Colonial tensions with Britain

Victory of the French and Indian War means new set of problems for Great Britain

Large debt, conflict with Native Americans, and housing British troops in colonies

Great Britain enacted series of taxes to try to pay back their debt

Taxes caused colonists to resort to smuggling

Great Britain tried to stop the smuggling

Custom officers could obtain writs of assistance – court document allowing officers to search almost anywhere for smuggled goods

Proclamation of 1763 All English settlers were

prohibited – barred - to

settle west of the

Appalachian Mountains

Settlers already in the

areas were forced to

move

Helped keep peace between Native

Americans and settlers

Kept colonists near the Atlantic

Coast where British authority was

stronger

Allowed Britain to control

westward expansion and the fur

trade in the region

Proclamation of 1763

(continued)

King George III sent

10,000 troops to the

colonies to enforce it

and keep peace with

the Native American

Proclamation was

loosely enforced –

soldiers were unwilling

to forcibly stop

colonists from

settlement

Sugar Tax

Lowered tax on imported molasses

Smuggled goods were seized without a trial

Angered colonists

Trial by jury

Innocent until proven guilty

Search and seizure

The Stamp Act

Parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765

Taxed all printed products in the Colonies

Newspapers, legal documents, letters, and

even playing cards were taxed

Angered colonists

Only local government could tax

Virginia’s House of Burgesses passed resolution – formal

expression of opinion

“the only and sole exclusive right and power to lay

taxes”

Sons of Liberty is formed by Samuel Adams

Burned effigies – stuffed figures – made to

look like unpopular tax collectors

Colonial leaders begin to work together –

Stamp Act Congress

Sent statement declaring only colonial

assemblies could tax colonists

Boycotts – refuse to buy - begin

Repealed – to cancel - March 1766

Parliament passed Declaratory Act

giving Great Britain the right to tax

and make decision for the colonies

“in all cases”

(CHECK OUT LESSON 1 VIDEO)

The Townshend Acts

Tax imported goods such as glass, tea and

paper

Taxed goods when they arrived in the

colonies

Colonists reacted with boycotts

Urged colonists to wear fabrics made in the

colonies

Daughters of Liberty – some women’s

groups

Tension

Increase protests made British officials nervous

Soldiers sent to Boston

Really upsets the colonists

Laws violate colonial rights

Army sent to occupy colonial cities

Rude soldiers; competition for jobs; stole from shops; got into

fights with colonists

A Boston Massacre?

On March 5, 1770 - protest in Boston turned violent

British Redcoats try and keep the peace

Protesters began to throw sticks and stones at the soldiers

One soldier knocked down; other nervous soldiers fired

their muskets

5 protesters lay dead

Crispus Attucks – a dockworker who was part African, part

Native American among the dead

Colonists refer to this as “the Boston Massacre.”

Why would Colonists who did not like the British rule refer to this event as a massacre?

Propaganda

Samuel Adams created posters about the Massacre

Paul Revere made an engraving depicting a British officer

giving the order to open fire on a crowd

Boycotts become stronger

Townshend Acts are repealed except on tea

Boycotts end except on tea

Trade resumes with Britain

Samuel Adams revives the Boston committee of

correspondence

Used to unite colonists against Britain

Impact of the Boston Massacre

British East India Company (BEIC) is nearly bankrupt

Essential to Britain’s economy

BEIC is given nearly full control of the tea market in the colonies

Does remove some tea taxes

Tea is actually less expensive

Colonists didn’t want to pay any taxes

Didn’t want to be forced to buy a particular tea

Daughters of Liberty – pamphlet saying give up our tea

New York and Philadelphia forced tea ships to turn back

Royal governor in Boston allowed ships to unload

Boston’s Sons of Liberty acted

December 16, 1773, dressed as Native Americans threw 342 chests of tea overboard

No talk of independence

Colonists still see themselves as loyal British citizens

Tea Act

British East India Company (BEIC) is nearly bankrupt

Essential to Britain’s economy

BEIC is given nearly full control of the tea market in the colonies

Does remove some tea taxes

Tea is actually less expensive

Colonists didn’t want to pay any taxes

Didn’t want to be forced to buy a particular tea

Daughters of Liberty – pamphlet saying give up our tea

New York and Philadelphia forced tea ships to turn back

Royal governor in Boston allowed ships to unload

Boston’s Sons of Liberty acted

December 16, 1773, dressed as Native Americans threw 342 chests of tea overboard

No talk of independence

Colonists still see themselves as loyal British citizens

Tea Act

The Intolerable or Coercive Acts?

King George III – “We must either master them or totally

leave them to themselves

1774 – pass the Coercive (force someone to do

something) Acts - meant to punish colonists

Quartering Act – forced colonists to let British soldiers

live with them

Massachusetts Government Act – banned town meetings

in Massachusetts

Boston Port Act – closed Boston Harbor until all the

ruined tea was paid for

Britain was trying to cut off Boston from the other

colonies but it united them instead

The Intolerable or Coercive Acts? (continued)

Quebec Act – created a government for

Canada and extended its territory south to

the Ohio River

Ignored colonies’ claims to this region

Colonists called these acts Intolerable –

painful and unbearable (CHECK OUT LESSON 2 VIDEO)

12 of 13 colonies send delegates to Philadelphia – First Continental Congress – political body to challenge British control

Massachusetts: Samuel Adams and John Adams

New York: John Jay

Virginia: George Washington, Richard Henry Lee and Patrick Henry

Delegates create statement of grievances

Demand repeal of 13 acts

Laws violated the “laws of nature, the principles of the English constitution and the several charters”

Voted to boycott British trade

Don’t use or import British goods; wouldn’t sell goods to Great Britain

Responding to Great Britain

Endorsed the Suffolk Resolves

Created by people of Boston and Suffolk

County towns in Massachusetts

Declared Coercive (Intolerable) Acts illegal

Called for resident to arm themselves

Other colonies will create militias – groups of

citizen soldiers - after this approval

Responding to Great Britain (continued)

Colonists sure Britain will attack New England

Ready to fight

April 1775 British troops were in and around Boston

Thomas Gage ordered to seize weapons and arrest leaders

Learned weapons stored in Concord (NW of Boston)

700 troops under Lt. Col. Francis Smith

Night of April 18, 1775, Dr. Joseph Warren warned Paul Revere

and William Dawes of British activity

Revere and Dawes rode to Lexington (E of Concord)

Revere shouted across the countryside

Dawes and Revere captured

Samuel Prescott carries the warning to Concord

(CHECK OUT LESSON 3 VIDEO)

Revolution begins

British approach Lexington and meet with 70

minutemen – boasted they were ready to fight at

a minute’s notice - led by Capt. John Parker

Shot fired

Shots then exchanged

8 minutemen dead

Weapons found by British are burned

Lexington

Hiding colonists fired on soldiers heading to Concord

British: 174 wounded; 73 dead

Colonists sure Britain will attack Massachusetts

“Shot heard ‘round the world” Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Concord

Captain in Connecticut

Teamed up with Ethan Allen of Vermont – head of Green

Mountain Boys - to take over Fort Ticonderoga near Lake

Champlain in NY

Rich in military supplies

British troops in Fort Ticonderoga surrendered on May 10,

1775

Becomes a traitor to the Patriot cause

Discovered in September 1780

Fled to NYC

Commanded British troops against Americans in VA and CT

Benedict Arnold

Boston in British control

June 16, 1775, Col. William Prescott – Bunker Hill and

Breed’s Hill (across the harbor from Boston)

Redcoats assemble at Breed’s Hill

“Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes”

Americans opened fired forcing British to retreat

Redcoats charged two more times

Americans have to withdraw

British victory

Heavy losses more than 1,000 dead and wounded

Showed this fight would not be easy or quick

Battle of Bunker Hill

Loyalists – unfair taxes and laws don’t justify rebellion

Some were officeholders and felt loyalty to British rule

Some didn’t think it was a reason to break

Some didn’t want to be on the losing side

Patriots – supported the war

Believed should be able to govern themselves

Fight until independence achieved

American Revolution – America v. Britain and Loyalists v.

Patriots

http://www.learn360.com/McGrawHillPlayer.aspx?ID=143625&pt=1

Loyalists or Patriot?

May 10, 1775

John and Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, George

Washington, Ben Franklin, John Hancock (President), Thomas

Jefferson

Still not ready to break from Great Britain

Set up a post office – Ben Franklin put in charge

Authorized printing of money

Committees for relations with Native Americans and foreign countries

Continental Army formed; George Washington commander

Olive Branch Petition

Assured King George III that colonists wanted peace

Asked colonist’s rights be protected

King rejected the petition

Second Continental Congress

British troops in Canada planning to invade NY

Patriots marched north from Fort Ticonderoga and captured Montreal

Quebec attack led by Benedict Arnold failed

Washington reached Boston in July 1775

March 1776 Washington felt troops were ready

Moved soldiers and canons into position overnight

Surprised British and Gen. William Howe had soldiers withdraw from Boston to Halifax, Nova Scotia

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Washington gets ready

Many still hope to remain part of Great

Britain

Support for independence is growing

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense – January

1776

Pamphlet encouraging colonists to break

away from British rule

Greatly influenced opinions of

independence in the colonies

Ready for Independence?

Second Continental Congress – independence or British

rule?

June 1776 – Virginia's Richard Henry Lee declares

independence is necessary

Debated Lee’s resolution

Not form a separate nation

War already started

Feared Britain’s power

Debate continues – form committee to write a declaration

John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson,

Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman

Jefferson agrees to write the Declaration

Declaring Independence

Ideas from John Locke

1690s expressed ideas people are born with certain natural rights to life,

liberty and property

Government’s are formed to protect those rights

Government interfering with those rights could be overthrown

July 2, 1776 - Second Continental Congress votes on Lee’s resolution

12 colonies approved; NY did not (later did)

Reviewed Jefferson’s work; made some changes and approved on July 4, 1776

John Hancock signed first

Name large enough so King George could read it without glasses

Eventually 56 delegates signed

Washington had Declaration read to troops in NYC on July 9

Worcester, Massachusetts celebration

Writing the Declaration

Preamble – explains reasons why

Rights should have and complaints against Great

Britain

Proclaims new nation

John Adams thought July 2 would be the day

celebrated since it was the vote on Lee’s proposal

(CHECK OUT LESSON 4 VIDEO)

Declaration of Independence