UNITING THE COLONISTS

Do Now1. Take out your vocabulary sheets and Lesson 5.2 Fact-Finders

2. Take out your textbook and leave it on your desk.

Vocabulary• Rebellion – open defiance of authority

• Propaganda – ideas of information intentionally spread to harm or help a cause

• Committee of Correspondence – organization that spread political ideas and information through the colonies

Class Activity• Describe anything you have learned while completing the

Lesson 5.2 Fact-Finder.

Trouble in Massachusetts• British officials felt that the colonies were on the brink of

rebellion – a rejection of British authority.

• As angry colonists jeered, the “redcoats” set up camp in the center of the city.

Trouble in Massachusetts• 1. Many colonists felt the British has passed laws that

violated their rights, and now the British has sent an army to occupy, or take control of, colonial cities.

 • 2. Soldiers in Boston also acted rudely. The redcoats

were mostly poor men who earned little pay. They stole from local shops and got into fights with colonists.

British Redcoats

Tension in the Streets• On March 5, 1770, violence erupted. A fight broke out

between some Bostonians and soldiers. As British officers tried to calm the crowd, a man shouted, “We did not send for you. We will not have you here. We’ll bet rid of you, we’ll drive you away!”

Tension in the Streets• The angry townspeople surged forward. They began

throwing sticks and stones at the soldiers. “Come on, you rascals, you bloody backs, you lobsters scoundrels, fire, if you dare,” someone in the crowd shouted.

Tension in the Streets• After one soldier was knocked down, the nervous

redcoats did fire. They killed five colonists. Among the dead was Crispus Attucks, a dockworker who was part African, part Native American. One Bostonian cried: “Are the inhabitants to be knocked down in the streets? Are they to be murdered…?” The colonists called the tragic encounter “the Boston Massacre.”

Crispus Attucks

Spreading the News• Colonial leaders used the killings as propaganda –

information designed to influence opinion.

Spreading the News• Samuel Adams put up posters that described the Boston

Massacre as a slaughter of innocent Americas by bloodthirsty redcoats.

Spreading the News• Paul Revere made an engraving that showed a British

officer giving the order to open fire on an orderly crowd.

Spreading the News• The Boston Massacre led colonists to call for stronger

boycotts of British goods.

 • Parliament repealed the Townshend Acts taxes on

British imported goods, except for the one on tea.

• The colonists ended their boycotts, except on tea, and trade resumed.

Spreading the News• Some colonists still resisted British rule, and Samuel

Adams brought in the Boston committee of correspondence.

 • This group brought together calls of action against

Britain, and brought together protestors opposed to Britain.

Critical Thinking• How did the Boston Massacre affect British policies and

relations between both sides?

Crisis in Boston• The British East India Company was important to the

British economy.

Crisis in Boston• Parliament passed the Tea Act, which gave the company

nearly total control of the tea market.

 • The Tea Act also removed some – but not all – of the

taxes on tea.

Crisis in Boston• Colonists still remained angry, as they did not want to pay

any tax, and did not want to be told what tea they could buy. A new boycott was also set up.

A Tea Party• Despite warnings of trouble, the East India Company

continued shipping tea to the colonies. Colonists in New York and Philadelphia forced the tea ships to turn back. In 1773, three ships loaded with tea arrived in Boston Harbor. The royal governor ordered that they be unloaded. The Boston Sons of Liberty acted swiftly. At midnight on December 16, colonists dressed as Native Americans boarded the ships and threw 342 chests of tea overboard. As word of the “Boston Tea Party” spread, colonists gathered to celebrate the bold act. Yet no one spoke out against British rule itself. Most colonists still saw themselves as loyal British citizens.

Activity• Open to page 118 of your textbook.

1. What is being shown in this painting?

2. How can you tell who the ships belong to?

3. What is in the foreground of this painting?

4. What does that tell you about the artists possible point

of view?

The Intolerable Acts• King George III realized he was losing control of the

colonies. He declared, “We must either master them or totally leave them to themselves.”

The Intolerable Acts• Parliament responded by passing the Coercive Acts.

Coercive means to force someone to do something.

The Intolerable Acts• The acts did the following:

1. Forced the colonies to let British soldiers live among the colonists.

 

2. Banned town meetings in Massachusetts.

 

3. Closed Boston Harbor until the colonists paid for the ruined tea.

Important Note• The Coercive Acts were meant to cut Massachusetts off

from other colonies, but the other colonies sent shipments of food and clothing to them.

We will help you

Massachusetts!

The Intolerable Acts• Following this, Parliament also passed the Quebec Act.

This created a government for Canada, and extended its territory south all the way to the Ohio River. This action ignored colonist’s claims to that region.

The Intolerable Acts• The colonists believed all of these laws violated their

rights as English citizens.

They expressed their feelings about the laws by calling them the Intolerable Acts. Intolerable means painful and unbearable.

Wrap Up• Describe the following topics:

1. The Boston Massacre

2. The Tea Act

3. The Boston Tea Party

4. The Intolerable Acts