THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

FROM RESISTANCE TO REVOLUTION: 1767-1783

THE TOWNSHEND DUTIES

• Charles Townshend was Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1767

– New duties on glass, paper, painters’ supplies, and tea

– John Dickinson argued these were illegal

– Merchants signed Nonimportation Agreements

– Sons of Liberty urged strict enforcement of Nonimportation agreements

BOSTON MASSACRE

• March 5, 1770

– Four colonists killed

– Incident began with harassment of British soldiers

– Did the have right to use deadly force?

– John Adams convinced a jury that they did

– A riot broke out after verdict; March 5 became a colonial holiday

THE TEA ACT CRISIS

• Townshend duties repealed in 1770

• Tea Act of 1773 ended a period of calm

– A tax on tea that had to be purchased from East India Company

– Boston Tea Party (December 1773)

COERCIVE ACTS, 1774

• “Intolerable Acts”

– Closed Boston Harbor until tea was paid for

– Suppressed town meetings

– Royal officials would now be tried outside of New England

– Governor could requisition houses for soldiers

– Quebec Act gave Catholics the right to worship; restored French civil law; extended Quebec’s boundaries to Ohio & Mississippi

FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS

• Philadelphia, September 1774

– All colonies except Georgia attended

– Pledged not to obey Coercive Acts

– Yet rejected call for independence

– Declaration of Rights promised obedience to King but rejected Parliament’s right to tax

– Set up Continental Association to prohibit importation of goods from England

– Adjourned to meet again in May 1775

THE SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD

• April 19, 1775: Lexington and Concord

– Minutemen lose 8 men

– Soldiers failed to find supplies

– Minutemen pursued them all the way back to Boston

SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS

• Philadelphia, May 10, 1775

– NO immediate declaration of independence

– G. Washington given command of Continental Army to besiege Boston

– At Bunker Hill, patriot army suffered a major defeat on June 17, 1775

– Bloodiest battle of entire war

– British held city until April 1776