Road to Revolution

Committees of Correspondence

• In November 1772, Samuel Adams began organizing a group of letter writers “Committees of Correspondence” to spread news throughout the colonies about British threats

Tea Act 1773

• Gave the British East India Company a monopoly of sales of British tea in the colonies

• This would put colonial merchants out of business

Colonial Reaction to Tea Act

• Samuel Adams and the Committees of Correspondence urged colonists to boycott East India tea.

• The boycott was so effective that most company ships returned to Britain without unloading their cargo

Boston Tea Party I

• Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson challenged the boycott by not letting the company ships leave Boston harbor without unloading their cargo

Boston Tea Party II

• On December 16, 1773 member of the “Sons of Liberty,” disguised as Indians, boarded three company ships as hundreds of Bostonians cheered from the docks

• The Sons of Liberty chopped open 342 chests of tea and tossed them into Boston Harbor

The Intolerable Acts 1774(Coercive Acts)

• King George III declared the “colonies must either submit or triumph.”

• Parliament passed laws to punish Massachusetts

• British navy would blockade Boston harbor until the ruined tea is paid for

• A military governor would rule Massachusetts

• British soldiers would be housed and fed by colonists

Quartering Act of 1774

• As a punishment for the Boston Tea Party the city of Boston had to house and feed British soldiers.

• This was a means to stop the protests and violence against British property and officials

Colonial Reaction to Intolerable Acts

• When the Boston harbor was closed colonists throughout the colonies closed their shops in sympathy

• Flags flew at half mast• Donations of food and

money were sent to Boston• Virginia’s legislature

proposed a day of fasting and prayer for the people of Boston

Quebec Act 1774• Passed by the British

Parliament to create a British government in Canada.

• Quebec would be ruled by a governor with no elected legislature.

• Quebec territory was expanded to include most of the land between the thirteen colonies and the Mississippi River

• The Colonists saw this as a threat to their self government

First Continental Congress I

• In September 1774 delegates from all the colonies except Georgia met in Philadelphia

• Patrick Henry urged the delegates to consider their selves as Americans and not from individual colonies

First Continental Congress II• Delegates disagreed on what

the British could do to the colonies but all disagreed with the Intolerable Acts

• Congress recommended every county, city and town form committees to enforce boycotts on British goods

• If all else failed the colonies would resist in force

• Congress would meet again the following May if Britain did not change its ways

First Continental Congress III• Congress approved a

Declaration of Rights and Grievances

• Condemned the Intolerable Acts

• Affirmed the rights to life, liberty, and property

• Denied Parliaments right to tax the colonies

• In case all this did not work many colonists rushed to from militias