Conflict in the Colonies, the Road to the Revolution

1. Conflict in the
Colonies

2. 1. Boycott – to refuse to buy certain products, as protest or punishment
2. Repeal – to cancel or do away with

3. • After the French and Indian War the British continued to keep an army in North
America
• To help pay for this army, the British prime minister asked Parliament to tax the
colonists
• Parliament passed the Sugar Act, taxing imported sugar and molasses
• British officials also began taking severe measures against smugglers

4. • The colonists resented Parliament’s actions. They felt that Great Britain did
not have the right to tax the colonies without popular consent
• The colonies had no representatives in Parliament; the colonists were
subjects of the king rather than citizens of England
• In May of 1764, a town meeting was held in Boston. Lawyer James Otis and
local leader Samuel Adams spoke out against Parliament, using the slogan
“NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION.”
• This idea spread throughout the colonies

6. • Samuel Adams founded
the Committees of Correspondence
• These committees shared
information about British laws
and ideas about how to challenge them
• Colonists were encouraged to boycott
British goods, hoping to hurt the British
economy and convince Parliament to
end the new tax

8. • In 1765 the prime
minister
proposed a required
tax on
a seal (or stamp) on
paper items.
This was called the
Stamp Act
• The Stamp Act brought
immediate protests

9. • Samuel Adams and others formed a secret society called the Sons of Liberty
• This group would scare tax collectors, sometimes using violence

10. • In May 1765, a Virginia
lawyer named Patrick
Henry argued that the
Stamp Act violated the
rights of the colonists
• He convinced the VA House
of Burgesses to support
this idea

11. • Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 1766
• Angry that the colonists had challenged their authority, Parliament issued the
Declaratory Act, which said that Parliament had the power to make laws for
the colonists
• The colonists felt that this Act
took away much of their freedom

12. • In June 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, which placed taxes
on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea
• In response, the colonists again boycotted British goods

13. • In 1768, as tensions in Massachusetts rose, British soldiers arrived in
Boston to restore order
• Many saw the presence of
British troops as a threat;
the soldiers were not
welcome in Boston.
Angry exchanges between
the soldiers and the colonists
became common

14. The Boston Massacre

15. • On March 5, 1770, an argument between a British soldier and a colonist
escalated. A crowd gathered, and more troops arrived.
• The soldier fired his weapon. Five men were killed, including an African-
American sailor named Crispus Attucks. He is considered to be the first
casualty of the Revolution.
• This event became known as the Boston Massacre

17. • The soldiers were charged with
murder, and were defended by
two lawyers – Josiah Quincy
and John Adams
• The British soldiers said that
they had acted in self-defense
• Most of the soldiers and their
officers were found not guilty;
two were convicted of manslaughter
(killing without malicious intent)

18. • In the hopes of bringing calm, Parliament repealed most of the Townshend
Acts, keeping only the tax on tea
• In 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act, which allowed only the British East
India Company to sell tea directly to the colonists.
• This Act angered the colonists;
merchants worried that they would
be put out of business,
and buying the tea from the BEIC
would force the colonists to pay
the duty (tax) on tea, essentially
tricking them into agreeing
with Parliament’s right to taxation

19. • In December 1773, three ships from the
British East India Company arrived in
Boston Harbor
• Members of the Sons of Liberty demanded
that the ships leave, but the government
said that they could not leave without
paying the tax.
• On December 16, 1773, colonists dressed
as Native Americans sneaked onto the
ships and dumped 340 chests of tea into
Boston Harbor
• This event became known as the Boston
Tea Party

21. • To punish Boston, Parliament passed a series of laws called the Coercive Acts;
colonists referred to them as the Intolerable Acts
- Among these acts was the Quartering Act, which required colonists to
house British soldiers
• Boston Harbor was closed, and British General Thomas Gage was named the
new governor of Massachusetts
• In attempting to bring order, Britain only angered the colonists more