The Road to Revolution

Directions: Fill in the blanks using information found in the “Timeline of Events” handout:

The American Revolution was different from other modern ______. In those, the causes were often ______in nature as impoverished peoples rose up against the wealthy ruling class. The American Revolution came about after forty years of ______by British authorities that most colonists viewed as a ______to their ______and ______. One of the main grievances of the American colonists was that they had virtually no ______in the policies made by a government 3,000 miles away.

In 1733, ______, which is the law-making body of English government, passed the ______Act , which levied a stiff tax on rum, molasses, and sugar produced in the ______for sale to the colonies. The Act resulted in strong ______on the grounds that it protected English ______interests at the colonists' expense.

Following the ______War fought between ______and ______, the British effectively controlled North America. To keep the colonists from rushing into territories vacated by the French and provoking conflict with the Indians, Parliament passed ______in 1763, which forbade the colonists from ______to the west of the Appalachian Mountains. Worse still in the eyes of the colonists was that the English government ordered ______to make sure that colonists obeyed the law.

One of the most serious problems facing the English government of King ______was how to pay the debts created by the war with France. To do this, in 1764, Parliament decided to impose ______on colonial trade. It passed the ______Act, which placed duties on such items as ______, ______, ______, and ______imported into the colonies. The British required colonial vessels to ______detailing their cargo and destination. The royal navy patrolled the coast to search for ______, who were to be tried in special courts without a jury.

1 In 1765, Parliament acted again, this time passing the ______Act which required a tax stamp on ______, ______, ______and ______.. This was the first direct tax Parliament had ever levied on the colonies and a violation of the principle that only the colonies' legislative assemblies could impose taxes. Suspected violators were to be tried in admiralty courts without juries.

In anger, the colonists ______(refused to buy) British goods and intimidated stamp distributors into resigning. They protested the Stamp Act on two grounds: that it represented ______without ______and that it deprived colonists of the right to trial by jury. Eventually, Parliament would ______the Act but also issued the ______Act which re-stated Parliament’s right to ______.

Parliament continued to enact laws that the colonists viewed as terrible infringements upon their liberty. In 1765, the ______Act was passed which required colonial governments to house ______and to provide them with candles, bedding, and beverages. In 1767, England enacted the ______Acts that brought a new round of duties on various items. This law required a duty be paid on ______, ______, ______, ______, and ______.

The situation worsened as Parliament passed the ______Act, authorizing the East India Company to bypass American wholesalers and sell tea directly to American distributors. Cutting out the wholesalers' profit would make English tea ______than tea smuggled in from Holland. To fight this latest insult, a plan of action was devised by the ______of ______, a radical group (Samuel Adams was a leading member) that continued to agitate for aggressive action against the British. Disguised as ______, colonists in Boston boarded three vessels and dumped 342 canisters of British tea into Boston Harbor.

The British government responded harshly; it closed ______harbor to trade; it suspended the Massachusetts colonial government from meeting and placed the colony under ______law,

2 and it called for British troops to be housed in unoccupied private homes. Clearly, these actions, known as the ______Acts in England but called the ______Acts in the colonies had but one purpose: to punish the rebellious colony of ______.

In September of 1774, the ______met in Philadelphia to orchestrate resistance to British policies. It declared that all trade with Britain should be ______.

The events that were to come in 1775 would plunge the colonies into a full revolt. The American Revolution was nearly here.

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