Chapter 5-The Spirit of Independence (1763-1776)
Lesson 1- No Taxation Without Representation
Dealing With Great Britain

• Proclamation of 1763- prohibited colonists from living west of the Appalachian Mountains
  • Helped keep peace between Native Americans and settlers
  • Kept settlers close to the Atlantic coast
  • Allowed British to control westward expansion the fur trade
  • 10,000 British troops kept in America
• French and Indian War left Britain in debt
  • Made plans to tax the colonies

 
Enforcing Trade Laws

• Great Britain needed revenue (income) to pay troops
• Large debts from the French and Indian War
  • British government issued new taxes on the colonies
  • Enforced old taxes more strictly
• Colonists smuggled to avoid taxes
  • Prime Minister George Grenville wanted to stop smuggling
    • Law to have accused smugglers tried by royally appointed judges instead of local juries
    • Writs of assistance- allowed customs officers to search anywhere for smuggled goods

 
The Sugar Act

• Passed in 1764
• Lowered the tax on molasses
  • Grenville hoped it would convince colonists to stop smuggling
• Let officers seize goods from smugglers without going to court
• Angered colonists
  • Believed their rights were being violated as British citizens
• James Otis- argued that the colonies couldn’t be taxed without their consent

 
New Taxes on the Colonies

• Stamp Act passed in 1765
  • Taxed most printed materials (newspapers, wills, playing cards)
  • Stamp placed on printed material by British officials

 
Opposition to the Stamp Act

• Patrick Henry got the Virginia House of Burgesses to take action against the Stamp Act
  • Passed a resolution (an official expression of opinion by a group) that only it could tax Virginia’s citizens
• Samuel Adams helped start the Sons of Liberty
  • Protested the Stamp Act
• Effigies (mocking figures representing unpopular individuals) of tax collectors burned
• Stamp Act Congress met in New York
  • Delegates from nine colonies
  • Sent a statement to the king saying that only colonial assemblies could tax the colonists
  • Boycotts (refusals to buy) of British goods
    • British businesses lost money
  • Demanded that Parliament repeal the Stamp Act
    • Stamp Act repealed in 1766
• Declaratory Act- Parliament said that it had the right to tax and make decisions for the colonies

 
The Townshend Acts

• Taxed imported goods (glass, tea, paper)
  • Led to another boycott of British Goods
• Women urged colonists to wear homemade fabrics (instead of British fabrics)
  • Formed the Daughters of Liberty

 
Lesson 2- Uniting the Colonists
Trouble in Massachusetts

• British officials told Britain that the colonies were on the brink of rebellion (open defiance of authority)
• Parliament sent troops to Boston
  • Colonists were upset that Britain had sent an army to occupy (take control of) Boston
  • Some redcoats (British soldiers) stole from local shops, got into fights with colonists, and competed for jobs with colonists

 
Tension in the Streets

• Fight between colonists and redcoats on March 5, 1770
• Colonists threw sticks and stones at soldiers
• Soldiers fired at the colonists
  • Five colonists killed, including Crispus Attucks (the Boston Massacre)

 
Spreading the News

• Boston Massacre used as propaganda (information designed to influence opinion) against the British
  • Samuel Adams put up posters
  • Paul Revere’s engraving
• Stronger boycotts on British goods
  • Townshend Acts repealed except the tax on tea
    • Trade with Britain resumed
• Samuel Adams revived the Boston committee of correspondence (an organization that spread political ideas and information through the colonies)
  • Circulated calls for action against Britain
  • Other committees of correspondence created

 
Crisis in Boston

• Tea Act passed to save the British East India Company
  • Removed some of the taxes on tea
  • Colonists were still angry
• Call for a new boycott
• Colonists vowed to stop the East India Company’s ships from unloading

 
A Tea Party

• Colonists in New York and Philadelphia forced tea ships to turn back
• Three tea ships arrived in Boston Harbor in 1773
• Boston Sons of Liberty disguised themselves as Native Americans and boarded the ships
  • Threw 342 chests of tea overboard (Boston Tea Party)
    • Celebrated by colonists
• Colonists still saw themselves as loyal British citizens

 
The Intolerable Acts

• George III realized that Britain was losing control of the colonies
• Parliament passed the Coercive Acts passed in 1774
  • Meant to punish the colonists
  • Forced colonies to let British soldiers live among the colonists
  • Town meetings banned in Massachusetts
  • Closed Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for
    • Stopped shipment of food and other supplies to Massachusetts
    • Other colonies sent food and clothing to Boston
• Quebec Act also angered colonists
  • Created a government for Canada and extended its territory south to the Ohio River
    • Ignored colonies’ claims to the region
• Colonists believed these laws violated their rights as English citizens
  • Called the Coercive Acts and the Quebec Act the Intolerable Acts

 
Lesson 3- A Call to Arms
A Meeting in Philadelphia

• September 1774- 55 delegates from 12 colonies met in Philadelphia (the Continental Congress)
  • Created to represent Americans and challenge British control
  • Massachusetts- Samuel Adams and John Adams
  • New York- John Jay
  • Virginia- George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, and Patrick Henry

 
The Delegates Vote

• Statement of grievances called for the repeal of 13 acts of Parliament
• Boycott of British trade
• Endorsed the Suffolk Resolves
  • Declared the Coercive Acts illegal
  • Called for people in Suffolk County, Massachusetts to arm themselves
    • Colonies organized militias

 
The Colonial Militias

• Militia members trained and had drills
  • Practiced using muskets and cannons
• Towns began to gather and store military supplies

 
Fighting Begins

• Militias in Massachusetts held drills, made bullets, and stockpiled weapons
• Minutemen said they would be ready to fight on a minute’s notice

 
Great Britain Sends Troops

• King George told Parliament that the New England Colonies were “in a state of rebellion”
• General Thomas Gage had orders to seize weapons from the Massachusetts militia and arrest the leaders

 
The British on the Move

• British began marching out of Boston on April 18, 1775
• Paul Revere and William Dawes rode to spread the word that the British were coming
  • Captured by the British
    • Samuel Prescott carried the warning to Concord

 
Lexington and Concord

• Captain John Parker led about 70 minutemen when fighting began in Lexington
  • Outnumbered by the British
  • Eight minutemen killed
• British continued to march to Concord
  • British took heave losses in a short battle
  • Militia fought the British on their way back to Boston
    • Killed 73 redcoats
• “Shot heard ‘round the world”- beginning of the American Revolution

 
More Military Action

• Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys surprised the British at Fort Ticonderoga in May 1775
  • British surrendered
  • Arnold later turned on the Americans

 
The Battle of Bunker Hill

• More volunteers joined colonial militias
• June 1775- British controlled Boston
  • Colonel William Prescott’s militia set up posts on Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill
    • Across the harbor from Boston
    • British attacked and won
    • Heavy British losses- more than 1,000 dead and wounded

 
Choosing Sides

• Loyalists’ (American colonists who remained loyal to Britain and opposed the war for independence) reasons:
  • Taxes not a reason for rebellion
  • Officeholders had a responsibility to uphold British rule
  • Hadn’t suffered from British policies
  • Expected the British to win
• Patriots (American colonists who favored independence) believed colonists should have the right to govern themselves
  • Determined to fight until America was independent
• American Revolution- war between America and Britain and a civil war between Patriots and Loyalists

 
Lesson 4- Declaring Independence
The Second Continental Congress

• Continental Congress had agreed to meet again if the British didn’t address their complaints
  • Dispute between the British and the colonies had worsened

 
Distinguished Leaders

• Second Continental Congress began in May 1775
  • John Adams, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, and George Washington returned
  • New delegates:
    • Benjamin Franklin- leader in the Pennsylvania legislature, had represented the colonies in London
    • John Hancock- wealthy merchant from Massachusetts, chosen as president
    • Thomas Jefferson- served in the Virginia legislature, brilliant thinker and writer
  • Delegates were not ready to break away from Britain

 
Key Actions

• Began to govern the colonies
  • Authorized the printing of money
  • Set up a post office with Franklin in charge
  • Formed committees to handle relations with Native Americans and foreign countries
  • Continental Army created
    • George Washington chosen to be the army’s commander
  • Olive Branch Petition sent to George III
    • Assured the king that the colonists wanted peace
    • Asked the king to protect colonists’ rights
• George III rejected the petition
  • Hired 30,000 German troops (Hessians)

 
The War Heats Up

• British troops in Canada planned to invade New York
  • Americans attacked first and captured Montreal
    • Attack on Quebec failed
• Washington reached Boston in July 1775
  • Began training his soldiers
  • Had cannons brought from Fort Ticonderoga
  • Surprised the British and surrounded Boston in March 1776
    • British left Boston without a fight and went to Halifax, Nova Scotia

 
Moving Toward Independence

• Thomas Paine published Common Sense in January 1776
  • Called for complete break from British rule and influenced opinions throughout the colonies

 
Declaring Independence

• Richard Henry Lee proposed a resolution for independence in June 1776
  • Debated by Congress

 
Writing the Declaration

• Committee chosen to write the Declaration of Independence
  • Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston
  • Written by Jefferson
  • Influence of John Locke
    • People are born with natural rights (life, liberty, property)
    • Governments protect people’s rights
    • Governments can be overthrown if they don’t protect rights
• Lee Resolution passed 12-0-1 on July 2, 1776
  • New York abstained
• Declaration of Independence approved on July 4, 1776
  • John Hancock was the first to sign
  • 56 delegates signed in total
  • Copies distributed throughout the colonies
  • Washington had it read to his troops on July 9

 
The Declaration of Independence

• Four sections:
  • Preamble (introduction) says that people who want to form a new country should explain their reasons
  • Next two sections list rights colonists should have and their complaints against Britain
  • Last section proclaims the existence of the new nation
• Stated universal principles and a description of English rights
  • Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness
• Government exists to protect rights
• Crimes of the king
  • Cut off trade
  • Imposed taxes without consent
  • Petitions for redress ignored or rejected
• Signers pledged to each other their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor