Do Now:Grab today’s Agenda – 1:9 (Rebel Rule or Out Box).

What were the causes of the American Revolution?

Road to Revolution• French and Indian War• Taxes• Protest• A Continental Congress

French and Indian Waraka Seven Years’ War• 1756-1763• The war was fought in two theaters:• Europe – called the Seven Years’ War• British North American colonies – called the French

and Indian War

• By 1763, the British overpowered the French. As part of the Treaty of Paris (1763), the French gave up their colonies in North America.• Royal Proclamation of 1763: Forbade settlers

from settling past the Appalachian Mountains. West of the Appalachian Mountains reserved for Native Americans.

Taxes War Debt• British parliament felt that since this war started in the colonies

(George Washington!), they should be responsible for picking up the tab.• Furthermore, in order to maintain peace in the colonies (colonists

defied Proclamation of 1763), British troops needed to be stationed in the colonies.

TaxesRevenue Raising• Until the French and Indian War, the different

taxes placed upon the colonists were to support mercantilism.

TaxesRevenue Raising• Until the French and Indian War, the different

taxes placed upon the colonists were to support mercantilism.• Example: Molasses Act of 1733 was place

don molasses from the non-British island colonies.

TaxesRevenue Raising• Until the French and Indian War, the different

taxes placed upon the colonists were to support mercantilism.• Example: Molasses Act of 1733 was place

don molasses from the non-British island colonies.

• But starting with the Sugar Act in 1764, taxes were placed on the colonists to raise revenue in order to pay off the expenses from the war.

TaxesRevenue Raising (continued)• Stamp Act, 1765

• Tax on legal paper; to help pay for troops stationed in North America.

• Colonists reacted with the Stamp Act Congress, which was the first time the colonies united!

• They questioned whether Parliament really had the right to tax the colonists when the colonists were not represented in Parliament – “No Taxation Without Representation!”

• Many protests and violent demonstrations. All stamp tax distributors were intimidated into resigning their commissions (tar and feather!) and tax was never really collected.

• Tax repealed in 1766. So did the colonists succeed with their protest?• No. To maintain authority, Parliament passed the Declaratory Act

in 1766, which declared that Parliament’s authority was the same in America as in Britain.

• Yes. The tax was repealed, regardless of what came afterwards!

Taxes Revenue Raising (continued)• Townshend Revenue Act, 1767• Tax to pay the salaries of governors and judges (paid by

the Crown – through taxes – and not by the colonists so that the governors and judges were loyal to the Crown).• Fueled by their success in protesting the Stamp Act,

colonists took to the streets again. Protests took on almost revolutionary status when one of John Hancock’s ships was caught smuggling.

ProtestBoston Massacre• 1770• To prevent serious disorder, Britain dispatched 4,000

troops to Boston in 1768, a rather extreme move, considering that Boston had only about 20,000 residents at the time.• To make it worse the colonists had to quarter (house)

the soldiers, which only created greater resentment.• Tensions mounted until March 5, 1770, when a

protesting mob clashed violently with British soldiers, resulting in the death of five Bostonians.• Although most historians actually blame the rock-

throwing mob for picking the fight, Americans throughout the colonies quickly dubbed the event the Boston Massacre.

ProtestTea Party• In 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act, which placed a tax

on non-British tea (trying to help the British East India Company).

ProtestTea Party• In 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act, which placed a tax

on non-British tea (trying to help the British East India Company).

• This act agitated colonists even further - “no taxation without representation.”

• The Sons of Liberty began a campaign stop the tax collectors (like during the Stamp Act Crisis). In every colony except Massachusetts, they succeeded. In Boston, However, Governor Hutchinson was determined to hold his ground.

ProtestTea Party (continued)• British law required any ship arriving in the colonies to

unload its cargo and pay its taxes within 20 days or customs officials could confiscate the cargo.

• When the Dartmouth arrived in November 1773, the Sons of Liberty assigned 25 men to watch the ship and prevent it from unloading the tea.

• Governor Hutchinson refused to grant permission for the Dartmouth to leave without paying the tax.

• On December 16, when the Sons of Liberty heard that Governor Hutchinson had again refused to let the ship leave, people poured out of the meeting and hall and headed to take action.

ProtestTea Party (continued)• A group of 30 to 130 men, some dressed

in the Mohawk warrior disguises, boarded the ship and, over the course of three hours, dumped all 342 chests of tea into the water.• Whether or not Samuel Adams helped

plan the Boston Tea Party is disputed, but he immediately worked to publicize and defend it. He argued that the Tea Party was not the act of a lawless mob, but was instead a principled protest and the only remaining option had to defend their constitutional rights.

ProtestIntolerable Acts, 1774• The Tea Party had mixed results: some Americans hailed the Bostonians as

heroes, while others condemned them as radicals.• Parliament, very displeased, passed several acts in a punitive effort to

restore order:• Boston Port Bill, which closed Boston Harbor to all ships until Bostonians repaid the

British Eat India Company for damages.• Further restrictions on public assemblies and suspended many civil liberties.

• Public sympathy for Boston erupted throughout the colonies, and many neighboring towns sent food and supplies to the blockaded city.

A Continental CongressThe Call• The publication of the Intolerable

Acts in May 1774 brought calls for an intercolonial conference to develop a coordinated response.• The Congress met in Philadelphia

and began its deliberations on September 5, 1774.

A Continental CongressThe Agenda• Not independence! Fix their

relationship with England!• Wrote petitions stating grievances

and seeking redress. Sent to king and Parliament.

A Continental CongressBritish Reaction• British authorities saw the Continental

Congress as defiance to British law. • The American petition was rejected and talk

in Parliament quickly turned to the use of force.• Parliament

• ordered reinforcements to Boston • extended the trade sanctions then in place

against Boston to all of New England• ordered General Gage to seize arms and

military stores that might be used by colonial rebels.

A Continental CongressLexington and Concord• Patriots began to train militia for possible

hostilities.• Massachusetts was declared in February 1775

to be in a state of rebellion.• About 700 British Army regulars were given

secret orders to capture and destroy rebel military supplies that were reportedly stored by the Massachusetts militia at Concord.• But the Patriots found out about this and,

thanks to the “Midnight Ride of Paul Revere,” thy moved most of their supplies.

A Continental CongressLexington and Concord (continued)• April 19, 1775• The first shots were fired just as the sun was

rising at Lexington. The militia were outnumbered and fell back, and the regulars proceeded on to Concord, where they searched for the supplies.• At the North Bridge in Concord, approximately

500 militiamen fought and defeated three companies of the King’s troops.• The fight had begun!

Conclusion• The French and Indian War led to numerous efforts of taxation in order

to pay for the war.• The British colonists viewed these taxes as a violation of their basic

Rights as Englishmen.• As the conflict intensified, both sides took drastic action. The British

wanted to quell the rebellion, while the colonists wanted to return to self-sovereignty.• The road to revolution led to April 19, 1775, the start of the American

Revolution.• Crash Course