The Road to Revolution,

1763-1775

The Road to Revolution1763-1775

THEME:The American Revolution occurred because the American colonists, who had long been developing a strong sense of autonomy and self-government, furiously resisted British attempts to impose tighter imperial controls and higher taxes after the end of the French and Indian War in 1763. The sustained conflict over political authority and taxation, enhanced by American agitators and British bungling, gradually moved Americans from asserting fights within the British Empire to openly warring with the mother country.

Stamp Act protestA Boston crowd burns bundles of the special watermarked paper intended for use as stamps. (Library of Congress)

Stamp Act protest

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STAMP ACT PROTESTS IN MARYLAND

• Sugar Act of 1764 – control trade b/w colonies and West Indies

• Stamp Act of 1765 A DIRECT TAX

Quartering Act of 1765 – troops from Fr&Ind War• Townsend Acts of 1767- INDIRECT duty tax, esp.on tea• March 5, 1770 – “Boston Massacre”• “Intolerable Acts” of 1774 – targeted Boston• April 1775, Lexington and Concord

Impending Storm

NOTEWORTHY:

The Townshend Act only collected £259 for the Crown, while it cost the

Crown £170,000 to enforce it.

Britain suspended all the taxes, except for the tax on tea.

Boston MassacreShortly after this incident, one Bostonian observed that "unless there is some great alteration in the state of things, the era of the independence of the colonies is much nearer than I once thought it, or now wish it." (Library of Congress)

Boston Massacre

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Colonial Resistance

• Stamp Act Congress of 1765 – attempt at colonial unity• 1772 – Sam Adams forms first Committee of

Correspondence• “non-importation” and “tar and feathers”• Dec. 16, 1773 – Boston Tea Party• First Continental Congress called in 1774-complete boycott• April 1775 Colonial Militia fight at Lexington & Concord

The Edenton Ladies' Tea PartyIn October 1774, fifty-one women gathered at Edenton, North Carolina, and declared it their "duty" to support the boycotting of all British imports. Nevertheless, the British man who drew this cartoon chose to satirize the event as an unruly "tea party." (Library of Congress)

The Edenton Ladies' Tea Party

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The Alternative of Williamsburg by Philip Dawe, 1775In this cartoon, drawn by Philip Dawe in 1775, armed patriots in Williamsburg, Virginia, obtain a merchant's written agreement not to import British goods. The "alternative" is the containers of tar and feathers hanging in the background. (Library of Congress )

MARYLAND GAZETTE

The Alternative of Williamsburg by Philip Dawe, 1775

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TEA ACT PROTEST IN MARYLAND

• Burning of the Peggy Stuart 1774

• Primary Document

Maryland Gazette

Boston Tea PartyIn this 1775 drawing of the Boston Tea Party, bare-chested Americans, their hair pulled back Indian-fashion, pour tea into the harbor. The British lion appears as the figurehead of the tea ship, in case the true object of the protest was in doubt. The artist also added a large crowd of colonists content to watch rather than do anything to prevent this destruction of private property. (Library of Congress)

Boston Tea Party

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Map: The First Battles in the War for Independence, 1775

The First Battles in the War for Independence, 1775This map shows the British march to Concord and the routes taken by the three Americans who alerted the countryside of the enemy's approach. Although Paul Revere was captured by the British and did not complete his ride, he is the best remembered and most celebrated of the nightriders who spread the alarm.

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Second Continental Congress

Independence vs.

• John Adams• Appoints General

Washington head of Continental Congress

• Prints currency• Sends Benjamin Franklin

to France• Battle of Bunker Hill

Reconciliation• William Franklin• John Dickinson• “Olive Branch Petition”

Rejected by George III, who ordered a blockade of the colonies

http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/period.htm

Battle of Breeds Hill(AKA Bunker Hill)

http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/42bunker/42visual1.htm

CASUALTIES:British: out of 2,200 troops, 268 British soldiers and officers KIA, 828 WIA. Americans: 115 KIA, 305 WIA (NPS)

A View of the Town of Concord, 1775In 1775 an unknown artist painted the redcoats entering Concord. The fighting at North Bridge, which occurred just a few hours after this triumphal entry, signaled the start of open warfare between Britain and the colonies. (Courtesy of Concord Museum, Concord, Massachusetts)

A View of the Town of Concord, 1775

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Growing ConflictLEXINGTON AND CONCORD

STAMP ACT

SUGAR ACT

Growing ConflictLEXINGTON AND CONCORD

INTOLERABLEACTS

BOSTON TEA PARTY

COMMITTEES OF CORRESPONDENCE

BOSTON MASSACRE

TOWNSHEND ACT

STAMP ACT

SUGAR ACT

Advantage? Disadvantage?GREAT BRITAIN

• Pop. of 7.5 million• Prof. Army of 50,000• Hessian mercenaries• Royal treasury• Royal navy • Divided parliament• Long lines of supply• Poor generalship• More cannon, arms, &powder• Many Colonials remain loyal• Emancipated slaves join GB

COLONIALS• Pop. Of 2.5 million• Small, untrained militia• No centralized govt.• No treasury• No navy• Angry France, Irish problem for

GB• Defending homes• Washington, Franklin• Few armories, little powder

Map: The War in the North

The War in the NorthThe early phase of the Revolutionary War was dominated by British troop movements in the Boston area, the redcoats' evacuation to Nova Scotia in the spring of 1776, and the subsequent British invasion of New York and New Jersey. Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

George Washington's copy of Common SenseThat America's patriot leaders read Thomas Paine's inflammatory Common Sense soon after it was published in early 1776 is indicated by this first edition, owned by George Washington himself. (Boston Athenaeum)

George Washington's copy of Common Sense

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Ideas of Revolution“Common Sense” by Thomas Paine

• Originally an anonymous work

• Firmly introduces call for independence

• Calls for an end to monarchy and the beginning of a republic

Declaration of Independence

• Continental Congress appoints a committee to prepare a declaration

• Thomas Jefferson chosen to express declaration

• Draws on philosophy of the Enlightenment

• Ideas of John Locke, “natural rights”

• Right to resist tyranny