Start of a

Revolution

British American

BattleWar

Navigation Acts• Forbade colonists from trading with anyone but England• Colonists had to use British ships to transport all goods• Later required all goods to pass through English ports, where taxes were added to items

1650-1696

Molasses Act 1733

•Colonists were smuggling sugar, molasses, and rum to avoid the Navigation Acts•British placed duties on these items•They rarely carried out this law!

Why so conflicted?•Between the settlement of Jamestown in 1607 and the French and Indian War the colonies had been ignored by the mother country due to the policy of salutary neglect

(the king argued that colonies should take care of their own affairs, as the British were busy fighting foreign wars).

After over 150 years of self-rule and loyalty to the mother country, the English colonist will be forced to follow laws and policies that violate the principles of their natural rights, and the principle of:

No taxation without representation!

French and Indian War bloodiest American war in the 18th century. The war was the product of a clash between the French and

English over colonial territory and wealth. Each side wanted to increase its land holdings.

In November 1753, the young Virginian major George Washington headed into the Ohio region to deliver a message demanding that French troops withdraw from the territory. The demand was rejected.

In 1754, Washington attempted to build a fort near the present site of Pittsburgh. Washington ended up having to surrender the meager fort he had managed to build just one month later.

The tide turned for the British in 1758 as

they began to

make peace with important

Indian allies

The 1763 Treaty of Paris set the terms for France’s surrender. France was forced to give over all of her

American possessions to the British and the Spanish.

Westward Expansion?

•Colonists were excited to move into the new territories west of the Appalachians.•Native Indians were not excited about the colonists moving in•King wanted to calm the Native Indians hoping for $ from the fur trade•Parliament knew that colonists would not respect the boundary without some enforcement.•Parliament soon provided British royal posts along the proclamation line.

Proclamation of 1763• Issued by King George in response to the

conflicts happening between colonists and American Indians.

•Banned British settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains.•Ordered settlers to leave the upper Ohio River valley.

Sugar Act

• Britain is keeping a standing army in North America.• To help pay for this army, parliament

passed the “Sugar Act”– Set duties (taxes) on molasses and sugar

imported by colonist• First act passed specifically to raise

money in the colonies.• British Navy started going after

smugglers

Temperatures are

starting to rise!1764

No Taxation Without Representation!

• If colonist had no say then they would not pay!!!!

• James Otis and Sam Adams helped form the Committees of Correspondence.– Each committee got in touch with other towns and

colonies. Its members shared ideas and information about the new British laws and ways to challenge them• Popular method = boycott (people refused to buy

British goods)

King George III

Sam Adams

Stamp ActBritish government searched for new ways to tax the colonist…

•Required colonist to pay for an official stamp, or seal, when they bought paper items• Legal documents, licenses, newspapers, pamphlets

and even playing cards•Penalty for refusing stamps = fines or jail time

The Stamp Act aroused so much opposition because its burden fell on the most articulate and powerful persons: the lawyers, merchants, writers, judges and others who would be the chief users of stamped paper. Newspaper editors were among the most visible critics of this tax, and were highly successful in mobilizing public opinion against it.

Parliament’s first attempt to raise money by taxing

the colonists directly rather than by taxing imported goods

Sons of Liberty•Protests began immediately

•Colonists formed the Stamp Act Congress to discuss the Stamp Act•Colonists formed a secret society called the Sons of Liberty

• Sam Adams helped organize the group• Sometimes used violence to frighten tax

collectors•Courts shut down because people refused to buy the stamps required for legal documents

-Stamp Act is Repealed in 1766

Townshend Acts - 1767•Charles Townshend, British chancellor, wanted to raise money to support colonial governors, judges, customs officers and the British army in America.•He tightened customs, at the same time taxing colonial imports of paper, glass, lead and tea exported from Britain to the colonies. •To enforce this, British officials used The Writs of Assistance

•Colonists hated the law because it took power away from the colonial governments

In response, Philadelphia lawyer John Dickinson argued that Parliament had the right to control British trade but did not have the right to tax the colonies, whether the duties were external or internal.

Allowed tax collectors to search for smuggled

goods

Tar and Feathering of a tax collector

•Merchants resorted to boycotts and people made do with local products. • Colonists dressed in

homespun clothing and found substitutes for tea.

• They used homemade paper and their homes went unpainted.

•In Boston, enforcement of the new regulations provoked violence. •Two British regiments were sent to protect the tax collectors. 1770 - repealed all the Townshend duties except the one on tea. To most, the action of Parliament meant that the colonists had won a major concession, and the campaign against England was largely dropped. A colonial embargo on "English tea" continued but was not too enforced.

The reaction to Townshend duties was less violent than the Stamp Act, but it was strong, particularly along the Eastern coast.

Did not allow ships into port

Boston Massacre“I look upon

[British Soldiers] as

foreign enemies,”

-Sam Adams

Colonists Soldiers“We

know we are not

welcome”

The heavy military presence in Boston that

lead to the Massacre was the result of Britain’s enforcement of the

Townshend Acts of 1767.

Both sides resented each other and name

calling, arguments and fights between

Bostonians and the soldiers were common

What Really Happened?• Occurred on the

evening of March 5, 1770.

• 5 civilians died.

• 2 trials were held

• Only 2 of the 9 men on trial were found guilty and branded with an “M” on their hand

Anyone for Some Tea? Colonial Merchants were smuggling most of its imported tea and paying no duty on it. Shhh… Parliament passed the Tea Act (1773)

Allowed the British East India Company to sell tea directly to the colonists. (No $$ for colonial merchants)

3 Ships loaded with tea from BEIC arrived in Boston Harbor

Son’s of Liberty Group demanded they leave

Governor refused to let them leave without paying the duty ($$).

Boston Tea Party•December 16, 1773

•Colonist disguised as Indians sneak onto the three tea-filled ships •They dumped over 340 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor“Boston harbor is a teapot tonight!”

Intolerable Acts

Britain wanted to punish Boston for the Tea Party

1774 Parliament passed the Coercive

Acts (they were called the Intolerable Acts by

the colonists)

1. Boston Harbor was closed until Boston paid for the ruined tea (except for British ships)

2. Massachusetts’s charter was canceled. • The governor decided if and when the

legislature could meet.3. Royal officials accused of crimes were sent to

Britain for trial. • This let them face a more friendly judge

and jury4. A new Quartering Act required colonists to

house and feed British soldiers• If the colonists didn't do this for

the British troops, they would get shot.

5. The Quebec Act gave a large amount of land to the colony of Quebec