THE ROAD TO
REVOLUTION
1763-1775
The Dispute For North America
The French
and Indian War
The initial assault on
Fort Duquesne.
The Clashes in New
York
The Taking of Montreal
and Quebec.
British North America
Timeline towards Revolution
• 1763
• Proclamation Line of 1763
- Intended to stop Pontiac’s Rebellion (it did not)
- Almost entirely ignored by westward moving
settlers
- Biggest impact on wealthy land speculators (like
Washington)
Timeline - 1764
• The Sugar Act
- MP George Grenville proposes that colonists
should pay for the troops stationed there
- The Molasses Act of 1733 was never really
enforced
- The Sugar Act would
- lower duties on Sugar
- restrict trade of some other items, including
lumber
- create enforcement mechanisms
• Colonists increased smuggling and began petitioning the
King.
Timeline - 1765
• The Stamp Act of 1765
- Certain items – mostly paper goods – had to have a stamp affixed to
them. Like a sales tax
• Virginia - House of Burgesses, led by Patrick Henry, passed the Virginia
Resolves that only colonial legislatures may tax the colonists.
Massachusetts – Riots led up to the destruction of Judge Hutchinson’s home
All over the colonies, stamp agents were intimidated out of their jobs.
A loose non-importation, non-consumption system went into effect
Stamp Act Congress failed to unify the colonies, but did begin the process
of colonial elites working together to solve these issues.
• British merchants pressure Parliament because of lost trade with America
• Parliament repeals the Stamp Act
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Parliament simultaneously passes the Declaratory Act “Parliament may bind
the colonies in all cases whatsoever.” The Stamp Act is gone, but the
constitutional conflict is not resolved.
• Stamp Act repeal sets of celebrations and “Patriots” win control of many of
the colonial assemblies.
• Growing concern that the Church of England may send an Anglican Bishop to
force them to worship in the C of E. Growing linkage b/n religion and politics.
Timeline - 1766
• Wealthy New Yorkers call for British troops because of
riots among poor renters who wanted land.
• New York ordered to quarter and pay for the troops
upkeep.
• The New York assembly refuses to do so.
Timeline - 1767
• New York assembly disbanded by Townshend for refusing
to pay the upkeep of the British troops
• The New York assembly eventually relents and is allowed
– chastened – to return to meeting.
• Townshend institutes duties on lead, glass, paper, paint
and tea.
Creates Board of Customs Commissioners and sends
them to America to enforce it.
• Dickinson’s “Letter from a Farmer in Pennsylvania”
declares colonists’ constitutional rights to be violated by
Parliament and advocates petitions to solve the problem.
Timeline - 1768
• Royal and customs officials in Boston escalate the war of
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words with groups led by Samuel Adams and James Otis.
Violent clashes occur between American sailors and
British customs officials
Gov. Bernard calls for British troops to protect customs
officials (and himself)
The Adams-Otis faction hears of this and distributes the
Circular Letter asking for unified Colonial resistance to
Parliamentary power grabs.
Non-Importation/Non-Consumption starts creaking back
to life slowly from 1768-1770
Homemade goods (like homespun cloth) proliferate
Timeline - 1769
• Soldiers deploy to Boston
Timeline - 1770
• Tensions rise between Americans and British troops
• One soldier killed in NYC
• Boston courts deal harshly with British soldiers accused of
violence; Americans are usually given a free pass.
• Competition b/n soldiers and the poor for unskilled labor
• Boston Massacre and trial.
Boston Massacre Recreation
Timeline - 1771
• The Townshend Duties are repealed – except for the tax
on tea, left in place to demonstrate Parliament’s right to
tax the colonists.
• A period of simmering “drift” enters Anglo-Colonial affairs.
No love, but no overt conflicts
Timeline -1772
• HMS Gaspee – notorious for chasing local smugglers –
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runs aground in Rhode Island and is razed to the water.
RI courts are unable to convict anyone of razing the
Gaspee
Admiralty courts send suspected Americans to Britain
British Officials henceforth to
be paid from British funds,
not by colonial assemblies
Timeline – 1773
• Committees of Correspondence are launched. They
unite the colonies and share information
• British governmental officials, intending to save the British
East India Company from bankruptcy, create a monopoly
in the American colonies for it to exploit.
• American port towns mostly reject the tea and prevent it
from being unloaded.
• Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson decides to
strike back at the mob rule that disassembled his house
and refuses to let the tea ships depart Boston harbor
without unloading their tea.
Timeline – December 16th, 1773
• Colonists strike in the night and dump 342 chests of tea
into Boston harbor. Boston residents cheer them on,
inciting the mob.
Timeline - 1774: The Coercive Acts
• Parliament passes the Coercive Acts (dubbed the Intolerable Acts in
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America).
They include:
The Boston Port Act: This closes the Boston port until the full price
of the destroyed tea is paid. Because the port is closed, it is
impossible for the Bostonians to raise the money. Economic
depression hits the port and city of Boston.
Massachusetts Government Act: Almost all self-government is
removed from the people of Massachusetts. Town meetings are
greatly curtailed and most positions are now filled with crown
appointees rather than elected by the citizenry.
The Administration of Justice Act: Any crown official charged with a
crime would be tried in England, not America. This was in spite of the
acquittal of the Boston Massacre soldiers a few years prior.
The Quartering Act: Boston must house the British troops sent to
enforce the Coercive Acts, mostly by the crown seizing large public
buildings like warehouse, churches and Faneuil Hall.
Timeline - 1774: The Quebec Act
• Parliament also passes the Quebec Act. This extends Canada
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into the Great Lakes region, almost to the Ohio River. It
guarantees the free practice of Catholicism in this area. It does
not guarantee
trials by jury or
representative government.
In short, British
officials show the cultural
and political sensitivity to
the French Canadians that
they were unable to show
their more British colonial
subjects.
Timeline 1774: Colonial Response
• Colonists react in various degrees of solidarity with Boston.
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Food is shipped and the Committees of Correspondence
circulate accounts of Boston’s suffering.
The First Continental Congress is called. Members include
John Adams, Samuel Adams, Roger Sherman, John Jay, Philip
Livingston, John Dickinson, Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry
and George Washington. The Congress adopts three
measures:
American colonies will boycott British goods.
If the Intolerable Acts are not lifted by September 1775, the
colonies would cease exporting goods to Great Britain (and the
West Indies if they failed to agree with non-importation.
A second Congress will meet in May 1775 if the Acts are not
lifted.
Timeline – 1775: Concord
• On April 19th, British soldiers under General Thomas
Gage leave Boston to seize Colonial arms and leaders.
• At Lexington, Colonial militia meet the British troops.
• A shot is fired, no one knows by whom. Eight militiamen
are killed and ten are wounded.
• Many more militia gather at Concord. At North Bridge,
colonial militia force the British troops back. During the
retreat, many more British troops than militia are killed.
Timeline - 1775
• The Continental Congress reconvenes and selects
George Washington to command the Continental Army
(such as it is) outside Boston.
Timeline – 1775: First moves
• King George elects to send Hessian mercenaries to America. This
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outrages Americans who prefer to see events as a struggle over
British rights. Bringing in German mercenaries seems to set the
stakes high.
Before Washington arrives in Boston, Benedict Arnold and Ethan
Allen seize Ft. Ticonderoga in New York.
The British in Boston launch an
attack at well dug-in American
forces on Breed’s Hill
(mistakenly identified as
Bunker Hill). They seize the hill
but suffer shocking casualties.
Timeline 1775: The Last Chance
• July, the Congress sends the “Olive Branch Petition” to
King George, hoping to avert all-out war, which would
force the Congress to choose between independence and
death for treason.
• August, King George rejects the Olive Branch Petition and
declares the Congress and the Continental Army to be
traitors, liable for execution.
• October, Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold
launch a two-pronged, and ill-fated invasion of Canada.
Montgomery dies outside Quebec in December and
Arnold barely makes it back to New York with a fraction of
his men.
Timeline – 1776: The Break
• The British seize and burn the town of Norfolk, Virginia.
• Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense. He lays out
the rational cause for America to wrest its independence
from Britain. It powerfully
• sways public opinion
• towards independence.
Timeline – July, 1776
• July 2, the Continental Congress votes for independence.
• July 4, the Congress adopts Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of
Independence as a joint statement of political unity.