1. THE PATH TO REVOLUTION
A Flowchart of Events Leading to the Revolution

2. Proclamation of 1763: BRITISH RATIONALE: COLONIAL REACTION:
Forbade colonists to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains
BRITISH RATIONALE:
Temporary measure to gain time to devise more permanent solution to conflict between Indians and settlers
Why does it become permanent?
a way to save $, prevent trouble with the Indians and keep colonies subordinate
COLONIAL REACTION:
See this as an attempt To “hem them in” & keep them under British control – will just disobey it
led by…?
Col. Washington: “…to quiet the minds of the Indians”

3. SUGAR ACT 1764 ANOTHER TAX ON SUGAR, BUT TO BE ENFORCED THIS TIME!
George Grenville is new BR Prime Minister:
vowed to end smuggling, corruption, inefficiency
& enforce Navigation Acts
COLONIAL REACTION:
“No taxation without representation!”
Britain has no right to tax for revenue without the colonists having representation in Parliament – put no credence in BR “virtual representation”
BRITISH RATIONALE:
Colonists should be taxed for costs of the empire at a rate comparable to levels of taxation for those in England
“Writs of assistance” authorized for BR officials to enforce
Smuggling trials in BR Admiralty Courts – no juries!

4. CURRENCY ACT: COLONIAL REACTION: BRITISH RATIONALE:
Requires colonists to pay in currency – “gold or silver,” rather than inflated colonial paper currency
COLONIAL REACTION:
Mercantilism had drained colonial resources & created a trade deficit – impossible to pay in gold and silver

5. STAMP ACT 1765
A DIRECT REVENUE TAX - paid directly to the British government rather than being included in the price of goods
Stamps on articles and documents all colonists use (newspapers, licenses, legal documents, playing cards, dice)

6. STAMP ACT: COLONIAL REACTION: BRITISH RATIONALE:
Imposed a tax on the colonists for their own protection (covers cost of BR troops in America)
COLONIAL REACTION:
First unified resistance!
Stamp Act Congress to protest
NYC, 27 delegates from 9 colonies
“No taxation without representation!”
James Otis
Patrick Henry

7. STAMP ACT RESISTANCE! BOYCOTTS!!! Of all BR goods - merchants sign
non-importation agreements
Note: America purchases ¼ of all goods manufactured by BR
BR Sons & Daughters of Liberty
Sam Adams
Cousin John: “When the pot is set to boil, the scum rises to the top.”
STAMP ACT REPEALED 1766
America learns economic boycotts work!

8. REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT; PASSAGE OF DECLARATORY ACT - 1766
BRITISH RATIONALE:
Britain had backed down on a particularly hated tax (BOYCOTTS worked!)
BUT retained the principle of British supremacy
COLONIAL REACTION:
Gleeful at effectiveness of boycott/protest BUT overlooked implications of Declaratory Act
Both done on same day
Declaratory Act: Colonies are subordinate and BR can pass any law it wants to bind the colonies

9. QUARTERING ACT 1765
Required colonists to house & feed British troops sent to American colonies (Boston)

10. BRITISH COLONIAL RATIONALE: REACTION:
An indirect form of taxation since required to house & feed soldiers.
Also questioned British motive in sending troops- foreign enemies had been removed; troops are in large cities
Knew troops were there for colonial control
Simply required colonists to help provide for their own “protection” (from foreign enemies and Indians)

11. TOWNSHEND DUTIES 1767 import duties on tea, paper, glass and paint
BRITISH RATIONALE:
Legitimate right to collect taxes from colonies for the protection they received BUT note - had given in somewhat since this was an indirect tax (which colonists had not complained of prior to 1763)
COLONIAL REACTION:
Now believed even indirect taxes (accepted earlier as a means to control trade in mercantilism) were being used to collect revenue so see this as just another attempt at taxation without representation
Boycotts again
Stimulates colonial manufacturing
MA Circular Letter (Sam Adams)
Pic is Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchecquer
Acts also set up an American Board of Customs
The Massachusetts Circular Letter was a statement written by Sam Adams and passed by the MA House of Reps in February 1768 in response to the Townshend Acts. Adams argued that the Townshend Acts were unconstitutional because the colony of Massachusetts was not represented in Parliament. Adams made it clear that he was not advocating colonial representation in Parliament: because the American colonies were "separated by an ocean of a thousand leagues" from Great Britain, he thought it was impractical for them to be properly represented in Parliament. Instead, Adams argued in favor of the previous arrangement, where the colonies were taxed only by their own provincial assemblies in which they were already represented.
MA General Assembly ordered by BR to revoke the Circular Ltr – they refused to and BR then dissolved it. This led to an outbreak of mob violence from colonists who no longer had any legal way to deal with their grievances. They attacked customs officials, making it impossible for them to perform their duties. In response to the deteriorating situation, Lord Hillsborough sent four regiments of British soldiers to Boston
Didn’t repeal the tax on tea as – “a matter of principle.”
Repealed in 1770, except for tax on tea.

12. Colonial response 1768:
John Dickinson * Letters from a Farmer in PA; seeks colonial unity to resist unfair taxation
2nd non-importation movement: * “Daughters of Liberty” * Spinning bees
Riots against customs agents: * 4000 British troops sent to Boston.
For the first time, colonists began calling those supporting the boycotts “PATRIOTS”
Voices of dissent over Parliament's growing authority upon the colonies in America were heard long before the colonists' actual act of independence.
One of those voices was that of John Dickenson. A preeminent Philadelphia lawyer, Dickenson was elected to the Pennsylvania legislature in 1762 where he was active in protesting British policies. Attending the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, he advocated commercial retaliation. Dickenson's writings entitled Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer were published in newspapers in 1767 and 1768.
Though conciliatory in tone, his Letters made clear that Britain's policies were wrong and deprived the colonies of their lawful rights. Ultimately, Letters from a Farmer urge united action on the part of the colonists.
Dickenson went on to become a member of the Continental Congress, agreeing to the necessity of armed resistance. Later he helped draft the Articles of Confederation, and was an active participant in the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
Dickenson wrote 13 letters in all, published as a pamphlet that went through at least ten editions. His Letters had a significant impact on political thought not only in America but also in England.

13. Troops to Boston

14. BOSTON MASSACRE, 1770 1ST VIOLENCE BETWEEN BRITISH & AMERICANS
5 COLONISTS KILLED
CRISPUS ATTUCKS - first black to die in the American independence movement.
Causes Parliament to repeal Townshend taxes

15. to enforce Stamp Act/prevent smuggling
THE GASPEE
British patrol boat commanded by hated Lt. Dudingston ran aground in Narragansett Bay, Providence, RI
Torched later that night
No one would testify against the alleged culprits
British Crown took over colonial courts - would thereafter pay royal salaries (governors, judges)
Who had paid them before this incident?
Colonists form “committees of correspondence”
HMS Gaspee and her hated commander, Lt. William Dudingston, were sent by King George III to Rhode Island waters in March of 1772 to enforce the Stamp Act and prevent smuggling. They made no friends amongst the colonists in harassing shipping and delaying, often unjustly, ships that had properly passed custom inspection in Newport.
The latter was the case on June 9, 1772, when the packet sloop Hannah left Newport for Providence. When the HMS Gaspee gave chase, Hannah's Captain Lindsey deliberately lured her across the shallows off Namquid Point (now Gaspee Point) and left the British ship hard aground on a sandbar, unable to move until the flood tide of the following day.
Upon arrival in Providence, Captain Lindsey reported the event to John Brown, one of the most prominent and respected merchants in Rhode Island, who sent out a town crier inviting all interested parties to meet at Sabin's Tavern to plan the HMS Gaspee's destruction. Under the leadership of Abraham Whipple, the small band of patriots rowed eight longboats with muffled oars to the stranded ship. Lt. Dudingston and his crew were taken prisoner and removed to Pawtuxet Village.
Near daylight on June 10th, the Rhode Islanders set fire to the HMS Gaspee, burning her to the waterline whereupon her powder magazine exploded. Efforts of the Crown to learn the names of the culprits were unsuccessful, although a sizable reward had been offered. Public sentiment was in accord with the venture; this spirit of unity soon spread to the other colonies with the formation of the Committees of Correspondence to prevent further threats. It was but a short step from here to the First Continental Congress and eventually the Declaration of Independence.
H.M.S. Gaspee
to enforce Stamp Act/prevent smuggling

16. BOSTON TEA PARTY, 1773
Not the only one – several have occurred throughout the colonies
Lord North is now Prime Minister in BR

17. BOSTON TEA PARTY BRITISH RATIONALE: COLONIAL REACTION:
An attempt to save the British East India Trading Co. which had been suffering since repeal of the Townshend duties.
Was actually an attempt to conceal a tax by lowering prices for British tea with reduced transportation costs.
COLONIAL REACTION:
Saw through it - - Even though British tea became cheaper, colonists were still being taxed without representation & hated the dastardly trick! They feared monopoly.
COLONISTS BOYCOTTED & DID NOT ALLOW TEA SHIPS TO UNLOAD IN NY & PHILADELPHIA HARBORS
MA GOV. HUTCHINSON ORDERED NO SHIP COULD LEAVE BOSTON HARBOR WITHOUT UNLOADING.
SAMUEL ADAMS LED “MOHAWKS” IN THROWING 342 CHESTS OF TEA INTO BOSTON HARBOR (worth $75,000!)
Franklin, and many others, opposed to this radical act.

18. INTOLERABLE ACTS, 1774 BRITISH RATIONALE: COLONIAL REACTION:
Viewed these acts as sweeping & unjustified denials of their constitutional liberties
United the colonies in their protest to these Acts
BRITISH RATIONALE:
PASSED BY THE BRITISH TO PUNISH COLONISTS FOR THE PROPERTY LOST IN THE BOSTON TEA PARTY
ALSO KNOWN AS COERCIVE ACTS

19. Intolerable Acts

20. Coercive Acts Quebec Act
As punishment for the Boston tea party:
Closed the port of Boston until..
British troops to be quartered in any private homes in MA
Stripped Massachusetts of all power of self-rule
Extended Quebec S to Ohio River
Allowed FR Canadians use of their own legal system – no jury trial
Recognized legality of R.Catholic Church
Colonists see as last step toward doing away with jury trials & Protestantism in America

21. First Continental Congress, 1774
Peyton Randolph
Patrick Henry
George Washington
Sam Adams
John Adams

22. 1ST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, Sept. 1774
Formed in Philly in response to
Coercive Acts and sought change in British policy:
Suffolk Resolves – called for repeal of Intolerable Acts and resistance by colonies with military preparations and boycotts
Issue “Declaration of Rights and Grievances” urging King to restore colonial rights
Created Continental Association to organize an enforce the boycotts
Planned to meet again in May 1775 if BR had not changed.
But not yet calling for independence!
Colonists began forming armies and collecting supplies …. at Concord.
Galloway’s Plan (PA) (similar to Albany Plan) lost by one vote – would have united colonies.

23. Query:
How was the relationship between the British and its American colonies in 1775 analogous to the relationship between parents and teenagers?