AP U.S. History
Mr. Briscoe/Mr. Jensen
Name: _____________________________________
First Quarter
THE ROAD TO REVOLUTION (1760-1775)
Date
1760
Event
Writs of Assistance
1763
Proclamation of 1763
1764
Sugar Act
1765
Stamp Act
British Motives & Description of Policy
Colonial Response & Results
1767
Townshend Acts
1770
Boston Massacre
1773
Tea Act
1774
Intolerable Acts
1775
Battles of Lexington &
Concord
*British army in Boston short of food, low morale
*British General Gage sends 700 British troops
from Boston to seize Patriot weapons stockpile at
Concord (MA)
*Minutemen (colonial militia) fire on British troops at
Lexington and then at Concord
*British troops retreat to Boston under constant fire
*open rebellion (Revolutionary War) begins
AP U.S. History
Mr. Briscoe/Mr. Jensen
Name: _____________________________________
First Quarter
THE ROAD TO REVOLUTION (1760-1775)
Date
1760
Event
Writs of Assistance
British Motives & Description of Policy
*sought to crack down on colonial smuggling
*allowed the British crown to search any ship or
building suspected of being associated with
smuggling
*often allowed search of private homes
Colonial Response & Results
*James Otis, Jr. (Boston lawyer) challenged the writs in court,
calling them “unconstitutional” and a violation of English civil
liberties
*angered New England merchants and encouraged more
smuggling
1763
Proclamation of 1763
*Pontiac’s Rebellion of 1763 raised concerns that
English settlement west of the Appalachian Range
would spark further conflict with Native
Americans
*British government banned all English settlement
west of the line in order to keep peace
*angered colonists who sought more land for farming and real
estate speculation (ex: George Washington)
*colonists continued to move west in violation of the ban
1764
Sugar Act
*aimed at raising revenue to pay for Britain’s war
debt (external, indirect tax)
*lowered tax on foreign molasses to discourage
smuggling
*placed duties on certain imports
*gave authority to vice-admiralty courts to try
smugglers
*angered New England merchants, who saw it a way to raise
revenue for the British government at their expense
*encouraged more smuggling
*did not effectively raise much revenue
1765
Stamp Act
*Parliament sought to raise revenue with an
internal, direct tax on all documents and paper
products (e.g., newspapers, deeds, licenses, etc.)
*violators were to be tried in the vice-admiralty
courts, not in colonial courts
*Sam Adams organized the Sons of Liberty to protest the Act
*campaign of harassment against stamp agents
*colonial legislatures resolved that there would be “no taxation
without representation”
*Stamp Act Congress issues Declaration of Rights and
Grievances (organized colonial resistance)
*repealed by parliament in the Declaratory Act of 1766
1767
Townshend Acts
*British government returned to external, indirect
taxes on imports to raise revenue to pay off debt
(included taxes on tea, glass, lead, paint, etc.)
*colonial leaders organized a boycott of British imports
*colonial women protested by making their own clothing in
“spinning bees” (homespun clothing)
*seizure of John Hancock’s Liberty resulted in riots by Boston
residents in 1768
*British sent 2,000 troops to Boston
*repealed all of the duties, except that on tea in 1770
1770
Boston Massacre
*dockworkers confronted British soldiers over
jobs in Boston
*Crispus Attucks and four other colonists were
killed when gunfire broke out
*Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty used the incident to
highlight British tyranny
*tensions relaxed for two years until colonists in Rhode Island
attacked a British vessel that had run aground
*committees of correspondence arose in the colonies to
coordinate efforts to resist unfair trials
1773
Tea Act
*Lord North (British PM) designed the Act to give
the British East India Company a monopoly on the
tea trade; actually lowered the price of tea for
colonists
*Sons of Liberty organize the Boston Tea Party and dump
18,000 pounds of British East India Company tea into Boston
Harbor
1774
Intolerable Acts
*First Continental Congress met in Sept. 1774 to devise a
coordinated response – sent demands/grievances to King
George III and pledged to reconvene in May 1775 if demands
were not adequately addressed
*Massachusetts Patriots formed their own government (led by
Sam Adams and John Hancock)
1775
Battles of Lexington &
Concord
*King George III and parliament sought to punish
the Massachusetts colony:
1. shut down Boston harbor to trade
2. authorized British troops to house in private
homes and other private property
3. placed Massachusetts under martial law
4. revoked the Massachusetts charter
(aka, the Coercive Acts)
*Quebec Act limited westward settlement
*British army in Boston short of food, low morale
*British General Gage sends 700 British troops
from Boston to seize Patriot weapons stockpile at
Concord (MA)
*Minutemen (colonial militia) fire on British troops at
Lexington and then at Concord
*British troops retreat to Boston under constant fire
*open rebellion (Revolutionary War) begins