1. Path to Revolution

2. British Action: Proclamation of 1763  Prohibited settlement in area beyond the Appalachians  Not designed to oppress colonists, but work out Indian problem fairly  Prevent uprisings like Pontiac’s rebellion

3. Colonist Reaction: Resentment & failure to comply  Land beyond mountains their birthright  Purchased it with their blood in recent war  In defiance  moved west  1000 wagons on their way west

4. British Action: Sugar Act  Sugar Act: First law ever passed for raising tax revenue in colonies for the crown  Increased the duty on foreign sugar imported from the West Indies  Passed b/c of British debt incurred defending the American colonies

5. Colonial Reaction: Boston Experimented with Boycotts  Boycotts, smuggled sugar, meet to protest tax  Rationale: No taxation without representation  Colonists distinguish between legislation and taxation  Parliament has the right to legislate about matters affecting entire empire  Have no right to impose taxes on Americans b/c no Americans seated on Parliament

6. British Action: Currency Act  Regulated paper money issued by the colonies of British America  Sought to protect British merchants and creditors from being paid in depreciated colonial currency

7. Colonial Reaction: Smoldering Resentment  Defined: Created financial difficulties in the colonies  Rationale: gold and silver were in short supply  Colonists lobbied for repeal of the act

8. British Action: Stamp Act  Defined: Stamp Act: mandated the use of stamped paper or the affixing of stamps, which certified payment of tax  Stamps required on bills of sale, commercial and legal documents (playing cards, pamphlets, newspapers, diplomas, marriage licenses)  Rationale: To raise revenues to support new military force  Asking Americans to pay a fair share of the costs for their own defense

9. Colonial Reaction: Petitions, Boycott, Violence  Defined: colonists angrily aroused at what they regarded as Grenville’s fiscal aggression  Rationale: Jeopardizing basic rights of the colonists as Englishmen  No taxation without representation  Sons of Liberty & Daughters of Liberty: patriotic mobs

10. British Action: Repeal of Stamp Act and passage of Declaratory Act  British withdrew the Stamp Act  due to American protest and the damage to British trade  Declaratory Act- reaffirmed Parliament’s right to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever  Would not yield absolute and unqualified sovereignty over North American Colonies; reasserting dominance

11. Colonial Reaction: Rejoicing over Repeal; Ignoring Declaratory Act  Rejoicing over Repeal: built a statue of King George III  Colonists believed they were successful  Ignored Declaratory Act: did not think they were subject to Parliament  Made it clear that they wanted a measure of sovereignty of their own  Would take drastic action to secure it

12. British Action: Townshend duties  Townshend Acts- light duty on glass, white lead, paper, paint and tea; indirect customs duty payable at American Port  Townshend was promising control over the colonies  Money to be used to pay salaries of royal governors & judges in America

13. Colonial Reaction: Boycotts, Petitions, Newspaper Attacks  Colonists in rebellious mood due to recent victory over the stamp tax  Didn’t tax the tax seriously  Began to smuggle tea  Boston Massacre- crowd of 60 colonists set upon redcoats; troops opened fire and killed or wounded 11 colonists

14. British Action: Tea Act  British East India Company would be able to sell tea leaves at a cheaper price than ever before; gave complete monopoly of American tea business  Rationale: To prevent the British East India Company from collapsing & as a result losing tax revenue  Convince colonists to purchase company tea as opposed to smuggled tea

15. Colonist Reaction: Protest, Boston Tea Party  Rationale: Colonists saw this as an attempt to trick the colonists to accept the detested tax with the bait of cheaper tea  Colonists protested the tea: forced tea-bearing ships to return to England with their cargo  Ships ordered not to leave Boston Harbor until cargo unloaded:  Group of Bostonians disguised as Native Americans boarded the ships and dumped their contents into the harbor

17. British Action: Quartering Act, 1774  Quartering Act: Provided colonists to provide housing for soldiers; allowed a governor to house soldiers in other buildings if suitable quarters were not provided  More effective method of housing British troops in America; for colonists’ safety

18. Colonial Reaction: Protest in Assemblies  Refused to house the British; caused tension  Assemblies refused to pay amount requested for troops  Rationale: fear of standing army, cost of expenses for an army

19. British Action: Coercive/Intolerable Acts  Series of acts designed to chastise Massachusetts (Boston)  Rights of colonial Massachusetts were swept away  Passed in response to the Boston Tea Party

20. Colonial Reaction: Boycott, Convening of First Continental Congress  British punishment was brutal and seemed far too cruel for the crime  Continental Congress in Philadelphia: met to consider ways of redressing colonial grievances  Drew up Declaration of Rights & appeals to British and king  The Association called for complete boycott of British goods: nonimportation, nonexportation, nonconsumption

21. British Action: Lexington and Concord  British send troops to Lexington and Concord  Colonial Minute Men refused to disperse and shots were fired that killed 8 Americans and wounded several more  “Lexington Massacre”  Rationale: to seize stores of colonial gunpowder & capture rebel ringleaders

22. Colonial Reaction: “Common Sense”  One of the most influential pamphlets ever written  Paine put forth: why should the tiny island of Great Britain control the vast continent of America?  Rationale: colonial unity was poor, open rebellion was dangerous, Paine thought colonists up to this point were behaving contrary to common sense