The Committees of Correspondence
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Stamp Act Congress showed that colonists could work together
November 1772: Committee of Correspondence in Boston
-begun by Samuel Adams of Massachusetts
 One of his colony’s leaders
 Had spoken out many times against British rule
-committee started to help news spread more quickly in the colonies
-80 committees were organized in Massachusetts colony
-committees set up in other colonies too
How committees communicated
-wrote letters to one another about what was being done in their colony to protest British law
-letters delivered by riders on horseback
The Boston Tea Party
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1773-law passed allowing British company to sell tea in colonies for very low price
-hurt colonial merchants, colonists had to pay a tax on tea
-people in every colony decided to boycott British tea
-Pennsylvania, New York
o Colonists didn’t allow ships carrying British teas to enter ports
-Massachusetts
o Ships’ captains refused to be turned away
Boston Tea Party
-to protest British taxes
-December 1773
-British ships carrying tea entered Boston Harbor
-members of Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk Indians got on ships late at night, broke open
all chests of tea and dumped tea into harbor
Consequences of Boston Tea Party
-Parliament punished Massachusetts: called the Intolerable Acts
o Law passed saying no ship carrying colonial goods could leave Boston Harbor until
colonists paid for all tea that had been destroyed
o To enforce law, Parliament ordered Royal Navy to blockade Boston Harbor
-wanted to show that colonists had to obey laws
o Also ordered colonists to pay for housing of British soldiers (quarter)-give soldiers food,
housing
o King made General Thomas Gage the new governor of Massachusetts
-Gage=head of British army in North America
Edenton Tea Party
-to protest British taxes
-Edenton, North Carolina
-Penelope Barker led 51 women to do everything they could to help the tea boycott
-*the earliest known instance of political activity on the part of women in the American colonies
The Continental Congress
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September 1774-Philadelphia: Continental Congress
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-Committees of Correspondence called meeting of representatives of all colonies to decide what
to do about the latest actions of the British government
-called C.C. 1st meeting of its kind on North American continent
-representatives from every colony except Georgia came
-Ideas:
o agreed to stop all trade with Britain
o colonies would no longer obey British laws when laws took away their liberty as citizens
o changes had to be made by Parliament or Congress would meet again in May 1775
Virginia-House of Burgesses
-suggested colonists start preparing for war
-others were opposed to this
-March 1775: Patrick Henry said, “Give me liberty or give me death!”
Fighting at Lexington and Concord
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End of Continental Congress
-Minutemen: from Massachusetts
o Ready to fight in a minute to defend Massachusetts
o Were all ages
o Many owned property
o Some were working men
o At least five were Africans
-British kept soldiers, weapons ready
Patriots: colonists against British
April 1775-British General Thomas Gage (new governor of Massachusetts)
-heard Patriots were storing weapons in Concord
-heard John Hancock, Samuel Adams (leaders of Sons of Liberty) were staying nearby in
Lexington
-sent 700 British soldiers to find weapons, arrest Patriot leaders
Paul Revere, William Dawes (members of Sons of Liberty)
-April 18
-warned Hancock, Adams that “British were coming”
April 19-Lexington
-Minutemen waiting for British
-8 Minutemen were killed
British marched on to Concord
-weapons had been moved
Total losses for day
-73 killed, 174 wounded
-93 Minutemen killed or wounded
Shots fired at Lexington and Concord marked beginning of war between Britain, American
colonies