The Road to the Revolution

1. The Road to the Revolution Why did the colonists rebel?

2. French and Indian War • Two sides • Britain and the colonies vs. • France and many Indian tribes including the Iroquois • Fought over land in the Ohio River Valley and domination of overseas trade (fur, sugar, etc.) • Results: • Britain and the colonies nearly lost until British Secretary of State William Pitt poured money and troops into the war • won land in Ohio River Valley • Britain was 147 million in debt, would need to tax colonies to make up debt • Colonies felt stronger after defeating the French

3. British Colonies before and after the French and Indian War

4. 1763 Pontiac’s Rebellion • Indians had lost French and Indian War, colonists were settling on their land and discontinued French practice of giving annual gifts. • A group of Indian tribes, led by Pontiac, attacked colonists, killing many and destroying British forts. • Failed to take Fort Detroit and Fort Pitt (ran out of supplies and ammunition) • Result: colonists now had military control of Indian lands in the west

5. Pontiac’s Rebellion

6. Proclamation of 1763 • British barred colonial settlement east of the Appalachian Mountains because protecting the colonists was getting expensive. • Colonial reaction: angry because they had fought and died for this land in the Fr-Ind War and Pontiac’s Rebellion- it took away their god-given right/destiny to expand.

7. British Proclamation Line of 1763

8. Sugar Act of 1764 • Lowered the tax on sugar from 6 pence to 3 pence but Britain began to enforce the tax. • Now colonists had to pay the tax whereas before they had ignored it. • Hurt colonial merchants and rum distillers who had been smuggling sugar from French and Spanish colonies. • Colonists saw it as an unfair tax, British felt the colonists needed to pay their fair share.

10. Stamp Act of 1765 • British taxed paper documents (playing cards, contracts, letters, newspapers) • Colonists revolted- • Created Stamp Act Congress to discuss their options (united the upper classes) • Staged Stamp Act Riots protesting the tax (attacked property, threatened stamp distributors, hung people in effigy)- united lower classes British response • British response- Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 1766

11. Stamp Act Protest from Above & Below Patrick Henry's speech on the Virginia Resolves (an 1851 painting by Peter F. Rothermel) Cartoon of a Stamp Act Riot

12. Declaratory Act of 1766 • Parliament declares their full power and authority to make laws that are binding in the colonies.

13. Townshend Acts of 1767 • Tax on lead, glass, paint/dyes and tea • Created writs of assistance- allowed British troops to search colonial homes to make sure people paid the tax. • Colonists were angered over invasion of privacy rights. • Boycotts involving “Daughters of Liberty” • Spinning bees- women’s contribution to boycotts

14. Colonial Women Spinning Source: http://romancereaderatheart.com/colonial/timeline/spinningwheellrg.jpg Source: http://www.nwhm.org/images/Industry/woman%20spinning.jpg

15. Quartering Acts of 1765 • Colonists were required to provide food and housing to British soldiers sent to enforce taxes/laws in the colonies. • Angered at loss of privacy, right to be secure in their homes • New York Assembly refused to comply • Parliament suspended the Assembly • Colonists saw it as an attack on their right to rule themselves

16. Boston Massacre-March 1770 • General Thomas Gage sent British troops to Boston in 1768 to quell colonial rebellion. • Colonists harassed British troops, moonlighting troops fought with mainly Irish dockworkers over jobs, pub brawls • March 5 curfew broken when Sons of Liberty rang fire bells. • People out in streets saying, “Fire, fire…”

17. Henry Pelham’s engraving of the Boston Massacre

18. Paul Revere’s Engraving of the Boston Massacre

19. Boston Massacre • One crowd surrounded sentry Hugh White who was guarding the Customs House (tax collection building)

20. Committees of Correspondence 1772 • Led by Samuel Adams, 21 members • Formed to keep colonists and the world informed about violations of the colonist’s rights by the British • British saw it as ungrateful rebellion • It was propaganda (trying to convince people that the colonists were justified) • Colonists would see it as a peaceful exercise of free speech

21. Boston Tea Party Dec. 1773 • Protested Tea Act of 1773, which excused British East India Company from paying taxes on tea (lowered the price of tea) • Colonists felt it gave the BEIC a monopoly • Colonists dressed as Indians poured tea into Boston harbor • British saw it as an attack on property • Colonists saw it as a legitimate form of protest

22. Source: http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=96175&rendTypeId=4

23. 1774 Intolerable (Coercive) Acts • Punished Boston and MA. for the tea party & strengthened British control over colonies • Closed the Port of Boston • Revoked the MA. Charter and forbade town meetings without Governor’s consent (took away their right to govern themselves) • British officials charged with crimes in Boston would be tried elsewhere • Renewed the Quartering Act • Colonists saw it as an attack on their freedoms to self govern and trade freely, & an effort to create unfair trials. • British saw it as a way of maintaining order and punishing the colonists for destruction of property.

24. Quebec Act 1774 • Extended Quebec’s boundary south to OH River (land claimed by CT, MA, VA) • Gave religious freedom to Catholics in former New France

25. First Continental Congress 1774 • All colonies except Georgia attended • To discuss their grievances and consider their options • Some for independence, some wanted to remain British colonies • Created a Declaration of Resolves that expressed loyalty to Britain but also declared their rights as British subjects • Called for a ban on trade with Britain • King George III saw it as “a State of Rebellion, blows must decide whether they are to be… independent.”

26. Battle of Lexington and Concord • April 1775, 1st battle of the Revolution • British troops left Boston • Paul Revere’s ride… 70 minutemen met the British soldiers at Lexington village green • “Shot heard round the world” fired (who?) • Firing from British- 8 colonists dead, 10 wounded • Brits marched to Concord, destroyed supplies • On way back to Boston attacked from behind stone walls • Pats: <100 casualties, Brits: 273 killed/wounded

27. Second Continental Congress 1775 • Met in Philadelphia • Radicals pushed to declare independence • Others urged restraint • Had to establish army- led by George Washington

28. Dunmore’s Proclamation 1775 • Offered freedom to slaves who fought for Britain

29. Prohibitory Act 1775 • Prohibited trade in the colonies • British blockaded the colonies, in an attempt to hurt their economy • Would seize any ship that attempted to trade with the colonies

30. Common Sense January 1776 • By Thomas Paine, one of the radical patriots • Argued for independence

31. Declaration of Independence • July 4, 1776 • By Thomas Jefferson • Declared independence from Britain • Still needed to win the war

32. The Peoples of Eastern North America in 1776 Source: Gary Nash. (lecture on book) The Urban Crucible. Newberry Library, Chicago. September or October 2005.