continuing unrest: (107-109) –frederick, lord north, became great britain’s prime minister in...
TRANSCRIPT
• Continuing Unrest: (107-109)– Frederick, Lord North, became
Great Britain’s Prime Minister in 1770, he hoped to pacify the colonists’ anger by repealing part of the Townshend Acts
• Also, Parliament agreed to allow the Quartering Act to expire
• Continuing Unrest: (107-109)– George III – King of Great Britain
• He kept tax on tea so the colonists know who is BOSS!
• The Repeal of the Townshend Acts did pacify some colonists but this did not last long
• In 1772, the Crown announced that it – not the colonial legislature – would pay the salaries of Judges and the Governor in Massachusetts
– The Colonists felt if they, the Judges and Governor, did not rely on the colonial legislature for pay that they would ignore the colonists
• Continuing Unrest: (107-109)– Sam Adams Takes Action
• He created a 21 member committee of correspondence to keep the rest of the colony and “the world” informed about “the infringements (trespasses) and violations” that Britain had made on colonial rights
• Continuing Unrest: (107-109)• Tea Act of 1773: (107-108)
– By 1773 the British East India Company (tea) was almost bankrupt so the British Parliament passed the Tea Act of 1773
• The Tea Act excluded the British East India Company from paying certain duties and permitted the Company to sell tea directly to American Agents
– Colonists opposed this because the British East India Company could develop a monopoly of the tea trade because everyone else had to pay the taxes and they the British East India Company could sell their product cheaper and create a monopoly
• Continuing Unrest: (107-109)• Tea Act of 1773: (107-108)
– The Sons of Liberty in Philadelphia and New York threatened tea importers and pledged to boycott.
– In Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773, after the governor refused the colonists’ demands that he send three shiploads of tea back to Britain, the colonists held a mass meeting at Boston’s Old South Church
• Colonists “dressed in an Indian manner” boarded the tea ships anchored in Boston Harbor and dumped 324 cases of tea into the water – known as the BOSTON TEA PARTY
– BOSTON TEA PARTY – Some colonists like it others were shocked
• Continuing Unrest: (107-109)– The Intolerable Acts of 1774:
• The Boston Tea Party infuriated the British– In response to the Boston Tea Party the
British Parliament passed the Coercive Acts – four laws designed to punish Boston and the rest of Massachusetts and to strengthen control over all the colonies.
» The Four Acts1. Closed the port of Boston until the
colonists paid for the destroyed tea2. Revoked the Massachusetts charter of
1691 and forbade colonists in the region to hold town meetings without the governor’s permission
3. Allowed royal officials who were charged with crimes in Massachusetts to be tried in other colonies or in Britain so as to avoid hostile juries
4. A new Quartering Act, ordered local officials to provide food and housing, in private homes if necessary, for British soldiers stationed in the colonies
• Continuing Unrest: (107-109)
– The Intolerable Acts of 1774
• THE COLONISTS CALLED THE COERCIVE ACTS THE INTOLERABLE ACTS
• The Intolerable Acts deepened colonial hostility toward Britain.
– Many colonists responded with sympathy for Massachusetts. They sent food and money to Boston to help offset the effects of the Coercive Acts
– Colonists denounced the actions of King George III and Parliament as threats to colonial liberty
• Continuing Unrest: (107-109)
– The Quebec Act: passed in 1774, further angered the colonists. It extended Quebec’s boundary south to the Ohio River, thus overriding the claims of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Virginia to the disputed western lands
– The Quebec Act granted full religious freedom to French Roman Catholics, upsetting many Protestant colonists
• The Intolerable Acts and the Quebec Act quickened the movement toward colonial unity
• Among those who questioned their loyalty to the Crown and Parliament, a new identity – not fully American, but no longer British – was developing
• The Revolutionary War Begins (109-113)– First Continental Congress
met between September 5 and October 26, 1774, to discuss their grievances and consider their options
• Every Colony except Georgia attended the First Continental Congress
– Some colonists wanted the colonies to remain part of the British Empire. Others favored independence
• The Revolutionary War Begins (109-113)– Declaration of Resolves: was Congress’s final
solution. Although the Declaration expressed loyalty to the Crown, it also stated that the colonists had rights as British subjects.
– Declaration maintained that the colonists had a right to the “free and exclusive power of legislation in their several provincial legislatures.”
• To back up their demands, the delegates called for a ban on all trade with Great Britain. They pledged to meet again in May 1775 if their demands were not met
• King George III thought that the Continental Congress was the last straw. In November of 1774 he wrote Lord North, “The New England Governments are in a State of Rebellion, blows must decide whether they are to be subject to this Country or independent.”
– Acting on the King’s wishes, Parliament ordered General Thomas Gage to put down the rebellion
• The Revolutionary War Begins (109-113)
– Lexington and Concord: (111)
• Determined to assert royal authority, General Gage, decided to seize rebel military supplies stored in Concord, Massachusetts.
– On April 18, 1775, under the cover of night, some 750 British troops left Boston and rowed across the Charles River to seize the rebel colonists supplies
• The Revolutionary War Begins (109-113)
– Lexington and Concord: (111)• The Patriots, or colonists who
supported independence, had stationed watchmen on the far shore of the Charles River
– As soon as General Gage’s forced emerged from the darkness, Patriots Paul Revere and William Dawes – later joined by Samuel Prescott – galloped off to alert sleeping households, shouting in alarm: “The British are coming!” Patriots throughout the countryside hurriedly gathered to confront the British
• The Revolutionary War Begins (109-113)
– Lexington and Concord: (111)• On April 19, Captain John Parker and
about 70 minutemen – members of the militia who promised to be ready in a minutes notice – waited for the British soldiers on the Lexington village green
– When the British patrol arrived, its commander shouted, “Lay down your arms, you…rebels, disperse!”
» The colonists began to leave still holding their guns
» Suddenly someone – each side later accused the other – fired “the shot heard round the world.”
» A barrage of British gunfire followed. When the smoke cleared, 8 colonists lay dead, and 10 others were wounded
• The Revolutionary War Begins (109-113)
– Lexington and Concord: (111)• The British troops, called Redcoats
because of their bright red uniforms, marched on Concord.
– They destroyed some of the Patriots’ supplies, then started back toward Boston.
» From behind stone walls along the route to Boston, hundreds of minutemen fired steadily at the retreating troops.
» The Red Uniforms and orderly marching formations used by the British made them easy targets
• The Revolutionary War Begins (109-113)
– Lexington and Concord: (111)
• The Patriots were quite successful, suffering fewer than 100 casualties in the day’s fighting, while killing or wounding 273 British soldiers.
– The Patriots’ success earned them the respect of their enemies.
• The Revolutionary War Begins (109-113)
• The Second Continental Congress: 111-112– Radicals such as Samuel
Adams pushed for an immediate declaration of independence from Britain
– Others, led by John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, successfully urged restraint
• Nonetheless, by the middle of June the delegates had agreed to establish the Continental Army – For Defense of American Liberty
• The Revolutionary War Begins (109-113)
• The Second Continental Congress: 111-112– George Washington: from
Virginia was the choice to lead the Continental Army
• The Revolutionary War Begins (109-113)• The Second Continental Congress: 111-
112– BATTLE FOR BOSTON: On June 17,
1775, Patriot forces were again put to the test. Atop two hills overlooking Boston Harbor – Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill – New England Militiamen dug in, awaiting an attack by British troops
• To Save ammunition, an American commander ordered his men: “Don’t one of you fire until you see the whites of their eyes.”
• The Revolutionary War Begins (109-113)
• The Second Continental Congress: 111-112– BATTLE FOR BOSTON:
• William Howe commanded the British troops
• The British took both hills – Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill – but suffered 1,054 casualties.
• Fewer than 450 Americans were killed or injured.
• The Battle of Bunker Hill did not resolve anything – The British had captured the Hills but at a terrible cost
• The Revolutionary War Begins (109-113)
• The Second Continental Congress: 111-112
– BATTLE FOR BOSTON:
• Even after the Battle, some colonists wanted to avoid a break with Britain
– They persuaded the Continental Congress to send a final plea to King George III – The Olive Branch Petition – stated the colonists’ loyalty to the king and asked for his help in ending the conflict
– King George rejected the petition and ordered the Royal Navy to blockade all shipping to the colonies
• The Revolutionary War Begins (109-113)
• The Second Continental Congress: 111-112– BATTLE FOR BOSTON:
• King George also sent Hessian mercenaries – hired soldiers primarily from the German state of Hess – to help defeat the Americans
