The Road to Revolution 1763-1776
Directions: Use this chart to take notes about the event that led to the American Revolution. Under the “Event” column record what happened, Under
“British Rationale” record why the British took that action. I have provided you with the Colonial Response, you will record the Colonial Rationale.
After we have looked at all the events you will rank them according to importance and explain your rationale.
Event
British Rationale
Colonial Response
Colonial Rationale
Ranking
Proclamation of 1763
to prevent future wars
with Natives
Resentment and failure to
comply- the colonists
continued to push the
boundaries anyways
thought the British
intended to maintain a
tighter control over the
colonists
it actually lowered price
of molasses but prevent
trade between New
England and Middle
Colonies with French,
Dutch, and Spanish in
the West Indies
Anger and Protest
Upset because the British
are stifling their trade.
British announced the land won during the
French/ Indian War (west of Appalachian
Mountains) would be reserved for Native
Americans- banned settlement of Colonists
Sugar Act- 1764
Tax on sugar and molasses coffee and
wines
troops can stay in the
colonies to keep an eye
on the Native
required colonists to put British soldiers up Americans and colonists
in their homes and had to provide fuel,
who were starting to
candles, beer and transportation for the
discuss the idea of
soldiers
freedom
Quartering Act
Protest in assembly-refusal Believed the Soldiers
to pay for the boarding of were sent to America not
the soldiers
to protect them but to
control them. Thought
the British should have
asked first.
Stamp Act of 1765
required the colonists to pay a tax on most
printed materials (newspapers, pamphlets,
marriage licenses, playing cards)
Declaratory Acts- 1766
British were in debt
after the French and
Indian War and felt the
colonists should help
pay b/c the Brits were
“defending” the
colonists from the
French
Sons of Liberty formedSecret resistance group led
by Samuel Adams
 Boycotts
 Demonstrations
 Harassing stamp
agents
Stamp Act Congress
 Declared stamp
taxes couldn’t be
collected without
consent.
 Patrick Henry
“give me liberty or
give me death!”
felt that their freedom
had been threatened b/c
they had no say in
making the law.- The
Stamp Act Congress
to maintain authority
over the colonies
This Act was largely
ignored by the colonists
who were too busy
celebrating the repeal of
the Stamp Act
“No taxation without
representation”
Passed when Stamp Act was repealed
Designed to affirm that Parliament’s
authority was the same in America as in
Britain- can pass laws in the colonies.
Townshend Act of 1767
Charles Townshend (Brit. Prime Minister)
imposed a tax on glass, lead, paper, paint
and tea-collected at sea ports
get money from the
colonies without them
noticing they were
paying taxes



Rage and well
organized
resistance
“no taxation
without
representation”
SOL calls for
boycott of British
goods
thought the acts were
threats to their natural
rights and freedoms
Boston Massacre of 1770
Mob gathers around the Customs House
and taunts the guards. Shots are fired, 5
colonists die including Crispus Attucksformer slave
Tea Act and Boston Tea Party 1773:
Tea act passed in 1773 forcing colonists to
only buy tea from the British East India
Company (Tea Act).
Intolerable Acts 1774 (Coersive Acts)
Direct response to the BTP. series of laws:
 make colonist pay for tea that was
lost;
 closed port of Boston
 imposed martial law (rule imposed
by military force)
with the increasing
hostility in the colonies,
British customs
commissioners
petitioned for protection
Samuel Adams labels the
confrontation a
“massacre”
Present the event as an
attack on defenseless
citizensPROPAGANDA
British East India
Company had a
monopoly but was hit
hard by boycotts and
almost bankrupt
Protest and Boycotts
(Boston Tea Party)
 Sons of Liberty
dressed as Native
Americans and
raided 3 British
Ships in the Boston
Harbor dumping
340 chests of tea
into the harbor
(Boston Tea Party)
saw the tea act as an
example of the British
making a decision that
concerned the colonists
without consulting them
King George III was
infuriated by the
organized destruction of
British property
Labeled them “Intolerable
Acts” (propaganda)
draw up a declaration of
colonial rights
Committees of
correspondence- to
communicate with other
colonies about threats to
Americans liberties
assembled the 1st
Continental Congress
1st Continental Congress 1774- Colonial
Action

Representatives from 12 of the 13 colonies
(no GA) met in Philadelphia and drew up
the Declaration of Rights and a complete
boycott of all trade with England

Lexington and Concord 1774
British troops marched from Boston to
Lexington and Concord to take stores of
colonial gunpowder, and guns and to
capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock;
met colonial minutemen (soldiers) and first
shots were fired
to put down any rebel
activity
Colonists stepped present their complaints
as a unified group
up military
preparations
Minutemen
began to
stockpile
firearms and
gunpowder
Rumors spread of British
military activity- Joseph
Warren (who took over
SOL when Adams went
into hiding) sent Paul
Revere warn Adams and
Hancock
First shots fired of the
Revolution- “shot heard
round the world”
Circulate Thomas
Paine’s “Common
Sense” pamphlet and 2nd
Continental Congress
to spread the ideas of
independence, draft a new
appeal to the King, and
select George
Washington to head the
army of minutemen
Who’s Who of the American Revolution:
1. Patrick Henry- Governor of VA, a lawyer and a great public speaker. Challenged many of the British taxes in court and
won! Inspired many with this speeches, most famously “Give me liberty or give me death!”
2. Samuel Adams- Founder of the Sons of Liberty, led most of the resistance efforts and boycotts
3. John Adams- One of the writers of the Declaration of Independence promoted a plan at the 2nd Continental Congress that
each colony set up their own government
4. Ben Franklin- writer, painter, inventor, diplomat, American Enlightenment thinker. Represented the American colonies
in London and later persuaded the French to aid the colonists’ cause in the Revolution.
5. Thomas Paine- Englishman who came to America to help the colonies. Wrote a pamphlet called “Common Sense” and
helped persuade many colonists to support Independence from Britain.
6. Thomas Jefferson- writer of the Declaration of Independence, will declare that all people have the right to life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness
7. Crispus Attucks- former slave who had become a dockworker. Among those who died in the Boston Massacre and the
first African American to give his life for the United States