The Road to the American Revolution

True or False

• 1) A "revolution" takes place when the people of a nation rise up and use violence to bring about sweeping changes in government.

• 2) Most people in the Colonies wanted to break away from Great Britain and become independent.

• 3) Taxation was the main issue that separated the Colonists from Great Britain.

• 4) Great Britain has always been a democracy and close friend of the United States. 

King George III

• “ Had he been born in different circumstances, it is unlikely that he could have earned a living except as an unskilled laborer” J. H. Plumb British historian

• Becomes King in 1760 at 21 years old

The French and Indian War

• Very expensive for Britain

• British officer looked down on the Americans. Expected the American to act in deference to them.

Proclamation of 1763

• King George III declares that no colonist may live west of the Appalachian Mountains

The Sugar Act

• In 1764 the British raise the tariff on sugar

• They in fact start collecting tariffs that they had neglected for years

• Issuance of Writs of assistance – searches without warrants

James Otis

Brilliant lawyer who helped Boston merchants protest the Sugar Act

No Taxation without Representation

• Slogan created by James Otis

• He resigned from a royal position rather than enforce the writs of assistance

• “Taxation without representation is tyranny”

• This led to the creation of a American wide boycott of British goods.

The Stamp Act of 1765

• It imposed taxes on all legal documents (i.e. marriage licenses, newspapers, and 47 other documents).

• The colonists responded with vocal protests. • Not only did these taxes hurt their pocketbooks,

but they were highly visible (i.e. they were needed for every day transactions).

• To enforce the actions, the British announced that colonial offenders were to be tried in the hated Admiralty courts.

The Stamp Act of 1765

• The protests began • One result of the protests

- the meeting of the Stamp Act Congress in New York, to which many of the colonies sent representatives.

• Many colonies agreed not to import any British goods until the Stamp Tax was repealed.

The Sons of Liberty

• Secret organization formed to protest the Stamp act

• Leaders – Paul Revere, John and Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, James Otis, and John Hancock

Patrick Henry• In protest to the Stamp Act,

He said, “Caesar had his Brutus – Charles I his Cromwell – and George III profit by their example.” This caused a stir in the House of Burgesses. Henry was accused of treason to which he replied “If this be treason, make the most of it.”

Townshend Act• Townshend wanted to strengthen the

British parliament which would simultaneously strengthen the power of royal officials.

• He convinced the Parliament to pass a series of laws: new taxes on the colonists on lead, paint, paper, glass and tea imported by colonists.

• Now the Colonial officials would be paid by the crown

Boycott of 1767

• An agreement not to import British goods

• Non-importation agreement slowly grew to include merchants in all of the colonies, with the exception of New Hampshire.

• Within a year importation from Britain dropped almost in half.

British Troops sent to Boston 1768

• In response to colonial protest and increasing attacks on colonial officials by the Sons of Liberty", Lord Hillsborough, Secretary of State for the Colonies, dispatched two regiments-(4,000 troops), to restore order in Boston.

Boston Massacre- 1770

• On March 5, 1770, a crowd of sixty towns people surrounded British sentries guarding the customs house.

• They began pelting snowballs at the guards.

• Suddenly, a shot rang out, followed by several others.

• Ultimately, 11 colonists were hit. Five were dead, including Crispus Attucks, a former slave.

The Massacre Trial

• The British troops were defended by two patriots who supported independence.

• John Adams said when criticized for defending the troops “ Council ought to be the very last thing any accused person should want to be denied in a free country”

• Adam wins his case – 5 soldiers were found innocent, two were guilty of manslaughter.

Townshend Acts Repealed 1770

• The British parliament repealed the Townshend duties on all but tea.

• Falling colonial imports and raising opposition convinced the British government that its policies were not working.

• Prime Minister Lord North, maintained the taxes on tea, in order to underscore the supremacy of parliament.

Colonist Burn Revenue Cutter Gaspee 1772

• The revenue cutter runs aground off Rhode Island

• Son of Liberty groups row out and burn the ship

Committees of Correspondences

• Created by Sam Adams and Joseph Warren after the Gaspee incident Nov. 1772

• By July of 1773 all the colonies had formed Committees except for New York

• They laid the ground work for the first Continental Congress

Boston Tea Party 1773

• Parliament passed the Tea Act • Governor of Massachusetts, Thomas

Hutchinson, insisted that tea be unloaded in Boston, despite a boycott organized by the Sons of Liberty

• December 16th, Three groups of 50 individuals dressed as Indians boarded three vessels docked in the harbor and threw 90,000 lbs. (worth $1.7 mil today) of tea overboard.

Coercive Acts Imposed By British 1774 • In the colonies as the "Intolerable Acts". • These acts included the closing of the port of

Boston, until such time as the East India Tea Company received compensation for the tea dumped into the harbor.

• The Royal governor took control over the Massachusetts government and would appoint all officials. Sheriffs would become royal appointees, as would juries.

• In addition, the British took the right to quarter soldiers anywhere in the colonies.

• Restriction of town meetings• All capital cases would be tried in England

First Continental Congress Meets 1774

• The first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, from September 5th to October 26th 1774.

• The Quebec Act

• The Galloway Plan

Patrick Henry

• Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

• March 1775

Lexington and Concord

• Forewarned by Paul Revere and William Dawes, American militiamen fought 800 British troops on April 19th, 1775. The battle broke out at Concord. Seventy-three British soldiers were killed and over 200 were wounded. The Americans lost 49 soldiers and suffered 39 wounded.

• This marked the beginning to Revolutionary War.

Thomas Paine

• Had been an British tax collector who had been dismissed for striking for higher wages

• Impressed Ben Franklin who sponsored his immigration

• Written in 1775 but published in Jan. 1776 and became a best seller. He donated all profits to Gen George Washington's army.

• Convinced the everyday people that independence was the only course

Thomas Paine and Common Sense

• It was ridiculous for an island to rule a continent. • America was not a "British nation"; it was

composed of influences and peoples from all of Europe.

• Even if Britain was the “mother country” of America, that made her actions all the more horrendous, for no mother would harm her children so brutally.

• Being a part of Britain would drag America into unnecessary European wars, and keep it from the international commerce at which America excelled.

Common Sense• The distance between the two nations made

governing the colonies from England unwieldy. If some wrong were to be petitioned to Parliament, it would take a year before the colonies received a response.

• The New World was discovered shortly after the Reformation. The Puritans believed that God wanted to give them a safe haven from the persecution of British rule.

• Britain ruled the colonies for its own benefit, and did not consider the best interests of the colonists in governing them

The Declaration of Independence

• June-July, 1776 - On June 7, Richard Henry Lee, a Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress, presents a formal resolution calling for America to declare its independence from Britain. Congress decides to postpone its decision on this until July. On June 11, Congress appoints a committee to draft a declaration of independence. Committee members are Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston and Roger Sherman. Jefferson is chosen by the committee to prepare the first draft of the declaration, which he completes in one day. Just seventeen days later, June 28, Jefferson's Declaration of Independence is ready and is presented to the Congress, with changes made by Adams and Franklin.

The Declaration Of Independence

• When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

The Declaration Of Independence

• We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Blame the King

• He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

• He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures

• For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent• For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of

Trial by Jury• For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for

pretended offences

The Declaration of Independence

• On July 2, twelve of thirteen colonial delegations (New York abstains) vote in support of Lee's resolution for independence. On July 4, the Congress formally endorses Jefferson's Declaration, with copies to be sent to all of the colonies. The actual signing of the document occurs on August 2, as most of the 55 members of Congress place their names on the parchment copy.