1. Objectives
Explain the conflict between Native Americans and British settlers in 1763.
Describe how the colonists responded to British tax laws.
Describe what happened during the Boston Massacre.

2. Why did the French and Indian War increase friction within the colonies and with Britain?
The end of the war brought celebration. But it did not bring peace. New conflicts soon threatened to tear the colonies apart.
Fighting with
Native
Americans
Disputes with
the British
government

3. With the French defeat in the Seven Years’ War, Britain gained vast new lands in North America.
Native Americans
saw a new threat
to their lands.
Colonists saw
endless room
for settlement.

4. Pontiac, the leader of the Ottawa nation, took action to stop settlers from pushing farther west.
Pontiac and his allies launched a bloody attack on British forts and towns. The British responded with equally brutal attacks against Native Americans.
The British defeated Pontiac in 1764, but thousands of settlers and Native Americans had been killed.

5. This was known as Pontiac’s Rebellion

6. Hoping to avoid further wars, the British issued the Proclamation of 1763.
It forbid colonists from settling west of a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains.

7. Frontier settlers who had already moved west were told to move back
Frontier settlers who had already moved west were told to move back. Colonists could settle only east of the line.
Colonists
Native
Americans
Colonists
Appalachian Mountains
West
East

8. The Proclamation of 1763 angered many colonists, who believed they had the right to settle wherever they wanted.
Proclamation
of 1763
The colonists largely ignored the proclamation, and Britain found it impossible to enforce. Tensions rose.

9. Colonists increasingly
Colonists had fought
and died to help
win the war.
Colonists expected Britain
to be grateful for the
their help.
Colonists were
loyal subjects; they
expected to have the
same rights as other
British citizens.
Colonists increasingly
believed their rights
were being
threatened.

10. expected the colonists
The war had put
Britain in debt.
Britain continued to
spend money on
troops to protect
colonists from
Native Americans.
British leaders
expected the colonists
to help pay expenses.
British leaders
were concerned
about paying for
their costly
colonies.

11. To raise money, British leaders imposed a series of new laws forcing the colonists to share the financial burden.
Sugar Act
1764
Put a duty on products such as molasses
Quartering Act
1765
Required colonists to house British troops
Stamp Act
Required colonists to buy special stamps for many products and activities

12. The colonists were outraged, and protests quickly spread throughout the colonies.
The Virginia House of Burgesses and other colonial assemblies declared that they alone—the only places where the colonists were represented—had the right to tax the colonists.
Merchants organized boycotts against British goods.

13. The Congress sent a petition to the king and Parliament,
Of all the new laws, the Stamp Act was the most unpopular. Delegates from nine colonies formed the Stamp Act Congress to take action.
The Congress sent a petition
to the king and Parliament,
demanding the repeal
of the tax laws.

14. Parliament did repeal the Stamp Act.
But at the same time it passed the Declaratory Act , stating that Parliament had total authority over the colonies.
King and
Parliament
Colonies

15. More new laws, and more protests, followed.
The Townshend Acts taxed goods brought into the colonies. Because so many colonists objected to the taxes, and to the writs of assistance that enforced them, Parliament repealed all but the tax on tea.
Anger on both sides soon led to a bloody confrontation.

16. Opposition to the Writs
James Otis
He represented Boston merchants in the court case that attempted to block renewal of the writs. Otis argued that the writs violated the colonists’ natural rights, noting:
“A man’s house is his castle; and whilst he is quiet, he is as well guarded as a prince in his castle. This writ, if it should be declared legal, would totally annihilate this privilege.”
After a harsh attack against a Boston Customs official published in a newspaper, the official found Otis, and beat him severely with a cane. For the remainder of his life, Otis was subject to bouts of temporary insanity, and was killed by lightning in 1783.
Otis became one of the earliest opposition leaders to British mercantile policies, arguing (unsuccessfully) against renewal of the writs of assistance in colonial court. John Adams, a young lawyer in the crowd watching the proceedings, credited Otis as the first act of resistance to British policy.
However, Otis was unable to maintain the position of leadership he’d established in this case. While he was one of the founders of the Committees of Correspondence in Massachusetts, and one of the leaders of the colony’s opposition to the Townshend Duties,
James Otis

17. In 1770, an angry crowd surrounded a group of soldiers in Boston.
Frightened, the soldiers fired, killing five people.

18. The colonist version The British version
Almost immediately after the Boston Massacre, artists on both sides of the Atlantic tried to interpret it in ways that made the event look more favorable in their eyes. For example, Revere’s engraving, at left shows the British firing into the crowd of unarmed civilians. The British interpretation, at right shows the British soldiers being attacked by the colonists, with Crispus Attucks leading the way advancing against the soldiers and holding a club. Without photographic evidence of the event, it meant that anyone could (and did) interpret the event the way they wanted.
The engraving on the left, created by Paul Revere, demonstrates the colonial view of the massacre, with the British appearing to be the aggressors. The painting on the right, done by a British artist, shows the colonists armed and the British soldiers more in a defensive posture.
Without photographic evidence both sides could interpret the event to their advantage.

19. John Adams, a colonial leader, defended the soldiers, believing they should receive a fair trial. Still, the Boston Massacre became a rallying point for the colonists.
Leaders from different colonies began exchanging information and ideas, helping to unite the colonists against the British.
Committees of
Correspondence