1. On the Road to Revolution
Colonial Resistance
On the Road to Revolution

2. Raising Revenue
After repealing the Stamp Act, Parliament had to raise revenue
Finance Minister Charles Townshend proposes multi-part plan
Townshend Acts
Suspend New York assembly until New Yorkers agreed to house troops
Placed duties on various imported goods
Townshend believed that these taxes on goods would anger the colonists less than a direct tax like the Stamp Act

3. Enforcement of the Acts
Writs of assistance were used to search homes and businesses for smuggled goods
Samuel Adams’ Sons of Liberty urged colonists to resist British goods
Protests were assembled to emphasize displeasure in the colonies
British soldiers were sent to colonial cities to enforce British law & protect customs officials
Standing armies in the colonies became the norm

4. Boston Massacre & its Fallout
Protest turned into a mob riot outside customs house on Kings St. in Boston
5 people die after shots fired by soldiers
The Sons of Liberty call them martyrs for freedom
Including Crispus Attucks
Colonists use the event as propaganda to gain support from other colonies against the British
Soldiers did receive a fair trial and were acquitted

5. Colonial Dissent Over Tea
Tea was popular but was smuggled
Parliament pass Tea Act
Colonists disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians and dumped 342 chests of tea in Boston Harbor
The colonists intent was to destroy British property in an effort to show Britain how strongly they opposed taxation without representation

6. Intolerable Actions
British government sought to punish the colonists for Boston Tea Party
British called the Coercive Acts
Colonists call them Intolerable Acts
Laws not received well in colonies
Closed port of Boston until pay for the tea
Banned committees of correspondence
Allowed Brits to house troops wherever needed
British officials accused of crimes in the colonies would stand trial in Britain
Parliament appointed a military General as Governor of Mass. to enforce the acts

7. Response to “Intolerable” Acts
All colonies except Georgia meet as the 1st Continental Congress
Massachusetts
John Adams
Virginia
Patrick Henry
Outspoken defenders of colonial rights (quoted above)
George Washington
Debate & reject a plan to compromise & reconcile with Great Britain
“The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, & New Englanders are no more…I am not a Virginian, but an American.”

8. Decisions of the Congress
Draft petition of grievances to repeal all laws since 1763
Laws violated “natural rights”
Vote to boycott British goods & ban all trade with Britain until Intolerable Acts are repealed
Prepared decision to form militias in the area
Parliament considers the colonists in Spring 1775
King rejects reconciliation & vote to send more troops to the colonies

9. Colonists Use Committee of Correspondence
April 18, 1775 –
700 troops sent to Boston
Used riders to send messages from town to town
Wentworth Cheswell
Troops goal was to capture colonial leaders (John Hancock & Sam Adams) & Concord, MA
Boston used the committee & get word of Boston invasion beforehand

10. The Midnight Riders
Boston Committee of Correspondence sent riders to warn colonists of British invasion
Paul Revere
William Dawes

11. Lexington & Concord
British tried to seize colonists’ arms & ammunition
Minutemen boasted they could be a moment’s notice
The colonial militia drove the British back to Boston
Fighting signaled the start of the American Revolution