the american revolution was 169 years in the making. the distance british colonists enjoyed from...

The Pre – Revolution in America

The Beginnings of Revolutionary Thinking

The American Revolution was 169 years in the making.

The distance British colonists enjoyed from their kings made direct rule nearly impossible.

The Pilgrims committed themselves to self rule in the form of the Mayflower Compact before they had ever set foot on the new continent.

Town meetings were quickly the norm throughout New England.

The Beginnings of Revolutionary Thinking

Events in the early part of the eighteenth century (1700’s) made independence from Britain even more inevitable.

The stage had long been set for Americans to assert their independence from their British brothers and sisters.

Many events transpired between the years of 1763 and 1776 that served as short-term causes of the Revolution

The Trial of John Peter Zenger

No democracy has existed in the modern world without the existence of a free press.

Newspapers allow for the exchange of ideas and for the voicing of dissent.

When a corrupt government holds power, the press becomes a critical weapon.

The trial of John Peter Zenger, a New York printer, was an important step toward this most precious freedom for American colonists.


John Peter Zenger was a German immigrant who printed The New York Weekly Journal.

This harshly pointed out the actions of the corrupt royal governor, William S. Cosby.

In 1733, Zenger was accused of libel.

Zenger was accused of published information that was opposed to the government.

He never denied printing the pieces.


The first jury was packed with individuals on Cosby's payroll.

Zenger's wife Anna kept the presses rolling.

Her reports resulted in replacing Cosby's jury with a true jury of Zenger's peers.

The most famous lawyer in the colonies, Andrew Hamilton of Philadelphia, stepped up to defend Zenger.

The jury returned a verdict of not guilty.


Zenger and Hamilton were hailed as heroes.

Another building block of liberty was in place.

Although true freedom of the press was not known until the passage of the First Amendment.

Newspaper publishers felt freer to print their honest views.

As the American Revolution approached, this freedom would become ever more vital.

The French and Indian War

Round four of the global struggle between England and France began in 1754.

Unlike the three previous conflicts, this war began in America.

French and British soldiers fought each other over control of the Ohio Valley.

Colonial America


At stake were: 1 - the lucrative fur trade 2 - access to the all-important Mississippi River.

A squadron of soldiers led by a brash, unknown, twenty-two year old George Washington attacked a French stronghold named Fort Duquesne.

Soon after the attack, Washington's troops were forced to surrender.

Shortly after that, a second British force also met with defeat.


When news of this reached London, war was declared.

The conflict was known in Europe as the Seven Years War.

Americans would call this the French and Indian War.

The first phase of this war was a disaster for Britain.

French and Indian War(7 Years War)


The turning point in the war came when William Pitt took over the wartime operations for the British.

He believed North America was critical for England's global domination.

Pitt turned recruitment and supplies over to local authorities in America and promised to reimburse them for their efforts.


Militarily, the tide began to turn, as the British captured Louisbourg, an important strategic port the British used to close the St. Lawrence Seaway.

The death blow to the French cause was struck in Quebec in 1759.

The French chapter of North American history had ended in a bloody finale.

The Events Leading to Independence

In 1763, few would have predicted that by 1776 a revolution would be unfolding in British America.

The ingredients of discontent seemed lacking — at least on the surface.

The colonies were not in a state of economic crisis; in fact, they were relatively prosperous.

Furthermore, the colonies were not unified.


Benjamin Franklin discovered this quite clearly when he devised the Albany Plan of Union in 1754.

This plan was known as the slogan "Join, or Die,"

This plan was soundly defeated.

“Join or Die”


What led the 13 colonies to set aside their differences and unanimously declare their independence?

The colonists felt unfairly taxed, watched over like children, and ignored in their attempts to address grievances.


The British found the colonists unwilling to pay their fair share for the running of the Empire.

Every action by one side brought an equally strong response from the other.

Before long, the point of no return was reached.

The Royal Proclamation of 1763

The Native Americans, who had allied with the French during the Seven Years' War, continued to fight after the peace had been reached.

The last thing the British government wanted were American colonists crossing the Appalachians fueling French and Native American resentment.


The solution seemed simple.

The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued.

This declared the boundaries of settlement for inhabitants of the 13 colonies to be Appalachia.

But what seemed simple to the British was not acceptable to their colonial subjects.

The Stamp Act Controversy

Something was dreadfully wrong in the American colonies.

All of sudden after 150 years of permitting relative self-rule, Britain was exercising direct influence over colonial life.

Writs of assistance, or search warrants, were granted to British customs inspectors to search colonial ships.


Worst of all, the British now began levying taxes against American colonists.

The tradition of receiving permission for levying taxes dated back hundreds of years in British history.

But the colonists had no representation in the British Parliament.

To tax them without offering representation was to deny their traditional rights as English subjects.


The Stamp Act of 1765 was not the first attempt to tax the American colonies.

Parliament had passed the Sugar Act and Currency Act the previous year (1764).

When Parliament passed the Stamp Act in March 1765, things changed.

It was the first direct tax on the American colonies.


Every legal document had to be written on specially stamped paper, showing proof of payment.

Deeds, wills, marriage licenses — contracts of any sort — were not recognized as legal in a court of law unless they were prepared on this paper.

American activists sprang into action.


Taxation in this manner and the Quartering Act (which required the American colonies to provide food and shelter for British troops) were soundly thrashed in colonial assemblies.

The colonists enacted widespread boycotts of British goods.

Radical groups such as the Sons and Daughters of Liberty did not hesitate to harass tax collectors.

The Stamp Act was repealed the following year.

The Boston Patriots

Although patriots could be found in any of the 13 colonies, nowhere were they more numerous than in the city of Boston.

Boston was the leading voice against British authority.

It was, after all, the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party.

Fierce patriots such as Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Hancock, and Paul Revere were all citizens of one great city: Boston.

The Boston Patriots Samuel Adams

Samuel Adams was perhaps the fieriest supporter of American liberty in the 13 colonies.

His skills as a political organizer drove the colonies toward declaring independence.

Adams chaired the Boston town meeting that preceded the infamous tea party.

He served as an active member of the Sons of Liberty

Samuel Adams

The Boston Patriots John Adams

John Adams, Samuel's second cousin, was no less a patriot.

He provided the wording of the resistance message sent to George III.

John Adams was a member of the committee of five who drafted the Declaration of Independence.

John Adams

The Boston Patriots John Hancock

The man with the famous signature — John Hancock.

Hancock made the British mad as a major

smuggler.

As a man of great wealth, he had much to lose by resisting Britain. But, he did not bend.

The seizure of one of his ships brought a response from Bostonians that led directly to British occupation in 1768.

John Hancock

The Boston Patriots Paul Revere

As a silversmith, he was a man of humbler means, but his attitudes about Britain were anything but humble.

His famous midnight ride that warned of the advancing British troops was only one of his revolutionary actions.

Paul Revere

The Boston Massacre

The showdown between the British and the Americans was not simply a war of words.

Blood was shed over this clash of ideals.

Although fighting between American minutemen and the British redcoats did not begin until 1775, the 1770 Boston Massacre gave each side a taste of what was to come.

The Boston Massacre

On March 5, 1770, the inevitable happened.

A mob of about 60 angry townspeople descended upon the guard at the Customs House.

When reinforcements were called, the crowd became more unruly, hurling rocks and snowballs at the British soldiers.

The Boston Massacre

In the heat of the confusing melee, the British fired without Captain Thomas Preston's command.

British bullets took the lives of 5 men, including Crispus Attucks, a former slave.

Captain Preston and four of his men were cleared of all charges in the trial that followed.

Boston Massacre

The Boston Massacre

Despite the verdict of the soldiers' trial, Americans did not forget the lesson they had learned from this experience.

What was the lesson?

Americans learned that the British would use force when necessary to keep the Americans obedient.

The Boston Tea Party

Governor Thomas Hutchinson allowed three ships carrying tea to enter Boston Harbor.

Before the tax could be collected, Bostonians took action.

Radical townspeople stormed the ships and tossed 342 chests of tea into the water.

Disguised as Native Americans, the offenders could not be identified.

The Intolerable Acts

Someone was going to pay.

Parliament was fed up with colonial antics.

The British could tolerate strongly worded letters or trade boycotts.

But they saw the destruction of 342 chests of tea as destruction of property by Boston thugs who did not even have the courage to admit responsibility.

The Intolerable Acts

The British called their responsive measures to the Boston Tea Party the Coercive Acts.

They were seen by Americans as malicious and were called the Intolerable Acts.

INTOLERABLE ACTS 1. Boston Port Act 2. Massachusetts Government Act 3. Administration of Justice Act 4. Quebec Act

Sons and Daughters of Liberty

They were the ones who were not afraid.

They knew that talk and politics alone would not bring an end to British tyranny.

They were American patriots — northern and southern, young and old, male and female.

They were the Sons and Daughters of Liberty.


Like other secret clubs at the time, the Sons of Liberty had many rituals.

They had secret code words, medals, and symbols.

Originally formed in response to the Stamp Act, their activities were far more than ceremonial.


Another important function of the Sons of Liberty was correspondence.

These clubs could be found up and down the colonial seaboard.

Often they coordinated their activities.

These individuals risked their lives and reputations to fight against tyranny.

In the end, they are remembered as heroes.

First Continental Congress

Americans were fed up. The "Intolerable" Acts were more than the colonies could stand.

In the summer that followed Parliament's attempt to punish Boston, sentiment for the patriot cause increased dramatically.

It was time once again for inter-colonial action.

Thus, on September 1774, the First Continental Congress was convened in Philadelphia.


Only Georgia withheld a delegation.

A declaration of colonial rights was drafted and sent to London.

Much of the debate revolved around defining the colonies' relationship with England.


A plan introduced by Joseph Galloway of Pennsylvania proposed an imperial union with Britain.

Under this program, all acts of Parliament would have to be approved by an American assembly to take effect.

Such an arrangement, if accepted by London, might have postponed revolution.

But the delegations voted against it — by one vote.

Second Continental Congress

In May 1775, with Redcoats once again storming Boston, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia.

The majority of delegates were not seeking independence from Britain.

Only radicals like John & Samuel Adams were of this mindset.

In fact, that July Congress approved the Olive Branch Petition, a direct appeal to the king.

Second Continental Congress

The American delegates pleaded with George III to attempt peaceful resolution and declared their loyalty to the Crown.

The King refused this petition and declared the colonies to be in a state of rebellion.

King George ordered Hessian mercenaries to bring the colonists under control.

The men in Philadelphia were now wanted for treason.

The Declaration of Independence

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution to the Congress that declared the thirteen colonies "free and independent states."

Congress did not act on the resolution immediately. A vote was set for early July.

A subcommittee of five, including Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, was selected to choose the careful wording.


The declaration is divided into three main parts.

The first was a simple statement of intent.

The second section is a list of grievances; that is, why the colonies deemed independence appropriate.

The third section officially dissolves ties with Britain.


The Declaration of Independence shows modern readers the courage taken by each delegate who would sign.

They were now officially guilty of treason and would hang in the gallows if taken before a royal court.

Jefferson watched painfully as the other delegates tweaked his prose.

Finally on July 4, 1776, the colonies approved the document.

The vote was twelve to zero, with the New York delegation abstaining.


As president of the Congress, John Hancock scrawled his famous signature across the bottom and history was made.

If the American effort was successful, they would be hailed as heroes.

If it failed, they would be hanged as traitors.


The signers of the Declaration of Independence from Georgia

1. Button Gwinnett 2. George Walton 3. Lyman Hall

the american revolution was 169 years in the making. the distance british colonists enjoyed from...

Documents

trial of john peter

french stronghold

indian war7 years war

indian warround

new england

cosbys jury

british soldiers

pre revolution