American Colonies Join TogetherEvents leading up to the

Declaration of Independence

The Stamp Act

• England did not interfere with government in the colonies until it needed money to pay debts

• By mid 1700s colonists felt that England was trying to gain control

• England passed the Stamp Act which forced colonists to pay taxes on newspapers, calendars, pamphlets, legal documents, and playing cards

• Colonists did not like the high taxes collected for these goods so representatives from the colonies began to meet in 1765 to try to end the taxation.

Interfere: to meddle in the business of others pamphlet: a printed paper

More on the Stamp Act…

• Some colonists known as Whigs objected to the new tax program

• According to the British constitution, British subjects could not be taxed without consent of their elected representatives

• Colonists argued that they could only be taxed by their local colonial assemblies, not Parliament, since they did not help elect those representatives

• These protests resulted in the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1765

The Boston Tea Party

• Tea Act passed by British Parliament in 1773 • Tea bought in England from East India Company at

wholesale. Then sent to colonies and resold and taxed• Colonists felt it violated their rights as Englishmen to

“No taxation without representation” (to be taxed only by their elected representatives)

• Protestors had successfully prevented unloading of taxed tea in some other colonies, but not in all….

Boston Tea Party….

• In Boston, Thomas Hutchinson, the Royal Governor, refused to send the tea back to Britain

• A group of colonists, dressed up as Native Americans, boarded the ship and destroyed the tea by throwing it overboard into Boston Harbor.

First Continental Congress

• In 1774, the First Continental Congress was held in Philadelphia

• Colonists decided to take action against England

• Sent king a list of rights that they demanded

• Also said they would refuse to buy British goods, such as tea

• This action made no difference and tension finally turned to war

The Revolutionary war

The Revolutionary War between the English colonists and England started on April 19, 1775.

Revolutionary War

• The first battle of the war took place in Massachusetts, at Lexington

• The armed colonists were called minutemen because they had promised to be ready to fight at a minute’s notice

• Eight minutemen were killed in this battle

Minutemen: a group of armed men who fought in the Revolutionary War

Revolutionary War…

• The British then marched to Concord to search for supplies

• At North Bridge, approximately 500 minutemen fought and defeated three companies of the King’s troops.

• The first shot fired by the Patriots at the North Bridge is known as “The shot heard round the world”

Revolutionary War…

• With heavy damage to their troops, England’s army marched back toward Lexington

• They received reinforcements and withdrew to the safety of Charlestown.

• The patriots blocked the land access to Charlestown and Boston, starting the Siege of Boston.

• Many battles followed in the war…

The Second Continental Congress

• The Second Continental Congress ran the government of the colonies and supported the colonists’ cause during the war.

• The congress met a few weeks after the shooting began• Army organized by George Washington • Not all Americans supported the war and it was difficult

to get soldiers to join the army• Countries such as Spain, the Netherlands, and France

helped the Americans

The Second Continental Congress…

• Realized the trouble with England would not end peacefully

• Wanted to end British rule and have government run by the people

• They asked Thomas Jefferson to write down their ideas to send to the king

The Declaration of Independence

July 4, 1776

Parts of the declaration

• The first part of the Declaration states that all people have certain rights, including “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”

• The middle section lists all the grievances the colonists had against the king of England, George III

Grievance: a complaint

Parts of the declaration

• The last part of the declaration says that the colonists were free from the rule of England..

• “…that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved….”

The end of the WAR

• Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776

• In October 1781, the British surrendered at the Battle of Yorktown

• This was a turning point in the war• By 1783 the war was over• Many lives had been lost on both sides