8.2_Revolutionary_Movement_II

Currency Act of 1764

British effort to eliminate colonial currencies that had little real value- Paper money not accepted as legal tender in the colonies- No new paper money, and existing money would be retired- Angered poor, largely rural, colonists who benefited from paying off debts in weak money

Quartering Act (1765)- Required the colonists to provide housing, food and financial support to the 10,000 British troops stationed in America

Stamp Act (1765) - British imposed a tax on all colonial printed paper: including legal documents, newspapers and pamphlets, even play cards and dice.- This was the first direct tax on all the colonists (instead of an indirect import tax paid by merchants)- Colonists argued it was “Taxation Without Representation”

Patrick Henry - Virginia (Stamp Act) Resolves (1765)- Henry persuades the House of Burgesses to pass resolutions denouncing the Stamp Act - and stating that the British Parliament could not directly tax the colonists because the colonists were not represented there.

Samuel Adams- Organized protests against the Stamp Act led by the Sons of Liberty - a group of patriots formed to oppose British actions - they intimidated tax agents and burned stamps

Stamp Act Congress (1765)- representatives of nine colonies met in New York and passed resolutions including a Declaration of Rights and Grievances

- this stated that the British Parliament could not directly tax the colonists because the colonists were not represented there

Repeal of the Stamp Act/Declaratory Act (1766)- Non-importation agreements hurt Britain’s economy - British merchants influenced Parliament - Repealed the Stamp Act- The Parliament then states that they still have the right to tax the colonists in the Declaratory Act

Townshend Acts (1767)- import duties on several common items- money raised to be used to pay royal governors- suspended New York Assembly until they obeyed the Quartering Act

Liberty Affair (1767)- Prosperous shipping magnate John Hancock’s ship was stopped and boarded for suspicion of smuggling- Hancock was arrested and put on trial- He was acquitted, but people realized that no one was safe from British authorities

Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer (1767)-John Dickinson’s essays resisting British policies of colonial taxation for revenue-Became a central part of the American colonists argument against British authority - Dickinson favored reconciliation over independence

New Prime Minister Lord North repealed the Townshend Acts in 1770 - retained a small tax on tea (to maintain their tax authority) - three largely peaceful years except for the March incident in Boston