YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION!. HOW TO START A REVOLUTION IN 13 EASY STEPS So, you want a...
-
Upload
nicholas-warner -
Category
Documents
-
view
225 -
download
2
Transcript of YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION!. HOW TO START A REVOLUTION IN 13 EASY STEPS So, you want a...
HOW TO START A REVOLUTION IN 13 EASY
STEPS
So, you want a revolution, eh? Well, here’s
your step-by-step guide on just how to do that,
using the American Revolution as an example!
I
n 1750 Britain, France, & Spain all had
empires in N.A.
B
ut, Britain & France wanted more of
each other’s (not to mention the
Natives’) land
T
he French & Indian (or Seven Year
War) resulted
B
ritain gained all of France’s land
STEP #1: KICK OUT THE FRENCH
STEP #2: TAX THE COLONISTS
T
he war cost Britain BIG TIME!
P
lus, they had to keep 10,000 British soldiers in N.A. to protect new land…
costing even more!
B
ritish Prime Minister, George Greenville defending taxing colonies this way:
“
The nation has run itself into an immense debt to give them protection; and
now they are called upon to contribute a small share toward public
expense.”
T
he new tax plan on the colonies
C
olonist buying any legal
documents or paper goods
(newspaper, books, playing
cards, etc…) had to buy a stamp
to prove they had to pay a tax
THE STAMP ACT
N
o one likes taxes
S
ince the colonists had been self-
governed to a large degree for a long
time so this was even more
troublesome.
“
No taxation without representation!”
B
ut what to do about it?
THE STAMP ACT
SAMUEL ADAMS
H
e was a little over 40 and had failed miserably in business despite his
father giving him a small fortune to try.
I
nstead he focused on political writing and meetings.
H
e was in the right place at the right time!
S
am Adams had a plan to battle the Stamp Tax…make sure no one is
around to collect the tax when it goes into effect in November 1765!
SONS OF LIBERTY OR THUGS?!
A
ndrew Oliver was in charge of
stamps in Boston…he was hung in
effigy outside of his house with a
poem that read:
“
What great joy did New England see,
Than a man hanging from a tree?”
THE STAMP ACT FAILS
“
The Andrew Oliver
Treatment” was given to
stamp distributers
throughout the 13 colonies.
S
o, the tax did not raise any
money!
B
ritish Parliament repealed (got rid of) the Stamp
Tax
C
olonists celebrated (New Yorkers even built a statue
to King George III)
B
ut, the British still needed money and thought they
had every right to tax the colonists to get it. King
George was quite stubborn on this point!
P
arliament passed The Townsend Acts in 1767
STEP #4: TRY, TRY AGAIN!
THE TOWNSEND ACTS (1767)
C
olonial merchants had to pay a tax on imported
products like paint, paper, glass, and tea.
How would the colonists
react to this?
STEP #5: REFUSE TO PAY
C
olonists started boycott (refusing to buy British imports)
W
omen took a central role:
“
Stand firmly resolved and bid Greenville to see
T
hat rather than Freedom, we’ll part with our tea.
A
nd well as we love the dear draught when a’dry
A
s American Patriots our taste we deny.”
—
Hannah Griffiths, PA
Others, like John Hancock started smuggling in goods without paying taxes.
Though illegal he thought his breaking the law was just in response to an
unfair law.
B
ritish wanted to stop the smuggling but many British officials were afraid
to risk collecting the taxes, and for good reason…
J
ohn Malcolm (a British tax official) tried to do his job properly and he
ended up being stripped to the waist, smeared with hot tar, and covered
with feathers from a pillow. Then, he was pulled through Boston in a cart,
just to make the humiliation complete. What was the worst thing about
getting tarred and feathered? Well, having to rip the tar and feathers off
of him (along with a considerable amount of skin) couldn’t have been fun!
DID THE TAX WORK?
S
pring of 1768 Hancock’s ship Liberty (full of
bootleg wine) was seized by tax agents in Boston
S
ons of Liberty gathered at the dock
S
am Adams shouted, “If you are men, behave like
men! Let us take up arms immediately and be
free!”
T
hey threw stones at the tax collector’s house all
night, even setting his boat on fire! He had to
run away to escape.
THINGS GET UGLIER
STEP #6: SEND IN THE WAR SHIPS
K
ing George was furious at the brazen colonists! He
couldn’t permit his officials to be run out of town.
T
he thought of repealing the hated (and ineffective) tax
was no longer an option.
A
s one of the King’s top advisors (Frederick North) said,
“America must fear you before she can love you. I hope
you shall never think of it till we see America prostrate
(face-down) at our feet.”
S
o in October 1768 he sent warships into Boston Harbor
and 1,000 troops under General Thomas Gage
F
rom the outset, the colonists and soldiers
are uneasy and spats occur.
T
he breaking point comes on March 5,
1770…
B
ritish soldiers being harassed by an angry
mob of Bostonians fired into the crowd
(killing 5 and wounding 6)• Crispus Attucks (an African-American)
was the first to die in the American Revolutionary cause.
STEP #7: FIRE INTO A CROWD
S
am Adams charged the British with
firing into a crowd of harmless
protesters.
H
e called them “bloody murderers” and
then dubbed it the “Boston Massacre”
P
aul Revere immortalized it in silver
(he was a silversmith) engraving.
B
ritish soldiers claimed that they were
under attack by a mob armed with ice,
rocks, and clubs (used for making rope)
that menaced them.
A
lso, the commander did NOT order the
attack!
U
ltimately, only 2 soldiers were convicted,
but not of murder, of disobeying orders.
SO, WHAT WAS IT?
The Boston Massacre The Incident
STEP #8: KEEP THE TEA TAX
A
fter “the incident” General Gage pulled his soldiers out of
Boston to calm things down.
P
arliament thought that the Townsend Acts were more trouble
than they were worth so they repealed them…well, most of
them, except the one on tea.• King George instructed them, “I am clear that there must
always be one tax to keep up the right, and as such I approve the tea duty.”
• Everyone understood that this tax would not raise much money, but it was the principle of the thing! (Told you he was stubborn!)
D
ecember 16, 1773
D
ozens of men as badly disguised “Indians” marched to the waterfront.
T
hey boarded three ships full of British tea in Boston Harbor (the people of Boston had
refused to allow them to be unloaded because of the tax).
T
hey dumped the tea into the harbor• 342 cases• Worth $90,000 dollars!
STEP #9: THROW A TEA PARTY
STEP #10: PAY THE FIDDLER
T
here were consequences of this little “Party”
K
ing George called the Tea Party “violent and outrageous”
and Parliament was just as mad
O
ne member said,
“
The town of Boston ought to be boxed about their ears
and destroyed. I am of the opinion you will never meet
with that proper obedience to the laws of this country
until you have destroyed that nest of locusts.”—Charles
Van
COERCIVE ACTS OF 1774
D
esigned to reassert power of Britain and make example of Boston
S
eries of laws passed in 1774 that did the following:• Closed the Port of Boston• Increased the power of the Royal Governor, Abolished Upper House of MA
Legislature, Cut right to have Town Meetings (Why?)• All murder cases would be tried in England (Why?)• Strengthened Quartering Act (You read about it. What was this earlier
bill?)
What were the goal of all of these laws?
A
gain the colonists had a much different take
on these laws.
T
hey dubbed them The Intolerable Acts.
A LAW BY ANOTHER NAME…
T
hose who opposed the
British taxes and stood
by Boston
T
hose who supported
Britain and the King
THE LINES ARE DRAWN
Patriots Loyalists
STEP #11: STAND FIRM
O
ther colonies sent food & supplies
to Boston as aid
C
reated Committees of
Correspondence (to keep in touch)
C
alled first meeting of Continental
Congress (in Philadelphia, PA)
C
ontinental Congress ran from September 5th-October 26th 1774 in
Philadelphia, PA• 56 Total Delegates• From 12 Colonies (excluding GA)
S
erious differences of opinions & long debates
D
ecisions:• Demanded repeal of Intolerable Acts b/c colonies could self-govern & tax • Restart British boycott• Start arming & training militias (volunteer armies)• Planned to meet again in May 1775 (if demands went unmet)
T
his unity of colonists was surprising!
STEP #12: MAKE SPEECHES
STEP #13: LET THE FIGHTING BEGIN
N
either side wanted war (most were hoping
for a peaceful revolution)
B
ut, neither would back down!
P
atrick Henry famously proclaimed,
“
Gentlemen, may cry, ‘Peace! Peace!’ but
there is no peace…I know not what course
others may take, but as for me, give me
liberty or give me death!”