Britain: Losing and Gaining an Empire (1763-1914) Revision Notes PDF

35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes Paper 3 Option 35.1 Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914 Revision notes Contents...

35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes Paper 3 Option 35.1 Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914 Revision notes Contents Page Knowledge Checklists 2 Breadth 1. The changing nature of trade 6 Studies 2. The changing nature of the Royal Navy 19 Depth 1. The loss of the American Colonies, 1770-83 29 Studies 2. The birth of British Australia, 1788-1829 47 3. Learning from past mistakes: Canada and the Durham report 60 4. Nearly losing an empire: the British in India, 1829-1858 64 5. The Nile Valley 73 1  35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes Knowledge checklists Learning Tracker – Breadth Study Mark each on a scale of 1-5 1= very confident / sufficient / effective – 5 = Never heard of it / action needed! Specific topic Overall Actions How I have I have I have I have revised How confident sufficient given started this topic for confident am Topic am I? notes on completed to revise mock exam I? this topic? wider reading for and review week, 20th January? needed and this topic? this topic? taken (list details) 1. The changing nature and extent of trade 1 Reasons The slave trade for, and nature of, Trade in coal and the textiles changing New trading patterns patterns of with the Americas, trade, India and the Far East 1763-1914 The impact of industrialisation on trade The importance of government policy (abolition of the slave trade 1807, the adoption of free trade 1842–46, the repeal of the Navigation Acts 1849). The The acquisition of changing Singapore 1819 and importance Hong Kong 1842 of ports, The opening up of entrepôts Shanghai to trade 1842 and trade The purchase of the routes Suez Canal shares 1875 within the The acquisition of UK and Zanzibar 1890 throughout the Empire, The lease of Wei hai- 1763-1914 wei 1898 2 The changing nature of the Royal Navy The The significance of changing changing ship types Royal Navy, 1763-1914 2  35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes The growing role of commerce protection, including protecting, and later suppressing, the slave trade Suppressing piracy and defending British commerce: the attack on Algiers 1816 The work of exploration and mapping e.g. Captain cook's exploration of the south seas, 1768- 71 The Gibraltar retained 1783 importance of the The acquisition of acquisition Malta, Ceylon and Cape and Town in 1815 retention The Falklands in 1833 of key strategic Aden in 1839 bases around the globe, Cyprus in 1878) 1763-1914 3  35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes Learning Tracker – Depth Study Mark each on a scale of 1-5 1= very confident / sufficient / effective – 5 = action needed! Overall Specific topic How I have I have I have I have Actions needed and confident sufficient given started to revised this Topic am I? notes on complete revise and topic for taken this topic? d wider review this mock exam (list details) reading topic? week, 20th for this January? topic? 1 The Tensions between colonists and loss of the British, 1770–75: the issue the of custom collection and tea American duties, including the Boston colonies, Tea Party; the Coercive Acts 1770–83 1774 and their impact. Clashes between British forces and rebels, 1775–76; the Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation. Britain's defeat, 1777–83: French and Spanish involvement; Britain’s limited military resources; the defeats of Burgoyne 1777, and Cornwallis 1781; the decision to seek peace and accept the Treaty of Paris. Impact of defeat on Britain 1783. The birth Australia’s role as a penal of British colony from 1788; the Australia, importance of Lachlan 1788 - Macquarie: the development of 1829 Sydney; land grants to ex- convicts and development up the Hawkesbury River; the growth of Macquarie towns Impact of British settlement on Aborigines in Tasmania and New South Wales, 1788-1829. The spreading impact: penal settlement in Van Diemen's land 1803; development of whaling; first crossing of the Blue Mountains 1813; first settlements in Western Australia 1826; extent of colonial control by 1829. 3 The political nature and Learning governmental system of Upper from and Lower Canada and the past perceived threat from the USA. mistakes: The revolts of 1837–38: causes, Canada course and impact. and The importance of the Earl of Durham's appointment as High 4  35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes the Commissioner; the roles of Durham Charles Buller and Edward Report, Gibbon Wakefield; the main 1837–40 recommendations and importance of the Durham Report. 4 Nearly The role of the East India losing Company and the Governor an General; the importance of empire: Bengal and the Company Army. the William Sleeman’s campaign British in against Thagi: the drive against India, Sati and female infanticide; the 1829–58 impact of missionaries. The Indian Rebellion: the reforms of Dalhousie; the annexation of Awadh; outbreak and events in Meerut, Cawnpore and Delhi; the siege and relief of Lucknow Reasons why the British retained control. 5 The Reasons for intervention in Nile Egypt 1882: Arabi Pasha and valley, Arab nationalism; protecting 1882–98 European loans and people. French withdrawal; the British military campaign. Egypt as a 'veiled protectorate'; the promises to withdraw and the failure to do so; the work of Sir Evelyn Baring. The problem of the Sudan: the Mahdi; Gladstone's concerns and policy; Gordon's mission, 1884–85. The conquest of the Sudan 1898: the fear of French occupation; the role of Kitchener; the significance of Omdurman. 5 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes The changing nature of trade Reasons for, and nature of, the changing patterns of trade, 1763-1914 Government policy ▪ Government economic policy until the late eighteenth century was mercantilist and trade was ‘protected’. ▪ Mercantilists believed that the amount of trade in the world was fixed at any one time; one country could only expand at the expense of another. ▪ Since the 1650s, the Navigation Acts had protected British trade by controlling the goods that could be traded and the ships that could be used. ▪ The percentages of the crew that had to be British were set and there was a list of goods that could only be exported from the colonies and empire to Britain. ▪ The ‘Enumerated List’ controlled trade within the empire. It was designed to ensure that Britain benefited from all trade between colonies. ▪ Goods on the list could not be traded directly between colonies and had to go via Britain. ▪ The British government could decide how colonial goods would be taxed; this was at the centre of American objections to the arrival of Indian tea in Boston in 1773. The Wealth of Nations ▪ Mercantilism was challenged in 1776 by the publication of ‘The Wealth of Nations’ by Adam Smith. ▪ Mercantilists believed that gold and silver were wealth and that countries should boost exports and resist imports in order to maximize this metal wealth. ▪ Smith’s stated that a nation’s wealth is really the stream of goods and services that it creates. ▪ The way to maximise it, he argued, was not to restrict the nation’s productive capacity, but to set it free. ▪ He claimed that productive capacity rests on the division of labour and the accumulation of capital that it makes possible. ▪ Huge efficiencies could be gained by breaking production down into many small tasks, each undertaken by specialist hands. 6 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ This left producers with a surplus that they can exchange with others, or use to invest in new and even more efficient labour-saving machinery. ▪ Smith believed that a country’s future income depends upon this capital accumulation. The more that is invested in better productive processes, the more wealth will be created in the future. ▪ He introduced simple laws of supply and demand. Where things are scarce, people are prepared to pay more for them: there is more profit in supplying them. ▪ Where there is a glut, prices and profits are low, producers switch their capital and enterprise elsewhere. ▪ Industry should remain focused on the nation’s most important needs, without the need for central direction. That meant free trade and competition. ▪ Free trade and competition would result in cheaper prices, better supplies and greater happiness. William Pitt the Younger ▪ When Pitt took office, the National Debt stood at £250 million. That was twenty times the annual revenue of £12.5 million from taxes. ▪ The annual interest on government borrowing, which stood at about £8.3 million, automatically produced a deficit which was funded by further borrowing resulting in increased interest and an even greater deficit. National bankruptcy was a strong possibility. ▪ Pitt had to reverse the trend. He had three possible ways of doing this. He could stimulate trade, increase taxation and/or cut government spending. ▪ Pitt chose to implement all three options as one policy. He also needed to avoid involvement in any war since wars were the major cause of the debt. Trade ▪ By the 1780s, the Industrial Revolution was well established in Britain and provided the possibility of an increasing volume of exports ▪ The 1786 Vergennes (or Eden) Treaty was a commercial treaty with France negotiated successfully in the face of strong opposition from leading statesmen in both countries. ▪ France wanted British goods and the French market for British exporters’ potential was huge. ▪ It was so favourable to Britain that it created hardship in France which was a cause of the French Revolution. ▪ France reduced duties on oil, vinegar, wines and spirits. Britain reduced on textiles, pottery, leather goods and manufactures. 7 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ Either country, while neutral, could carry goods freely during a war in which the other was engaged. ▪ By the terms of the treaty, Britain was left free to negotiate cheaper duties with Spain and Portugal for oil, wines and spirits because there was no clause limiting British trade solely with France. Excise duties ▪ Smuggling became his first target. It was estimated that smuggling exceeded 20% of imports and accounted for half all tea in Britain, creating an obvious loss of revenue. ▪ High duties made smuggling profitable, so Pitt decided to reduce duties to make the temptation no longer adequate to the risk. ▪ Tea duties, averaging 119%, were reduced to 25%. Duties also were reduced on wines, spirits and tobacco. ▪ By 1789, quantity of tea passing through Customs had doubled and in one year (1784-5) the Exchequer got an extra £200,000. ▪ By 1792, government revenue had increased by £3 m as a result of legal increased consumption. ▪ The 1787 Hovering Act also attacked smuggling by extending the duties of Customs officials to 12 miles off-shore. Again, revenue rose. The impact of the French Wars, 1793-1815 ▪ Exports to Europe, but British manufacturers looked for new markets in North and South America. ▪ The Continental System did little to dampen trade and Napoleon was reduced to buying uniforms for his armies from west Yorkshire. ▪ Further progress was limited until the end of the wars and the Treaty of Vienna in 1815. the exception was the Slave Trade. The Anti-Slavery movement ▪ The anti-slavery movement began in 1783, when a group of Quakers founded the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. ▪ William Wilberforce MP became the leader in 1787. He started a campaign in Parliament. ▪ Thomas Clarkson carried out extensive research and collected first hand accounts from sailors and former slaves. 8 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ Clarkson created a network of local groups and organised public meetings and the publication of pamphlets. ▪ Wilberforce used a diagram of a slave ship to try to persuade MPs to vote to abolish the slave trade. ▪ The Slave Trade Act was passed in March 1807, making the slave trade illegal throughout the British Empire. ▪ After the 1807 Act, slaves could still be held, though not sold, within the British Empire. The slave trade continued illegally through smuggling ▪ In the 1820s, the movement began a campaign against slavery. In 1823, the Anti-Slavery Society was founded in Britain. ▪ Slavery was abolished in 1833. On 1 August 1834, all slaves in the British Empire were freed. ▪ They remained indentured to their former owners in an apprenticeship that meant gradual abolition by 1840. Full emancipation for all slaves was legally granted on 1 August 1838. Huskisson on trade and finance ▪ Until 1823, British trade had operated under a limiting and restricting protectionist structure. ▪ All imported goods were subject to a sliding scale of duties until Huskisson, as President of the Board of Trade, replaced this in 1823 with a flat rate of 30%. ▪ He also relaxed the Navigation Acts, permitting British colonies to trade directly with other countries using their own ships but continuing to pay taxes to Britain. ▪ Huskisson then began to establish reciprocal treaties with individual countries, seeking reductions on specific goods. ▪ He then went on, in 1824, to impose further reductions on rum, wool and raw silk and in 1825 reductions on coffee, cotton, copper ore, iron ore, glass and paper were arranged. ▪ In 1825, after 70 private banks, due to the over-issuing of paper money, fell victim to bankruptcy ▪ Huskisson persuaded the Bank of England to melt down its gold reserves and circulate sovereigns. ▪ He also managed to coax parliament into passing a law preventing private banks from printing notes of less then £1 in value. ▪ Private banks were also granted permission to become joint companies. The restriction on printing could be seen as reactionary, for most restrictive legislation usually is. 9 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ However, this was done for the common good of the country which lends it a claim to be progressive rather than repressive. ▪ Under a General Act of 1826, proposed by Huskisson, a flat rate of 10% was fixed on all imported raw materials and a flat rate of 20% was set on all British manufactured goods. ▪ It was through measures such as these that trade and industry was stimulated for they enabled Britain to increase its purchase, manufacture and export process. Peel ▪ A trade recession and a collapse of business confidence led to rising unemployment in the early 1840s. ▪ Peel hoped to revive trade by reducing protective tariffs on imports. ▪ His first budget in 1842 reduced duties to 5% on raw materials, 12½% on semi-manufactured goods and 20% on finished articles. ▪ A sliding scale relaxed the Corn Law and income tax of seven pence in the pound on incomes over £150 per annum helped to make up the shortfall caused by the reduction of import duties. ▪ This second major budget of 1845 abolished virtually every import duty apart from those on corn. ▪ To stabilise, the currency, Peel introduced the Bank Charter Act in 1844. ▪ This restricted the issue of currency to the Bank of England, which had to back all paper currency with gold apart from a £14 million ‘fiduciary’ issue backed by securities. ▪ To curb reckless speculation, the Companies Act of 1844 obliged companies to register and publish their accounts. The Repeal of the Corn Laws 1846 ▪ The Corn Laws had been introduced in 1815 to protect British wheat farms from competition after the Napoleonic wars. Import of foreign wheat was banned until the price of British wheat reached 80 shillings per quarter. ▪ The Act had little impact on bread prices but it was bitterly resented as evidence of crude aristocratic self-interest. ▪ The Anti-Corn Law League was founded in Manchester in 1839; its main spokesmen were Richard Cobden and John Bright. ▪ The two organised mass meetings and demonstrations and sponsored a number of MPs. 10 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ Finance was raised from northern businessmen, who were charged high fees (up to £50) for membership. ▪ Cobden and Bright believed in free trade and the need to provide cheaper food for working people. ▪ Many supporters of the League did so for more pecuniary motives; cheaper bread would mean lower wages. ▪ Peel became convinced of the need to repeal the Acts after 1841, but moved cautiously as his party was overwhelmingly committed to their defence. ▪ Famine in Ireland in 1845 following the failure of the potato crop encouraged Peel to repeal the Corn Laws. ▪ Peel was finally convinced by the arguments of Cobden and Bright in the winter of 1845-46. ▪ Peel became convinced of the need to repeal the Acts after 1841, but moved cautiously as his party was overwhelmingly committed to their defence. ▪ The Conservative Cabinet and Party were deeply divided and a powerful opposition to Peel was led by Benjamin Disraeli. ▪ Peel succeeded in repealing the Corn Laws in June 1846 thanks to Whig support, but two thirds of his own party rebelled against him. ▪ Only in 1846, after persuasion from Cobden and Bright, the leaders of the Anti-Corn Law League, did Peel agree to consider the repeal of the Corn Laws. ▪ Peel resigned in an effort to avoid having to repeal the Corn Laws, but Russell, the Whig leader, would not form a ministry. ▪ Peel was reappointed and went ahead with repeal, despite the opposition of many in his party. In so doing he split the Conservative Party that he had done so much to create ▪ In fact, repeal did little to tackle the problem. There was plenty of food in Ireland but it was either being exported to England, or it was too expensive for the Irish to buy. ▪ In any case, repeal did little to increase supplies of wheat through imports. Since 1815 the price of wheat in Britain had fallen steadily as a result of the introduction of high farming. Foreign wheat was no longer cheaper. ▪ Peel and Russell, who succeeded as prime minister in 1846, were not prepared to give food to the poor. But Russell did offer government loans in January 1847 to pay for emergency relief. ▪ However, in September 1847, loans were withdrawn and the Poor Law was enforced as the only way of offering relief. 11 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ In the 1847 general election, Peel’s supporters in the Conservative Party broke away and called themselves Liberal-Conservatives or Peelites. Further developments ▪ From the 1840s entrepreneurs were increasingly drawn to 'free trade' as a means of accelerating Britain's growing industries. ▪ they lobbied Parliament for the lowering or repeal of the many protectionist import and export duties on manufactured goods. ▪ Parliament took a major step in 1849 when it repealed the old, restrictive Navigation Acts. The Enumerated List had already been abolished in 1822. ▪ These measures were welcomed in Lancashire and by its thriving cotton industry which depended heavily on export markets and the supply of raw materials from the United States and elsewhere. ▪ Areas supporting heavy industry, such as iron, shipbuilding and engineering, also benefited and boosted their competitive ability internationally. Gladstone’s Budgets (1859-66) ▪ Constructing the annual budget enabled Gladstone to fine-tune the approaches earlier started under Peel (and himself in 1853), and to lay down several key principles: ▪ The administration of public money is a sacred trust, that must lead to minimal waste or fraud ▪ Being economic is a real virtue and government must lead by example ▪ Governments must not take too much from the tax payer, and he even advocated the abolition of income tax. ▪ These ideals are best summarised as ECONOMY, EFFICIENCY AND HONESTY. 1859 Budget ▪ Despite initially raising income tax, Gladstone abolished duties on a wide-ranging list of goods, and brought Britain as close to completely Free Trade as it had ever been. The Cobden Treaty (1860) ▪ This commercial treaty formed the final part of Gladstone’s Free Trade strategy. Tensions were running high with the French, over her expansion into Nice and Savoy, and her Suez Canal proposals. ▪ This explained GB’s rising defence expenditure. Gladstone and Richard Cobden (well-known Free Trader) brokered a deal to end the commercial rivalry between the 2 countries and thereby end the tension. ▪ It worked, as the flow of goods across the Channel benefited both sides and their economies. 12 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ By 1860, the British economy had adapted to the ‘Free Trade’ policy that followed the repeal of the Corn and Navigation Laws in the 1840s. ▪ Any adverse effects of free trade were largely disguised by tremendous expansion of the world economy. There was a ten-fold increase in trade between 1850 and 1910. ▪ American and Australian gold discoveries, the ability of railways to open continental regions to trade and falling long distance freight rates sustained this expansion. ▪ Britain’s share of this expanding world trade was relatively stable, partly because her extensive empire provided secure markets and key raw materials. ▪ While the empire was a valuable segment of the economy, it was never dominant, occupying about 25% of the market in most areas. ▪ Longer term, British businessmen anticipated that, as and when competition from rival European economies and the United States intensified, imperial preferences would protect their markets. ▪ The colonies would supply cheap raw materials as British industries came under growing pressure on home and foreign as well as imperial markets. ▪ In fact, between 1873 and 1914, as British industry lost market share, the Empire continued to function as little more than an insurance policy for which British taxpayers and their domestic economy paid a rather high premium. ▪ Legally, the markets and resources of the vast and developing Victorian empire remained virtually open to foreign commerce, investment and labour flows. ▪ Liberal and Conservative governments resisted organised pressure from the ‘Fair Trade League’ and from Joseph Chamberlain’s campaign for imperial preference to abandon free trade. The changing importance of ports ▪ The Triangular Trade in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was largely carried out by ‘factors’ (agents) based in ‘factories’ on the coast of West Africa. ▪ Until the late nineteenth century, this remained the pattern throughout the empire. Factors exerted influence ‘informally’, but made little or no attempt to gain territorial control. ▪ The exceptions were the American Colonies, which were the only part of the Empire with large numbers of British settlers and India. ▪ During the nineteenth century, ‘factories’ became coaling stations for the Royal Navy as sail changed to steam. ▪ They also became entrepots: local centres through which trade had to pass at a price. 13 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ The acquisition of territory and further trading concessions was promoted by strategic considerations and aided or justified by philanthropic motivations. ▪ Advocates of imperialism justified it by invoking a paternalistic and racist theory which saw imperialism as a manifestation of what Kipling would refer to as ‘the white man's burden’. ▪ This was founded in part upon a popular but erroneous interpretation of Darwin’s theory of evolution. ▪ The implication was that the Empire existed not for the benefit of Britain itself, but in order that primitive peoples, incapable of self-government, could, with British guidance, eventually become civilised and Christian. ▪ The truth of this doctrine was accepted naively by some, and hypocritically by others, but it served in any case to legitimise Britain's acquisition of portions of Central Africa. Singapore ▪ In 1818, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles believed that the British should find a way to challenge the dominance of the Dutch in the Straits area. ▪ The trade route between China and British India passed through the Malacca strait, and with the growing trade with China, that route would become increasingly important. ▪ The Dutch had tight control over the trade in the region and intended to enforce the exclusive rights of its company ships to trade and that trade should be conducted at its entrepot Batavia. ▪ British trading ships were heavily taxed at Dutch ports, stifling British trade in the region. ▪ Raffles believed that the way to challenge the Dutch was to establish a new port in the region. ▪ Existing British ports were not in a strategic enough position to becoming major trading centres. ▪ In 1818, Raffles managed to convince Lord Hastings to establish a new British base in the region, but with the proviso that it should not antagonise the Dutch. ▪ Raffles then searched for several weeks. He found several islands that seemed promising, but were either already occupied by the Dutch, or lacked a suitable harbour. ▪ Eventually Raffles found the island of Singapore. It lay at the southern tip of the Malay peninsula, near the Straits of Malacca. ▪ It possessed an excellent natural harbour, fresh water supplies, and timber for repairing ships. Most importantly, it was unoccupied by the Dutch. ▪ Raffles' expedition arrived in Singapore on 29 January 1819. He found a small Malay settlement. 14 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ He took advantage of a dispute between rival claimants as Sultan of Johor and gained the right to establish a trading post on Singapore. ▪ In return, the new Sultan would receive a yearly sum of 5,000 Spanish dollars. This agreement was ratified with a formal treaty signed on 6 February 1819. ▪ The status of Singapore as a British possession was cemented by the Anglo-Dutch Treat of 1824, which carved up the Malay archipelago between the two colonial powers. ▪ The area north of the Straits of Malacca, including Penang, Malacca, and Singapore, was designated as the British sphere of influence. ▪ The area south of the Straits was assigned to the Dutch. This was in effect a scramble for the East Indies. Hong Kong ▪ Trade to China in the eighteenth century was restricted to the port of Canton where English traders had to deal with one of 13 merchants selected by the Chinese government. ▪ The East India Company had a monopoly of British trade from Asia which in many ways counter-balanced the Chinese trading restrictions. ▪ In 1833 the British government ended the East India Company monopoly and traders rushed to fill the vacuum. ▪ The traders did not have many products that were of interest to the Chinese - silver was preferred but was in short supply. ▪ Many resorted to using opium as a trading commodity. The Chinese government was concerned at the debilitating effects of the drug and wished to prevent the inflow of Opium into the country. ▪ In 1838, it appointed a new Imperial High Commissioner to Canton, Lin Tse-hsu, to stamp out the importation of Opium. ▪ The British traders used his policies as an excuse to force the Chinese government to relax its restrictive trade practices. ▪ The so-called Opium War started in 1839 and lasted until 1842. The British were able to make demands upon the Chinese government. ▪ Chinese agreed to cede the rocky island of Hong Kong to Britain as a free port with rights of trade to the mainland. ▪ Charles Eliot, the British negotiator, was criticised for acquiring such an unpromising rocky outcrop with virtually no indigenous population. 15 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ The British expanded their foothold, and the Second Opium War with China provided just such an opportunity. ▪ In 1860, the Peking convention was signed which ceded to Britain the Kowloon peninsula (up to Boundary Street) and Ngon Sun Chau. ▪ Britain had now acquired land on the mainland of China itself; this was to be in perpetuity. ▪ This provided some additional space for building and allowed the port facilities to expand. Shanghai ▪ The first settlement in Shanghai for foreigners was the British settlement, which was opened in 1843 under the terms of the Treaty of Nanking. ▪ Subsequently, both the French and the Americans signed treaties with China that gave their citizens extraterritorial rights similar to those granted to the British. ▪ The Treaty listed five treaty ports, including Shanghai which were opened to foreign merchants, overturning the monopoly then held by the southern port of Canton. ▪ Unlike the colony of Hong Kong, which was a sovereign British territory, the foreign concessions in Shanghai originally remained Chinese sovereign territory. ▪ However, during the uprising of 1853–55, the Qing government gave up sovereignty in the concessions to the foreign powers in exchange of their support to suppress the rebellion. ▪ In 1854, the three countries created the Shanghai Municipal Council to serve all their interests, but, in 1862, the French dropped out of the arrangement. ▪ The following year the British and American settlements formally united to create the Shanghai International Settlement. ▪ As more foreign powers entered into treaty relations with China, their nationals also became part of the administration of the settlement. ▪ It always remained a predominantly British affair until the growth of Japan's involvement in the late 1930s. The purchase of Suez Canal shares, 1875 ▪ The completion of the Suez Canal in 1869 created an important new element for British foreign policy makers. ▪ The overland route to India had increased in importance from the 1840’s, however this was not suitable for large cargo, mainly communications ▪ Nevertheless the British were not keen on a canal, fearing that control of it could easily fall into enemy hands. In addition some British engineers doubted it could be completed. 16 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ The result was the Suez Canal was built almost entirely with French expertise and capital, together with Egyptian labour, under the direction of Ferdinand de Lesseps. ▪ With the advent of new technology steamships were competing with sail and the canal gave them a distinct advantage on the route from Britain to India. ▪ By 1882, over 5 million tons of shipping went through the canal and 80% of it was British. ▪ In the meantime Egypt’s economic and financial difficulties had increased. Egypt’s ruler Said had been persuaded by Lesseps to take a 45 % stake in the Suez Canal Company. ▪ Said’s successor, Ismail, attempted to achieve a dramatic economic advance for his country, investing in transport and agriculture, at the same time as consolidating Egyptian control over Sudan. ▪ However in order to achieve this he borrowed heavily in Europe at very unfavourable rates and by 1875 he faced bankruptcy and considered selling his shares in the now successful Suez Canal Company to the French. ▪ The then British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, moved quickly to make an offer and bought the shares for Britain. ▪ Although they did not give Britain control of the Suez Canal (45% and without voting rights because of Ismail’s remortgaging of them) it became generally believed in Britain that the Suez Canal was now British. ▪ A French-British plan to re-order Egyptian finances was implemented and this ‘Dual Control’ of Egypt’s government revenue and expenditure lasted from 1878-1882. Zanzibar 1890 ▪ The Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty was an agreement signed on 1 July 1890 between the Germany and Britain. ▪ Germany gained the small but strategic Heligoland archipelago. In exchange, Germany gave up its rights in East Africa. ▪ War broke out when the Sultan died in 1896 and there was a disputed succession. This led to a showdown, later called the Anglo-Zanzibar War. ▪ Ships of the Royal Navy destroyed the Beit al Hukum Palace, having given Khalid (the new Sultan) a one-hour ultimatum to leave. ▪ He refused, and at 9 am the ships opened fire. Khalid's troops returned fire and he fled to the German consulate. ▪ A cease-fire was declared 45 minutes after the action had begun. Hamoud was declared the new ruler and peace was restored once more. 17 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ He brought an end in 1897 to Zanzibar's role as a centre for the eastern slave trade by banning slavery and freeing the slaves. Wei hai-wei ▪ Wei hai-wei, in the north-east of China, was a British leased territory from 1898 until 1930. The capital was Port Edward. ▪ It covered 288 square miles (750 km) and included the walled city of Port Edward, bay of Wei hai-wei, and a mainland area of 72 miles (116 km) of coastline. It controlled the the seaward approaches to Beijing ▪ Wei hai-wei was not developed in the way that Hong Kong and other British colonies in the region were. This was because Wei hai-wei was inside Germany's sphere of influence. ▪ It was normal practice for British colonies to be administered under the provisions of the British Settlements Act 1887. ▪ Wei hai-wei was actually administered under the Foreign Jurisdiction Act 1890 which granted powers over British subjects in China and other countries where Britain had extraterritorial rights. ▪ As a leased territory, subject to being returned at any time, it was inappropriate to treat Wei hai-wei as a full colony. 18 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes The changing nature of the Royal Navy, 1763-1914 Changing ship types ▪ When the Napoleonic war ended in 1815, Britain had more than 900 naval ships in commission, including more than 100 ships of the line. ▪ British control of the seas had been won using hearts of ‘oak’ over more than 150 years and the Royal Navy was very reluctant to make any changes. ▪ The first major innovation was the development of steam power, which became available in 1807 and was being widely used commercially by the 1830s. ▪ At first, it tended to be dismissed by the Admiralty for a number of reasons. For one thing, it was dirty and made a mess of sailing ships. ▪ It also required supplies of coal and these were not always readily available around the world. ▪ Early steamships were also paddle steamers and these meant that the broadside could not be used; consequently, steam ships were only used at first for towing ships of the line. ▪ In 1845, the Royal Navy staged a test between the screw driven Rattler and the paddle steamer Alecto. ▪ The former towed the latter at almost three miles an hour, proving that screw driven ships were more efficient. ▪ The invention of the triple expansion engine in 1854 made steam power much more efficient. ▪ The development of the screw propeller meant that steam could be used in traditional warships. ▪ The major change resulted from the launching of the ironclad French warship ‘La Gloire’ in 1859. ▪ This was taken so seriously by the British government and the Admiralty that a series of forts was constructed along the south coast to prevent a possible French invasion. ▪ These became known as ‘Palmerston’s Follies’ after the prime minister at the time. ▪ The government also ordered the construction of a British ironclad, HMS Warrior, which was launched in 1861. ▪ Hearts of Oak were now obsolete, but, the Warrior and other ships of the time still used the broadside as their main armoury and had masts in case supplies of coal ran low. ▪ The Warrior carried 26 muzzle-loading 68 pounders, 4 muzzle-loading 70 pounders and 10 breech-loading rifled 110 pounders and weighed 9,100 tons 19 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ The improvement in explosive shells (developed originally in 1820) and steel production in the 1850s and 1860s meant that further developments in ironclads were inevitable. ▪ They led to the end of the broadside. As shells and guns became heavier, it became impossible to mount them on a broadside and casemates and later turrets were evolved. ▪ In 1871, HMS Devastation was the first British warship to be equipped with casemates and have no masts; instead it was fitted with very large coal bunkers. ▪ The Devastation carried 4 x 12 inch guns, 4 x 10 inch guns, 6 x 6 pounders and 8 x 3 pounders. It weighed 13,000 tins an had a top speed of 16 knots. ▪ The 1870s also saw the development of the torpedo and torpedo boats and torpedo boat destroyers (destroyers). In 1901, the Royal Navy began production of submarines. ▪ Despite the development of torpedoes and submarines, the battleship remained the most important naval weapon. ▪ A naval arms race with France in the 1860s and 1870s, which led to the two-power standard being adopted in Britain in 1889. ▪ This stated that the Royal Navy should always be at least as strong as the next two most powerful navies in the world. ▪ This led to a concentrated period of battleship construction with culminated in the Lord Nelson class in 1905. ▪ The Lord Nelson carried 4 x 12 inch guns, 10 x 9.2 inch guns, 24 x 12 pounders and 2 x 3 pounders. It hada top speed of 18 knots and weighed 17,000 tons ▪ Evidence from around the world seemed to suggest that battleships would be the key in future wars. ▪ In the Sino-Japanese War (1885-6), Japanese naval power was decisive. ▪ Even more impressive was the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905, during the Russo-Japanese War. ▪ The Russian Baltic Fleet was ordered to sail around the world via the Cape of Good Hope to attack the Japanese navy which was blockading the Russian army in Port Arthur. ▪ The Japanese used tactics which were the exact opposite of those used by Nelson at Trafalgar. ▪ Their ships were in line of battle and caught the Russians as they steam through the Straits of Tsushima. ▪ The Russian ships were in two columns and steamed straight into the Japanese line. The Russian ships were destroyed in a short and devastating battle. 20 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ The dominance of the battleship was emphasised when the German government announced the two Navy Laws in 1898 and 1900. ▪ It set out plans to build a fleet which would equal the Royal Navy in terms of battleships in twenty-five years. ▪ The British response was to start a building programme which resulted in a further naval arms race from 1905. This immediately made HMS Lord Nelson obsolete. Submarines ▪ In, 1900, the Admiralty refused to consider submarines, but changed its mind a year later and ordered five to be built. ▪ The Holland Class of submarines were of approximately 110 tons displacement, 63 ft in length by 12ft wide and 10 ft high. ▪ The 160 hp petrol engine and 74hp electric motor gave a surface speed of 8knots and a submerged speed of 7 knots. Armament was a single bow Whitehead torpedo. ▪ There was a crew of 2 officers, 5 ratings and 3 white mice. The mice were used to monitor the air quality. ▪ They would quickly react to the presence of carbon monoxide or other dangerous gases escaping from the petrol engine. ▪ An allowance of 1 shilling per day per mouse was made for their keep. It was also said that they were often so full of rum and grain it was difficult to tell if they were suffering from foul air or just over indulgence. ▪ 13 A Class submarines were ordered from 1902-5 and the B Class was ordered from 1905. The first had one and later two torpedo tubes and a crew of eleven. ▪ They weighed about 300 tons and had a surface speed of 12 knots, a submerged speed of 6 knots and a range of 1,000 miles. ▪ Despite the many and major technological improvements made during the nineteenth century, naval tactics of the major maritime powers were still essentially traditional. ▪ Admirals in Britain, France, Germany, Japan and the USA expected that in future wars the key factor would be battleships. ▪ They anticipated big fleet actions in which numbers of ships and weight and rate of fire of big would be decisive; little had changed since Nelson’s day. The growing role of commerce protection ▪ In the nineteenth century, ‘trade follows the flag’ became a popular slogan. The Royal Navy controlled the seas and kept them open for British trade. 21 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ This could mean a passive role escorting convoys and offering protection from piracy. ▪ It could also be an active role forcing foreign countries to accept British intervention in their affairs. ▪ The First Opium War (1839-42) was decided by the dominance of the Navy using ‘gunboat diplomacy’. ▪ In 1850, Lord Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary, ordered the Royal Navy to blockade the Piraeus and seize Greek shipping. ▪ He forced the Greek government to pay compensation for losses incurred by Don Pacifico, a Portuguese Jew who had been born in Gibraltar. ▪ His house had been attacked and ransacked and he claimed £17,000 for loss of documents alone. ▪ In his speech in the House of Commons, Palmerston used the phrase ‘Civis Britannicus Sum’. ▪ He meant that a British subject should receive special treatment wherever in the world he (or she) was. ▪ In 1864 the bombardment of Kagoshima forced Japan to accept foreign traders. ▪ During the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78, a fleet of battleships was sent to intimidate Russia from entering Constantinople. ▪ In 1882, a fleet was sent to bombard Alexandria after the rebellion by Arabi Pasha to ensure control of the Suez Canal. ▪ The Navy was also involved in the suppression of the slave trade. A squadron was stationed off West Africa after 1807 to enforce abolition. ▪ The Blockade of Africa began in 1808. The Royal Navy immediately established a squadron off Africa to enforce the ban. ▪ Although the ban initially applied only to British ships, Britain negotiated treaties with other countries to give the Royal Navy the right to intercept and search their ships for slaves. ▪ As a result of the increased British interests on the East Coast of Africa, a squadron based at Cape Town was stationed off Zanzibar ▪ On the new East Coast Division the main role of the Royal Navy was still the anti-slavery patrols that had been maintained for many years. ▪ These patrols were in the main not carried out by the ships themselves, but by ship's boats that would be sent away on patrols of up to three weeks. 22 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ 1n 1896, the Navy was used to support the British candidate for the Sultanate of Zanzibar and then to persuade him to abolish the slave trade. ▪ There were few major naval engagements during the nineteenth century. The only major battle was very one-sided. ▪ Navarino Bay in 1827 involved the joint British, Russian and French fleets destroying the Egyptian fleet of Mehemet Ali. ▪ He was trying to reinforce Ottoman forces in the Peloponnese during the Greek War of independence. ▪ The Navy played a small role in the Italian Wars of Unification. It stood by in 1860 when Garibaldi’s 1,000 crossed the Straits of Messina to prevent any interference. The attack on Algiers 1816 ▪ Corsairs from Algiers had been attacking shipping in the Mediterranean since the Middle Ages. ▪ The end of the Napoleonic war gave an opportunity to deal with them once and for all. ▪ In 1816 a British naval squadron under Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, Baron Exmouth, was fitted out and sent to Algiers where they arrived on 27 August 1816. ▪ They were accompanied by the small Dutch squadron of Vice-Admiral van Capellen, which had requested to join them at Gibraltar. ▪ Exmouth sought the release of the British Consul, who had been detained, and over 1000 Christian slaves, many being seamen taken by the Algerines. ▪ When they received no reply the fleet bombarded Algiers in the most spectacular of several similar punitive actions of this period that finally broke the power of the ‘Barbary pirates’. ▪ The British and Dutch naval bombardment of Algiers destroyed 33 ships in the harbour. In nine hours, the allied squadrons fired more than fifty thousand round shot. ▪ The casualties were in proportion. In the English ships, 818 men were wounded or killed; some 16 per cent of those engaged. As a result of the bombardment, negotiations for a treaty, signed on Sept. 24, 1816, reaffirmed the conditions imposed by American Commodore Stephen Decatur in the treaty of 1815. ▪ In addition, the Dey agreed to end the practice of enslaving Christians. All Exmouth's aims in the action were achieved. ▪ 1083 Christian slaves and the British Consul were liberated, massive restitution paid and peace made between Algiers and the Dutch. Exmouth was created viscount for his role. The work of exploration and mapping 23 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ In 1740, Commodore Anson was sent with a squadron of eight ships to attack Spanish shipping in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. ▪ He was unable to return via Cape Horn and ended up circumnavigating the globe and returned in 1744. ▪ In 1748, his Voyage Round the World was published, having been edited from his notes. It was a vast popular and commercial success. ▪ It described the adventures of the expedition and contained a huge amount of useful information for future navigators and with 42 detailed charts and engravings. ▪ It laid the basis for later scientific and survey expeditions by Captain Cook and others. Spanish charts added many islands to the British charts of the Pacific. ▪ One problem that Anson had encountered was the locating his exact position. He frequently got lost. Captain Cook ▪ In 1766, Admiralty paid Captain James Cook to command a scientific voyage to the Pacific Ocean. ▪ The purpose of the voyage was to observe and record the transit of Venus across the Sun as a means of determining longitude. ▪ The expedition sailed from England in August 1768, rounded Cape Horn and continued westward across the Pacific to arrive at Tahiti in April 1769. ▪ The result of the observations was not as conclusive or accurate as had been hoped. ▪ Cook then opened the sealed orders which were additional instructions from the Admiralty for the second part of his voyage. ▪ He was to search the south Pacific for signs of the supposed rich southern continent of terra Australia. ▪ It had long been believed that there must be a large continent south ot the equator to balance the land mass of Europe and Asia to the north. ▪ Cook sailed to New Zealand and mapped the complete coastline, making only some minor errors. ▪ He then voyaged west, reaching the south-eastern coast of Australia in April 1770. ▪ He continued northwards along the east coast and subsequently claimed the entire coastline that he had just explored as British territory. 24 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ He returned to England via Batavia (Jakarta) and became something of a hero among the scientific community, when his journals were published. ▪ In 1772, Cook was commissioned to lead another scientific expedition on behalf of the Royal Society, to search for Terra Australis. ▪ Cook had demonstrated by circumnavigating New Zealand that it was not attached to a larger landmass to the south. ▪ He had charted almost the entire eastern coastline of Australia, showing it to be continental in size, the Terra Australis was believed to lie further south. ▪ Cook's expedition circumnavigated the globe at an extreme southern latitude, becoming one of the first to cross the Antarctic Circle. He reached 71°10'S on 31 January 1774. ▪ Cook almost reached the mainland of Antarctica, but turned towards Tahiti to resupply his ship. ▪ He then resumed his southward course in a second attempt to find the supposed continent. ▪ Before returning to England, Cook made a final sweep across the South Atlantic from Cape Horn and surveyed, mapped and took possession for Britain of South Georgia. ▪ He then turned north to South Africa, and from there continued back to England. His reports upon his return home put to rest the popular myth of Terra Australis. ▪ In Cook's second voyage, he used a copy of John Harrison’s marine chronometer. This enabled him to calculate his longitude with much greater accuracy. ▪ The charts of the southern Pacific Ocean that were produced using Harrison’s chronometer were so accurate that copies of them were still in use in the mid-20th century. ▪ Cook’s third voyage was an attempt to find the North-West Passage; he left in 1776. ▪ In 1778, became the first European to reach the Hawaiian Islands. He then sailed north and then north-east to explore the west coast of North America and landed in Nootka Sound. ▪ After leaving Nootka Sound, Cook explored and mapped the coast all the way to the Bering Strait. ▪ H charted the majority of the North American north-west coastline on world maps for the first time, and determined the size of Alaska. ▪ Cook continued through the Bering Strait and headed north-east up the coast of Alaska until he was blocked by sea ice. His furthest north was 70 degrees 44 minutes. ▪ Cook then sailed west to the Siberian coast, and then south-east down the Siberian coast back to the Bering Strait. 25 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ Cook returned to Hawaii in early 1779. He was killed as a result of a dispute with a local chief after a ship’s boat was stolen. Significance of Cook’s work ▪ Cook contributed a great deal to European knowledge of the area. Several islands such as Hawaii were visited for the first time by Europeans. ▪ His more accurate navigational charting of large areas of the Pacific was a major achievement. ▪ To create accurate maps, latitude and longitude had to be measured accurately. ▪ Sailors had been able to work out latitude accurately for centuries by measuring the angle of the sun or a star above the horizon with an instrument such as a quadrant. ▪ Longitude was more difficult to measure accurately because it requires precise knowledge of the time difference between points on the surface of the earth. ▪ Cook gathered accurate longitude measurements during his first voyage due to his navigational skills and the help of astronomer Charles Green. ▪ On his second voyage, Cook used the K1 chronometer which was a copy of the H4 clock made by John Harrison. ▪ This proved to be the first to keep accurate time at sea when used on the ship Deptford's journey to Jamaica in 1761–62. ▪ Cook succeeded in circumnavigating the world on his first voyage without losing a single man to scurvy. ▪ He used several preventive measures but the most important was frequent replenishment of fresh food. The importance of the acquisition and retention of key strategic bases ▪ From 1815, the Navy assumed a world-wide role in the battle against piracy and the slave trade. ▪ Bases around the world were essential for supplies and stores. They became even more so with the advent of steam power. ▪ Gibraltar had been ceded to Britain in 1713. In 1779, during the American Rebellion, French and Spanish forces laid siege. ▪ The siege lasted until 1782 and Gibraltar was relieved by the Navy in 1780 and 1781. ▪ In September 1782, a major assault was launched. Floating batteries were used to bombard Gibraltar, but they were all either sunk or scuttled after being damaged. 26 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ Gibraltar was again relieved in October 1782 and the siege finally came to an end in February 1783 when the war finished. ▪ In the treaty, the Spanish preferred to retain Minorca and some Caribbean Islands and kleft Gibraltar in British hands. The Treaty of Vienna, 1815 ▪ The Napoleonic War finally ended after the battle of waterloo on 18 June 1815. The Treaty of Vienna was intended to ensure that war would not return. ▪ The main focus of the Treaty was rearranging Europe after the collapse of Napoleonic Empire and restoring the empires of Austria and Russia. ▪ Britain was interested in restricting further aggression by France, but the main British gains were islands. ▪ During the French Wars, Britain had occupied numerous islands around the world; many of these were retained in 1815. ▪ Malta had been occupied by British forces in 1800 and became a protectorate. It should have been evacuated in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens, but remained under British control. ▪ In 1815, it was placed permanently under British control. Its excellent harbours became a prized asset for the British, especially after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. ▪ The island became a military and naval fortress, the headquarters of the British Mediterranean fleet. ▪ Mauritius had been seized from France during the wars and became British in 1815. It was a useful base in the southern Indian Ocean ▪ The Cape of Good Hope had been invaded and occupied by British forces in 1795 and was retained at Amiens and in 1815. It became a key station until the opening of the Suez Canal. ▪ Ceylon (Sri Lanka) had been occupied in 1796 and the coastal areas were ceded by the Dutch in 1802 at Amiens. After 1815, all of the island was occupied. The Falklands ▪ English forces first landed on the Falkland Islands in 1690; there was a presence on the islands until 1774. ▪ From 1774-1881, the islands were ruled as part of the Spanish Viceroyalty of the River Plate. ▪ In 1826, Louis Vernet, a French Huguenot, asked British permission to build a settlement on the islands. 27 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ In 1829, he was appointed Governor by the United Provinces (Netherlands) which claimed the islands. ▪ This led to British forces landing in 1833 and taking over the settlement. A permanent British settlement was started n 1840 and British administration established in 1842. Aden ▪ In January 1839, the East India Company landed Marines at Aden to secure the territory and stop attacks by pirates against British shipping to India. ▪ In 1850 it was declared a free trade port with the liquor, salt, arms, and opium trades developing duties as it won all the coffee trade from Mokka. ▪ The port was approximately equidistant from the Suez Canal. Bombay (Mumbai) and Zanzibar; all important British possessions. Cyprus ▪ Cyprus was ceded to Britain by the Ottoman Sultan in 1878 as part of the Treaty of Berlin. ▪ The island had been offered to Britain on a number of occasions in the first half of the nineteenth century. ▪ It was accepted in 1878 as a result of Russian advances in the 1870s; the gift was intended to offer protection to the Ottoman Empire. ▪ The island served Britain as a key military base on the sea route to India, which was then Britain's most important overseas possession. ▪ In 1906, a new harbour at Famagusta was completed, increasing the importance of Cyprus as a strategic naval outpost protecting the approaches to the Suez Canal. 28 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes Depth Studies 1: The loss of the American Colonies, 1770-83 ▪ The Seven Year’s war ended in 1763 with the defeat of the French in North America. ▪ The British government decided that the American Colonists should pay towards the cost of victory. ▪ Stamp Duty and the Townshend Duties were attempts to recoup the cost, but were very unpopular in the Thirteen Colonies. The centre of resistance to British taxation was in Boston. ▪ On 10 June 1768, customs officials seized a sloop owned by leading Boston merchant John Hancock, on allegations that the ship had been involved in smuggling. ▪ Hancock was prosecuted in a highly publicized trial by a admiralty court, but the charges were eventually dropped. ▪ The British government decided to act and order British regiments to Boston to stamp out the trouble. ▪ People in Massachusetts learned in September 1768 that troops were on the way to protect the Customs Commissioners. ▪ Samuel Adams organised an emergency and illegal convention of towns and passed resolutions against the imminent occupation of Boston ▪ By October 1768, there were four regiments of British troops in Boston. They caused problems for the civilians in the city. ▪ The boycott was not very effective. British exports to the colonies declined by 38 percent in 1769, but there were many merchants who did not participate in the boycott. The boycott movement began to fail by 1770, and came to an end in 1771. ▪ Lord North came to power upon Townshend’s death. On 5 March 1770 North proposed the repeal of all duties save that on tea. In April the repeal was passed by Parliament. Boston Massacre ▪ On the same day of North’s proposal, the colonists clashed with British soldiers leading to the death of five Americans in Boston. ▪ The Boston Massacre, as it became known, was a result of the decision to place the American Board of Customs Commissioners in Boston which required the protection of troops. ▪ On 2 March 1770, workers at a ropewalk (ship-rigging factory) attacked British soldiers seeking jobs. 29 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ On 5 March, a crowd of about 50 people began to throw hard-packed snowballs at a sentry guarding the Customs House. ▪ One soldier was struck by a club and fired. The rest followed suit. It was a highly symbolic event for Americans. ▪ An investigation was begun the following day and eight soldiers were arrested and accused or murder. ▪ In the days and weeks following the incident, a propaganda battle was waged between Boston's radicals and supporters of the government. ▪ Both sides published pamphlets that told strikingly different stories. These were published in London in a bid to influence opinion there. ▪ The Boston Gazette 's version of events, for example, portrayed the massacre as part of an ongoing scheme to ‘quell a Spirit of Liberty’. ▪ It emphasised the unfortunate negative consequences of quartering troops in the city. Increased opposition to British rule in the early 1770s ▪ In September 1771 the Boston Town Meeting formally created a committee of correspondence, which would spread colonial grievances around the towns of the colony. ▪ In March 1773, the Virginia House of Burgesses recommended that each colony establish a committee of correspondence which would serve as a means of spreading propaganda, ▪ In May 1773, Parliament introduced the Tea Act. This was designed to save the East India Tea Company by allowing them to avoid duties and therefore undercut the American merchants. ▪ Tea could be transported directly from India to the American Colonies so bypassing the Navigation Acts. ▪ In Boston the first of three ships, the Dartmouth, arrived in Boston Harbour on November 28. The ships had to unload their cargo within three weeks and pay the duty. ▪ On 16 December 1773 it was agreed at the Town Meeting, chaired by Samuel Adams, that 60 Sons of Liberty, disguised as Indians, would destroy the tea. ▪ 342 chests of tea were thrown into the sea worth approximately £10,000. ▪ Parliament was furious and in March 1774 Lord North proposed four bills that became known as the Coercive Acts. These were intended to punish Boston. ▪ Impartial Administration of Justice Act, which allowed the royal governor of a colony to move trials to other colonies or even to England if he feared that juries in those colonies wouldn't judge a case fairly. 30 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ Massachusetts Bay Regulating Act made all law officers subject to appointment by the royal governor and banned all town meetings that didn't have approval of the royal governor. ▪ Boston Port Act, which closed the port of Boston until the price of the dumped tea was recovered, moved the capital of Massachusetts to Salem, and made Marblehead the official port of entry for the Massachusetts colony. ▪ Quartering Act, which allowed royal troops to stay in houses or empty buildings if barracks were not available. ▪ Quebec Act, which granted civil government and religious freedom to Catholics living in Quebec. This provided an obstacle to western expansion and imposed an authoritarian form of government in Canada. This increased colonial suspicions of British motives. ▪ By late 1774, British authority had broken down in Massachusetts and the other colonies began to send supplies, through their committees of correspondence, throughout New England to help Bostonians. The First Continental Congress ▪ The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies that met from 5 September 5 to 26 October 26, 1774 in Philadelphia. It was called in response to the Coercive Acts. ▪ The Congress was attended by 56 delegates appointed by the legislatures of twelve of the thirteen colonies. ▪ Georgia did not send delegates because it was hoping for British assistance with Native America problems on its frontier and did not want to upset the British. ▪ The Congress considered options, including an economic boycott of British trade; rights and grievances; and petitioned George III for redress of those grievances. ▪ Conservatives delegates believed their task was the forging of common policies to pressure Parliament to rescind its unreasonable acts. ▪ Their ultimate goal was to develop a reasonable solution to the difficulties and bring about reconciliation between the colonies and Britain. ▪ Radicals, such as Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams and John Adams believed their task to be a decisive statement of the rights and liberties of the Colonies. ▪ Their ultimate goal was to end the perceived abuses of parliamentary authority, and to retain, in the empire and under the king if possible. ▪ They claimed constitutional rights on the basis of the colonial charters and the English constitution. 31 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ The Congress also called for another Congress in the event that their petition was unsuccessful. ▪ Their appeal to the Crown had no effect, and so the Second Continental Congress was convened the following year to organise the defence of the colonies. The delegates also urged each colony to set up and train its own militia. ▪ The First Continental Congress, in its Declaration and Resolves, passed and signed the Continental Association, which called for a boycott of British goods to take effect in December 1774. ▪ It requested that local Committees of Safety enforce the boycott and regulate local prices for goods. The trade boycott was to last until Parliament repealed the Coercive Acts. ▪ North issued a Resolution in February 1775 in order to calm the colonists. He said that Parliament would only raise taxes to regulate trade. ▪ However, these promises came too late as the committees of correspondence had spread the idea that all taxation from Parliament was unacceptable. The creation new state constitutions (NB This section is chronologically inaccurate) ▪ On 5 January, 1776, New Hampshire ratified the first state constitution. In May 1776, Congress voted to suppress all forms of crown authority, to be replaced by locally created authority. ▪ Virginia, South Carolina, and New Jersey created their constitutions before 4 July 4.Rhode Island and Connecticut simply took their existing royal charter and deleted all references to the crown. ▪ The new states were all committed to republicanism, with no inherited offices. ▪ They decided not only what form of government to create, and also how to select those who would craft the constitutions and how the resulting document would be ratified. ▪ There would be no universal suffrage and real power, including the right to elect the future President would still lay in the hands of a few selected elites for many years. Divisions between loyalists and rebels ▪ Most educated Americans, whether Loyalist or Revolutionary, accepted John Locke's theory of natural rights and limited government. ▪ The Loyalists, like the rebels, criticized such British actions as the Stamp Act and the Coercive Acts. ▪ Loyalists wanted to pursue peaceful forms of protest because they believed that violence would give rise to mob rule or tyranny. 32 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ They also believed that independence would mean the loss of economic benefits derived from membership in the British mercantile system. ▪ Families were often divided as war forced colonists to choose sides in a conflict that remained for many years uncertain. ▪ Colonists, especially recent arrivals, often felt themselves to be both American and British, subjects of the Crown, still owing a loyalty to the mother country. ▪ Many opposed taxation without representation, but would not break their oath to the King or take up arms against the Crown. ▪ Most hoped for a peaceful reconciliation, and were forced by the Patriots who took control nearly everywhere in 1775-76 to choose sides. ▪ The earliest formal meeting, and use of the term ‘Loyalist’ and the source of the United Empire Loyalist (‘UEL’) acronym, took place in Boston on 28 October 28, 1775. ▪ At the meeting, these Loyalists formed a society called ‘The Loyalist Associators Desiring the Unity of the Empire’. ▪ Poor farmers, craftsmen, and small merchants, influenced by the ideas of social equality expressed in works like Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, were more likely to be Patriots. ▪ Intellectuals with a strong belief in the Enlightenment and religious converts of the Great Awakening made strong connections between their beliefs and a developing sense of nationalism. ▪ Loyalists tended to be older colonists, or those with strong ties to England, such as recent immigrants. ▪ Wealthy merchants and planters often had business interests with the Empire, as did large farmers who profited by supplying the British army. ▪ Some opposed the violence they saw in groups like the Sons of Liberty and feared a government run by extremists. ▪ Not surprisingly, most British officials remained loyal to the Crown. Wealthy merchants tended to remain loyal, as did Anglican ministers, especially in Puritan New England. ▪ Loyalists also included some African-Americans (to whom the British promised freedom), Indians, indentured servants and some German immigrants, who supported the Crown mainly because George III was of German origin. ▪ The number of Loyalists in each colony varied. Recent estimates suggest that half the population of New York was Loyalist. ▪ It had an aristocratic culture and was occupied throughout the Revolution by the British. 33 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ In the Carolinas, back-country farmers were Loyalist, whereas the Tidewater planters tended to support the Revolution. The escalation of conflict The Quebec Act ▪ The Quebec Act was passed in 1774 to tackle the problem of 80,000 French speakers in Canada, but it included the allotting of the Ohio Valley to Canada. ▪ The colonial governments of New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia were angered because the area had each been granted them in their royal charters. It resulted in the Quebec Act being described as one of the Intolerable Acts by colonists. ▪ Colonists from Virginia and other colonies were already entering that area. Land development companies such as the Ohio Company had already been formed to sell land to settlers and trade with the Native Americans. ▪ The Quebec Act was never enforced outside the traditional boundaries of Quebec. Its main significance in the Thirteen Colonies was that it was another source of annoyance. ▪ The Act is listed as one of the rebels' grievances in the Declaration of Independence. ▪ For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies. ▪ The First Continental Congress petitioned Parliament to repeal the Intolerable Acts; Parliament refused. Instead, in February 1775 Parliament passed the Conciliatory Resolution. ▪ It declared that any colony that contributed to the common defence and provided support for the civil government and the administration of justice would be relieved of paying taxes or duties except those necessary for the regulation of commerce. ▪ Franklin, Adams and Jefferson produced the Congress’s reply: That colonies of America are entitled to the sole and exclusive privilege of giving and granting their own money. ▪ This was too little, too late, as the war broke out before news of its passage could reach the colonies. General Thomas Gage ▪ General Gage was appointed British military governor of Massachusetts in 1774. He withdrew British garrisons from various cities and concentrated them at Boston. ▪ He also tried to enforce army orders to confiscate of war-making materials. In September 1774, he ordered a mission to remove provincial gunpowder from an arsenal. ▪ This action, although successful, caused a huge popular reaction known as the Powder Alarm. 34 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ It resulted in the mobilisation of thousands of provincial militiamen who marched towards Cambridge Massachusetts. ▪ Although the militia soon dispersed, the show of force on the part of the provincials had a lasting effect on Gage, and he subsequently grew more cautious in his actions. ▪ The rapid response of the provincials was largely due to Paul Revere and the Sons of Liberty. They observed Gage’s action in future and organised counter-measures. The outbreak of hostilities ▪ In January 1775, Gage received orders from London to take decisive action against the Rebels. ▪ He heard that militiamen had been stockpiling weapons at Concord and ordered a troop of regulars to march there on the night of 18 April to confiscate them. ▪ Colonial militiamen at Lexington were dispersed, but at Concord part of the British force was defeated by a stronger colonial militia contingent. ▪ Colonial militiamen engaged the British column retreating to Boston in a running battle all the way back to Charlestown. ▪ The Battles of Lexington and Concord resulted in 273 total casualties for the British and 93 for the American rebels. ▪ Thousands of colonial militia now surrounded Boston and laid siege. 4,500 British reinforcements arrived and Gage issued a proclamation granting a general pardon to all who would demonstrate loyalty to the crown, with the exceptions of John Hancock and Samuel Adams. ▪ Gage also planned to break the siege by an attack on the rebel camp.. They would then seize the heights on the Charlestown peninsula, including Breed’s Hill and Bunker Hill. ▪ The colonists were warned of these plans and fortified Breed's Hill, threatening the British position in Boston. ▪ On 17 June 1775, British forces under General Howe began a bloody frontal assault and, despite a British victory, they suffered a 42% casualty rate. ▪ Howe took control of the Charlestown Peninsula, but suffered more than 1,000 casualties without significantly altering the state of the siege. The Declaration of Independence ▪ The Second Continental Congress met at Philadelphia in May 1775. It announced a plan to raise a Continental Army of 20,000 men under the command of George Washington. 35 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ On 6 July, 1775 Congress approved a Declaration of Causes outlining reasons and necessity for taking up arms. ▪ On July 8, Congress extended the Olive Branch Petition to the Crown as a final attempt at reconciliation. However, it was received too late to do any good. ▪ An ambassador was sent to France as a minister of the Congress and American ports were reopened in defiance of the Navigation Acts ▪ The Congress assumed all the functions of a national government, appointing ambassadors, signing treaties, raising armies, appointing generals, obtaining loans from Europe, issuing paper money and authorising spending. ▪ The Congress had no authority to levy taxes and had to request money, supplies, and troops from the states to support the war effort. Individual states frequently ignored these requests. ▪ The Olive Branch Petition was, in fact, too late, after Breed’s Hill, both sides had moved towards a major conflict. ▪ The King issued a Proclamation of Rebellion, and announced before Parliament on October 26 that he was considering ‘friendly offers of foreign assistance to suppress the rebels. ▪ The British Parliament passed the Prohibitory Act in December 1775. This declared the colonies outside the protection of the King. ▪ On 10 January 1776 Robert Bell, a Philadelphia printer, published Tom Paine’s Common Sense, which proposed independence from the British government and sketched a plan for a republican system. It sold 120,000 copies within a month. Growing support for independence ▪ Support for declaring independence grew even more when it was confirmed that King George had hired German mercenaries to use against his American subjects. ▪ Despite growing popular support for independence, Congress lacked the clear authority to declare it. ▪ Delegates had been elected to Congress by thirteen different governments and were bound by the instructions given to them. ▪ Delegates could not vote to declare independence unless their instructions permitted such an action. ▪ Several colonies, in fact, expressly prohibited their delegates from taking any steps towards separation from Great Britain, while other delegations had instructions that were ambiguous on the issue. ▪ For Congress to declare independence, a majority of delegations would need authorisation to vote accordingly. 36 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ At least one colonial government would need to specifically instruct its delegation to propose a declaration of independence in Congress Negotiations in Congress ▪ Between April and July 1776, a complex political war was waged to bring this about. At least ninety different declarations were made outlining different instructions to delegates. ▪ North Carolina was the first colony to officially authorise its delegate to vote for independence in April 1776. ▪ Some colonies held back from endorsing independence. Resistance was strongest in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. ▪ Supporters of independence saw Pennsylvania as the key; if that colony could be converted to the pro-independence cause, it was believed that the others would follow. ▪ Opponents of independence controlled the Pennsylvania Assembly. Congress passed a resolution calling on colonies without a ‘government sufficient to the demands of their affairs’ to adopt new governments. ▪ The resolution passed unanimously, and was even supported by Pennsylvania. The leader of the anti-independence faction in Congress believed that it did not apply to his colony. ▪ Congress appointed a committee to draft a foreword to explain the purpose of the resolution. John Adams it and stated that because King George had rejected reconciliation and was hiring foreign mercenaries to use against the colonies, ▪ Adams’ aim was to encourage the overthrow of the governments of Pennsylvania and Maryland, which were still under proprietary control. ▪ Congress passed the preamble on 15 May after several days of debate, but four of the middle colonies voted against it, and the Maryland delegation walked out in protest. ▪ Adams regarded his foreword effectively as an American declaration of independence, although a formal declaration would still have to be made. ▪ On the same day that Congress passed Adams's radical foreword, the Virginia Convention instructed its congressional delegation ‘to propose to to declare the United Colonies free and independent States’. ▪ The motion, which was seconded by John Adams, called on Congress to declare independence, form foreign alliances, and prepare a plan of colonial confederation. ▪ Opponents of the resolution, while conceding that reconciliation with Great Britain was unlikely, argued that declaring independence was premature, and that securing foreign aid should take priority. 37 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ Supporters of the resolution argued that foreign governments would not intervene in an internal British struggle and so a formal declaration of independence was needed. ▪ Delegates from Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and New York were still not yet authorised to vote for independence. ▪ Some of them threatened to leave Congress if the resolution were adopted. Congress therefore voted on 10 June to postpone further discussion for three weeks. ▪ Congress decided that a committee should prepare a document announcing and explaining independence in the event that the resolution was approved when it was brought up again in July. ▪ On 14 June, the Connecticut Assembly instructed its delegates to propose independence. On the following day, the legislatures of New Hampshire and Delaware followed suit. ▪ On 18 June a new Conference of Committees in Pennsylvania instructed delegates to declare independence. ▪ On 15 June, the Governor of New Jersey was arrested and on 21 June new delegates to Congress were appointed and authorised to support a declaration of independence. ▪ Maryland finally approved independence on 28 June, but the New York Congress was forced to evacuate the city when British forces advanced. ▪ The New York delegation was not able to receive any further instructions until after the Declaration of Independence was published. Drafting the Declaration ▪ On June 11, 1776, Congress appointed a committee consisting of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman to draft a declaration. ▪ Jefferson wrote the first draft. He probably had limited time for writing over the next seventeen days, and likely wrote the draft quickly. ▪ He then consulted the others, made some changes, and then produced another copy incorporating these alterations. The committee presented this copy to the Congress on 28 June, 1776. ▪ For two days Congress methodically edited Jefferson's primary document, shortening it by a fourth, removing unnecessary wording, and improving sentence structure. ▪ Congress removed Jefferson's assertion that Britain had forced slavery on the colonies, in order to moderate the document and appease persons in Britain who supported the Revolution ▪ On Monday, 1 July, Congress resumed debate on the resolution of independence. 38 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ After a day of speeches, a vote was taken; each colony cast a single vote. The delegates in each colony voted amongst themselves. ▪ The New York delegation, lacking permission to vote for independence, abstained. Delaware cast no vote because the delegation was split. ▪ The remaining nine delegations voted in favour of independence, which meant that the resolution had been approved by the committee of the whole. ▪ On 2 July, the resolution of independence was adopted with twelve affirmative votes and one abstention. South Carolina and Delaware both changed sides. With this, the colonies had officially severed political ties with Great Britain. ▪ After voting in favour of the resolution of independence, Congress turned its attention to the committee's draft of the declaration. ▪ On 4 July, 1776, the wording of the Declaration of Independence was approved and sent to the printer for publication. ▪ After hearing the Declaration, crowds in many cities tore down and destroyed signs or statues representing royal authority. An equestrian statue of King George in New York City was pulled down and the lead used to make musket balls. Key military developments The balance of military power in 1776 ▪ Washington took command of the Continental Army in July 1775 with seventeen thousand poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly disciplined soldiers. ▪ The British stayed in Boston during the winter of 1775-76, which gave the rebels time to improve their forces. ▪ The British had significant advantages including a highly trained army, the world's largest navy and a highly efficient system of public finance that could easily fund the war. ▪ The British were seriously handicapped by their misunderstanding of the depth of support for the Rebel position. ▪ Ignoring the advice of General Gage, the government misinterpreted the situation as merely a large-scale riot. ▪ London decided that by sending a large military and naval force they could overawe the Americans and force them to be loyal again. ▪ The British government was convinced that the Revolution was the work of a full few miscreants who had rallied an armed rabble to their cause. 39 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ It was expected that the revolutionaries would be intimidate. The vast majority of Americans, who were loyal but cowed by the terrorist tactics would rise up, turn against the rebels, and restore loyal government in each colony. ▪ In fact, there was widespread support for independence and colonial militias showed that they were capable of facing British troops. ▪ Numerically, the British were far outnumbered, if their forces were able to win swift battles, it was likely that the rebels would be defeated. ▪ Distances in the Colonies were vast and the British forces were soon over-stretched as they tried to control the long Atlantic coastline. ▪ British forces were also hindered by Howe’s failure to pursue the Rebels in 1776-7. Not only did he allow Washington to escape several times, but he allowed the Rebels to build up support. ▪ The longer the war went on, inevitably, the more the balance would shift on the favour of the Rebels. ▪ Washington forced the British out of Boston in the spring of 1776 and neither the British nor the Loyalists controlled any significant areas. ▪ The British were massing forces at their naval base at Halifax, Nova Scotia and returned in force in July 1776, landing in New York and defeating Washington's Continental Army at the Battle of Brooklyn in August. ▪ The British requested a meeting with representatives from Congress to negotiate an end to hostilities. ▪ A delegation including John Adams and Benjamin Franklin met Howe in New on 11 September, in what became known as the Staten Island Peace Conference. ▪ Howe demanded a retraction of the Declaration of Independence, which was refused, and negotiations ended. ▪ The British then took control of New York City and nearly captured Washington's army. This could have been the turning-point of the war. ▪ They made New York their main political and military base of operations in North America and held it until November 1783. The conduct of the war ▪ Congress decided that it would invade Canada in 1775. This would be a two-pronged attack under General Schuyler (replaced by Montgomery) and Benedict Arnold. ▪ The British commander, General Guy Carleton, defended Quebec and when British reinforcements arrived the Americans were forced to retreat. 40 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ On 4 March 1776 the rebels (17,000) captured Dorchester Heights that overlooked Boston. The British were forced to retreat to Halifax, Nova Scotia, under General Howe along with 1,000 loyalists. ▪ Howe decided to take control of New York with 30,000 soldiers and the Royal Navy behind him. The rebel commander had 17,000 troops at his disposal. ▪ During July and August 1776 the Battle of Long Island took place. By the end of July Colonel John Glover’s Continental Army was forced into retreat with 9,000 men to Manhattan. ▪ General Howe remained complacent and chose not to pursue the rebels and take Philadelphia (the capital). ▪ This gave Washington time to regroup and his army grew to 6,000. He had military success at Trenton on 26 December 1776 and Princeton on 3 January 1777. ▪ A new two-pronged British campaign began in 1777. The capture of Philadelphia began on 11 September 1777 when General Howe defeated Washington at Brandywine Creek (the American’s lost 1,200 and the British lost 600). ▪ He then moved on to capture Philadelphia on 26 September 1777, and Congress quickly fled to Lancaster. ▪ Howe again remained complacent and, after capturing the forts on the Delaware, which allowed naval access, forcing Washington’s retreat to Valley Forge, he prepared for winter. ▪ At the same time, General Burgoyne planned to lead a combined force of British regulars, supported by Hessians, Indians, Canadians and loyalists south from Montreal to join with British forces in New York. ▪ Burgoyne was expecting the support of General Howe from New York but he was focusing on Philadelphia. ▪ He was also hoping for support from a diversionary force of 1,600 British and Iroquois under Colonel St Leger. ▪ However, St Leger was checked at Oriskany (6 August) by local militia. He was forced to retreat to Canada. This left Burgoyne isolated. ▪ Burgoyne and his 8,000 regular and irregular soldiers had departed from Montreal in mid-June. They recaptured Ticonderoga. ▪ Things began to go wrong in August when Burgoyne marched south from Lake Champlain. He sent off a foraging force that was destroyed in a battle at Bennington (August 16). ▪ By mid-September he decided to march alone to Albany. He had two clashes with the Continental Army (losing 1,200 men in comparison to 500 rebels) and was forced to surrender with 5,000 men at Saratoga to the American Horatio Gates. 41 35.1: Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763-1914: Revision notes ▪ News of the Saratoga surrender was a great morale booster for the Americans and persuaded the French to intervene. ▪ From early October 1777 until November 15 a siege at Fort Mifflin, Philadelphia, bogged down British troops. ▪ It allowed Washington time to preserve the Continental Army by leading his troops to harsh winter quarters at Valley Forge. Another crucial moment to destroy the rebel forces was lost. French and Spanish intervention 1778-1781 ▪ Treaties between the United States and France were signed in February 1778. Spain added its support to France by entering an alliance in 1779 and the Netherlands in 1780. ▪ This altered the nature and scope of the war for Britain. They now had to protect the West Indies, Africa and India, as well as protect the British Isles from a Franco-Spanish invasion. ▪ This meant spreading out resources. In 1778, 65% of the British Army was in North America. This fell to 29% in 1780, as 55% guarded Britain against invasion. ▪ The Royal Navy also had to redeploy its forces. In 1778, 41% of the Royal Navy’s ships were in American waters, but that figure was reduced to 10% by April 1782. ▪ This globalisation also meant a strategy change. The war against France now took priority and the campaign’s objectives altered to re-establishing British rule in the southern colonies. ▪ British strategy in America now concentrated on a campaign in the southern state