Angela Brown
 Describe
how rising tensions
in the colonies led to fighting
at Lexington and Concord,
Massachusetts.
Bellringer:
 Jot down a list of items
that the federal
government singles out
for taxation.
 Do you think these
taxes are fair? Do you
feel they restrict
individual freedom in
any way? Explain.
Vocabulary:
 Pontiac’s Rebellion
 Proclamation of 1763
 Stamp Act
 Boycott
 Boston Massacre
 First Continental
Congress
 Battles of Lexington and
Concord
 Revolutionary War
1.
2.
3.
Explain how and why British policies in the
colonies changed after 1763.
Summarize the causes and effects of the Stamp
Act.
Describe how rising tensions in the colonies
led to fighting at Lexington and Concord,
Massachusetts.
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George III became King at
age 22.
He replaced William Pitt,
as prime minister with his
personal adviser, John
Stewart, Earl of Bute.
The stubborn and insecure
king promised a quick end
to the long and expensive
war with France.
Lord Bute accomplished in
the Treaty of Paris of 1763.
time.com
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As the end of the war approached, British
traders and land speculators showed interest in
the Great Lakes region and the Ohio River
Valley.
NA became alarmed.
The British colonists as farmers, represented a
greater threat to Indian lands and resources.
General Jeffrey Amherst, the British military
commander in NA, despised the Indians.
He ended the flow of trade goods the NA had
come to depend on under French rule.
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Ottawa, Huron, Potawatomi, and other Indians
in the regions rebelled against British rule in
the spring of 1763.
Europeans named the uprising Pontiac’s
Rebellion, after one of its Ottawa leaders.
NA destroyed every British fort in the area
west of the Appalachians except Fort Pitt and
Fort Detroit.
Some 2,000 colonists had been killed or
captured and thousands fled.
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In October, King George
issued the Proclamation of
1763.
This closed the region west
of the Appalachian
Mountains to all settlement
by colonists.
The British government
then signed peace treaties
with the Indians.
Colonists continued to
move west .
Britain’s failure to halt the
migration further
undermined its authority in
America.
mrbaileyqrmhs.weebly.com
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By 1763 the British were
among the most heavily
taxed people in the
world.
The costs of governing
and defending Britain’s
vast empire contributed
to the burden.
In 1763 a new tax on
cider caused riots
throughout the apple –
grounding regions of
England.
worldatlas.com
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In April, Lord Bute
resigned and finance
minister George
Grenville became the
prime minister.
Grenville was a brilliant
money manager but
was self-centered and
rude.
The king hated him and
he had few political
friends.
xtimeline.com
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While Britain
struggled with its
heavy debts and
taxes, its colonies in
America were
prospering.
Grenville asked, why
shouldn’t the colonist
pay some of the costs
of their own
government and
defense.
nps.gov
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The passage of the Sugar Act in 1764 marked
the start of a new British policy designed to
raise more income from the colonies.
The law actually cut the duty on foreign
molasses in half.
Grenville predicted that the lower tax would
encourage Americans to buy imported
molasses and pay the tax rather than risk
smuggling as they had been doing.
He hoped it would increase tax collections.
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Ship owners were told their ships would be
seized if they “forgot” to pay their tax.
The British navy patrolled the cost to
discourage smuggling.
Most upsetting to colonists smuggling cases
were to be heard in British court rather than
colonial.
They were decided by a judge alone…no jury.
The judge received a 5% commission on all
illegal cargoes and fines.
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Another reform of
Grenville’s was the
Quartering Act passed
in 1765.
This law required the
colonies to provide
housing and supplies
for the British troops in
America after the
French and Indian War.
Colonists complained
about the taxes but most
went along with them.
timerime.com
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In March of 1765 the
British Parliament passed
the Stamp Act placing a
tax on newspapers,
pamphlets, legal
documents, and most
other printed materials.
It required a special stamp
to show the tax had been
paid.
Grenville estimated that
this tax would raise
enough money to pay the
cost of keeping troops in
America.
keep3.sjfc.edu
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The Stamp Act marked the
first time that the British
government had taxed the
colonists for the purpose of
raising money.
The Sugar Act had been
presented to the colonists
as a way to regulate trade
rather than its true purpose
of raising money.
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People in England had
been paying a stamp tax
since 1694.
The law represented a
radical change for the
colonists.
Grenville was cautious
about introducing the tax,
talking to agents of the
colonies and giving them
time to make suggestions.
He was unprepared for
the protest that followed.
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This measure touched
almost all Americans in
every colony.
It affected some of the
most powerful people in
the colonies – printers,
merchants, and lawyers.
In October 1765,
delegates from seven
colonies met in New York
to hold a meeting known
as the Stamp Act
Congress.
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James Otis from Mass., the
main organizer of the
meeting had claimed since
1761 that Britain had no
right to force laws on the
colonies, because the
colonists had no
representatives in the
British Parliament.
Otis and other delegates
made this argument again
in petitions, or letters sent
to the King and Parliament.
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The claimed the colonists should have the same
rights and liberties that the people of GB
enjoyed.
Merchants and others organized a boycott of
British goods.
A boycott is a refusal to buy certain products or
use certain services.
The Sons and Daughters of Liberty sprang up
throughout the colonies to enforce the boycott
and organize other ways to resist British
policies.
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Boston Sons of Liberty was the most active under
the leadership of one of its founders Samuel
Adams.
In August, members called on the stamp
distributor and warned him to resign or his home
would be destroyed and his life in danger.
Several nights later a mob attacked the home of his
brother-in-law, Thomas Hutchinson, lieutenant
governor of the colony.
He and his family were told to leave or be killed,
then they destroyed or took everything that was
inside.
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By November 1765 the Stamp Act took effect
but most stamp distributors had resigned or
fled, leaving no one to sell the stamps.
British merchants protested as the boycott
threatened their profitable trade with America.
After Grenville was forced from power,
Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in March
1766.
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The colonist celebrated the repeal of the Stamp
Act.
The larger issue of taxation had not gone away.
Few people noticed that Parliament addressed
it the day they repealed the Stamp Act.
They passed the Declaratory Act stating that
Parliament had the authority to make laws that
applied to the colonists “in all cases
whatsoever”.
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In 1767 Parliament passed this act placing
duties on certain imported goods, including
glass and tea.
Named after the chief financial officer, Charles
Townshend who hoped to satisfy the colonists
by raising money through duties rather than
direct taxes.
It stated that the money would be used for “the
support of civil government” in the colonies.
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The colonists were being taxed without their
consent.
Britain would use the money to pay the salaries
of royal governors in America, who then
would not have to turn to colonial legislatures
for their pay.
The would weaken the legislatures and
undermine self-government in the colonies.
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Boycott that had
proven so successful
against the stamp act
was renewed.
Women pledged to
weave cloth rather
than buy cloth made
in England.
Many also boycotted
British tea.
dipity.com
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Britain sent troops to put
down the violence due to
the Townshend Acts.
On the evening of March
5, 1770, an unruly crowd
threatened a squad of
British soldiers.
The soldiers opened fire
on the crowd.
AA Crispus Attucks and
four other colonists were
killed.
ushistory.org
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The next day a British
officer and 8 soldiers
were arrested and
charged with murder.
Samuel Adam’s cousin,
John Adams, and
another lawyer agreed
to defend them.
John Adams, a harsh
critic of British policy,
believed they had a
right to a fair trial.
answers.com
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Two were convicted of lesser crimes.
Their thumbs were branded as punishment
and they were released.
Parliament soon canceled the Townshend
taxes.
It kept its duty on tea as a reminder of British
authority
The general boycott of British goods collapsed
and only the boycott of British tea remained.
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The colonies entered a
quiet period.
Yet Samuel Adams and
other Boston leaders
reminded citizens of
British offenses.
In 1772 they formed the
C of C to coordinate
resistance throughout
the colonies.
By 1774 nearly all the
colonies had such
committees.
alexkyriakis.edu.glogster.com
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In May of 1773, to help the
struggling British East
India Company,
Parliament passed the Tea
Act.
The company could sell its
teas in America without
paying the normal taxes.
It would make the East
India tea less expensive
than the smuggled tea the
colonists had been buying
driving the American tea
merchants out of business.
factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com
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Colonist protested.
The BEIC’s sales agents in
America were pressured to
resign.
Nov. 1773, several colonial
port cities refused to let the
ships dock in their harbors.
On the night of Dec. 16,
1773, a group of colonists
disguised as Indians
boarded three tea ships in
Boston.
As a large crowd watched,
they broke open every crate
on board and threw the tea
into the harbor.
therealrevo.com
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usfca.edu
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To punish Boston and all of
Mass., in the spring of 1774
Parliament passed a series of
laws known as the Coercive
Acts.
The measures seemed so
harsh the colonists labeled
them the Intolerable Acts.
Not part of the Coercive Acts,
another new law extended
Canada’s boundary south to
the Ohio River.
This stripped Mass., Conn.,
and Virginia of their claims to
western lands.
mrberlin.com
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General Thomas Gage,
the commander of
British forces in
America, was named
the new governor of
Mass.
Committees of
Correspondence in
several colonies called
for a meeting to plan a
united response. This
became known as the
First Continental
Congress.
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On September 5, 1774, 56
delegates met at
Carpenter’s Hall in
Philadelphia.
Delegates came from every
colony but Georgia.
George Washington,
Patrick Henry, Richard
Henry Lee were leading
figures.
Samuel Adams was the
most rebellious.
John Dickinson and John
Jay were moderates.
georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu
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They renewed the boycott
and called all colonists to
arm themselves and form
militias.
They made an appeal to the
King, outlining their
grievances and asking for
understanding
On October 26 the
Congress ended vowing to
meet again in the spring
George III remained
stubborn and declared the
colonies in rebellion on
November 18.
whenintime.com
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Mass. Patriots formed militias and began to gather
guns and ammunition.
A major stockpile of weapons was stored in
Concord, a town about 20 miles from Boston.
Late at night on April 18, 1775, a force of 700
British troops moved out of Boston and marched
toward Concord with orders to seize these
supplies.
The plan was supposed to be secret but Boston
Patriots learned of it.
Paul Revere, William Dawas, and Dr. Samuel
Prescott rode to get the news to Patriots.
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The British reached Lexington at dawn on April 19.
They encountered 70 armed militia, minutemen,
blocking their path on the village green.
The colonists were ordered to put down their
weapons and began to obey, then someone fired a
shot.
The troops fired a volley into the militia.
8 colonists were killed and 10 were wounded
within minutes.
The Shot Heard Round the World!
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At Concord, the troops burned the militias
stockpile of supplies.
4,000 Patriots gathered to fire upon the troops
from behind trees on the road back to Boston.
More than 70 British soldiers were killed and
170 wounded.
The Revolutionary War that would last until
1783 had begun.
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1. Summarizing the Main Idea: Why did the
colonists protest new British taxes, and in what
ways did they protest?
2. Create a graphic organizer outlining the
causes and effects of the Stamp Act.
3. How was the fighting at Lexington and
Concord related to the First Continental
Congress?
4. Why did Britain change its colonial policies
after 1763? What alternative policies, if any,
might Britain have adopted?