THE ROAD TO REVOLUTION1763-1775

The Dispute For North America

The French and Indian WarThe initial assault on Fort Duquesne.

The Clashes in New York

The Taking of Montreal and Quebec.

British North America

Timeline towards Revolution

• 1763• Proclamation Line of 1763

- Intended to stop Pontiac’s Rebellion (it did not)- Almost entirely ignored by westward moving

settlers- Biggest impact on wealthy land speculators (like

Washington)

Timeline - 1764

• The Sugar Act- MP George Grenville proposes that colonists

should pay for the troops stationed there- The Molasses Act of 1733 was never really

enforced- The Sugar Act would

- lower duties on Sugar- restrict trade of some other items, including lumber- create enforcement mechanisms

• Colonists increased smuggling and began petitioning the King.

Timeline - 1765

• The Stamp Act of 1765- Certain items – mostly paper goods – had to have a stamp affixed to them. Like

a sales tax

• Virginia - House of Burgesses, led by Patrick Henry, passed the Virginia Resolves that only colonial legislatures may tax the colonists.Massachusetts – Riots led up to the destruction of Judge Hutchinson’s homeAll over the colonies, stamp agents were intimidated out of their jobs.A loose non-importation, non-consumption system went into effectStamp Act Congress failed to unify the colonies, but did begin the process of colonial elites working together to solve these issues.

• British merchants pressure Parliament because of lost trade with America• Parliament repeals the Stamp Act•

Parliament simultaneously passes the Declaratory Act “Parliament may bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever.” The Stamp Act is gone, but the constitutional conflict is not resolved.

• Stamp Act repeal sets of celebrations and “Patriots” win control of many of the colonial assemblies.

• Growing concern that the Church of England may send an Anglican Bishop to force them to worship in the C of E. Growing linkage b/n religion and politics.

Timeline - 1766

• Wealthy New Yorkers call for British troops because of riots among poor renters who wanted land.

• New York ordered to quarter and pay for the troops upkeep.

• The New York assembly refuses to do so.

Timeline - 1767

• New York assembly disbanded by Townshend for refusing to pay the upkeep of the British troops

• The New York assembly eventually relents and is allowed – chastened – to return to meeting.

• Townshend institutes duties on lead, glass, paper, paint and tea.Creates Board of Customs Commissioners and sends them to America to enforce it.

• Dickinson’s “Letter from a Farmer in Pennsylvania” declares colonists’ constitutional rights to be violated by Parliament and advocates petitions to solve the problem.

Timeline - 1768• Royal and customs officials in Boston escalate the war of

words with groups led by Samuel Adams and James Otis.• Violent clashes occur between American sailors and

British customs officials• Gov. Bernard calls for British troops to protect customs

officials (and himself)• The Adams-Otis faction hears of this and distributes the

Circular Letter asking for unified Colonial resistance to Parliamentary power grabs.

• Non-Importation/Non-Consumption starts creaking back to life slowly from 1768-1770Homemade goods (like homespun cloth) proliferate

Timeline - 1769

• Soldiers deploy to Boston

Timeline - 1770• Tensions rise between Americans and British troops• One soldier killed in NYC• Boston courts deal harshly with British soldiers accused of

violence; Americans are usually given a free pass.• Competition b/n soldiers and the poor for unskilled labor • Boston Massacre and trial.

Boston Massacre Recreation

Timeline - 1771

• The Townshend Duties are repealed – except for the tax on tea, left in place to demonstrate Parliament’s right to tax the colonists.

• A period of simmering “drift” enters Anglo-Colonial affairs. No love, but no overt conflicts

Timeline -1772

• HMS Gaspee – notorious for chasing local smugglers – runs aground in Rhode Island and is razed to the water.

• RI courts are unable to convict anyone of razing the Gaspee

• Admiralty courts send suspected Americans to Britain• British Officials henceforth to • be paid from British funds, • not by colonial assemblies

Timeline – 1773• Committees of Correspondence are launched. They

unite the colonies and share information• British governmental officials, intending to save the British

East India Company from bankruptcy, create a monopoly in the American colonies for it to exploit.

• American port towns mostly reject the tea and prevent it from being unloaded.

• Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson decides to strike back at the mob rule that disassembled his house and refuses to let the tea ships depart Boston harbor without unloading their tea.

Timeline – December 16th, 1773• Colonists strike in the night and dump 342 chests of tea

into Boston harbor. Boston residents cheer them on, inciting the mob.

Timeline - 1774: The Coercive Acts• Parliament passes the Coercive Acts (dubbed the Intolerable Acts in

America). They include:

• The Boston Port Act: This closes the Boston port until the full price of the destroyed tea is paid. Because the port is closed, it is impossible for the Bostonians to raise the money. Economic depression hits the port and city of Boston.

• Massachusetts Government Act: Almost all self-government is removed from the people of Massachusetts. Town meetings are greatly curtailed and most positions are now filled with crown appointees rather than elected by the citizenry.

• The Administration of Justice Act: Any crown official charged with a crime would be tried in England, not America. This was in spite of the acquittal of the Boston Massacre soldiers a few years prior.

• The Quartering Act: Boston must house the British troops sent to enforce the Coercive Acts, mostly by the crown seizing large public buildings like warehouse, churches and Faneuil Hall.

Timeline - 1774: The Quebec Act• Parliament also passes the Quebec Act. This extends Canada

into the Great Lakes region, almost to the Ohio River. It guarantees the free practice of Catholicism in this area. It does not guarantee

• trials by jury or • representative government.• In short, British • officials show the cultural • and political sensitivity to • the French Canadians that • they were unable to show • their more British colonial • subjects.

Timeline 1774: Colonial Response

• Colonists react in various degrees of solidarity with Boston. Food is shipped and the Committees of Correspondence circulate accounts of Boston’s suffering.

• The First Continental Congress is called. Members include John Adams, Samuel Adams, Roger Sherman, John Jay, Philip Livingston, John Dickinson, Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry and George Washington. The Congress adopts three measures:

• American colonies will boycott British goods.• If the Intolerable Acts are not lifted by September 1775, the

colonies would cease exporting goods to Great Britain (and the West Indies if they failed to agree with non-importation.

• A second Congress will meet in May 1775 if the Acts are not lifted.

Timeline – 1775: Concord• On April 19th, British soldiers under General Thomas Gage

leave Boston to seize Colonial arms and leaders. • At Lexington, Colonial militia meet the British troops.• A shot is fired, no one knows by whom. Eight militiamen

are killed and ten are wounded.• Many more militia gather at Concord. At North Bridge,

colonial militia force the British troops back. During the retreat, many more British troops than militia are killed.

Timeline - 1775• The Continental Congress reconvenes and selects

George Washington to command the Continental Army (such as it is) outside Boston.

Timeline – 1775: First moves• King George elects to send Hessian mercenaries to America. This

outrages Americans who prefer to see events as a struggle over British rights. Bringing in German mercenaries seems to set the stakes high.

• Before Washington arrives in Boston, Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen seize Ft. Ticonderoga in New York.

• The British in Boston launch an• attack at well dug-in American • forces on Breed’s Hill • (mistakenly identified as • Bunker Hill). They seize the hill• but suffer shocking casualties.

Timeline 1775: The Last Chance

• July, the Congress sends the “Olive Branch Petition” to King George, hoping to avert all-out war, which would force the Congress to choose between independence and death for treason.

• August, King George rejects the Olive Branch Petition and declares the Congress and the Continental Army to be traitors, liable for execution.

• October, Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold launch a two-pronged, and ill-fated invasion of Canada. Montgomery dies outside Quebec in December and Arnold barely makes it back to New York with a fraction of his men.

Timeline – 1776: The Break• The British seize and burn the town of Norfolk, Virginia.• Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense. He lays out

the rational cause for America to wrest its independence from Britain. It powerfully

• sways public opinion • towards independence.

Timeline – July, 1776• July 2, the Continental Congress votes for independence.• July 4, the Congress adopts Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of

Independence as a joint statement of political unity.