Group Project for US History by Liz Carreiro, Jennifer Dos Santos and Amy Planeta- Leclair

1. The Eight Moments in American history that most reflect the division
between Britain and America.
By Elizabeth Carreiro, Jennifer Dos Santos, Amy Planeta-Leclair

2. Introduction
In the first 150 years in American History, certain events happened that caused the division between
Britain and America. We will be focusing on eight specific events that were the turning points.
The Quartering Act
The Sugar Act
The Stamp Act
The Townshend Act
Boston Massacre
Boston Tea Party
The Coercive Acts
Lexington & Concord
In these next few slides, we will elaborate on these eight specific events.

3. The Quartering ActA source of tension between inhabitants of the Thirteen Colonies and the government in London. (Boundless)

4. Facts about the Quartering Act No. 1
Passed by Parliament in response to request
by British Lieutenant-General Thomas Gage
because Colonists had resisted providing
housing and other provisions to troops during
the French and Indian War.
The Act required that the colonies provide
lodging, food and other supplies and
provisions to British troops, at the Colonies’
cost.

5. Facts about the Quartering Act No. 2
•Colonists were amenable during
the War, but did not understand
during peacetime following the
war.
•Colonists felt it was in violation
of ‘Bill of Rights’ which did not
allow for the raising or keeping of
forces without approval of
Parliament.

6. Facts about the Quartering Act No. 3
•Since British troops were not stationed
in America before the French and
Indian War, America questioned why
they were needed after war.
• Added to the Colonists’ suspicions of
British intent and added to their
feeling of unnecessary presence and
involvement of British in American life.

7. Fact about the Quartering Act No. 4
•In 1766, New York refused
lodging to British soldiers.
Another early indication of
America’s growing discontent
which ultimately led to the
American Revolution.

8. The Sugar Act
A revenue-raising act passed by the British Parliament in April, 1764. (Boundless)

9. Fact about the Sugar Act No. 1
•Passed by English
Parliament, passed by
George Grenville with the
intention of reducing the
national debt that England
had incurred as a result of
the French and Indian War.

10. Facts about the Sugar Act No. 2
The Act included stipulations that caused
Colonial discontent in addition to simply taxing
sugar:
◦ Listed goods that could only be exported to
England.
◦ Specified the methods and platforms for
Customs agents to try those who violated the
stipulations of the trade components of the
Sugar Act (would be tried in British courts, rather
than colonial jury trials where England was
concerned about Colonial sympathies not being
impartial).

11. Fact about the Sugar Act No. 3
•Colonists believed the
Sugar Act and the
associated taxes were the
cause of their economic
recession.

12. Fact about the Sugar Act No. 4
•Colonists protested
against England and the
passing of the Sugar Act,
again, leading to “unrest”
that ultimately added to
the war.

13. The Stamp Act
Colonists considered it a violation of their rights as Englishmen to be taxed without their consent. (Boundless)

14. Fact about The Stamp Act No. 1
•Required that printed
materials and documents be
printed on paper that
contained a seal or “stamp”
indicating that the paper had
been taxed and said tax had
been paid (by purchasing).

15. Fact about The Stamp Act No. 2
Another instance of
Colonists feeling as if they
were being taxed without
being properly
represented (by vote) in
Parliament.

16. Fact about The Stamp Act No. 3
•This act led to the Colonists
forming the first “unified
protest against British
Taxation” called the “First
Congress of the American
Colonies” or “Stamp Act
Congress”.

17. Fact about The Stamp Act No. 4
•This was the first tax
passed that only
applied to the
American Colonies,
which made the
Colonists furious.

18. The Townshend Act
Caused a violent colonial resistance, especially in Boston. (Boundless)

19. Fact about The Townshend Act No. 1
A series of Acts imposing taxes and
regulations put in place by Parliament
including:
◦ Revenue Act of 1767
◦ Indemnity Act
◦ Commissioners of Customs Act
◦ Vice Admiralty Court Act
◦ New York Restraining Act

20. Fact about The Townshend Act No. 2
•Caused a substantial
amount of discontent and
resentment towards
England on the part of
the Colonists.

21. Fact about The Townshend Act No. 3
•Caused substantial discontent in
Boston (including an importation
boycott), which led to more
hostile feelings towards the
British-appointed Customs
Officials, Soldiers, Judges and
other British officials in Boston

22. Fact about The Townshend Act No. 4
•The hostile feelings that
resulted from the Colonial
reaction to the Townshend
Acts, led to the Boston
Massacre.

23. Boston Massacre
“One of the most significant moments of the pre-revolutionary war era of the United
States”. (Haas)

24. Boston Massacre Facts No. 1
•British soldiers occupied the Boston Custom House and guarded the
money collected from the import and export taxes. (Haas)
•After two years of constant British occupation, the Bostonians were
tired of the extra company. (Haas)
• -The average Bostonian workers were aggravated that the soldiers
meant more competition for their jobs. (Haas)
• -They were also upset that the higher taxes England was imposing,
meant businesses that usually hired them could not hire as many
workers. (Haas)

25. Boston Massacre Facts No. 2
•These working poor would gather after work
at local pubs, have drinks and share their
stories and problems. (Haas)
•Finally one evening, a rowdy mob headed out
to speak their minds to the soldiers at the
Custom House. (Haas)
•The British soldiers were outnumbered by the
drunken crowd, but stood up to them
anyways. (Haas)
•The crowd got very aggressive. (Haas)
•The head soldier, Thomas Preston, told the
mob to disperse or the soldiers will shoot.
(Haas)

26. Boston Massacre Facts No. 3
•The Bostonians want to be heard. They
were unhappy and were used to
speaking their minds. (Haas)
•The soldiers fired their guns into the
crowd of angry Bostonians. (Boundless)
•Five men were killed. (Boundless)
•This enraged colonists everywhere
because it seemed the British had no
problem killing average, innocent
people. (Haas)

27. Boston Massacre Facts No. 4
•To the British soldiers, they felt they needed to use force or else they
would be killed by the mob. (Haas)
•“In the days and weeks following the incident, a propaganda battle was
waged between Boston’s radicals and supporters of the government.”
(Boundless)
•Colonists have had enough of British occupation. (Haas)
•“The Boston Massacre is considered one of the most important events
that turned colonial sentiment against King George III and British
Parliamentary authority.” (Boundless)

28. Boston Tea Party
The Tea Act of 1773 and The Boston Tea Party 1775

29. Boston Tea Party Facts No. 1
•In 1773, The British initiated the Tea Act on the colonists. (Boundless)
•This Act emerged from two problems within the British Empire. (Boundless)
•One problem was the British East India Company was going bankrupt and to
prevent this from happening, they instituted a tea tax. (Every)
•The other was the question of how much authority Parliament felt it had over
the colonies without proper representation. (Boundless)
•At this time, the colonists did not buy much tea from England. 90 percent of the
tea consumed in the colonies was smuggled in from other countries. Parliament
wanted to put a stop to this. (Every)

30. Boston Tea Party Facts No. 2
•Ships containing tea were sent to four ports: Boston,
New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston. (Boundless)
•The colonists protested the shipments of tea and all
the ships were sent back to England with their tea,
except for the four that arrived in Boston. (Boundless)
•The Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson would not let
the ships leave without paying the import tax.
(Boundless)
•Patriot Samuel Adams met with the townspeople of
Boston and decided to pressure the captain into
heading back to England with his ships and cargo and
not paying the import tax. (Boundless)
•Men were also designated to keep watch of the ships
and make sure the cargo was not unloaded.
(Boundless)

31. Boston Tea Party Facts No. 2
•Some of the Bostonians decided to rebel against
England and its tea tax. (Boundless)
•After dark, Bostonians dressed as Native Americans
boarded the ships and dumped the tea into the
Boston Harbor. (Boundless)
•There is speculation as to whether or not Samuel
Adams encouraged his audience at the meeting to
go to such drastic measures. (Boundless)
•“He immediately worked to publicize and defend it”
(Boundless)
•Samuel Adams stated that the people were merely
trying “to defend their constitutional rights”.
(Boundless)

32. Boston Tea Party Facts No. 3
•That night in Boston Harbor is known as the Boston Tea Party.
•Britain was outraged. (Boundless)
•“In Britain, this act united all parties there against the colonies.”
(Boundless)
•“The British government felt this action could not remain
unpunished, and responded by closing the port of Boston and
putting in place other laws known as the “Coercive Acts”.”
(Boundless)

33. Coercive Acts
England’s response to Colonial resistance in 1774

34. Facts for the Coercive Acts No. 1
• The Coercive Acts were a group of laws passed by
Parliament in response to the defiance of the
colonists, and as disciplinary action for the Boston
Tea Party. (Boundless)
• Britain was trying to force the colonists to abide by
British rule, and had been so far, mostly
unsuccessful. They decided they would make an
example out of Massachusetts. (Boundless)
• These Acts created more tension and “provoked
higher levels of resistance” amongst the colonists
towards the British. (Boundless)
• The colonists felt the Coercive Acts were a direct
violation of their rights as citizens. (Boundless)

35. Facts for the Coercive Acts No. 2
•The first law of the Coercive Acts imposed on the colonists was called The Boston Port Act.
(Boundless)
•The British decided they would close the port of Boston until the colonists paid for all the tea that had
been dumped into the harbor. (Boundless)
•The colonists were angry about this act because it penalized everyone instead of the few men who
had been involved in the Tea Party. (Boundless)
•The next law was called The Massachusetts Government Act. This sparked more colonial outrage.
(Boundless)
•Parliament decided to take charge of the Massachusetts government and have the King or Royal
Governor appoint all seats in the colonial government. (Boundless)
•Town meetings were also limited to one per year. (Boundless)

36. Facts for the Coercive Acts No. 3
•The next law instigated was The Administration of Justice Act. (Boundless)
•Basically, if a royal official was accused of any crime, the Royal Governor could send him to
Britain or another colony for his trial. (Boundless)
•“George Washington called this the “Murder Act”, as he believed that it allowed British officials
to harass Americans and then escape justice”. (Boundless)
•The Quartering Act (an extension of the original in 1765) gave the governor the responsibility of
finding appropriate housing for British soldiers. (Boundless)
•To the colonists, The Quartering Act was the lesser of all the evils out of the Coercive Acts.
(Boundless)

37. Facts for the Coercive Acts No.3
• The Coercive Acts affected the Bostonians most directly
but many more colonists agreed that the attack was
against everyone’s own rights and freedoms. (Boundless)
•Instead of dividing the colonies against Massachusetts,
these Acts garnered support from the colonies instead and
unified them.
•The colonies called together representatives from each
colony to meet up and figure out a way to deal with
Britain’s King, Parliament and the Coercive Acts.
(Boundless)
•This group was called the First Continental Congress.
(Boundless)
•They petitioned the king, unfortunately to no avail.
(Boundless)

38. Lexington & ConcordThe beginning of the Revolutionary War in 1775

39. Lexington & Concord Facts No. 1
The British had appointed General Thomas Gage
as the governor of Massachusetts. (Boundless)
Gage had asked England to send more troops to
help reinforce his small army of 3000 men.
(History)
Gage’s men were severely outnumbered by the
colonist’s militia. (History)
The colonist’s militia, known as the minutemen,
felt their whole way of life was at stake with the
British trying to take control. (History)

40. Lexington & Concord Facts No. 2
•Gage had received word that colonists had stockpiled
weapons and ammunition in the town of Concord, and
was ordered to seize them and arrest those involved.
(Boundless)
•Gage sent out a patrol to keep colonists in line and also
determine the whereabouts of Samuel Adams and
John Hancock. (Boundless)
•The colonists are one step ahead of the British. Paul
Revere and William Dawes prepare to ride out to
Concord and warn the militia and move the stockpile
to a safe hiding place. (HSTRY)
• The colonists were very organized in their
communication system and word of the soldier’s
movement and intent spread very quickly. (History)
•Their arrival in Lexington was not a surprise.

41. Lexington & Concord Facts No. 3
•As the British soldiers marched
through the countryside, a misfit
group of militia gathered to stop
the advancement of the troops in
the town of Lexington. (History)
•This was the first battle of the
Revolutionary War. (History)

42. Lexington & Concord Facts No. 4
• “In less than two minutes, eight militiamen lay dead, ten wounded.” (History) The British soldiers
press on to Concord. (History)
•Militiamen from all over Massachusetts gather in Concord to fight when the British arrive. (History)
• Outnumbered, the British soldiers suffer a massive beating upon arrival, and retreat back to Boston,
fleeing from pursuing militiamen, the whole way. (History)
•The patriots surrounded the City of Boston and more militia from other parts of New England were
headed in for extra support. (History)
•General Gage and his remaining troops were confined to Boston and surrounded, cut off from the
rest of Massachusetts. (History)
•The revolution had officially begun with these battles. (Boundless)

43. Conclusion
There was no one event, Act, tax or political incident that could claim to be the sole, or
even primary, cause of the American Revolution. The truth is that it took years to take
shape and was caused by a series of events much greater than the eight (8) events
listed here. There were many years of resentment, anger and uncertainty on the part of
the American Colonists that led to the war. Each and every one of these events brought
the people a little bit closer and each amendment, repeal and appeal became less and
less effective in appeasing the Colonists. They had become accustomed to governing
and regulating themselves and it was only a matter of time, as England tried harder and
harder to figure out ways to effectively tax the Colonies to earn back some of the
money they had spent “defending them in the French and Indian War”, before they
were going to reach the ‘point of no return’ and attempt to declare independence from
England. The events and Acts that we have listed here are eight (8) that we believe to
have been the most influential causes of the war.

44. Work Cited Resources
Boundless. “The Quartering Act.” US History to 1877. Boundless, 14 Nov. 2014. (https://www.boundless.com/users/282574/textbooks/us-history-to-1877-6215a7a3-5c3c-
4504-a318-ce7835c5f99e/independence-liberty-freedom-and-justice-554/the-sugar-and-stamp-acts-1763-1765-39/the-quartering-act-225-8628/)
Boundless. “Grenville's Sugar Act.” US History to 1877. Boundless, 14 Nov. 2014. (https://www.boundless.com/users/282574/textbooks/us-history-to-1877-6215a7a3-5c3c-
4504-a318-ce7835c5f99e/independence-liberty-freedom-and-justice-554/the-sugar-and-stamp-acts-1763-1765-39/grenville-s-sugar-act-226-9432/)
Boundless. “The Stamp Act.” US History to 1877. Boundless, 14 Nov. 2014 (https://www.boundless.com/users/282574/textbooks/us-history-to-1877-6215a7a3-5c3c-4504-
a318-ce7835c5f99e/independence-liberty-freedom-and-justice-554/the-sugar-and-stamp-acts-1763-1765-39/the-stamp-act-227-9696/)
Boundless. “The Townshend Acts.” US History to 1877. Boundless, 14 Nov. 2014. (https://www.boundless.com/users/282574/textbooks/us-history-to-1877-6215a7a3-5c3c-
4504-a318-ce7835c5f99e/independence-liberty-freedom-and-justice-554/the-townshend-acts-and-economic-retaliation-1767-1770-40/the-townshend-acts-230-9440/
Boundless. “Independence: Liberty, Freedom and Justice.” U. S. History to 1877. Boundless, 16 Dec 2014. 21 May 2015.
http://www.boundless.com/users/282574/textbooks/us-history-to-1.
Haas, Jarred. “The Real Boston Massacre.” US History to 1877. Wentworth Institute of Technology. Youtube, Web. 21 May 2015. https://www.youtu.be/RFq27HtZ5vg.
Every, Jack. “U. S. History to 1877.” Community College of Rhode Island. Rhode Island. Mar 2010. Lecture.
History of America. “The Revolution Part01 Boston Bloody Boston”. Youtube. Youtube, 23 Apr 2014. Web. 22 May 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWEiBwtUHWw&feature=youtu.be
Hstry. “Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride”. Web. 22 May 2015. https://www.hstry.co/timelines/paul-revere-s-midnight-ride
Google Images for all pictures