Controlling the Colonies

Quick review:

French and Indian War is over. Almost…

France lost lands in North America.

Spanish gets some land.

Britain is in debt- war is expensive!

Colonists are unified!

Colonists settle Ohio River Valley

Native Americans resist the colonists settling.

Pontiac’s Rebellion

Pontiac, leader of the Ottowa, forms an alliance of western Native

Americans. May 1763- attacks British forts and settlements.

Destroyed 6 forts, killed 2000 settlers. What should they do?

Retaliation

Attacked with equal viciousness. Even killed those that didn’t attack

them. Yikes.

Defeated the Native Americans at Fort Pitt, fought another year.

War is officially over 1764.

Proclamation of 1763

The British Government realized that maybe more war isn’t such a

great idea. Issues the Proclamation of 1763- bans colonists from

settling west of the Appalachian Mountains.

What if they already lived west of the line?

Move! Get to the east side.

How do the Colonists feel?

Not good! They felt they were entitled to live wherever they

wanted.

Proclamation was pretty much ignored, since it was impossible to

enforce.

History Nerd Moment!

This is the original Proclamation of 1763!!

I saw it!

Think as a Colonist.

Ok, the war is over. How do you feel about yourselves as a group?

Are you proud? Do you care? Are you feeling more united than you

were when the Albany Plan failed?

Colonists:

They were proud of their contributions! Tens of thousands served in

the war, thousands died in the war. MA alone lost 1,500+ men.

Expect that Britain will be grateful.

Expect a minimum rise in taxes- Remember, war is expensive!

Colonists:

Still not super unified BUT things are changing.

Identify themselves as British subjects. Still follow the king.

They start to have more in common with each other than they do

with the British though.

Now think like the British:

They have a ton of debt. (Have I mentioned that war is

expensive??)

Debt keeps growing- have to keep troops in N. America to make

sure France doesn’t stage a takeover.

Who should pay for all of these costs?

The Colonies, of course!

So, how should they make their money?

Taxes!We’re going to make another foldable. Please make it look like this:

Name

The Road to Revolution

Proclamation of 1763

The Sugar Act The Quartering Act

The Stamp Act Writs of Assistance

The Tea Act The Intolerable Acts

The Sugar Act

1764- Put a duty, or import tax, on several goods. Including

molasses. Think back to the triangle trade- why is this a big deal?

This actually CUT the tax, but…they started enforcing it.

Also put harsh punishments on smugglers.

What do you think about this?? Fair or unfair?

The Quartering Act

The British Govt is trying to save some money, came up with a great

idea…

There are about 10,000 soldiers in the colonies that need places to

stay.

Act required colonists to quarter, or house, troops. AND provide

them with food and supplies.

Why is this a big deal?

Think back to the English Bill of Rights. This is in the section talking

about all the horrible things King James did. “By raising and keeping

a standing army within this kingdom in time of peace without

consent of Parliament, and quartering soldiers contrary to law;”

If the war is over, why do they need such a big army?

If its illegal for the King to require British citizens to quarter troops why

is he doing it to British citizens in the colonies?

The Stamp Act

1765. Colonists have to pay for special stamps on all paper goods.

This isn’t just letters. Make a list:

Newspapers, wills, licenses, insurance policies, land titles, contracts,

even playing cards!

How did the Colonists react?

Colonists hung dummies dressed as stamp agents.

Why? What purpose did this serve?

Patrick Henry

Member of the House of Burgesses. Said that only

Virginia could decide what taxes it should have.

Inspires a boycott- an organized decision to refuse to

buy certain products.

Writs of Assistance

Customs officers are allowed to make searches WITHOUT saying what they are looking for.

Colonists felt their rights were being violated… do you agree?

Charles Townshend, the guy in charge of the British Treasury, wanted to weaken colonial

assemblies.

The Boston Massacre

The protests against the Quartering Act and boycott of British goods are working! All of the

Townshend duties are repealed by Parliament, EXCEPT the one on tea. But they didn’t

work fast enough.

March 5, 1770: A crowd of people is gathered in Boston. They shout at the soldiers, and

throw rocks at them. The soldiers fire into the crowd, leaving 5 dead and 6 wounded. The

first martyr of the war: Crispus Attucks, an African American sailor.

Committees of Correspondence

Leaders want to stay in touch with people in other colonies. Samuel Adams, cousin of

John, starts the Committees of Correspondence– they wrote letters and pamphlets to

spread word whenever Britain tried to enforce unpopular acts.

Worked to further unite the colonies.

https://www.gilderlehrman.org/content/paul-reveres-engraving-boston-massacre-1770

The Tea Act

Everytime they took a drink of tea, colonists were being taxed without their consent.

1773- Passed the Tea Act to help the British East India Company. The Tea Act lowered the

price of tea by allowing it to be shipped directly to the colonies, instead of going to Britain

first, like the Navigation Acts said. So what’s the problem??

The BEIC now has a monopoly on British tea in the colonies.

Smugglers can’t compete with the lower prices.

And they’re annoyed at being taxed without consent.

The Boston Tea Party

A group of men, called the Sons of Liberty, organized in port cities to stop BEIC tea from

being unloaded. They threatened merchants who were going to buy it. In MA, Gov.

Thomas Hutchinson decided to make sure the tea WOULD be unloaded.

Sons of Liberty weren’t happy about this. Dec. 6, 1773: Dressed as Indians, they boarded

the ships and threw 342 cases of tea into the harbor. They destroyed more than 90,000

pounds of tea. That’s around $1,700,000 today!!

The Boston Tea Party enraged KG3. He passed even harsher laws to get back at the

people of MA, especially Boston.

The Intolerable Acts.

4 parts of the Intolerable Acts

1. Close the port of Boston

How are merchants supposed to make money?

How do people get goods in or out of the colony?

2. Increase the power of the Royal Governor.

3. Cut the power of town meetings.

If you are accused of a crime, like murdering a British official, you can be sent to Britain for

trial. How likely are you to get a fair trial?

4. Strengthened the Quartering Act.

The Quebec Act

Claimed land between Ohio and Missouri Rivers as part of Canada; took away western

lands of many colonies, blocker further movement west. Kind of like a more enforced

Proclamation of 1763.

How do the colonists react?

They tried to help….another step towards unity!

Sent food and supplies.

Committees of Correspondence organized a group to discuss what to do next.

First Continental Congress

Met in Philadelphia in September and October 1774.

Who came: Everyone but Georgia.

John Adams, Sam Adams, George Washington, Patrick Henry

What: Demanded the repeal of the Intolerable Acts. Declared that colonists can tax and

govern themselves. Said they could train militias. Called for a new boycott if their

demands weren’t met.