Colonists Speak Out

Chapter 8 Lesson 2

Pages 302-308

Objectives

• Identify the laws that caused conflicts in the colonies.

• Explain the importance of the Committees of Correspondence.

Great Britain needs money

• Sugar Act – 1764

– Taxed sugar & molasses brought into the colonies from the West Indies

– Hurt shipping businesses in New England Colonies

THE STAMP ACT

• 1765 – Stamp Act Tax

• Taxed paper items in the colonies

• Newspapers, legal documents, playing cards

• They received a special stamp on them to show that the tax had been paid

No Taxation Without Representation

• British felt tax was fair

• Colonists did not

• Colonists said Britain could not tax them without representation in Parliament

• No one was in Great Britain speaking on their behalf

Mercy Otis Warren

• Massachusetts writer

• Disagreed with the new tax

• Wrote plays accusing British leaders of being greedy

Patrick Henry

• Virginia – told members of the House of Burgesses that Parliament did not represent the colonies.

• Supporters of Britain yelled “Treason”

• Treason – guilty of working against your own government

Stamp Act Congress

• October 1765

• Representatives from nine colonies met in N.Y.

• Congress – a formal meeting of representatives

• They spoke out against the Stamp Act

• “No taxation without representation”

Boycott

• Colonists wrote letters to Parliament in anger over Stamp Act

• They tried to get it repealed

• Many Boycotted – refused to buy – British goods

The Sons and Daughters of Liberty

• Group of colonists who worked against the Stamp Act

• Captured British workers trying to collect the tax.

• Dumped tar and feathers on the tax collectors

• Chased tax collectors out of town.

• The women made their own thread & cloth

Victory?

• By 1766 – Parliament voted to repeal (take back) the Stamp Act

• But, they passed a new act: Declaratory Act

• It said Britain had the “full power. . . To make laws. . . [for the] people of America. . .in all cases”

• This created worry among colonists

Committees of Correspondence

• Colonists realized they could work together, but needed better ways to share info.

• They formed Committees of Correspondence to spread information more quickly.

• They wrote letters to each other informing them of news in their town.

Samuel Adams

• Organized the 1st Committee of Correspondence in Boston (1764)

• Spoke out often of British imperial policies – laws and orders issued by the king and the British Parliament.

• N.Y. formed another committee• 1773 Virginia formed a committee also• Other colonies encouraged to form

committees also

The Townshend Acts

• 1767 – several new laws passed called the Townshend Acts

• Taxed imports: glass, tea, paint, paper

• Also set up new group of tax collectors

• The Stamp Act may have been repealed, but the Townshend Acts showed that Parliament felt they still had the right to make laws in the Colonies

Boycotts Again

• Boycott many British goods

• Daughters of Liberty – ask people to not drink British tea

• Boston merchants would not import taxed goods

• It worked!

• 1770 – Townshend Acts repealed, except for tax on tea

Reinforcement Sent

• Colonists continued to protest

• Parliament sent soldiers to the colonies

• By 1770, 9,000 British soldiers in colonies

• 4,000 were in the city of Boston

The Boston Massacre

• Colonists made fun of the soldiers bright red uniforms calling them “lobsters” and “redcoats”

• Soldiers destroyed colonial property in anger

Shots Fired

• March 5, 1770 – Boston

• Angry colonists gathered near some British soldiers

• Colonists threw rocks & snowballs

• The soldiers opened fire when the crowd came closer

• 3 colonists were killed on the spot, 2 others died later

Crispus Attucks

• Killed at the Boston Massacre

• An African American sailor

• He is considered the 1st person killed in the fight for the colonies’ freedom

Paul Revere

• Boston silversmith

• Made a picture of the shooting and called it “The Bloody Massacre”

• A massacre is the killing of many people who cannot defend themselves

Patrick Henry

• “I know not what course others may take: but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

• March 23, 1775

• He was trying to persuade Virginians to prepare for war against Britain