Read Section 3.3 (Taking Up Arms, from pp. 141-149) and answer the following questions. 10. Give one argument that the British had in Give one argument that the colonists had favor of the Tea Act. against the Tea Act. In the 1770s, the British East India Many colonists were opposed to Company found itself in deep financial British mercantilist policies that were trouble, due in part to dwindling tea supposed to generate wealth for sales in the American colonies. As a England by taxing the colonies. result, more than 15 million pounds of However, American tea merchants tea sat unsold in British warehouses. were especially angry because they Parliament tried to help the British had been cut out of the tea trade. They East India Company by passing the believed that allowing the Tea Act of 1773. The act let the government-sponsored British East company bypass colonial tea India Company to sell tea to merchants and sell directly to Americans violated their right to colonists. conduct free enterprise.
The Tea Act also gave the British East Even tea drinkers, who would have India Company a rebate on tea taxes. benefited from the law, scorned the Although colonists would still have to Tea Act. They believed that it was a pay the tea tax, they would not have to British trick to make them accept pay the higher price charged by Parliament’s right to tax the colonies. colonial tea merchants. As a result, the = (IT’S STILL TAXATION WITHOUT tea itself would cost less than ever REPRESENTATION!) before. Parliament hoped this would encourage Americans to buy more British tea.
11. Write a newspaper headline about the Boston Tea Party from the points of view of Britain and the colonies.
(The British newspaper will have a (The colonial newspaper will describe the headline that emphasizes how the people who destroyed the tea as heroes. colonists were out of control and They struck a blow against the hated tax destroying private property. It might call that was put their without the consent of for the colonist to be punished because it the colonies.) cost them so much money.)
12. Can the “Boston Tea Party” be considered to be an act of “civil disobedience.” Explain your answer- Why or why not? The textbook says “yes” because: “The Boston Tea Party was an important act of civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is the non-violent refusal to obey laws that one considers unjust.” They are disobeying the law in order to show how unfair the Tea Act was. The answer could also be “no” IF you say that the destruction of the tea was actually a form of violence. It is the vandalism of private property, even if no one got hurt.
13. Complete this chart on the Intolerable Acts: BRITISH REASON FOR IT COLONIAL ARGUMENT If you were a member of AGAINST IT WHAT EACH PART OF THE Parliament, how might you INTOLERABLE ACTS DID explain what this part of the If you were a colonists, why law was supposed to do? was this law “Intolerable?”
1. Parliament shut down the The harbor would remain Boston's harbor was port of Boston. No ships closed until the colonists central to the life of the could go in or out. paid for the tea they had city. With the closing of destroyed in the Boston the port, merchants Tea Party and repaid could not sell their British officials, such as goods and the colony's Thomas Hutchinson, for economy suffered. damage to personal property.
2. Parliament forbade When the colonists meet they In the past, colonists had Massachusetts colonists are discussing treasonous called town meetings to hold town meetings plots against the king. These whenever they wished. more than once a year discussions cannot be without the governor’s allowed to continue. permission.
3. Parliament allowed The British feared that If we have another “Boston customs officers and the colonial juries would Massacre,” the soldiers could other officials who might be too quick to punish get away with murder. They be charged with major soldiers, even if they will put on trial where the jury crimes to be tried in will never convict them. Britain or Canada instead were innocent, and of in Massachusetts. feared the soldiers would not get a fair trial.
4. Parliament passed a The colonies have to be kept Colonists viewed this act new Quartering Act. under control. More troops as yet another tax, have to be sent in order to ...Colonists would have because they had to to house British soldiers keep the peace and enforce house and feed the in their homes when no the law. other housing was soldiers. Many objected available. to having the British army stationed in the colonies at all. 14. In response to Massachusetts problems with the Intolerable Acts, what decisions did the First Continental Congress make? (Three things.) ● ...The delegates passed a resolution backing Massachusetts in its struggle. ● They agreed to boycott all British goods. [Make sure you have this one.] ● They agreed to stop exporting goods to Britain until the Intolerable Acts were repealed. ● ** The delegates also urged each colony to set up and train its own militia. A militia is an army of citizens who serve as soldiers during an emergency. [Make sure you have this one.] ● ...The delegates agreed to meet again in May 1775.
15.
On April 18, about 700 British troops quietly left Boston in the darkness. Their goal was to seize the colonial arms. The Sons of Liberty were watching. ...Messengers mounted their horses and galloped through the night toward Concord. One midnight rider was Paul Revere.
The British ordered the minutemen to go home. Outnumbered, the colonists began to leave.
Suddenly, a shot rang out through the chill morning air. No one knows who fired it. In the brief struggle that followed, eight colonists were killed.
On a bridge outside Concord, they met approximately 300 minutemen. Again, fighting broke out. This time, the British were forced to retreat ...By the time they reached Boston, the redcoats had lost 73 men [killed]. Another 200 British soldiers were wounded or missing.