1. Ch 5 “Road to Independence”

2. Proclamation of 1763
Prohibited colonist from moving west of the Appalachian Mountains
Colonist saw it as a limit on their freedom

3. Revenue French and Indian war left Britain with a huge debt.
They decide to charge the colonists
How?
TAXES

4. Trade Laws
writs of assistance, 1763 – legal documents allowed customs officers to search any location for smuggled goods
Sugar Act: Placed a tax on sugar, molasses, and other products shipped to the colonies.
Stamp Act: Required all legal and commercial documents to carry an official stamp showing that a tax had been paid.

5. Colonist Begin to Protest
Colonist merchants began a boycott of British goods.
Patrick Henry persuading burgesses to take action.
“give me liberty or give me death”
Secret societies began to form:
Sons of Liberty - Many were lawyers, merchants, and craftspeople - those most affected by the Stamp Act, leader Samuel Adams
Burned effigies (rag figures), raided/destroyed royal official homes

6. Declaratory Act Due to protests, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act
Parliament then passes the Declaration Act – 1766, giving Britain supreme authority to govern the colonies.

7. More British Actions
Townshend Acts: Placed taxes on goods such as glass, paper, paint, lead, and tea.
Colonist saw the Townshend Acts as a serious threat to their rights and freedoms.

8. Tools of Protest
To protest the Townshend Acts, colonists brought back the boycott of British goods.
Even more widespread
Daughters of Liberty called on colonists to weave their own cloth and use American products.

9. Vocabulary: revenue writs of assistance resolution effigy boycott
nonimportation
repeal
making money
legal documents allowing officers to enter & search any location for smuggled goods
a formal expression of opinion
rag figures
to refuse to buy
not to buy or use goods imported from Great Britain
to cancel

10. Questions:
State two reasons for the deterioration of relations between the British and the colonists.
Why did the colonists think the writs of assistance violated their rights?
Why did British policies following the French and Indian War lead to increased tensions with American colonists?

11. The Boston Massacre
On March 5, 1770, a group of youth and dock workers - including Crispus Attucks started trading insults in front of the Custom House. A fight broke out, and the soldiers began firing. Attucks and four laborers were killed. Crispus Attucks became the first man to die in the Revolutionary War.
Sons of Liberty called the shooting the Boston Massacre.

12. The Tea Act
Colonist were unaware that on the day of the Boston Massacre, Parliament proposed a repeal of the Townshend Acts. This eased the crisis for most Americans at the time.
In 1773, Parliament opened an old wound by passing the Tea Act.
The Tea Act gave the British East India Company control over the American tea trade.

13. The Tea Act Continued.
The Tea Act caused protests all over the colonies.
In Charleston SC, colonist unloaded tea and let it rot on the docks.
In NY and PA, they forced tea ships to turn back.
In Boston, the Sons of Liberty organized what is known as the Boston Tea Party.

14. Boston Tea Party
December 16, 1773, a group of men disguised as Indians boarded three tea ships and destroyed 342 chests of tea.
Many colonist rejoiced about the tea party, and thought it would show Britain how much they opposed taxation without representation.

15. Boston Tea Party
King George III said, “We must master them or totally leave them alone.”
Britain decided to “Master” the colonies and passed a series of laws to punish the colonists.

16. The Intolerable Acts
British called these new laws the Coercive Acts, but they were so harsh that the colonist called them the Intolerable Acts.
Closed the port of Boston until tea paid for
Banning of town meeting
Quartering Act: required colonists to house soldiers in their homes and provide them with supplies
Royal offers to stand trial in other colonies or Britain

17. Vocabulary: propaganda committee of correspondence
information designed to influence opinion
an organization used in earlier protests that circulated writing about colonists’ grievances against Britian

18. Questions:
How did colonial leaders use the Boston Massacre to their advantage?
Why were the committees of correspondence powerful organizations?
Do you think the Tea Party was a turning point in the relationship between the British and the colonists? Explain.

19. First Continental Congress
In September 1774, delegates from all colonies except Georgia met in Philadelphia.
Statement of grievances
Boycott of all British goods and trade
Training of troops (militia)

20. The First Battles
The colonists expected fighting to break out against the British.
Britain sent several thousand more troops.
Sir Thomas Gage had instructions to take away the weapons of the MA militia and arrest its leaders.

21. The Midnight Ride
Regiment spotted in Boston Common marching out of the city.
Paul Revere and William Dawes were warned.
They rode to Lexington to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock.
As Revere rode, he shouted, “the regulars are out!” to the people and houses

22. Lexington April 19, 1775, British troops reached Lexington.
They found Captain John Parker and about 70 minutemen waiting.
Colonists told to throw down their weapons, NOT!
A shot was fired, but one knows who fired first.
Within a few minutes, 8 minutemen lay dead.

23. On to Concord The British continued their marched to Concord.
Now back to Boston where about 4,000 Minutemen lined the road.
They militia fired on the Redcoats until they reached Boston where 73 British were dead, 174 wounded or missing.
49 Colonist dead, 41 wounded.
Ralph Waldo Emerson later wrote that colonial troops had fired the “shot heard ‘round the world.”

24. More military action Benedict Arnold Ethan Allen
Raising a force to seize Fort Ticonderoga
Strategic location and rich in military supplies
Ethan Allen
Also preparing to attack fort
Merged forces and renamed the Green Mountain Boys
Caught British by surprise
British surrendered May 10, 1775

25. The Battle of Bunker Hill
June 16, 1775 – Colonel William Prescott
Attacked by British 3 times with success
On 4th attack, American ran out of gunpowder and had to withdraw
British won battle but still suffered heavy losses
More than 1,000 dead
Admitted defeating Americans on battlefield would not be quick or easy

26. Choosing Sides
As colonists heard about battles, they had to make a decision:
Loyalists chose to stay with Britain and did not consider unfair taxes and regulations good reasons for rebellion.
Patriots were the rebels who were determined to fight the British to the end.

27. Vocabulary: militia minutemen loyalist patriots
groups of citizen soldiers
companies of militia who boasted they could be ready to fight on a minutes’ notice
colonists who would stay with Britain
rebel colonists determined to fight the British

28. Questions What decisions were made by the first Continental Congress?
Why did the Continental Congress pass a resolution to form militias?
What reasons might loyalists have had to support Great Britain?

29. Second Continental Congress
On May 10, 1775 the Second Continental Congress began meeting in Philadelphia.
Chose John Hancock as president
Began governing colonies
Authorized printing of money
First post office with Benjamin Franklin in charge
Continental Army created & chose George Washington as the commanding General.

30. Last Hope for Peace
In July 1775, Congress drafted the Olive Branch Petition.
It asked George III to protect the colonists rights.
King George III rejected and announced new measures to punish the colonists by:
Blocking American ports
Hiring thousands of German troops

31. Common Sense 1776, by Thomas Paine
Pamphlet calling for American Independence.
Called George III “the Royal Brute.”
Inspired thousands of Americans

32. Decision Time
May 1776, congress passed resolution allowing all 13 colonies to establish its own government.
June 7, Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution calling for “free and independent states”
Congress debated the resolution but did not vote. They appointed a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence.

33. Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson led the committee with assistance from Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston were the appointed committee.
July 2, Congress passed Lee’s resolution for independence.
July 4, Congress signed Declaration of Independence.

34. Some humor to the changes. . .
John Hancock was the first to sign.
He said he signed his name large enough so that King George could see it without his glasses

35. Five Parts of the Declaration of Independence
Preamble:
states the reasons for forming a new country
Rights of the People:
Per John Locke’s influence who states that people are born with certain natural rights
“Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”

36. Complaints against Britain – taxation without representation, cutting off trade.
Actions taken to avoid Declaration – petitions for redress.
Proclaims the existence of a new nation – their Declaration of Independence.

37. Vocabulary:
petition
preamble
a formal request
an introduction

38. Questions:
What was King George III’s response to the Olive Branch Petition?
Why was the second Continental Congress more like a government that the First Continental Congress?
What are the “unalienable rights” to which Jefferson refers? Give examples.