
Homework:
› Page 268 places, people and vocabulary

Do Now:
› Please start a new section in your notebooks
or iPads, labeled Chapter 8
› What do you believe is worth fighting for? Is
there anything you feel very strongly about
that you’d be willing to go to war over?
Create a list in your notes

No Homework 

Do Now: Have out last night’s homework
› Read page 269: Why did British leaders
decide to tax the colonists? Why did they
feel it was okay? How did they justify it?

George Grenville’s plan: Tax the
colonies!
› Money raised from taxing would be used to
help pay the costs of defending the colonies

King George III and Paliament supported
the idea of taxing the colonists
› To them, the tax seemed fair
› The colonists were benefitting from the British
army, so the colonists should help pay costs

In 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp
Act
› Placing a tax on printed materials in the
colonies such as legal documents,
newspapers, and playing cards
› Whenever a colonist bought these items,
they had to purchase a stamp to show they
paid for the item

“No Taxation without representation!”
› Colonists never had a say in Parliament so
they believed they should not be taxed

Patrick Henry, a young Virginia lawyer, was
not afraid to speak out against the Stamp
Act

In Williamsburg, Virginia, Henry went in front
of the House of Burgesses (colony’s
legislature)
› Made an intense speech warning King George III
that he had no right to tax the colonists

Other colonists were inspired and protested
the new tax

October 1765: leaders of 9 colonies held
a meeting in NYC where they urged
Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act

Colonies were beginning to unite against
British taxes

Samuel Adams of Massachusetts soon
became a very important leader

Homework:
› Page 273 # 3 & 4

Do Now:
› How did the colonists respond to the Stamp
Act? Include any important people who
played a role.

Samuel Adams organized the Sons of
Liberty
› A group of protesters against the new tax
› these groups were started in all different
towns throughout the colonies

Members burned stamps and
threatened stamp agents
› People who were hired to collect the stamp
taxes

In Boston, Adams and other members
made a life size puppet and hung it from
a tree

They hung a sign on the puppet that said
“What greater joy did New England see,
than a stamp man hanging from a tree.”

Threats worked! No agent dared to sell
the stamps

Leaders in Britain saw that it was not
going to work so they repealed the
Stamp Act in 1766

Colonists celebrated, but Britain still felt
they had the right to tax the colonies

Charles Townshend was the treasurer of
Britain

He agreed with the King – Britain has a
right to tax the colonies!

1767 – Parliament passes the Townshend
Acts

Placed a tariff (tax on imported goods)
on paper, wool, tea, and other goods
imported from Britain

These acts were used not only to get
money but to show the colonies who
was really in CHARGE

The acts caused colonies to protest
AGAIN!

From New Hampshire to Georgia
colonists boycott British imports
› A refusal to buy goods

Colonists rather not have British goods
than pay the new taxes

Homework: page 282 # 2,3,4

Do Now: In your own words, describe the
Boston Massacre

In 1773, Committees of Correspondence
began writing about the Tea Act
› A new law that said the East India Tea
Company would be the ONLY company
allowed to sell tea to the colonies

This meant that if you owned a store in
the colonies, you could only buy and sell
the tea from that company (YOU HAD
TO PAY THE TAX)

There was 2 goals:
› Help the struggling business – The East India
Company
› Get the colonists to pay taxes to the British

The colonists had refused to pay taxes
up until now…WHY SHOULD THEY
START?!?

The colonies declared that ships bringing
British tea would not be allowed to
unload in any colonial port

In 1773, 3 British ships carrying tea were at
Boston Harbor

The members of the Sons of Liberty dressed
as Mohawk Native Americans and rowed out
to the ships
› They were shouting “Boston Harbor a teapot
tonight!

They opened the chests of tea and dumped
it into the Harbor…Britain was furious

Britain believed the colonists must be
punished!

New laws were enforced!
› The British soldiers were sent back into Boston
› The colonists must house and feed the soldiers
› The colony of Massachusetts was put under the
rule of British general Thomas Gage
› The port of Boston was CLOSED until the colonists
would pay for the tea they had destroyed

These new laws became known as the
Intolerable Acts to the colonists

The economy of Boston was hurt and
many people were out of work

Other colonies began sending food,
money and supplies

Colonists must choose sides between
Boston and Britain
› Patriots vs. Loyalists

Homework: Complete classwork (patriot
or loyalist?)

Do Now:
› Review homework with a partner
› Individually in your notes, what is the
Continental Congress?

September 1774 – representatives from
all colonies except Georgia met in
Philadelphia

This became known as the First
Continental Congress

George Washington represented Virginia
› A wealthy farmer and member of the
Virginia House of Burgesses

Washington and his fellow Patriots voted
to stop all trade with Britain until the
Intolerable Acts were repealed

They also voted to form militias in each
colony
› Volunteer armies
› Some colony armies called themselves
minutemen because they could be ready at
a minute’s notice

March 1755 Patrick Henry makes a famous
speech in Richmond, Virginia:
› Warned Virginia’s militias to prepare for battle
› “I know not what course others may take, but as
for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

King George III was also not willing to back
down.

Both knew war was about to begin

If you were a colonist in 1773, would you
choose to be a patriot or a loyalist?
Explain (minimum 1 paragraph response)

Homework: page 291 2,3,4

Do Now: please take out last night’s
homework (page 286)

April 8, 1775 – 700 British soldiers began
marching from Boston to Concord
› A town about 20 miles northwest of Boston

British soldiers were on their way to “seize
and destroy” the weapons that the
colonial militias had been storing in
Concord

There were rumors that they wanted to
arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock,
both men were staying in Lexington

They did not want either of the militias in
Lexington or Concord to know they were
coming

They ordered no one was allowed to leave
Boston
Paul Revere had gotten word about the
British
 He set out to warn the militias

› He rowed across the Charles River
› He then rode through the streets warning the
British are coming

William Dawes, a shoemaker, talked his
way out of Boston
› He rode towards Lexington to spread the
warning

Revere reached Lexington first warning
Adams and Hancock
› They prepared for their escape

Revere and Dawes met up and rode
towards Concord together

Samuel Prescott joined them

British soldiers spotted the 3 riders
› Revere was captured
› Dawes jumped from the horse and ran into the
woods
› Prescott rode on to warn the Concord militia

5 AM on April 19th – the drums were
sounded
› This was the warning to get ready

John Parker, captain of the Lexington
minutemen gave the soldiers orders
› Don’t fire until fired upon

Someone fired, no one is sure who
› Battle begins!
› 8 minutemen killed and 9 wounded
› Only 1 British soldier was wounded
That first shot at Lexington becme known
as the shot heard round the world
 The British marched off from Lexington
towards Concord

› The militias were ready for the British
› The British must retreat back to Boston but
suffered many losses – 250 soldiers were killed
or wounded

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION HAS BEGUN

Homework: vocabulary review sheet

Do Now: Sequence events of the
American Revolution (Entrance Card)

Colonel William Prescott marched 1,200
Patriot men to the hills of Charlestown

If they could control these hills, they
could bring up cannons and fire down at
the British

They built a fort on Breed’s Hill
› More than 2,000 British soldiers prepared to
attack
British ships fired on the fort
 Prescott’s men waited
 The British began to march up the hill to
the fort
 Again, Prescott’s men waited
 Finally, once the British were close, the
men fired back
 The British were pushed back twice


Prescott’s men were now low on
ammunition

The British attacked a third time
› This is known as the Battle of Bunker Hill

The British won this battle
› Although they lost, Patriots were proud of the
way they had fought