1. The Road to Revolution
& The Sons of Liberty

2. The High Cost of Victory

3. Sugar Act (1764)
The Sugar Act was an early British attempt to raise money from the colonies. The act:
Actually CUT taxes on imports of sugar and molasses
BUT, it gave the British expanded power to combat smuggling (illegal trade that evaded taxes)
Smugglers would now be tried in Vice-Admiralty courts (a judge appoint by Britain and located in Nova Scotia), not by local juries

4. The Stamp Act (1765)

5. Response to the Stamp Act

6. The Stamp Act Congress James Otis (MA) – Called for this
No Virginia delegates (Governor had dismissed the House of Burgesses)

7. Committees of Correspondence
Networks created in opposition to early acts designed to share information across the colonies
Now helped to coordinate the boycott efforts
Organized public protests
Informed people of their liberties as Englishmen

8. Committees of Correspondence
Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson led the first committees
Women also participated, including Mercy Otis Warren
These committees involved people who would become political leaders in the Revolution and the new government after the war.

9. Samuel Adams

10. Early protest were led by colonial leaders like Samuel Adams
The Sons of Liberty
Early protest were led by colonial leaders like Samuel Adams
Workers, shopkeepers, average people joined protests against the Stamp Act
This collection of men was called the “Sons of Liberty”
The group helped lead colonial protest to Stamp Act and other taxation, and eventually, rebellion

11. Repeal of the Stamp Act

12. The Townshend Acts of 1767
In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, which created external duties (taxes on imports into the colonies):
Placed taxes on imports of lead, glass, paper, paint, and tea
Started new ways of collecting taxes to force the colonists to pay
Created new Board of Customs and to punishments for smugglers and others who avoided paying taxes.

13. Response to the Townshend Acts
Colonists immediately began boycotts and protests in response to the Townshend Acts
British send troops to maintain order amidst protests
Boycotts caused British merchants to lose money, and they in turn pressured Parliament
Parliament repealed most of the Townshend Acts on March 5, 1770.
Lifted the Quartering Act (which had required colonists to house and supply British soldiers)
Removed British troops from Boston
HOWEVER, kept a tax on tea

14. The Boston Massacre
Paul Revere – exaggerated engraving

15. The Tea Act

16. Boston Tea Party
Again, LOWERED the cost of tea – but in principle, the colonists were not willing to accept any taxation from the British

17. The Intolerable Acts of 1774
Called the Coercive Acts by the British, designed to punish Massachusetts and regain control of Boston, which the British saw as the hotbed of radicalism in the colonies.
Boston Port Bill – closed the port of Boston until the lost tea had been paid for
Admistration of Justice Act – took away trial by juryof peers
Massachusetts Government Act – disbanded the colonial assembly and outlawed town-hall meetings, put a military government in place in Mass.
Quartering Act – forced Bostonians to house British troops in their homes
Quebec Act – extended the southern boundary of Quebec (Catholics!)

18. First Continental Congress

19. First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress resulted in:
A declaration of rights, including the rights to life, liberty, property, assembly, and trial by jury
A protest of taxation without representation
A protest of the British army in the colonies during peacetime without the colonies’ consent

20. Timeline

21. Rising Tensions

22. Paul Revere’s Ride

23. “Shot Heard Round the World”
April 19, 1775 – minutemen met the British on Lexington Green
A shot was fired from an unknown source
After a brief skirmish, resistance fades
British advance on Concord

24. The Battles of Lexington and Concord