Road to Revolution, 1754-1775Goal: Understand how English laws led to the American Revolution

Warm-up: Use charts from Friday – list all the laws we might talk about today…

Early Call for Colonial Unity

Prior to 1763

• Colonies allowed virtual self-rule (salutary neglect)

• Colonist remained, for the most part, loyal subjects of the King

• End of French & Indian War signals change in English policy towards its colonies

Paying Our Fair Share• Colonists ask to foot the bill for

their own defense• George III tries to impose a new

authority over colonies• British realize their control over

worldwide interests is too decentralized

Proclamation of 1763• Forbade settlement west of the

Appalachians • Attempt to limit contact between

colonists and natives• Land-hungry colonists seeking farms

in the west, extremely disappointed• Impossible to enforce• Simply led to arguments between the

two sides

• The Grenville ministry inaugurated an ambitious to effect better administration of the colonies, augmenting revenues in particular.

• War had put Britain deeply into debt.• Revenues were needed to police the colonies, protect the colonists

from external attack, and pay off the colonists’ share of the war debt.• Grenville’s plan involved taxing the colonists for a portion of their

share of the cost of running the British Empire; the alternative was to raise taxes in England (already several times higher than that of the North American colonies) still higher-

-which would have devastated Britain’s economy.

1.1. Sugar Act - 1764 Sugar Act - 1764

2.2. Currency Act - 1764 Currency Act - 1764

4.4. Stamp Act - 1765 Stamp Act - 1765

3.3. Quartering Act - 1765 Quartering Act - 1765

George Grenville’s George Grenville’s Program, 1763-1765Program, 1763-1765George Grenville’s George Grenville’s

Program, 1763-1765Program, 1763-1765

• Sugar Act (1764)–Tried to eliminate illegal sugar

trading–Set up British courts to try

smugglers

• The Sugar Act sought to increase revenue and inhibit smuggling by simultaneously lowering duties on molasses and making it more profitable for customs officers to prosecute violators of the Navigation Acts then to accept bribes from smugglers.

• Colonists had been obtaining cheaper molasses from the French in violation of the policy of mercantilism.

• Ironically, the Sugar Act LOWERED the existing tax on British molasses…but not so low to make it as inexpensive as that smuggled from French colonies

Stamp Act Crisis of 1765• Created by PM Grenville • Required colonists to place stamps on

legal documents, licenses, newspapers, etc…–Light economic burden–Precedent of an internal tax on

colonists–Ignored colonial assemblies

• Patrick Henry, Sons of Liberty protest

Currency Act

• Currency Act (1764)–Colonies must not issue their

own $• By 1765: No real schisms, just

hard feelings

The People Protest• Colonists wrote petitions, or requests for action signed

by many people, asking King George III to change the Stamp Act.

• The Sons of Liberty and Daughters of Liberty were groups formed by colonists to talk and act against the new taxes.

• People boycotted, or refused to buy, British goods.• Some Sons of Liberty attacked homes of tax collectors

and royal officials living in the colonies.

Stamp Act

Repeal of the Stamp Act (1766)• Colonists celebrate their first major

“victory”• Protest represented first coordination

efforts of colonies• Parliament passes Declaratory Act at the

same time–Parliament has full authority over

colonies–Provision ignored by Americans

Townshend Acts (1767)• New taxes on various Colonial imports

(external tax)

• Tried to enforce the “Quartering” Act

–Disbanded rebellious NY Assembly

• Established new customs comm.

• Colonial boycotts of taxed imports

• Repealed (1770) after Townshend dies

–Except for the tax on tea

SEE A PATTERN?

Goal: Finish Studying impact of English laws….

START IT NOW

Warm-up: Matching Ditto

The Boston Massacre 1770

• British regulars stationed inside Boston to keep order

• Colonists harassing Redcoats verbally and with “snowballs with a core of rock”

• Redcoats being shooting, 5 dead colonists• Sam Adams & newspapers sensationalize

account, call it a “massacre”

The Boston Massacre

Other Preludes to Revolution

• Tea Act of 1773 –which lowered taxes –East India Co. given special tax breaks–EIC could undersell American

competition

Boston Tea Party

Chestertown Tea Party

• The Chestertown Tea Party was a political protest held in Chestertown, Maryland, in 1774 against the British tea tax. Similar to the Boston Tea Party, tea was thrown off of a British ship anchored in the harbor; however, unlike the Boston Tea Party, the Chestertown Tea Party was held during the day and the colonists wore their normal clothes. This was done in order to show even greater defiance against the Crown.

• Today, the event is commemorated every spring with a festival which includes a parade and reenactment of the dumping of the tea.

Hung over from the Boston Tea Party?

• Colonists refuse to pay for destroyed tea

• Coercive (Intolerable) Acts

–Closed Boston Harbor

–Eliminated self-gov’t in Mass

–Quartering of troops in Mass

–British accused tried elsewhere

Revolutionary Philosophy

• By 1775, the split was not irreconcilable • Organized efforts of all colonies important

(see Comm. of Correspondence)• Moderates dominated• Revolutionaries still considered extremists • Cautious action by most

Committees of Correspondence

• First one in Mass (1772)

• All colonies had one by 1774.

• Coordinated resistance to English rules

First Continental Congress

• Meeting of the Comm. of Correspondence

• Every colony but GA.– Renew boycott– Form militia– Petition to King George III

New Symbols

Homework

Start Now…Bring it with you tomorrow