From Empire to
Independence

The Imperial Crisis
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
French and Indian war
caused massive debt
for England. They
needed Americans to
pay for it.
How would they do
this? Why? Is this fair?
The Imperial Crisis

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Currency Act (1764) – colonies could no
longer issue their own paper currency;
whatever was in circulation was worthless
Quartering Act (1765)—required colonists to
provide provisions and barracks or submit to
the use of inns and vacant buildings.
Stamp Act (1765) – tax on all printed
documents (newspapers, deeds, licenses,
college diplomas, even playing cards).
The Beginning of Colonial
Resistance

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
Greenville
program
appeared to be
tyranny
Cry of “no
taxation without
(actual)
representation”
British response
of “virtual
representation
Sons of Liberty



Form of extra-legal
opposition.
Organized mobbing to
intimidate stamp agents
and encourage them to
resign
Adoption of nonimportation agreements
of English goods.
Patrick Henry
Library of Congress
Boston Massacre
(March 5, 1770)

Grew out of crowd reaction and heckling of British
soldiers who were occupying Boston.

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Soldiers competed with lower class for jobs
Soldiers kill 5 colonists out of a protest mob and injure 8.
All but two soldiers were acquitted after being
defended by John Adams, the other two were
convicted of manslaughter and branded on the
thumb.
Parliament repealed all Townshend duties except on
tea in 1770.
Two years of relative peace followed.

Increase in Tension Resumes

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Tea Act (1773)—Lord North
Duty free import of tea from
East India Company
 17 million pounds of
unsold tea in warehouses
in England.
Colonists opposed the Tea
Act of 1773 because it gave
agents of the East India Tea
Company a virtual monopoly
on the tea trade.
Boston Tea Party
The Empire Strikes Back

Coercive Acts (1774)
“Intolerable Acts”

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
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Designed to discipline Boston
Boston Port Act - closed to
commerce until tea was paid.
New Quartering Act (private
homes in Boston)
Justice Act - officials and
British soldiers could not be
tried in colonies only in
England and Canada.
First Continental Congress

Passed the Declaration of American
Rights

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
Denied Parliament’s authority concerning
internal colonial affairs.
Urged each colony to mobilize its militia
(Minute Men)
Petitioned the king for relief—(dominion
theory) colonies were subject to crown
but not Parliament (separate realm)
Lexington
and Concord (1775)

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
General (Governor of Mass) Thomas Gage sent
patrols out from Boston to take the colonial supply
depot at Concord and arrest Sam Adams and John
Hancock in Lexington.
Brits continued to Concord; most supplies had been
removed; Brits marched back to Boston; road back
was a “gauntlet of death” ; 250 killed or wounded /
Americans suffered 100 : The war had started.
Leads to Olive Branch Petition.

Battle of Bunker Hill
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1st major fight
June 17, 1775
Americans were
laying siege to
Boston from
high ground of
Charleston;
Breed’s Hill.
Gage ordered
2,200 Brits to
advance in tight
formation.
Common Sense
(1776)