Coming of the Revolution

American History I

2

Bacon’s Rebellion

• sometimes considered the beginning of the revolutionary era in the colonies• First open defiance of of a duly

established government in the colonies

• Bacon gathered poor freemen, indentured servants, and some slaves

to fight against the government of Virginia essentially over the dealing

with Native Americans on the frontier

3

Navigation Acts• According to the policies of mercantilism, Parliament passed the Navigation Acts to ensure that the colonies were trading only with

England• laws were enforced using the writs of assistance which was a general search warrant that allowed British officials to search

colonists homes•many Massachusetts merchants viewed this as an invasion of

privacy

4

Navigation Acts•No country could trade with the colonies unless the goods were

shipped in either colonial or English ships• All vessels had to be operated by crews that were at least three-

quarters English or colonial• The colonies could export certain products only to England

• Almost all goods traded between the colonies and Europe first had to pass through an English port.

5

Board of Trade

• the Board of Trade was an advisory group that met in England and recommended

laws to improve trade with the colonies

6

Proclamation of 1763

• To avoid further conflict with Native Americans.

• Forbade all settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains.

• Proclamation by Britain at the end of the French and Indian war that prohibited settlement by colonists

on Indian territory. •Angered colonists who just fought to

gain the right to settle on that land

7

Sugar Act (1764)

The three parts were:

1. It halved the duty on foreign-made molasses

2. It placed duties on certain imports

3. Strengthened the enforcement of the law allowing

prosecutors to try smuggling cases in a vice-admiralty court

rather than in a more sympathetic colonial court.

8

Stamp Act (1765)

• It differed from earlier taxes because it directly taxed

everyone.• The tax required colonists to

purchase special stamped paper for every legal document,

license, newspaper, pamphlet, and almanac.

• Every colonists had to pay and take money out their pocket.

9

Sons of Liberty Form• a secret resistance group to protest Stamp Act and other

perceived liberties• formed the Stamp Act Congress• harassed customs workers,

stamp agents, and royal governors (when necessary)• successful in preventing the

Stamp Act from going into effect

Sam Adams

10

Stamp Act Congress

Meets• delegates from nine colonies met and issued Declaration of Rights &

Grievances• announced Parliament lacked the power to tax the colonies because the colonists were not represented

in Parliament• conducted a boycott of British goods• Parliament repeals the Stamp Act,

boycott ends

11

Colonists Boycott British Goods

• The refusal to purchase the products of an individual ,

corporation a nation as a way to bring economic pressure

for social or political change. •How effective was it and why?

effective because merchants forced Parliament to repeal

the Stamp Act.

12

Declaratory Act

What the Declaratory Act said:

It gave the British rights to tax and make decisions for the

colonies.

Similar to the idea: “As long as you live under my roof, you will

follow my rules!”

13

Townshend Acts

What was taxed? Tea, glass, lead, paper, paint

Colonial Reaction: They revolted and became enraged.

They formed well organized resistances.

Lord Charles Townshend

14

Colonists Renew BoycottExamples: Colonist didn’t buy English imports, and instead

made their own cloth, clothes, teas, etc.

British Response: The British sent 2,000 red coats (soldiers)

to Boston and arrested smugglers to restore the

control.

15

Boston Massacre

• after a fist fight between colonists & poorly paid British

soldiers, a mob gathered outside the Customs House

that taunted the guards• An armed clash erupted

•Crispus Attucks and 4 others are the first civilian deaths at the hands of British soldiers

16

Committees of Correspondence• To communicate with other

colonists about the Boston massacre and other threats to

American liberties, Massachusetts and Virginia

were the two colonies. • The Pony Express was the

way these letters moved through the colonies

17

Tea Act• the British East India

Company could directly sell their tea to the colonies

without taxes while colonial sellers still had to charge a

tax

• colonial sellers were outraged because of their loss

of sales and profits

18

Boston Tea Party

• a protest of the Tea Act

• colonists disguised as Native Americans, dumped 18,000

pounds of East Indian Company tea into Boston

Harbor

19

Intolerable Acts (1774)

Parliament’s strict response to the Boston Tea Party had 4 Parts:

1) Shut down Boston Harbor to American merchants.

2) Established Quartering Act, requiring colonists to house British

soldiers.

3) Appointed Thomas Gage, British military officer, new governor of

Massachusetts.

4) General Gage placed Boston under martial law.

20

First Continental Congress Meets

56 delegates from the colonies met in Philadelphia and decided:

1. colonies have the right to run their own affairs

2. supported protests in Massachusetts

3. colonies will fight back against British if force is used

4. reconvene in May 1775 if their demands are not met

Carpenter Hall

21

Lexington and Concord (1775)• considered the start of the American Revolution

• British troops were sent to seize and destroy all munitions possible • as the colonists were backing down at the command of the British, a

shot was fired and the British fired back killing 8 minutemen and injuring 10 more

• British troops were ambushed on the road back to Boston by some 3,000 – 4,000 minutemen all the way

• British soldiers fell by the dozen to the guerilla tactics of the minutemen

22

Second Continental Congress

They talked about each colony having its own government, the colonies being independent, and

money to be printed.

3 things it did:

1. Organized the Continental Army and commissioned George

Washington as it’s commander

2. Printed paper money to pay the troops

3. Sent the Olive Branch Petition to the King

General George Washington

23

Battle of Bunker Hill

• to disperse the militiamen, General Gage struck out at

Bunker Hill• the British won the Hill but took heavier losses than the

Patriots•was the deadliest battle of the

Revolutionary War

24

Olive Branch Petition

It is the urging of “the former harmony” to return between Britain and the colonies. The

king flatly rejected it.

25

Common Sense (1776)

Thomas Paine

•Written by Thomas Paine •explains how the revolt

against the King had begun with Lexington and Concord•urged the colonists to take

arms and fight for independence from Britain

26

Declaration of Independence

• based on the enlightenment ideas of John Locke•written by Thomas Jefferson

• laid out the logical explanation as to why the colonies had declared independence• adopted July 4, 1776