The Sugar Act of 1764
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On April 5, 1764, the British Parliament passed a modified version of the Sugar
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and Molasses Act (1733), which was about to expire. Under the Molasses Act
colonial merchants had been required to pay a tax of six pence per gallon on the
importation of foreign molasses. The colonists tried to avoid the tax by smuggling
in cheaper molasses and sugar from French colonies in the West Indies. This hurt
the British West Indies market in molasses and sugar and the market for rum. The British Parliament
decided it would be wise to make a few adjustments to the trade regulations. The Sugar Act reduced
the rate of tax on molasses from six pence to three pence per gallon, but required that the tax be
strictly enforced. The Act also listed more foreign goods to be taxed including sugar, certain wines,
coffee, and cloth. The Act also tried to regulate the export of lumber and iron. As a result of the Act,
the tax on molasses caused an almost immediate decline in the rum industry in the colonies. The
combined effect of the new taxes was to sharply reduce trade with the French West Indies, which had
been important trading partners for colonial products such as lumber, flour, cheese, and other farm
products. The situation disrupted the colonial economy by reducing the markets to which the colonies
could sell.
Source: Adapted from http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/related/sugaract.htm
The Stamp Act of 1765
The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament on March 22, 1765. The
new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax
on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship's papers, legal documents,
licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed. The
money collected by the Stamp Act was to be used to help pay the costs of
defending and protecting the American frontier near the Appalachian Mountains
(10,000 troops were to be stationed on the American frontier for this purpose).
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The actual cost of the Stamp Act was relatively small. What made the law so
offensive to the colonists was not so much its immediate cost but the standard it
seemed to set. In the past, taxes and duties on colonial trade had always been
viewed as measures to regulate commerce, not to raise money. The Stamp Act,
however, was viewed as a direct attempt by England to raise money in the colonies without the
approval of the colonial legislatures. If this new tax were allowed to pass without resistance, the
colonists reasoned, the door would be open for far more troublesome taxation in the future.
Few colonists believed that they could do anything more than grumble and buy the stamps until the
Virginia House of Burgesses (the colonial Virginia legislature) adopted Patrick Henry's Stamp Act
Resolves. These resolves declared that Americans possessed the same rights as the English,
especially the right to be taxed only by their own representatives; that Virginians should pay no taxes
except those voted by the Virginia House of Burgesses; and that anyone supporting the right of
Parliament to tax Virginians should be considered an enemy of the colony. The House of Burgesses
defeated the most extreme of Henry's resolutions, but four of the resolutions were adopted. Virginia
Governor Fauquier did not approve of the resolutions, and he dissolved the House of Burgesses in
response to their passage.
Source: Adapted from http://www.history.org/history/teaching/tchcrsta.cfm
The Boston Massacre, 1770
The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occurred on March 5,
1770, between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and
sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. Several colonists were
killed in the fight.
The presence of British troops in the city of Boston was
increasingly unwelcome. A riot began when about 50 citizens
attacked a British guard. A British officer called in additional
soldiers, and these too were attacked, so the soldiers fired into the
mob, killing 3 on the spot (a black sailor named Crispus Attucks,
ropemaker Samuel Gray, and a mariner named James Caldwell),
and wounding 8 others, two of whom died later. The British
officers said they fired in self-defense.
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http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=65572&rendTypeId=4
Citizens of Boston called a town meeting to demand the removal of the British and the trial of the
British Captain and his men for murder. At the trial, John Adams defended the British, leading to
their acquittal and release. The Boston Massacre was an important event leading to the Revolutionary
War. It led directly to the Royal Governor evacuating the occupying army from the town of Boston. It
would soon bring the revolution to armed rebellion throughout the colonies.
Source: Adapted from http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/related/massacre.htm
The Tea Act 1773 and Boston Tea Party
The Tea Act would launch the final spark to the revolutionary movement in
Boston. The act was not intended to raise revenue in the American colonies, and
in fact imposed no new taxes. It was designed to prop up the British East India
Company which was floundering financially and burdened with eighteen million
pounds of unsold tea. This tea was to be shipped directly to the colonies and sold
at a bargain price. Tea was important in colonial life – Parliament assumed the
colonists would rather pay the tax than deny themselves a cup of tea.
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Earlier taxes were still in place, however, and the radical leaders in America found reason to believe
that this Act was a maneuver to buy popular support for the taxes already in force. Colonists were
angry that they were forced to pay taxes to the British Parliament when they had no representation.
The direct sale of tea, via British agents, would also have undercut the business of local merchants.
Colonists in Philadelphia and New York turned the tea ships back to England. In Charleston the cargo
was left to rot on the docks. In Boston, the arrival of three tea ships ignited a furious reaction. The
crisis came to a head on December 16, 1773 when as many as 7,000 agitated locals milled about the
wharf where the ships were docked. A mass meeting at the Old South Meeting House that morning
resolved that the tea ships should leave the harbor without payment of any duty (tax). A committee
was selected to take this message to the Customs House to force release of the ships out of the harbor.
The Collector of Customs refused to allow the ships to leave without payment of the duty. Stalemate.
The committee reported back to the mass meeting and a howl erupted from the meeting hall. It was
now early evening and a group of about 200 men disguised as Indians assembled on a nearby hill.
Whooping war chants, the crowd marched two-by-two to the wharf, descended upon the three ships
and dumped the cargo of tea into the harbor waters.
Source: Adapted from http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/teaparty.htm and http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/related/teaact.htm
Coercive or Intolerable Acts, 1774
The British Parliament was angered by the Boston Tea Party and
thought the colonists’ actions were disrespectful of British authority.
Parliament disciplined the colonies and sought to control them more
firmly by placing four "coercive acts" on Massachusetts and the other
colonies.
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• Impartial Administration of Justice Act - allowed the royal governor of a colony to move trials to
other colonies or even to England if he feared that juries in those colonies wouldn't judge a case fairly
• Massachusetts Bay Regulating Act - made all law officers subject to appointment by the royal
governor and banned all town meetings that didn't have approval of the royal governor
• Boston Port Act - closed the port of Boston until the price of the dumped tea was recovered, moved
the capital of Massachusetts to Salem, and made Marblehead the official port of entry for the
Massachusetts colony.
• Quartering Act - allowed royal troops to stay in people’s houses or empty buildings if barracks
were not available. Colonists could not refuse to house British troops.
These Acts were the harshest so far of all the Acts passed by Parliament. The Regulating Act aimed
to curtail revolutionary activities. The closing of Boston's port alone cost the colony (and the
American colonies as a whole) a great deal of money. The Quartering Act angered colonists who
didn't want soldiers (especially Redcoats) in their houses.
Source: Adapted from http://www.americanrevolution.com/IntolerableActs.htm and http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/us/intolerableactsdef.htm
The First Continental Congress
The first Continental Congress met in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia,
from September 5 to October 26, 1774. Carpenter's Hall was also the seat
of the Pennsylvania Congress. All of the colonies except Georgia sent
delegates. The delegates were united in a determination to show the
colonists’ authority to England, but their goals and aims were not uniform
at all. Pennsylvania and New York sent delegates with firm instructions to
seek a resolution or compromise with England. The other colonies were
defensive of colonial rights, but pretty evenly divided between those who
sought legislative parity, and the more radical members who were prepared
for separation.
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The first few weeks were consumed in discussion and debate. The colonies had always, up to this
time, acted as independent colonies. The objectives of the Continental Congress were not entirely
clear but a core set of tasks was carried out. The delegates agreed that they would communicate to the
King and Parliament the grievances of the colonies. On October 14, they decided on a statement of
principles common to all of the colonies and agreed to meet again the following year if England did
not respond to their grievances. They also agreed not to import English goods, to establish ways
throughout the colonies to enforce and regulate the resistance to England, and to keep the channels of
communication open among themselves and with England.
Source: Adapted from http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/related/congress.htm
Lexington and Concord, 1775
The decade-long political feud between the British government and the
American colonists, determined to retain their rights as British subjects, came
to a devastating climax as British regulars clashed with colonial militia and
Minute Men on April 19, 1775 at Lexington, Concord's North Bridge and on
the long, bloody road back to Boston.
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The British chose to march to Concord because it was an arms depot - the
colonists had stockpiled weapons there. British troops had occupied Boston and were marching on
Concord as they passed through Lexington. No one is still sure who fired first, but it was the "Shot
Heard 'Round the World." Both sides opened fire, and the Americans were forced to withdraw. But
they had slowed the British advance. By the time the Redcoats got to Concord, the Americans were
waiting for them in force. The weapons depot was saved, and the British were forced to retreat,
harassed by militiamen along the way. The skirmishes were preceded by Paul Revere's famous ride,
warning the countryside: "The British are coming!" The fighting that began that day soon grew into a
war for independence that lasted more than eight years. Many years later, Ralph Waldo Emerson used
the phrase "the shot heard round the world" to describe the significance of this event.
Source: Adapted from http://www.nps.gov/mima/historyculture/index.htm and http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/us/lexingtonconcorddef.htm