UNIT 1
Class Notes
I. The American Revolution Background
A. French and Indian War =a war that Britain (England) fought with France and caused them to spend a lot of money
-They went into debt and came to the colonists to have them pay through taxes
They forced the colonists to pay these taxes by passing special laws called acts
B. The colonists didn’t have any representation in British government so they had to follow the acts
What led up to the Revolutionary War:
1. Proclamation of 1763
Cause: Proclamation of 1763 = act saying colonists could not move west of the Appalachian Mountains
Effect : Colonists were “stuck” on the East Coast
2. Writs of Assistance
Cause :Gives British soldiers the right to search colonists’ homes whenever they wanted to
Effect : Colonists didn’t have privacy
3. Quartering Act
Cause: In 1765, Britain forced colonists to house British soldiers in their homes even if they didn’t want them to.
Effect: Colonists did not want the soldiers in their homes but did NOT want to get in trouble with them.
4. Stamp Act
Cause: In 1765, Britain put a tax on all documents such as newspapers, letters, and playing cards
Effect: The colonists create the Stamp Act Congress to fight against the Stamp Act. The phrase “no taxation without representation” comes from one of the Stamp Act
Congress’s leaders. The Stamp Act Congress said that the colonies would boycott British goods until the law was repealed , or taken back.
5. Townshend Act
Cause: Britain decided they would tax goods like sugar and tea. The money was to be used to pay British soldiers’ salaries
Effect : This is the first semi-violent reaction of the colonists.
They fight back against British soldiers. In one incident, British soldiers fired shots into a mob of rowdy colonists, leaving 5 dead and several wounded.
**This event came to be known as the BOSTON
MASSACRE. It was called a massacre because the media reported it as a brutal slaying of innocent colonists.
6. Tea Act
Cause : In 1773, Britain repealed the Townshend Acts but enacted the Tea Act, which allowed the British East India
Company to be the only company to sell tea to the colonists without a tax.
9. Why would the colonists be mad about the Proclamation of 1763?
10. Fun Fact! As a result of the Quartering Act, the third amendment was created. What does it say?
11. What does the word “boycott” mean?
12. Was the Boston Massacre really a massacre?

UNIT 1
Effect: Even though they were getting their tea cheaper, the colonists rejected the British tea. In December of
1773, members of the Sons of Liberty dressed up as
Mohawk Native Americans, snuck onto a boat that belonged to the British Tea Company, and threw 342 crates of tea into the Boston Harbor.
-Became known as the Boston Tea Party
7. Intolerable (coercive) Acts
Cause: In 1774, as a direct response to the Tea Party, the
British enforced these acts, which closed the Boston
Harbor and put the city under military rule.
Effect: Leading colonists met in Philadelphia in what became known as the FIRST Continental Congress and wrote a list of issues they had with Britain.
All of the colonies were represented except for Georgia.
Unsurprisingly, however, the British refused to listen to the requests of the Colonists.
Therefore, the Colonists take action. This is influenced by…
Additionally, the Revolutionary War begins in 1775 with the “shot heard round the world” in Lexington and
Concord, Massachusetts.
13. Even though they were getting their tea for cheaper from England, the colonists were angry.
Why do you think this is?