1. The Road to Revolution

2. The French and Indian War
American soldiers gain experience, confidence and knowledge of British weaknesses from fighting war.
Proclamation of 1763
Britain left troops in North America
Sugar Act to pay for troops
Proclamation line of 1763

3. The Stamp Act of 1765 Direct tax on goods and services
Stamps required on every legal document, license, newspaper, etc.
Affected everyone, rich or poor
Those who broke law would be tried in vice-admiralty court (not by colonial peers)

4. Stamp Act Protests Samuel Adams Sons of Liberty
Mob action against customs officials
Destroyed the home of Andrew Oliver
Hung effigies of British officials
Destroyed the home of Governor Hutchinson of Boston
Samuel Adams

5. Virginia’s response to Stamp Act
Claimed that Virginians can only be taxed by their own assembly
Britain did not have the right to tax the colonists
Patrick Henry in the Virginia Lower House

6. Stamp Act Congress Representatives from 9 colonies met in N.Y.
First time colonies act as one.
Declaration of Rights and Grievances
Britain did not have the right to tax colonies because colonies were not represented in Parliament.
Ben Franklin encouraged the
Colonies to join together several
Years earlier for defensive purposes.
This symbol was printed in his newspaper.

7. Nonimportation Policy
Merchants in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia agreed to refuse to import and sell British goods.
This is what finally forced Britain to repeal the Stamp Act.

8. Declaratory Act
Britain repeals the Stamp Act, but passes the Declaratory Act.
Asserted Britain’s full right to make laws and tax the colonies
Parliament Building, London

9. Townshend Acts
Parliament passes indirect tax on imports such as glass, paint, paper
3 penny tax on tea

10. British agents seize the Liberty
John Hancock’s ship
Accused of smuggling wine
Led to riots against customs agents
British stationed 2,000 troops in Boston

11. Boston Massacre March 5, 1770
Off duty soldiers took dock work in Boston shipyards.
Worked for less money than local men.
Fistfight broke out between dock workers and soldiers.
Later, mob taunted guards at statehouse
Nervous soldiers fired into crowd.

12. Boston Tea Party
Tea Act to save the British East India Tea Company from bankruptcy.
Gave the Co. a monopoly on tea in colonies.
Dec. 6, 1773 Boston Sons of Liberty dressed as Indians and dumped tea into harbor.

14. Intolerable Acts 1774 Britain shuts down the Port of Boston.
King George III
Britain shuts down the Port of Boston.
Quartering Acts allowed officers to house soldiers in vacated homes and buildings.
General Thomas Gage named new governor of Mass.
Gage imposed martial law on Boston.
General Gage

15. First Continental Congress, Sept., 1774
56 delegates met in Philadelphia.
Drew up the Declaration of Colonial Rights
Supported protests in Mass.
Said if Britain used force, they would take up arms
Agreed to meet again in May of 1775
Carpenters’ Hall, Philadelphia

16. Patriots
Patriots were people who wanted the American colonies to gain their independence from Britain.
They wanted their own country
People in the Americas felt they weren't being treated fairly by the British.
They were being taxed without any say or representation in the British government

17. Loyalists
Not everyone who lived in the American colonies wanted to break away from the British.
There were many people who wanted to stay part of Britain and remain British citizens
Why?
Felt that their lives would be better off if remained under British rule.
Business interests in England

18. Lexington and Concord April, 1775
Colonists were stockpiling weapons.
Gage sent troops to Concord to find and seize stockpile and capture Sam Adams and John Hancock.
Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott rode out to spread the word that 700 Redcoats were headed to Concord.

19. The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
He said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,--
One, if by land, and two, if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm
For the country folk to be up and to arm,"

20. Massacre at Lexington
70 minutemen were lined up to meet the British Regulars.
British commander ordered the colonists to leave.
They began to disperse without laying down arms.
Shot was heard “Shot heard ‘round the world.”

21. Concord, Mass. British marched onto Concord The arsenal was empty.
British marched back
Were attacked at the bridge
Minutemen fired from behind rock walls and trees.
British troops marched back to Boston, harassed by the British the whole way.
Colonial minutemen set up camps in the hills surrounding Boston.

22. Minuteman statue located in Concord, Mass.