Colonial Resistance Grows

Chapter 6, Section 2

Bell Ringer

Answering these questions will help you understand how colonial resentment toward the British grew.

Look at the engraving (also on page 165). Based on this picture, who appears to be at fault for the Boston Massacre?

Why might colonial leaders interested in independence want to blame the massacre on the British?

Key Terms Crispus Attucks – a sailor of African-American and Native American ancestry

was one of five people killed in the Boston Massacre

Townshend Acts – a series of laws passed by Parliament in 1767 that suspended New York’s assembly and established taxes on goods brought into the British colonies

Writs of assistance – a search warrant that allowed British officers to enter colonial homes or businesses to search for smuggled goods

Samuel Adams – a leader of the Boston Sons of Liberty; he pushed for a boycott of British goods

Boston Massacre – a clash between British soldiers and Boston colonists in 1770, in which five of the colonists, including Crispus Attucks, were killed

John Adams – a lawyer and cousin of Samuel Adams; defended the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre

Committee of correspondence – a group of people in the colonies who exchanged letters on colonial affairs

Boston Tea Party – the dumping of 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor by colonists in 1773 to protest the Tea Act

How did British tax policies move the colonists closer to rebellion?

Widespread protests over the Stamp Act and other taxes had taken Britain by surprise.

But even as British leaders repealed some taxes, they passed new ones, further angering the colonists.

More new laws, and more protests, followed.

The Townshend Acts taxed goods brought into the colonies. Because so many colonists objected to the taxes, and to the writs of assistance that enforced them, Parliament repealed all but the tax on tea.

Anger on both sides soon led to a bloody confrontation.

The Townshend Acts Are Passed

1. What were the Townshend Acts?

Ways to raise revenue in the colonies

1. Suspended New York’s assembly until NY agreed to provide housing for troops

2. Placed duties, or import taxes, on various goods brought into the colonies (like glass, paper, paint, lead, and tea)

2. Why did the British think the acts would anger the colonists less than the Stamp Act did?

Duties were collected before the goods entered the colonies.

Stamp Act was a direct tax

3. How did the British attempt to enforce the Townshend Acts?

Writs of assistance (search warrants) to enter homes or businesses to search for smuggled goods

The Reasons for Protest/Tools of Protest 4. Why did the writs of assistance anger the colonists?

New Yorkers were angry that their assembly had been suspended

Colonists were upset over new taxes

Colonists were also angry over the writs of assistance

Went against their natural rights

5. What methods did the colonists use to protest the Townshend Acts?

Boycotts

Peaceful protests

6. Read A Voice from the Past on page 164. Why does Dickinson believe that taxes interfere with happiness?

He says that happiness depends on freedom, which depends on security of property.

Taxes imposed without consent take away that security and should be opposed.

In 1770, an angry crowd surrounded a group of soldiers in Boston.

Frightened, the soldiers fired, killing five people.

John Adams, a colonial leader, defended the soldiers, believing they should receive a fair trial. Still, the Boston Massacre became a rallying point for the colonists.

Committees of Correspondence

Leaders from different colonies began exchanging information and ideas, helping to unite the colonists against the British.

The Boston Massacre

7. Why were British troops sent to Boston?

The British feared a loss of control after rioters forced custom officers to flee after the Liberty ship incident

8. Why did colonists in Boston resent the presence of so many British soldiers?

The British hired themselves as workers, usually at rates lower than those of American workers

9. How did the Boston Massacre begin? What was the outcome?

Group of youths and dockworkers started trading insults in front of the Custom House

Fight broke out, soldiers fired

Five colonists were killed

The Boston Massacre

10. Why was the massacre an important event in the cause for independence? People of Boston were outraged The Sons of Liberty said the five colonists gave their

lives for freedom It became a tool for anti-British propaganda

11. How did the use of the word massacre show an anti-British view? A massacre is a mass killing, often planned; this was

not a massacre

During the early 1770s, the protests against the British had quieted down. The most unpopular taxes had been repealed—except the tax on tea.

In 1773, however, Parliament passed a new tea law, and protests began again.

Tea Act

ThirteenColonies

India

Britain

Tea

The Tea Act allowed the East India Company to send tea directly to the colonies, rather than having to first send it to Britain.

The Tea Act reduced the price of tea.

But it gave the East India Company, an important British company, a monopoly over the tea trade.

The colonists thought they should be able to buy tea from whomever they wanted. Plus, they were angry that they were still paying the tea tax.

Priceof

tea

The Tea Act

12. For what reason did the British repeal the Townshend Acts?

The colonial boycott worked – British trade had been hurt

13. Why did Samuel Adams think that the colonists might forget the cause of liberty?

Since there was no crisis, the colonists would just go back to being involved in their daily lives

He started the committees of correspondence

14. Why did the Tea Act upset the colonists?

It gave the British East India company control over the American tea trade

The tea would arrive in the colonies only in the trading company ships and be sold by its merchants

Colonists would have to pay a tax on this regulated tea

To protest, the Sons of Liberty tried to stop tea from being unloaded in colonial ports.

When officials ordered a shipment to be unloaded in Boston, the protestors took action.

Dressed as Native Americans, they dumped the tea into the harbor.

The Boston Tea Party

15. What was the Boston Tea Party? The dumping of 342 chests of tea into Boston

Harbor by colonists in 1773 to protest the Tea Act

16. How did Britain react to the Tea Party? Britain wanted repayment for the destroyed tea and

wanted those involved brought to trial

British leaders were outraged by the actions of these protestors during what became knows as the Boston Tea Party.

They passed a series of laws designed to punish the colonists of Massachusetts—especially those in Boston.

The new laws were so harsh that colonists called them the Intolerable Acts.