Section 5.2: The Townshend Acts

1. Section 5.2:The Townshend Acts

2. Charles Townshend was appointed minister of finance for Great Britain • Townshend was responsible for a new set of tax laws Townshend Acts • Townshend Acts were passed in 1767 • Reduced the colonists’ freedom to govern themselves • New taxes were placed on many items important to the colonists • The colonists agreed to boycott British goods • It also caused serious problems for the colonial merchants • Many people lost their jobs in American ports where trade was important

3. Sons of Liberty • Boston, the largest city in New England, soon became the center of action against this new British taxation policy • Samuel Adams, a member of the Massachusetts legislature, organized town meeting in Boston • A group called the Sons of Liberty, set up in 1765 to protest the Stamp Act, took charge of Boston • Great Britain sent extra regiments of troops to Boston to protect tax collectors

4. Boston Massacre • One evening early in March of 1770, a crowd gathered near a group of British soldiers • The crowd began throwing stones and snowballs at the soldiers • Soldiers then fired a round of shots into the crowd • The first to fall in the Boston Massacre was a free African named Crispus Attucks

5. The people of Boston demanded that the British soldiers be removed from the city • The governor of Massachusetts agreed to remove the soldiers to prevent more trouble • All the Townshend taxes were repealed except for the tax on tea

6. Colonists Organize and Protest • The colonists steadily lost much of their early freedom • Samuel Adams encouraged the leaders of cities to meet and talk about what to do about British • The committees wrote strong statements of American rights and complaints • This helped to bring the colonists together in opposing their common enemy, the British • Neither King George III nor Parliament took the colonists seriously; the king looked upon the colonies as weak

7. 1.) Charles Townshend 2.) Samuel Adams 3.) Boston Massacre 4.) George III 5.) Crispus Attucks a.) killed in Boston Massacre b.) minister of finance for Great Britain c.) British soldiers shot into a crowd of colonists d.) Great Britain’s king e.) led protests in Boston 5.2 PowerPoint Questions