The Road to Revolution

2. The Road to Revolution

3. Throughout this Powerpoint presentation, you will be expected to take notes and understand all elements that are in red. Overview of The American Revolution!

4. Definitions*writ of assistance – allowed British customs officials to search ships for smuggled items with no warrant or cause*boycott – to stop purchasing a good or using a service as a response to a perceived wrong.

5. *committees of correspondence – groups formed to write letters encouraging action against Great Britain *repeal – the removal or reversal of law.

6. *minuteman - a small hand-picked fighting force able to assemble in at a minute’s notice. They were selected from militia muster rolls by their commanding officers. Typically 25 years of age or younger, they were chosen for their enthusiasm, reliability, and physical strength. The Minutemen were the first armed militia to arrive or await a battle. *militia - were citizen - soldiers formed to protect their towns from foreign invasion and ravages of war.

7. More Definitions • Stamp Act • Boston Massacre • Townshend Acts • Quartering Act • Boston Tea Party • Intolerable Acts You will define these from the following slides~

8. The French and Indian War • France and England competed for land in America. • France tried to protect its land by building forts in the Ohio River Valley and by befriending the Indians. • The English settlers angered the Indians by clearing forests to build farms.

10. A result of the French and Indian War was that France lost its lands in both America and Canada • The Indians were not pleased with the British victory and some decided to fight. • Chief Pontiac successfully fought the British because he was able to organize different Indian nations.

11. The British Fan the Flames! • The Proclamation of 1763 angered the colonists because it stopped them from moving west of the Appalachian Mountains. • Britain then decided to tax the colonists to help pay for the French and Indian War. Colonists were not as upset by the taxes as they were upset that they had no voice in the government that was forcing them to pay!

12. Sugar Act and Stamp Act • Sugar Act - British taxed sugar and molasses. Tax paid by merchants. • Stamp Act - British imposed taxes upon all paper products and stamped the item once the tax had been paid. Direct tax on the colonists.

13. The Sons and Daughters of Liberty were organized to protest British policies, both peacefully and violently. • The Quartering Act made colonists pay for the housing of British soldiers but was, in actuality, another form of tax because it saved Britain money.

14. Patrick Henry’s speech Protesting the Policies! • Sons and Daughters of Liberty • Benjamin Franklin’s visit to Parliament • Boston Massacre

15. The Boston Massacre

16. Samuel Adams was an agitator and an organizer who helped start a revolution. John Adams was a farmer and a lawyer, who helped lead that revolution. http://www.knowledgerush.com/wiki_image/6/63/SamuelAdamsSmall.jpeg

17. Because of the “Quartering Act”, English soldiers, who were called “redcoats” because of the color of their uniforms, were to be quartered in American towns. http://www2.gpmd.com/image/i/imxs0002.jpg

18. Americans didn’t want British redcoats quartered in their towns, or even in their country. In 1768 the British fleet sailed into Boston harbor and unloaded regiment after regiment of redcoats. http://www.bostonmassacre.net/images/british-troops-arriving.jpg

19. So when the soldiers arrived in 1768, the colonists weren’t very kind to them. Sometimes they threw snowballs or rocks. At first, the people of Boston wouldn’t provide quarters for the redcoats. So the soldiers set up tents on the big grassy Boston Common.

20. Most of the English soldiers didn’t want to be in America anyway. They were poorly paid, and many were homesick. On a freezing March day in 1770, one of the king’s soldiers was looking for work to earn some extra money. Someone started making fun of him and told him to get a job cleaning toilets. http://www.flickr.com/photos/timony/108553670/

21. One thing led to another, and there was a fight. Soon a noisy, jeering group of troublemakers gathered in front of the Boston Custom House. http://www.authentichistory.com/antebellum/revolution

22. They began pushing and shoving and throwing stones at the British sentry. He got knocked down and he called for help. http://declarationsandexclusions.typepad.com/foolblog/images/pelham_boston_massacre.jpg

23. The mob is said to have taunted the redcoats, yelling “Fire! Fire!” Captain Preston is said to have yelled, ‘Hold your fire!” Then a British soldier was hit with a big stick. Capt. Thomas Preston came to the rescue with eight British soldiers. There is some confusion about what happened next.

24. He claimed he heard the word “fire,” so he fired his gun into the crowd. The street gang moved forward; the redcoats panicked and fired at unarmed people. Five Americans die, seven were wounded. http://www.authentichistory.com/antebellum/revolution

25. Samuel Adams made the most of it. He called it the Boston Massacre and had Paul Revere engrave a picture of the scene. The picture that Paul Revere chose to etch into a piece of copper, so it could be printed over and over again, showed British soldiers firing at peaceful Boston citizens. http://www.earlyamerica.com/portraits/samadams.html

26. That wasn’t the way it had happened – Adams and Revere knew that – but the drawing made good propaganda. It made people furious at the British. That drawing was soon seen all over the colonies. It helped start a war.

27. There is one hero in the story of the Boston Massacre, John Adams. John didn’t want British soldiers in Boston either. But, he was fair and he always did what he thought was right. He believed the redcoats should have a fair trial. He knew they needed a good lawyer, and he was one of the best in the colonies. http://www.americanrevolution.com/ppl_john_adams.html

28. Adams argued that the soldiers had defended themselves against an angry mob. A Boston jury found six of the soldiers not guilty. Two soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter, they were branded on their thumbs. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrals/bostonmassacre/scene1a.jpg

29. More Taxes!!!!

30. The Townshend Acts taxed imported goods brought into the colonies, such as glass, paper, paint, lead, and tea. Townshend thought that duties, which were collected before the goods entered the colonies, would anger the colonists less than the direct taxes of the Stamp Act. The money raised would be used to pay the salaries of British governors and other officials in the colonies. Samuel Adams led the protest against the Townshend Acts.

31. Declaratory Act said that Parliament had supreme authority to govern the colonies.

32. From Bad to Worse: The Boston Tea Party!

33. The chief goal of theTea Act was to raise money for the British East India Company which was in financial trouble • The Boston Tea Party was a bold and daring move in which the colonists dumped thousands of pounds of tea into the harbor in protest of the Tea Act

34. No Taxation Without Representation! Colonists react!

35. Boston Tea Party • Lower price on British tea • Colonists still pay taxes • Boycotted British tea • Sons of Liberty dressed in disguise and dumped British tea overboard

36. In response to the Boston Tea Party, Parliament created the Coercive Acts which colonists called the Intolerable Acts • 1. limited town meetings to once a year • 2. shut down the port of Boston • 3. established a new Quartering Act. • 4.British officers who commit a crime would stand trial in Great Britain!

37. The Shot Heard ‘Round the World • The Intolerable Acts angered Americans who formed the First Continental Congress.Delegates decided to unite against Britain. They agreed to boycott British goods, stop exporting American goods to England, and form militias. They also sent The Olive Branch Petition to King George in a final attempt to avoid war.

38. First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia

39. The First Continental Congress marked a key step in American history. • Although most delegates were not ready to call for independence, they were determined to uphold colonial rights. • This meeting planted the seeds of a future independent government.

40. The majority of the colonists were neutral or Loyalist. They did not want to leave the “Mother Country” and were happy with the protection of the greatest military force in the world. Patriots felt that we should be independent of England • It was too late though. War was inevitable.

41. Minutemen were busy training throughout Massachusetts. • The British discovered that a large store of arms was being hidden in Concord and sent out troops to seize them by surprise. • The Sons of Liberty saw them leave, and Paul Revere alerted the countryside.

42. British General Gage learns of hidden weapons in Concord • Two lanterns hung in church tower to warn the British coming by “sea” (Charles River) • Paul Revere and William Dawes make midnight ride to warn Minutemen of approaching British soldiers Conflict at Lexington and Concord

43. 70 armed minutemen were waiting for the British in the town of Lexington outside of Concord. • The British ordered the minutemen to go home. The colonists refused to obey. • A shot rang out and the troops fired. Eight minutemen were killed.

44. When the British troops reached Concord, they found that the store of arms had already been removed. They headed back to Boston. Now the minutemen were waiting for them. • All along the road from Concord to Boston, farmers, blacksmiths, saddle makers, and clerks hid behind trees, rocks, and fences. • By the time the redcoats reached Boston, more than 200 were wounded and 73 were dead.

45. Why do people call the first gunshot at Lexington “the Shot Heard ‘Round the World”?

46. Second Continental Congress Representatives brought money to help establish… the Continental Army (i.e. pay soldiers, buy guns, bullets, food, and uniforms

47. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE!!! We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed the resolution that all of the Colonists’ ties with Britain be dissolved!

48. Who was involved? • Benjamin Franklin • John Adams • Robert R. Livingston • Roger Sherman • Thomas Jefferson was the primary author

49. So that King George could read it without his glasses Made sure his signature was large!

50. What happened to the men who risked their lives to sign? See Word document The Price they paid and Declaration of Independence The Signing: 1776