CLOSER TO REVOLUTION THE BOSTON TEA PARTY TO THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS (1773- 1774)

BY J.A.SACCO

The Tea Act (1773)Problems between British and colonist seem to lessen until the passage of the Tea Act.

Boston Tea Party (Dec. 1773)

The Coercive Acts/Intolerable Acts(1774)

The Coercive Acts/Intolerable Acts(1774)

• To enforce the acts, 2,000 troops in Boston during peacetime• Appointed Gen. Thomas Gage as a new royal governor

Gen. Thomas Gage

First Continental Congress (Sept.1774)

• 50 delegates from 12 colonies met in Philadelphia• Colonies come to the aid of Massachusetts after the

Intolerable Acts• Both radicals and moderates felt that England was going

too far in an attempt to destroy their political, economic liberty and on limiting their future expansion

First Continental Congress (Sept.1774)

• Denounce the treatment of Massachusetts• Approved the Suffolk Resolves- declared the Intolerable

Acts void• Begin to train militias• Declaration of Rights and Grievances drawn up

demanding a return to colonial status of 1763• “The Association” created- organize a colonial wide non-

importation agreement• All acts of Parliament to be repealed• Would met again in 1775 as the Second Continental

Congress if demands not met

First Continental Congress (Sept.1774)

• Moderates still prevail after the Congress meets, but possibly moving more radical

• To defy Gage in Boston, the Massachusetts assembly organize the Massachusetts Provincial Congress

• Committee of Public Safety created to call up local militia- John Hancock to lead it

• Hancock becomes a rival governor to Gage

John Hancock