There was a ROAD
to REVOLUTION
Proclamation of 1763
Raising Taxes
• The French and Indian War had caused
the British to be in a great deal of debt.
• They decided to keep a standing army in
N. America to protect the colonists from
Indian attacks.
• To pay for this (and help pay back the debt
from the war), Prime Minister George
Grenville asked Parliament to tax the
colonists.
Sugar Act
•In 1764, Parliament passed the Sugar Act which
set taxes on molasses and sugar imported into
the colonies.
•Parliament’s actions angered many of the
colonists.
•Merchants in the colonies complained that the
taxes hurt business.
• James Otis, a lawyer from Boston, was
the first to openly complain about the
British. He argued that Parliament could
not, “Take from any man any part of his
property, without his consent in person or
by representation.”
• Basically, his argument was that no one in
Britain had asked if the colonists wanted
to be taxed, and since the colonists had
no direct representation in Parliament the
tax was unfair.
• At a Boston town meeting in May 1764,
leader Samuel Adams agreed with Otis.
• The argument of Adams and Otis spread
the slogan of, “No Taxation without
Representation” through the colonies.
• Adams also helped found Committees of
Correspondence. These were groups that
contacted other towns and colonies to
share ideas and information about the new
British laws and how to challenge them.
• A popular method of challenging the
British came through boycotts.
Stamp Act
•By early 1765, Grenville had gotten the hint and
asked the colonists how they felt they should help in
paying military costs.
•Some colonists proposed taxing themselves, but
Grenville rejected that idea and instead proposed the
Stamp Act which passed through Parliament in March
1765.
• This act affected most colonists. It
required them to pay for an official
stamp, or seal, whenever they bought
paper items.
• The tax had to be paid on legal
documents, licenses, newspapers,
pamphlets, and even playing cards.
Colonists who refused to pay were
fined or sent to jail.
• Greenville thought this tax was fair
since people in Britain were already
paying their share of taxes.
• Unfortunately for him, the colonists
disagreed and the protests began
immediately.
• In some places, colonists began
forming secret societies called the
Sons of Liberty.
• These groups sometimes used
violence to scare tax collectors.
• In May 1765, Patrick Henry
presented a series of resolutions
to the House of Burgesses in
Virginia.
• These resolutions stated that the
Stamp Act violated the rights of
the colonists as British citizens.
• Henry’s speech convinced the
assembly that they needed to
support some of his ideas.
The Repeal of the Stamp Act
• The Massachusetts Legislature got word
of Patrick Henry’s speech in Virginia, and
decided to form the Stamp Act Congress.
• Nine colonies sent representatives to this
Congress. They issued a declaration to
Parliament that the Stamp Act had violated
their rights and liberties and they wanted it
repealed.
• Pressure to repeal the Stamp Act
grew.
• Benjamin Franklin told Parliament
that colonists would buy British
goods again if Parliament would
repeal the Stamp Act.
• William Pitt, an important member
of Parliament, agreed with the
colonists. He led the repeal of the
Stamp Act.
•Although Parliament did repeal the Act,
they were bitter that the colonists had
challenged their authority.
•In order to show their power, Parliament
issued the Declaratory Act. This stated
that Parliament had the power to make
laws for the colonies, “in all cases
whatsoever.” In other words, they were
the boss of the colonies.
Townshend Acts
• In June 1767, Parliament passed the
Townshend Acts which placed taxes on
imported glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea.
• The money collected from these taxes
would help pay for military costs and the
salaries of colonial governors.
• In order to enforce this Act, British officials
used writs of assistance. These forms
allowed tax collectors to search for
smuggled goods.
• Colonists hated these laws b/c they felt
they violated their constitutional rights.
• The colonists decided to boycott British
goods again. They thought this would get
Parliament’s attention.
• Samuel Adams wrote a letter stating that
the acts violated the legal rights of the
colonists. The Massachusetts Legislature
sent his letter to other colonial legislatures
to get them on board.
• Within months, several colonies joined the
protest against the Townshend Acts.
• While this was going on, British tax
collectors seized the ship Liberty.
• The ship’s owner, John
Hancock, was angry
and accused the tax
collectors of punishing
him b/c he protested
the Townshend Acts.
• The Sons of Liberty
supported Hancock and
began attacking the
houses of the tax
collectors.
• As a result, the
Governor broke up the
Massachusetts
legislature and asked
that troops be sent to
Boston. They arrived in
October 1768.
Boston
Massacre
• Once the British troops arrived, both sides
viewed the other as the enemy.
• Name calling and fights starting breaking out.
• The tension erupted on March 5, 1770 when
a British soldier standing guard got into a
fight with a colonist.
• A crowd gathered around the soldier and
started throwing snowballs, rocks, and glass
at the soldier. A small group of soldiers
arrived, but the mob grew louder and angrier
until the soldiers fired into the crowd, killing
several colonists.
• Samuel Adams used this event as
propaganda against the British.
• Colonists began calling the shootings
The Boston Massacre.
• The soldiers were charged with
murder, but were found not guilty.
Two of the soldiers were found guilty
of killing people in the crowd, so they
were branded on the hand and
released.
Tea Act
• To reduce tensions in the colonies following
The Boston Massacre, Parliament repealed
almost all of the Townshend Acts.
• They had kept a tax on tea, which was in
high demand in the colonies so they had
been smuggling it in. In order to stop the
smuggling, Parliament passed the Tea Act in
1773 which would give the British East India
Company a monopoly on tea.
• Colonists united against the Tea Act.
• Three ships carrying British tea arrived in
Boston Harbor in November 1773.
• The Sons of Liberty demanded that the
ships leave immediately, but they refused.
• In December, colonists disguised as
Indians snuck onto the three ships and
dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston
Harbor.
• Word spread of the Boston Tea Party with
shouts in the street of, “Boston Harbor is a
teapot tonight!”
Intolerable Acts
• Lord North, the new Prime Minister,
was furious when he heard about the
Boston Tea Party, and asked
Parliament to punish Massachusetts.
• They did this by passing the Coercive
Acts, or what colonists called the
Intolerable Acts in 1774.
• The Acts had several different effects:
A. Boston Harbor was closed until Boston
paid for the lost tea.
B. The Massachusetts charter was
canceled. The governor would decide
when the Leg. could meet.
C. Royal officials accused of crimes would
be sent to England for trial.
D. The Quartering Act forced colonists to
house and supply British soldiers.
E. General Thomas Gage became the new
governor of Massachusetts.
• These acts really made the colonists bitter.
• Many began writing poems and essays
criticizing the British government’s actions.
• Mercy Otis Warren wrote plays to show
the lack of rights given to colonists.
• Colonial leaders proposed a boycott (of
course!) on all British goods, and then they
tried to bring together leaders from each
colony to decide the best way to respond
to Britain’s abuse of colonial rights.