“No Taxation Without

Representation!!”

Actions that led to the

Revolutionary War

Raising Taxes • The French and Indian War had

caused the British to be in a great

deal of debt.

• They decided to keep a standing army

in N. America to protect the colonists

from Indian attacks.

• To pay for this (and help pay back the

debt from the war), Prime Minister

George Grenville asked Parliament to

tax the colonists.

• In 1764, Parliament passed the

Sugar Act which set taxes on

molasses and sugar imported into

the colonies.

• Parliament’s actions angered

many of the colonists.

• Merchants in the colonies

complained that the taxes hurt

business.

• James Otis, a lawyer from Boston, was the

first to openly complain about the British.

He argued that Parliament could not “take

from any man any part of his property,

without his consent in person or by

representation.”

• Basically, his argument was that no one in

Britain had asked if the colonists wanted

to be taxed, and since the colonists had no

direct representation in Parliament the tax

was unfair.

• At a Boston town meeting in May

1764, leader Samuel Adams agreed

with Otis.

• The argument of Adams and Otis

spread the slogan of “No Taxation

without Representation” through

the colonies.

• Adams also helped found

Committees of Correspondence.

These were groups that contacted

other towns and colonies to share

ideas and information about the

new British laws and how to

challenge them.

• A popular method of challenging

the British came through boycotts.

The Stamp Act • By early 1765, Grenville had gotten the

hint and asked the colonists how they

felt they should help in paying

military costs.

• Some colonists proposed taxing

themselves, but Grenville rejected

that idea and instead proposed the

Stamp Act which passed through

Parliament in March 1765.

• This act affected most colonists. It

required them to pay for an official

stamp, or seal, whenever they bought

paper items.

• The tax had to be paid on legal

documents, licenses, newspapers,

pamphlets, and even playing cards.

Colonists who refused to pay were

fined or sent to jail.

• Grenville thought this tax was fair since

people in Britain were already paying

their share of taxes.

• Unfortunately for him, the colonists

disagreed and the protests began

immediately.

• In some places, colonists began forming

secret societies called the Sons of Liberty.

• These groups sometimes used violence to

scare tax collectors.

• In May 1765, Patrick Henry presented

a series of resolutions to the House of

Burgesses in Virginia.

• These resolutions stated that the

Stamp Act violated the rights of the

colonists as British citizens.

• Henry’s speech convinced the

assembly that they needed to support

some of his ideas.

The Repeal of the Stamp Act

• The Massachusetts Legislature got word

of Patrick Henry’s speech in Virginia, and

decided to form the Stamp Act Congress.

• Nine colonies sent representatives to this

Congress. They issued a declaration to

Parliament that the Stamp Act had

violated their rights and liberties and they

wanted it repealed.

• Pressure to repeal the Stamp Act

grew.

• Benjamin Franklin told Parliament

that colonists would buy British goods

again if Parliament would repeal the

Stamp Act.

• William Pitt, an important member of

Parliament, agreed with the colonists.

He led the repeal of the Stamp Act.

Although Parliament did repeal the Act, they

were bitter that the colonists had

challenged their authority.

In order to show their power, Parliament

issued the Declaratory Act. This stated that

Parliament had the power to make laws for

the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.” In

other words, they were the boss of the

colonies.

The Townshend Acts

• In June 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts which placed taxes on imported glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea.

• The money collected from these taxes would help pay for military costs and the salaries of colonial governors.

• In order to enforce this Act, British officials used writs of assistance. These forms allowed tax collectors to search for smuggled goods.

• Colonists hated these laws b/c they felt they violated their constitutional rights.

• The colonists decided to boycott British goods again. They thought this would get Parliament’s attention.

• Samuel Adams wrote a letter stating that the acts violated the legal rights of the colonists. The Massachusetts Legislature sent his letter to other colonial legislatures to get them on board.

• Within months, several colonies joined the protest against the Townshend Acts.

• While this was going on, British tax collectors seized the ship Liberty.

• The ship’s owner, John Hancock, was angry and accused the tax collectors of punishing him b/c he protested the Townshend Acts.

• The Sons of Liberty supported Hancock and began attacking the houses of the tax collectors.

• As a result, the Governor broke up the Massachusetts legislature and asked that troops be sent to Boston. They arrived in October 1768.

The Boston Massacre

• Once the British troops arrived, both sides viewed the

other as the enemy.

• Name calling and fights starting breaking out.

• The tension erupted on March 5, 1770 when a British

soldier standing guard got into a fight with a colonist.

• A crowd gathered around the soldier and started

throwing snowballs, rocks, and glass at the soldier. A

small group of soldiers arrived, but the mob grew

louder and angrier until the soldiers fired into the

crowd, killing several colonists.

• Samuel Adams used this

event as propaganda

against the British.

• Colonists began calling

the shootings The

Boston Massacre.

• The soldiers were

charged with murder,

but were found not

guilty. Two of the

soldiers were found

guilty of killing people in

the crowd, so they were

branded on the hand and

released.

Tea Act

• To reduce tensions in the colonies following The Boston Massacre, Parliament repealed almost all of the Townshend Acts.

• They had kept a tax on tea, which was in high demand in the colonies so they had been smuggling it in. In order to stop the smuggling, Parliament passed the Tea Act in 1773 which would give the British East India Company a monopoly on tea.

• Colonists united against the Tea Act.

• Three ships carrying British tea arrived in

Boston Harbor in November 1773.

• The Sons of Liberty demanded that the ships

leave immediately, but they refused.

• In December, colonists disguised as Indians

snuck onto the three ships and dumped 342

chests of tea into Boston Harbor.

• Word spread of the Boston Tea Party with

shouts in the street of, “Boston Harbor is a

teapot tonight!”

The Intolerable Acts

• Lord North, the new Prime Minister, was furious

when he heard about the Boston Tea Party, and

asked Parliament to punish Massachusetts.

• They did this by passing the Coercive Acts, or

what colonists called the Intolerable Acts in

1774.

• The Acts had several different effects:

1. Boston Harbor was closed until Boston paid

for the lost tea.

2. The Massachusetts charter was canceled.

The governor would decide when the Leg.

Could meet.

3. Royal officials accused of crimes would be

sent to England for trial.

4. The Quartering Act forced colonists to house

and supply British soldiers.

5. General Thomas Gage became the new

governor of Massachusetts.

• These acts really made the colonists bitter.

• Many began writing poems and essays

criticizing the British government’s actions.

• Mercy Otis Warren wrote plays to show the lack

of rights given to colonists.

• Colonial leaders proposed a boycott (of course!)

on all British goods, and then they tried to bring

together leaders from each colony to decide the

best way to respond to Britain’s abuse of

colonial rights.