1. The
Road to
Revolution
King George III

2. The Roots
of the
Revolution

6. 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.

7. 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

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

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

17. 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.

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

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

21. 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.

22. 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.

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

24. 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.

25. General William Howe

27. 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.