STEP TO REVOLUTION
(1) Proclamation of 1763
WHAT WAS IT?
- Banned settlement west of the
Appalachian Mountains to keep
peace with the Indians.
- Created a proclamation line
that settlers were not to cross.
COLONISTS’ REACTION
- British could not enforce.
- Colonists poured across
the line.
- Increased Indian tensions.
(2) Sugar Act (1764)
-Tough prosecution of smuggling
cases. Abandonment of salutary
neglect. Tried smugglers in
admiralty courts without jury trial
[violation of Magna Carta].
- Halved duty on foreign made
molasses (help reduce smuggling).
-Placed duties on certain imports.
-Increased smuggling
-Protested admiralty courts
(3) Writs of assistance
- Increased tensions between
Massachusetts & Britain over
smuggling.
- Allowed customs officials to
search, ships, buildings, & homes
-Boston’s colonial merchants were outraged!
(4) Stamp Act (1765)
-Requires stamped paper for
documents, printed items
-Opposed because it was a DIRECT tax rather
than an indirect (import) tax such as sugar tax.
-Stamp Act Congress says colonies can’t be taxed
without representation
-Samuel Adams helps found Sons of Liberty to
harass customs workers, stamp agents, royal
governors; Daughters of Liberty created
-Merchants boycott British goods until repealed.
-Samuel Adams organizes boycott
-Colonists riot and 2,000 British soldiers
stationed in Boston
-Although these were an INDIRECT tax, by this
time colonists were unwilling to accept an
indirect tax designed to collect taxes rather than
to regulate trade.
-BOSTON MASSACRE (1770): Presence of British
troops in Boston upsets colonists. Soldiers
competed with colonists for jobs. Mob throws
stones, British fire and kill five.
-Protested violently
-You know what comes next…
BOSTON TEA PARTY:
disguised colonists dump 18,000 lbs. of tea into
Boston Harbor
Repealed 1765
(5) Townshend Acts
(1767)
-Levy duties on imported
materials, tea
Repealed (except for tea
tax) as result of boycott
(6) Tea Act (1773)
-Lets East India Company (held a
monopoly on tea imports) avoid
tax, undersell colonists
-Threatened effectiveness of
colonial boycott and their protest
against right of Parliament to levy
taxes.
(7) The Intolerable
(Coercive) Acts (1774)
-King George III is angered by
destruction of tea
-Parliament passes
-Close Boston Harbor, quarter
soldiers in empty homes and
buildings
-General Thomas Gage puts
Boston under military rule
-First Continental Congress: claims colonial
rights, supports protests
-Defended colonies’ rights to run their own
affairs
-Stated that if British used force, colonies should
fight back
Perspective
✤
These events that led to the war were protests about the loss of “the rights of Englishmen” and against
“taxation without representation”. The colonists were not protesting because the taxes were too high nor were they
attempting to form a new kind of government.
✤
Instead, the colonists were trying to hold onto the government that they had developed during the time of
salutary neglect.
✤
Neither did the colonists want to have representation in Parliament since they would have been outvoted.
What they wanted was British recognition that only their colonial legislatures had the right to impose taxes on the
citizens of the colonies.
THE SHOT HEARD ‘ROUND THE WORLD
✤ Civilian militia or minutemen begin to stockpile firearms, 1775
✤ Resistance leaders John Hancock, Samuel Adams hide in Lexington
✤ 700 redcoats sent to capture leaders, destroy munitions, April 1775
✤ Paul Revere, William Dawes, Samuel Prescott warn leaders, townspeople
✤ Shot heard round the world begins Revolutionary War at Lexington and Concord
✤ British shoot minutemen in Lexington; kill eight
✤ 3,000–4,000 minutemen ambush British in Concord, kill dozens
1.3
Revolutionary War in a Nutshell
•
Loyalists—oppose independence, loyal to Crown
for different reasons.
•
Patriots, almost half of population, support independence.
EVENT
WHAT
SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS -Colonial leaders met to discuss plans
DATE: May-June 1775
-Appoint George Washington as commander
THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL
DATE: June 1775
-British troops attack militia north of Boston
-Costly British win: 450 colonist and over 1,000 British casualties
THE OLIVE BRANCH PETITION
DATE: July 1775
-Congress sends Olive Branch Petition to restore “harmony”
-George III rejects petition
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
DATE: July 4, 1776
-a formal statement of separation to further the cause of the fight with
Britain, was adopted
BATTLE OF SARATOGA
DATE: October 1777
-British surrender at Saratoga
-Although French king did not support ideals of democracy, following the
Battle of Saratoga, French govt began to believe the colonists might be
successful against the English, the traditional enemy of France.
-Treaty with France provided Americans with naval support and supplies
that proved crucial to victory
YORKTOWN
DATE: 1781
TREATY OF PARIS
DATE: 1783
-British surrender at Yorktown
-Confirms U.S. independence
-Sets boundaries
-Ignores Native American rights
-Promises repayment of debts
-No date set for British evacuation of forts in U.S.
Declaration of Independence
WHO
To: Those still loyal to king or
uncommitted to independence
Influenced by: John Locke, who
said people have natural right to
life, liberty, and property and
governments get their power
from the consent of the
governed).
Written by: Thomas Jefferson
WHAT
WHY
People have rights natural rights
to “life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness.”
“He,” the King, not Parliament,
had violated the rights of
colonists.
“All men are created equal” =
free citizens are political equals
The list of actions that “He” had
done was designed by Jefferson
to break the bonds between the
King and his loyalist subjects in
the colonies and to unify nation
against common enemy.
People have right to abolish
government when natural rights
are not protected by
government.
By declaring independence,
Americans could enter alliances
with other nations.
EFFECTS
-Impacted Articles of
Confederation, which Second
Continental Congress established
as its own replacement.
-Impacted state governments,
which severely limited executive
power.
-States in North passed laws
providing for gradual
emancipation of slaves
-States provided for freedom of
religion