The Road to Revolution
Britain & Her Colonies Grow Apart
Background
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Mercantilism
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wealth = power
colonies sources of raw materials & food & markets
for manufactured goods
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Trade & Navigation Acts (1650)
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goods carried only in English ships
enumerated commodities
duties paid by colonies in England on goods to &
from Europe
Early Legislation
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Woolen Act of 1699
Hat Act of 1732
Molasses Act of 1733
Iron Act of 1750
writs of assistance
no real enforcement by Britain
smuggling by colonists
policy of “salutary neglect”
The French & Indian War
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rivalry between Britain & France
1754-1763
territorial claims
fur trade
battles in the Ohio Valley & Great
Lakes regions & Canada
Battle of Quebec decisive
Results of F&I War
French out of North America
 power of Native Americans reduced
 colonists’ respect for British damaged
 new land for the taking
 Britain puts troops in the colonies
 Britain heavily in debt
 Britain begins enforcing tax laws
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British Point of View
war was for defense of colonies so
they should help pay
 needed to exercise more control
 danger from Native Americans
 Pontiac’s Rebellion; Proclamation of
1763
 typical policy toward colonies within
empire
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Colonial Point of View
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British not so tough
France gone
colonists can handle Native Americans
land, land, land
distrust of standing armies
smuggling
“salutary neglect” : why the crackdown on
taxes now?
used to independence & self-government
Starting Down the Road
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Sugar Act/Revenue Act of 1764
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lower duties on molasses to stop smuggling
smuggling cases tried in admiralty courts (no juries)
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Quartering Act of 1765
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colonists must provide food & shelter for British
troops
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Stamp Act of 1765
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first direct tax
stamp required on all official documents
affected all colonists, especially merchants &
lawyers
Reaction to Stamp Act
Stamp Act Congress in NY 1765
 colonies come together
 boycotts of British goods
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“No Taxation Without Representation!”
virtual vs. direct representation
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Stamp Act repealed 1766
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Declaratory Act of 1766 (“in all cases
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whatsoever”)
Britain Tries to Back Up
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Townshend Duties of 1767
tea, glass, paper, lead, paint
 indirect tax (paid by merchants)
 revenue used to pay colonial officials
previously paid by legislatures
 writs of assistance
 repealed 1770 except for tea
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Colonial Resistance
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boycotts
Sons & Daughters of Liberty (1765)
Massachusetts Circular Letter of 1768
Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania
(Dickinson)
Committees of Correspondence (1772)
tarring & feathering
hanging in effigy
British customs ship Gaspee burned in RI
Association
Tarring and Feathering
Massachusetts Circular
Letter, 1768 (Sam Adams)
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in opposition to Townshend Duties
“the acts made there, imposing duties on
the people of this province, with the sole
and express purpose of raising a revenue,
are infringements of their natural and
constitutional rights; because, as they are
not represented in the British Parliament, his
Majesty's Commons in Britain, by those
acts, grant their property without their
consent”
Letters from a Farmer,
1767 (John Dickinson)
a
series of letters in
response to British actions
 “a dreadful stroke is aimed
at the liberty of these
colonies”
Boston Massacre
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March 5, 1770
Troops in Boston to enforce
Townshend Acts
tension building between colonists &
British soldiers
fight at the rope works
confrontation with young boy
snowballs & clubs
Boston Massacre
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“Fire!” or “Don’t fire!”
colonists die
Sam Adams’ “massacre”
Paul Revere’s engraving
John Adams defends British soldiers
most found not guilty
Revere’s Engraving:
What is the Message?
Boston Tea Party (Dec 16, 1773)
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Tea Act: British East India Co monopoly on tea to colonies
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“Indians” dump all the tea in Boston Harbor ($75,000)
other colonies sympathize with Massachusetts
call for inter-colonial congress
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Coercive/Intolerable Acts
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port of Boston closed
self-government reduced; Gage military governor
royal officials tried in Britain
British troops quartered in private homes
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Quebec Act
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Roman Catholicism
no representative government
boundary of Quebec to Ohio River
First Continental Congress
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Philadelphia, September 1774
radicals, moderates, conservatives
Declaration of Rights & Grievances
Suffolk Resolves
repeal of Intolerable Acts
boycott
military preparations
The Association
2nd congress May 1775 if necessary
Lexington & Concord
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April 19, 1775
British trying to capture military supplies in
Concord
Searching for Sam Adams & John Hancock
“One if by land, two if by sea”
“The Regulars are coming!” (Paul Revere &
William Dawes)
Minutemen on Lexington Green; 8 killed
British repulsed at Concord’s North Bridge
British chased back to Boston; 250 casualties
“Shot heard ‘round the world”: War had begun