The American Revolution, 1775-1789Chapter 6: Section 4

Long-Term Causes

1. French and Indian War, 1756-1763• Britain accrued huge war debt & needed to find

way to pay it off (tax Americans)• Treaty of 1763 forced France to leave North

America Empire (erased French threat to colonists)

2. Economic Restraints• Mercantilist system no longer working for the

Americans 1) trade freely 2) wanted to manufacture own goods

• British Navigation Acts prevented them from doing so

Long-Term Causes (cont.)

3. Policy of Salutary Neglect• British policy of leaving the 13 colonies pretty

much alone for first 150 years• Colonists dev. own system of government

almost independent of Britain

4. Process of Americanization• Colonies distance from Britain so far (3,000 mi.)

and so much time had elapsed (150 yrs) that Americans had developed their own unique culture (apart from Britain)

Long-Term Causes (cont.)

5. Unfair system of taxation• Only their own colonial

assemblies (elected by the colonists) had right to tax them

• Parliament could not tax them because Americans did NOT elect them

• “No taxation without representation!”

Immediate Causes, 1763 - 1775

1. Britain enacts new taxes• 1764: Sugar Act- tax on sugar & molasses

(rum); hurt New England colonies most, indirect tax (import tax) to regulate trade

• 1765: Stamp Act- tax on all printed materials (newspapers, deeds, even playing cards)• Colonists argue against such a direct tax• Taxes cannot be levied for sole act of raising revenue

(only to regulate trade)• Stamp Act Congress meets in NY

1. Boycott all printed materials & British goods• Parliament repeals Stamp Act in 1766

Immediate Causes (cont.)

• 1767: Townshend Acts – Parliament places tax on certain imports (lead, glass, tea, paint, paper)

• Colonists continue to resist and boycott British goods (make their own)

2. Boston Massacre (March 1770)• British troops stationed in Boston to oversee

unruly colonists and enforce taxes• Group of American dockworkers begin hassling,

yelling & throwing snowballs at British soldiers• British fire into group and kill 5 colonists

The Boston Massacre Through Patriot Eyes

Two Boston patriots -Paul Revere and Samuel Adams exaggerate the event to raise the anger of the other colonists

After Boston Massacre, most of Townshend Acts repealed, then British pass Tea Act.

3. The Boston Tea Party (1773)• British cut price of tea in attempt to save

struggling British East India Tea Co.• Americans believe that this will drive

American tea merchants out of business• Americans refuse to unload the tea• December, 1773: group of Boston

patriots, disguised as Indians, board British ships in Boston Harbor & dump 300 tons of tea

Britain Responds to the “Tea Party”

• King George III and Parliament demand that damages be paid but Boston refuses

• Parliament passes the Intolerable Acts (1774)1. Closes Boston Harbor2. Repeals Massachusetts’ Charter

(self-govt)3. Quartering Act requires troops to

be housed by colonists4. All British soldiers to be tried in

Admiralty Courts (British military courts)

Immediate Causes (cont.)

4. The First Continental Congress- 1774• Colonists meet to discuss response to Intolerable Acts

1. Boycott British goods2. Begin drawing up state constitutions3. Start gathering weapons & ammunition

5. Lexington & Concord (Mass): April 19, 1775 – “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World”

• British troops march on minutemen to capture colony’s stored weapons

• Revere’s “Midnight Ride” to alarm colonists• Gunfire breaks out and 49 colonists killed/wounded• Americans ambush British all the way back to Boston (270

killed/wounded)• Blood had been spilled

The Second Continental Congress, 1775

The Second Continental Congress• Meets to discuss events in Boston• Prepares for war

1. Names George Washington as Commander of American “Continental Army”

2. States begin drawing up new constitutions and raising militias

3. Thomas Jefferson called on to explain to rest of the world why the Americans were justified in breaking away from England

The Declaration of Independence, 1776

Preamble:• Influence of Locke’s ideas

1. Natural (inalienable) rights: life, liberty, pursuit of happiness (property)

2. Power to govern from “consent of the governed”

Body:• Lists abuses of the British government towards

the colonies

Conclusion:• Declares the colonies are now to be considered

“independent states” and will be joined as the United States of America

Jefferson’s Declaration

• Ratified by the Second Continental Congress July 4, 1776