THE ROAD TO REVOLUTION

BRITISH V COLONIAL GOVERNEMNT

• British-> very few active members of British government were voted into their positions, most inherited their titles. Plus, very few meant were eligible to vote for these members, 1/4 in fact. One, centralized government.
• Colonial-> the majority of positions in colonial government were ones you could be voted into. 2/3 of the men did have the right to vote. Each colony had slightly different set ups of government.

WAR DEBT

• The British want the colonists to help them pay back the money Britain owns from the seven year war and help with the costs of protecting their newly acquired land in North America.
• They begin taxing the colonists

THE SUGAR ACT

• 1764
• Lowered the duty on foreign molasses, but since most ignored the taxes on imports, it was still an increase
• Assigned customs officers to enforce the new regulations
• Created a customs court just for offensives against these regulations

THE QUARTERING ACT

• Required colonists to provide housing for the British soldiers stationed there
• Colonists complied with resentment
• 1765

THE STAMP ACT

• 1765
• Colonists taxed by British on all printed materials
• First direct tax on the colonies by the British

THE SONS OF LIBERTY

• They were a group of colonists who opposed the Stamp Act as well as a number of other British laws and regulations.
• Led by Samuel Adams

PATRICK HENRY'S INVOLVEMENT

• He used enlightenment ideas to draft the Virginia Resolves
• This stated that only colonial assemblies had the right to tax the colonists
• No taxation without representation

TOWNSHEND ACTS

• 1767
• Allowed British to levy taxes on imports of daily items for the colonists

THE BOSTON MASSACRE

• The colonists threw snowballs at the soldiers guarding the customs house. The soldiers opened fire and killed five colonists.
• 1770

THE COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCES

• Created after the Boston massacre
• It gave leadership for colonists
• It provided information about British actions on them

BOSTON TEA PARTY

• 1773
• In protest against British taxes, a few colonists in Boston pretended to be Native Americans and climbed aboard a tea import ship. They dumber the tea into the harbor, and the event became know as the Boston Tea Party

INTOLERABLE ACTS

• Coercive acts
• 1773
• Closed ports, forced the housing of British troops, extended Canada's borders into the northern colony's territory
• Hated by colonists ->too much British control in their lives

FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS

• 1775
• In Philadelphia, representative from all colonies except Georgia gathered
• Patrick Henry said that the distinctions between the colonies no longer existed as they were all united as Americans against their oppressors, the British
• Organized boycott of British goods in opposition to the Coercive Acts