The Road to Revolution 1763 1776 Growing Tensions

The Road to Revolution 1763 - 1776

Growing Tensions King George III became the king of the United Kingdom (1760) 3 years before the end of the French and Indian War

The Proclamation of 1763 banned colonists from settling beyond the Appalachian Mountains This is the territory they won in the French and Indian War!

The Quartering Act • King George III kept 10, 000 soldiers in the colonies • The Quartering Act required colonists to house all British soldiers

Sugar Act and Stamp Act • To help pay for the expenses of the French and Indian War, Parliament (representatives who made laws for Great Britain) passed two laws • The Sugar Act: a tax on sugar, molasses, and other products shipped to the colonies • The Stamp Act: a law that required all legal and commercial documents (including newspaper) to carry a stamp showing that a tax had been paid

The Argument Against Taxes 1. Parliament had no right to tax the colonies, which was the job of the colonial assembly 2. No taxes should be created without first asking permission of the colonies “No taxation without representation!” This meant Parliament shouldn’t be allowed to pass taxes when colonists had no say in the representatives that made up Parliament

Colonists React Colonies • Teamed up to petition King George III • Boycotted British goods Sons of Liberty • Created to oppose British rule • Encouraged violence Parliament repealed (unpassed) the Stamp Act, but declared that Parliament had supreme authority over the colonies

The Sons of Liberty “It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds. ” – Samuel Adams

The British still needed money! Townshend Acts • Required colonists to pay taxes on imported goods, such as: • Glass • Paint • Oil • Lead • Paper • Tea Writ of Assistance • Search warrants given to British soldiers that allowed them to enter homes and businesses in search of smuggled or illegal goods

Colonists React “We cannot be happy without being free… we cannot be free without being secure in our property… we cannot be secure in our property if taxed without our consent!”

Protests • The Daughters of Liberty urged colonists to weave their own cloth and use American products • Samuel Adams (member of the Sons of Liberty) boldly stated, “We will destroy every soldier that dare put his foot on shore… I looked upon them as foreign enemies!”

The Boston Massacre • 1, 000 British soldiers (redcoats) arrived in Boston • A group of young colonists surrounded the troops and started taunting them • Thinking they were about to be attacked, the soldiers opened fire • Five people were killed and viewed as heroes by the colonies • The soldiers were arrested and put on trial (defended by John Adams, who believed that everyone deserved a fair trial) • They were found innocent and released

Ironically, the Tea Act made tea less expensive for colonists The Boston Tea Party • Parliament passed a law (the Tea Act) requiring colonists to purchase tea from only one company: the East India Company • Members of the Sons of Liberty: • disguised themselves as Native Americans • boarded three tea ships docked in Boston harbor • destroyed 342 chests of tea

The Boston Tea Party “We then were ordered by our commander to open the hatches and take out all the chests of tea and throw them overboard… In about three hours from the time we went on board, we had thus broken and thrown overboard every tea chest to be found in the ship; while those in the other ships were disposing of the tea in the same way, at the same time. ”

The Boston Tea Party “The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders is no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American!” – Patrick Henry

Activity: The Makings of the Revolutionary War

Activity: The Intolerable Acts

The Intolerable Acts • King George III: “We must master them or totally leave them to themselves and treat them as aliens. ” • The Intolerable Acts • Closed the port of Boston until colonists paid for the destroyed tea • Banned town meetings in Massachusetts • Replaced the elected council with a royally appointed one • Increased the royal governor’s power • Protected British officials accused of crimes in the colonies • Allowed British officers to house troops in anyone’s house

Taxes on Imports • Duties

Committees of Correspondence • An organization used in the colonies to exchange information about colonial affairs and resistance to British policy

Georgia refused to send representatives, hoping Britain would help with problems they were having with the Nati The First Continental Congress • 56 representatives from 12 of the 13 colonies met in Philadelphia • Voted to ban all trade with Britain until Parliament repealed the Intolerable Acts • Ordered that each colony begin training soldiers (a militia)

A Call For War • In 1774, Patrick Henry called for war: “Gentlemen may cry peace, peace—but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? I Know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

The British Regulars are coming! The Midnight Ride • The British government attempted to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock, two members of the Sons of Liberty • Prepared, Paul Revere rowed across the Charles River and borrowed a horse, stopping at each house to alert people that the British were coming • At midnight, he arrived in Lexington where Adams and Hancock were staying There were actually 3 riders dispatched on different routes: Revere, Dawes, and Prescott

Sons of Liberty Samuel Adams John Hancock

“It seemed as if men came down from the clouds. ” The First Battles of the American Revolution Lexington • 700 British soldiers arrived • 70 colonial militiamen refused to surrender Concord (rebel weapons storage) • The British continued on to destroy military supplies • 4, 000 Minutemen (a group of armed civilians, trained to be ready to fight “at a minute’s warning”) and militiamen arrived • 8 militiamen were killed • The British scrambled back to The rebels got word and moved all their weapons Boston

Lexington

Concord

Choosing Sides Loyalists (20 -30%) • Supporters of Great Britain Patriots (40 -45%) • Supporters of the rebellion

The Soldiers British Soldiers • Well-trained • Full navy (blockaded American ports) • Hired thousands of German soldiers Patriot Soldiers • Untrained • Ordinary citizens • Few supplies • Few uniforms

The fort and battle actually took place on a smaller nearby hill called Breed’s Hill The Rebellion Continues The Olive Branch petition “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes!” • 15, 000 militiamen sieged (surrounded) Boston • The Second Continental Congress formed and agreed to create a Continental Army led by George Washington • The British attacked the newly constructed fort at Bunker Hill in Charlestown (near Boston) • Though victorious, they lost 1, 000 men, while the Patriots only lost 400 militiamen “The loss we have sustained is greater than we can bear. ”

Americans Debate Independence • Thomas Paine’s Common Sense convinced many Americans that it was time to fight for independence “Everything that is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, “Tis time to part. ” Even the distance at which the Almighty had placed England America is a strong and natural proof that the authority of the one over the other was never the design of heaven. ”

“The Book of Duh” 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. How can an island run a continent? That’s ridiculous. We’re no longer British. There’s too much diversity here. If you’re our mother country, then why are you treating us so poorly? Europe participates in too many wars. No more drama, please. You’re thousands of miles away! How can you possibly rule us from such a great distance? 6. We came here to get away from you. Stop being creepy and leave us alone. 7. We’re your colony, designed to make you money which means you will never have our best interest in mind.

Americans Debate Independence • The Continental Congress remained undecided • A committee wrote a draft of the Declaration of Independence • The committee included: • Benjamin Franklin • Thomas Jefferson (selected to write the document) • John Adams • On July 4, 1776, Congress officially signed the document

Americans Declare Independence “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. ”

The Declaration of Independence • After signing the document first and in large letters, John Hancock declared: “There! His Majesty can now read my name without glasses. And he can double the reward on my head!”

The Declaration of Independence • The document stated: • If these rights are taken away, the people have the right to abolish (get rid of) a government, even by force • They can form a new government to protect their rights • “People” meant only white landowning men • The colonies were free and independent states

The Signers • 56 signers • Included: Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson • All of the signers were wealthy, successful colonists • By signing this document, they were putting their lives and the lives of their families at risk “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall hang separately. ” – Benjamin Franklin

The War Awaits… "These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their county; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny like hell is not easily conquered yet we have this consolation with us, the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. " - Thomas Paine

Activity: The Declaration of Independence