The Road to

Independence
1763-1776
C H A P T E R F I V E , S E C T I O N O N E : TA X AT I O N W I T H O U T
R E P R E S E N TAT I O N
SEC T IO N T W O: B UILD IN G CO LON IAL UN ITY

Skimming and Scanning

We watched a bit of Rebels and learned a great deal
about the beginnings of the American Revolution.
Lets create our notes here!

In this section
We will discover why the British faced problems in North
America after the French and Indian War.
Why the American colonists objected to the new British
laws.

Terms to Learn
Revenue
Writs of assistance
Resolution
Effigy
Boycott
Nonimportation
Repeal

Relations with Britain

Britain started to tax America because of the huge debt they
acquired.
Growing Distrust:
Most colonists were fine with the British until they brought
soldiers. They thought it would interfere with their liberties. They
saw them as a limit on their freedom.
First, the British planned to station 10,000 soldiers in the colonies
and on the frontier. Then in the Proclamation of 1763, the soldiers
prohibited colonists from moving west of the Appalachian
Mountains into Native American Territory.

Britain Needs Money

The financial problems of Great Britain complicated the
situation. The British had amassed a huge public debt
fighting the French and Indian War.
Desperate for new revenue, or incoming money, the king
and Parliament began to view their American colonies as a
source of funds.
Many colonists were outraged by Grenvilles actions to
make American citizens pay taxes.

Britains Trade Laws

In 1764, George Grenville, the British finance minister (as
you pointed out in your previous notes), decided the
American colonists should contribute more toward British
expenses in North America.
Writs of assistance: legal documents that enabled the
officers to search homes and warehouses for goods that
might be smuggled.

The Sugar Act

Grenville passed the Sugar Act to stop the smuggling between
the colonies and the French West Indies.
The act lowered the tax on molasses imported by the colonists.
The British hoped the lower tax would encourage colonists pay
the duty on foreign molasses.
The British could then collect the tax on molasses and increase
their revenues.

INFRINGED UPON THE RIGHTS OF THE

COLONISTSJUDGE USED RATHER THAN TRIAL
BY JURY.

The Stamp Act

In 1765, Parliament passed another, even more disturbing
law in an effort to raise money for Britain.
STAMP ACT: placed a tax on almost all printed material in
the colonieseverything from newspapers and pamphlets
to wills and playing cards.
All printed material had to have a stamp, which was
applied by British colonial officials.

The Townshend Acts

-In these acts the British leaders tried to avoid some of the
problems the Stamp Act caused.

-They understood that the colonists would not tolerate

internal taxesthose levied or paid inside the colonies. As
a result the new taxes applied only to imported goods, with
the tax being paid at the port of entry.
GOODS TAXED: glass,

tea, paper, and lead

Building Colonial Unity

Trouble in Boston
Many colonists, especially those living in Boston, felt that the British
had pushed them too far.
First the British had passed a series of laws that violated colonial
rights. Now they sent an army to occupy colonial cities.

Tension Grows
The British soldiers were unkind to the colonists. By unkind, I mean
they were violent and rude.
The townspeoples hatred for the soldiers grew every day.

The Boston Massacre

March 5, 1770tensions finally reached their peak.
A fight broke out between townspeople and soldiers. This
spurred the crowd on. The colonists shouted at the British
soldiers that came to control them.
After one of the soldiers was knocked down, the nervous
and confused redcoats did fire.
Among the dead was Crispus Attucks, an African American
dockworker.

The Word Spreads

Colonial leaders used the killings as PROPAGANDA
information designed to influence opinionagainst the
British.
Samuel Adams put up posters describing the Boston
Massacre as a slaughter of innocent Americans by
bloodthirsty redcoats.
An engraving by Paul Revere showed a British officer giving
the order to open fire on an orderly crowd.

The Boston Tea Party

Three tea ships docked in Boston Harbor.
On December 16, 1773, a group of men disguised as
Mohawks and armed with hatchets marched to the
wharves.
At midnight they boarded the ships and threw 342 chests of
tea overboard, an event that became known as the Boston
Tea Party.
Word of this dramatic act of defiance spread throughout the
colonies. Men and women poured into the streets to
celebrate the Boston Sons of Liberty for boldly championing
the colonial cause.

Section Three: A Call to Arms

The Continental Congress
From Massachusetts to Virginia, word spread through the
committees of correspondence: the colonies must unite in
protest or lose their liberties.
In September 1774, 56 men arrived in Philadelphia. Sent as
delegates from all the colonies except Georgia, these men
had come to establish a political body to represent the
American interests. They called the new organization the

Continental Congress.

Delegates to the Congress

Samuel Adams, John Adamsa successful lawyer.

(Massachusetts)
New York sent John Jay, another lawyer.
From Virginia came Richard Henry Lee and Patrick Henry,
two of the most outspoken defenders of colonial rights, as well
as George Washington.
Patrick Henry stated, I am not a Virginian, but an American.

Vocabulary
Decisions of Congress

CHOOSING SIDES

Militias: groups of citizens

soldiers.

Patriots: those who were

determined to fight the British to
the enduntil American
independence was won.

Minutemen: companies that

boasted they would be ready to
fight on a minutes notice.

Loyalists: did not consider

unfair taxes and regulations
sufficient cause for a rebellion.
They were loyal to the crown.

Section Four: Moving Toward

Independence
Benjamin Franklin
One of the most accomplished
and respected individuals in the
colonies, had been an influential
member of the Pennsylvania
legislature.

Thomas Jefferson

Was a brilliant thinker and writer.

He was associated with the
movement for independence.

JOHN HANCOCK

One of the wealthiest colonists.

He funded many of the Patriot
groups, including the Sons of
Liberty.