THE ROAD TO REVOLUTION:
(1763-1775)
Period 3 (1754-1800)
Key Concept 3.1:II The desire of many colonists to assert ideals of self-government in the face
of renewed British imperial efforts led to a colonial independence movement and war with Britain.
CHPTR 7: The Road to Revolution (1763-1775)
CHPTR 7: The Road to Revolution (1763-1775)
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BEFORE
The French and Indian War
(1754-1763)
AFTER
Growing animosity – lack of respect
150 Years of an Independent Colonial Life
Attempts of GB to control trade:
mercantilism
Navigation Acts (1651)
Molasses Act (1733)
turning point
Am Col smuggling
Attempts of GB to govern Am Cols:
we began to see a vision
of who we could be
“a nation within a nation”
Am Cols see an open west for settlement
BUT…
Dominion of New England(1686-89)
Proclamation of 1763
…..”first Am Revolution”
Salutary Neglect
Enforcement of Mercantilist policies
Am Cols practicing self-rule (republic) Raising Taxes without our consent
“habits of questioning authority”
established basic rights
“No taxation without representation”
established colonial militias
private ownership CHPTR 7: The Road to Revolution (1763-1775)
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THE MERITS OF MERCANTILISM
oppressive British laws on paper, but loosely enforced
London paid liberal bounties to colonial producers
Colonies had protection of world’s most powerful navy and army
THE MENACE OF MERCANTILISM
stifiled economic initiative opportunistic population
Am Cols dependent of British agents and creditors
Wealth measured by how
much gold or silver in
country’s treasury.
Am Cols found economic relationship debasing
MERCANTILISM: Wealth = Power
wealth secured through a favorable balance of trade
Mercantilist restrictions created currency shortages in colonies: forced to use paper money.
Paper money illegal; Royal crown had right to veto legislation.
CHPTR 7: The Road to Revolution (1763-1775)
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CHPTR 7: The Road to Revolution (1763-1775)
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Stamp Act Uproar
Parliament’s attempts to regain control of its Am Cols
1763: Prime Minister George Grenville
Orders navy to strictly enforce Navigation Acts
1764 Sugar Act increased duties on Sugar from W Indies
1765 Quartering Act food and quarters for troops
1765 Stamp Act
….. Act
first direct tax
Offenders tried in admiralty courts: no juries;
“guilty until proven innocent”
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STAMP ACT UPROAR
“legislation” v. “taxation”
Am Cols conceded right of Parliament to legislate matters related to the empire
…but taxation is “robbery:” only Am Col Assemblies had the consent to tax
PM Grenville: argued “virtual representation”
Parliament represented all subjects even those
who did not elect members
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THE COLONIES GET ORGANIZED
1765 Stamp Act Congress
NYC: 27 Delegates from 9 colonies
A statement rights and grievances
Declaration of Rights and Grievances
II. “…subjects in these colonies are [entitled] to all the inherent rights and liberties of
this natural born subjects within the kingdom of Great Britain…”
III. “…it is essential to the freedom of a people …that no taxes be imposedon them
but with their own consent; given personally or by their representation…”
although ignored by Parliament, a step towards colonial unity…
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THE COLONIES GET ORGANIZED
HERE then, my dear countrymen,
ROUSE yourselves, and behold the ruin
hanging over your heads
Never did the British Parliament, till the period above
mentioned, think of imposing duties in America FOR
THE PURPOSE OF
RAISING A REVENUE
If the Parliament may lawfully deprive
New Yorko f any of her rights, it may
deprive any or all the other colonies of their
rights; and nothing can possibly so much
encourage such attempts as a mutual
inattention to the interests of each other.
John Dickinson
1767-68
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THE COLONIES GET ORGANIZED
Communication and Organization
nonimportation agreements
economic boycotts of British goods (ex. wool) adopted
across colonial borders
Sons of Liberty
Daughters of Liberty
“liberty, property and no stamps”
taking the law into their own hands; enforcing eco
boycotts; effigy hangings; ransacking homes of royal
officials; targeting Loyalists;…
Economic toll is felt by English merchants; force
Parliament to repeal Stamp Act
…but Parliament reaffirms its right to absolute
sovereignty over colonies with Declaratory Act
CHPTR 7: The Road to Revolution (1763-1775)
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TENSIONS BREWING
Townsend Acts 1767)
light, indirect customs duties to pay for salaries of royal governors
Nonimportation Acts renewed, British land two regiments of troops
in Boston in 1768
Boston Massacre
March 5, 1770
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TENSIONS BREWING
Parliament again repeals most of Townsend Acts, but keeps tax on tea
Committees of Correspondence
Organized exchange of communications to keep alive British opposition.
First started 1772, Boston, by Samuel Adams
Adams continues to incite his “trained mob.”
These committees will lead to the first American congresses
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CHPTR 8: America Secedes from the Empire
(1775-1783)
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TENSIONS BREWING
1773, British East India Co awarded a complete
monopoly of American tea business…
Boston Tea Party
December 16, 1773
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TENSIONS BREWING
Intolerable Acts (1774)
Parliament responds by punishing
Boston and New England
Boston port closed until damages paid
Restrictions on New England Town Meetings
Officials who killed colonists to be tried in
England
New Quartering Act
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TENSIONS BREWING
Quebec Act (1774)
Covering French Subjects in Canada
Guaranteed Catholic religion, maintain anti-democratic institutions, and
boundary extended into Ohio Valley
Colonists Feel Threatened
An act limiting democracy; limiting land speculation, and extending
Catholic jurisdiction
Supporting Boston
Others colonies feel Boston’s pain and send aid
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BLOODSHED
First Continental Congress
Philadelphia, 1774
55 delegates from 12 colonies deliberate on actions to take
Petition the King to repeal offensive legislation
Declaration and Resolves (1774)
First Continental Congress
“The foundation of English liberty, and of all free government, is a right of the people to
participate in their legislative council; and as the English colonists are not represented in
British parliament, they are entitled to a free and exclusive power of legislation in their
several provincial legislatures, where their right of representation can alone be preserved.”
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BLOODSHED
Parliament ignores petition
Colonists gather guns and drill openly
Lexington and Concord
April 1775
British troops sent to seize stores of gunpowder
Arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock
8 Americans killed in Lexington; British suffer losses in Concord
England has a war on its hands…
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Great Britain
American Colonists
Strengths
Weaknesses
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