Favorite of the King, he dominated the early years of George III's reign. He maneuvered the British out of the Seven Years' War and concluded the Treaty of Paris. He also was able to purge the cabinet of Whigs.
John Stuart, Earl of Bute
Statesman who led Britain to victory in the French and Indian War. He defended the rights of American colonists and argued for the repeal of the Stamp Act
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham
Member of Parliament who defended the colonists and first coined the phrase, "Sons of Liberty."
Colonel Isaac Barre
British prime minister who tried to impose internal taxation on the colonies by means of the Stamp Act
George Grenville
Testified in Parliament against the Stamp Act and predicted that if the Stamp Act were not repealed, Americans would lose their attachment to England.
Benjamin Franklin
Led a revolt against settlers in frontier areas of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania after the French and Indian War
Pontiac
Wealthy aristocrat who was brought into the government to orchestrate the repeal of the Stamp Act
Marquess of Rockingham
Regarded as Britains first prime minister in the 1720s, he was architect of the policy of Salutary Neglect
Sir Robert Walpole
Distributor of Stamps for Massachusetts, he was hung in effigy and intimidated into resigning.
Andrew Oliver
Leader of the radical Whigs, English politician expelled from Parliament, reelected and expelled again four times. He championed the rights of the American colonists and was an advocate of individual liberty and freedom of the press
John Wilkes
Mercurial Bostonian who argued eloquently against writs of assistance as "destructive to English liberty."
James Otis, Jr.
English statesman who wrote of the ideal of a "patriot king."
Viscount of Bolingbroke
Governor of Massachusetts during the Stamp Act crisis
Francis Bernard
Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, he opposed the Stamp Act, but enforced it anyways. For his efforts, his beautiful house was destroyed by the Boston mob.
Thomas Hutchinson
As Chancellor of the Exchequer, in 1767 he originated a new sets of taxes on items like wine, tea, glass, and paint
Charles Townshend
Virginia legislator who persuaded the House of Burgesses to adopt a series of resolves criticizing the Stamp Act
IVC Lesson 11
