The Thirteen Colonies
Rebel
Revolutionary War Notes #1
--write what is in blue--
Q: How does our society help its
citizens overcome situations that are
unfair?
1) Talk with your partner for two
minutes and work out some solutions.
2) With one person talking at a time,
share those ideas with the class.
(4 minutes)
Revolution:
A sudden or momentous
change in a situation. It can
be political, cultural,
economic, or scientific.
Question: Why
were Americans
willing to rebel
against their own
king and country?
Reason #1
The attitudes of the
Americans and the
British
The Americans
• 1. Had not been taxed
• 2. Had been allowed to govern
themselves
• 3. Had created a world in which
hard work made the
person…people could be equal
The British
• 1. Believed the colonists were like
children
• 2. Believed it had the right to tax it
• 3. Believed the taxes were to help pay
for American expenses
• 4. Acted with a superior attitude
• 5. British Parliament and King became
angry when Americans questioned
their authority
Reason #2
French & Indian War
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1756-1763
Global war between France & England.
England wins vast amounts of land.
England is overextended and broke.
Indians attacking forts in Great Lakes area.
England responds with Proclamation of
1763 and tax laws.
Reason #3
Proclamation Act of
1763, “cracking down”
on smuggling by
enforcing the Navigation
Acts, and the Sugar Act
of 1764
• French & Indian War left England broke and
with Indian troubles.
• Proclamation of 1763 was law that said that
colonists could not settle west of the
Appalachian Mountains. Owning land meant
everything to a colonist. Those without land
had no position in society. They could not even
vote. Colonists ignored it. To enforce it, King
George III left 10,000 soldiers in colonies and
passed the Quartering Act in 1765. The leader
was Thomas Gage.
• British warships began enforcing Navigation
Acts. Navigation Acts said everything imported
or exported from colonies must go to England
and be on English ships.
Navigation Acts
• As early as 1660, Britain controlled trade in
three ways.
• 1) Colonial trade goods (exports & imports)
all had to be carried on English ships.
• 2) Some Colonial products like tobacco,
sugar, furs, and forest products could only
be sold in England.
• 3) Any imports coming into Colonies had to
pass through England.
Reason #4
Stamp Act of 1765
• First attempt to tax colonists directly.
• Stamp Act required people to go to a stamptax office to buy stamped paper. The tax
had to be paid in silver coin (a rare item in
colonies). And anyone disobeying law was
to be tried in courts in which there was no
trial by jury. If Parliament could pass a law
like this without colonists consent, why not
take lands and everything produced.
Protesting the Stamp Act
• “No taxation without representation” became the
rallying cry in riots.
• Nine colonies sent delegates to a Congress in New
York City to draw up a petition against the Stamp
Act.
• Colonists boycotted British goods.
• Some formed secret societies like the Sons of
Liberty and the Daughters of Liberty.
• They staged protests …not all were peaceful.
• In 1766, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in
1766. It passed the Declaratory Act that said
England did have authority over the colonies.
Reason #5
The Townshend Acts 1767
• Britain didn’t want trouble with colonies, but still
badly needed money.
• Townshend said he could tax without offense.
• These Acts suspended assemblies.
• Colonists MUST house troops.
• Taxes were placed on glass, paper, paint, lead,
and tea. Taxes must be paid in gold & silver.
• Writs of Assistance allowed officers to search any
building for any reason.
• Colonists wondered “Were their liberties at risk?”
Once again protests, riots, challenges, petitions,
boycotts, tempers were high.
Reason # 6
The Boston Massacre
• March 4, 1770
• A clash between British
troops and a group of
Bostonians in which five
colonists were killed.
Results:
• Soldiers are put on trial, defended by
John Adams, and found innocent.
• Britain repeals the taxes, except on tea.
• Colonists cool off, but form
Committees of Correspondence to
keep communication.
• Propaganda
• No problems for about 2 years.
Old
State
House
Reason #7
The Gaspee Incident
• 1. HMS Gaspee (June 9-10, 1772) commanded by Lt.
William Dudingston.
• The Gaspee was a British Royal Navy ship assigned to
customs duty.
• Dudingston had been sent to enforce the Stamp Act & stop
smuggling. Captain Lindsey deliberately sailed the Hannah
to unsafe waters to run the Gaspee aground.
• On June 9, 1772, the Gaspee was chasing a
merchant ship believed to be smuggling
goods. The Gaspee ran aground in
Narragansett Bay, near Providence.
• The next night, a group of men boarded the
Gaspee and set the ship on fire.
Reason #8
Tea Act of 1773
• East India Company would have
monopoly.
• Tea would be cheaper, but taxed.
• American shipping and merchant
businesses hurt.
• What right did they have?
Reason #9
Boston Tea Party
• December 16, 1773
• A protest against British trade
policies in which Patriots (Sons
of Liberty) boarded vessels of
the East India Tea Company and
threw the tea cargo into Boston
Harbor.
On Thursday, December 16, 1773, the
evening before the tea was supposed to
be landing, the Sons of Liberty, three
groups of 50 Boston residents each
organized by Samuel Adams, burst from
the Old South Meeting House and headed
toward Griffin's Wharf, dressed as
Mohawks in hopes to disguise their true
identities to avoid reprimand and
punishment.
Three ships were loaded with
hundreds of crates of tea. The men
boarded the ships and began
destroying the cargo. By 9 p.m.,
they had opened 342 crates of tea
(worth approximately £10,000) in all
three ships and had thrown them
into Boston Harbor.
They took off their shoes,
swept the decks, and
made each ship's first
mate agree to say that
the Sons of Liberty had
destroyed only the tea.
Old South
Meeting
House
Old South
Meeting
House
Reason #10
The Intolerable Acts 1774
• The Coercive Acts (called the
Intolerable Acts by the Colonists) 1774.
Britain responded by closing down
Boston Harbor, putting Massachusetts
under siege UNTIL Bostonians paid
money lost for tea and apologized.
Colonial Reaction
• They set up Committees of Correspondence
because they needed to communicate with
each other.
• October 1774, First Continental Congress
met.
• Ban on all trade, each colony would train
soldiers, and they called for a Colonial
Convention in May of 1775 in Philadelphia to
discuss a course of action.
• Parliament did not repeal. It stood firm and
sent more troops to colonies.
Reason #11
Lexington/Concord
• April 19, 1775
• Gage orders troops to Concord to destroy supplies.
• Sons of Liberty ready. They sent Paul Revere to warn the
countryside.
• In Lexington, Revere and Dawes warned Sam Adams and
John Hancock.
• At dawn, British reached Lexington and found Minutemen
blocking their route.
• A shot is fired.
• British troops kill eight and march to Concord.
• Minutemen peppered them all the way back to Boston.
• The war had started.
Colonel Smith, The
British officer who led
the march to Concord
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Tax Laws
Navigation Acts – 1660’s-1750’s
Proclamation of 1763
Sugar Act – 1764
Stamp Act – 1765
Declaratory Act – 1766
Townshend Acts – 1767
Tea Act – 1773
Coercive Acts (also called Intolerable
Acts) - 1774