Causes and RevolutionOr How Nice Folks Had Finally Had Enough

• The French and Indian War was costly• The British needed revenue ($)• It was time for the colonies to act like

colonies

•Mercantilism – Colonies existed for the benefit of the Mother country

a) Colonies only traded with the Mother Country

b) Colonies only exported raw materials

c) Colonies did not manufacture goods

• No more salutary neglect• The Mother Country will now act like

a Mother Country

• And so the taxes!• But how can the colonists be taxed if

they did not elect representatives to Parliament?

• Protests began• Colonists boycotted British goods• Colonists published articles

challenging British policies• Colonists demanded liberty

• But when tea was dumped in Boston Harbor…

• Punishment ensued

• And what patriot really wanted to house and feed a British soldier?

• In Boston, a massacre had even occurred•March 5, 1770• British soldiers came to support a

soldier who was being heckled by a snowballing crowd• Shots were fired• Three persons were killed and two

died later of their wounds

• The Virginia governor dissolved the House of Burgesses• But the burgesses went to a nearby tavern• And Patrick Henry said, “I know not what

course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”

• On September 5, 1774, the first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia• It was time for the colonists to decide

what to do• They still hoped for peace with Britain

• But in Massachusetts, full-scale rebellion had begun• April 19, 1775• Hundreds of British troops marched

from Boston to nearby Concord in order to seize an arms cache

• The patriot, Paul Revere, warned the colonists of the soldiers’ arrival

• The patriot, Paul Revere, warned the colonists of the soldiers’ arrival

• And while some colonists still hoped for reconciliation with Britain• Others were listening to Thomas

Paine

• Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense in 1776• Paine encouraged many

colonists to join the Patriot cause and declare independence• “Our corn will fetch its

price in any market.”

• To revolution and liberty