Chapter 5 Lesson 1 Notes

**These notes may serve as another study guide for the test over the causes of the American Revolution. Chapter 5 Lesson 1 Notes “No Taxation Without Representation”

Guiding Question: Why did the British government establish new policies?

 After the French and Indian War, the British controlled much of North America.

 In order to protect this territory, King George III issued the Proclamation of 1763.

 The Proclamation of 1763 prohibited colonists from living west of the Appalachian Mountains.

 British Advantages: it helped keep peace between Native Americans and settlers. It also kept colonists along the coast, where British authority was stronger. It also allowed Britain to control westward expansion and the fur trade in the region.

 King George III sent 10,000 troops to the colonies to enforce the proclamation and to keep the peace with the Native Americans.

Enforcing Trade Laws

 Britain needed new income to pay for the troops sent to enforce the Proclamation of 1763 and to pay their large debt from the French and Indian War.

 King George and Parliament felt that the colonists should pay part of these costs.

 The British government issued new taxes on the colonies and enforced old taxes more strictly.

 To avoid taxes, some colonists starting smuggling, causing British revenues to fall.

 1763: George Grenville, Britain’s Prime Minister, set out to stop the smuggling.

 Parliament passed a law to have smugglers tried by royally appointed judges rather than local juries. (American juries often found smugglers innocent)

 Writs of Assistance: documents that allowed customs officers to search shops, warehouses, and homes, etc. for smuggled goods.

. Could be obtained by customs officers.

The Sugar Act

 1764: Parliament passed the Sugar Act.

 The Sugar Act: lowered the tax on the molasses the colonists imported.

 Britain hoped this would convince the colonists to pay the taxes instead of smuggling.

1  The act also allowed officers to seize goods from accused smugglers without going to court.

 The Sugar Act angered many colonists.

. Thought that this act and other new laws violated their rights.

. Colonists argued they had a right to trial by jury and to be viewed as innocent until proven guilty, because they were British citizens and because it was stated in British law.

. Colonists also believed they had the right to feel safe and secure in their own homes.

The Stamp Act

 1765: Parliament passed the Stamp Act.

 The Stamp Act: taxed almost all printed materials. Ex. Newspapers, wills, even playing cards needed a stamp to show that the tax had been paid.

 Opposition to the Stamp Act

 Outraged colonists.

 Argued that only their own assemblies could tax them.

 Patrick Henry and the VA House of Burgesses takes action.

. They pass a resolution (formal expression of opinion)stating that it had the only right and power to tax its citizens.

 Samuel Adams starts the Sons of Liberty in Boston.

. Its members took to the streets to protest. They burned effigies made to look like unpopular tax collectors.

 Colonial leaders decided to work together.

. In October, delegates from 9 colonies met in NY at the Stamp Act Congress.

. They sent a statement to King George and Parliament stating that only colonial assemblies could tax the colonists.

 People in cities urged merchants to boycott (refuse to buy) British goods in protest.

. As the boycott spread, businesses in Britain lost so much money that they demanded Parliament repeal the Stamp Act.

2  March 1766: Parliament repealed the Stamp Act.

. However, it also passed the Declaratory Act.

. Declaratory Act: stated that Britain had the right to tax and make decisions for the British colonies in all cases.

The Townshend Acts

 The Stamp Act taught the British that colonists would resist internal taxes (those paid inside the colonies).

 1767: Parliament passed the Townshend Acts.

 Townshend Acts: tax imported goods, such as glass, tea, and paper.

 The tax was paid when the goods arrived—before they were brought inside the colonies.

 By then, any British taxes angered the colonists.

 Protests of the Townshend Acts began immediately.

 In towns, women protested by supporting another boycott of British goods. They also urged colonists to wear homemade fabrics rather than buying fabric made in Britain. Some groups of women called themselves the Daughters of Liberty.

Chapter 5 Lesson 2 “Uniting the Colonists”

Guiding Question: How did the American colonists react to the Boston Massacre?

Trouble in Massachusetts

 Protests continued to flare in the colonies, making British officials nervous.

 1768: officials sent word to Britain that the colonists were on the brink of rebellion.

 In response, Parliament sent troops to Boston.

 The “redcoats” set up camp in the middle of the city.

 Colonists thought the British had gone too far.

 1st the colonists were convinced the British had passed laws that violated colonial rights.

3  Now, Britain had sent an army to occupy, or take control of, colonial cities.

 The soldiers in Boston acted rudely. They were mostly poor men and earned little pay. Some stole from shops and got into fights with colonists. Also, the soldiers competed for jobs that Bostonians wanted.

The Boston Massacre

 March 5, 1770: violence erupted in the streets of Boston.

 The fight was between colonists and soldiers.

 As British officers tried to calm the crowd, a man shouted, “We did not send for you. We will not have you here. We’ll get rid of you, we’ll drive you away!”

 The colonists moved forward and began throwing sticks and stones at the soldiers.

 After a soldier was knocked down, the soldiers opened fire.

. They killed 5 colonists.

. One of the men killed was Crispus Attucks, a dockworker who was part African, part Native American.

 The colonists called the event the “Boston Massacre.”

Spreading the News

 Colonial leaders used the killings as propaganda.

 Propaganda: information designed to influence opinion.

 Samuel Adams: posted posters that described the Boston Massacre as a slaughter of innocent Americans by redcoats.

 Paul Revere: made an engraving that showed a British officer giving the order to open fire on the crowd.

 The Boston Massacre led colonists to call for stronger boycotts of British goods.

 Troubled by the opposition in the colonies, Parliament repealed all the Townshend Acts taxes on British imported goods, except the one on tea.

 After this, trade with Britain resumed.

 Some colonists still continued to call for resistance to British rule.

 1772: Samuel Adams revived the Boston committee of correspondence

4 . Committee of correspondence: a group used in earlier protests.

. The group circulated calls for action against Britain.

Crisis in Boston

 The British East India Company was vital to the British economy.

 Colonial refusal to import British tea had nearly driven the company out of business.

 To help save the company and the British economy, Parliament passed the Tea Act.

 Tea Act: gave the company nearly total control of the market for tea in the colonies.

 The act also removed some but not all of the taxes on tea, making it less expensive for colonists.

 This did not work on the colonists. They did not want to pay any tax and did not want to be told what tea they could buy.

 Colonial merchants called for a new boycott.

 Colonists vowed to stop East India Company ships from unloading.

 The Daughters of Liberty issued a pamphlet declaring that rather than part with our freedom we will part with our tea.

 Despite warnings, the East India Company continued shipping tea to the colonies.

 Colonists in NY and Philly forced the ships to turn back.

 The Boston Tea Party

 1773: 3 ships loaded with tea arrived in Boston Harbor.

. The Royal Governor ordered they be unloaded.

. The Boston Sons of Liberty acted swiftly.

. At midnight on December 16, colonists dressed as Native Americans boarded the ships and threw 342 chests of tea overboard.

. As word of the “Boston Tea Party” spread, colonists gathered to celebrate the act. But no one spoke out against British rule, most colonists still saw themselves as loyal British citizens.

The Intolerable Acts

5  When King George III heard of the tea party, he realized Britain was losing control of the colonies.

 1774: Parliament responded by passing a series of laws called the Coercive Acts.

 Coercive means to force someone to do something.

 These laws were meant to punish the colonists for resisting British authority.

 One act applied to all the colonies. It forced the colonies to let British soldiers live among the colonists. (Quartering Act)

 Mass. Got the roughest treatment.

. One act banned town meetings in Mass.

. One act closed Boston Harbor until the colonists paid for the tea.

 This stopped most shipments of food and supplies to the colony.

. Parliament was trying to cut Mass. Off from the other colonies.

 Instead, the Coercive Acts drew the colonists closer together and other colonies sent food and clothing to support Boston.

 Following the Coercive Acts, Parliament also passed the Quebec Act.

 Quebec Act: this created a government for Canada and extended its territory south all the way to the Ohio River.

. This act ignored the colonies’ claims to that region.

 The colonists believed all of these new laws violated their rights as English citizens.

 They called the acts the Intolerable Acts.

. Intolerable means painful and unbearable.

Chapter 5 Lesson 3 Notes “A Call to Arms”

Essential Question: What people and events influenced the movement toward independence?

A Meeting in Philadelphia

 September 1774: 55 delegates gathered in Philadelphia to set up a political body that would represent Americans and challenge British control.

6  The delegates called this body the Continental Congress.

 Leaders from 12 of the 13 colonies attended the meeting. Only Georgia did not send a representative.

 Massachusetts sent Samuel and John Adams.

 New York sent John Jay.

 Virginia sent George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, and Patrick Henry.

 Patrick Henry wanted the colonies to unite in firm resistance against the British.

The Delegates Vote

 The delegates called for the repeal of 13 acts of Parliament.

 They stated that these laws violated the “laws of nature, the principles of the English constitution, and the several charters of the colonies.”

 The delegates also voted to boycott British trade.

 They also voted to endorse the Suffolk Resolves, prepared by the people of Boston and other Suffolk County towns in Massachusetts.

 The Suffolk Resolves declared the Coercive Acts to be illegal.

 They also called on the county’s residents to arm themselves against the British.

 The endorsing of the resolves caused other colonies to organize militias.