On the Road to Revolution

On the Road to RevolutionOn the Road to Revolution

After repealing the Stamp Act, Parliament had to raise revenue

Finance Minister Charles Townshend proposes multi-part plan

Townshend Acts• Suspend New York

assembly until New Yorkers agreed to house troops

• Placed duties on various imported goods

Townshend believed that these taxes on goods would anger the colonists less than a direct tax like the Stamp Act

Writs of assistance were used to search homes and businesses for smuggled goods

Samuel Adams’ Sons of Liberty urged colonists to resist British goods• Protests were assembled to

emphasize displeasure in the colonies

British soldiers were sent to colonial cities to enforce British law & protect customs officials

Standing armies in the colonies became the norm

Protest turned into a mob riot outside customs house on Kings St. in Boston

5 people die after shots fired by soldiers • The Sons of Liberty call

them martyrs for freedom Including Crispus Attucks

Colonists use the event as propaganda to gain support from other colonies against the British

Soldiers did receive a fair trial and were acquitted

Tea was popular but was smuggled

Parliament pass Tea Act Colonists disguised

themselves as Mohawk Indians and dumped 342 chests of tea in Boston Harbor

The colonists intent was to destroy British property in an effort to show Britain how strongly they opposed taxation without representation

British government sought to punish the colonists for Boston Tea Party• British called the Coercive Acts

Colonists call them Intolerable Acts

Laws not received well in colonies• Closed port of Boston until pay for the tea• Banned committees of correspondence• Allowed Brits to house troops wherever needed• British officials accused of crimes in the colonies

would stand trial in Britain Parliament appointed a military General as

Governor of Mass. to enforce the acts

All colonies except Georgia meet as the 1st Continental Congress

Massachusetts• John Adams

Virginia• Patrick Henry

Outspoken defenders of colonial rights (quoted above)

• George Washington

Debate & reject a plan to compromise & reconcile with Great Britain

“The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, & New Englanders are no more…I am not a

Virginian, but an American.”

Decisions of the CongressDecisions of the Congress• Draft petition of Draft petition of grievancesgrievances to repeal all to repeal all

laws since 1763laws since 1763– Laws violated “natural rights”Laws violated “natural rights”

• Vote to Vote to boycottboycott British goods & ban all British goods & ban all trade with Britain until Intolerable Acts are trade with Britain until Intolerable Acts are repealedrepealed

• Prepared decision to form Prepared decision to form militiasmilitias in the in the areaarea

• Parliament considers the colonists in Parliament considers the colonists in Spring 1775Spring 1775– King rejects reconciliation & vote to send more King rejects reconciliation & vote to send more

troops to the coloniestroops to the colonies

April 18, 1775 – 700 troops sent to Boston

Troops goal was to capture colonial leaders (John

Hancock & Sam Adams) & supplies @ Concord, MA

Boston used the committee & get word of Boston invasion

beforehand

Used riders to send messages from town to town

Wentworth CheswellWentworth Cheswell

The Midnight RidersThe Midnight Riders

Boston Committee of Correspondence sent riders to warn Boston Committee of Correspondence sent riders to warn colonists of British invasioncolonists of British invasion

• Paul ReverePaul Revere• William DawesWilliam Dawes

British tried to seize colonists’ arms & ammunition Minutemen boasted they could be ready @ a

moment’s notice The colonial militia drove the British back to Boston Fighting signaled the start of the American Revolution