Road to Revolution

What causes the colonists to revolt against British rule?

North America in 1763

Post French & Indian War

* War Debt* Proclamation of 1763

1. Sugar Act, 1764• British need money to pay for Fr & In war• Most foreign molasses is smuggled, Parliament cuts tax

on British molasses• Hoping colonists will pay the tax instead of smuggling it

since smugglers lose right to trial by jury, plan fails

• Tax on documents & printed items (wills, newspapers, etc.)

Early Problems for Colonists (1764-1770)

2. Stamp Act, 1765

•First direct tax on everyday needs

• Samuel Adams starts Sons of Liberty, a resistance group in Boston to protest the new acts

3. Townshend Acts, 1767

• British repeal stamp act but pass new act taxing many items never taxed before (glass, ink, paint, paper, tea)

• Sons of Liberty slogan “No taxation w/out representation!”, start a boycott of British goods

Tar and Feathering

• BOSTON MASSACRE• Every story has two sides. Read two eyewitness accounts of

what happened in Boston in 1770.• Which side seemed more believable to you and why?• Explain if the eyewitness accounts match the video clip.• Look at the engraving by Paul Revere on the back. What side

of the story does this show?• Could the engraving be propaganda against the British? Why?

Boston Tea Party, 1773• British East India Co. losing money on tea. Parliament passes

Tea Act, Colonists could only buy British Tea• BEIC pays no export tax, but Townshend Act still in affect on tea

• Colonists dressed as Indians dump British tea into Boston Harbor (including King George’s personal tea)

Intolerable Acts, 17741. Boston Harbor is shut down

2. Quartering Act: forced colonists to house British soldiers

3. Reduced right of self-government , Mass Assembly suspended + 4. Trials moved to London

Something must be done!

First Continental Congress, 1774

• 56 delegates meet in Philadelphia, agree colonist have rights• If British use force, colonists should fight back• Create a militia called the Minutemen

Lexington & Concord• British increase number of troops• Paul Revere’s famous ride “redcoats are coming”

• Lexington, MA: British troops kill 8 Minutemen

• Concord, MA: Minutemen attack British, kill few dozen soldiers

Second Continental Congress: May, 1775 • Colonists debate two main issues:

1. Should we declare independence from Britain?

2. Should we work things out with King George?• 2nd Con. Congress tries #2, sends “Olive Branch Petition”.

Let’s give the King another Chance

I don’t think so rebel scum!

• King George rejects the peace offer!

• Bunker Hill: Deadly battle between Minutemen & Red Coats

Declaration of Independence: 1776

• Thomas Jefferson – primary author, writes two versions• Influenced by Locke’s natural rights, Magna Carta, English Bill

of Rights & Common Sense• Jefferson writes: People have right to life, liberty & pursuit of

happiness & “All Men are Created Equal”. • Ratified July 2, 1776 and adopted July 4, 1776