American Revolution

TOWARD INDEPENDENCE

✔Quartering Act: Cost saving measure that Britain used that required colonists to house soldiers in their homes and provide them with supplies.

✔Sugar Act: Placed a tax on sugar, molasses, and other products shipped to the colonies.

✔Stamp Act: Required all legal and commercial documents to carry an official stamp showing that a tax had been paid.

What were points of conflict?

Illegal Search Warrants

Sugar Act in 1764

Quartering Act in 1765

Stamp Act in 1765

`Conflict Areas

Colonist Begin to Protest✔Colonist merchants began a boycott of

British goods.✔Secret societies began to form:

– Sons of Liberty - Many were lawyers, merchants, and craftspeople - those most affected by the Stamp Act.

✔Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, but imposed the Declaration Act - This gave parliament supreme authority to govern the colonies.

More British Actions

✔Townshend Acts: Placed taxes on goods such as glass, paper, paint, lead, and tea.– In order to enforce the act, British officers use

writs of assistance to enter homes or businesses to search for smuggled goods.

– Colonist saw the Townshend Acts as a serious threat to their rights and freedoms.

Tools of Protest

✔To protest the Townshend Acts, colonists formed another boycott of British goods.– This boycott was formed by Samuel Adams -

Leader of the Sons of Liberty.– Sons of Liberty pressured shopkeepers not to

sell imported goods.– Daughters of Liberty called on colonists to

weave their own cloth and use American products.

The Boston Massacre

✔On March 5, 1770, a group of youth and dock workers started trading insults in front of the Custom House. A fight broke out, and the soldiers began firing. Attucks and four laborers were killed. Crispus Attucks became the first man to die in the Revolutionary War.

✔Sons of Liberty called the shooting the Boston Massacre.

The Tea Act

✔Colonist were unaware that on the day of the Boston Massacre, Parliament proposed a repeal of the Townshend Acts. This eased the crisis for most Americans at the time.

✔In 1773, Parliament opened an old wound by passing the Tea Act.

✔The Tea Act gave the British East India Company control over the American tea trade.

The Tea Act Continued.

✔The Tea Act caused protests all over the colonies.

✔In Charleston SC, colonist unloaded tea and let it rot on the docks.

✔In Philadelphia, they blocked tea ships from landing.

✔In Boston, the Sons of Liberty organized what is known as the Boston Tea Party.

Boston Tea Party

✔December 16, 1773, a group of men disguised as Indians boarded three tea ships and destroyed 342 chests of tea.

✔Many colonist rejoiced about the tea party, and thought it would show Britain how much they opposed taxation without representation.

✔Because of the Boston Tea Party many in Britain called for the Americans to “be knocked about their ears.”

✔King George III said, “We must master them or totally leave them to themselves and treat them like aliens.”

✔Britain decided to “Master” the colonies and passed a series of laws to punish the colonists.

Boston Tea Party

✔British called these new laws the Coercive Acts, but they were so harsh that the colonist called them the Intolerable Acts.

✔Closed the port of Boston - Until tea paid for.

✔Allowed Britain once again to house troops wherever necessary.

✔Let British officials accused of crimes to stand trial in Britain.- Iraq Example

The Intolerable Acts

First Continental Congress

✔In September 1774, delegates from all colonies except Georgia met in Philadelphia.– Called for each colony to begin training troops.– Voted to ban all trade with Britain until the

Intolerable Acts ended.– This meeting planted the seed for a future

independent government.

The Road to Lexington and Concord✔The colonist had hoped that the trade

boycott would cause Britain to end the Intolerable Acts, instead it caused tighter control and Britain sent more troops.

✔Patrick Henry was one believed that this would all cause a war. He said “Give me Liberty or give me death.”

The Midnight Ride

✔Sam Adams built a spy network to keep watch over British activities.

✔Britain had their spies also. They learned that the Mass. Militia was storing arms and ammunitions in Concord, about 20 miles from Boston. He also heard that Sam Adams and John Hancock were in Lexington. Gen. Gage ordered their arrest.

Lexington

✔April 19, 1775, 700 troops reached Lexington. They found Captain John Parker and about 70 militiamen waiting.

✔They ordered the militia to put down their guns but they refused.

✔No one knows who fired first, but within a few minutes eight militiamen were dead.

On to Concord✔ After the fight in Lexington, the British marched

to Concord and destroyed military supplies. A battle broke out at the north bridge, forcing the British to retreat.

✔ Nearly 4,000 Minutemen and militiamen had arrived in the area and lined the road between Concord and Lexington.

✔ They peppered the Redcoats with musket fire and forced the British back to Boston

✔ 74 British dead, 200 wounded or missing✔ 49 Colonist dead, 41 wounded.

Lexington and Concord

✔First battle of the War.✔Ralph Waldo Emerson later wrote that

colonial troops had fired the “shot heard ‘round the world.”

✔Colonist would now have to choose a side, those who supported Britain were called Loyalists, those who sided with the rebels were Patriots.

Declaring Independence

✔After Lexington and Concord, militiamen from Mass. and other colonies began gathering - numbers reached 20,000.

✔In order to gain needed supplies, Ethan Allen led the Green Mountain Boys in an attack of Britain’s Fort Ticonderoga.they seized the fort and large supply of artillery (cannon and large guns).

Second Continental Congress

✔On May 10, 1775 the Second Continental Congress began meeting in Philadelphia.

✔They agreed to form the Continental Army and named George Washington as the commanding General.

Battle of Bunker Hill

✔Britain won the battle but 1,000 men were killed or wounded.

✔Moral victory for Patriots.✔Actually fought on Breeds Hill.

Last Hope for Peace

✔In July 1775, Congress drafted the Olive Branch Petition. It asked George III to restore harmony between Britain and Colonists.

✔King George III rejected and announced new measures to punish. - Blocked American Ports - Hired thousands of Hessians to fight for Britain.

Common Sense

✔Written by Thomas Paine✔Made a strong case for American

Independence.✔Called George III “the Royal Brute.”✔Sold 100,000 copies in three months.

Decision Time

✔May 1776, congress passed resolution allowing all 13 colonies to establish its own government.

✔June 7, Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution calling for “free and independent states”

✔Congress debated the resolution but did not vote. - Appointed a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence.

Declaration of Independence✔Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger

Sherman, Robert Livingston and Thomas Jefferson were the appointed committee.

✔Jefferson was chose to write it for two reasons: 1) He was a very good writer. 2) He was from Virginia.

✔July 2, 1776 - Congress passed Lee’s resolution.

✔July 4, 1776 - Congress signs Declaration of Independence.

✔Preamble - Announces the reason for doc.✔Rights of the People✔List of unfair acts of George III✔Actions taken to avoid Declaration.✔Declaration of Independence from Britain.

Five Parts of the Declaration of Independence