11/15/2011
Complexity is the key to
understanding the
American Revolution!
But first some questions to consider:
1. Why would 13 British colonies CHOOSE
to leave the largest, richest and most
powerful empire in the world?
2. Was the American Revolution
inevitable?
3. To what extent was the revolution a
political, economic & social revolution?
Causes Disunity on the Eve of
Revolution
1. Distances – 7/10 at Albany
2. Geographical barriers
3. Conflicting religions
(Quakers, Calvinists,
Anglicans etc.)
4. Varying Nationalities
(English, Irish & German,
etc.)
5. Diff colonial governments
6. Boundary disputes
7. Resentment toward
backcountry (think Bacon’s
Rebellion)
The Colonial “A” Team
The Whig JV Team
Charles Townshend
George Grenville
KG III
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Political Revolution?
Economic Revolution?
•Mercantilism profitable
for the English
(Navigation Acts)
•Self rule means greater
opportunity and profit
•Currency Act intended to
punish
•Parliament controlled by
British merchant class
•Colonists carried
(believed) heavy tax
burden
•Uncertain economic
future
•Salutary Neglect
•Growth of American
Nationalism
•Fearful of Losing political
rights*
•England asserting rights she
never had before
•Taxation without
representation (but what
kind?)
•British Methods harsh and
impolitic quartering of troops
Social Revolution?
•To some extent…
•Independence = greater social
freedom and social mobility
opportunity
•Upper class generally pro British
(Tory)
•Discrimination against people
born in colonies
•Borrowed ideas from English law
•Social institutions remain mostly
unchanged no drastic power
change to new groups (France
1789, Soviets 1917, China 1949)
I feel the Tension Rising!
Tea Act 1773
Colonial
Tension/Resistance
Declaratory Act 1767
Townshend
Acts 1767
Stamp Act 1765
Currency Act
1764
Quartering Act
1765
Sugar Act 1764
Proclamation
1763
British Actions 1763-1775
Intolerable Acts
1774
Lexington and
Concord
April 1775
Proclamation of 1763
All lands west of the
Appalachians reserved for
Indians
British Reason:
• To stop conflict between the
Colonists and the Indians
and save them $$$$
Colonial Reaction:
• Frustrated and thought this
was an attempt to limit
freedom
• Largely ignored
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Sugar Act 1764
Currency Act 1764
Decreased duty on imported molasses
in an attempt to stop bribes; put new
taxes on indigo, sugar, coffee, wine
and textiles.
Violators tried in admiralty courts not
local courts
Colonist forbidden to make paper
money legal tender
British Reason:
• Raise revenue “for defraying the
expenses of defending, protecting,
and securing” -Grenville
Colonial Reaction:
• FURIOUS! How dare they?
Colonial Reaction:
• Specie would leave the
colonies to pay the troops
(form of taxes). Colonists
would be left without money.
They resorted to the barter
system to bypass the law
Quartering Act 1765
Colonists must supply
British troops with living
quarters, bedding, food,
beer, cider and rum.
British Reason:
• Most soldiers quartered
in public buildings, but
when away from cities
would need to be in
private homes.
Colonial Reaction:
• Most refused to comply
Tar and Feathering
British Reason:
• British merchants worried
about the loss of value of
Virginia’s paper money. All
taxes were to be paid in specie
Stamp Act 1765
Required stamp tax on all
legal documents,
newspapers, pamphlets,
playing cards, dice, and all
other printed material.
Violators tried by Admiralty
Courts.
British Reason:
• To raise revenue
Colonial Reaction:
• Colonists burned tax
collectors in effigy and
tarred and feathered them
Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions
VA House of Burgesses passed a
resolution stating only THEY
had the right to tax Virginians.
Colonial Reason:
First colonial legislature to stand
up to Britain. Introduced by
Patrick Henry.
Colonial Reaction:
• The colonists were happy, for
the first time I think!
TAXATION WITHOUT
REPRESENTATION (but what
kind?)
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Sons of Liberty Organized 1765
Stamp Act Congress 1765
Patriotic organization
(terrorists?)
led by Samuel Adams.
Main purpose to
demonstrate against
Stamp Act. They
refused to do any
business requiring
stamps
Representatives from nine
colonies meet to discuss
action. GA, NC, VA, NH
did not send delegates.
Colonial Reaction:
• Many agreed with the
Sons of Liberty, but a
large number felt they
were too radical
Colonial Reaction:
• Many colonies agreed
not to import any
British goods until the
Stamp Tax was repealed
Stamp Act Repealed 1766
Repealed the stamp tax
British Reason:
• In response to the colonial
protest, violence, the nonimportation agreements
and most of all avoidance of
a civil war in the colonies
Colonial Reaction:
• The colonists are happy
again. Well, at least for a
moment
Townsend Acts 1767
Taxed paint, lead, glass, paper, and
tea. Customs officials could
search private buildings at any
time. Accused tried without Jury.
Suspended the NY assembly
because Quartering Act was not
being followed.
British Reason:
• Townsend had a hard line policy
towards the colonists and planned
force them to comply
Colonial Reaction:
• Colonists felt these acts violated
all the rights they had as
Englishmen and boycotted all
taxed goods.
Colonial Reason:
• To condemn the Stamp
tax and define virtual
representation
1766 Declaratory Act
Parliament affirms that it has the right and the
power to make laws that bind the colonies in
ALL cases. Smartly, they left out the word
TAX
British Reason:
• A face saving response to the repeal of the
Stamp Tax. (however, the British still thought
they had the right to tax). HUM?
Colonial Reaction:
• Colonists agreed that Parliament had the
right to pass laws, but not tax. No one seemed
to understand that this was all based on
misunderstanding of the difference in
external and internal taxes.
The Boston Massacre (March 5,1770)
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1770 Boston “Massacre”
March 5, 1770 a group of colonists
were taunting and throwing
snowballs at British soldiers.
Shots were fired and 5 were
killed, 6 wounded.
Colonial Reaction:
• Sam Adams and the Sons of
Liberty fueled the propaganda
machine and proclaimed this a
“Massacre”. The colonists were
minding their own business and
were fired upon. However the
truth is much different
The Gaspee Incident (1772)
2 years of peace down the drain!
1770 Repeal of the Townshend
Acts
Lord North, first lord of
the Treasury urges
Parliament to repeal
all taxes except tax
on tea (helped pay
governor and official
salaries so they would
not be loyal to colonies
but to the crown)
Colonial Reaction:
• Colonists were still
resentful.
• The tea tax was a slap
in the face
The Gaspee Incident (1772)
• The Gaspee was a British Royal
Navy ship assigned to customs
duty.
• regularly stop merchant ships
to examine their cargo looking
for illegal goods
• Gaspee ran aground in
Narragansett Bay, near
Providence.
• Group of men boarded the
Gaspee and set the ship on
fire.
• No one came forward, and no
one was ever charged for the
offence.
Providence, RI coast
The Gaspee Incident (1772)
British Reaction:
• The British decided to try the
offenders in England, instead
in courts in the colonies
(brilliant).
Colonial Reaction:
• The colonies saw this as
another step to put them
under British control, and to
eliminate their rights as
Englishmen
Committees of Correspondence
(1772) Impact
Purpose
•  warn neighboring
colonies about
incidents with
Britain  broaden
the resistance
movement.
• Many colonists got
involved, but just
like today, many
didn’t care!
•
 The Albany
Plan of 1754
introduced the
idea, but with
the tea duty
standing as a
symbol of
Parliament’s
right to tax
the colonies…
•
Unity was the
only recourse
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Tea Act (1773)
British East India Co.:
Boston Tea Party
(1773)
 Monopoly on British tea
imports.
 Many members of
Parliament held shares.
 Permitted the Co. to
sell tea directly to
cols. without col.
middlemen
(cheaper tea!)
North expected the
colonies to eagerly choose
the cheaper tea.
WHO WOULD BE AGAINST THIS? HINT-SEE NEXT SLIDE…
1773 Boston Tea Party
•Colonists dressed as Indians
(why?), boarded 3 ships in
Boston Harbor and dumped the
tea.
The Coercive or Intolerable
Acts (1774)
•This was the colonists reaction
to the order that ships could
not leave until the “cheap” tea
was unloaded.
•Ever wonder why a country of
“Englishmen” would become a
country of coffee drinkers?
The Suffolk Resolves 1774
1. Denounced Intolerable Acts and
ignored punitive actions on
Massachusetts after the Boston Tea
Party
2. Encouraged making their own militia
3. Encouraged the boycott of British
goods
4. Delivered to the First Continental
Congress by Paul Revere
5. For the first time, ‘Americans must
prepare for war’, first time that threeletter word was used
6. The militancy in Massachusetts in
arming citizen-soldiers against the
British is solidified
7. Massachusetts made an attempt at a
militia, which fought at Lexington
and Concord
Lord North
1. Boston harbor closed
until tea paid for
2. Massachusetts
constitution changed
increasing governor’s power
and banning town meetings
3. New Quartering Act – all
troops will be quartered in
town
4. Administration of
Justice Act – British
soldiers and government
officials will be tried in
Britain
The Quebec Act (1774)
•Part of the Intolerable
Acts
•Extended boundaries
of Quebec to the Ohio
and Mississippi River
•Already banned by
Proclamation of 1763
Hint: took up where the Virginia Resolves left off after the Stamp Act.
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First Continental Congress
(Sept. 1774)
The British Are Coming . . .
55 delegates from 12 colonies
Agenda  How to
respond to the
Coercive Acts &
the Quebec Act?
1 vote per colony represented.
-Able to establish a boycott
(British imports down 97%)
Paul Revere (William Dawes and Samuel Prescott finish the
ride) & Israel Bissell (who will ride 354 miles warning rest of
New England) make their midnight rides to warn the Minutemen
of approaching British soldiers.
Set up a May 1775- Second
Continental Congress
Set up the Association
The Shot Heard ’Round the World!
Lexington & Concord – April 18,1775
The Second Continental Congress
(1775)
Thomas Paine: Common Sense
500,000 copies in a nation 2,500,000 or one in FIVE had a copy
More than Harry Potter and Twilight
The appeal to King
George III requesting
an end to
all military action
against the colonists
Olive Branch Petition
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Words from Tom Paine
“Everything that is right or
reasonable pleads for separation.
The blood of the slain, the
weeping voice of nature cries,
'tis time to part.”
Declaration of Independence
(1776)
Thomas Paine, Common Sense,
1776
Independence Hall
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