Holton’s “forced Founders”

Ajana Frazier-Burton

11/2/15

Response Paper #1

        Years succeeding the French and Indian War changed American history. The Virginia colonies especially, were having major problems with the Indians and British Parliament. Holton’s “Forced Founders” focuses oneself on Virginia and shows you how Presidents such as: Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and other Virginias brought the colonies together to declare ones independence from Great Britain. Their frustrations start with Parliament and Indian nations preventing westward expansion. Following that, Parliament imposed taxes and prohibited the manufacturing and selling of goods doesn’t belong to the British. This leads to boycotts and rebellions among the enslaved. Holton shows how the conflicts that I’ve mentioned above started the American Revolution.

        The first chapter of Forced Founders, Holton explains how Indians, with the help of Parliament, prevented colonies from claiming land to the west. 1769, frontier families were moving westward past the Appalachian Mountains. Jefferson wished to buy thousands of land west of the Appalachian Mountains that he would be able to divide and sell to consumers trying to purchase land. “the greatest Estates we have in this colony were made… by taking up and purchasing at very low rates the rich back lands which were thought nothing of in those days, but are now the most valuable Lands we possess(p.3).” Washington stated. The Treaty of Hard Labor, negotiated by the Cherokee Indians and British government, helped the Indians obtain their land claimed by Jefferson and Washington. This caused animosity between the British gov’t and Virginia. The Proclamation of 1763 was established on October 7, 1763, this drew a line between rivers flowing east of the Atlantic and west of the Mississippi. This didn’t allow the colonists to get land granted beyond line. The Indian nations worked together to settle their differences from an anti- British confederacy. To prevent conflicts in the future, British officials decided not to approve the petition for Kentucky, and declined to revoke the Proclamation of 1763. Land west of Ohio was given to Quebec with the passing of the Quebec Act.

        Secondly, he argued that British mercantilism sent Virginian fathers into debt. Mostly everybody blamed the Navigation acts for the debt of tobacco growers and Virginia’s trade deficit. Chesapeake tobacco was shipped to Britain, but it all was not consumed there. The House of Burgesses passed the bankruptcy law to help protect Virginia debtors from British creditors, but the Privy Council vetoed it. The Currency Act of 1764 prohibited legislatures from issuing paper money those debtors could legally use to pay off their debt. “We shall all be madmen (p.62).” a Virginian farmer stated, as they did not take this act kindly. The importation of African and West Indians slaves was also a big issue. Jefferson and Virginians believed that if they cut back on slave imports, it would help them out of debt and promote manual labor. Fear as the black population rose from less than 10% to 40% by 1775. The free importation of Africans and West Indians increased white Virginians’ debt and this did not satisfy them.

        Thirdly, Holton argued the boycotts. Virginians started to boycott British merchandise and goods in 1769. One cause of their debt and increased expenses was Britain’s monopoly of their trade. The men feared that their debts would make them become reliant on the aggressive British gov’t. To cut off tobacco exports and hurt the imperial treasury, non-exportation was also adopted. A large portion of British revenue came from Chesapeake tobacco. They hoped that by halting their exports, it would pressure the Parliament into repealing the Townshend Acts and many other laws.