The Road to Revolution
Salutary Neglect
• During the early years of
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the existence of the
colonies, Parliament
opted for a policy of
salutary neglect or noninterference
It was too difficult to
control the situation in
the colonies when they
were 3000 miles away
North American Land Claims in 1750
The French & Indian War Begins
• England and France had
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been at odds with each
other over the Americas
but the final struggle
began in the Ohio Valley
The French drove out
English fur traders and in
1754 built Fort Duquesne
at the point where the
rivers Monongahela and
Allegheny rivers meet to
form the Ohio river
The fort posed a serious
threat to the Virginia and
Pennsylvania colonies
George Washington Arrives
• Facing the threat of the
•
Fort, the colonists, under
the command of 22 year
old George Washington,
attacked the fort
the Virginia militia were
later captured and
released by the French
signaling what became
the start of the war
A Shift in Support
• General Braddock’s
•
defeat in a second
attempt to take Fort
Duquesne caused
many Native
Americans to shift
their support to the
French
At this point the
French were winning
the war!
William Pitt
• When William Pitt
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became minister of war in
1758 for Britain the tide
shifted
Pitt realized that by giving
aid to France’s enemies in
Europe he could
effectively split her forces
By the end of 1758 the
British were again gaining
a foothold in the
Americas
Quebec Falls
• On September 13,
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1759 – General James
Wolfe defeated
Commander
Montcalm on the
Plains of Abraham
Montcalm and Wolfe
both die as a result of
their wounds
The Treaty of Paris
France --> lost her Canadian
possessions, most of her empire in
India, and claims
to lands east of the Mississippi
River.
Spain --> got all French lands west of
the Mississippi River, New Orleans,
but lost Florida to England.
England --> got all French lands in
Canada, exclusive rights to
Caribbean slave trade, and
commercial dominance
in India.
• North American was now divided
between Great Britain and Spain
with the Mississippi River forming
the boundary
The Effects of War
Britain
• It increased her colonial
empire in the Americas.
• It greatly enlarged
England’s debt.
• Britain’s contempt for the
colonials created bitter
feelings because they felt
they had to support the
colonists overseas
The Colonies
• It united them against a
common enemy for the
first time.
• It created a socializing
experience for all who
participated increasing
feelings of being
“American”
• It created bitter feelings
towards the British that
would only intensify.
The Proclamation of 1763
• After Pontiac’s rebellion in
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the west the British
responded by drawing a
boundary line
This line effectively ended
settlement west of the
Appalachian Mountains
Colonists protested that
the Proclamation
deprived them of land
they had a right to settle
causing more friction
between colonists and
the crown
The Sugar Act
• British taxed colonists
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on many of the goods
coming into the colonies
from other places
The most important of
these was the Sugar
Act of 1764
Colonial merchants
realized that
enforcement of this act
would wipe out profits
of the trade with the
Spanish and French
West Indies
The Stamp Act
• In 1765, British imposed
taxes upon all paper
products and stamped
the item once the tax
had been played.
• This tax was paid
directly to the
government – direct tax
• Products affected
ranged from documents
and wills to playing
cards and newspapers
The Townshend Acts
• This act placed duties
•
on tea, paper, glass
and paint
The British repealed
this tax in 1770
except for the tax on
tea
The Protests Begin!
• Patrick Henry’s
speech
• Sons and Daughters
of Liberty
• Benjamin Franklin’s
visit to Parliament
• Boston Massacre
Patrick Henry Speaks Out!
• When the House of
•
•
Burgesses met to consider
the Stamp Act in May of
1765 Patrick Henry
introduced the Virginia
Resolutions protesting
Parliament’s action
In his speech he stated
that since Americans
elected no members to the
British Parliament they
should not be taxed by
them
This came to be know as
“no taxation without
representation”
Sons of Liberty
• The Sons of Liberty carried out
organized resistance by
keeping watch on shopkeepers
suspected of selling British
goods
• A group existed in almost
every colony.
• Members included middle and
upper class citizens, anyone
could join if they were
trustworthy and had the skills
the group needed.
• Famous members included
Paul Revere, John Adams and
his cousin, Samuel Adams.
Daughters of Liberty
• Colonial women
•
•
organized the Daughters
of Liberty to boycott
British goods
They gave up imported
clothes, made tea out of
local herbs, and produced
homespun cloth
One of the most
influential Daughters of
Liberty was Mercy Otis
Warren, who published
pamphlets supporting the
resistance – she had to
publish in a man’s name
The Boston Massacre
• After Parliament repealed the
Townshend duties, the first
clash between British and
Americans took place
• On the night of March 5, 1770,
a crowd of 50 or 60 men and
boys gathered to taunt British
soldiers outside the Boston
Customs House
• When the crowd went as far as
to throw sticks and snowballs
at the redcoats, the soldiers
panicked and opened fire,
killing five men
• The event quickly became
known as the Boston Massacre
The Boston Tea Party
• In 1773 the British East India
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Company, facing bankruptcy,
appealed to Parliament for
assistance
Parliament quickly voted to give
them a monopoly for the trade of
tea in America
Opposition groups mobilized
against the plan and forcing ships
to turn back at New York and
Philadelphia harbours
In Boston, Governor Hutchinson
ordered that no ship could leave
harbour without being unloaded
Colonists on a signal from Sam
Adams disguised themselves as
Mohawks, boarded the ship and
heaved 342 chests of tea into the
harbour
The Intolerable Acts (Coercive
Acts)
• The Boston Port Act - closed
the port of Boston to trade
• The Massachusetts
Government Act - revoked
the colony's charter and
forbade town meetings
• The Quartering Act required the colonists to
provide billets for British
soldiers
• The Impartial
Administration of Justice Act
- removed British officials
from the jurisdiction of
Massachusetts courts
The Quebec Act - 1774
• It was passed at the same
time and considered by
many as one of the
Intolerable Acts
• It extended the Canadian
province of Quebec south to
the Ohio River
• It also allowed French
Canadians use of their own
legal system which did not
recognize trial by jury
• The colonists believed The
Quebec Act was designed to
keep American settlers out
of western lands forever
The First Continental Congress
• 56 delegates from 12
•
colonies attended the first
Continental Congress in
Philadelphia in
September, 1774
The Congress petitioned
the King for relief from
the Intolerable Acts and
vowed to stop trade with
Britain until the acts were
repealed
Here come the Brits!
• Early on April 19, 1775, 700
British soldiers were secretly
sent to destroy the military
supplies the colonists had
collected at Concord
• After learning the soldiers’
destination, the Sons of
Liberty sent Paul Revere &
William Dawes to warn the
Minutemen of approaching
British soldiers.
• Fighting between the
Americans and the British
broke out near Boston – a
city occupied in 1774 by the
British army under General
Thomas Gage
Lexington and Concord
• When the British soldiers
reached Lexington, Captain
Jonas Parker and 75 armed
Minutemen were there to meet
them.
• The Minutemen were greatly
outnumbered. The British
soldiers fired, killing 8
Minutemen and injuring 10
others.
• While the British soldiers
continued on their way to
Concord, the men and women
of Concord were busy moving
the arms and ammunition to
new hiding places in
surrounding towns.
The British Retreat to Boston
• A large force of patriots
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gathered in response to
the British troops.
As the British soldiers
headed back to Boston,
they were attacked by the
Minutemen.
All along the route,
Minutemen, local farmers
and townspeople continued
the attack against the
British.
By the time the soldiers
reached Boston, 73 British
solders were dead and 174
more were wounded.
Second Continental Congress
• The Second Continental
Congress was a body of
representatives appointed by the
legislatures of several British
North American colonies which
met from May 10, 1775, to
March 1, 1781
• By the time the Second
Continental Congress met, the
American Revolutionary War had
already started with the Battles
of Lexington and Concord on
April 19, 1775.
• Thus, the Second Continental
Congress found itself in the
unenviable position of being the
decision-making body of a
military alliance at war with a far
more powerful enemy.
Thomas Paine and Common Sense
• In January 1776, Thomas
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•
•
Paine published Common
Sense
He attacked the strongest
bond tying tying America
to Britain – the King
He pointed out the
advantages of freedom
from British rule and
commercial restrictions
The book divided
Americans into either
Patriots or Loyalists
Independence!
• Beginning in April of 1776,
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the colonies advised their
delegates to vote for
independence
On June 7th, Richard Henry
Lee introduced a brief
“Resolution of
Independence”
On July 2nd, 1776, the
Continental Congress
adopted Lee’s resolution
“that these united colonies
are, and of right ought to
be free and independent
states.”
The Declaration of Independence
• The Official Declaration of
•
•
Independence was
agreed upon on July 4th,
1776
Its purpose was to justify
the Revolution, state that
the colonies were
independent and to
express the nation’s
principles
The rest is history!