161 Smuggling and the American Revolution

Ben Franklin's World

Liz Covart

History, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 21 November 2017

⏱️ 82 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

At the end of the French and Indian, or Seven Years’ War in 1763, Great Britain claimed that smuggling was a BIG problem in its North American colonies and cracked down on the practice. But just how BIG of a problem was smuggling in North America? Why did British North Americans choose to engage in the illegal importation of goods like tea? Was it really all about cheaper prices? Fabrício Prado, Christian Koot, and Wim Klooster join us to explore the history of smuggling in the eighteenth-century Atlantic World and to investigate the connections between smuggling and the American Revolution. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/048 Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute OI Reader William and Mary Quarterly-Journal of the Early Republic special American Revolution issue $10 Promotion The Great Courses Plus (1 Free Month of Unlimited Courses) Complementary Blog Post Eugene R.H. Tesdahl, “Smuggling, the American Revolution, and the Riverine Highway” Complementary Episodes Episode 036: Abigail Swingen, Competing Visions of Empire Episode 098: Gautham Rao, Birth of the American Tax Man Episode 112: The Tea Crisis of 1773 Episode 121: Wim Klooster, The Dutch Moment in the 17th-Century Atlantic World Episode 139: Andrés Resédez, The Other Slavery: Indian Enslavement in the Americas Episode 158: The Revolutionaries’ Army Episode 159: Serena Zabin, Dangerous Economies Episode 160: The Politics of Tea Helpful Show Links Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Join the Ben Franklin's World Community Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for Ben Franklin's world and the Doing History to the Revolution series comes from the
0:04.7	Omaha Institute and The Great Courses Plus. Shh, careful and steady lad. We don't want to alert the customs collector. Mr. Hancock has a lot of money wrapped up in the easier tea chest.
0:27.0	If we lose this cargoville, we'll have our heads.
0:30.0	So steady and quiet now, we just have to put into that code today.
0:37.0	At the end of the French and Indianer seven years war in 1763, Great Britain claimed that smuggling was a big problem in its North American colonies.
0:46.1	Therefore, British government officials set out to solve this problem by cracking down on smuggling
0:50.6	during the 1760s and 1770s, a period that we now think of as part of the
0:56.0	American Revolution.
0:58.0	This British crackdown on smuggling took two forms.
1:01.1	First, Parliament passed measures like the Sugar Act of 1764, the Townsend duties of 1767, and the
1:08.1	Tea Act of 1773.
1:10.8	Now, although we traditionally think of the sugar and tea axis taxes, there were actually
1:15.0	regulatory measures that impose taxes while also lowering the prices on British-regulated
1:20.0	versions of these goods.
1:22.1	The lower prices, they were meant to encourage colonists to legally
1:25.5	import and purchase these goods through British merchants, instead of importing and purchasing
1:29.7	them illegally through Dutch and French merchants.
1:33.0	Secondly, in the early to mid-1760s, George Grenville, the first Lord of the Treasury,
1:38.0	set out to clean up the British Customs Service.
1:41.0	He fired corrupt agents, hired more agents, and ensured that measures such as the Sugar Act of 1764
1:47.5	included provisions that increase the investigation and seizure powers of customs officers.
1:53.0	Now, the root cause of Great Britain's desire to crack down on smuggling in North America
	...

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