Time for a Revolution

Time for a Revolution

TIMELINE of EVENTS

1735 Peter Zenger trial sets the precedent of “Freedom of Speech”

1754 French and Indian War begins

1763 Treaty of Paris formally ends the French and Indian War

TIMELINE: The Pot Boils• 1765 Parliament imposes the Stamp Act• 1767 Parliament imposes the Townshend Acts• 1768 British troops enter Boston• 1770 Five Patriots die in Boston Massacre• 1772 Samuel Adams forms Committees of

Correspondence

TIMELINE: a Protest for the ages

• 1773 Bostonians dump tea into Boston Harbor to protest British taxes

TIMELINE:Reactions• 1774 First Continental Congress convenes in

Philadelphia• 1775 April 18 Paul Revere rides through Lexington and Concord

TIMELINE: The British Respond

• 1775 April 19 British and American soldiers battle at Old North Bridge (Concord, Mass.)

TIMELINE:The Patriots respond

• 1776 May Second Continental Congress convenes

• JULY 4th 1776 Delegates of the Continental Congress approve the DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE

• December 25, 1776 Washington crosses the Delaware and takes Trenton, New Jersey

• 1777 Washington’s troops endure a harsh winter at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

TIMELINE:The War

• 1778 France enters the war on the side of the colonists

• 1779 Spain enters the war on the side of the colonists

• 1781 Cornwallis surrenders to Washington at Yorktown

• 1783 United States and Britain sign “Treaty of Paris”

THE ROAD TO WAR

• By 1732, North America was no longer the unknown territory it had been 150 years before.

• Spain, France and England were all vying for the riches of the New World.

• Spain had been active in the southwest since the 1500’s

• France claimed Quebec, the Great Lakes region, and the area around the Saint Lawrence river. France also had explored the Mississippi valley and claimed an area they called Louisiana.

The French and Indian WarThe Combatants

• The French and their Indian allies the Huron

• The British and their Indian allies the Iroqouis

Causes of the French and Indian War

• The English colonists had settled along the east coast on lands claimed by Britain.

• The colonists had begun to think of themselves as Americans but still felt a tie with Britain.

• The colonists began to push west into lands claimed by the French.

• Because of the ties with Britain, they expected help from the King.

The French and Indian WarOutcome

• 1763 Britain and France signed the “Treaty of Paris”

• France loses most of its land in the New World• England gains land in Canada, the Ohio Valley

and land east of the Mississippi

The King makes a Proclamation• At the end of the war King George III makes an

important proclamation

The King Declares!!!!!!!!!

• The Proclamation of 1763 said lands east of the Mississippi belonged to the colonists and lands west of the Mississippi belonged to the Indians

• The Proclamation was Britain’s attempt to repay the Iroquois but it angered the colonists

Peter Zenger has his say.• 1735 Peter Zenger criticized the corrupt

Governor of New York in his newspaper• Zenger faced a trial by jury and his lawyer

argued that he had the right to criticize the Governor as long as it was true.

• Zenger was acquitted and colonists would continue to champion the Right of Free Speech until the Declaration of Independence

Can I Borrow a Stamp?

• 1765 Parliament needed money to pay for the French and Indian War

• Parliament says the colonists should pay for it since they were helped by the war

• It required everything of paper (newspaper, writing paper, playing cards, etc.) have a stamp that proved the purchaser had paid the tax

• Repealed the following year

The Townshend Acts

• Taxed lead, glass, paper, paint and tea imported from Britain

• Outraged colonists boycotted these goods• Colonists were angry because of the heavy tax

burden and the lack of representation• Citizens in Britain could vote for members of

Parliament but colonists could not• “No Taxation Without Representation”

Boston Massacre

• Troops were sent to Boston in 1768 to enforce the taxes

• 1770 Unarmed Bostonians taunting British soldiers were shot by those soldiers

• 5 dead and 7 wounded

• Crispus Attucks, former slave, was first African American to die in the Revolution

After the Massacre• Samuel Adams, an active supporter of

Independence, helped to publicize the event

• 1772 Samuel Adams formed Committees of Correspondence, groups of men throughout the colonies who wrote letters to each other to keep each other informed of events in order to bring the colonies together to protect their rights

Side bar to the massacre• John Adams, cousin to Samuel Adams and also

a supporter of Independence, agrees to represent the British soldiers who shot the Bostonians

• John Adams, who managed to get the soldiers acquitted, would later become 2nd President of the United States

Time for Tea• One night in 1773 a group of colonists dressed

as Mohawk Indians boarded British trading ships and dumped the tea into Boston harbor

• Britain responded by closing the harbor until the citizens paid for the tea

As a result……..• This placed great hardship on the citizenry• In addition, Britain insisted that the citizens

provide food and shelter for their soldiers• The colonists called these the Intolerable acts

1st Continental Congress

• Because of events to this point, members of the Committee of Correspondence gather in Philadelphia in 1774

• Wanted to protest the Intolerable Acts and find a way to protect colonists rights

• 1/sent King George a letter asking for greater control over their government

• 2/asked that each colony gather an army of minutemen

Paul Revere rides

• Minutemen hide gunpowder and weapons in Concord, Massachusetts

• Samuel Adams and John Hancock were hiding in Lexington because they were considered dangerous rebels

• Paul Revere finds out the British were marching to arrest Adams and Hancock and to seize the cache of gunpowder and weapons

Paul Revere continued• On April 18, 1775 Revere begins his “midnght

ride” to warn the Patriots• Billy Dawes and Dr. Samuel Prescott also ride• On the morning of April 19 the British troops

arrive in Lexington and Concord

• “Shot heard around the world” is fired