1. Building Colonial Unity

2. The Seizing of The Liberty
The colonists were outraged when the British seized a ship owned by John Hancock called The Liberty.
The British believed that the ship was being use to smuggle in goods that would be taxed under the Townsend Acts.
John Hancock – owner of The Liberty

3. The Fate of The Liberty
The British refused to release the ship to Hancock even though he was cleared of any suspicions of smuggling.
The ship was taken to Rhode Island where it was refitted to be used as a ship in the British Navy. The Colonists were so angered by this, a mob burned the ship.
Modern day replica of The Liberty that sails in the Boston Harbor

4. The Boston Massacre
The people of Boston were extremely irritated when a British regiment was sent to their city.
Tensions escalated on March 5, when a fight broke out between the British soldiers and the colonists.
A British soldier tried to calm down the crowd, but they ignored him and pushed their way down to the Custom House on King Street.

5. The Boston Massacre – 2
When one of the soldiers was knocked to the ground, confusion over took the crowd.
A soldier fired a shot, resulting in three colonists being shot and killed. Two colonists died later from their wounds.
A man named Crispus Attucks was one of the victims of the event that would be called the Boston Massacre by the colonists.

6.
This chromolithograph by John Bufford prominently features a man believed to be Crispus Attucks.

7. The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770, when British soldiers fired into a crowd on King Street in Boston. This is the Boston Gazette's obituary of four of the men who died: Samuel Gray, Samuel Maverick, James Caldwell, and Crispus Attucks. An additional victim, Patrick Carr, died several days later.

8. The Aftermath
The soldiers were arrested and tried for murder. They were defended by John Adams. Six of the soldiers were acquitted and two were found guilty of manslaughter.
John Adams

9. The Aftermath – 2
The Boston Massacre was used as propaganda by the Sons of Liberty.
Samuel Adams put up posters and Paul Revere made an engraving of the event that was sold.

11. What is Bias???
a tendency to believe that some people, ideas, etc., are better than others that usually results in treating some people unfairly

12. Was Paul Revere’s engraving biased?
If this were a British engraving….how might it look different and what would they have titled it?

13. Boston Massacre

14. Committees of Correspondence
In an effort to unify the colonists against Britain, the Sons of Liberty started Committees of Correspondence.
They circulated writings detailing the actions of Britain.

15. Committees of Correspondence Correspondence

16. The Tea Act of 1773
The British Parliament passed the Tea Act in an effort to save the East India Tea Company.
The Tea Act allowed:
The company to ship tea to the colonies without having to pay taxes on it
The company could sell directly to shop owners at a lower price than other tea merchants

17. The Boston Tea Party
The colonists of Boston were not happy when three ships carrying tea from the East India Company arrived in Boston Harbor.
The Royal Governor ordered the tea to be unloaded.
On December 16, 1773, the Sons of Liberty dressed up as Indians and dumped the tea into the Boston Harbor.
The people of Boston celebrated in the streets.

18. The Boston Tea Party

19. The Boston Tea Party - 2

20. Boston Tea Party

21. The Coercive Acts
In an effort to punish the citizens of Boston, King George III and Parliament passed the Coercive Acts.
The Coercive Acts:
Closed Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for
Banned all town meetings
Allowed for officers accused of crimes to be tried in another city or in Britain
Forced Bostonians to quarter soldiers in their homes

22. The Colonists’ Anger Grows
The closing of the harbor prevented food and other supplies from arriving in Boston.
The colonists felt that their rights were being violated because there was supposed to be no quartering of soldiers in private homes and no standing army during peace time.
The colonists nicknamed these acts the Intolerable Acts.

23. (aka The Intolerable Acts)
Coercive Acts
(aka The Intolerable Acts)

24. The Quebec Act
The colonists irritation with the British grew when they gave Quebec the area west of the Appalachian and north of the Ohio River ignoring colonial claims to the area