From Protest to Rebellion

A Dispute Over Tea During the early 1770’s, protests in America began to calm down but the anger continued to grow to a point where many spoke of an armed rebellion In 1773, parliament passed the Tea Act to help the British East India Company regain lost income, while the Tea Act actually lowered the price of Tea for many it required that all Tea be shipped to England before America where heavy taxes could be added In December of 1773, a group of colonists called the “Sons of Liberty” protested the tax by boarding British Tea ships in Boston Harbor and dumped 90,000 pounds of tea into the water costing the British East India Company drastic amounts of money, the event became known as The Boston Tea Party

The Intolerable Acts The Boston Tea Party outraged the British government, King George III called for tough action against the people of Boston as punishment Parliament passed 4 laws/acts that were so harsh, colonists began to arm themselves and train as a militia The 1st act closed Boston Harbor, the 2nd allowed the Governor of Massachusetts to act on the King’s behalf against his citizens, the 3rd required that all court cases against Americans be held in English courts with English punishments, the 4th act required the Quartering Act be carried out as well as enacting martial law in Boston The other American colonies attempted to help Boston by sneaking supplies and weapons to it’s citizens In September of 1774 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, the 1st Continental Congress was held to demand that England repeal the Intolerable Acts or face military action

The Shot Heard Round The World The British government had no intention of meeting the demands of the 1st Continental Congress, instead it chose increase military control of the 13 colonies In response the colonists began to arm themselves and form new militia units called “Minutemen” – soldiers who could be ready to fight in a minute’s notice On April 18, 1775 700 Redcoats were sent to capture colonial leaders and their weapons in the town of Concord Massachusetts, as the troops left Boston the Sons of Liberty sent warnings to the Minutemen that the attack was coming by hiding lit lanterns in the steeple of the Old North Church 5 miles from Concord, the Redcoats were met by 77 Minutemen in the town of Lexington, when the Minutemen were ordered to leave and refuse the first shots of the Revolution were fired – this is known as the “Shot Heard Round The world” As the Redcoats advanced on Concord, 400 additional Minutemen waited for a chance to defeat the British, The Minutemen win at Concord and chase the Redcoats all the way back to Boston