Things Get Worse... Moving Toward Conflict. The Sons Of Liberty To fight back against the Stamp Act & other British laws, some colonists formed secret.

Things Get Worse...

Moving Toward Conflict

The Sons Of Liberty

• To fight back against the Stamp Act & other British laws, some colonists formed secret groups called Sons of Liberty.

• These groups sometimes used threats and violence to achieve their goals.

The Sons of Liberty

Picture of a Stamp Act Riot in New York. This image of American colonialists rioting in protest against the unpopular Stamp Act shows them carrying a banner bearing the words 'The Folly of England and the Ruin of America'.

Stamp Act protesters burn an official's house in Boston.

The Stamp Act Congress

• Massachusetts called for a Stamp Act Congress.

• Delegates from 9 colonies met and issued a declaration stating that the Stamp Act violated their rights.

The Stamp Act Congress

• The declaration would have really angered members of Parliament.

• It asked Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act.

Title page of The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved by James Otis Esq.

Okay, fine. No More Stamp Act

• Parliament was under pressure to get rid of the Stamp Act in Britain as well.

• London merchants didn’t like the colonial boycotts.

Okay, fine. No More Stamp Act• William Pitt was a

respected member of Parliament who opposed the Stamp Act. He thought Parliament could make laws for the colonies, but not tax them.

Okay, fine. No More Stamp Act

• But it was Ben Franklin who convinced Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act.

• Franklin told Parliament it was internal taxes the colonists didn’t like, but that taxes on trade were okay.

Okay, fine. No More Stamp Act

• If members of Parliament had read the declaration from the Stamp Act Congress, they would have known better.

• Nonetheless, the Stamp Act was repealed.

The Declaratory Act

• When Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, they issued the Declaratory Act which stated Parliament could make laws for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.”

• Great, but do laws include taxes?

The Townshend Acts

• Just a year after or so after the repeal of the Stamp Act, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts.

• These Acts were more taxes on tea, paper, paints, lead, etc. to help pay for the British military.

The Townshend Acts

• The colonists responded with more boycotts, this time even bigger than the last ones.

• Women and the Daughters of Liberty helped out tremendously.

Bad Times in Boston

• Many colonial legislatures officially opposed the Townshend Acts.

Bad Times in Boston

John Hancock, a prominent Boston merchant, had his ship seized by British tax collectors.

Bad Times in Boston

• Hancock thought it was because he opposed the Townshend Acts.

• The Sons of Liberty apparently agreed, because they began stoning and burning the houses of British customs officials, or worse.

The Bostonians paying the exciseman or tarring & feathering.

Bad Times in Boston

• The British Governor of Massachusetts requested British troops come and restore order in Boston.

• He also disbanded the Mass. Legislature.

Bad Times in Boston

• The troops in Boston were not very welcome.

• As time went on, tensions mounted, and there were many arguments and problems between colonists and the soldiers.

Bad Times in Boston

• On March 5, 1770, a lone British sentry, Hugh White, a soldier of the 29th Regiment, near Boston’s Custom House got into a verbal argument with a colonist, and he eventually struck him.

• Word travels fast in Boston, and crowd gathered.

Bad Times in Boston

• As the unruly and dangerous crowd of colonists, a small detail of British troops showed up.

• The British troops fired on the crowed after being pelted with ice and snowballs. 5 colonists died.

Bad Times in Boston

Occupying British troops fire on a crowd in Boston.

Bad Times in Boston

• Colonists, such as Sam Adams referred this event as the Boston Massacre, and used it as propaganda to show how “terrible” the British were.

• Was this really a Massacre?

The Tea Act

• Parliament was not completely deaf to the colonists complaints.

• They repealed the Townshend Acts but passed the Tea Act.

The Tea Act

• The act allowed the East India Company to sell tea directly to the colonies.

• Colonial merchants didn’t like this law either. They were afraid it would hurt business.

The Boston Tea Party

• On Dec. 16, 1773, a group of colonists disguised as Indians snuck aboard three British ships loaded with tea.

• The colonists dumped all the tea overboard while the ships sailors watched.

The Boston Tea Party

Payback Time

• To punish Boston and the rest of Massachusetts, Parliament passed the Coercive Acts. Colonists called these acts the Intolerable Acts.

Payback Time

• The Intolerable Acts consisted of 4 laws which:oShut down Boston HarboroCanceled the Mass. Charter and only

allowed the legislature to meet with the governor’s permission.

Payback Time• Moved trials of royal official to Britain to

get a more “fair” jury.• And included the Quartering Act.• Many colonists who were happy

British subjects were upset by these new laws.

• Soon the colonies would need to meet...