1. The Road to Revolution

2. What is a Revolution?
Revolution: the overthrow or drastic change of a government
A sudden, radical and complete change
Most colonists loved being English and felt great loyalty to the King.
What led the English colonists to such a drastic measure as revolution?

3. French and Indian War Who: The British versus the French
Why: the British colonists began moving westward into French territory
The war lasted seven years
Outcome: The British won

4. Consequences of the French and Indian War
The British gained new territory
The war cost a lot of money, putting the British in debt
British soldiers (redcoats) were all over the colonies
Colonists moved westward and began having conflicts with Indians

5. Proclamation of 1763
King George III draws an imaginary line along the Appalachian Mountains and tells colonists they can’t go beyond that line
Colonists get angry

6. Britain in debt
Britain believed the colonists should pay for the French and Indian War
King taxes the colonies
Sugar Act
Stamp Act

7. The Sons of Liberty Led by Sam Adams They protest the new taxes
Claimed they have no voice in Parliament
“No taxation without representation!!”
Colonists begin to boycott British goods

8. The King Responds King George III repeals the Stamp Act
The next month, Parliament passes the Townshend Acts
Taxes glass, paper, paint and tea

9. The Colonists Respond Angry colonists boycott all British goods
The Sons of Liberty stage mock hangings and straw effigies dressed as British officials
They tar and feather British tax collectors
They taunt British soldiers

10. The Boston Massacre British soldiers fire into a crowd killing 5
Soldiers claim it was self-defense
Colonists claim it was murder
John Adams, a Patriot and lawyer, reluctantly defends the soldiers in court

12. Outcome of the Boston Massacre
Propaganda: ideas spread deliberately to further one’s cause
Sam Adams and Paul Revere use the event as propaganda to get people to join the Patriot’s cause
The soldiers received a fair trial and were found not guilty of murder

13. The Boston Tea Party Parliament passes the Tea Act (taxing tea)
The colonists refuse to buy tea
The tea sits on cargo ships in Boston Harbor
On the night of December 16, 1773, Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty dress up as Indians and dump the tea into Boston Harbor

14. King is FURIOUS!!!!
Passes the Intolerable Acts (meant to punish colonists)
No ships can leave Boston
Massachusetts colonists can not hold private meetings
All trials are to be held in England
Passes the Quartering Act: colonists MUST house British soldiers in their homes and pay for their stay

15. First Continental Congress
Each of the colonies send representatives to Philadelphia to debate what to do
They agree to
Boycott British goods
Establish colonial militias

16. Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride
The British soldiers left Boston at night toward Lexington and Concord
Their goal was to seize colonial weapons and catch the colonists off guard
The Sons of Liberty were ready and warned the countryside

18. “One if by land, two if by sea”
They hung two lamps in the Old North Church in Boston
The British were coming by sea (faster)
Revere rode on horseback through the villages hollering “The redcoats are coming! The redcoats are coming!”
He alerted the colonists of the British invasion

19. Lexington The next morning the British arrived in Lexington
70 minutemen were waiting
Suddenly a shot was fired
“The shot heard round the world” and the first shot of the American Revolution
Eight colonists were killed
The British moved on to Concord

20. Concord 300 minutemen were waiting Fighting broke out
The British were forced to retreat back to Boston
73 redcoats killed, 200 wounded/missing

21. Blood shed… but war? Not all colonists wanted revolution
The words and deeds of Patriots like John Adams, Sam Adams, George Washington and Benjamin Franklin would help convince many to see the colonies were at a cross road… submit to the British as second class citizens or fight for independence
It would not be easy and if fought, there would be no turning back