seeing hundreds of White College students being arrested for burning the american flag. , then the next day the times had a big article about it. Metro section, but no photo. Not a single photo. They continue to write stories about his legal case. Never ever publishing these photos showing that there was never a right it. Watch the entire program at 9 00 a. M. And 9 00 p. M. Eastern on monday on American History tv, only on cspan3. Year marks the 50th anniversary of the public broadcasting act of 1960 seven. Next on American History tv, a documentary on pbs programming. The Senior Advisor to the eyes on the prize civil rights series. Executive ofr and frontline. And mark, former executive producer of american experience. The library of congress and w tbh posted the 45 minute event. Panel is called documentaries, style and the use of archives. Pat will moderate. Atis a University Professor the school of communication at American University and washington, d. C. She founded the school for media and social impact your it looks include, how to put balance back in copyright. Heat she coordinates the free speech project with the professor of the Washington College of law
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