The Road to Revolution - Chapter 6 Notes
I. Tighter British Control
A. British Troops and Taxes
1.King George III, British Monarch, wanted to enforce the proclamation also keep peace with Britain’s
Native American allies
2. Quartering Act (1765) required colonies to house soldiers
3. Britain needed more revenue, or income, to meet its expenses
4. Sugar Act (1764) is the law placed a tax on sugar, molasses, and other products
5. Stamp Act (1765) is the law that required legal and commercial documents to have a stamp showing
tax was paid. This was different because it taxed the colonists directly.
6. Declaratory Act (1766) said that Parliament had supreme authority to govern colonies
B. Colonies protest
1. Boycott - a refusal to buy goods
2. Sons of Liberty
a. Secret society of colonists created to oppose British policies
b. Organized protests (some peaceful, some violent)
c. Samuel Adams, cousin of John Adams, was one of their leaders
3. Patrick Henry – a Virginia leader who called for resistance to the Stamp Act
II. Colonial Resistance Grows
A. Townshend Acts (1767)
1. Series of laws passed by Parliament
a. Suspended New York’s assembly
b. Established taxes on goods brought into the colonies (paper, paint, lead, glass, and tea)
c. Writs of assistance - search warrants
2. Outraged the colonists
B. Boston Massacre (1770)
1. Clash between British soldiers and Boston colonists
2. Five unarmed colonists were killed, including Crispus Attucks
3. John Adams defended the British soldiers in court
C. Boston Tea Party (1773)
1.The dumping of 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor by colonists disguised as Native Americans to
protest the Tea Act
2. Organized by the Sons of Liberty
B. Colonies protest
1. Boycott - a refusal to buy goods
2. Sons of Liberty - a secret society of colonists created to oppose British policies
III. The Road to Lexington and Concord
A. Intolerable Acts (1774), also called Coercive Acts
1. Series of laws to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party
a. Boston Port Act – closed the port in Boston to ‘starve them out’
b. Massachusetts Government Act – British took over Mass. Government
c. Administration of Justice Act – allowed trials of royal officials to be moved from the colonies
d. Quartering Act – a new quartering act granting more power to house troops
2. Also served as a warning to other colonies
B. First Continental Congress
1. September 1774, delegates from colonies met
2. Voted to ban all trade with Britain until Intolerable Acts were repealed
3. Called on colonies to train troops
a. Militia - force of armed citizens pledged to defend their community
b. Minutemen - militia ready to act in a minute's notice
c. Artillery - cannon and large guns
d. Mercenaries - paid professional soldiers hired to fight for a foreign country
4. Lexington and Concord
a. April 19, 1775
b. Paul Revere spread news of British troop movements – “The British are coming!”
c. First fighting in the American Revolution
d. Lexington was 700 Redcoats to 60-70 Minutemen
e. Later that same day in Concord several thousand Minutemen showed up and chased the
British back to Boston, firing all the while
C. Loyalists - supported the British and King George III
D. Patriots - supported the rebels and independence
IV. Declaring Independence
A. Second Continental Congress
1. Formed Continental Army
2. Chose George Washington to be commanding general
a. Member of the Continental Congress
b. From Virginia
c. Colonial officer with the British during French & Indian War
B. Thomas Paine
1. Wrote Common Sense
2. Helped convince Americans that a complete break with Britain was necessary
C. The Declaration of Independence
1. July 4, 1776
2. Document that declared to Britain and the rest of the world that the colonies were free and
independent states
3. Committee of 5 chose to draft it included Ben Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson
(Jefferson actually wrote it)
4. Liberty Bell was rang to announce its first reading
5. Ideas from the Enlightenment, John Locke, and other earlier thinkers influenced the Declaration of
Independence
a. Unalienable, natural rights (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness)
b. Governments get power by the consent of the people
c. Separation of powers
d. Social contract - if government becomes destructive to people's freedoms, they can
and should abolish it
e. Free trade
6. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness…”