What were the Navigation Acts, and why were they significant?

InstructionsThis homework has sevenparts(most of which are scenarios designed to focus your reading of the textbook), each of which contains a question or set of questions. For some issues, you will be prompted to read an additional source, which you will be able to find in theModule 3Resources page on Canvas. If you are unsure how to answer, or if you do not completely understand the text to which a question refers, do not worry –the important thing is that you make an effort to understand the reading and answer the question(s). Your grade for the homework does not depend on a “right” answer. Rather, providing complete answers to all the questions and making clear use of all readings/sources as required (and following all instructions). The objective is to prompt you to think critically about what you are reading and the issues that the readings raise. The weekly debrief and lecture will address the homework questionsand topics.Part I: The Navigation Acts and Glorious Revolution(Textbook)Read textbook pages 93 (“The Operations of Empire”) to 100 (“The Empire and the British Constitution”)and answer the following questions:1.What were the Navigation Acts, and why were they significant?Your answer should be 2-3 sentences.2.What lasting impact do you think that the Glorious Revolution had in Britain’s North American colonies?Your answer should be 1-3 sentences.3.According to John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government, why did people create governments?When was it justified for people to change their government?Your answer should be 2-3 sentencesPart II: British Government and the Colonies(Textbook)Read textbook pages 102 (“The Eighteenth Century British Constitution”) to 109 (end of Chapter 3)and answer the following three questions:1.In what way was the British government “mixed”(or, “balanced”)?Your answer should be 1-3 sentences.2.According to John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, what posed the greatest threat to “Liberty,” and what was the best way to safeguard “Liberty”?Your answer should be 1-3 sentences.
23.What type of problems did colonial governors encounter when it came to asserting their power/authority in the colonies?Your answer should be 2-3 sentences. Part III: Native American Diplomacy Before Contact (Scenario)The year is 1450 and you are an Onondaga. Your tribe, part of the Onondaga nation, is holding a meeting. A chief of a Mohawk tribe, Hiawatha, has come toyour village and asked for this meeting. The Onondaga and Mohawk nationsspeak a common language, and your cultures are similar.But you have been fighting each other for many years. Hiawatha has spoken. He said that the great prophet Dekandawida has seen a vision. In the vision, Dekandawida saw that the five nations of the Iroquois –the Oneida, the Mohawk, the Cayuga, the Seneca, and the Onondaga –will stop fighting each other. The five nations will form a union to work together against our common enemies. The union will help solve problems and disagreements among the Iroquois people. Hiawatha said that the fighting makes the Iroquois weak. He asked us to come to a great meeting of all the Iroquois to talk about a union. He has already spoken to many other tribes, and they will come to the meeting. A member of the Onondaga has answered Hiawatha. He said that there is fighting among the tribes because of injustices. When the Cayuga kill and steal from the Onondaga, the Onondaga must get revenge. Many Onondaga agree with him. An Onondaga woman
3disagreed. She said that the revenge just leads to more fighting, killing, and stealing. It never stops. Many Onondaga agree with her. AnotherOnondaga asked how this kind of union would work. Would there be a leader? Who would be the leader? Would bigger and more powerful nations have more power in the union? What rules would the union have? What if a tribe does not agree with the rest of the union? Could the union tell a tribe what to do? What if a Cayuga kills my son? Will the union punish him? Everyone thinks these are important questions. Hiawatha answered that he does not know all the answers. But if the five tribes meet together, we can discuss the rules. Question: Should we send people to the meeting to discuss forming a confederation and, if so, what should we tell them to say?Choose one of the following and explain your decision in 1-3 sentences:A.Do not send anyone to the meeting o the five nations. It could be a trick. One of the tribes might try to capture some of us.B.Send some people to the meeting. A union will make us stronger. We will be able to stope the fighting that weakens us now. Agree to join the union.C.Send some people to the meeting. They can agree to the union only if its power is limited. The union cannot interfere in tribal problems. The union cannot force a tribe to do something it does notwant to do. D.Send some people to the meeting. Do not agree to the union. The union is a good idea, but it could never work. Part IV: Native Americans and Europeans, 1677(Scenario)1The year is 1677, and you are a leader of the Iroquois, an alliance of five nations –the Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Mohawk. The League of Five Nations was formed long ago, according to legend, when the Onondaga chief Hiawatha asked the other nations to unite for peace and to defeat outside enemies. The League ended almost constant warfare within the Iroquois, Bringing relative peace for hundreds of years. The peace within the Iroquois did not stop constant warfare with outside Indian tribes. Iroquois believe that when a member of the tribe is killed, the tribe mourns the loss by replacing the person with a captive. Therefore, parties are sent out to capture replacements in what are referred to as “mourning wars.” Unfortunately, many warriors inthe new raiding parties are killed, which require new raiding parties in an endless chain of warfare. 1The scenarios in this homework are adapted from Kevein O’Reilly, Decision Making in U.S. History: Colonies
4Since the Europeans came about 100 years ago, however, the number of wars and the number of warriors killed in those wars has increased. There has beenan arms race between the Iroquois and outside tribes, partly for guns and for metal for sharper arrow points.Guns and metal are acquired through the fur trade. The Iroquois dominate the fur trade with the Dutch at Fort Orange, while Indians to the north (the Algonquian, Abenaki, and Huron) dominate the trade with the French. The furs of the northern Indians are superior to those from further south, whereas the Dutch provide better manufactured goods than do the French. The Iroquois have been fighting off and on with the French and their Indian allies (Algonquin, Abenaki, and Huron) for almost 50 years. The wars have kept the northern Indians from trading with the Dutch. The French have made several agreements with the Iroquois where both sides said they wouldn’t attack the other. But the fighting has continued periodically. The Iroquois were gradually able to expand into the northern fur trade and thus increase their power since the 1630s. In 1648 and 1649, Iroquois warriors attacked and destroyed all the Huron villages, killing most of their warriors and capturing most of their women and children. The remaining Hurons scattered to the West.In the past ten years the northern Indians have caught up in terms of weapons, supplied by New France. About a decadeago, French soldiers marched through some Iroquois lands, burning crops and homes. Meanwhile, the Iroquois lost their best traders in 1664 when the British took over for the Dutch in New Netherlands. The Iroquois are also weak because about two-thirds of their people are actually prisoners taken in previous wars. The Iroquois are a minority among their own tribes.Meanwhile, the English colonists are much more numerous than the French. English colonists set up farms, which alters the land and limits Indian hunting grounds. Indians are pushed off their lands. Those who resist are killed. Just last year the Algonquin Indians were slaughteredby English colonists in New England in King Philip’s War. The English believe in private property, in which each person owns his own land and house. Englishmen try to gain as much wealth as they can. This belief in property is very different from the Iroquois beliefs in which everyone hunts and grows food in groups and all food is shared with the tribe. The French also believe in private property, but they have set up few farms, so it hasn’t been a problem. There are not many French settlers. Most French are missionaries, soldiers, or traders.The English and French are rivals in Europe and so they are rivals in America also. Each country looks for opportunities to expand at the expense of the other. Both countries have a high demand for furs, and they are dependent on Indians to get the furs. An English leader is offering a peace treaty with the Iroquois, which will increase fur trading with the English. Question: What should the Iroquois do in 1677? Choose one of the following options and explain your choice(1-2 sentences):A.Continue fighting the northern Indians. Don’t negotiate a settlement with either the French or English.
5B.Make a settlement with the northern Indians to divide the fur trade and unite against the French and English. C.Make a settlement with the French and northern Indians against the English. After all, the English are the main enemy. D.Make a settlement with the English against the northern Indians and the French. The English will supply the Iroquois with more guns and metal and keep the southern flank secure. That will allow the Iroquois to concentrate on the northern Indians and the French. E.Make a settlement with both the French and English to get a portion of the area of the fur trade. In exchange, the Iroquois will agree to stop attacking the French and their northern Indian allies. Part V: New France (Scenario)The year is 1682 and you are Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle, of France. For sixteen years you have been fur trapping and exploring New France. You have explored the wilderness all across the Great Lakes. This year, you explored the Mississippi River and sailed all the way to its mouth. You are the first Europeanto do that. You have proved that the Mississippi goes into the Gulf of Mexico, not into the Pacific Ocean. You have also claimed all the land along the Mississippifor France, naming it Louisiana after King Louis XIV. What a great thing you have done for France!English, French, and Spanish claims in North America, 17thand 18th centuries
6But the king is not really interested New France. He is happy that France has land here because Spain and England do, too. He likes the furs that French traders bring to France. He lies to give land in the New World to men who bother him. He likes to please God by sending our priestshere to teach our religion to the Indians. But he thinks New France is just a wilderness –a wasteland covered with trees and snow, a place for wild animals and Indian savages. The king does not realize how important this land can be for France. France could control North America! Even though England and Spain claim parts of it, France could control most of it. Look at the map. France already controls the Great Lakes and the landalong the Ohio River and the St. Lawrence River. Now, we need to establishforts along the Mississippi –especially at its mouth, New Orleans. If we do that, we will control the interior of a whole continent and North America will be ours!How? First, our land along the Mississippi will divide the Spanish territory in two. That will make New Spain weaker. Second, our forts along the Ohio and Mississippi will keep the English colonists along the Atlantic coast. They will also help control the dangerous Iroquois and stop them from joining with the British. Third, from the Mississippi, we can send explorersand traders west into Louisiana. Who knows what great wealth is there?Colonizing New Francecan make France the greatest country in the world. The keyis to control the two entrances to the middle of the continent. We must control both the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. But, how can we colonizethis huge land? Frenchmen do not want to live here. Theyjust want to trade furs, get rich, and return to live in France. Question: You (La Salle) are going to visit King Louis XIV. What should you tell him? Choose from the following options (you may choose more than one as long as they do not contradict one another) and explain your choice in 1-3 sentences:A.Do not try to control North America. It is a wilderness. Just continue what we are doing now. B.Send soldiers to build forts, first at New Orleans.C.Send colonists to live in all parts of New France.D.Give free land to Frenchmen who will go to settle in NewFrance.E.Give free passage to Frenchmen who will go to New France.F.Send soldiers to make the Indians be friendly.G.Try to convince King Louis XIV that New France is valuable and ask him to encourage colonization.
7After completing your answers for PartsII and III, read textbook pages 77-84 (“Rivals for America” to “Caribbean Sugar Colonies”); 100-102 (“Fighting the French and Indians” to “The Eighteenth Century British Constitution”); and 117-119 (“Native Americans and Colonial Expansion” to “The South as a Slave Society”).Part VI: The French and Indian War(Scenarios)Problem #1: French DecisionThe year is 1752, and you are the Marquis (a nobleman’s title) Duquesne, the French governor of Canada. The French face a problem in the Ohio Valley: English traders from Pennsylvania and Virginia have expanded trading posts in the valley that are replacing French traders at Detroit. In addition, English colonists are expanding the Ohio Company to buy land in Ohio to sell at higher prices to English settlers. The company stands to make big profits from this land speculation. However, the company will also increase the number of
8settlers (there are 20 English colonists for every French colonist), which will eventually wipe out the fur trade for the French. It will also break the link between Canada and the Mississippi river. France needs control of the Ohio River, which flows into the Mississippi. Keep in mind that the English and French are rivals all over the world, including in America. Expansion of the English into Ohio means less power for the French in this rivalry. Indians in Ohio (Delawares, Shawnees, and Mingos) are trying to become free of Iroquois control. The Iroquois dominate other Indian groups throughout New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Years ago, the Iroquois made a deal with the Pennsylvania leaders that they would be recognized as dominant over the Delaware Indians. The Delawares and other Ohio Indians could be a big help to the French in any conflict with the English. The population of Ohio Indians and Iroquois are small, numbering less than 30,000, but the Indians know the geography and they are great fighters. The French have had few settlers there, but have controlled the trade in the Ohio Valley for many years, a trade that is essential to the whole financial stability of French Canada. Now it looks like that system of trade is threatened. The drop in trade at Detroit is especially worrisome. A year ago, French officials clearly marked out claims to the Ohio Valley, but English colonists ignored the claims and kept moving into the area.Question: Which of these actions will you take? Explain your choice(1-3 sentences).A.Negotiate a deal with the English to share the trade in the Ohio Valley and limit the amount of land sold to companies and settlers there.B.Give gifts to and make a deal with the Iroquois to limit the expansion of English traders and settlers to Ohio.C.Give gifts to and make a deal with the Ohio Indians to limit the expansion of English traders and settlers to Ohio. The alliance with the Ohio Indians will help them to become free of the Iroquois, so they will be interested in making the agreement. D.Take action to show French dominance of Ohio. Build forts in the area and attack a few of the Indian camps. The forts and attacks will send a message that the French are serious about keeping control of the area. After all, the Ohio Valley is part of French Canada. This is French territory –the English and Indians need to remember that. Once French dominance is asserted, the Indians in Ohio will likely join the French, since they will see that the French willwin any conflict. E.Do nothing.
9Problem #2: Iroquois DecisionThe year is 1752, and you are a chief of the Iroquois Six Nations (Onondaga, Seneca, Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, and Tuscarora). The Iroquois dominate the Indians in wide areas of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. However, now the Iroquois face a problem. Indians in Ohio are becoming more independent of Iroquois control. Years ago, the Iroquois made a deal with the Pennsylvania leaders that they would be recognized as dominant over the Delaware Indians. In exchange, the Iroquois agreed to allow Pennsylvania leaders to take land from the Delawares (about 750,000 acres) in the greatest land fraud of the 18thcentury (it was a fraud because it wasn’t their land to give). Most Delawares disgusted by the land fraud moved to Ohio, and along with the Mingo Senecas (apart of one of the Six Nations) and Shawnees, they are now trying to become independent of the Iroquois. The Iroquois policy for the last 50 years is to stay neutral between the French and the more-numerous English colonists, although the Iroquois have more trade with the English. However, neutrality can only be maintained by strength The Iroquois have to be strong enough to make the French afraid of pushing the Iroquois to the English, and the English afraid of pushing them to the French. Iroquois strength depends on keeping dominance over other tribes, including those of the Ohio Valley.Question: Which of these actions will you take? Explain your choice(1-3 sentences).A.Negotiate a deal with the French that the Iroquois will help the French limit English expansion into the Ohio Valley in exchange for the French help in dominating the Ohio Indians (Delawares, Shawnees, and Mingos). The French have the advantage in the Ohio, so siding with them will increase Iroquois power. B.Openly side with the English settlers in the Ohio Valley in exchange for English help in dominating Ohio Valley Indians. The leaders of Pennsylvania expect Iroquois help, after the agreement on land from years ago. It is time to recognize that the English will eventually dominate the whole area. The Iroquois should drop neutrality and side with the winning country. C.Negotiate with the Ohio Indians to bring them back under Iroquois domination. In order to do that, Iroquois negotiators will have to bring gifts to the Ohio Indians. Those gifts can only come from English traders, since their goods are so much cheaper than French goods. D.Attack the Ohio Indians. One attack will remind them that the Iroquois are dominant and to be feared. That will bring the Ohio Indians back under Iroquois control. E.Provoke a war between the French and English. A war between the two colonial powers will weaken both of them and allow the Iroquois to regain domination over the Ohio Indians. When the fighting starts, the Ohio Indians will fear attacks,
10especially from the French, so they will be more open to Iroquois protection (and thus control). F.Do nothing. Problem #3: The VirginiaDecisionThe year is 1753, and you are Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia. Colonists from Virginia and Pennsylvaniahave set up trading posts in Ohio and have been increasing their trade. In addition, the Ohio Company, owned by Virginia shareholders, is starting to buyland in Ohio to sell it to settlers later at much higher prices. As one of the large shareholders, you stand to make a great deal of money from this company. However, the French are blocking Virginia and Pennsylvania from trading and speculating in landin Ohio. The French have built forts in the area, declaring that Ohio is part of French Canada. They have also persuaded (through force) many Indians to side with them in case of fighting with the English. Indians can now attack settlers in those coloniessince they are protected by the French forts. The governor of Pennsylvania is very concerned about the threatfrom the Indians and French. Unfortunately, the colony will not be able to raise an army because a majority in the legislature, many of whom are Quakers, does not believe in fighting. Pennsylvania has no military organization. The governor is looking to you to lead Virginia troops to force the French out. The French have not had settlers in the Ohio Valley, only traders, so their claim to the area is false. In fact, the French have few colonists in America in general –about 80,000, compared to 1.4 million colonists in English America, a ratio of about 20:1. The population of Ohio Indians and Iroquois are small, numbering less than 30,000, but theIndians know the geography and they are great fighters. Question: Which of these actions will you take? Explain your choice(1-3 sentences). A.Wait for the English government to take action. Without English soldiers, there isn’t much the colony of Virginia can do against the French and their Indian allies in Ohio. B.Send a small force of Virginia militia to Ohio to warn the French to get out of the area or the colonies will fight to get them out. If the French refuse to abandon their forts, people in Virginia and Pennsylvania will be outraged. It will therefore be easier to raise money and troops to fight the French.C.Attack one of the French forts. That will require a much larger force, perhaps 1,000 men, and it will cost a great deal of money. D.Negotiate a deal with the French to split trade and limit colonist settlement in Ohio.
11After completing the answers for Part II, read textbook pages 150-155(“Imperial War and its Consequences” to End of Chapter 5)Part VII: Responding to “Pontiac’s Rebellion” (Scenario)The year is 1763 and you are King George III of England. The Seven Years’ War, known in America as the French and Indian War, ended earlier this year with the Treaty of Paris. In the treaty, England took over all the French territory in Canada, including the Ohio Valley and the territory in the west to the Mississippi River. The celebration of victory was cut short soon after the war ended, however. In May, Ottawa Native Americans, along with a group of other tribes, began attacking settlements all over theOhio Valley and around the Great Lakes. They have been unified under several leaders, including Pontiac, an Ottawa chief, and Neolin, a Delaware religious prophet. The primary reason that they are rebelling is because the British, seeking to take control of the territory ceded by France in the French and Indian War, began to build and occupy more forts. More importantly, British General Amherst stopped the practice of giving gifts to the Native Americans while negotiating with them –rather than trading partners, he viewed them as a conquered people. Over a six-month period, Native Americans have captured eight forts along the frontier and are attacking two other forts at Detroit and Niagara. About 2,000 settlers have been killed or captured in the most well-coordinated military attacks yet by Native Americans on British colonists and soldiers. (The conflict has been called Pontiac’s Rebellion, or Uprising, or War.) Thousands of other settlers have abandoned their homes on the frontier for more settled areas. The population of settlers along the frontier has been reduced by one-third to one-half. British leaders in London fear that the Native Americans will make secret agreements with the French colonists remaining in the area (whom the Native Americans prefer to the more numerous British settlers) for weapons to resist the British settlers. Such an alliance of French colonists and Native Americans could make it very difficult for Britain to take control of all this new territory in the Ohio Valley. The English will wonder why they even fought the war if the government was simply going to give control of the captured territory back to the enemy. British leaders on the Board of Trade believe the source of the Native American trouble is unfair trading practices by white traders and the seizure of Native American land by white speculators and settlers. Native Americans have complained repeatedly that they are being mistreated by white settlers. These unfair trading and land practices must be stopped in order tobring about peace. British leaders promised in 1758 to protect Native American lands. Now is the right time to carry out the promise.
12Pontiac’s Rebellion is a crisis that needs to be resolved. More importantly, however, the larger issue of what to do about the Native Americans and the new territory needs to be decided. Question: What will British policy be toward the Native Americans and the new territories in America gained from the French in the Treaty of Paris (you can select up to two of the following choices as long as they do not contradict one another)? Explain your choice(1-3 sentences). A.Keep a large number of British soldiers in America to guard the new territories taken from the French. There are 8,000 British soldiers in America now. They are in bad shape. Many of them fought against the Spanish in Cuba during the war and are sick from tropical diseases. Morale is low, and many are only interested in going back to England. They will probably be able to recapture the forts, but they will have great difficulty defeating the Native Americans completely. There are an estimated 3,500 Native American Warriors involved in the uprising, and they have already killed about 500 British soldiers. A suggestion by one advisor is to keep them there and send over another 2,000.
13B.Ask the colonies to raise militias to guard the new territories. Colonial fighters would cost about the same as British soldiers, but the colonies and the British government would be sharing the cost of the colonial militias.Colonial fighters are in better health than British soldiers, and they are better adapted to fighting in the wilderness. However, they are less disciplined than British soldiers. The colonists were uncooperative in raising soldiers or paying for them during the first part of the war, but in the last three years raised about 10,000 soldiers per year. C.Draw a line between the British colonies and the new territories gained from the French, making it illegal for British colonists to settle to the west of the line in the new territories. The West would become a large Native American territory, reserved just for them. It will be next to impossible to remove the several thousand settlers, some who are currently married to Native Americans, from the area west of the Appalachian Mountains. It will be equally difficult to keep others out. Many colonists want to move west to pay off their debts by buying and selling land. Some want to make money from trading, while others just want a fresh start in a new area. Colonists feel that they are entitled to the land, since they helped defeat the French. For land speculators in Virginian and Pennsylvania, the war was fought to gain control of that territory.D.Negotiate a settlement with the leaders of Pontiac’s Rebellion. Compromise on some of the Native American grievances and assure the Native Americans that the British will deal fairly with them. The negotiations would involve giving gifts to the Native Americans, a sign of respect. Negotiations would also involve a British promise to oversee trading and land sales to ensure that Native Americans are treated fairly.E.Use Britishsoldiers in America to crush Pontiac’s Rebellion militarily and recapture all the forts. The Native Americans have to realize that the British are in control of the whole territory up to the Mississippi River.