Highlights: The English Response to
Colonial Concerns
SS.7.C.1.3
Describe how English policies and responses to colonial concerns led to
the writing of the Declaration of Independence.
Terri Susan Fine, Ph.D.
Florida Joint Center for Citizenship
University of Central Florida
Benchmark
SS.7.C.1.3
Describe how English policies and responses to colonial
concerns led to the writing of the Declaration of
Independence.
Benchmark Focus
Trace the causal relationships between English policies, English
responses to colonial grievances, and the writing of the
Declaration of Independence
Focus on those policies concerning taxation, representation and
individual rights.
Note that it was the colonists’ response to these policies that
formed the basis for their desire for independence.
Core Events Leading up to
Independence
Several events took place during the two decade period before
declaring independence that inspired and motivated the colonists.
1763: The end of the Seven Years War (French and Indian War)
resulted in significant debt for the British government.
1765: Parliament passed the Stamp Act which required that all
printed materials be taxed including newspapers, pamphlets,
bills, legal documents, licenses, almanacs, dice and playing cards.
The money collected from the tax went directly to England.
Stamp Act Political Cartoon
The Townshend Acts (1767) and the
Tea Act (1773)
1767: The Townshend Acts taxed many items imported into the
colonies such as paper, tea, glass, lead and paints. In response,
colonists decided to refuse to purchase (boycott), some of these
items.
1773: Parliament passed the Tea Act which made the British East
India Company the only company allowed to import tea into the
colonies. In response to the Tea Act, a group of colonists boarded
English ships in Boston and dumped hundreds of chests of tea
into the harbor that same year (Boston Tea Party).
The Intolerable Acts (1774)
In response to the Boston Tea Party, Parliament passed a series of
laws that the colonists called the Intolerable Acts.
These acts included:
1. Closing the port of Boston until all Tea Party damage was paid
back and putting Massachusetts under military rule
2. Making it illegal for royal officials to be brought to trial in the
colonies.
3. Ending the colonial government in Massachusetts and allowing
the royal governor to appoint the colonial legislature.
4. Ordering the colonists to house troops, even in colonists’
homes.
The Call for Independence
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense was published in 1776 (see
Benchmark 1.2)
This pamphlet advocated a movement for sovereignty of the
people, a written constitution, and effective governmental checks
and balances.