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2.2 Western land dispute
The Proclamation of 1763 sought to limit the conflicts between Native Americans and the English settlers by restricting settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. However, groups of settlers led for example by Daniel Boone continued to move into the region beyond the Proclamation Line and clashed violently with the Shawnees and other peoples inhabiting the area. Furthermore, the Quebec Act of 1774 extended Quebec's boundaries to the Ohio River, reestablished French civil law, and instituted toleration for Roman Catholics in that territory. Proposals to post British regulars to man forts in the west further disquieted Americans eager to settle in the West.
2.3 Crisis, 1772-75
- Olive Branch Petition -- July 5, 1775, one final attempt by the Continetal Congress to appeal to King George to redress their grievances and avoid more bloodshed. The King refuses even to receive the petition.
2.4 Choosing sides
Loyalists, Patriots, African-Americans, Native Americans, etc.
The American revolutionaries, known as Patriots (or Whigs or rebels), included many shades of opinion. Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and George Washington represented a socially conservative faction that would later take shape as the Federalist party and are traditionally characterized as preoccupied with preserving the wealth and power of the "better sorts" of colonial society. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine are usually portrayed as representing the more "democratic" side of the political equation. However, those classifications have their ironies: Hamilton (the "conservative") was an abolitionist of humble origin; Jefferson (the "democrat") was a wealthy, aristocratic slave-owner.
A great many American colonists remained loyal to the British Crown; these were known as Loyalists (or Tories, or King's men). Loyalists were often of the same well-to-do social circle that produced the right wing of the Patriots (take for example Thomas Hutchinson); however, the Scottish highlanders of the Mohawk Valley and the frontiersmen of Georgia included a large number of poorer King's men. After the war, United Empire Loyalists became a central component of the populations of the Abaco islands (in the Bahamas), the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Ontario, and Freetown, Sierra Leone.
