Causes of American Revolution
Lesson #3
New Taxes and Tensions
*Review
• By 1766, Parliament had passed two tax laws that
angered the American colonists…
-What were the two tax laws passed?
-What are three ways colonists protested these laws?
-What eventually happened to both of these laws?
*Today, we will discuss how the British responded to
the protesting from the Americans.
I. Townshend Acts
• June 1767
-tax on everyday items like tea, glass, lead, paper, and paint
-writs of assistance passed to enforce Townshend Acts
*allowed tax collectors to go into any American’s house at any
time to look for smuggled goods
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Colonists respond by boycotting
Colonial legislatures sent letters to Parliament explaining these laws
violated their rights as Englishmen
Sons of Liberty continue to attack tax collectors
British soldiers are sent to Boston, Massachusetts to restore order in
October 1768.
II. The Boston Massacre
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March 5, 1770
Soldiers who were sent to enforce the Townshend Acts in
Boston were on patrol when they were confronted by a group of
Bostonians
*Bostonians cursed and threw snowballs at soldiers
*Mob of Bostonians saw event, began to gather around
• Soldiers fired into unarmed crowd, killing five civilians
• Sons of Liberty and Sam Adams use propaganda to make
event seem worse than it really was….
*Called event “Boston Massacre”
* Americans began to despise the British soldiers in the colonies
III. The Tea Act
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Passed by Parliament in May 1773
This was an extension on the Townshend Acts, and was made
to help a British company that had an excess of 18 million
pounds of tea
*Made the colonists buy tea from the British East India
Tea Company
American colonists upset because this would hurt local tea
merchants
Boston Tea Party occurs on December 16, 1773
IV. Intolerable (Coercive) Acts
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Laws passed in 1774 to punish the colonists for all the protesting of
the British taxes
*main idea of acts was to tell the colonists they had to listen to the
British government “in all cases, whatsoever”
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Colonists felt these laws violated their natural rights
*right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness
Reflective Journal
1. Why were the Townshend Acts considered even worse than the earlier laws
passed by the British?
2. How did the Americans respond to the Townshend Acts?
3. How did the British respond to the Americans protesting the Townshend Acts?
*How does this lead to the Boston Massacre?
4. Why would Sam Adams, Paul Revere, and the Sons of Liberty try to make the
event in Boston seem worse than it was?
5.
Explain how the Tea Act would lead to the Boston Tea Party.
6.
How did the British respond to the Boston Tea Party?