1. AMERICAN HISTORY

2.  GRENVILLE AND THE SUGAR ACT  French and Indian War left Britain with large war debt  Colonists thought British troops were there to intimidate them  British PM George Grenville decided the colonists should directly pay for troops  Grenville decided to tax the colonies to raise money

3.  Sugar Act  Tax on sugar and molasses imported from the French and West Indies  Northern merchants feared the tax would hurt the rum industry  “No taxation without representation”

4.  THE STAMP ACT BRINGS PROTESTS  Stamp Act 1765  Required a government stamp on all legal documents, such as contracts and licenses  Newspapers, almanacs, and even printed sermons and playing cards had to have official stamps  First direct tax on American people

5.  Rep. Patrick Henry (VA) said colonists should only pay taxes voted on by the people of VA  Stamp Act Congress (October 1765)  Parliament did not have the right to tax  “Sons of Liberty” organized protests  Group originally made up of unskilled workers, artisans, and small farmers  Merchants and lawyers joined  Women joined as Daughters of Liberty

6.  Boycotts organized  British merchants asked Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act  Quartering Act (1765)—colonists must find quarters, or living space, for British troops stationed in America

7.  TOWNSHEND ACTS  1767—Minister Charles Townshend proposed a tax on lead, paint, paper, glass, and tea that were imported from Great Britain  Writs of Assistance—gave soldiers the right to search colonial homes for smuggled goods— without a warrant  This violated a person’s right to privacy

8.  Colonists formed groups against importation  Most of the Townshend Acts repealed in March 1770  THE BOSTON MASSACRE  Seeing British troops on city streets reminded colonists of British control

9.  March 5, 1770—A crowd of colonists began throwing snowballs at the sentry guarding the customs house  British soldiers were brought in to help  Workers taunted the soldiers—known as redcoats—calling them “lobster scoundrels”  Someone shouted “FIRE”  British soldiers opened fire

10.  5 people were killed including an African American sailor named Crispus Attucks (potential leader of the colonists)  This event called the Boston Massacre  Colonists called it an intentional attack on civilians  Soldiers were put on trial for murder but released  Troops moved out of Boston

11.  Samuels Adams introduced “Committees of Correspondence”  Spread the news of British injustices from colony to colony  THE TEA ACT AND THE INTOLERABLE ACTS  The Tea Act caused the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773

12.  INTOLERABLE ACTS  --closed the port of Boston  --gave the royal governor more power in MA  --imposed rules for quartering soldiers  THE QUEBEC ACT  --expanded the province of Quebec south to the Ohio River & west to the Mississippi River

13.  --The Roman Catholic Church would be legal and French Catholics were guaranteed their rights  Colonists alarmed  Settling on the western frontier would be limited

14.  September 1774 – Philadelphia, PA  Patrick Henry, George Washington, John & Samuel Adams, John Jay  Each colony would have 1 vote during the Congress  “The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginians but an American” – Patrick Henry

15.  Colonists realized that had to work together  Declaration of Rights  --accepted Parliament’s right to regulate trade  --called for the removal of British troops  --repeal of taxes and the Intolerable Acts  Congress agreed not to import or use British goods

16.  --stopped exporting goods to Britain  --created “minuteman”—colonial soldiers ready to resist British attacks with short notice.  Congress agreed to meet again in the Spring of 1775

17.  Minutemen in MA were drilling and stockpiling weapons and gunpowder.  British General Thomas Gage was becoming more hostile toward the colonists  April 1775—King George III ordered Gage to arrest colonial leaders—especially Samuel Adams and John Hancock—and capture colonial gunpowder and weapons

18.  Gage planned a surprise attack on the night of April 18, 1775  At 10:00 pm, 700 British troops crossed the Charles River in small boats and set out for Concord  SPREADING THE ALARM  Ride of Paul Revere and William Dawes

19.  LEXINGTON AND CONCORD  Militia was waiting for the British at Lexington  70 minutemen vs. 700 British redcoats  British leader Major Pitcairn shouted at the colonists: “Ye villains, ye rebels, disperse!”  A shot rang out from somewhere on the Lexington green

20.  8 minutemen were killed  No one is sure who fired the first shots of the Revolutionary War – Colonists or British  Minutemen were more successful at Concord  British casualties far greater than colonial casualties

21. TTHE SHOT HEARD ‘ROUND THE WORLD JJuly 4, 1837—Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a poem for the dedication of the Battle Monument at Concord EEmerson wrote: “Here once the embattled farmers stood/And fired the shot heard ‘round the world.” TTHE END