The Road to Revolution

Tighter British ControlColonial Resistance GrowsThe Road to Lexington &

ConcordDeclaring Independence

Tighter British Control King George III attempts to control colonies

Proclamation of 1763Forbade colonists from moving west

Quartering Act (1764)10,000 soldiers left from French & Indian warColonists required to provide housing

New taxesSugar act (1765)

Taxed sugar, molasses, & other products shipped to colonies

Stamp act (1766)Required tax stamp on all legal & printed

documents

Colonists responseStamp Act Congress (1765)Parliament had no right to tax coloniesNo tax can be created without colonists consent

“No Taxation without Representation”Patrick Henry

Sons of LibertyFormed to oppose British policiesSamuel AdamsJohn HancockBoycott

Refusal to buy British goods

Colonial Resistance Grows Declaratory Act (1766)

Stated Parliament had authority to pass laws for colonies

Townshend Acts (1767)Charles Townshend, England’s prime ministerTaxed glass, paper, paint, lead, & tea

Writs of AssistanceAllowed searches for smuggled goods

Daughters of LibertyUrged people to make their own goods

Boston Massacre (1770)Used by Sons of LibertyCrispus Attucks – 1st patriot to dieJohn Adams – defended the British soldiers

Tea Act (1773)All tea must be from East India Company

Committees of CorrespondencePassed secret letters from colony to colony

keeping all informed of collective actionBoston Tea Party (1773)

Sons of Liberty in disguise destroyed 3 ships of tea protesting the Tea act

The Road to Lexington & Concord

Intolerable Acts (1774) (Coercive acts)Closed port of BostonBanned town meetingsReplaced elected officials with appointed onesIncreased Governor’s powerProtected British officials from trialAllowed troops in private homes

1st Continental Congress (1774)All colonies except GeorgiaBanned trade w/ England until Intolerable Acts repealedAgreed to meet again in 7 months

John HancockCommittee of SafetyMinutemen

Militia ready to fight in a “minute’s” noticePatrick Henry

“give me liberty or give me death”Loyalists

Colonists who sided with the kingPatriots

Colonists against the king

British learn that ammunition stored outside BostonLexington & Concord (April 19, 1775)

Paul Revere’s rideSamuel Dawes & William Prescott

“Shot heard around the world”700 British soldiers under Captain John

Parker vs. 70 minutemen4000 minutemen lined the road on return to Boston

Declaring IndependenceSiege of Boston

Battle of Bunker HillBreed’s Hill“Don’t fire until you see the whites of their

eyes”2nd Continental Congress

Continental Army is formedGeorge Washington chosen commanderOlive Branch Petition

Last hope for peace rejected by King George III

British forced from BostonWashington moves guns from Ticonderoga

Rebellion becomes RevolutionThomas Paine’s “Common Sense”

Pamphlet promoting IndependenceCongress moves toward Independence

Richard Henry Lee introduced resolution“free & independent states”Unanimous vote

Declaration committeeThomas JeffersonJohn AdamsBenjamin FranklinRoger ShermanRobert Livingston

Declaration of IndependenceSeparation from England