Causes of the Revolution
SOCIAL STUDIES UNIT 5 LESSON 1
Let’s Start With a Video
 Too Late to Apologize a Declaration
Lesson 1
 Big Question: What events led to the American
Revolution?
 Main Ideas:
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Winning the French and Indian War created new problems for
Britain.
Britain taxed the colonies on many items like sugar, printed
materials, and tea.
Britain’s actions escalated colonial resistance.
Clashes in Boston led to the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
Key Terms & People
 Parliament: Great Britain’s lawmaking assembly.
 Tariff: a tax on imported goods.
 Protest: to speak out against something.
 Petition: a document that people sign that formally
asks leaders to do or change something.
 Repeal: to do away with.
 Boycott: an organized refusal to buy goods or
services.
Pontiac
 Ottawa leader who fought British expansion in North
America.
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Led a rebellion in 1763 known as Pontiac’s War.
Fought to protect American Indian lands, showing the British
the high cost of protecting western settlers.
King George III
 King of Great Britain during the American
Revolution.
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Issued the Proclamation of 1763.
Supported all efforts to tax the American colonies and
encouraged actions to discipline colonists.
Crispus Attucks
 Patriot of African ancestry who was killed in the
Boston Massacre.
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His death was seen as a sacrifice for American independence.
Paul Revere
 Patriot who made a dramatic horseback ride to warn
colonists.
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Rode out from Boston on the night of April 18, 1775 to warn
colonists that the British were coming.
Considered one of colonial America’s greatest silversmiths.
Textbook Answers
1.
2.
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5.
The British had borrowed and spent a lot of money on
soldiers and supplies.
Every kind of printed material, including newspapers,
legal documents, and playing cards.
The Sons of Liberty burned stamps and threatened
stamp agents.
During the boycott, women formed groups such as the
Daughters of Liberty, which wove cloth and made other
goods to replace imported British goods.
A crowed gathered during an argument, the crowd
shouted insults, the colonists began throwing things,
the British fired, Crispus Attucks was killed.
Textbook Answers
6. The Tea Act, as it tried to get colonists to buy tea
from only one British company.
7. They became more united. Colonies sent help to
Boston, stopped trade with Britain, and created
volunteer armies.
8. The colonists fought well and forced the British back
to Boston.
Summary: The Proclamation of 1763, the Stamp Act,
the Townshend Acts, the Boston Massacre, the Boston
Tea Party, and the Coercive Acts.
Timeline in Lesson
 1764: Britain passes the Sugar Act.
 1767: Britain passes the Townshend Acts.
 1774: Britain passes the Coercive Acts.
Newspaper Article
 Primary Sources: things written/made at or about
the time of an event.
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Ex: newspaper articles
 Secondary Sources: things written/made after an
event has happened
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Ex: encyclopedia articles, textbooks, research papers
 Answer: The newspaper writer seems to blame the
soldiers. The encyclopedia seems to blame the
colonists.
Worksheet
Causes
Effects
The British had large debts after the
French and Indian War.
The British taxed the colonists to help
pay for the debts from the war.
The Stamp Act was passed.
Colonists took action as an organized
political group.
British troops were sent to Lexington
and Concord to destroy weapons the
colonists had stored there.
Paul Revere and William Dawes spread
a warning to colonists.
Worksheet
 How did the colonists protest the actions of the British?
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Colonists protested by sending petitions to Parliament and
boycotting British goods.
 Which British actions were unpopular with colonists?
Why did the colonists resist these actions?
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The Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, and the Townshend Acts were
unpopular with colonists. They resisted because these laws were
passed without their consent.
 Which event do you think was the most important cause
of the American Revolution? Why?
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Possible answer: Battles of Lexington and Concord because they
changed the conflict from protests and debates to war.
Reasons for Events
Religious
The First Great
Awakening
Political
Economic
Stamp Act Congress
(1765)
The Proclamation of 1763
Boston Massacre (1770)
Sugar Act (1764)
Boston Tea Party (1773)
Stamp Act (1765)
Intolerable Acts/Coercive
Acts (1774)
Townshend Acts (1767)
Battles of Lexington and
Concord (1775)
Tea Act (1773)