Road to Revolution

Road to Revolution 1754 - 1763

Road to Revolution: Sequence of Important Events 1763: (French and Indian War ends with Treaty of Paris) What were some effects of the French and Indian War?

Causes of Revolution • Proclamation of 1763 • For each important act or event include the definition, the impact on colonists, colonial reaction, and an illustration that represents this act or event. • Quartering Act • Sugar Act • Stamp Act

Road to Revolution: Sequence of Important Events • Proclamation of 1763 – British act that closed all lands west of the Appalachian Mountains for colonial settlement to avoid future conflicts with the Native Americans.

Road to Revolution: Sequence of Important Events 1764: Sugar Act – law that raised taxes on luxury, imported goods such as silk, wine & molasses; mostly affected merchants; called for strict enforcement and harsh punishment of smugglers.

Road to Revolution: Sequence of Important Events 1765: • Quartering Act – law that required colonists to house, feed, and provide supplies to British troops in the colonies. • Stamp Act – law that required all legal and commercial documents (contracts, wills, newspapers) to carry an official stamp for proof that a tax had been paid. Had to be paid in rare silver coins.

The Colonies Protest the Stamp Act What are some common forms of protest?

Who were the Sons of Liberty? • Secret society to oppose British policies. • Originally a group of shopkeepers and artisans who called themselves The Loyal Nine in Boston Massachusetts.. • Within a very short time a group of some two thousand men had been organized under Ebenezer McIntosh, a South Boston shoemaker. • Benjamin Edes, a printer, and John Gill of the Boston Gazette produced a steady stream of news and opinion. By the end of that year the Sons of Liberty existed in every colony. Their most popular objective was to force Stamp Distributors throughout the colonies to resign. The groups also applied pressure to any Merchants who did not comply with the non-importation associations. • Used violence and a great many of the Sons were printers and publishers themselves of colonial newspapers.

Sons of Liberty continued… • On 14 August 1765, a crowd gathered in Boston under a large elm tree at the corner of Essex Street and Washington Street, originally called Orange Street, to protest the hated Stamp Act. Patriots who later called themselves the Sons of Liberty had hung in effigy Andrew Oliver, the colonist chosen by King George III to impose the Stamp Act, in the branches of the tree. Up in the tree with the effigy hung a British cavalry jackboot. Grinning from inside the boot was a devil-like doll holding a scroll marked “Stamp Act.” It was the first public show of defiance against the Crown and spawned the resistance that led to the American Revolution. Later, a sign saying "Tree of Liberty" was nailed to the trunk of the tree. • Famous members include: Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Hancock, James Otis, Paul Revere, and Doctor Joseph Warren .

Road to Revolution: Sequence of Important Events 1767: • Townshend Acts – group of laws that raised revenues by enforcing the collection of taxes and imposing new taxes on items like tea and glass

Road to Revolution: Sequence of Important Events 1769: Non-Importation Association – established to boycott the purchase of any British goods

Road to Revolution: Sequence of Important Events 1770: • Townshend & Stamp Act repealed EXCEPT tax on tea • Boston Massacre – small argument that ended in 5 colonists being killed but Patriots used the event to gain support

Road to Revolution: Sequence of Important Events 1773: • Tea Act – an act that cut tea prices, but not the tax on tea to try to help British merchants • Boston Tea Party – Patriots disguised as Native Americans boarded ships in Boston harbor and dumped tea overboard in protest

Road to Revolution: Sequence of Important Events 1774: • The “Intolerable Acts” – Britain punished colonists for the Boston Tea Party by sealing off the harbor • First Continental Congress – representatives from the colonies met in Philadelphia to put together options for action against Britain

Road to Revolution