Road to Revolution

Sugar Act

1764

• Indirect tax (out of sight = out of mind)
• Duties on molasses and sugar

Stamp Act

1765

• Taxes on all paper product
Official stamp/seal on all paper items (proof tax was paid)
• Legal documents
• Licenses
• Newspaper
• Pamphlets
• Playing cards • Purchased only with valuable silver coins
• If didn't purchase = fined or jailed Protested Stamp Act, feeling rights were violated

Declaratory Act

1766

• Parliament declares it has power to make laws for colonies 'in class whatsoever'
• Parliament passes this to save face

Townshend Act

1767

• Taxes on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea
• Searched for smuggled goods
• Sons of Liberty start to do violent acts
- British soldiers arrive to protect tax collectors

Boston Massacre

Mar 5, 1770

• Fights between troops and Bostonians were common
• March 5, 1770: soldiers strikes colonist
- Crowd gathers and hassles soldiers, throwing snowballs and shouting insults
- More troops arrive, colonists get more and more angry
- "Fire if you dare!"
• This became known as the Boston Massacre

Tea Act

1773

• Passed in 1773 and allowed British East India Company (BEIC) to sell tea directly to colonists
- Lower prices than colonists merchants prices
- Tax Tea cheaper than smuggled tea
- Less smuggling = more tax money • Colonial Merchants feared BEIC would put them out of business

Boston Tea Party

Dec 16, 1773

• Members of Sons of Liberty dump over 340 chests of tea into Boston Harbor • 'Boston harbor is a teapot tonight!'
• Caused problems for loyalists/ Tories
- loyalists/Tory = a person in the colony who remains 'loyal' to the King & Great Britain

Intolerable Act

1774

• Passed to punish Boston for Tea Party
- Boston Harbor closed until tea paid for
- Massachusetts Charter cancelled
- Royal officials had trial in Britain
- Quartering Act required colonists house soldiers
• ' If a soldier comes knocking at the door... You're sleeping on the floor'
- Large amount of land given to Quebec
- General Thomas Gage became new governor of MA

Quartering Act

1774

• Quartering Act required colonists to house soldiers
• "If a soldier comes knocking at the door.... You're sleeping on the floor"
• Large amount of land given to Quebec
• General Thomas Gage became new governor of MA

Continental Congress meets

Sep 5, 1774

• All colonies but Georgia have representatives
• voted to send a "statement of grievances"
• Voted to Boycott all British trade
• Patrick Henry -- VA rep. urged colonists to unite against Britain

1,000's of Redcoats in Boston

Apr 1, 1775

General Gage brings thousands of British soldiers to Boston with more on the way

Midnight ride of Paul Revere

Apr 18, 1775

Paul Revere rides to warn the Sons of Liberty in Lexington and Concord that the "British are coming... The British are coming.."

Battles of Lexington & Concord

Apr 19, 1775

Battle of Lexington-
- 1st battle of America Revolutionary War
- "shot heard around the world" -Ralph Waldo Emerson
- BRITISH Victory
Battle of Concord-
- Americans Stop British and force them to retreat back to Boston
- AMERICAN Victory

Capture of Fort Ticonderoga

May 10, 1775

• Benedict Arnold & Ethan Allen capture the fort
• Get all supplies in the fort including cannons
• AMERICAN Victory

Second Continental Congress meet

May 10, 1775

• print $$$
• set up post office
• created Continental Army led by George Washington
• sent Olive Branch asking King to protect their rights
- King hires 30,000 Hessians soldiers in response

Battle of Bunker Hill

Jun 16, 1775

• Fought on Breed's Hill
• "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes" - William Prescott
• BRITISH Victory (Americans ran out of ammunition) British learn defeating Americans would NOT be easy.

Washington arrives on outskirts of Boston with Continental troops

Jul 15, 1775

• realizes men are disorganized & need
• discipline
• weapons

"Common Sense" published by Thomas Paine

Jan 10, 1776

• pamphlet inspires more colonists to become patriots
• "Every thing that is right or reasonable pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries 'TIS TIME TO PART" - Thomas Paine, "Common Sense"

British Surrender Boston

Mar 17, 1776

• Washington believes his army is ready & weapons arrive
• Washington puts cannons on Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston
• BRITISH retreat - AMERICAN Victory

Second Continental Congress votes for Independence

Apr 2, 1776

Second Continental Congress meets again

Jun 15, 1776

• debate on declaring independence
• Thomas Jefferson is the primary author of the document

The Declaration of Independence is signed!

Jul 4, 1776