On the Road to Revolution

 After repealing the Stamp Act, Parliament had to raise revenue  Quartering Act not working New York refused to pay to house soldiers  Finance Minister Charles Townshend proposes multi-part plan Townshend Acts Townshend Acts  Suspend New York assembly until New Yorkers agreed to house troops  Placed duties on various imported goods  Townshend believed that these taxes on goods would anger the colonists less than a direct tax like the Stamp Act

 Writs of assistance were used to search homes and businesses for smuggled goods  Samuel Adams’ Sons of Liberty urged colonists to resist British goods Protests were assembled to emphasize displeasure in the colonies  British soldiers were sent to colonial cities to enforce British law & protect customs officials  Standing armies in the colonies became the norm

 Protest turned into a mob riot outside customs house on Kings St. in Boston  5 people die after shots fired by soldiers The Sons of Liberty call them martyrs for freedom  Including Crispus Attucks  Colonists use the event as propaganda to gain support from other colonies against the British  Soldiers did receive a fair trial and were acquitted

 Tea was popular but was smuggled  Parliament passes Tea Act  Boston Tea Party - Colonists disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians and dumped 342 chests of tea in Boston Harbor  The colonists intent was to destroy British property in an effort to show Britain how strongly they opposed taxation without representation

 British government sought to punish the colonists for Boston Tea Party British called the Coercive Acts  Colonists call them Intolerable Acts  Laws not received well in colonies Closed port of Boston until lost tea was paid for Banned committees of correspondence Allowed British to house troops wherever needed British officials accused of crimes in the colonies would stand trial in Britain  Parliament appointed a military General as Governor of Mass. to enforce the acts

 All colonies except Georgia meet as the 1 st Continental Congress  Massachusetts John Adams  Virginia Patrick Henry  Outspoken defenders of colonial rights (quoted above) George Washington  Debated & rejected a plan to compromise & reconcile with Great Britain “The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, & New Englanders are no more…I am not a Virginian, but an American.”

Decisions of the First Continental Congress Drafted petition of grievances to repeal all laws since 1763Drafted petition of grievances to repeal all laws since 1763 –Believed laws violated “natural rights” Voted to boycott British goods & ban all trade with Britain until Intolerable Acts are repealedVoted to boycott British goods & ban all trade with Britain until Intolerable Acts are repealed Prepared decision to form militias in the areaPrepared decision to form militias in the area Parliament considers the colonists in Spring 1775Parliament considers the colonists in Spring 1775 –King rejected reconciliation & voted to send more troops to the colonies

April 18, 1775 – 700 troops sent to Boston April 18, 1775 – 700 troops sent to Boston Troops goal was to capture colonial leaders (John Hancock & Sam Adams) & Concord, MA Boston used the committee & get word of Boston invasion beforehand Used riders to send messages from town to town Wentworth Cheswell

The Midnight Riders Boston Committee of Correspondence sent riders to warn colonists of British invasion Paul ReverePaul Revere William DawesWilliam Dawes Boston Committee of Correspondence sent riders to warn colonists of British invasion Paul ReverePaul Revere William DawesWilliam Dawes

 British tried to seize colonists’ arms & ammunition  Minutemen boasted they could be a moment’s notice  The colonial militia drove the British back to Boston  Fighting signaled the start of the American Revolution

Battle of Bunker Hill  Tension was brewing in Boston 1775  Colonial militia had seized Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill and fortified Breed’s Hill  Actually fought on Breed’s Hill

Battle of Bunker Hill  William Prescott, “Don’t Fire until you see the whites of their eyes”  Dr. James Warren, member of the Sons of Liberty, was killed  English win battle at huge cost (1,000 killed or wounded) Colonial militia was holding its own against the world’s most powerful army.Colonial militia was holding its own against the world’s most powerful army.