American Revolution
ALL the following events
represent the major events
along the way to the American
Revolution.
Although it would be hard to point to
any one event that singularly led to the
Revolution. All the battles and wars in
this presentation were the cause of the
American Revolution/War of
Independence. The United States
wanted Independence from Britain and
its laws. It all started in 1754……
French and Indian War 1754-1763
• The French and Indian War was a seven-year
war between England and the American
colonies, against the French and some of the
Indians in North America. When the war
ended, France was no longer in control of
Canada.
British Actions After the French
Indian War
• The British had 10,000 troops in North America at
the end of the French and Indian War.
• Proclamation of 1763 tried to protect the Indians
from further land take-overs by the settlers.
• The proclamation outlawed the purchase of land
from the Indian, unless the land was licensed by
the British.
• The proclamation established a western
boundary for colonial settlement, along the
Appalachian Mountains. To the west the lands
were reserved for the Indians.
Revenue Act of 1764
• The Revenue Act of 1764, otherwise known in the colonies as
"The Sugar Act“, actually lowered the tax on molasses, a key
import of the colonies.
• The new act provided strong methods of enforcing the tariff
on molasses. It also placed a tax on the importation of
additional items, such as silks, wines and potash.
• The American colonists whatever actions they could to ignore
defy the new laws by smuggling goods into the colonies
without paying the taxes.
Stamp Tax Imposed and
Repealed
• The Revenue Act of 1764 did not bring in enough money to
help pay the cost of defending the colonies so the British
looked for additional sources of taxation.
• The Stamp Act, required all newspapers and legal
documents to carry a stamp purchased from the British.
• The British were surprised by the level of the opposition to
the Stamp tax. They were faced with two options, repress
the opposition with force or repeal the Stamp Tax.
• Eventually the stamp tax was revoked.
Townsend Act
• In 1767, the British passed new taxes on glass, paper,
teas, paints and other goods shipped to the colonies
from Britain.
• The Prime Minister wanted to raise money to cover the
cost for defending the colonies and pay the salaries of
governors and judges in the colonies.
• The colonists reacted by refusing to buy British goods.
The colonists argued that they shouldn't be taxed since
they had no representation in the British government
• Again Britain was forced to remove the taxes, all except
for the tax on tea.
Boston Massacre- 1770
• Brawls were constant
between the British and the
colonists because the
colonists were enraged at the
increasing amount of British
soldiers flooding into the
colonies. On March 5, 1770,
a crowd of sixty towns
people surrounded the
British soldiers and starting
throwing snowballs at the
guards.
• Suddenly, a shot rang out,
followed by several others.
Ultimately, 11 colonists were
hit and five died.
•Two soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter and had their hands
branded. News of this attack was spread throughout the colonies.
The Boston
Tea Party
• The British East India Company had
controlled all tea trading between
India and the British colonies. As a
result of the tea tax, the colonies
refused to buy the British tea.
Instead, they smuggled tea in from
Holland.
• In May 1773, The Tea Act allowed
the British East India Company to sell
tea directly to the colonists,
bypassing the colonial wholesale
merchants.
• On the evening of December 16,
1773, a group of men calling
themselves the "Sons of Liberty"
went to the Boston Harbor. The men
were dressed as Mohawk Indians.
They boarded three British ships and
dumped forty-five tons of tea into
the Boston Harbor.
BATTLES
There were many battles
throughout the northern
and the southern colonies.
In defended themselves,
the colonies knew they
must act as a nation to
survive. The war brought
the colonies together with
a single purpose, to defend
their land and their
freedoms.
• At the start of the revolution, the
American soldiers were poorly
trained and had little military
experience. Not all Americans were
in favor of the rebellion.
• Britain had 3 times more people
than America, and considerably
more wealth. The British also had a
strong military with a powerful navy.
• To the American's advantage, they
were fighting on their own land and
were experienced wilderness
fighters from their battles with the
native Indians. The
Revolution/battles started in 17751783 when shots were fired in
Massachusetts.
•When the American Revolution was going on in 1775/1776 thousands of
colonists joined the rebel cause and fought to preserve the British Empire and
the royal laws in America. The revolution has become a bloody civil war.
•The rebels decree that any loyalty to Britain is a crime, punishable by the
whipping post and the noose.
•In 1776, the Thirteen Colonies, in what would become part of the United
States, declared independence from Britain. They wanted to form their own
country, free of British rule. Many Loyalists left the Thirteen Colonies during
the American War of Independence/American Revolution. Some went north
the what had become British North America. Most Loyalist came to
communities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence
Lowlands.
• It is estimated that 100,000 Loyalists were driven out of the New English's
(American) Thirteen Colonies. The rebels confiscated all the lands and
property of the Loyalists . About 50,000 refugees flee north for sanctuary
from persecution, the rest head south or back to Britain and some to their
ancestral home country.
The 13 Colonies/Americans
The 13 colonies wanted to have their own laws and government and
didn’t want anything to do with the British Laws in “Canada”. New
Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New
Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina and Georgia were the 13 colonies.
•The arrival of the Loyalists after the war of independence (American
Revolution) led to the division of Canada into the provinces of Upper Canada
(what is now southern Ontario) and Lower Canada (what is now southern
Quebec). For the same reasons, Nova Scotia was divided into the provinces of
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
•The creation of Upper and Lower Canada allowed most Loyalists to live
under British laws and institutions, while the French-speaking population of
Lower Canada could maintain their familiar French civil law and the Catholic
religion.
A version of the Union Flag used from 1707 to
1801, which can still be seen as a common Loyalist
symbol in certain parts of Canada.
Conclusion of the American Revolution
• The thirteen colonies in the south of North
America wanted to be their own country and
not under control of Britain.
• They joined together and created a new
country called United States of America.
• They declared their independence in June of
1812, by declaring war on Britain.
Results of the American Revolution
• Both Americans and Canadians became closer
and felt that they were one country.
• Land was divided up along the 49th parallel.
• Establishment of British North America and
the United States of America.
War of 1812
• This was a war fought between the Americans in
the south and the “Canadians” in the North.
• America wanted its independence, but also
wanted to gain more land and resources from the
areas in the north.
• The result was the Canadians avoided conquest
by the Americans and the Americans achieved
their independence.