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Home , Minutemen, Suffolk Resolves

Chapter 5 The Spirit of Independence

Section 1: Taxation Without Representation Vocab.

• Revenue • Resolution • Boycott • Repeal • Effigy • Prohibit • Violate Relations with Britain

• Proclamation of 1763 – Prohibited colonists expansion west – Allowed Britain to control trade and commerce in the colonies • British Debt – King and Parliament tax colonists heavily – Strictly enforce tax laws Britain’s Trade Laws

• George Grenville – Prime Minister in 1763 – Encouraged laws that allowed smugglers to be tried in vice-admiralty courts (without juries) • Writs of Assistance – 1767: Documents that allowed British officers to enter any location to search for smuggled goods The

• Parliament Passes Sugar Act – 1764 – Lowered the tax on imported molasses to convince colonists to pay the tax – Gave officers ability to take smuggled good without going to court • Violated Rights of Colonists – New taxes and trade laws took away rights as English citizens New Taxes

• Stamp Act – Passed by Parliament in 1765 – Placed a tax on almost all printed material • Newspapers, wills, playing cards, etc. • Sparked colonial resistance – Colonists opposed being taxed without their consent or approval Protesting the Stamp Act

• – Persuaded the Virginia House of Burgesses to pass a resolution – Declared that only the Virginia Assembly had the authority to tax its citizens • – Helped start the – Protestors burnt effigies and destroyed houses belonging to royal officials Effigy

• Rag doll figures that represented British tax collectors Protesting the Stamp Act (cont.)

• Boycott – People in colonial cities refused to buy stamps – Refused to buy other European goods also • Nonimportation Agreements – Signed by colonial merchants – Promise not to buy imported goods from Britain The

• Colonists refused to pay internal taxes • Townshend Acts – New taxes only on imported goods from Britain • Glass, tea, paper, etc. • Daughters of Liberty – Group of colonial women – Urged Americans to wear home-made fabrics and use goods produced in America Chapter 5 The Spirit of Independence

Section 2: Building Colonial Unity Vocab

• Propaganda • Occupy • Encounter Trouble in Boston

• Colonies on the brink of rebellion – Colonists had been pushed too far by British – By 1768 British officials were getting nervous – British sent troops to occupy colonial cities – Soldiers sometimes acted rudely and violently The

• March 5, 1770 – Fighting broke out between Bostonians and British soldiers – Nervous British soldiers opened fire on the crowd – Five colonists were killed including Crispus Attucks • Part African and part Native American Bostonian dock worker • One of the first killed in the conflict between the British and the American colonists The Word Spreads

• Propaganda – Colonial leaders used the Boston Massacre killings to influence public opinion – Posters showed slaughter of innocent Americans by British soldiers. • Parliament Repeals Taxes – Townshend Acts are repealed – Tax on imported tea remains in effect A Crisis Over Tea

• Video • (1773) – Allowed the British East India trading company to sell tea directly to shopkeepers in America – Bypassed the colonial merchants – Colonial merchants called for a boycott against British Tea The

• Three British tea ships arrived in Boston Harbor in 1773 • Boston Sons of Liberty – December 16 – Group of men disguised themselves as Mohawk Natives – They threw 342 chests of Tea into the Harbor The • Coercive Acts – Passed by Parliament in 1774 as punishment for resistance to British law – Closed Boston Harbor until colonists paid for ruined tea • kept food and other supplies from arriving to Boston • – Set up government for Quebec – Gave Quebec the area west of the Appalachians and North of the Ohio River • Colonists believed these acts violated their right as English Citizens Chapter 5 The Spirit of Independence

Section 3: A Call to Arms Vocab

• • Minutemen • Loyalist • Patriot • Approach • Volunteer The

• September 1774 – 55 delegates from all colonies except Georgia – Met in to create a political body to represent American interests and challenge Britain’s rule Delegates of the Congress

• American Political Leaders – From Massachusetts • Samuel Adams and – From New York • – From Virginia • , Patrick Henry, and Decisions of the Congress

• Statement of Grievances – Drafted by the delegates – Called for repeal of 13 acts of parliament – Violated “laws of nature” and colonists rights – Voted to boycott trade to and from Britain • Suffolk Resolves – Prepared by people of Suffolk County, Massachusetts – Called for the people to arm themselves against the British – Colonists began forming organized The First Battles

• Preparing for combat – Militia groups began training, making ammo, and gathering weapons in Massachusetts • Minutemen – Militia groups that were named because they would be ready to fight in a minutes notice

Britain Sends Troops

• British Occupation – By April 1775 thousands of British soldiers were sent to Boston • British General – Sent to disarm Massachusetts militias and arrest colonial leaders – Ordered 700 troops to march to Concord to take or destroy colonial arms Alerting the Colonists

• April 18, 1775 – British forces in Boston form ranks in common – Begin to march out of the city • – Rode with to Lexington – Warned Samuel Adams and – Alerted colonists along the way “The regulars are out!” Lexington and Concord

• At Lexington – Around 70 minutemen stood in defense on the common – 8 minutemen are killed and British troops march on to Concord • At Concord – Colonial minutemen defeat British forces at the North Bridge – Militias along the road back to Boston attack redcoats; 174 British wounded and 73 killed

More Military Action

• Ticonderoga – Important British military fort on Lake Champlain • Green Mountain Boys – American force led by and – Captured Ticonderoga May 10, 1775 • Benedict Arnold – “traitor” – Later sold American military information to British – Given command of British troops in attacks against Virginia and Connecticut Building Force

• Committees of Correspondence – Called for volunteers to join militias – Colonial militia for Boston area reached around 20,000 – Both awaited the next move The

• June 16, 1775 – 1,200 American troops fortified area near Boston (Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill) – British forces assembled and charged to take the positions – American forces fought off several waves of attacks until running out of gunpowder – British won battle but suffered great losses – British learned defeating the colonists would not be quick or easy Choosing Sides

• Colonists forced to make decision • Loyalists – Chose to stay loyal to Britain – Did not consider unfair taxes or regulations reasons to rebel • Patriots – Supported the war for independence – Believed British rule was unbearable Chapter 5 The Spirit of Independence

Section 4: Moving Toward Independence Vocab

• Petition • Preamble • Debate • Status Colonial Leaders Emerge

• Second Continental Congress – May 10,1775 – Began printing money and set up post offices – Created the Continental • Organized war effort against British • George Washington named commander • – Petition to King George III to avoid war – Refused and prepared for war The Colonies Take the Offensive

• George Washington – Arrives in Boston in July 1775 – Begins turning the colonial militias into an army – March 1776 Washington and the drive the British forces out of Boston Moving Toward Independence

• Colonial support growing by 1776 • – Published – Pamphlet that called for complete independence – Greatly influenced public opinion in the colonies The Colonies Declare Independence

• Debate in the Continental Congress – Declare America an independent nation? – Remain under British rule? The Debate Over Independence • Lee’s Resolution – Richard Henry Lee – Proposed that the colonies were free and independent states – All political connection to Great Britain should be dissolved • – Chose to draft a Declaration of Independence – Used ’s ideas about natural rights and purpose of government • July 4th 1776: – Final draft of the Declaration of Independence approved The Declaration of Independence • Signatures – First signed by John Hancock – 56 total delegates signed the document • 4 Parts – The Preamble: • Introduction – Declaration of Natural Rights: • Lists the rights all people should have and role of government to protect those rights – List of Grievances • Complaints against the British government – Resolution of Independence • Declares the colonies to be “Free and Independent States”