Download Tensions webquest - New Hartford Central Schools

Prelude to the Revolution
1765 – 1775
Directions:
Use the following link to complete the blanks and answer the questions below.
(http://www.constitutioncenter.org/timeline/flash/cw.html)
1763 - Proclamation of 1763, signed by King George III of England, prohibits any English settlement west of the
Appalachian mountains and requires those already settled in those regions to return east in an attempt to ease
tensions with Native Americans.
1764 - Sugar Act is passed by the English Parliament to offset the war debt brought on by the French and Indian
War and to help pay for the expenses of running the colonies and newly acquired territories. (duties on imported
sugar, textiles, coffee, wines and indigo)
1764 - Currency Act prohibits the colonists from issuing any legal tender paper money. This act threatens to
destabilize the entire colonial economy of both the industrial North and agricultural South.
Click on 1765 (top)
March 22, 1765 – The Stamp imposed taxes _________________________________________________
____________________.
1765 - Also in March, the Quartering Act requires colonists to house British troops and supply them with food.
Click on 1765 (bottom)
October 19, 1765 – Colonists protest the Stamp Act in _________________________________________
____________________.
Click on the image titled, Colonists protest Stamp Act.
Based on this first hand account, what type of action have the colonists taken in reaction to the Stamp Act?
Scroll over 1766.
What actions does Parliament take in response to the colonists’ protest?
Scroll over the image of Parliament. Click on this image (May 16, 1766 - What rules: principles or
Parliament?)
Summarize the colonists’ argument.
1767 - Townshend Acts imposed taxes to offset the costs of administering and protecting the American colonies.
Items include paper, tea, glass, lead and paints.
March 5, 1770 - The Boston Massacre occurs as a mob harasses British soldiers who then fire their muskets
pointblank into the crowd, killing three instantly, mortally wounding two others and injuring six. After the incident, the
new Royal Governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson, at the insistence of Sam Adams, withdraws British
troops out of Boston to nearby harbor islands. The captain of the British soldiers, Thomas Preston, is then arrested
along with eight of his men and charged with murder.
1770 - Townshend Acts are repealed by the British.
Scroll over 1773 (bottom)
On May 10, 1773, Parliament passes ____________________________________________________.
Scroll over 1773 (top)
On December 16, 1773, what actions take place?
Scroll over 1774
What occurs on September 5, 1774?
1774 - In March, an angry English Parliament passes the first of a series of Coercive Acts (called Intolerable Acts
by Americans) in response to the rebellion in Massachusetts.
Click on Point Counterpoint. Read the transcript.
What is John’s view on declaring independence?
Describe Linda’s argument.
Should American declare its independence from Great Britain?
Scroll to the image, Common Sense (April 10, 1776). Click on this image.
What is Common Sense?
Who authored Common Sense?
Explain its significance.
Click on the image, Declaration of Independence.
Describe the scene of July 8, 1776.
According to this excerpt, what will this revolution be about?