1. Boston Massacre

2. Boston Massacre Background
British soldiers stationed in Boston to enforce Townsend Act
Compete for jobs w/ colonists
Fights often break out
Colonists march on customs house in downtown Boston

3. The Massacre
Colonists throw snowballs, rocks, and sticks at Soldiers guarding Customs House
Shots fired into crowd
5 Colonists Die (Crispus Attucks was the first to be shot)
Used as Propaganda by Sons of Liberty

6. Uneasy Calm 1770 - 1773 Townsend Acts repealed (except on tea)
Trade resumes between colonies and England with the few taxes that remained, accepted
Resistance moves underground
Calm ends with Boston Tea Party

7. Boston Tea Party Background
East India Tea Company faced bankruptcy
Appeals to Parliament for assistance
Granted a monopoly & tax exemption
‘Conspiracy theory’ ascribed to in colonies
Immediate resistance
Sale of East Indian Tea prevented
Ships turned back, except Boston

8. Boston Tea Party (cont.)
Mass. Governor orders no ship could leave port w/o unloading
Resistance groups, lead by Sam Adams determined to prevent tea’s unloading
‘mohawked’ colonists board ships and dump the tea into the harbor (in full view of cheering crowd)
British response-The Intolerable Acts

10. The Intolerable Acts March 1774 Parliament passes Coercive Acts:
Port of Boston is closed
British officers to be tried in England for major crimes
Quartering Act modified and renewed
Self-government greatly reduced in Mass.

11. The Intolerable Acts (cont.)
The Quebec Act same time
Extended Quebec province south to Ohio River
Allowed French-Canadians own legal system as well as legality of Cath. Church
Americans viewed this as way to limit westward expansion and destroy Protestantism

12. The Intolerable Acts (cont.)
Intended to show the colonists that England still held authority
Intended to divide and control the colonies, instead united and tempered Americans against the crown