George III became king after the death of his grandfather George II.
Only 22 years old, George III was about to be crowned king of one of the world’s great empires. It was September 22, 1761, and the military that George inherited with the lands of Great Britain had helped build that empire. Just a year before, British troops defeated French forces in Canada. And in the year to come, George’s military would win victories against Spain in Cuba and the Philippines. British influence in India was on the rise. George said with pride, “I glory in the name of Britain.”1
Britain’s long war against Spain, France, and other European nations, called the French and Indian War in North America, finally ended in 1763. The British greatly expanded their holdings in North America, adding to their 13 colonies along the Atlantic coast.
TAXING THE COLONIES
One of George’s concerns was keeping peace with the American Indian tribes along the frontier. American colonists had been moving onto Indian lands, and Indian relations with British officials had recently soured. War broke out in 1763 as the Indians attacked British forts in the west.
George issued a proclamation that said American colonists could not settle west of the Appalachian Mountains. The Proclamation of 1763 limited who could trade with the Indians in that region. The king and his aides also planned to send as many as 10,000 additional troops to the American frontier. To help pay the costs, Parliament passed the Sugar Act in 1764. The law raised some taxes on the colonies. It also called for collecting taxes, known as duties, that were already in place. The colonists had avoided paying the earlier duties by smuggling goods into the colonies.
In the Proclamation of 1763, George called the Americans his “loving subjects.”2 The Americans, though, did not love the Sugar Act, and some spoke out against it.
George’s need for money outweighed any concern about American liberty. Parliament passed the Stamp Act of 1765, which called for a tax on printed documents. This time the colonists did more than grumble. Colonists in several cities protested. Many also boycotted British goods. The boycott angered British merchants, who lost money because of it.
Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 1766. But the need for more money from the colonies had not gone away.
Leading the fight against the tax policies were American colonists known as Patriots. The Patriots claimed the only fair taxes were ones passed by elected colonial officials. Since the colonists had no voting representatives in Parliament, Patriots believed Parliament had no right to tax them. British leaders argued back that the Americans had “virtual representation.” They said that members of Parliament did what was best for the empire as a whole, and the Americans had to accept their actions.
Parliament quickly carried out its plan to keep taxing the colonists. The Townshend Acts of 1767 taxed such items as lead, paint, glass, and tea. In the colonies the new taxes led to more boycotts but no real violence—except in Boston. British officials sparked the protests after they seized a local merchant’s ship. After the protest ended, British Governor Francis Bernard of Massachusetts asked the British to send troops to Boston. The first of these Regulars, as the soldiers were called, arrived in September 1768.
BOSTON RIOT
From the beginning the British soldiers were met with hostility by many Boston residents. Soldiers were insulted or beaten on the streets. These actions angered the soldiers, who only wanted to be let alone to do their jobs. Some retaliated by harassing the colonists.
On the night of March 5, 1770, things came to a head. In front of the Customs House, a crowd of people were yelling and throwing rocks, sticks, and icy snowballs at several soldiers. Someone yelled, “Fire!” which the soldiers took as an order, firing on the crowd. Five Boston residents died, and six others were wounded.
Eight soldiers and their captain, Thomas Preston, were arrested and tried for murder. Ironically, Patriot lawyers John Adams and Josiah Quincy Jr. represented the soldiers. Preston and six soldiers were acquitted. The two soldiers found guilty of manslaughter were branded on their thumbs and sent back to England. The verdict did little to ease the tension between the Regulars and the colonists.
As the American boycott went on, British merchants again demanded a repeal of taxes on the colonies. In 1770 King George’s advisers met to discuss the issue. Some said Parliament should repeal all the taxes except one on tea. The king agreed.
The repeal of the other taxes seemed to satisfy many Americans, and the colonies were mostly calm until 1773. That year Parliament decided to help the East India Company, which imported tea from India to Great Britain. The Tea Act lowered the tax on tea and gave the company the sole right to sell tea in the colonies. British leaders thought the colonists would be happy with the act, because it allowed them to pay much less for tea than they had previously. But many colonists saw it as interference. Boston Patriots responded by throwing several hundred crates of East India tea into the harbor.
The “Boston Tea Party” infuriated King George and Lord Frederick North, the prime minister. The two men agreed that Massachusetts had to be punished. George shut down Boston harbor and limited local government power there. The king also sent more troops to Boston. The British called these and other measures the Coercive Acts. They were meant to coerce the colonists to obey the king and Parliament.
AMERICA’S FRIENDS
Not all members of Parliament opposed the Americans and their refusal to pay new taxes. One of America’s greatest friends in Parliament was Isaac Barré. In 1765 he praised the Americans as “sons of libery”3 filled with a “spirit of freedom.” Another supporter was Edmund Burke, a member of Parliament who opposed the Coercive Acts. Burke could not see the point of passing new laws that would anger the colonies even more.
To carry out the new laws and restore order, George named General Thomas Gage the governor of Massachusetts. Gage had served in America for many years and had an American wife. George trusted his view of the colonists. Gage believed the Americans would not respect the British if the king allowed the colonists to do what they wanted.
The Coercive Acts, though, did not end the protests in America. The other colonies united behind Massachusetts, and all but Georgia sent delegates to the First Continental Congress in September 1774. The Congress stated that the colonists were still loyal to King George, but they opposed policies that denied them their freedom and rights.
Back in Britain merchants suffered as the Americans once again stopped buying their goods. But this time King George refused to give in and repeal the laws. To him, the New England colonists were now rebels. Before long all the Americans who challenged him would be.
