New York, Pennsylvania, and the Mutiny Act of 1765

Purpose: The purposes of this thesis were to investigate the enactment of the Mutiny Act for America, 1765; to evaluate its initial impact on New York and Pennsylvania; to analyze and compare motivations for non-compliance, partial compliance, or compliance; and to assess its impact on Anglo-colonial relations. Methods: The methods used in this study were: to read monographic and general secondary studies concerning the British, New York, and Pennsylvania economic and political conditions during this time period: to investigate published primary materials relative to the passage of the Mutiny Act including the correspondence of General Thomas Gage, the papers of George Grenville, and the letters of the Earl of Chatham; to consult the New York Historical Society’s Collections of the Journals of John Watts and Cadwallader Colden, The New York Mercury on microprint, and Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York edited by Edmund O’ Callaghan; and to examine The papers of Benjamin Franklin edited by Leonard Labaree, The Pennsylvania Gazette, and The Pennsylvania Archives. Findings: The information gathered indicated the following conclusions. The enactment of the Mutiny Act resulted from the development of a western policy by Whitehall at the termination of the French and Indian War, and emerging colonial policy which sought to increase imperial control of the American colonies, and specific problems encountered by General Thomas Gage in supplying and quartering troops in transit. The responses of New York and Pennsylvania were primarily influenced by parochial factors and secondarily by British colonial policy. The reactions of New York and Pennsylvania contributed to the deterioration of the relationship between the American colonies and the British government.