Causes of the American Revolution

1. Causes of the American Revolution American Vision Chapter 4 Sections 1 & 2

2. French and Indian War • Between the French and the British over Ohio River Valley • American Indians chose sides • Most of the fighting was on the frontier • The fighting in Europe was known as the Seven Years’ War • Turning Point: Quebec • British Victory! • Treaty of Paris 1763

3. Albany Plan of Union • Albany Conference- Iroquois agreed to remain neutral • Benjamin Franklin tried to convince colonists to come together and form a common government • Colonies rejected the plan

4. Proclamation of 1763 • King George • Declared colonists could not settle further west than the Appalachian Mountains • Angered colonists

5. Britain Needs Money • Heavy cost of war (F&I) • Parliament decides colonies need to pay their fair share • George Grenville- sent smugglers to court in Nova Scotia for avoiding customs duties • Didn’t follow British common law • Did not get a speedy trial • Did not get a trial of peers

6. Sugar Act (1764) • Increased tax on raw sugar and molasses • New tax on silk, wine, coffee, pimento and indigo

7. “No Taxation Without Representation” - James Otis

8. Currency Act of 1764 • Parliament banned the use of paper money in the colonies • Inflation- $$ lost it’s value

9. Stamp Act • Stamps on all printed materials • Newspapers, pamphlets, posters, wills mortgages, deeds, licenses, diplomas, dice, playing cards • First direct tax on colonists

10. Quartering Act • Colonists had to provide housing for British soldiers in the colonies

11. Quartering Act

12. Colonial Response • Sons of Liberty • Held meetings and printed pamphlets • Intimidated stamp distributors- effigies • Stamp Act Congress • Declaration of Rights and Grievances • Encouraged colonists to boycott British goods- non-importation agreement- until the Stamp Act was repealed • Successful

13. Declaratory Act • Britain gets the last word… • Asserted that Parliament had the power to make laws and to tax the colonists

14. Stamp Act and Declaratory Act

15. Townshend Acts • Charles Townshend • Revenue Act- tax on glass, lead, paper, paint and tea • Writs of Assistance- allowed customs officers to enter any location to look for evidence of smuggling

16. Colonial Response • John Dickinson Letters From a Pennsylvania Farmer • Only assemblies elected by colonists have the right to tax them • Masachusetts Circular Letter- Sam Adams • Asserted the taxes would be used to replace standing colonial assemblies

17. House of Burgesses- Virginia Resolves • House is only body to tax Virginia • Colonies join in a new non-importation agreement • Daughters of Liberty- “homespun”

18. Parliament….. • Dissolves Mass. Assembly • Dissolves House of Burgesses • Sent troops to Boston

19. Boston Massacre • March 5, 1770

21. After the massacre • Britain repealed all of the Townshend Acts….except for the tax on TEA

22. Gaspee Affair • A ship, off the coast of Rhode Island, trying to catch smugglers • Searched ships without a warrant • Took food without paying • Ship ran aground- colonists seized and burned it • British sent committee to investigate, suspects removed to England for trial- violated trial by jury of peers

23. Committees of Correspondence • Thomas Jefferson • Each colony had one • Communicated activities of the British • Helped to unify the colonies • Coordinated plans in resistance • Shaped public opinion

25. Events leading up to the Boston Tea Party • British East India Company was nearly broke • Colonists smuggled foreign tea rather than pay tax • Tea Act (1773)- refunded 4/5 of taxes on tea • East India Company tea now cheaper than Dutch tea • Company could bypass American merchants and sell directly to shopkeepers

26. American merchants felt they were being squeezed out of business • Committees of Correspondence decided tea should not be allowed to land • NY an Philadelphia- ships were forced to go back home • Charles Town- Tea was seized and stored

27. Boston Tea Party • Dec 1773 • 150 men boarded the ships and dumped the chests of tea into the harbor

29. British Response • King George III and Parliament pass the Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts) • Boston’s Port shut down until tea was paid for • Massachusetts lost ability to elect officials • Banned town meetings • British soldiers transferred to England for trial • Colonists had to provide housing for troops in their own homes

30. Troops were sent in to New England • General Thomas Gage was appointed as the governor of Massachusetts • Violated several traditional English Rights • Quebec Act (added)- stated a governor and council appointed by the king would run Quebec. Also gave more territory to Quebec • *****Colonists feared British were trying to seize control of the colonial governments

32. 1st Continental Congress • September 5, 1774 • Most colonies sent representatives • Most delegates were moderates- opposed to Intolerable Acts but still believed in compromise • Some were radicals- ready to fight • Considered a federal government (similar to that of the Albany Plan of Union) • Drafted the Declaration of Rights and Grievances

33. Declaration of Rights and Grievances • Loyalty to the king • Condemned the Intolerable acts • Non-importation of British goods

35. Minutemen • Massachusetts began forming a militia of minutemen • Men who were ready “at a minute’s warning” • This infuriated the British

36. Colonists take sides

37. Loyalists • Loyal to the king • Also known as Tories • Government officials, Anglican ministers • Prominent merchants and landowners • A few backcountry farmers • Georgia, Carolinas, New York

38. Patriots • Believed the king had become a tyrant • Also known as Whigs • Artisans, farmers, merchants, lawyers, urban workers • New England and Virginia

39. A civil war • Between loyalists and patriots • Patriots tarred and feathered Loyalists • Broke up Loyalist meetings • Patriots were more organized

40. Many Americans did not choose a side…they “rode the fence” • They would support whomever won

41. Concord and Lexington • General Gage wanted to seize the militia’s supply dept in Concord • April 18, 1775 • Patriots sent Paul Revere and William Dawes to alert the militia

42. Lexington • 40 minutemen • British ordered them to disperse • A shot was fired (by whom?????) • British returned fire • 8 dead, 10 wounded

43. Concord • Military supplies had already been moved • 400 militia met them on the North Bridge • British retreat

44. Back to Boston • Militia and farmers hid along the way and attacked the British • 99 dead and 174 wounded by the time they reached Boston • Colonial losses: 49 dead, 46 wounded • News spread throughout the colonies • Other colonial militias arrived… surrounded the British in Boston

45. 2nd Continental Congress • June 15, 1775 • The current militia army became the Continental Army • Congress appointed George Washington as the commander in chief of the army

46. Continental Congress

47. Battle in Boston • Breed’s Hill- militia built a fort at the top • British troops attempted to take control of the hill • At a disadvantage with heavy packs and wool uniforms AND they were going UPHILL • Militia only retreated when they ran out of ammunition • Came to be known as the Battle of Bunker Hill • Helped build American confidence

48. Battle of Bunker Hill

49. Olive Branch Petition • John Dickinson • Colonies still loyal to the king • Wanted to work things out peacefully • King George III refused to even look at it • Radicals had sent troops to attack Brits in Quebec….King was convinced reconciliation was impossible

50. Loyalist Armies • 2 in VA- 1 white, 1 African • Slaves promised freedom in return for service • Convinced southern planters to hope for American independence