Chapter 5: Toward Revolution: What eventually led to the Declaration of Independence and the beginning of the Revolution

1. Chapter 5: Toward Revolution:What eventually led to the Declaration of Independence and the beginning of the Revolutionary War? 1763-1775 AFTER the French and Indian War (Seven Years’ War in Europe)

2. French and Indian War • Britain helped colonists defeat French in war • Britain needed money to pay for war expenses • Taxed colonists, restricted settlements and limited self-govt.

3. Revenue Act (Sugar Act) 1764 • Revenue Act of 1764 • (Sugar Act) • April 5, 1764 • Revised duties on sugar, tea, coffee, wine; expanded jurisdiction of some courts. • Protests about taxation

4. Stamp Act of 1765 • Stamp Act • March 22, 1765 thru March 18, 1766 • Documents must contain a revenue stamp to be legal. • All deeds, wills, marriage licenses, even newspapers affected.

5. Quartering Act of 1765 • Quartering Act • March 24, 1765 • British troops must be given housing on demand from colonists. • New York Assembly is punished for not complying. The king could not house troops in subjects homes in England, but permitted to do so in the colonies.

6. Declaratory Act of 1766 • Declaratory Act • March 18, 1766 • Parliament declares sovereignty over colonies in all cases. • Enacted on the same day that Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, this was merely positioning so that England would not lose face for giving in to the colonies.

7. Townshend Acts • Townshend Acts • June 26, 29, July 2, 1767; repealed April 12, 1770 (some texts list a March date. This is wrong) except for tax on tea. • Includes duties on new items including tea, glass and other goods available in the Western Hemisphere

8. Patrick Henry’s speech • Sons and Daughters of Liberty • Benjamin Franklin’s visit to Parliament • Boston Massacre Various protests:

9. The Boston Massacre

10. Tea Act of 1773 • May 10, 1773 • The British East India Tea Company (near bankruptcy) granted sole right to sell tea directly to Americans; some duties on tea reduced • Tea was a popular drink throughout the colonies. Since 1770, tensions reduced between the countries, but the Tea Act indicated resumptio of tensions. • Committees of Correspondence denounced the plan • Endangered colonial representative government • Dec. 16, 1773, Boston Tea Party

11. Boston Tea Party • Lower price on British tea • Colonists still pay taxes • Boycotted British tea • Sons of Liberty dressed in disguise and dumped British tea overboard

12. Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts) 1774 • March-June, 1774 1. Boston Port Bill 2. Massachusetts Government Act (May 20) 3. Quebec Act (May 20) 4. Quartering Act (updated and extended to include public buildings)

13. Boston Port Bill • Boston Port Bill (June 1), The Royal Navy blockades the Boston Harbor so no colonial goods could be sent out until tea was paid for.

14. Massachusetts Government Act • Massachusetts Government Act (May 20) Revoked Mass colonial charter • The King assigned British General Gage to be Massachusetts governor. • restructured Mass. Government = less democratic • Banned holding of more than one town meeting per year

15. Quebec Act • Re-established Canadian borders. • Re-drew the qualifications for officeholders. • British colonists objected to pro-French Canadian, pro-Catholic legislation.

16. Net Effect of the Intolerable Acts • These convinced people in all the colonies that the British were out to destroy representative government and civil liberties in America. • Virginia rallied to side with Mass. • Convening of first Continental Congress (September, 1774)

17. First Continental Congress • All colonies except Georgia sent delegates to Philadelphia, Sept. 1774. • Suffolk Resolves: advised colonials to arm themselves against attacks by royal troops

18. British General Gage learns of hidden weapons in Concord • Two lanterns hung in church tower to warn the British coming by “sea” (Charles River) • Paul Revere and William Dawes make midnight ride to warn Minutemen of approaching British soldiers Conflict at Lexington and Concord

19. “Shot heard round the world” Lexington Concord 250 British casualties vs. less than 100 colonists’ casualties Where muskets of militia members were believed to be stored Paul Revere and William Dawes April 18, 1775 April 19, 1775 Redcoats The Revolution Begins

20. Second Continental Congress Representatives brought money to help establish the… Continental Army (i.e. pay soldiers, buy guns, bullets, food, and uniforms

21. The Olive Branch Petition Most colonial delegates still hoped for reconciliation and offered the Olive Branch Petition to George III Olive Branch Petition: • Cease fire at Boston • Repeal of the Coercive Acts • Negotiations to establish American Rights British ignored this and declared colonists in rebellion Dec. 1775

22. Thomas Paine: Common Sense (1776) • Paine's political pamphlet brought the rising revolutionary sentiment into sharp focus by placing blame for the suffering of the colonies directly on the reigning British monarch, George III. First and foremost, Common Sense advocated an immediate declaration of independence, postulating a special moral obligation of America to the rest of the world. Not long after publication, the spirit of Paine's argument found resonance in the American Declaration of Independence. (www.earlyamerica.com)

23. Who was involved? • Benjamin Franklin • John Adams • Robert R. Livingston • Roger Sherman • Thomas Jefferson