Download Road to Revolution, 1754-1775

Road to Revolution, 1754-1775
Goal: 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.
George Grenville’s
Program, 1763-1765
1. Sugar Act - 1764
2. Currency Act - 1764
3. Quartering Act - 1765
4. Stamp Act - 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….
Warm-up: Matching Ditto
START IT NOW
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
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