AP US History
CHAPTER 5:
REFORM, RESISTANCE AND REVOLUTION
Aftermath of War
 The French and Indian War was very costly
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War Minister William Pitt was forced to resign in 1761 after
suggesting a preemptive strike on Spain before they entered the war
George Grenville became finance minister
Overall, debt doubled during the war, nearly bankrupting Great
Britain
 Troops were kept in North America after the war as
protection
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Grenville expected the colonists to eventually foot the bill for that
protection, but not the national debt
 Proclamation of 1763: line drawn along the Appalachian
Mountains, preventing settlement west of the boundary
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Meant to keep peace with Natives, but colonists resented the law
Native American Resistance
 Pontiac’s Rebellion, 1763-64
 War led by several Native American nations
 Conquered most British posts in the West
 Peace was restored between the British and the Native
American tribes, but an uneasy peace at best
 Paxton’s Boys
 Pennsylvania frontier settlers that began slaughtering peaceful
Indians in the winter of 1763
 Denounced by the PA government
 However, more violence on Native Americans continued for
years to come in the frontier areas of the British empire

In response to British
colonists ignoring the
Proclamation, Ottawa
Chief Pontiac attacked
and conquered several
British forts, sparing
only a handful.
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license.
After the French and
Indian War, all lands
east of the Mississippi
River (except the port
city of New Orleans)
became British territory.
The Proclamation of
1763 made it illegal for
British colonists to settle
west of the Appalachian
Mountains, angering
countless.
North America, 1764
Imperial Reforms
 Sugar Act, 1764: tax designed to prevent smuggling of
molasses and encourage purchase of British molasses
 Currency Act of 1764: outlawed colonial paper money,
requiring taxes to be paid in specie
 Quartering Act of 1765: gave authority to quarter troops
in private homes if necessary
 Stamp Act of 1765: taxed most paper products, including
legal documents, playing cards, newspapers, and
pamphlets
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First direct tax on the colonies, raised questions over internal and
external taxation and “virtual representation” in Parliament
Enraged the colonists, called it “taxation without representation”
Colonial Reactions
 Stamp Act Congress, 1765
 Many colonies sent delegates to propose resolutions condemning the
Stamp Act and the Sugar Act
 Sons of Liberty
 Group of men in Boston that resorted to violence to get message of
resentment towards the Stamp Act across
 Hung an effigy of Andrew Oliver, the stamp distributor, in the town’s
Liberty Tree and threatened violence on tax collectors offices and homes
 Nonimportation Agreements
 Passed to boycott importation of British goods
 All colonies eventually nullified the law
 Law repealed by Parliament in 1766
 Passed two new laws in response
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Declaratory Act: gave Parliament authority to pass laws over the colonies
Revenue Act of 1766: tax on all molasses, domestic and foreign
Boston Massacre
 The Sons of Liberty were directly attacking British army
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soldiers in the colonies
Soldiers could not fire on civilians unless given an order or in
self defense
On the night of March 5, 1770, an unruly crowd began
heckling and throwing rocks at a group of Redcoats
Shots were fired, and after the smoke cleared, 5 civilians laid
dead, including a free black man by the name of Crispus
Attucks
The soldiers were put on trial, represented by John Adams
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Adams was against the role of the soldiers in Boston, but also believed in
the right to a fair trial, thus why he took their case
Most soldiers were acquitted, while two, found guilty of manslaughter,
were branded on the thumb and released
 Failed attempt by the British to use military power over the
colonists
The Townshend Acts
 New taxes were implemented on the colonies in 1766
after repeal of the Stamp Act
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Items taxed included tea, lead, paint, paper and glass
Overall, very little resistance to the taxes
 Designed to pay for judges and governor’s salaries in the
colonies
 However, some colonies still objected
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Circular Letter: urged colonial assemblies to resist the Townshend
Acts and Quartering Act
New non-importation agreements commenced after British
Parliament denounced the Circular Letter
Meanwhile, the Sons of Liberty escalated violence throughout the
colonies
Repeal of Townshend Acts
 Later in 1770, all provisions of the Townshend Acts were
repealed, except one – a tax on tea
 Colonists pointed fingers at each other over why the tea
tax remained
 Britain stepped up efforts to curb smuggling and enforce
the tea tax
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Colonists established committees of correspondence to stay in
contact with one another on British actions
 The tax pushed the colonies further towards unity – and
the road to war later in the decade
 The last straw was the passage of the Tea Act in 1773; the
law repealed the tax in Britain, but not in the colonies
Boston Tea Party: The Beginning of the End…
 In response to the Tea Act, the Boston Tea Party took place on
December 16, 1773
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Sons of Liberty dressed up as Native Americans and boarded British tea ships
docked in Boston Harbor
342 chests of tea, worth nearly $1 million in today’s money, was thrown into the
harbor
 Britain’s responded with the Coercive Acts, also known as the
Intolerable Acts
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Boston Harbor was closed until payment for the tea was made
A new Quartering Act allowed for troops in private homes
British soldiers accused of a crime would be tried in Britain
British General Gage was made governor of MA and town hall meetings were
restricted
Quebec Act: expanded the boundaries of the Province of Quebec and instilled
French civil law there
 In response, all colonies but Georgia organized the First Continental
Congress, meeting for the first time in 1774
First Continental Congress
 Agreed that action must be taken against the British
 New non-importation agreements and a non-exportation
of goods if no action by September 1775
 Agreed no taxation and legislation without
representation
 Petitioned King George III for redress of their grievances
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Repeal the Intolerable Acts
Reinstate trial by jury
 Agreed to meet again in May 1775 and created the
Association
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Enforced trade sanctions against Great Britain
Began to act as a central government to the colonies
“The Shot Heard Round the World…”
 Colonists in MA started amassing weapons and training a
militia near Concord
 Upon learning, General Gage ordered troops to march on
Concord and destroy the weapons cache
 On the night of April 18-19, 1775, word traveled from
Boston to the countryside of the Redcoats’ intentions
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Paul Revere and Samuel Prescott got the message to Concord
By morning and the arrival of the Redcoats, the militia had gathered
in Lexington
 Unknown who fired the first shot, a skirmish erupted
between the militia and the Redcoats
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Several colonists and Redcoats were killed or wounded
The colonists fired upon the troops all the way back to Boston
The American War for Independence was officially on
The War for Independence 1775-1776
The War for Independence and the Second
Continental Congress
 In May 1775, the Continental Congress met as planned
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Now have to act as a government for the colonies
Needed to raise money and build a fighting force; appointed George
Washington as commander of the Continental Army
However, did attempt to solve the crisis peacefully
Olive Branch Petition: sent to the King, professed loyalty
 Rejected by King George III
 Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking Up Arms:
outlined the reasons why the colonists were fighting
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 Battle of Bunker Hill
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Actually fought on Breed’s Hill, June 17, 1775
Colonials rained gunfire down from the top of the hill on the British
Redcoats, inflicted great loss on the British
Eventually ran out of ammo and had to withdraw
Towards Independence
 Two separate invasions of Canada were attempted in late
1775, with the intent of gaining support from the French
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Montreal and Quebec City were invaded, but eventually the
Americans were repelled
Washington had to deal with retraining his army after volunteers left
at the end of their enlistments
 By the summer of 1776, the colonials controlled territory
in all colonies
 The Continental Congress began to talk of independence
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Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, debuting in January 1776, outline
the reasons for independence and outlined a republican government
Thomas Jefferson was asked to draft a Declaration of Independence
in May 1776
Declaration was presented to the Continental Congress on July 2, 1776
 After a few minor changes, the Declaration was adopted on July 4,
1776
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