Event/idea

what happened and when

why it's important and helps explain the revolution

1. causation and British military commitment in the 7 Years' War (what did the British do? to what degree did colonists drag them into the war, and to what extent did the British serve their own interests?)

Taxes imposed on British citizens in England during 7 Years' war:

beer, cider, tobacco, sugar, brandy & spirits (up to 25%); newspapers, paper, linen, advertisements; glass and windows, carriages; houses, deeds, offices (each up to 25% of value). The cider tax was so unpopular and incurred public resistance so strong that it forced Prime Minister Bute to resign (see below about the political importance of drunk people, and think of this when we get to the Whiskey Rebellion in 1793). One protest inserted in the Parliamentary record remarked that "we are called upon to dissent from the passing of this Bill...by a tender regard to the liberties and properties of the people, of which this House hath been always esteemed the hereditary and perpetual guardians." It was pushed through by the next PM, George Grenville, and then repealed in 1766.

Taxes can pay only 1/3 of the debt burden from the war. One of Massachusetts' agents reports of the debate in the House of Commons that “there did not seem to be a single man in Parliament, who thought that the conquered provinces ought to be left without Troops, or that England after having run so deeply in Debt for the conquering of these provinces, by which Stability & Security is given to all the American Governments, should now tax itself for the maintenance of them. The only Difference of opinion...was that Mr. Grenville said he did not expect that America should bear more than a good part of this expense; whereas other leading members not of the Ministry said it ought to bear the whole.”

The expense of stationing troops in the colonies averaged out to 2 shillings per capita for the colonies. The war cost the colonies 6 million pounds, plus an additional 1 million pounds in reimbursements from Parliament. Colonial customs taxes barely surpassed the costs of collecting them.

Going price for a bribe to tax collector's representative (to avoid paying export tax) was 1½ penny/gallon on molasses, so the Sugar Act effectively doubled the tax. When it was dropped to 1 penny/gallon in November 1764, and applied to both British and American imports in 1766, there were no colonial complaints.

When we discuss the political importance of drunk people in the Revolution, remember this: in the 1770s, Americans drank an estimated 6.6 gallons of pure alcohol per person per year (about 5.8 shot glasses of 80-proof liquor per day for every adult over fifteen). At a celebration of the King's birthday in 1769, the assembled made fourteen toasts around the Liberty Tree in Boston at about 11am, went to a tavern for dinner, then made an additional forty-five toasts, concluding around 5pm. (Boston Evening-Post: "The Amusements of the Day were conducted with that Propriety and exact Decorum, which Gentlemen ever observe.") There were enough bars in NYC for every single resident of the city to get a drink at the same time. In Boston, an estimated one of every eight houses sold liquor. In Philadelphia, there were ten times as many taverns per capita as there are now. At a 1787 farewell party for George Washington, attended by 55 of the founding fathers, the bar tab (which is still intact) listed 54 bottles of Madeira wine, 60 bottles of claret, 8 bottles of whiskey, 22 of porter, 8 of hard cider, 12 of beer, and 7 bowls of alcoholic punch. In 1800, Americans continued to drink so much (there was suspicion of water, which was of dubious cleanness) that per capita consumption was the equivalent of 185 bottles of wine per person per year. There's a classic book about this all called The Alcoholic Republic.

Smuggling enforcement was basically nonexistent: from 1766-68, there were 6 seizures of smuggled goods, only one of which was prosecuted successfully (2 acquitted after intimidation of judges, 3 rescued by mob action). Estimated cost of maintaining 20 battalions (about 20,000 soldiers) in the colonies was 200,000 pounds/year after the F&I war; British (PM Grenville) wanted the Americans to come up with about 78,000 pounds and figured Britain would pay the rest. He expected the Townshend Acts to return more than 40,000 pounds/yr.

When the British occupied Boston, 1768-1770, about 1/3 of the adult males in the city (total population c. 15,520) were British soldiers.