Turmoil Over Taxation

1. Turmoil Over Taxation George Grenville – Prime Minister – colonists should help pay debt created from French and Indian War. Later on became member of Parliament

3. Sugar Act of 1764 put a tax on molasses which was a valuable item in the triangular trade. Sugar Act of 1764

5. Replaced a previous tax that had led to colonial traders bribing tax officials to look the other way. • Law made it easier to put smugglers on trial Sugar Act of 1764

6. Placed new duties on legal documents; taxes newspapers, almanacs, playing cards, and dice. STAMP ACT OF 1765

7. Stamp Act of 1765

9. Colonists protested angrily. • Colonists coined the slogan “No Taxation Without Representation.” • Colonists united. Delegates met in a Stamp Act Congress in NYC. REACTION TOSTAMP ACT OF 1765

10. The Congress drew up a petition, a formal written request to someone in authority, signed by a group of people. • Colonists boycotted, or refused to buy, British goods. REACTIONS TO STAMP ACT

11. Parliament repealed, or cancelled, the Stamp Act in 1766. British merchants in financial trouble because were not selling goods

12. Stamp Act Repealed

15. Taxed goods such as glass, paper, paint, lead, and tea. • Named after British Treasury official Charles Townshend Townshend Acts-1767

16. Set up new ways to collect taxes, including writs of assistance, legal documents that allowed officers to inspect another person’s property without giving a reason. Townshend Acts of 1767

18. Custom officials sent to colonies stop smuggling. • Writs of Assistance violated rights as British citizens property could not be searched without a good reason if person suspected of committing a crime.

19. Colonial merchants (North) and planters (South) signed agreement to stop importing taxed goods. • Sons of Liberty and Daughters of Liberty, mock hangings, petitions, boycotts, threats. Reaction to Townshend Acts

20. Formed by angry colonists to protest British policies • They staged mocked hangings of cloth or straw effigies dressed as British officials (tax collectors) What would you think if you were a British official? Sons and Daughters of Liberty

21. Women paraded, signed petitions, and organized a boycott of British cloth, they made their own cloth • They went further organizing boycotts and threatening people who did not boycott. Sons and Daughters of Liberty

22. New Colonial Leaders emerge in the colonies as the struggle over taxes continues…

23. Samuel Adams – Mass. • He arranged protests and stirred public support. • A talented organizer from Massachusetts.

24. John Adams – Mass. • Massachusetts lawyer who had a knowledge of British law that earned him respect. • Sam’s Cousin

25. Mercy Otis Warren – Mass. • She wrote plays that made fun of British officials. • Also from Mass. • Using her pen, she also called for greater rights for women

26. Abigail Adams – Mass. • Abigail Adams wrote to spur colonists to action. • Friends with Mercy Otis Warren • Wanted greater rights for women

27. George Washington • Member of Virginia House of Burgesses. Protested the Townshend Acts.

28. Patrick Henry • Also from Virginia • He gave speeches that stirred others to action.

29. Patrick Henry “Treason… If this be treason, make the most of it”

30. Thomas Jefferson • Also from Virginia • was a 22 year old rising law student.

31. Boston Massacre

32. Britain sent soldiers to Boston to protect customs officials. • Bostonians saw the British as bullies and insulted or even assaulted the British soldiers. Boston Massacre

33. On March 5, 1770, Bostonians gathered outside the Boston customs house, shouting insults and throwing things at the British guards. Boston Massacre

34. Suddenly, panicked soldiers fired into the crowd, killing some colonists. • Colonists protested the incident, calling it the Boston Massacre. Boston Massacre

35. The soldiers were tried, but John Adams defended them and was able to win light sentences for them. Boston Massacre

36. Samuel Adams formed a committee of correspondence, a group that regularly wrote letters and pamphlets reporting to other colonies on events in Massachusetts. Committee of Correspondence

37. By coincidence, on day of Boston Massacre…Townshend acts repealed. • Most taxes were repealed with the exception of………… Results…

38. The Tax on TEA….

39. By 1770, at least one million Americans brewed tea twice a day. • People “would rather go without their dinners than without a dish of tea.” according to a visitor to the colonies The Tea Tax Explodes in Mass.

41. The British East India Company sold tea to colonial tea merchants. The tea merchants sold the tea to the colonists for a higher price. Tea Act of 1773

42. When the British East India Company had money troubles, Parliament passed the Tea Act. • The act said British East India Company could sell directly to colonists. Tea Act of 1773

44. American merchants protested being cut out of the tea trade. Other colonists said it was a trick to force colonists to pay the tax on tea. • Colonists boycotted tea. Tea Act of 1773

45. The Boston Sons of Liberty showed their displeasure by staging the Boston Tea Party. Disguised as Indians, they raided three ships and dumped their cargo of tea into Boston Harbor. Boston Tea Party

47. passed to punish Massachusetts • The port of Boston was closed. Intolerable Acts

48. Massachusetts colonists could not hold town meetings more than once a year without the governor’s permission. In other words, they limited Massachusetts assembly. Intolerable Acts

49. Customs officers and other officials could be tried in Britain or Canada instead of in Massachusetts so Customs officials to be tried elsewhere. • A new Quartering Actsaid colonists must house British soldiers in their homes. Intolerable Acts

50. Quebec Act-Sets Up Government for Canada • Gives religious freedom to French Catholics • Extended the borders to include land between the Ohio and Missouri Rivers into territory that some of the Colonists claimed More Trouble for Colonists…