Ch 5 “Road to Independence”

Proclamation of 1763

Prohibited colonist from moving west of the Appalachian Mountains

Colonist saw it as a limit on their freedom

Revenue

French and Indian war left Britain with a huge debt.

They decide to charge the colonists– How?– TAXES

Trade Laws

writs of assistance, 1763 – legal documents allowed customs officers to search any location for smuggled goods

Sugar Act: Placed a tax on sugar, molasses, and other products shipped to the colonies.

Stamp Act: Required all legal and commercial documents to carry an official stamp showing that a tax had been paid.

Colonist Begin to Protest Colonist merchants began a boycott of British goods. Patrick Henry persuading burgesses to take action.

– “give me liberty or give me death” Secret societies began to form:

– Sons of Liberty - Many were lawyers, merchants, and craftspeople - those most affected by the Stamp Act, leader Samuel Adams

– Burned effigies (rag figures), raided/destroyed royal official homes

Due to protests, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act

Parliament then passes the Declaration Act – 1766, giving Britain supreme authority to govern the colonies.

Declaratory Act

More British Actions

Townshend Acts: Placed taxes on goods such as glass, paper, paint, lead, and tea.

Colonist saw the Townshend Acts as a serious threat to their rights and freedoms.

Tools of Protest

To protest the Townshend Acts, colonists brought back the boycott of British goods.– Even more widespread– Daughters of Liberty called on colonists to

weave their own cloth and use American products.

Vocabulary: revenue writs of

assistance resolution effigy boycott nonimportation repeal

making money

legal documents allowing officers to enter & search any location for smuggled goods

a formal expression of opinion

rag figures

to refuse to buy

not to buy or use goods imported from Great Britain

to cancel

Questions: State two reasons for the deterioration of

relations between the British and the colonists.

Why did the colonists think the writs of assistance violated their rights?

Why did British policies following the French and Indian War lead to increased tensions with American colonists?

The Boston Massacre

On March 5, 1770, a group of youth and dock workers - including Crispus Attucks started trading insults in front of the Custom House. A fight broke out, and the soldiers began firing. Attucks and four laborers were killed. Crispus Attucks became the first man to die in the Revolutionary War.

Sons of Liberty called the shooting the Boston Massacre.

The Tea Act

Colonist were unaware that on the day of the Boston Massacre, Parliament proposed a repeal of the Townshend Acts. This eased the crisis for most Americans at the time.

In 1773, Parliament opened an old wound by passing the Tea Act.

The Tea Act gave the British East India Company control over the American tea trade.

The Tea Act Continued.

The Tea Act caused protests all over the colonies.

In Charleston SC, colonist unloaded tea and let it rot on the docks.

In NY and PA, they forced tea ships to turn back.

In Boston, the Sons of Liberty organized what is known as the Boston Tea Party.

Boston Tea Party

December 16, 1773, a group of men disguised as Indians boarded three tea ships and destroyed 342 chests of tea.

Many colonist rejoiced about the tea party, and thought it would show Britain how much they opposed taxation without representation.

King George III said, “We must master them or totally leave them alone.”

Britain decided to “Master” the colonies and passed a series of laws to punish the colonists.

Boston Tea Party

British called these new laws the Coercive Acts, but they were so harsh that the colonist called them the Intolerable Acts.– Closed the port of Boston until tea paid for– Banning of town meeting– Quartering Act: required colonists to house

soldiers in their homes and provide them with supplies

– Royal offers to stand trial in other colonies or Britain

The Intolerable Acts

Vocabulary:

propaganda

committee of correspondence

information designed to influence opinion

an organization used in earlier protests that circulated writing about colonists’ grievances against Britian

Questions:

How did colonial leaders use the Boston Massacre to their advantage?

Why were the committees of correspondence powerful organizations?

Do you think the Tea Party was a turning point in the relationship between the British and the colonists? Explain.

First Continental Congress In September 1774, delegates from all

colonies except Georgia met in Philadelphia.– Statement of grievances– Boycott of all British goods and trade– Training of troops (militia)

The First Battles

The colonists expected fighting to break out against the British.

Britain sent several thousand more troops. Sir Thomas Gage had instructions to take

away the weapons of the MA militia and arrest its leaders.

The Midnight Ride

Regiment spotted in Boston Common marching out of the city.

Paul Revere and William Dawes were warned.– They rode to Lexington to warn Samuel Adams

and John Hancock.– As Revere rode, he shouted, “the regulars are

out!” to the people and houses

Lexington April 19, 1775, British troops reached

Lexington. – They found Captain John Parker and about 70

minutemen waiting.– Colonists told to throw down their weapons,

NOT!– A shot was fired, but one knows who fired first.– Within a few minutes, 8 minutemen lay dead.

On to Concord The British continued their marched to Concord. Now back to Boston where about 4,000

Minutemen lined the road. They militia fired on the Redcoats until they

reached Boston where 73 British were dead, 174 wounded or missing.

49 Colonist dead, 41 wounded. Ralph Waldo Emerson later wrote that colonial

troops had fired the “shot heard ‘round the world.”

More military action Benedict Arnold

– Raising a force to seize Fort Ticonderoga– Strategic location and rich in military supplies

Ethan Allen – Also preparing to attack fort

Merged forces and renamed the Green Mountain Boys– Caught British by surprise– British surrendered May 10, 1775

The Battle of Bunker Hill June 16, 1775 – Colonel William Prescott Attacked by British 3 times with success On 4th attack, American ran out of

gunpowder and had to withdraw British won battle but still suffered heavy

losses– More than 1,000 dead– Admitted defeating Americans on battlefield

would not be quick or easy

Choosing Sides As colonists heard about battles, they had to

make a decision:– Loyalists chose to stay with Britain and did not

consider unfair taxes and regulations good reasons for rebellion.

– Patriots were the rebels who were determined to fight the British to the end.

Vocabulary:

militia minutemen

loyalist patriots

groups of citizen soldiers

companies of militia who boasted they could be ready to fight on a minutes’ notice

colonists who would stay with Britain

rebel colonists determined to fight the British

Questions

What decisions were made by the first Continental Congress?

Why did the Continental Congress pass a resolution to form militias?

What reasons might loyalists have had to support Great Britain?

Second Continental Congress

On May 10, 1775 the Second Continental Congress began meeting in Philadelphia.– Chose John Hancock as president– Began governing colonies– Authorized printing of money– First post office with Benjamin Franklin in

charge– Continental Army created & chose George

Washington as the commanding General.

Last Hope for Peace

In July 1775, Congress drafted the Olive Branch Petition. – It asked George III to protect the colonists

rights. King George III rejected and announced

new measures to punish the colonists by:– Blocking American ports– Hiring thousands of German troops

Common Sense

1776, by Thomas Paine Pamphlet calling for American

Independence. Called George III “the Royal Brute.” Inspired thousands of Americans

Decision Time May 1776, congress passed resolution

allowing all 13 colonies to establish its own government.

June 7, Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution calling for “free and independent states”

Congress debated the resolution but did not vote. They appointed a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence.

Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson led the committee with

assistance from Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston were the appointed committee.

July 2, 1776 - Congress passed Lee’s resolution for independence.

July 4, 1776 - Congress signed Declaration of Independence.

Some humor to the changes. . .

John Hancock was the first to sign. He said he signed his name large enough so

that King George could see it without his glasses

Preamble:– states the reasons for forming a new country

Rights of the People:– Per John Locke’s influence who states that

people are born with certain natural rights – “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”

Five Parts of the Declaration of Independence

Complaints against Britain – taxation without representation, cutting off trade.

Actions taken to avoid Declaration – petitions for redress.

Proclaims the existence of a new nation – their Declaration of Independence.

Vocabulary:

petition preamble

a formal request

an introduction

Questions:

What was King George III’s response to the Olive Branch Petition?

Why was the second Continental Congress more like a government that the First Continental Congress?

What are the “unalienable rights” to which Jefferson refers? Give examples.