1. American Revolution

2. French and Indian War Caused by competition over the “Ohio Country”
British victory after nine hard-fought years
French mostly evicted from North America

3. Pontiac’s Rebellion American Colonists migrating to the Ohio Country
Chief Pontiac leads a rebellion against British authority
Ends in Proclamation of 1763
Colonial American reaction?

4. Stamp Act
Parliament wants the American colonists to pay the costs for their defense
Stamp Act passed: mostly legal documents, dice, cards and newspapers taxed
Colonial American Reaction?

5. Townshend Acts, 1767 Stamp Act Repealed
Parliament passes new taxes on consumer goods: paper, glass, paint, tools, tea, etc.
Colonial Resistance: Boycotts, Sons of Liberty
What changed? Salutary Neglect?

6. Boston Massacre, 1770 British soldiers sent to Boston
Massacre, or riot?

7. Boston Tea Party, 1773
Parliament repeals all taxes: except the one on tea
British East India Company has a monopoly, sends tea to the colonies at a very affordable price.
Reaction?

8. Reaction to the Reaction: “The Intolerable Acts” or “Coercive Acts,” 1774
Parliament responds to destruction of property and mob action
The Port Act: closes the Port of Boston until the British East India Company is paid for the lost tea
Quartering Act: Forced Boston to pay for room and board for British troops, even up to the point of quartering them in private homes
Massachusetts Governing Act: Revoked the charter of Massachusetts colony, direct rule by Royal Governor
The Administration of Justice Act: Some important trials could be moved to Britain
The Quebec Act: Placed additional territory in the British colony of Quebec, and recognized French forms of government and the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec
British Redcoats
Quebec Act

9. Responses to the Coercive Acts
First Contintental Congress met in Philadelphia (12 out of 13 colonies respresented) to form a united response to perceived British tyranny
Continental Congress petitions the king for a “redress of grievances” and agrees to meet in the future
Committees of Correspondence formed to spread information and encourage communication between colonies
Organized responses such as boycotts
Continued mob violence
Carpenter Hall, Philadelphia

10. Second Continental Congress, 1775-1776
Philadelphia, again
Strategy: ask for peace, prepare for war
“Olive Branch Petition” sent to King George III declaring the American colonies to be loyal subjects of the king, asking for a peaceful resolution
A Continental Army is formed (mostly of citizen militia) appointing George Washington, Gentleman Planter of Virginia, as Commander- in-Chief
King George says “no” to peace, condemns his colonial American subjects as rebels
Independence Hall, Philadelphia

11. Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill, 1775
The American subjects of King George III are shooting at his soldiers now
“The British are Coming.” Riders warn the people of Lexington that the British are coming for their guns and ammunition.
The citizen of militia of Lexington are routed by British regulars, BUT…
The British army is bloodied by guerilla attacks by citizen militia all the way from the town of Concord to Boston
Pitched battle fought at Boston. The British take the city by storming heavily fortified Breed’s Hill, but pay a very heavy price in dead and wounded (called Battle of Bunker Hill).
British troops attack uphill against heavily fortified American positions in the Battle of Bunker Hill, 1775

12. The Road to Independence
Thomas Paine’s pamphlet, Common Sense was published in January of 1776
Using everyday, accessible language, Paine used Enlightenment arguments for a nation independent from Great Britain
The pamphlet was very popular, selling 500,000 copies within two years, also passed from friend to friend and re-read
Thomas Paine, English immigrant and radical revolutionary

13. A divided country
The idea of American independence spread quickly, those who supported it called themselves Patriots
Those who opposed American independence and supported the King were called Tories, or Loyalists
American society split: Patriot, Tory and “fence-sitter”