1. From Protest to Rebellion
The Boston Tea Party

2. The Tea Act
During the early 1770s, the colonies’ protests quieted down
However, in 1773 England passed the Tea Act
The act was meant to help the British East India Company and actually lowered tea prices
Colonists were angry because this created a monopoly and hurt colonial merchants. In short, it kept other country’s tea out of the colonies.
The colonists responded with the Boston Tea Party

3. The Boston Tea Party – 1773 Organized by the Sons of Liberty
Sons of Liberty was an organization formed to protest the abuse of the colonies by the Crown.
Famous members: Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere.
Many ships in the harbor full of tea; the colonists, in protest of the Tea Act, refused to unload the ships. Sons of Liberty dressed like Native Americans, and dumped most of the tea into the harbor.

5. The Intolerable/Coercive Acts
Britain’s response to the Boston Tea Party was to pass the Intolerable Acts
Port of Boston closed
Increased power of the royal governors
Abolished the upper house of the Massachusetts legislature
Strengthened the Quartering Act
The Intolerable Acts as Approved by King George III

6. The First Continental Congress
The colonies were outraged at the Intolerable Acts and many people wanted to help Boston
The Committee of Correspondence organized the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1774
The Congress accomplished:
Demanded a repeal of the Intolerable Acts
Declared colonies had a right to tax and govern themselves
Called for the training of militias
A new boycott of British goods

7. The Midnight Ride
The British government had no intention of meeting colonial demands
British general Thomas Gage was going to capture colonial arms in Concord, Massachusetts but the colonists learned of the plan
Paul Revere and William Dawes rode through the night to warn the minutemen to be ready to confront the British
A Statue of a Minuteman

8. The Battle of Lexington and Concord
When the British arrived in Lexington, Massachusetts, they were confronted by the minutemen on April 18th 1775
Nobody knew who shot first, but this was the first battle of the American Revolution
This is referred to as “The Shot Heard Around the World”
Another battle took place near Concord. The British ultimately retreated
A Portrait of the Battle of Lexington Created Years Later