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Episode 26: The Long Slide to Rebellion · Missing Pages

0:06
SPEAKER_00: Where are these missing pages, this map?
0:08
We must have these pages back This one's got pages missing Why
0:16
are the pages missing?
0:20
SPEAKER_03: Like a book with missing pages
0:30
There are many moments,
0:32
and historians often disagree on these,
0:35
that make war inevitable.
0:39
SPEAKER_01: It's like stones rolling down a hill.
0:43
SPEAKER_01: At some point, gravity just takes over.
0:46
SPEAKER_01: This is the case for many wars,
0:50
SPEAKER_01: and very specifically,
0:52
SPEAKER_01: this is the case in the Revolutionary War between Britain and America.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: Between 1766 and 1775,
1:01
there are a dozen or more moments that could be pointed to as
1:05
the true start of the
1:07
SPEAKER_01: American Revolution It could even come before this,
1:10
but we won't go that far because before long it starts to look
1:14
like fate If we
1:15
SPEAKER_01: start all the way back at 1607,
1:18
SPEAKER_01: it wasn't fated from the beginning
1:20
SPEAKER_01: Now in this episode,
1:21
SPEAKER_01: as I move through time,
1:23
SPEAKER_01: it will become clearer and clearer to us in hindsight,
1:26
SPEAKER_01: but also to those that were living through the moments themselves,
1:31
SPEAKER_01: that war was the only outcome.
1:34
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean there weren't off-ramps along the way,
1:37
SPEAKER_01: that there weren't ways to avoid this war.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: But,
1:41
SPEAKER_01: as will become obvious,
1:42
SPEAKER_01: this war was a culmination,
1:44
SPEAKER_01: as I stated last episode,
1:47
SPEAKER_01: of a conflict of visions.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: There is a conflict about what it means to be an Englishman,
1:53
SPEAKER_01: what rights are afforded,
1:54
SPEAKER_01: what can be withheld,
1:55
SPEAKER_01: who gets to decide?
1:57
SPEAKER_01: The nature of power, where does it stem, who gets to wield it?
2:01
And the question of empire,
2:03
who benefits,
2:04
who bears the burden,
2:05
and when must it dissolve?
2:07
SPEAKER_01: Now,
2:08
SPEAKER_01: I won't answer all of these questions here,
2:10
though I will try to get to some and will be doing more of the
2:13
same in my essays
2:14
SPEAKER_01: and other writing,
2:15
but my hope is to show that the conflict that started in 1763
2:19
between Britain and
2:21
SPEAKER_01: her American colonies did not create a direct path to rebellion.
2:26
It wasn't fate that turned the Sugar Act into the first act of
2:30
the revolutionary period.
2:32
SPEAKER_01: Sigmund Freud coined a term called the narcissism of small differences.
2:35
This is the idea that people who are 99% aligned can fight wars
2:38
over that 1%.
2:59
These minor differences are then amplified until the conflict
3:02
rips the two apart As
3:04
SPEAKER_01: we'll see,
3:05
SPEAKER_01: the subtle differences of opinion about taxation,
3:08
SPEAKER_01: representation,
3:09
SPEAKER_01: and rights are minor at first,
3:11
SPEAKER_01: but they prove to be the basis for
3:14
SPEAKER_01: At any moment,
3:18
SPEAKER_01: these small differences could have been reconciled,
3:20
SPEAKER_01: compromise could have prevailed,
3:23
SPEAKER_01: but each side let hubris win out,
3:26
and neither side was willing to understand these questions from
3:30
the other's point
3:31
SPEAKER_01: of view.
3:32
SPEAKER_01: For a decade,
3:33
SPEAKER_01: both sides dug in deeper and deeper,
3:37
SPEAKER_01: and any sign of compromise was suppressed from the start.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: Thus,
3:41
SPEAKER_01: as the calendar flipped to 1775,
3:45
SPEAKER_01: after more than a decade of these small moments building up,
3:49
SPEAKER_01: war in America had become inevitable.
3:54
SPEAKER_01: Now before we get into my own understanding of this story,
3:58
SPEAKER_01: I need to go through the notes that I took in high school.
4:03
Fair warning,
4:04
this section is quite long,
4:06
though there are still many pages to be filled here.
4:10
SPEAKER_01: But let's get into it.
4:11
SPEAKER_01: We'll start with this.
4:12
SPEAKER_01: The Townsend Duties,
4:14
SPEAKER_01: 1767 Even though William Pitt was technically the Prime Minister in 1767,
4:19
SPEAKER_01: effective leadership passed to Charles Townsend when Pitt became ill.
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SPEAKER_01: Townsend pushed through Parliament the Townsend Revenue Acts,
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SPEAKER_01: also called the Townsend Duties.
4:29
SPEAKER_01: What did these duties do?
4:32
The Townsend Revenue Acts had made it quite clear that the
4:39
income earned from the
4:40
tax would be used to do what thing that threatened to take what
4:43
power away from the
4:44
SPEAKER_01: colonial assemblies?
4:46
SPEAKER_01: And I said...
4:51
SPEAKER_01: In addition,
4:52
the American Board of Customs Commissioners set up to enforce
4:55
the Townsend duties
4:56
began engaging in a program that historians have labeled
4:59
customs racketeering.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: What was this?
5:02
British officials seized ships and property from sailors due to
5:05
little evidence or
5:06
SPEAKER_01: technical violations of the law.
5:08
It created legalized piracy,
5:10
where the informer was given a third of the property seized.
5:13
What was the major thing that colonists did to resist the
5:16
Townsend duties,
5:17
SPEAKER_01: and what role did women play in the action?
5:20
SPEAKER_01: Non-importation and non-consumption, a total boycott of British goods.
5:24
Women formed groups called Daughters of Liberty and made their
5:27
own clothes.
5:29
Non-importation and non-consumption had great appeal and
5:31
support among many
5:33
SPEAKER_01: colonists,
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SPEAKER_01: including rural individuals.
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SPEAKER_01: Why did it have so much appeal?
5:38
SPEAKER_01: I say,
5:39
SPEAKER_01: it was completely non-violent,
5:41
SPEAKER_01: it was extremely effective,
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SPEAKER_01: built colonial unity,
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SPEAKER_01: and was completely legal.
5:46
SPEAKER_01: Next up is the Boston Massacre,
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SPEAKER_01: 1770 In October 1768,
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SPEAKER_01: Great Britain transferred 4,000 British troops to Boston.
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The British troops stationed in the colonies were the object of
5:57
great scorn and ridicule.
6:00
Other than the fact that Bostonians hated the presence of a
6:03
standing army in their
6:04
SPEAKER_01: midst,
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SPEAKER_01: what are two other reasons why British troops were disliked?
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SPEAKER_01: In Boston,
6:16
SPEAKER_01: conflict between British troops and colonists escalated in March 1770,
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SPEAKER_01: and by the evening of March 5th,
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SPEAKER_01: a crowd had gathered at the Customs House and began taunting a guard.
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SPEAKER_01: When a captain and seven soldiers went to his rescue,
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SPEAKER_01: they were pelted with snowballs and stones.
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SPEAKER_01: What then happened?
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SPEAKER_01: The British soldiers were put on trial,
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SPEAKER_01: but all but two were found not guilty,
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SPEAKER_01: and the two found guilty only suffered a branding on their thumbs.
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SPEAKER_01: Meanwhile,
6:57
SPEAKER_01: what did the British Parliament do in April 1770,
7:00
and what was the result regarding trade between Great Britain
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and its American
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SPEAKER_01: colonies?
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SPEAKER_01: I say they agreed to repeal all of the duties except for the tax on tea,
7:10
SPEAKER_01: tensions eased,
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SPEAKER_01: boycotting,
7:12
SPEAKER_01: In June 1772,
7:15
in response to an announcement by Governor Thomas Hutchinson of
7:18
Massachusetts that
7:19
the salaries of royal officials would be paid for by England
7:22
instead of by colonial
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SPEAKER_01: assemblies,
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SPEAKER_01: several towns throughout New England said
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SPEAKER_01: Then we get to the Boston Tea Party, 1773.
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SPEAKER_01: In 1773, the British East India Company was on the brink of bankruptcy.
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SPEAKER_01: Since Great Britain's authority in India depended on the company,
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SPEAKER_01: Lord North,
7:48
SPEAKER_01: now the Prime Minister,
7:50
SPEAKER_01: could not let it fail.
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SPEAKER_01: Therefore, Parliament passed the Tea Act.
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SPEAKER_01: In short, what did this act do?
7:57
SPEAKER_01: I say,
7:58
lower the cost of the British East India Company tea below the
8:01
price of all
8:01
SPEAKER_01: smuggled competition,
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SPEAKER_01: giving the company a virtual monopoly.
8:06
If it made the price of tea lower,
8:07
why do you think colonial leaders opposed the Tea Act?
8:14
In New York and Philadelphia,
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colonists turned back the tea ships before they could unload.
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SPEAKER_01: However,
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SPEAKER_01: in Boston,
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Governor Thomas Hutchinson would not permit the vessels to
8:28
return to England,
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SPEAKER_01: and the ships sat in Boston Harbor waiting to be unloaded,
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SPEAKER_01: what happened on the night of December 16,
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SPEAKER_01: 1773 during the Boston Tea Party.
8:38
SPEAKER_01: Missing Pages Missing Pages Missing Pages
8:53
SPEAKER_01: Massachusetts with a series of laws known as the Coercive Acts,
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SPEAKER_01: called the Intolerable Acts,
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SPEAKER_01: by colonists.
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SPEAKER_01: What were they?
9:01
SPEAKER_01: It closed Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for.
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SPEAKER_01: Officers of Great Britain arrested for crimes on duty could be
9:08
SPEAKER_01: Missing Pages Missing Pages
9:23
What are three major reasons why the American colonists became
9:24
upset with the Quebec Act?
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SPEAKER_01: I said,
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Every colony but Georgia sent delegates to Philadelphia in
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September 1774 to form
10:04
SPEAKER_01: the First Continental Congress.
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This Congress decided to avoid war and instead focus on a plan
10:10
of economic coercion.
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SPEAKER_01: To this end, they set up the Association.
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SPEAKER_01: What major thing did the Association do?
10:17
I say it called for a boycott of all British goods and also to
10:22
stop exporting to
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SPEAKER_01: Britain after September 1775.
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SPEAKER_01: The Battle of Lexington and Concord April 1775 On April 18,
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SPEAKER_01: 1775,
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SPEAKER_01: General Thomas Gage,
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SPEAKER_01: the new governor of Massachusetts,
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dispatched troops from Boston to seize rebel supplies in
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Concord and arrest rebel
10:41
SPEAKER_01: leaders Sam Adams and John Hancock.
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SPEAKER_01: William Dawes,
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SPEAKER_01: Paul Revere,
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SPEAKER_01: and Dr.
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SPEAKER_01: Samuel Prescott alerted nearby towns that the British were coming.
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As the British passed through Lexington on the way to Concord,
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what happened?
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SPEAKER_01: I said,
10:55
British soldiers encountered the Lexington militia on the
10:59
village green in the
11:00
SPEAKER_01: center of the town.
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SPEAKER_01: Someone fired a shot and the British responded.
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SPEAKER_01: Eight American militia men were killed, several more were wounded.
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SPEAKER_01: Once the British troops reached Concord,
11:10
SPEAKER_01: they encountered more resistance from colonial Minutemen.
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SPEAKER_01: What eventually happened in the battle and who won?
11:16
SPEAKER_01: I said,
11:17
British troops retreated back to Boston and the British had
11:20
lost almost three times
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SPEAKER_01: more men than the Americans at the end of the day.
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Now as I said there is a lot in there and there's a lot of good
11:27
stuff in there and
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SPEAKER_01: it actually does paint a good picture about the path towards war.
11:33
But I think there's some details missing and I think important
11:35
details and I also
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think that there seems to be a slow marching towards rebellion
11:39
that's kind of
11:40
SPEAKER_01: portrayed.
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And given the amount of words that are written about this
11:44
period of time I think
11:45
SPEAKER_01: it's worth expanding on some of those moments more specifically.
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SPEAKER_01: So grab your weapon of choice pen,
11:55
SPEAKER_01: snowball,
11:55
SPEAKER_01: hatchet or musket and let's fill in those missing pages.
12:10
SPEAKER_01: After the Stamp Act crisis and all of the riots settled down,
12:14
SPEAKER_01: the colonial governments retained a very large focus.
12:18
SPEAKER_01: Prevent further intrusions by Parliament that infringed on their rights.
12:23
The Stamp Act had been repealed,
12:26
but the Quartering Act was still in effect.
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SPEAKER_01: And was seen as yet another tax on the colonies.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: Money was needed to supply barracks.
12:35
SPEAKER_01: On the British side,
12:36
there was still concern about how to govern the colonies
12:39
without creating the same
12:40
SPEAKER_01: level of chaos as in 1766.
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SPEAKER_01: Furthermore, the proclamation of 1763 was proving impossible to enforce.
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SPEAKER_01: That did not stop one man,
12:51
SPEAKER_01: Charles Townsend,
12:52
who was chosen by William Pitt from proposing his plan to
12:56
ensure that the colonists
12:57
comply with the existing acts and take part in funding the
13:01
ever-growing debt.
13:03
SPEAKER_01: He proposed
13:04
forcing New York to comply with the Courtering Act by
13:07
suspending the assembly until
13:08
SPEAKER_01: they do and introducing further duties,
13:11
SPEAKER_01: not taxes,
13:12
SPEAKER_01: on lead,
13:13
SPEAKER_01: glass,
13:13
SPEAKER_01: paper,
13:14
SPEAKER_01: paint,
13:14
SPEAKER_01: and tea,
13:15
and creating a board of customs in the colonies to reinforce
13:18
these new duties.
13:20
This whole plan was put together in the Revenue Act of 1767 Now
13:26
William Pitt was
13:27
SPEAKER_01: sick during this time,
13:28
which is why Townsend took the lead and was unable to stand in
13:32
any sort of
13:32
opposition to prevent this mistake from driving the colonies
13:36
further towards
13:37
resistance rather than reconciliation The response to this new
13:41
law was immediate,
13:43
SPEAKER_01: just like the previous ones
13:45
Now,
13:45
this was still just a resistance to the laws being passed and
13:48
anger at Parliament.
13:49
SPEAKER_01: This was not a full rebellion against Great Britain yet.
13:53
SPEAKER_01: The resistance first revealed itself through calls for non-importation,
13:58
SPEAKER_01: refusing any products from England.
14:01
SPEAKER_01: Further exploration of this idea,
14:04
SPEAKER_01: as well as other forms of less violent resistance,
14:08
were put together by John Dickinson in his letters from a
14:12
farmer in Pennsylvania.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: Dickinson himself was not actually a farmer,
14:16
SPEAKER_01: he was a lawyer and politician,
14:18
but his call for petitions and creating an environment of
14:22
self-governance to reduce
14:24
SPEAKER_01: the reliance on imports was vital and spread like wildfire.
14:29
This was much needed in a colonial world that had grown
14:32
exhausted by the violence
14:33
SPEAKER_01: of the Stamp Act crisis.
14:35
The exhaustion was even seen in Massachusetts where a proposal
14:38
to stand against
14:39
SPEAKER_01: these new duties was rejected.
14:41
SPEAKER_01: Two weeks later, though, it was passed.
14:44
SPEAKER_01: And then Boston took the lead of the resistance.
14:47
SPEAKER_01: However, the leaders in Massachusetts knew they could not go it alone.
14:51
So they wrote the circular letter requesting the colonial
14:54
legislatures to work
14:55
SPEAKER_01: together to bring all of their policies as it pertained to trade in sync.
15:01
SPEAKER_01: In response to this insolence,
15:03
SPEAKER_01: the royal officials in the customs offices cracked down even harder,
15:07
SPEAKER_01: by pursuing potential smugglers much more forcefully,
15:10
SPEAKER_01: and even going off of the smallest amount of evidence.
15:14
SPEAKER_01: The hope was that by targeting the highest in American society,
15:18
SPEAKER_01: like John Hancock,
15:19
SPEAKER_01: the customs officers would prove their supremacy and legitimacy.
15:24
SPEAKER_01: This backfired,
15:25
SPEAKER_01: though,
15:25
as all of the old talking points regarding colonial and
15:28
parliamentary authority
15:30
SPEAKER_01: rose again with a vengeance,
15:33
SPEAKER_01: mainly by this new group of rebels,
15:36
SPEAKER_01: one of which being John Hancock,
15:39
SPEAKER_01: called the Sons of Liberty.
15:40
The Sons of Liberty provided a network for all of the opponents
15:44
of the aggressive
15:45
SPEAKER_01: tactics,
15:46
SPEAKER_01: as they saw them,
15:47
SPEAKER_01: of the British together,
15:48
SPEAKER_01: and it was a
15:51
SPEAKER_01: Missing Pages
16:15
While most of the rest of Massachusetts shied away from any
16:19
calls for violent
16:20
SPEAKER_01: resistance,
16:21
SPEAKER_01: many in Boston,
16:23
SPEAKER_01: as it was the primary focus of the British government,
16:26
SPEAKER_01: were much more willing to rise to violence if necessary.
16:30
SPEAKER_01: Even if many of the other colonists would not rise to this level,
16:34
SPEAKER_01: many of the other colonies were still sympathetic.
16:37
SPEAKER_01: Throughout the colonial world,
16:38
SPEAKER_01: assemblies started to enact their own non-importation policies,
16:42
SPEAKER_01: though mostly focused on helping bolster existing industries.
16:47
In the southern colonies,
16:48
this non-importation even went so far as to include slaves.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: Local industry and homemade production started to become more popular,
16:56
SPEAKER_01: and colonists began to shy away from foreign luxuries.
17:00
What arose was a sense of collective duty to punish England for
17:04
its most recent behavior.
17:06
So any who were found to be sympathetic to the British or
17:09
caught shirking the
17:10
SPEAKER_01: non-importation laws were heavily ostracized,
17:14
SPEAKER_01: tarred and feathered,
17:15
SPEAKER_01: exiled,
17:16
SPEAKER_01: had their goods stolen,
17:18
SPEAKER_01: or were hung in effigy.
17:20
This nascent version of popular politics proved incredibly
17:24
frustrating for the
17:24
SPEAKER_01: British customs officers,
17:26
who were forced to revert to bribe-taking and failed to collect
17:29
the funds expected.
17:31
SPEAKER_01: All of this chaos in Boston eventually became too much for the British to
17:35
SPEAKER_01: Missing Pages
17:55
Now the Quartering Act that was already on the books from 1765
17:59
required that
17:59
station troops be given materials and supplies by the colonial
18:06
governments.
18:07
SPEAKER_01: This was already troubling for the colonists after the Stamp Act.
18:11
SPEAKER_01: But was made worse now that there were so many troops in Boston.
18:14
SPEAKER_01: And when Boston was made a target of British derision,
18:18
SPEAKER_01: there were some who called for violent resistance,
18:21
SPEAKER_01: like the Sons of Liberty,
18:22
SPEAKER_01: though no such attack ever actually materialized.
18:26
SPEAKER_01: These new troops were not only a sign of Britain forcing Boston to obey,
18:31
they were forcing the city to pay for them to stay there The
18:34
people of Boston were
18:35
thus forced to watch a standing army drink in their taverns and
18:39
stand guard on
18:39
SPEAKER_01: their streets Furthermore,
18:41
they started to take their jobs as the soldier pay was not
18:44
quite enough for them to
18:46
SPEAKER_01: live on
18:47
SPEAKER_01: Eventually, this friction began to wear on soldier and citizen alike.
18:52
SPEAKER_01: Rumors,
18:52
SPEAKER_01: plots,
18:53
SPEAKER_01: and false reports only muddied the picture further,
18:56
SPEAKER_01: making direct confrontation all the more likely.
18:59
SPEAKER_01: And by the beginning of 1770,
19:01
the aggrieved Bostonians were rearing to lash out against this
19:04
occupying army.
19:06
And the violent acts that were growing here in Boston moved
19:10
beyond just against the
19:11
SPEAKER_01: soldiers to against colonists loyal to the crown.
19:15
SPEAKER_01: On February 22,
19:16
SPEAKER_01: 1770,
19:18
Theophilus Lilly was harangued by a crowd accusing him of
19:21
importing British goods.
19:24
Lilly's neighbor,
19:24
Ebenezer Richardson,
19:26
came to his aid and was followed to his home by a mob.
19:29
SPEAKER_01: After his window was broken,
19:31
SPEAKER_01: he fired a gun into the crowd killing Christopher Sider,
19:34
SPEAKER_01: an 11-year-old boy,
19:36
SPEAKER_01: and in the wake of Sider's funeral,
19:38
SPEAKER_01: the city was reaching a breaking point.
19:41
SPEAKER_01: A couple weeks later,
19:43
SPEAKER_01: on the night of March 5th,
19:44
SPEAKER_01: 1770,
19:46
SPEAKER_01: Edward Garish accosted a soldier,
19:49
SPEAKER_01: Private Hugh White,
19:50
SPEAKER_01: standing guard at the King Street Customs House.
19:54
SPEAKER_01: For this, Garish was hit by the off-duty soldier.
19:57
SPEAKER_01: As a reaction,
19:58
SPEAKER_01: a crowd of some 20 others started to surround White,
20:03
throwing snowballs and ice at him as he backed up against the
20:06
Customs House.
20:08
Nearby,
20:09
Captain Thomas Preston saw this crowd growing and becoming more
20:12
and more fraught.
20:14
SPEAKER_01: Word went out that there was a fire at King Street,
20:17
SPEAKER_01: and the nearby churches began tolling their bells,
20:20
SPEAKER_01: only causing more to join the now swollen crowd.
20:24
SPEAKER_01: Nearly an hour after the first encounter,
20:26
Preston intervened by sending seven men to retrieve the
20:29
besieged Hugh White.
20:31
But these soldiers were then themselves surrounded by the crowd
20:34
and made a
20:35
SPEAKER_01: half-circle to face them.
20:37
SPEAKER_01: Then Preston ordered the soldiers to load their muskets.
20:41
SPEAKER_01: The tensions rose to a fever pitch.
20:43
Bells tolled,
20:45
men in the crowd screamed insults and threats,
20:48
and threw snow and ice.
20:49
The soldiers called back with their muskets held low facing the
20:52
crowd with some
20:53
SPEAKER_01: daring them to fire.
20:55
One of those ice chunks hit a soldier squarely in the head,
20:58
making him slip and fall.
21:00
SPEAKER_01: When he got to his feet again, he fired.
21:04
SPEAKER_01: Shortly after, the rest of the soldiers fired.
21:07
SPEAKER_01: The crowd quickly dispersed, but not before eleven were hit.
21:11
SPEAKER_01: Three died instantly, two later, and six were injured.
21:16
SPEAKER_01: In the aftermath, many called for vengeance.
21:19
SPEAKER_01: But this anger softened over time.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: Preston and the rest of the men were charged and put on trial,
21:25
SPEAKER_01: and Governor Hutchinson reluctantly ordered the soldiers to leave.
21:29
SPEAKER_01: Several months after the anger subsided,
21:32
SPEAKER_01: all of the soldiers were defended by John Adams and found innocent,
21:36
SPEAKER_01: except for two.
21:37
SPEAKER_01: were found guilty of manslaughter and branded with an M on their thumbs.
21:42
SPEAKER_01: Despite the violence ending after the events of March 5th,
21:46
SPEAKER_01: Boston was in no place to accept reconciliation.
21:49
SPEAKER_01: It was this,
21:51
SPEAKER_01: what they called the Boston Massacre,
21:53
that gave many colonists the impetus to start arguing in
21:57
earnest that perhaps they
21:59
SPEAKER_01: ought to be independent.
22:01
After the Boston Massacre,
22:02
there was a political pause to deal with the fallout.
22:06
The first act of parliament that regarded the colonies came
22:08
after the election of
22:09
SPEAKER_01: 1770,
22:11
SPEAKER_01: which brought the Tories to power,
22:12
SPEAKER_01: led by Lord North.
22:14
This act was the repeal of all of the Townsend duties,
22:17
except for the duty on tea.
22:20
SPEAKER_01: From here...
22:21
The colonies were largely left alone as England dealt with
22:23
local issues in other
22:24
SPEAKER_01: parts of its global empire.
22:27
SPEAKER_01: This largely ended the non-importation from the colonies,
22:30
SPEAKER_01: and trade expanded by some 50% over the next three years.
22:34
SPEAKER_01: However, this did teach an unfortunate lesson to the colonists.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: Their protestation provided results.
22:42
SPEAKER_01: Now that single piece of the Townsend duties that was left behind,
22:45
SPEAKER_01: the tea duty,
22:47
SPEAKER_01: proved vitally important.
22:49
SPEAKER_01: After the French and Indian War ended, the tea trade boomed.
22:53
SPEAKER_01: Due to continuously increasing duties,
22:55
SPEAKER_01: the price to bring tea into England legally became prohibitive,
23:00
SPEAKER_01: thus smuggling abounded.
23:03
SPEAKER_01: With the new territorial
23:04
SPEAKER_01: Now in China,
23:04
the tea trade was controlled by the Chinese empire and a cartel
23:07
of select super
23:08
SPEAKER_01: traders.
23:22
SPEAKER_01: And as the 1770s rolled around,
23:25
SPEAKER_01: this trade was expanding rapidly as the traders and the British monarchy,
23:30
SPEAKER_01: through the English East India Company,
23:32
SPEAKER_01: as well as the Chinese Empire,
23:34
SPEAKER_01: wished to fill their coffers immediately.
23:37
Faster and Faster Increased investment into growing tea and an
23:41
exceptional harvest
23:42
SPEAKER_01: only made business soar to ever higher heights.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: But with this massive influx, the sellers began to run out of buyers.
23:51
SPEAKER_01: At the same time,
23:51
SPEAKER_01: in India,
23:52
a war brought with it famine and death that sent taxable wealth
23:56
plummeting.
23:57
And Company Debt Skyrocketing The Company Leaders Were Praying
24:01
That They Could
24:02
Tough Out These Coming Troubles By 1771 The System Was Beyond
24:07
Unstable And Any
24:08
SPEAKER_01: Small Shock Would Cause The Whole System To Crash
24:17
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm going to try my best to simplify what happened,
24:20
because I don't want to go into the complexities of the British
24:23
economy or the
24:24
SPEAKER_01: world economy,
24:26
SPEAKER_01: but there are a few key pieces that help drive this story.
24:29
The boom that had occurred after the end of the war made many
24:33
Britons complacent to
24:35
SPEAKER_01: the underlying frailty of the trade empire,
24:38
SPEAKER_01: especially when it came to tea.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: This growth was not seen very strongly by the shopkeepers,
24:52
SPEAKER_01: artisans,
24:53
SPEAKER_01: and farmers,
24:54
but rather the bankers and tycoons who took advantage of low
24:57
interest rates.
24:59
Low interest rates that the Central Bank of England had held
25:02
there for too long,
25:04
SPEAKER_01: forcing them to stop funding high-risk banks.
25:07
SPEAKER_01: And in the summer of 1772,
25:10
SPEAKER_01: This whole house of cards collapsed.
25:13
SPEAKER_01: Rumors of these refused loans led to runs on those banks,
25:17
SPEAKER_01: which were now without the cash to fulfill the requested withdrawals.
25:22
SPEAKER_01: This run on the banks drove the British economy into a deep recession.
25:26
SPEAKER_01: Many businesses failed, and many workers were fired.
25:30
SPEAKER_01: And while the East India Company was spared from this crisis,
25:33
SPEAKER_01: it was in dire straits,
25:34
and needed a good auction to pull themselves out from under
25:37
their debt bill.
25:39
SPEAKER_01: Now,
25:39
it was this financial crisis that had kept Parliament from
25:42
concerning themselves
25:43
SPEAKER_01: much at all with the events in America.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: But America was brought right back to the front of mind,
25:49
though never formally discussed in Parliament they were a cause
25:53
for discussion
25:55
SPEAKER_01: elsewhere,
25:56
SPEAKER_01: when the news of the Gatsby incident arrived in the fall of 1772.
26:02
SPEAKER_01: All of this started in February 1772 when the Gatsby,
26:07
SPEAKER_01: a British ship that was searching for smugglers,
26:10
SPEAKER_01: commandeered a boat full with smuggled goods.
26:14
SPEAKER_01: Shortly after, the boat was taken back by about a dozen Americans.
26:19
The Gatsby was prevented from following the smuggling ship by a
26:23
swarm of whaling boats.
26:25
SPEAKER_01: Less than two weeks later,
26:27
SPEAKER_01: the Gatsby took the fortune belonging to Nathaniel Green,
26:30
SPEAKER_01: a prominent trader,
26:31
SPEAKER_01: and further illuminated
26:32
In his book An Empire on the Edge Nick Bunker lays out these
26:35
differences Quote
27:01
End quote Now the captures by the Gatsby continued to push New
27:03
England further away
27:05
SPEAKER_01: from Britain,
27:05
and the British Navy faced continuous obstructions and legal
27:07
challenges while they
27:09
SPEAKER_01: were trying to slow the smuggling problem.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: This continued until the fateful day of June 9, 1772.
27:36
Shortly after midnight,
27:38
the Gatsby encountered a group of longboats full of American
27:41
colonists.
27:42
The crew of the Gatsby was unable to gather any weapons and
27:44
were thus unable to prevent these
27:46
SPEAKER_01: The American attackers then looted the ship,
27:51
SPEAKER_01: moved the crew to small boats,
27:53
SPEAKER_01: sent them ashore,
27:54
SPEAKER_01: and set fire to the Gatsby.
27:56
SPEAKER_01: While the conflict had been relatively low since the Boston Massacre,
28:00
SPEAKER_01: this was an escalation in violence and an attack on the Navy directly.
28:04
SPEAKER_01: and it showed a complete lack of respect to the king's right to rule.
28:10
SPEAKER_01: As the news arrived in Britain, it brought another decision point.
28:14
SPEAKER_01: There was a risk of the men responsible walking away without punishment,
28:18
SPEAKER_01: thus proving the weakness of parliament.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: On the flip side,
28:22
there was a concern of inflaming the colonies again by charging
28:25
them and hanging
28:26
SPEAKER_01: them.
28:27
SPEAKER_01: Their choice to pursue the latter, though it proved unsuccessful,
28:32
SPEAKER_01: Showed that the rift was only going to continue to grow.
28:36
This also proved to the British that it was almost impossible
28:40
to collect revenue
28:42
SPEAKER_01: from the Americans,
28:43
SPEAKER_01: and it would take a far heavier hand to do so.
28:47
SPEAKER_01: But again, these were pushed aside from our local crises.
28:52
SPEAKER_01: Amidst all of this financial trouble in England,
28:55
SPEAKER_01: the elites never really stopped their displays of wealth.
29:00
And the Americans saw this financial crisis itself as a natural
29:05
consequence of that
29:07
SPEAKER_01: ostentatious behavior.
29:09
SPEAKER_01: So when it didn't slow down,
29:11
SPEAKER_01: it only made the request for them to repay debts even more appalling.
29:16
It was clear that the colonists were relegated to creating
29:19
wealth for the mother
29:20
SPEAKER_01: country,
29:21
SPEAKER_01: something that both sides agreed was happening.
29:25
SPEAKER_01: But the colonists were not willing to accept that.
29:28
And it was in this moment in British history that the
29:31
leadership started to realize
29:33
SPEAKER_01: the pains of running a global empire most acutely.
29:37
SPEAKER_01: Nick Bunker lays this out,
29:39
SPEAKER_01: quote,
29:40
SPEAKER_01: All around the rim of the empire,
29:41
SPEAKER_01: there were little local crises of this kind underway,
29:45
SPEAKER_01: just as there were disputes and disorders in Great Britain.
29:48
SPEAKER_01: Seen from Whitehall,
29:50
SPEAKER_01: each individual problem might seem trivial,
29:52
SPEAKER_01: but added together they painted a picture of chaos.
29:56
SPEAKER_01: The Empire was fragmented with this power struggle,
29:59
SPEAKER_01: and any attempt by Parliament to reign them in was seen as raw tyranny.
30:22
SPEAKER_01: They also had very little data to work with.
30:24
SPEAKER_01: Even in the world we live in,
30:25
SPEAKER_01: which is rich with data,
30:26
SPEAKER_01: sometimes it can be hard to piece it all together.
30:30
SPEAKER_01: Now imagine every time you do something,
30:32
SPEAKER_01: pass a law,
30:33
SPEAKER_01: impose new duties,
30:34
SPEAKER_01: etc.,
30:35
SPEAKER_01: it takes three months to see the response.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: And as the number of crises increased,
30:41
SPEAKER_01: Britain needed a great man,
30:43
SPEAKER_01: some great statesman to manage it all.
30:45
SPEAKER_01: But this person didn't exist.
30:48
SPEAKER_01: And the chaos only got worse with time.
30:52
SPEAKER_01: For instance,
30:53
there was a resurgence in radical Whigs politically as a
30:57
protest to the kings and
30:58
SPEAKER_01: those loyal to him negligent.
31:02
SPEAKER_01: The biggest winner was John Wilkes.
31:04
SPEAKER_01: While his cohort did not win many seats,
31:08
they gained just enough of a foothold to act as a fly in Lord
31:12
North's ear.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: This also gave ever more fuel to the rebellious flames in the colonies.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: And again,
31:20
SPEAKER_01: while Britain walked this tightrope to avoid economic collapse,
31:24
SPEAKER_01: the East India Company was risking bankruptcy.
31:27
SPEAKER_01: And should the company collapse, France was rearing to take India back.
31:33
SPEAKER_01: So to help pay for these debts, a plan was proposed.
31:38
Part of this plan was to sell the massive influx of tea that
31:41
was sitting in
31:42
SPEAKER_01: warehouses at a discount to finance a portion of the debt and cut down on
31:47
SPEAKER_01: smuggling.
31:48
SPEAKER_01: However,
31:48
SPEAKER_01: if they were to sell it in Europe,
31:50
SPEAKER_01: smuggling it back into England would be far too easy.
31:53
SPEAKER_01: So this eventually morphed into a plan to send the tea to America.
31:59
After the passing of the Townsend duties,
32:01
which included that three penny tax on tea,
32:05
SPEAKER_01: Smuggling ran rampant throughout the colonies as a protest.
32:09
SPEAKER_01: The colonists even went so far as to boycott legal tea,
32:12
SPEAKER_01: and some even wished to destroy all legal tea in the colonies together.
32:17
And beyond just using ships like the Gatsby to try to tamp down
32:22
on smuggling,
32:23
SPEAKER_01: the Tea Act,
32:23
which was passed allowing for that massive tea supply to
32:26
quickly be sent to
32:27
SPEAKER_01: America,
32:28
SPEAKER_01: was another method to remove smugglers.
32:31
SPEAKER_01: While the British were ignorant of what was going to happen,
32:35
SPEAKER_01: the Americans present in Britain,
32:37
SPEAKER_01: namely Benjamin Franklin,
32:39
thought that this would only further alienate the colonies
32:42
rather than force them
32:44
SPEAKER_01: to back down For the colonists,
32:47
SPEAKER_01: this scheme only proved the tyranny of the British government
32:52
SPEAKER_01: And the eventual response,
32:53
SPEAKER_01: which matches Franklin's prediction,
32:55
SPEAKER_01: should not have been surprising.
32:57
But many in the British government had grown complacent and
33:01
largely ignored the
33:02
SPEAKER_01: ever-increasing rhetorical flames that were coming from America.
33:05
SPEAKER_01: In an attempt to make their concerns explicit,
33:08
the Massachusetts Assembly sent what is called the Boston
33:11
Pamphlet to the North
33:13
SPEAKER_01: Ministry.
33:14
SPEAKER_01: This was a short treatise on the rights of the colonists,
33:17
SPEAKER_01: largely derived from the philosophy of John Locke.
33:21
They further listed 12 grievances from the Standing Army to the
33:24
response to the
33:25
SPEAKER_01: Gatsby incident to the various taxes imposed on the colonies.
33:30
SPEAKER_01: In total,
33:31
it was a direct indictment against the actions of the British
33:33
government and
33:34
SPEAKER_01: accused them of subjecting the colonies to enslavement.
33:38
SPEAKER_01: Now while news of the Tea Act sent chills up the spine of the colonists,
33:43
SPEAKER_01: the King and Lord North were far more concerned with the state of Europe,
33:48
SPEAKER_01: namely the potential of another war with France.
33:52
SPEAKER_01: The 1772 Swedish Revolution risked bringing Russia and France into war,
33:57
SPEAKER_01: and thus all of Europe into war,
34:00
SPEAKER_01: including England.
34:01
SPEAKER_01: But over the previous decades since the French and Indian War,
34:05
SPEAKER_01: The British had slowly become isolated and given this isolation,
34:10
SPEAKER_01: they had no way to dictate how this would unfold.
34:13
This isolation was also a key to the way the revolution would
34:17
eventually play out.
34:18
SPEAKER_01: While England was isolated,
34:21
SPEAKER_01: Many of the colonists started to work closer together.
34:24
There was a greater need to start intercolonial communications
34:28
like the circular
34:29
SPEAKER_01: letter from Boston.
34:30
SPEAKER_01: And there would be continuous communications between the various colonial
34:34
SPEAKER_01: assemblies and the British Parliament and the King.
34:38
All of it just seemed to continuously drive more and more of a
34:43
wedge between the two sides.
34:45
SPEAKER_01: And this wedge was driven even deeper.
34:47
when word of the first shipment of tea reached the colonies on
34:53
November 17,
34:54
1773.
34:54
SPEAKER_01: The first shipment was arriving in Boston,
34:59
and what was to come was the culmination of the clash of wills
35:02
between the citizens
35:03
SPEAKER_01: of Boston and Parliament.
35:06
SPEAKER_01: Both had their own concerns economically and philosophically,
35:10
SPEAKER_01: and the ships bound for Boston Harbor were
35:18
SPEAKER_01: Now before the news arrived of this approaching tea,
35:25
SPEAKER_01: the Sons of Liberty located in Boston,
35:27
SPEAKER_01: most notably of them Samuel Adams and John Hancock,
35:30
had effectively taken control of the city and forced the
35:33
British soldiers to stay
35:35
within the confines of Castle William for fear of another
35:39
Boston Massacre.
35:40
SPEAKER_01: Hutchinson himself was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
35:44
There was little he could do to prevent the rabble from owning
35:46
the city and further
35:48
the empire from imploding without resorting to a violent
35:52
military crackdown,
35:54
SPEAKER_01: which would put his own family in danger.
35:57
SPEAKER_01: So the town stayed in this limbo as the ships approached,
36:00
SPEAKER_01: and on November 27th,
36:02
SPEAKER_01: the first ship entered the harbor.
36:05
In the standoff that occurs is the entire debate between the
36:09
colonies and the empire.
36:10
SPEAKER_01: The rights of self-determination,
36:12
SPEAKER_01: local autonomy,
36:13
democracy were all being tested when the citizens of Boston
36:17
decided that the tea on
36:19
SPEAKER_01: this ship was not going to come on shore.
36:23
In a battle over whether or not the tea would actually be able
36:26
to be unloaded,
36:28
SPEAKER_01: the colonists won the day,
36:30
SPEAKER_01: and they knew that there was no going back at this point.
36:33
SPEAKER_01: This was now a direct act of rebellion.
36:37
SPEAKER_01: For the next few weeks,
36:38
SPEAKER_01: more ships arrived with tea,
36:40
and each was prevented from offloading by armed men standing on
36:44
the wharf.
36:45
SPEAKER_01: On December 16th,
36:46
the first ship that had arrived was facing being impounded by
36:50
the Navy for not
36:50
SPEAKER_01: delivering the tea.
36:52
SPEAKER_01: The Colonial Committee
36:53
SPEAKER_01: made a final decision.
36:55
SPEAKER_01: If the Navy allowed the ships to sail, the tea would be spared.
36:59
SPEAKER_01: Hutchinson did not allow this to happen.
37:01
SPEAKER_01: A band of men took to the wharf and dumped the contents into the harbor.
37:06
SPEAKER_01: Nick Bunker describes this event in An Empire on the Edge.
37:12
SPEAKER_01: With thousands of spectators gazing down on what they did,
37:15
SPEAKER_01: the raiders at the wharf apparently numbered between 100 and 150.
37:19
At least that many men were needed to shift such a large
37:22
consignment of tea.
37:24
SPEAKER_01: Armed with clubs and sticks and cutlasses,
37:26
SPEAKER_01: while others with firearms stood guard on the shore,
37:29
SPEAKER_01: they divided into three teams,
37:31
SPEAKER_01: one assigned to each ship.
37:33
SPEAKER_01: They swarmed aboard,
37:34
SPEAKER_01: some in their Indian costumes,
37:36
SPEAKER_01: and brushed aside the customs officer,
37:38
SPEAKER_01: warning them to leave or face a beating.
37:41
SPEAKER_01: Only one skipper was aboard his ship,
37:42
SPEAKER_01: Hezekiah Coffin on the Beaver,
37:44
SPEAKER_01: and the next day he gave a sworn statement describing the scene.
37:48
Forty men had filled his deck,
37:49
broken open the hatches,
37:50
and dropped down into the hold.
37:52
They set up a hoist and hauled the tea chests aloft with blocks
37:55
and tackle.
37:56
SPEAKER_01: It would take nearly three hours of hard labor to empty each ship,
37:59
SPEAKER_01: smashing holes in every chest and dumping the leaves in Boston Harbor.
38:03
SPEAKER_01: The tide was low and the water was shallow,
38:05
but even so the tea spread outward in long plumes drifting away
38:09
to the south.
38:10
SPEAKER_01: Out from the shore came a few men in rowing boats,
38:13
SPEAKER_01: perhaps intending to scoop it up and take it home.
38:15
SPEAKER_01: They were swiftly warned off by the squad with mustaches
38:17
SPEAKER_01: End quote.
38:38
It was in this act that the last remnants of a connection
38:40
between the colonists and
38:42
SPEAKER_01: the empire were shattered.
38:44
SPEAKER_01: The economic system,
38:45
SPEAKER_01: that is,
38:46
SPEAKER_01: mercantilism,
38:47
SPEAKER_01: that had been held afloat in part by the buyers in America,
38:51
SPEAKER_01: had shown its weaknesses during the Stamp Act crisis,
38:54
SPEAKER_01: and it was showing itself again here.
38:57
SPEAKER_01: When the colonists began to assert their own wishes,
39:00
SPEAKER_01: the British leadership was aghast at such insubordination.
39:05
They didn't understand that this was not going to be fixed by
39:08
further insisting on
39:09
SPEAKER_01: this relationship,
39:10
SPEAKER_01: this economic relationship.
39:13
SPEAKER_01: So the sending of tea only further exacerbated the rift.
39:17
SPEAKER_01: And after the tea was in the harbor,
39:20
SPEAKER_01: the British government turned to the last method they could think of.
39:26
SPEAKER_01: News of this event arrived in London on January 19th.
39:31
This news spread like wildfire,
39:33
and analysis of the event split along the usual political
39:36
lines.
39:37
SPEAKER_01: There were many meetings to determine what would be the best way forward,
39:40
SPEAKER_01: either punishment or reconciliation,
39:43
but at this point it seemed like there was no turning back the
39:46
tide of rebellion.
39:48
SPEAKER_01: Regardless of how effective the possible alternative could have been,
39:52
SPEAKER_01: the British government chose punishment,
39:55
SPEAKER_01: especially targeted at Boston.
39:59
SPEAKER_01: The collection of these acts were called the Coercive Acts.
40:03
SPEAKER_01: In America, they were called the Intolerable Acts.
40:10
SPEAKER_01: Now there were many different plans proposed,
40:13
SPEAKER_01: most involved shutting down the port in Boston,
40:16
SPEAKER_01: removing those in power and reforming the assembly,
40:19
SPEAKER_01: and increasing the army and navy presence in the colonies.
40:24
SPEAKER_01: All of these were seen as so vital
40:28
George III himself raised an opinion for the first time in over
40:31
half a decade to
40:32
SPEAKER_01: agree with the punishments proposed.
40:36
SPEAKER_01: Beyond Boston,
40:37
all the colonies that had received a shipment of tea were sent
40:40
warnings to give
40:41
SPEAKER_01: them an opportunity to
40:42
SPEAKER_01: Missing Pages
40:57
SPEAKER_01: Missing Pages
41:12
SPEAKER_01: and there wasn't enough evidence anyway to charge any of them.
41:17
SPEAKER_01: Now the acts that were coming further reinforced the view for the British
41:21
leadership that the colonies need to be shown with force that
41:26
they were subordinate
41:28
SPEAKER_01: to the rest of the empire.
41:30
SPEAKER_01: Even the Whigs,
41:30
SPEAKER_01: the more liberal faction in parliament,
41:33
SPEAKER_01: were appalled by the actions in Boston,
41:35
though they did shy away from getting behind the hawkishness of
41:39
the Tories,
41:40
SPEAKER_01: the conservatives.
41:42
SPEAKER_01: In the colonies,
41:42
SPEAKER_01: though,
41:43
it became clear that this was the final attempt by the empire
41:46
to enslave the entire
41:48
SPEAKER_01: population.
41:49
This was further enforced by the installation of General Gage
41:53
as the de facto
41:54
SPEAKER_01: military dictator of New England on March 10th.
41:58
SPEAKER_01: The acts that make up the coercive acts are the Boston Port Act,
42:02
SPEAKER_01: which closed the harbor,
42:04
the Massachusetts Government Act to take royal control of the
42:08
legislature directly,
42:10
SPEAKER_01: and the Administration of Justice Act to do the same for judges.
42:15
SPEAKER_01: Now,
42:15
it goes without saying that these acts were incompatible with
42:18
the local laws and
42:20
legal frameworks in the colonies and were viewed as pure
42:24
enslavement by many
42:25
SPEAKER_01: colonists.
42:26
The revocation of the Massachusetts Charter and a renewed
42:30
version of the Quartering
42:31
SPEAKER_01: Act,
42:31
SPEAKER_01: which now allowed troops to be quartered in private homes,
42:35
SPEAKER_01: were the final nails in the coffin.
42:37
SPEAKER_01: With the Tories in total control of this situation,
42:41
there was seemingly nothing that would prevent the imperial
42:43
seat and the colonies
42:45
SPEAKER_01: from engaging in more and more open conflict.
42:49
SPEAKER_01: As a side note, there was one final act, called
42:52
SPEAKER_01: Missing Pages
43:07
And the borders were pushed south into the Ohio Valley and west
43:10
to the Mississippi
43:11
SPEAKER_01: River,
43:12
SPEAKER_01: which basically cut off Virginia,
43:13
SPEAKER_01: Pennsylvania,
43:14
SPEAKER_01: and New York from expanding westward.
43:16
Now,
43:17
while the other laws were seen positively in London,
43:20
this act mostly due to its
43:22
Allowance of Catholic Doctrine was protested on behalf of
43:26
Americans in the only
43:28
SPEAKER_01: protest of its kind in London.
43:30
SPEAKER_01: Though the Tories took this win and ran with it,
43:34
it was clear to the Whigs in Parliament that these acts would
43:38
be calamitous.
43:40
They knew much more than the Tories at this point,
43:43
the psychology of the colonies.
43:46
And they also knew that there was no olive branch that could
43:48
prevent war after this set of laws.
43:52
But all of the protestation that they brought forth was for
43:55
nothing as an army was
43:56
prepared to further enforce these laws in Boston With Gage on
44:02
his way to the
44:03
colonies with this army the stage was set for this conflict to
44:07
continue to escalate
44:09
It was not known whether a full revolution was coming but the
44:13
British government
44:14
SPEAKER_01: did know that they would need to use force to get the colonies to comply
44:20
SPEAKER_01: What they didn't know was that the Americans were ready for this See,
44:24
as the intolerable acts slowly rolled out over the spring of
44:28
1774 the American
44:30
SPEAKER_01: colonists had started to prepare for the coming conflict that,
44:34
SPEAKER_01: to them,
44:34
SPEAKER_01: seemed unavoidable
44:36
SPEAKER_01: After the Boston Tea Party,
44:38
SPEAKER_01: little correspondence reached the city directly from London,
44:41
but what they did learn made it obvious that they needed to
44:44
seriously consider
44:45
SPEAKER_01: raising an army themselves,
44:47
SPEAKER_01: and in doing so,
44:48
SPEAKER_01: commit treason.
44:50
As news continued to trickle in about the closing of the
44:52
harbor,
44:53
the revocation of the charter,
44:55
SPEAKER_01: The Massachusetts House made its point clear.
44:58
SPEAKER_01: There would be no more British business in Boston.
45:02
And the arrival of Thomas Gage on May 13,
45:06
1774 further inflamed the already tense situation.
45:10
SPEAKER_01: And the protests in Boston that arose drove Gage into madness.
45:15
SPEAKER_01: Nick Bunker states that it was,
45:16
SPEAKER_01: quote,
45:17
SPEAKER_01: like the headmaster of some unruly private school where the pupils seemed
45:21
SPEAKER_01: impervious to discipline,
45:23
SPEAKER_01: end quote.
45:24
As the network of revolutionaries continued to gather resources
45:28
for the upcoming
45:29
SPEAKER_01: conflict,
45:30
Gage was unable either from hubris or ability to keep track of
45:34
these supplies or
45:35
SPEAKER_01: develop any sort of defensive strategies.
45:38
SPEAKER_01: He mostly just waited for the colonists to apologize for their misdeeds,
45:43
SPEAKER_01: thus giving them even more time to prepare As Gage waited,
45:47
the entire colonial world began to coalesce around a singular
45:50
strategy of protest,
45:52
non-importation The potential of this spreading further was
45:55
barely considered a
45:56
SPEAKER_01: problem for both Gage and the politicians in London To them,
46:01
SPEAKER_01: Boston must pay the price,
46:02
SPEAKER_01: no matter what
46:04
SPEAKER_01: And when the troops arrived in America,
46:06
SPEAKER_01: they were promptly sent to Boston,
46:08
SPEAKER_01: though they didn't really have much to do.
46:10
This was made all the worse as supplies were lacking and winter
46:14
was not getting any
46:15
SPEAKER_01: further away,
46:16
SPEAKER_01: which further drove conflict.
46:20
Because of this non-importation,
46:21
Boston did need to get supplies somewhere.
46:24
SPEAKER_01: And though Gage was slow to learn of all of these networks,
46:27
SPEAKER_01: he did realize that this was far greater than just the Sons of Liberty.
46:32
SPEAKER_01: As food was being shipped to Boston,
46:35
SPEAKER_01: from South Carolina.
46:36
SPEAKER_01: Gage also realized too late,
46:38
SPEAKER_01: after assembling his counselors,
46:40
SPEAKER_01: thus undermining the democratic system in Massachusetts,
46:43
SPEAKER_01: that he could not easily instill the order that London had wished him to.
46:47
SPEAKER_01: By this point,
46:48
SPEAKER_01: the colonies were a near-open rebellion,
46:51
SPEAKER_01: and considered all British authority invalid.
46:54
SPEAKER_01: Despite this,
46:55
SPEAKER_01: Gage chose Boston as the final stand,
46:57
SPEAKER_01: a symbolic choice,
46:59
SPEAKER_01: but a poor one strategically.
47:01
SPEAKER_01: It is with this backdrop
47:03
That the network of colonial correspondents reached its final
47:07
conclusion.
47:08
SPEAKER_01: They must conduct a Congress to determine the path forward.
47:12
And this Continental Congress was slated to begin in the
47:16
beginning of September.
47:18
Now while Gage is fighting this battle between himself and the
47:21
soldiers and the
47:23
SPEAKER_01: colonists,
47:24
SPEAKER_01: in London the elites were continuing to just go to parties.
47:28
SPEAKER_01: And Bunker lays out the parties that abounded in the summer of 1774.
47:33
SPEAKER_01: Quote,
47:57
SPEAKER_01: He continues,
47:58
SPEAKER_01: It would not occur to the guests that America,
48:00
SPEAKER_01: so far away and so provincial,
48:02
SPEAKER_01: might represent the future,
48:03
or that the colonies might prefer a different kind of progress
48:06
and prosperity to
48:07
SPEAKER_01: their own.
48:07
SPEAKER_01: With all its talk of covenants and charters,
48:10
SPEAKER_01: in British eyes,
48:11
SPEAKER_01: Boston seemed to be a throwback to the obsessive age of Oliver Cromwell.
48:16
SPEAKER_01: For Lord North and his friends,
48:17
SPEAKER_01: New England was a vast,
48:19
SPEAKER_01: unruly sink of prejudice and hatred,
48:21
SPEAKER_01: where no one would appreciate the mask of Venus."
48:26
SPEAKER_01: Beyond the contempt for America,
48:29
there was seemingly no consideration of any alternate path to
48:33
what Parliament was
48:33
SPEAKER_01: doing.
48:34
SPEAKER_01: This hubris was only made worse by the recovering of the British economy,
48:39
SPEAKER_01: thus making it more obvious that the colonists should just give in,
48:43
SPEAKER_01: since there were other markets that could make up for their boycotts.
48:56
SPEAKER_01: However,
48:57
SPEAKER_01: over time,
48:58
SPEAKER_01: news started to arrive from the colonies,
49:00
SPEAKER_01: and rumors arose of an open rebellion and even Gage's death.
49:04
SPEAKER_01: All were false,
49:05
but they did not provide the confident vision that North and
49:08
the Tories had hoped.
49:10
SPEAKER_01: But the election that took place in the summer of 1774,
49:13
SPEAKER_01: in which the Tories remained in power,
49:16
SPEAKER_01: only hardened their stance towards America.
49:19
And when news arrived of smuggling military supplies from the
49:23
Netherlands and
49:23
SPEAKER_01: Germany and news of the Continental Congress,
49:27
SPEAKER_01: the Tories decided that there was no turning back.
49:30
SPEAKER_01: Back in America,
49:31
SPEAKER_01: after selecting their delegates,
49:33
SPEAKER_01: on September 5th,
49:34
SPEAKER_01: 1774,
49:36
SPEAKER_01: the Congress met for the first time.
49:38
This Congress was seen as the only way for the colonies to get
49:41
the recourse for the
49:42
previous decade of policies that were directly affecting their
49:46
rights as British
49:47
SPEAKER_01: subjects.
49:49
SPEAKER_01: There were very few that truly wished for any sort of revolution,
49:53
but the relationship had soured to such a degree that there
49:56
seemed few other
49:57
SPEAKER_01: options that would allow them to preserve their liberty.
50:00
This Congress was an attempt by the colonists to determine what
50:04
their rights were
50:05
SPEAKER_01: and figure out what the best way to defend them was.
50:07
Some of the names that were involved with this first Congress
50:11
were Samuel Adams,
50:12
SPEAKER_01: John Jay,
50:14
SPEAKER_01: Patrick Henry,
50:15
SPEAKER_01: John Adams,
50:17
SPEAKER_01: and George Washington.
50:18
SPEAKER_01: Early on in this Congress,
50:20
there was little direction regarding what this resistance would
50:22
actually look like.
50:24
SPEAKER_01: It started with what were called the Suffolk Resolves,
50:27
which merely provided solidarity to Boston for the various
50:30
actions against the
50:32
SPEAKER_01: city.
50:33
SPEAKER_01: But slowly over time, the debates started to change.
50:35
SPEAKER_01: Debates arose about the origins of rights,
50:38
SPEAKER_01: the purpose and shape of government,
50:41
SPEAKER_01: and the overall cause of their grievances.
50:45
SPEAKER_01: And eventually a uniting cause began to develop.
50:49
SPEAKER_01: In An Empire on the Edge, Nick Bunker describes this newfound cause.
50:54
SPEAKER_01: Quote,
51:00
SPEAKER_01: Missing Pages
51:15
SPEAKER_01: to American Freedom, or so the Continental Congress believed.
51:19
SPEAKER_01: By revoking the Charter of Massachusetts,
51:22
SPEAKER_01: the British had done away with popular government in that colony,
51:25
SPEAKER_01: and the rest might soon suffer the same fate.
51:28
SPEAKER_01: They had attacked the right to trial by jury,
51:30
SPEAKER_01: they wanted to close the wilderness to settlers,
51:33
SPEAKER_01: and they undermined the Christian faith.
51:35
SPEAKER_01: Parliament would tax the colonies whenever it saw fit,
51:38
SPEAKER_01: and if Americans objected,
51:39
SPEAKER_01: the army would march in to make them pay."
51:43
SPEAKER_01: Now,
51:43
SPEAKER_01: in the British perspective,
51:45
SPEAKER_01: there were clear reasons for all of these acts that were passed,
51:48
SPEAKER_01: and parliamentary sovereignty was clear.
51:50
SPEAKER_01: But there was no neutral court to determine who was actually correct.
51:54
SPEAKER_01: Now, beyond grievances, during the Congress, the topic of rights
51:58
SPEAKER_01: Englishmen and as Men were debated.
52:01
SPEAKER_01: What were they?
52:01
SPEAKER_01: Where did they come from?
52:03
SPEAKER_01: How could they be protected?
52:04
SPEAKER_01: This culminated in a written declaration of rights.
52:08
They found that rights were found in nature,
52:10
the British Constitution,
52:12
and their own charters.
52:14
SPEAKER_01: Secondarily,
52:15
SPEAKER_01: their own legislatures were supreme,
52:17
SPEAKER_01: not parliament,
52:17
SPEAKER_01: in which they were not properly represented.
52:20
SPEAKER_01: They also talked about trade.
52:22
SPEAKER_01: The idea of a full trade ban with England was raised.
52:25
SPEAKER_01: Non-importation had already been popular,
52:27
SPEAKER_01: but some colonies,
52:28
SPEAKER_01: namely Virginia and South Carolina,
52:31
SPEAKER_01: were concerned with finding buyers for their tobacco,
52:34
SPEAKER_01: rice,
52:35
SPEAKER_01: and indigo.
52:36
SPEAKER_01: In the end, a full trade ban was accepted.
52:39
SPEAKER_01: Non-exportation would begin the next year, in September.
52:43
SPEAKER_01: On October 20th,
52:44
SPEAKER_01: after some six weeks of debate,
52:46
the twelve colonies that had sent delegates signed a formal
52:49
statement calling for
52:50
the repeal of every act regarding the colonies passed after the
52:53
fall of Quebec in
52:54
SPEAKER_01: 1760.
52:56
While this was being sent,
52:58
General Gage was writing letters with his own concerns.
53:01
He stated he could barely control Boston with his troops,
53:04
let alone the rest of the colonies.
53:06
SPEAKER_01: And this news from Gage arrived first.
53:09
SPEAKER_01: So before the demands of the Congress arrived in London,
53:13
SPEAKER_01: King George declared the colonies an open rebellion on November 30th,
53:19
SPEAKER_01: 1774.
53:20
Therefore,
53:20
when the demands of the Congress did arrive,
53:23
the King's declaration was vindicated.
53:25
SPEAKER_01: As the colonies were clearly in rebellion.
53:28
SPEAKER_01: And every signer of this was committing treason.
53:32
SPEAKER_01: Now Gage was ready to act against this rebellion.
53:35
SPEAKER_01: All he needed was word from Parliament.
53:38
SPEAKER_01: And to prevent a war breaking out before he was ready
53:41
He enacted strict discipline in Boston to prevent any minor
53:45
conflicts from boiling over.
53:47
He only had about 4,000 troops and winter was coming,
53:50
so he could not afford any risks.
53:52
SPEAKER_01: The news of the resolution from Congress spread quickly,
53:56
but there was little further military support granted before
53:58
the year ended.
54:00
SPEAKER_01: Behind the scenes in clandestine meetings with Benjamin Franklin,
54:04
several British ministers tried to understand the desires of
54:07
the Americans and
54:08
SPEAKER_01: understand this resolution,
54:10
SPEAKER_01: as most of these suggestions seemed beyond possible.
54:15
SPEAKER_01: But even if they were to try something,
54:16
SPEAKER_01: inertia had taken over,
54:18
and there was little the protestations of even high-ranking
54:22
lords like William Pitt
54:25
SPEAKER_01: could do.
54:26
It was basically hopeless The rebellion had started And as the
54:32
calendar switched
54:33
from 1774 to 1775 Parliament was prepared to use force But they
54:40
wanted to make sure
54:40
that this war was focused in Boston They were unaware of how
54:44
far the tendrils of
54:46
SPEAKER_01: rebellion had spread In the preceding months,
54:49
volunteer soldiers had been amassing throughout the colonies to
54:52
fight on behalf of
54:53
SPEAKER_01: the Congress
54:55
on january thirteenth parliament was called to vote on their
54:58
own declaration of
54:59
rebellion to double the army in america and ban all trade with
55:03
the colonies there
55:05
was one last attempt at reconciliation at least in the british
55:08
view called the
55:09
SPEAKER_01: conciliatory proposition which offered peace within the empire
55:14
with no more taxes in America if they agreed to pay an annual
55:17
grant to pay for the
55:19
SPEAKER_01: army and government in America.
55:22
SPEAKER_01: This would come after the rebellion in Boston was put down.
55:26
SPEAKER_01: Because most in London agreed that by this point,
55:29
SPEAKER_01: the insurgents needed to be crushed before there could be peace.
55:33
It's clear that this was not going to go anywhere Further
55:35
instructions were sent to
55:37
General Gage to shut down the next meeting of the Congress and
55:41
charge all involved
55:43
with treason He was also instructed to start gathering supplies
55:48
with the highest
55:48
priority being gunpowder In this final act before the war began
55:54
Parliament passed
55:55
the resolution naming this a rebellion and sent three generals
55:59
William Howe
56:01
SPEAKER_01: Henry Clinton and John Burgoyne to assist General Gage.
56:06
The revolutionary networks,
56:07
the Sons of Liberty and beyond,
56:09
were prepared for this moment.
56:11
Direct calls to arms were made throughout the colonies,
56:15
with New England leading the way.
56:17
SPEAKER_01: To prepare for that final call of rebellion,
56:19
gunpowder manufacturing was prioritized and militia men were
56:22
trained to prepare in
56:23
SPEAKER_01: short order after the call.
56:26
SPEAKER_01: This ability to organize gave these men a new name, Minutemen.
56:30
SPEAKER_01: In an attempt to disarm these new rebels,
56:33
SPEAKER_01: on April 14th,
56:35
General Gage sent troops to Concord to seize the rebel arms and
56:39
Lexington to arrest
56:40
SPEAKER_01: rebel leaders.
56:42
SPEAKER_01: These movements,
56:43
SPEAKER_01: though,
56:43
were being watched with heavy scrutiny by rebels to determine
56:47
whether war was
56:47
SPEAKER_01: underway.
56:49
Furthermore,
56:49
messengers were designated to send warning should the war
56:52
start.
56:53
One of these men was Paul Revere,
56:56
and on the night of April 18th,
56:58
he made his famous ride.
57:00
SPEAKER_01: At 10 p.m., General Gage made his move.
57:03
He raised some 700 troops and started loading boats to cross
57:08
the Charles River on
57:09
SPEAKER_01: the way to Lexington.
57:12
Now,
57:12
prior to this,
57:13
Revere and Dawes and these messengers had created a signal.
57:18
In the North Church steeple in Boston If one lantern was placed
57:22
in it the soldiers
57:23
were moving across the Boston neck they were advancing by water
57:28
this was to ensure
57:29
that the messages were not stuck in Boston and could be seen
57:33
from across the river
57:35
That night with the signal of two lanterns Revere and Dawes
57:40
rode towards Lexington
57:41
to warn Adams and Hancock and alert any patriots along the way
57:45
of the coming army
57:47
SPEAKER_01: At 4.30am,
57:48
SPEAKER_01: the British regulars arrived in Lexington on their way to Concord,
57:52
SPEAKER_01: and they found the American patriots were ready for them.
57:55
SPEAKER_01: A militia of about 70,
57:57
SPEAKER_01: it had started at nearly double,
57:58
SPEAKER_01: though many had left,
58:00
SPEAKER_01: led by Captain John Parker,
58:02
SPEAKER_01: was waiting along the road to Concord.
58:05
SPEAKER_01: They did not stand in the road to block the way,
58:08
but they rather stood in a nearby field as a show of force
58:11
against this clear act
58:12
SPEAKER_01: of war.
58:14
SPEAKER_01: As the British regulars approached and surrounded the rebels,
58:17
SPEAKER_01: Parker attempted to pull back and disperse his forces.
58:21
But in the chaos the command was not followed,
58:23
and the British continued to advance.
58:26
The true story of what happened next is likely never going to
58:29
be known to us.
58:30
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, both sides have contradictory views of this event.
58:33
In his book,
58:33
Voices of 1776,
58:34
Richard Wheeler relays these two interpretations.
58:36
SPEAKER_01: The first is by a militiaman named Ebenezer Monroe.
58:40
SPEAKER_01: Quote,
58:55
SPEAKER_01: End quote.
59:24
he then uses the word of colonel francis smith the top
59:28
commander of this army our
59:31
troops advance toward them without any intention of injuring
59:34
them further than to
59:35
inquire the reason of their being thus assembled and if not
59:38
satisfactory to have
59:39
SPEAKER_01: secured their arms
59:41
SPEAKER_01: But they in confusion went off, principally to the left.
59:44
SPEAKER_01: Only one of them fired before he went off,
59:46
and three or four more jumped over a wall and fired from behind
59:49
it among the
59:50
SPEAKER_01: soldiers,
59:51
SPEAKER_01: on which the troops returned it."
59:55
SPEAKER_01: After the first shot,
59:56
regulars and rebels alike fired volleys at each other as the
59:59
latter dispersed.
1:00:01
SPEAKER_01: This battle only lasted a few minutes, leaving eight rebels dead.
1:00:05
SPEAKER_01: Colonel Smith,
1:00:06
SPEAKER_01: who we just heard from,
1:00:07
called for his men to lay down arms and march to Concord to
1:00:10
complete their mission.
1:00:12
SPEAKER_01: However,
1:00:13
SPEAKER_01: by this time,
1:00:14
word was already being spread and militias were being raised to
1:00:17
meet the British in
1:00:18
SPEAKER_01: Concord.
1:00:19
SPEAKER_01: At Northbridge near Concord,
1:00:21
another skirmish broke out after the British looted a suspected
1:00:24
supply house.
1:00:25
This resulted in a few dead on both sides before Colonel Smith
1:00:29
decided to gather
1:00:30
SPEAKER_01: his men and march back to Boston.
1:00:32
SPEAKER_01: As they made their way slowly back to the coast,
1:00:35
SPEAKER_01: the regulars were continuously attacked,
1:00:37
SPEAKER_01: oftentimes in hand-to-hand combat.
1:00:40
SPEAKER_01: From all sides,
1:00:41
SPEAKER_01: often from behind the cover of a bush or a wall,
1:00:44
SPEAKER_01: the British were ambushed as they marched.
1:00:47
SPEAKER_01: As the fighting took a more vicious turn,
1:00:49
SPEAKER_01: the British did not hold back in their pillaging,
1:00:51
SPEAKER_01: looting,
1:00:52
SPEAKER_01: and burning of houses on the road to Boston.
1:00:55
This whole extended battle,
1:00:57
that only lasted a day,
1:00:59
was of a type unknown to the British.
1:01:01
In his book,
1:01:02
The Glorious Cause,
1:01:03
Robert Mittelkauf describes this new way of war.
1:01:07
SPEAKER_01: Quote, In several respects, the battle was unlike any in the Revolution.
1:01:11
SPEAKER_01: Never again would there be a quote-unquote front 16 miles long.
1:01:15
But different as the battle was,
1:01:16
it forecast the central problem the British would face.
1:01:19
SPEAKER_01: How to subdue not just another army, but a population in rebellion.
1:01:24
SPEAKER_01: Of course,
1:01:24
SPEAKER_01: the war would often resemble many of the 18th century,
1:01:27
SPEAKER_01: with conventional armies facing one another using well-known tactics.
1:01:31
But it was different at times in the enlistment of civilian
1:01:33
populations and the
1:01:34
SPEAKER_01: discard of usual methods of battle.
1:01:37
SPEAKER_01: End quote.
1:01:55
At the end of this day of fighting,
1:01:57
the British had suffered 273 casualties,
1:02:01
the Americans 95.
1:02:04
SPEAKER_01: It didn't seem that this was going to be as easy as they thought.
1:02:08
And it was clear now that no matter who fired that first shot
1:02:14
at Lexington,
1:02:15
SPEAKER_01: war,
1:02:16
SPEAKER_01: rebellion,
1:02:18
SPEAKER_01: perhaps even revolution had finally arrived.
1:02:28
I'm sorry I do not remember Ordering a glass of your opinion
1:02:37
I'm sorry I forgot the
1:02:40
SPEAKER_02: expert In all of me is you
1:02:45
My apologies I didn't come to you first With every single
1:02:50
decision I'm the worst
1:02:53
SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry mate You know what I'm not I almost forgot
1:03:25
I'm sorry I thought I unsubscribed from your junk mail long ago
1:03:33
it's time I'm sorry
1:03:35
SPEAKER_02: I only trust about three people anyway one of them
1:03:42
SPEAKER_02: My apologies if I manage to hurt your fragile ego Like I said,
1:03:50
SPEAKER_02: I'm the worst I'm sorry,
1:03:52
SPEAKER_02: but you know what,
1:03:53
SPEAKER_02: I'm not I almost forgot Oh,
1:03:56
SPEAKER_02: don't,
1:03:58
SPEAKER_02: oh,
1:03:58
SPEAKER_02: no Don't tell me what to do
1:04:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah,
1:04:06
SPEAKER_02: you don't tell me how to think and live and be No,
1:04:12
SPEAKER_02: I'm not you Thank God,
1:04:15
back up and don't tell me what to do Don't tell me what to do
1:04:25
Feels like you wanna
1:04:27
SPEAKER_02: control me But you don't own me So here's an idea
1:04:33
SPEAKER_02: If you are gonna be salty, could you at least bring together?
1:04:40
SPEAKER_02: Don't,
1:04:41
SPEAKER_02: oh,
1:04:42
SPEAKER_02: no,
1:04:42
SPEAKER_02: don't tell me what to do,
1:04:46
SPEAKER_02: yeah You don't tell me how to think and live the need,
1:04:53
SPEAKER_02: no
1:05:18
SPEAKER_02: Don't tell me what to do Yeah