Calhoun Academy of the Arts 4th Grade Trouble Over Taxes Calhoun Academy of the Arts 4th Grade

After the War After the French and Indian War, the British were in a great amount of debt. Before the war, the British government ignored what was happening in the colonies and let them govern themselves, but after the war British Parliament began to pass a series of laws that changed the relationship between the colonies and the British. Because the British fought for the colonist land, they felt that the colonies should have to pay the war debt by paying taxes.

After the War Colonist believed it was their right to decided what taxes should be paid, not the King. The colonists resisted this change through protests and boycotting of British goods

Stamp Act - 1765 Placed a tax on all papers, such as legal documents and newspapers Colonists protested this act with the cry, “No taxation without representation.” meaning that colonists did not have representation in the British Parliament and therefore had no voice in the decision making of taxing the colonies.

Stamp Act - 1765 Colonists wanted to be respected and allowed to make their own decisions. Colonists organized a Stamp Act Congress, which sent a petition to the King, and declared a boycott on British goods. Boycott: refuse to buy

Stamp Act - 1765 This led to the repeal (cancellation) of the Stamp Act The Sons and Daughters of Liberty was an organized group that protested the British taxes. Patrick Henry was a member of Virginia’s colonial assembly that wrote a strong protest to the Stamp Act, stating the rights of the colonists.

Stamp Act Video

Protest Posters

Now you create your own colonial protest poster You are a colonist who wants to protest The Stamp Act and treatment of colonists in your area. Use information from your notes and text book to create a poster protesting The Stamp Act Your poster must include words and illustrations

A Message From King George III

Townshend Act - 1767 Although Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, Great Britain still needed money, to pay off their war debt. King George III and Parliament wanted the American colonists to understand that they had the right to tax them. The Townshend Acts placed a tariff (a tax) on imported British goods such as paper, wool, tea, glass, paint, and lead.

Townshend Acts - 1767 Britain’s goal was to show the colonists who was in charge. The colonists had to pay these taxes, but the people living in Great Britain did not. The Townshend Acts caused new protests in the colonies, and the colonist began to boycott, or refuse to buy the British goods. The boycotts were successful, because British traders lost money. Parliament repealed all the taxes except a tax on tea.

A Message From King George III

The Tea Act - 1773 The Tea Act was not a tax It gave only the British East India Company the right to sell tea in the colonies Colonists believed that Parliament did not have the right to tax tea, and they did not want to be forced to buy it from only a British company. In protest, colonists refused to buy tea from the British East India Company. They even blocked the ships from coming into the port.

The Tea Act - 1773 In Boston, members of the Son’s of Liberty boarded the British ships and threw 342 chests of tea overboard These actions, known as the Boston Tea Party, led Parliament to pass the Coercive Acts, also called the Intolerable Acts John Adams was a Massachusetts leader and member of the Sons of Liberty. He was a strong advocate of independence

Tea Party

Create A Tea Party Invitation

A Message From King George III

The Intolerable Acts - 1774 King George III and Parliament were furious when they heard about the Boston Tea Party. So they passed a series of laws to punish the people of Boston, called the Intolerable Acts. The British named these acts the Intolerable (Coercive) Acts, because they were designed to force (coerce) the colonists to pay for the tea they dumped in the harbor.

Intolerable Acts - 1774 These unbearable punishments under the Intolerable Acts included… quartering British soldiers, give them food and shelter Closing the Boston Harbor Taking away the right of Massachusetts to govern themselves – controlled now by British troops

The Intolerable Acts - 1774 At first colonists formed the Committee of Correspondence to communicate their situations to each other and then sent delegates to a Continental Congress in order to address the problems of the Intolerable Acts. The First Continental Congress established a boycott on all trade with Great Britain and sent a petition to the King

The Intolerable Acts - 1774 The Continental Congress also advised American colonists to arm themselves. This led to the battle of Lexington and Concord and the start of the Revolutionary War.

It’s Too Late to Apologize….

Taxes…Fair? Or UnFair? -Do you think the king’s tax policy was fair? Explain. - -What is meant by “no taxation without representation?” -What might have happened if colonists had been allowed to vote for representatives? -Was it right or wrong for the colonists to rebel against taxes? Explain. -If you had been a colonist, what would you have done differently?

Liberty Kids –Intolerable Acts