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Growing Colonial Resentment

Following the French and Indian War, the British Ministry, now under the rule of King George III (who had succeeded his grandfather George II in 1760), faced a huge post-war debt. Adding to this debt was the continued military costs of housing troops in North America. Armed forces were needed to make sure the French did not try to regain lost territory, and to protect settlers from Native American attacks.

Parliament, believing that colonists had profited most from the various Crown expenditures, felt that they should help pay their fair share of the debt. To implement this, it was decided that the colonists should be subject to taxes passed by Parliament in London. Colonists quickly responded by declaring that since they had no elected representatives in Parliament, the taxes were a violation of British law dating back to the Magna Carta of 1215.

Parliament ignored this, and in 1765 passed the Stamp Act which required every newspaper, pamphlet and legal document to carry a stamp or British seal. The stamp, of course, cost money. Washington was upset by this; saw it as ill-judged and unconstitutional, and harmful to lawyers, ship owners and publishers. In response, he deemed the economic pressures of refusal to buy the stamps to be more effective than petitions and protests.

Parliament passed the Townshend Acts in 1767, demanding taxes on paint, glass, paper, and tea. Washington didn’t attend the 1768 session of the Virginia House of Burgesses where the duties were debated, and it was not until 1769 that he took a public position against British policies. When he did so, his convictions were met with overwhelming support. While speaking to House members on 18 May, he proposed that Virginians join other Americans in boycotting taxed products. With that speech, everything changed for Washington, he now became the acknowledged leader of Virginia’s resistance movement. Yet in Washington’s mind, a severance with England at this point was not inevitable.

The Colonies-wide boycott had the desired effect. In 1770, the Townshend duties were repealed, and an element of peace returned. 1773 however saw the passage of the Tea Act. This act was passed in reaction to the fact the East India Company, one of Britain’s most powerful companies, was in dire financial straits. To help support this key business, Parliament granted the East India Company a monopoly in exporting tea to the American colonies. What was particularly galling about the Tea Act, was that it allowed the Company to hand-pick which colonial merchants could handle its products – putting tea middlemen out of work. The price of tea dropped, but the consequent unemployment and suppression of the market became a symbol of colonial opposition.

In December 1773 a group disguised as Indians and calling themselves The Sons of Liberty boarded three ships loaded with tea docked in Boston and dumped hundreds of crates of tea overboard, in an act of defiance that became known as the Boston Tea Party. By this time, King George III and Parliament’s patience had fully dwindled. Swiftly, a series of laws were passed as part of an intense crackdown. The Coercive Acts, or ‘Intolerable Acts’ to the colonists, demanded payment for the destroyed tea, imposed martial law, and closed the port of Boston. This left Boston isolated, surrounded by water and with only one road to the mainland.

On the day the port was to be closed, Washington and the House members called for a congress of delegates from all the colonies to discuss the matters concerning the united interests of British North America. On 18 July 1774, at a gathering in Alexandria, Virginia, Washington chaired the body that adopted the Fairfax Resolution which called for a comprehensive boycott of British imports. It was also at this meeting that he stated, ‘I will raise one thousand men, subsist them at my own expense, and march myself at their head for the relief of Boston.’ Unsurprisingly, Washington was then elected as one of Virginia’s seven delegates to the First Continental Congress.

After two months, the Congress demanded that Parliament agree to a full repeal all of the Intolerable Acts. They also resolved that, henceforth, only colonies had the right to tax and govern; that colonies should form and begin training militias; and in solidarity with Virginia, they called for a colonies-wide boycott of all British goods. The members also agreed to convene again in May 1775 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, if its demands were not met. Significantly, this Congress of the colonies proved that they could deliberate and act collectively, and became the de facto government in America.

Having enjoyed life on his Mount Vernon plantation for seventeen years, Washington was now dispirited, remaining unconvinced by the idea of independence. Upon his return to Virginia, Washington found that his Fairfax County neighbours had already formed a militia and elected him as their commander. By that winter, five Virginia counties had organized militias, also selecting Washington as their senior officer. In the interim between the First and Second Continental Congresses, Washington split his time between drilling militia companies, and the renovation and expansion of Mount Vernon.

Washington taking command of the Continental army

What hope Washington had for reconciliation with Parliament and King George III was shattered when British regulars used force in their attempt to confiscate a Massachusetts militia’s stash of weapons and gunpowder at Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775 – just weeks before the planned gathering of the Second Continental Congress.

Consequently, when the Second Continental Congress convened, delegates found themselves in a delicate position. The citizens of the American colonies were divided: one third, Patriots, favoured independence from the increasing aggression of King George; another third, Loyalists, were still loyal to Britain and the King; the remaining third had no agenda. After much debate, Congress agreed to a compromise. To please Loyalists, a petition was sent to King George III declaring American loyalty and making an appeal to settle disputes peacefully. To please Patriots, authority was granted for the creation of a Continental army whereby all colonial militias would be under the control of Congress.