THE PATH TO
REVOLUTION
Proclamation of 1763:
Forbade colonists to settle west of
the Appalachian Mountains
• BRITISH
RATIONALE:
Temporary measure
to gain time to devise
more permanent
solution to conflict
between Indians and
settlers
• Why does it become
permanent?
– a way to save $,
prevent trouble with
the Indians and keep
colonies subordinate
• COLONIAL
REACTION:
See this as an attempt
To “hem them in” &
keep them under
British control – will
just disobey it
led by…?
• Col. Washington:
“…to quiet the minds
of the Indians”
SUGAR ACT
1764
ANOTHER TAX ON SUGAR, BUT TO BE
ENFORCED THIS TIME!
George Grenville is new BR Prime Minister:
vowed to end smuggling, corruption, inefficiency
& enforce Navigation Acts
• COLONIAL REACTION:
“No taxation without
• BRITISH RATIONALE:
representation!”
Colonists should be taxed
Britain has no right to tax for
for costs of the empire at
revenue without the colonists
a rate comparable to
having representation in
levels of taxation for those
Parliament – put no credence in
in England
BR “virtual representation”
• “Writs of assistance” authorized for BR officials to enforce
• Smuggling trials in BR Admiralty Courts – no juries!
CURRENCY ACT:
• COLONIAL
REACTION:
• BRITISH
RATIONALE:
Mercantilism had
Requires colonists drained colonial
to pay in currency resources &
– “gold or silver,” created a trade
deficit –
rather than
impossible to pay
inflated colonial
in gold and silver
paper currency
STAMP ACT
1765
• A DIRECT REVENUE
TAX - paid directly to
the British government
rather than being
included in the price of
goods
• Stamps on articles and
documents all colonists
use (newspapers, licenses,
legal documents, playing
cards, dice)
STAMP ACT:
• BRITISH
RATIONALE:
Imposed a tax on the
colonists for their
own protection
(covers cost of BR
troops in America)
• COLONIAL REACTION:
• First unified resistance!
• Stamp Act Congress to protest
– NYC, 27 delegates from 9 colonies
• “No taxation without
representation!”
– James Otis
– Patrick Henry
STAMP ACT
RESISTANCE!
• BOYCOTTS!!!
– Of all BR goods - merchants sign
non-importation agreements
• Note: America purchases ¼ of all BR
goods
– Sons & Daughters of Liberty
• Sam Adams
• Cousin John: “When the pot is set to
boil, the scum rises to the top.”
• STAMP ACT REPEALED 1766
– America learns economic boycotts work!
REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT;
PASSAGE OF DECLARATORY ACT - 1766
• BRITISH
RATIONALE:
Britain had
backed down on a
particularly
hated tax
(BOYCOTTS
worked!)
• BUT retained the
principle of
British
supremacy
• COLONIAL
REACTION:
Gleeful at
effectiveness of
boycott/protest
BUT overlooked
implications of
Declaratory Act
QUARTERING ACT
1765
• Required
colonists to
house & feed
British
troops sent
to American
colonies
(Boston)
BRITISH
RATIONALE:
• Simply required
colonists to help
provide for their
own “protection”
(from foreign
enemies and
Indians)
COLONIAL
REACTION:
• An indirect form of
taxation since required to
house & feed soldiers.
• Also questioned British
motive in sending troopsforeign enemies had been
removed; troops are in
large cities
• Knew troops were there
for colonial control
TOWNSHEND DUTIES 1767
import duties on tea, paper, glass and paint
• BRITISH
RATIONALE:
Legitimate right to collect
taxes from colonies for the
protection they received
BUT note - had given in
somewhat since this was
an indirect tax (which
colonists had not
complained of prior to
1763)
• COLONIAL REACTION:
Now believed even indirect taxes
(accepted earlier as a means to
control trade in mercantilism)
were being used to collect
revenue so see this as just
another attempt at taxation
without representation
• Boycotts again
– Stimulates colonial manufacturing
– MA Circular Letter (Sam Adams)
Repealed in 1770, except for tax on tea.
Colonial response
1768:
• John Dickinson
* Letters from a Farmer in PA;
seeks colonial unity
• 2nd non-importation movement:
* “Daughters of Liberty”
* Spinning bees
• Riots against customs agents:
* 4000 British troops sent to
Boston.
• For the first time, colonists
began calling those supporting
the boycotts “PATRIOTS”
Troops to Boston
BOSTON
MASSACRE,
1770
•1ST VIOLENCE
BETWEEN BRITISH &
AMERICANS
•5 COLONISTS
KILLED
•CRISPUS ATTUCKS first black to die in the
American independence
movement.
•Causes Parliament to
repeal Townshend
taxes
THE GASPEE
1772
• British patrol boat commanded
by hated Lt. Dudingston ran
aground in Narragansett Bay,
Providence, RI
• Torched later that night
• No one would testify against the
alleged culprits
• British Crown took over colonial
courts - would thereafter pay
royal salaries (governors,
judges)
H.M.S. Gaspee
to enforce Stamp Act/prevent smuggling
– Who had paid them before this
incident?
• Colonists form “committees of
correspondence”
BOSTON TEA PARTY, 1773
BOSTON TEA PARTY
• BRITISH
RATIONALE:
An attempt to save the
British East India Trading
Co. which had been
suffering since repeal of the
Townshend duties.
• Was actually an attempt to
conceal a tax by lowering
prices for British tea with
reduced transportation
costs.
• COLONIAL
REACTION:
Saw through it - Even though British
tea became cheaper,
colonists were still
being taxed without
representation &
hated the dastardly
trick! They feared
monopoly.
INTOLERABLE ACTS, 1774
• BRITISH
RATIONALE:
• COLONIAL
REACTION:
PASSED BY THE
BRITISH TO PUNISH
COLONISTS FOR THE
PROPERTY LOST IN
THE BOSTON TEA
PARTY
• ALSO KNOWN AS
COERCIVE ACTS
• Viewed these acts as
sweeping & unjustified
denials of their
constitutional liberties
• United the colonies in
their protest to these
Acts
Intolerable Acts
Coercive Acts
• As punishment for
the Boston tea party:
• Closed the port of
Boston until..
• British troops to be
quartered in any
private homes in MA
• Stripped
Massachusetts of all
power of self-rule
Quebec Act
• Extended Quebec S
to Ohio River
• Allowed FR
Canadians use of
their own legal
system – no jury trial
• Recognized legality
of R.Catholic Church
• Colonists see as last
step toward doing
away with jury trials
& Protestantism in
America
First Continental Congress, 1774
Peyton
Randolph
Patrick Henry
George
Washington
Sam Adams
John Adams
1ST
CONTINENTAL
CONGRESS, 1774
• Formed in Philly in response to Coercive Acts
• Petitioned King George III for relief from the
Intolerable Acts – issue “Declaration of Rights”
– But not yet calling for independence!
• Threatened total boycott – formed Continental
Association to organize COMPLETE boycott of
all British goods
• Colonists began forming armies and collecting
supplies …. at Concord.
Query:
• How was the relationship between the
British and its American colonies in 1775
analogous to the relationship between
parents and teenagers?