Colonial Resistance and Rebellion

Objectives  Trace the mounting tensions between England and the American Colonies prior to the Revolutionary War

Review  Plantations in the South (rural)  Commerce in the North (large cities)  Enlightenment- intellectual movement  Great Awakening – Religious revival  French and Indian War (See ya France!)

Results of the French and Indian War  Colonists realize the British aren’t as powerful as previously thought  Great Britain’s national debt nearly doubled during the French and Indian War  British wouldn’t allow Colonists to expand west of the Appalachian Mountains (Proclamation 1763)  Taxes on the colonists are coming…

Colonies Organize to resist Great Britain  King George III wanted to lower national debt  Parliament will create laws and Acts to tax the colonies to pay back debts  “No taxation without representation!”

Sugar Act  Established in 1764  set up to stop colonists from Smuggling molasses  Did 3 things  Halved the duty on foreign-made molasses  Taxed certain imports that were not previously  Stated that those violating the Act would be tried by a single judge and not a jury of sympathetic colonists

Stamp Act  Established in 1765  Imposed a tax on written and printed documents (newspapers, wills, and playing cards)  A stamp placed on the item stating a tax was paid  Sons of Liberty formed to oppose the law  Boycott works and Parliament repeals law

Declaratory Act (1765)  Same day the Stamp Act was repealed  Bound the colonies and people of America  Parliament had control but no representation from the colonies

Townshend Act (1767)  Taxed goods shipped from Britain to the colonies  Lead, glass, paint, paper, and the colonies favorite drink (tea)  Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty Boycott British goods

Tension mounts in Massachusetts  Atmosphere in Boston grows more and more tense with the passage of Acts  March 5, 1770 a mob gathers in front of British soldiers to taunt them and throw rocks  British fire on the mob killing five. Colonist refer to the incident as the Boston Massacre

Boston Tea Party (1773)  Colonial merchants cut out of the Tea market to save the East India Company  Known as the Tea Act  People of Boston rebel by dressing as Native Americans to dump 18,000 pounds of tea in the Harbor

Intolerable Acts  King George III, furious with the Boston Tea Party, gets Parliament to pass several Acts against the colonies (1774)  Shut down the Boston Harbor  Quartered troops in vacant homes and other buildings  Placed Boston under Martial Law

Colonists Respond  First Continental Congress is put together  56 members met in Philadelphia to write a declaration of colonial rights (1774)  Colonies given the right to run their own affairs  Fight back if the British use force

Timeline  Create a timeline indicating the events and Acts leading up to the Revolutionary War  Be sure to include a written description of each event  There needs to be at least three drawn images (choose three events)  Include: Proclamation Act, Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Declaratory Act, Townshend Act, Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, Intolerable Acts, declaration of colonial rights