Chapter 5-3 From Protest to Rebellion

Essential Question: How did British tax policies move the colonists closer to rebellion?

Trouble in Boston

Background to Future Problems:• Parliament knew colonists were growing angry and

rebellious so they sent several British soldiers to the colonies.

• Colonists were angry to see the soldiers. • Soldiers acted rudely and violently towards the colonists.

The Crisis Over Tea

• British East India Company was in debt and needed help in order to stay open. – Parliament passed the Tea Act which gave

the right to the company to ship tea to the colonies without having to pay the import taxes that had been placed on tea under the Townshend Acts and prevented colonial merchants from selling Dutch tea at a lower price.

– This meant British East India tea was the cheapest tea in the colonies.

– British tea was now cheaper than the tea

sold by colonial stores. – Colonists decided they would stop East

India ships from unloading tea.

The Boston Tea Party• Midnight –

December 16, 1773– Samuel Adams and

other Sons of Liberty dressed up as Mohawk Indians

– They boarded British tea ships and threw 342 cases of tea overboard. (45 tons - $15,000 worth of tea)

The Intolerable Acts

• King George III realized he was losing control of the colonies. He felt the colonists needed to be punished.– First part of the Intolerable Acts were the Coercive Acts – closed Boston

Harbor until colonists paid for the ruined tea.– Prevented food and supplies from being shipped into the colonies. – Most town meetings were banished– Forced British soldiers to be housed in colonists’ homes.

First Continental Congress

• Colonial leaders met in Philadelphia in 1774 to discuss a united response to new British laws. Seven months later, American & British troops met in battle for the first time.

• Something to remember: – Very few people actually wanted to break away from England. Many just

wanted their freedoms and rights back, but still be loyal to the king.

The First Continental Congress

• September 1774– 55 men met in

Philadelphia – All colonies participated

except Georgia– This group of men came

together to represent Americans interests and challenge British control

Decisions of the Congress

• Drafted a statement of grievances – complaints, calling for the repeal of all laws passed by Parliament. – Declared the laws violated the

colonists’ rights– Voted to boycott British goods– Called for colonists to form

militias – groups of citizen soldiers to protect themselves from the British.

– Demanded a repeal of Intolerable Acts

The First Battles• The British reaction to the First Continental

Congress was their choice to use force• Colonists believed that if fighting broke out

between the British & colonists, that it would happen in the New England area.– Minutemen – men who would be ready to fight in

a minute’s notice.– Started training, made bullets, and stockpiled

weapons.

British soldiers began to notice the colonists were preparing themselves to show great resistance again the king….

Britain Sends Troops

• The British began to prepare for conflict.

• April 1775– British general, Thomas Gage, had

several thousand soldiers in and around Boston… more were on their way.

– King George instructed Thomas Gage (British general) to take away the weapons and arrest the leaders. • Gage was headed to the town of

Concord, where he had heard the American colonists hid their weapons.

Alerting the Colonists• April 18, 1775

– Dr. Joseph Warren walks the streets looking for any British unusual activity.• Sees British regiment come together and

march out of the city.• Alerts Paul Revere and William Dawes, to warn

the minutemen• Rode to Lexington to warn Samuel Adams and

John Hancock that the British were coming.• Revere galloped off shouting “The regulars are

out!”• Adams and Hancock were happy to hear the

news. They were ready to fight for American Independence

Fighting at LexingtonApril 19, 1775

At dawn the British marched towards Lexington. The British and about 70 minutemen came upon each other. In the middle of the town, about 1000 British soldiers appeared and screamed “Throw down your arms, ye villains, ye rebels!” …. Then a shot was fired, allowing for both sides to start shooting. (known as the shot heard around the world!)

In the end, 8 minutemen were dead. This marks the start of the American Revolution.

Map of Battle

Fighting at Concord

• After the tragedy at Lexington, the British troops continued their march to Concord.– When they got there, the

ammunition they were looking for had already been removed.

• The British then began their march back to Boston– The Americans were waiting– By the time the British got back to

Boston, almost 300 British soldiers had been killed or wounded.

More Military Action

• Benedict Arnold – asked to create a militia of 400 to seize Fort Ticonderoga in New York from the British.

• Ethan Allen , from Vermont, was also raising a militia to help Benedict Arnold.

• May 10, 1775– the two groups snuck up on

the British– The British surrendered

Drama with Benedict Arnold

• Arnold conspired with the British and led raids against the Americans.

• He then became a general in the

British army. Building Forces

• Committees of correspondence asked for volunteers to join the continental army.

• Soon the militia in the Boston area

had over 20,000 people