Chapter 7: Differences Divide Britain and Its Colonies
Lesson 1: Government in the Colonies
British Rule
 British citizens elected leaders to speak for them in the part of
govt. called Parliament
Parliament passed laws for all British people.
Governed Britain and colonies in N.A.
 Colonies not allowed to vote.
 Colonists felt they should be able to make own laws.
became more like a democracy
 First colonial legislature - House of Burgesses established in Virginia Colony 1619
The French and Indian War
 1753 The French began building forts on the Ohio River Valley.
 The French and British colonists were helped by Indian Allies
 With help of British Army and Indian friends, the British
colonists defeated the French.
 French Canada became a British Colony after
 King George III decided colonists would have to Pay for war by
paying taxes.
Proclamation of 1763:
Stop settling western lands won by France
Reserve lands for Native Americans
King hoped this would prevent wars between Indians and
colonists, the colonist were angry.
Lesson 2: Quarrels Over Taxes and Government
New Taxes for the Colonies
 To help pay for war, Parliament passes a law known as the
Sugar Tax.
 A tax was put on many goods coming to the colonies.
 This tariff or tax angered the colonists.
Colonists were taxed without their consent
 Not all colonists were angry.
 Loyalist or Tories favored the British view.
The Stamp Act
 One year after the Sugar Act, Parliament passed another tax
law.
Stamp Act
 Almost anything written on paper had to have a special stamp on
it to show that a tax had been paid.
 Colonists were most angered that they had no representation in
Parliament.
 "No taxation without representation"
 Patrick Henry spoke out against the taxes.
 The Virginia Legislature voted against paying any new British
tax unless colonists agreed to them.
People Protest in Different Ways
 Throughout the colonies, people met to talk and act against new
taxes.
 Massachusetts - Sons of Liberty-Daughters of Liberty  Members of these groups told colonists that they should
refuse to buy stamped goods or any other British good.
The Stamp Act Congress
 1765 - The colonies decided to work together and held a
meeting in New York City called the Stamp Act Congress.
 When Parliament heard about the Stamp Act Congress, it
repealed the Stamp Act. a. Stamp Act, no longer a law.
 To show more authority over the colonists, Parliament sent
more soldiers to North America
 As the anger between the colonists and soldiers grew, fights
started to break out.
 March 5, 1770 - Boston Massacre angered soldiers fired shots
into a crowd of colonists.
o One of the dead was Crispus Attucks a runaway slave.
Attucks had lead the charge against the soldiers
The Colonists Unite
 The Committees of Correspondence
o Communication was very slow between representatives.
o Samuel Adams set up a Committee of Correspondence in
Boston.
o Committees wrote letters about what was being done to
protest British laws.
o Letters were delivered by horse back.
The Boston Tea Party
 1773 - Parliament passed another law allowing a British company
to sell tea in the colonies.
a. This hurt colonial merchants, and colonists would still have to
pay tax on tea.
 Many colonies began to boycott British tea.
o Pennsylvania and New York didn't allow ships carrying British
tea to enter their ports.
o In Massachusetts, captains refused to be turned away.
o Colonist showed their anger - Boston Tea Party o Sons of Liberty dressed as Indians, dumped chest of tea into
Boston Harbor.
 Parliament punished the colonists.
o No ships carrying colonial goods could leave Boston Harbor
until all the tea was paid for.
o British government ordered colonists to quarter British
soldiers - feed and house -
The Continental Congress
 Committees of Correspondence called a meeting of
representatives of all the colonies to decide what to do.
 September 1774 - First meeting of its kind in North America  Agreed to stop all trade with Britain and not obey British Laws
that took away their liberties.
Fighting at Lexington and Concord
 Members of colony's militia became Minutemen - ready to fight in
a minute
 Colonist against British - Patriots  Samuel Adams and John Hancock, two Patriots were storing
weapons.
 Massachusetts Gov. Thomas Gage heard rumors.
Sent British soldiers to arrest Patriot leaders.
 Paul Revere and William Dawes warned of the British coming.
 Minutemen met the British in Lexington.
 British marched on to Concord -found nothing- on the way back to
Boston, shot at by Minutemen.
***THE BATTLE FOR COLONIAL LIBERTY HAD BEGUN***