4. England is in debt
Very expensive for Britain
to keep army in America
Impressment – forcing
Americans to serve in
British Navy
5. Mercantilist policy
1. Strict enforcement of Navigation Acts
2. Sugar Act – (1764) taxed sugar, etc.
from anywhere except Br.
discouraged trade with other countries
3. Currency Act (1764) outlawed paper
money
4. Stamp Act – placed stamp on legal
documents, newspapers, etc.
6. “No taxation without representation”
James Otis
Colonies thought they had no
representation in Parliament
Virtual representation – members
of Parliament represented all
people in the British Empire
7. Stamp Act Congress
protest sent to England (9 colonies
represented)
Sons of Liberty
group of protestors
Boycott – (refuse to buy) British
goods
Led to the repeal (withdraw) of
Stamp Act
9. Townshend Acts
Charles Townshend
chancellor of the exchequer
1) import taxes on glass, lead, paper, paint,
& tea
2) established new system of customs
commissioners
3) suspended New York Assembly
Writs of assistance
search warrants of any building for any
reason
10. Colonists began manufacturing their own
products
In Boston the Quartering Act was enforced
Resentment of Br. Soldiers because they took
away jobs from American workers
Boston Massacre
citizens taunted Redcoats – fired into crowd
of protestors
5 killed – Crispus Attucks the first to die
11. • Townshend Acts repealed
• Tea Act
tax on tea to help Br. East India Co.
gave them a monopoly
Cheaper than smuggled tea
• Boston Tea Party
Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk
Indians secretly threw 342 chests
valued at $90,000 into Boston Harbor
12.
13. Committees of Correspondence
• Groups organized by Sam Adams
to keep up communication between
colonies
• Elevated events to “national”
importance
14. Coercive Acts - to punish the colonies
Intolerable Acts - named by colonists
• Boston Port Act – closed the port of Boston
• Massachusetts Gov’t Act - more power
given to Mass. royal governor
• Quartering Act - quartered in private homes
• Administration of Justice Act - Br officials
tried in Britain, not in colonies
More troops sent to Boston to enforce the Acts
15. Suffolk Resolve
Dr. Joseph Warren
declared Coercive Acts
unconstitutional and should not be
obeyed
Quebec Act
set up gov’t for province of Quebec
without an elected assembly
17. • All colonies except Georgia
• Met in Philadelphia in 1774
• Agreed to support Massachusetts
• Would not obey Intolerable Acts
• Organized an embargo (ban on all
trade with Britain)
• Each colony should begin training
soldiers
18. Minutemen – members of the militia ready in
a moment’s notice (elite force)
Patriots – those opposed to British king &
policies
Loyalists or Tories – those loyal to the king
Few expected war
Patrick Henry of Virginia
“…I know not what course others may
take, but as for me, give me liberty or give
me death!”
19. General Gage (British) learned of
munitions kept in Concord
4/18/1775 moved 700 British
troops to Concord
Old North Church – signal of how
troops would move
“1 if by land, 2 if by sea.”
20.
21.
22. Paul Revere, William Dawes, Dr.
Samuel Prescott
warned of British move to
Concord
In a.m. tired Br. Troops faced
Patriots at Lexington
first shots of Revolutionary War
“shot heard ‘round the world”
23.
24. Continued on to Concord
minutemen met them
Sneak attacks on British all
the way back to Boston
Revolutionary War had
begun!
27. Second Continental Congress
May 1775 - Philadelphia
Some felt their job was to
prepare for war
Created Continental Army led
by . . .
George Washington
28. Battle of Bunker Hill (Breed’s Hill)
•Patriots occupied peninsula across
from Boston
•Patriots created earthen fortress
(redoubts)
•British tried 3 times to take it
•Huge British losses
•Result:
Americans would not be easily beaten
30. • Olive Branch Petition
July 1775 Congress sent to George III
Patriots’ attempt for reconciliation
King refused – wanted to teach colonies a lesson
• Washington received artillery from
Ft. Ticonderoga
• British left Boston
• Most Americans afraid to make a break for
independence
• Thomas Paine (Br) wrote Common Sense
called for American independence
31. What do we do now?
• Continental Congress drew up resolutions
1) called for colonies to become
independent states
2) try to form foreign alliances
3) prepare a plan of confederation
• Appointed committee to draft a Declaration
of Independence
• Thomas Jefferson wrote the declaration
32. • July 4, 1776
Declaration is adopted
• Listed reasons the colonies had no
choice but to declare themselves
independent
• This was treason in Britain’s view
• Americans declared their
independence.
• Now they must win it!!
