Chapter 5 Section 3

“From Protest to Rebellion”

The Tea Act

• After the Boston Massacre, the colonists were outraged. The King decided to calm them down by repealing the Townshend Acts.

• Well, actually all of the Acts except one, the Tea Act.

• The Tea Act placed a tax on tea and it also gave the East India Tea Company a monopoly on tea sales in the colonies.

• The Sons of Liberty had been trying to convince people to boycott the tea, but they were not very successful. They then decided to take another approach, guard the ports and prevent the tea from ever being unloaded from the boats.

The Boston Tea Party• For weeks, the Sons of Liberty patrolled the

ports of major cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Boston looking for boats arriving with tea. They would then threaten the Captain of the boat to leave the port. For two weeks, they all complied.

• This changed on the night of December 16, 1773. The Captain of a tea boat in Boston Harbor refused to leave the harbor. The Sons of Liberty now had to decide what to do.

The Boston Tea Party• That night, the Sons of Liberty met at a local bar to

formulate a plan. • They decided to disguise themselves as Indians, board

the tea boats, and destroy the tea. • They destroyed 90,000 pounds of tea worth several

thousand dollars. They townspeople came out to watch the spectacle. None of the tea was stolen, no one was attacked, and no other merchandise was destroyed. Why?

The Intolerable Acts

• The King was furious when he heard of the Boston Tea Party.

• He decided to punish the colonist with a series of laws called the Intolerable Acts.

• The colonists felt that the punishment was too severe.

• These acts pushed more and more people towards rebellion.

The Shot Heard Round the World

• A group of influential colonists met to discuss what should be done about the Intolerable Acts. They decided to send a petition to the king to try to get them repealed.

• They also decided to form a militia.• The governor of Massachusetts, General

Thomas Gage, heard rumors that the militia was storing weapons in a warehouse in Concord. He decided to march his men there in the middle of the night to destroy the weapons

The Shot Heard Round the World• The colonists had a plan in effect to let the militia

know when the British were on their way.• After receiving the signal a group of 77 minutemen

gathered near a bridge on the way to Concord. A small battle happens.

• After destroying the warehouse, the British are making their way back to Boston, when they are attacked by a larger force of militia. This signals the beginning of a long and deadly war.