The Road to Revolution King George III

The Roots of the Revolution

The Revolutionary War I. The Roots of the Revolution A. The Tea Act 1. In May 1773 Parliament passed the Tea Act. a. The law was enacted to help out the East India Company. b. The company needed the help of Parliament to make profits. 2. The East India Company was authorized to sell its tea directly to American retailers, eliminating the need for middlemen. 3. Lord North (prime minister) thought that the Americans would be glad about the reduced price of tea.

4. Instead, the Americans were upset that Parliament had given the East India Company the right to set up a monopoly. 5. The American merchants worried that Parliament would give other favored companies monopoly power. 6. People began to protest the Tea Act. 7. In 1772, the English began to pay the salary of colonial governors. a. The Americans were distrustful of the English. b. They feared that the English were preparing to get rid of local self-government in the colonies

B. The Boston Tea Party 1. When the East India Company’s tea began to arrive in the colonies, protests reached new levels. 2. In Charleston, an angry crowd persuaded the company agent to resign his position. a. The tea from the ship was unloaded and stored in a warehouse, but it could not be sold. 3. Ships headed toward New York and Philadelphia did not unload; they sailed back to England. 4. In Boston, The Dartmouth, landed in Boston Harbor.

5. Thomas Hutchinson, governor of Massachusetts, was determined that the ship would have to pay its duties in the harbor. 6. Hutchinson would not allow the company agent to resign. The ships were also not allowed to leave the harbor. 7. Crowds of radicals were mad that the ships were not allowed to leave.

8. On December 16, Sam Adams led a group of the Sons of Liberty, disguised as Mohawk Indians, to dump the tea of three ships overboard.

C. The Coercive Acts 1. When news of the Boston Tea Party reached England, Parliament passed a series of laws to punish the colonies, particularly Massachusetts. 2. The Coercive Acts was a collection of three laws. a. The Boston Port Act: No ship could enter or leave Boston Harbor until the town had paid for the tea dumped during the Tea Party. b. The Administration of Justice Act gave the governor the right to transfer trials of soldiers and royal officials accused of serious crimes outside the colonies.

c. The Massachusetts Government Act: Increased the governor’s power by giving him control over town meetings. Also replaced the elected colonial council with one appointed by the king. 3. Another law ordered colonists to quarter British soldiers in their homes. 4. General Thomas Gage replaces Thomas Hutchinson as governor. 5. The Americans called the Coercive Acts the Intolerable Acts.

General Thomas Gage Commander of the British Forces in the Colonies and Governor of the Colony of Massachusetts

II. Shots Heard Round the World A. The First Continental Congress 1. Lord North had hoped that by punishing Massachusetts the other colonies could benefit. a. He assumed that they were not unified. He was wrong. 2. The Colonies created a Committee of Correspondence to keep each colony informed of what was happening elsewhere. 3. Massachusetts called for a meeting of colonial leaders in June 1774. a. The meeting took place in Philadelphia. b. First Continental Congress. All colonies but Georgia sent representatives. c. The Congress condemned the Intolerable Acts.

The First Continental Congress met at Carpenter’s Hall in Philadelphia. June 1774

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Carpenter’s Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania June 2010

d. They passed resolutions repealing British attempts to collect money in the Colonies. e. The delegates denounced maintaining British armies in the Colonies. f. The delegates did not call for independence. They sent off a ‘loyal address’ to King George III asking him to help their cause for rights. B. Lexington and Concord 1. In Boston, General Gage and his Redcoats exerted military law. 2. Citizens calling themselves Patriots took over the role of the former legislature. 3. Militias formed in the towns and countryside surrounding Boston.

a. The militias were comprised of Minutemen. 4. Massachusetts was declared in a state of rebellion. 5. Gage sent 700 troops to Concord to seize weapons stored there. a. They were also given permission to arrest Sam Adams and John Hancock in Lexington. 6. After the troops left Boston, Paul Revere and William Dawes took off on horseback to warn Concord. a. After they had made it to Lexington, they were captured, but Dr. Samuel Prescott took over for them and made it to Concord. 7. The British reached Lexington at dawn and found themselves facing 70 American minutemen. 8. A shot was fired and a brief battle ensued, killing 8 Americans.

9. The British then moved on to Concord, occupying the town and destroying the American supplies.

10. On the way back to Boston, the Americans ambushed the Redcoats, killing 273 of them while suffering fewer than 100 deaths themselves. a. The Revolutionary War had begun. C. Breed’s Hill 1. Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys captured Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. There they captured cannons. 2. On June 16, the Americans occupied Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill. 3. They fortified their position and bombarded the British in Boston. 4. General Howe arrived in Massachusetts. 5. On June 17, Howe ferried 1500 Redcoats to attack Breed’s Hill.

General William Howe

6. Gen. Howe underestimated the American soldiers. 7. The Americans fired upon the advancing Redcoats from their fortified redoubt (fortress) only when the British were very close. a. General Prescott told them not to fire ‘until you see the whites of their eyes.’ 8. It took the British three tries to advance on the American fortification. a. The Americans ran out of ammunition. They began to fill their muskets with nails and pieces of glass. b. Over 1000 British lost their lives; 100 Americans. 9. The British won the Battle of Breed’s (Bunker) Hill. The Americans gained some confidence of their ability to beat the British.