Knollenberg Bernhard. Growth of the American Revolution: 1766-1775
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CHRONOLOGY
:
1766–1775
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January . George III, who succeeded his grandfather, George II, as
King in , is on the throne. The Cabinet members of the Ministry,
which succeeded the Grenville Ministry in July, , are Lord Rock-
ingham, First Lord of the Treasury and head of the Ministry; the Duke
of Newcastle, Lord Privy Seal; General Henry Seymour Conway,
Secretary of State for the Southern Department (in charge of colonial
affairs) and Leader of the House of Commons; the Duke of Grafton,
Secretary of State for the Northern Department; Lord Northington,
the Lord Chancellor; Lord Egmont, head of the Admiralty; and Lord
Winchilsea, President of the (Privy) Council. William Dowdeswell has
the important office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, but is not of the
Cabinet.
Most of the thirteen colonies that later rebelled, hereafter some-
times referred to simply as the colonies, are in an uproar over the colo-
nial Stamp Act passed a few months before the Rockingham Ministry
took office.
January . William Pitt, out of office since but still influential,
speaks forcefully in the Commons for repeal of the Stamp Act.
January . Rockingham, Conway, and other leading members of the
Rockingham party decide to sponsor repeal of the Stamp Act, but with
an accompanying act declaring the authority of Parliament to legislate
for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.”
February. Benjamin Franklin, most distinguished American in Great
Britain and London Agent for the Pennsylvania Assembly, testifies in
the Commons that colonists dispute the right of Parliament to levy a
stamp tax or other “internal” tax on the colonies, but not its right to
levy import duties or other “external” taxes.
March. Repeal of the Stamp Act and passage of the Declaratory Act.
April. Rejoicing in the colonies over repeal of the Stamp Act; little no-
tice taken there of the Declaratory Act.
April. Renewal of a Quartering Act requiring colonies in which British
troops are quartered to furnish them with certain supplies.
May. Grafton resigns; Conway switches from the Southern to the
Northern Department of the Secretaryship of State; the Duke of Rich-
mond becomes Secretary of State for the Southern Department.
June. Passage of an act imposing additional restrictions on colonial
trade and levying a duty for revenue (as distinct from a duty to regulate
trade) on colonial imports of molasses.
July–December. The molasses duty excites little opposition in the
colonies.
July. William Pitt (elevated to the House of Lords as Earl of Chatham)
succeeds Newcastle as Lord Privy Seal and Rockingham as First Min-
ister. Grafton returns to office as First Lord of the Treasury. Lord Granby,
Master General of the Ordnance, is now included in the Cabinet. Lord
Shelburne replaces Richmond as Secretary of State for the Southern
Department and in the Cabinet. Sir Charles Pratt (elevated to the peer-
age as Lord Camden) replaces Northington as Lord Chancellor. Charles
Townshend succeeds William Dowdeswell as Chancellor of the Exche-
quer and is soon included in the Cabinet. Northington, Conway, and
Egmont retain office and remain in the Cabinet, with Northington
switching to President of the Council in place of Winchilsea.
September. Egmont resigns and is succeeded (in December) by Sir
Edward Hawke as First Lord of the Admiralty and a member of the
Cabinet.
xxii
September. British customs officers armed with a “general writ of as-
sistance” empowering them to enter private premises to search for con-
traband attempt to enter a cellar in the home of Daniel Malcom to search
for contraband suspected to be hidden there. Malcom, challenging the
legality of such a writ and supported by a gathering crowd, intimidates
the officers so that they do not enter.
October. The Attorney-General of England gives an opinion that co-
lonial courts have no authority to issue general writs of assistance un-
der existing law.
December. The New York Assembly declines to vote funds for the
supplies for British troops stationed in the colony, as required by the
Quartering Act.
December. New York merchants petition the King, complaining of
various British restrictions on colonial trade.
January–December. Friction between British customs officers and
colonial merchants over enforcement of British restrictions on colonial
trade.
January. Townshend announces in the Commons that he will later
present a plan for raising additional revenues in the colonies.
May. Townshend presents to the Commons his proposal for an act
levying duties on colonial imports of tea, paper, glass, and paint.
June. Passage of the so-called Townshend Act levying these duties to
take effect in November and also authorizing the issue by colonial courts
of general writs of assistance to British customs officers in the colonies.
June. Passage of an act providing for the establishment of an American
Customs Board to tighten enforcement of British acts of trade and cus-
toms in the colonies.
June. Passage of the New York Suspending Act forbidding the passage
of any other laws by the New York Legislature until it passed a law
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providing for the supplies for British troops in the colony required by
the Quartering Act.
June. Alarmed by news of the proposed Suspending Act, the New York
Assembly passes an act for the supplies required by the Quartering Act.
July. Chatham has a mental breakdown; Grafton succeeds him as act-
ing head of the Ministry.
July–December. Little protest in the colonies against the Townshend
Act duties.
September. Townshend dies; Frederick North (called Lord North as a
courtesy title) succeeds Townshend as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
November. Establishment of the new American Customs Board at
Boston.
December. Northington dies and is succeeded as President of the
Council and a member of the Cabinet by Lord Gower, a leading mem-
ber of the party headed by the Duke of Bedford, which consistently fa-
vors stern measures to suppress colonial insubordination.
January–December. Continuing friction between British customs of-
ficers and colonial merchants over enforcement of British restrictions
on colonial trade.
January–May. Publication throughout the colonies of a series of let-
ters, the so-called “Farmer’s Letters,” by John Dickinson of Pennsylva-
nia, denying the right of Parliament to levy any kind of duties for rev-
enue on the colonies. These letters arouse widespread opposition to the
Townshend Act duties.
January. Responsibility for colonial affairs is assigned to a third Secre-
tary of State, Secretary of State for the Colonies. Lord Hillsborough is
appointed the new Secretary.
January. Conway is succeeded as Secretary of State by Lord Wey-
mouth, another leading Bedfordite. Conway is succeeded as Leader of
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the Commons by North, but remains in the Cabinet in the politically
unimportant office of Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance.
February. The Massachusetts House of Representatives adopts reso-
lutions denying the right of Parliament to levy any kind of tax for rev-
enue on the colonies and sends a circular letter to the Assemblies of the
other colonies inviting them to take similar action.
March. Demonstrations in Boston against members of the American
Customs Board. The Board appeals for British warships and troops for
its protection and to assist in enforcing the British acts of trade and cus-
toms imposed on the colonies.
April. Hillsborough sends a circular letter to colonial Governors in-
structing them to try to prevent the Assembly of their respective colonies
from taking action similar to that of Massachusetts, and, if unsuccess-
ful, to dissolve the Assembly.
May. The British warship Romney arrives in Boston from the British
naval base at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in response to the American Cus-
toms Board’s appeal.
May. A new House of Commons is elected, without material change
in the political complexion of the House or any immediate change of
Ministry.
June–December. The Assemblies of most of the colonies adopt reso-
lutions similar to those of the Massachusetts House, in defiance of Hills-
borough’s circular letter. Also the Massachusetts House refuses to ac-
cede to a demand by Hillsborough to rescind its February resolutions.
June. Attack on customs officers in Boston following seizure by the
customs of John Hancock’s sloop Liberty for alleged evasion of customs
duties.
August–September. Merchants of Boston and New York City adopt
agreements to cease importing from Great Britain all except a few spec-
ified articles until the Townshend Act duties are repealed.
October. Arrival in Boston of British troops in response to the Ameri-
can Customs Board’s appeal.
xxv
October. Shelburne retires and is replaced as Secretary of State and in
the Cabinet by Lord Rochford.
November. Chatham retires and is replaced as Lord Privy Seal by
Lord Bristol, who is not included in the Cabinet.
January–December. Continuing friction between British customs of-
ficers and colonial merchants over enforcement of British restrictions
on colonial trade.
January–December. Friction between the British troops stationed in
Boston and residents of Boston and neighboring towns.
January. The Duke of Bedford denounces the unruly conduct of Boston
and the Massachusetts House of Representatives and successfully moves
for an address to the King to have the ringleaders in Massachusetts
identified and tried in England for treason.
February. Merchants of Philadelphia adopt a non-importation agree-
ment similar to those of Boston and New York City.
March–October. Non-importation agreements adopted in most of the
other colonies.
May. The Cabinet, at a meeting attended by all except Hawke, votes to
sponsor repeal of the Townshend Act duties, except the duty on tea, at
the next meeting of Parliament. Grafton, Conway, Camden, and Granby
favor total repeal; they are outvoted by North, Gower, Hillsborough,
Weymouth, and Rochford, who favor retention of the tea duty.
May. Hillsborough sends a circular letter to colonial Governors an-
nouncing the Cabinet’s decision to propose at the next meeting of Par-
liament repeal of most of the Townshend Act duties.
May–December. The Virginia House of Burgesses denies the right of
Parliament to tax the people of Virginia and denounces the proposal to
send for trial in England persons accused of treason or other crimes in
the colonies. Several other colonial Assemblies adopt similar resolutions.
xxvi
January–December. Continuing friction in various colonies between
British customs officers and colonial merchants over enforcement of
British restrictions on colonial trade.
January–March. Continuing friction between British troops and res-
idents of Boston.
January. Grafton resigns; North succeeds him as head of the Treasury
and First Minister. Camden resigns his place as Lord Chancellor, which
is filled by commissioners. Granby resigns as Master General of the
Ordnance and withdraws from the Cabinet.
February. James Otis, long the outstanding but erratic leader of the
popular party in Boston and the Massachusetts House of Representa-
tives, becomes unmistakably insane. Samuel Adams is now the fore-
most leader of the party in Massachusetts.
March. British troops shoot and kill several Bostonians in the so-called
Boston Massacre.
March. Adams and other popular leaders in Boston secure withdrawal
of all British troops from Boston.
April. The Townshend Act duties on paper, glass, and paint manufac-
tured in Great Britain are repealed; the duty on tea is retained, avowedly
to maintain Parliament’s claim of authority to tax the colonies.
July. New York City merchants revise their non-importation agreement
to apply only to imports from Great Britain that are subject to duties
levied by Parliament.
September–December. Non-importation agreements in the other
colonies are revised along the same lines as in New York City.
November. George Grenville, father of the Stamp Act, dies.
December. Weymouth resigns as Secretary of State. Lord Sandwich,
another leading Bedfordite, replaces Weymouth as Secretary of State
and in the Cabinet.
xxvii
January–December. North, with the King’s steady support, establishes
a strong, stable administration. Continuing friction between British
customs officers and colonial merchants over enforcement of British re-
strictions on colonial trade. Easing of tension between the British gov-
ernment and the colonists over the issue of taxation; the Townshend
Act duty on tea remains on the British statute books but is largely
evaded by smuggling of tea, winked at by customs officers.
January. Lord Apsley becomes Lord Chancellor and a member of the
Cabinet. Lord Sandwich succeeds Hawke (last remaining member of
the Cabinet in the Chatham Ministry) as First Lord of the Admiralty.
Lord Halifax succeeds Sandwich as a Secretary of State.
January. Bedford dies, but his party remains united and influential.
June. Lord Suffolk, a follower of the late George Grenville, succeeds
Halifax as a Secretary of State and in the Cabinet.
January–December. Continuing friction in the colonies between
British customs officers and colonial merchants over enforcement of re-
strictions on colonial trade.
June. Unidentified men in Rhode Island burn the Gaspee, an armed
schooner in the British customs service, and seriously wound its
commander.
July. Hillsborough issues an order that salaries of judges of the Massa-
chusetts Superior (Supreme) Court, heretofore paid by the province, be
paid by the Crown.
August. Hillsborough is succeeded as Secretary of State for the Colonies
and a member of the Cabinet by North’s stepbrother, Lord Dartmouth.
September. The King appoints a Commission of Inquiry to discover
culprits in the Gaspee affair and issues order that they be brought to En-
gland to be tried for treason.
xxviii
November. On motion of Samuel Adams, a Boston town meeting de-
nounces the payment of the judges’ salaries by the Crown and other
British innovations endangering colonial liberties and sends a circular
letter to other towns in the province inviting them to communicate their
sentiments.
December. Formation of network of Committees of Correspondence
throughout Massachusetts in response to the Boston letter.
December. News of the Crown order in the Gaspee affair is published
in newspapers throughout the colonies.
March. The Virginia House of Burgesses elects a standing Committee
of Correspondence, including Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee,
Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson, to correspond with the Assem-
blies of the other colonies concerning the proposed sending of persons
accused of crimes in the colonies to England for trial and other British
measures affecting the colonies.
March–December. Most of the colonial Assemblies respond favor-
ably to the circular letter from Virginia, thus establishing a network of
intercolonial Committees of Correspondence.
May. Passage of the Tea Act of designed to enable the British East
India Company to increase the sale of its teas in the colonies and to in-
crease revenues from the Townshend Act duty on tea, by authorizing the
Company to ship tea to the colonies and sell it there on its own account.
June. Publication in Boston of letters from Thomas Hutchinson of
Massachusetts and other Crown officers in Massachusetts to prominent
members of Parliament, recommending the tightening of British rule
over the province.
June. The Massachusetts House of Representatives petitions the King
to dismiss Hutchinson from the Governorship of the colony.
August–November. The Company’s agents other than in Boston re-
sign under pressure from local popular leaders.
xxix
September–October. The East India Company ships tea to mer-
chants appointed its agents in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia,
and Charleston.
November–December. Popular leaders in Boston try in vain to have
the Company’s tea returned to Great Britain without payment of the
tea duty.
December . A band of men disguised as Indians throws overboard
the tea on the Dartmouth and other ships that had later entered Boston
harbor with Company tea on board.
January . News of the destruction at Boston of the Company’s tea
reaches London.
January . Many leading members of Parliament attend a meeting of a
committee of the Privy Council summoned to consider the petition of the
Massachusetts House for dismissal of Hutchinson, and hear a Philippic
against the people of Massachusetts for their alleged flaunting of British
authority over the past ten years. The committee recommends rejection
of the petition as “scandalous and calculated only for the seditious pur-
pose of keeping up a spirit of clamor and discontent in the said province.”
February . The King, with the advice of the Privy Council, rejects the
petition.
February . The Cabinet
—North, Gower, Sandwich, Suffolk, Roch-
ford, Apsley, and Dartmouth
—votes to propose a bill closing the port of
Boston.
March. The Cabinet votes to propose a bill amending the charter and
laws of Massachusetts.
March. Passage of the Boston Port Act.
April. The King appoints General Thomas Gage, Commander-in-Chief
of the British army in North America, Governor of Massachusetts.
May. Passage of the Massachusetts Regulating Act amending the char-
ter and laws of Massachusetts.
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