Road to Revolution Continued 9/7/11

Greenville ● Great Britain had borrowed so much money during the war that it nearly doubled its debt. ● Greenville took over...describe tensions between Britain and colonists: – Greenville, a financial expert, becomes prime minister in 1763 – He pressured parliament to adopt the Stamp Act because he was convinced that colonists were smuggling goods without paying duties (taxes).

Sugar Act 1764 ● 1. Cut the foreign molasses tax in half – hoping colonists would pay less rather than smuggling. ● 2. Taxed imports that had never been taxed before. ● 3. Smuggling court cases tried in vice-admiralty court by a single British judge instead of a colonial court with jury. ● Colonial Merchant Complaint: They would lose money & taxes were illegal because “no taxation without representation”. Parliament had no colonial representative.

Stamp Act ● Imposed a tax on: Official stamps on all kinds of goods (wills, newspapers, playing cards, etc.) ● “direct tax” 1 st direct tax on colonial consumers buying goods and services rather than imports (like sales tax). ● Sons of Liberty:secret resistance group organized by Boston shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers against the Stamp Act. – Boycott: October 1765 boycott British goods until Stamp Act repealed in 1766.

● Declaratory Acts: – 1766 – happened as the Stamp Act was repealed – Declared that British rule in the colonies was the same as in Britain = colonists have to stop defying British law. ● Townshend Acts: – Duties on imports as they came into the colonies – 3 penny tax on tea, the most popular drink in the colonies. ● Sam Adams: Founder of Sons of Liberty – called for another boycott of British goods after Townshend Acts.

● March 5, 1770 – Boston Massacre – Colonists taunt British soldiers outside of a courthouse – 4 end up dead. – Is 4 people dead a massacre? – (All Townshend Acts repealed – too expensive to enforce – except the tax on tea) ● 1772: Rhode Island: – Colonists attack British customs boat – King orders colonists brought to England for trial. ● Committees of Correspondence: – Set up in response to King’s order to try colonists in England. – Communication networks set up to unite the colonies.

1773 ● Lord North devised the Tea Act to save the British East India Company. – Nearly bankrupt after colonial boycotts. – Tea Act – allowed British company to sell tea tax free = colonial tea companies at risk. ● December 16, 1773 – Boston Tea Party ● Colonists dressed as Native Americans dumped 15,000 lbs of British tea into the harbor in protest against the Tea Act.

Intolerable Acts – A Series of Acts ● King George – Angry over Boston Tea Party, pressured Parliament to pass these acts. – 1. Shut down Boston Harbor – because colonists refused to pay for dumped tea. – 2. Quartering Act – Commanders authorized to house soldiers in private colonial homes. ● Gen. Thomas Gage did what to keep the peace? – New governor of Boston – placed the city under martial law (rule imposed by military force).

1 st Continental Congress ● Established by the committees of correspondence in reaction to King’s punishment of Boston. ● Sept 1774: – 56 Delegates met in Philadelphia – Drafted a declaration of colonial rights – Colonists should run their own affairs – Would meet again in May 1775, if the demands not met by the King.

Paul Revere, William Dawes, & Samuel Prescott ● April 18, 1775 – rode out to warn colonists that 700 British troops were headed for Concord. ● Lexington: – April 19 – Troops Arrive and see 70 minutemen. ● 70 vs. 700 – who will win? ● 8 minutemen killed & 1 British soldier

Concord ● British Arsenal (ammunition stockpile) was empty!! ● Marching back to Boston, British troops were ambushed by 3,000-4,000 minutemen. – Minutemen massacred the troops – British controlled Boston under siege ● Britain and colonists now enemies

May Philadelphia ● 2 nd Continental Congress - Remember they agreed to meet again if King George II did not meet their demands ● What was the debate? – Loyalists vs. Separatists – Reconciliation vs. Independence – John Adams – thought each colony should have its own government and Congress should declare independence. – Congress agreed to make militia the Continental Army, print paper money to pay troops, and appoint George Washington as the commander.

Bunker Hill (Breed’s Hill) ● June 17, 1775 – British sent 2,400 troops to attack at Breed’s Hill. – Colonial Militia did well as the British redcoats attacked 3 times. – Colonists lost only on the 3 rd attack because they ran low on ammunition. ● Colonists – 311 dead ● British – over 1,000 dead

2 nd Continental Congress 1775 ● Olive Branch Petition – July 8, 1775 – Congress sent the Olive Branch Petition to King George trying to return to “the former harmony between England & the Colonies. – King George rejected the offer, declared the colonists as rebels, and ordered a naval blockade along the American coast.