The Road to Revolution
The English colonies, 1763
• The French and Indian War is over, and Britain is in deep debt
• American colonies had been left alone up until now, that’s going to
change
The Proclamation of 1763
• The colonists are not allowed to settle west of the Appalachian
Mountains
The Sugar Act - 1764
• A new tax on molasses and sugar shipped to the colonies
• This made several colonists angry
• James Otis says: “Taxation without representation is tyranny”
• Remember Parliament? The colonies have no representatives
• Having to pay taxes without any representatives in Parliament is
unfair
• Magna Carta, English Bill of Rights
• Colonial Merchants begin organizing a boycott
• Boycott- refusal to buy certain products
The Quartering Act - 1765
• British soldiers must be housed and fed by colonists
• The Army is trying to save $$$
Stamp Act 1766
• Colonists must pay an extra tax on printed materials like books,
newspapers, letters, playing cards
• Colonists reacted with boycotts, protests, and even riots
• Parliament repeals the Stamp Act in 1766
• Instead, they pass the Declatory Act
• Parliament has supreme authority to govern the colonies
The Townshend Acts
• New York Assembly suspended until they obey the Quartering Act
• Taxes on
• Glass
• Paper
• Paint
• Lead
• Tea
• Enforced by writs of assistance- search warrants to look for smuggled
goods
• John Locke says:
No one ought to harm
another in his life,
health, liberty, or
possessions
• Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty organize another boycott for the
Townshend Acts
• Protests are quickly spinning out of control
Boston Massacre 1770
• British soldiers fire into a crowd in Boston, killing 5 men, including
Crispus Attucks
• John Adams defends the
British soldiers at the
Boston Massacre
• While the Boston Massacre was happening, Parliament repeals the
Townshend Acts
• They take away all taxes, except one, a tax on tea
Tea Act- 1773
• Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty start up committees of
correspondence
• America’s first spy network
The Boston Tea Party
• The Sons of Liberty (dressed as Indians) dump 342 chests of tea into
Boston Harbor
• Protesting the Tea Act
The Intolerable Acts
• Boston is now closed to trade
• No more commitees of correspondence
• Britain can house troops wherever necessary
• British officials now stand trial in Britain, not in America
• Delegates voted to ban all trade with Britain until the Intolerable Acts
are repealed
• Each colony will begin training troops
• Most colonial leaders don’t believe there will be a
war
• Patrick Henry does
• “As for me, give me liberty or give me death!”
April 18, 1775
• Gage orders his troops to march to Lexington to arrest John Hancock
and Sam Adams
• The militia has stored weapons in Concord, they must be destroyed
Lexington and Concord
• The next morning, 70 militiamen are waiting for 700 British troops
• The British commander orders the militia to drop their weapons
• In 10 minutes, 18 militiamen are dead or wounded
• The British march on to Concord
• The supplies are gone, and the British retreat after a firefight at
Concord bridge
• All along the march back to Boston, militiamen snipe at the British
• These were the first battles of the Revolutionary War
• “The shot heard round the world”
• The colonists would have to choose which side to take
• Loyalists – support the British
• Patriots – support the rebels
Just after Lexington and Concord…
Militiamen from all over Massachusetts begin to gather all around
Boston
The British under Gage move away from the city to a better defended
area
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the colonies…
Second Continental Congress
• Forms the Continental Army
• Print money to pay the troops
• First acts of our government
• George Washington will
command
• Virginia
• Had military experience
Boston, June 1775
• Militiamen seize two hills outside of Charlestown
• The British assault them
• Don’t fire till you see the whites of their eyes
• The British attack with over 2,200 troops
• Over 1000 casualties
• Showed people that the Americans would fight
Britain hires mercenaries
• Now the Hessians are
coming
• Mercenaries
The British retreat from Boston
• The Continental Army surrounds the British at Boston, but has no
cannon to drive them out
• Washington needs artillery
Henry Knox
• Sold books before the war
• Had no military experience
Common Sense and Thomas Paine
Independence Hall
The Declaration of Independence