UNSPEAKABLE ACTSTHE ROAD TO REVOLUTION

• Passed in 1763• Prohibited governors

from granting land beyond the headwaters of rivers flowing into the Atlantic

• bans colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains

THE PROCLAMATION OF 1763

• Colonists: Can't expand West. Restricts their ability to self-govern. Restricts trade to the West. Restricts land availability. Protected from Native attacks.

• Native Americans: Their lands protected from encroaching colonists. Protects people from unnecessary attacks by colonists.

• African Americans: Kept from being separated further from families.

• Women: Kept from braving the wilderness.

POTENTIAL EFFECTS AND REACTIONS

Some colonists move West despite the law. Some colonists feel they should be able to expand and see the law as a threatening interference by the crown

STAMP ACT(1765, REPEALED 1766)What it Did:• Printed

documents (deeds, newspapers, marriage licenses, etc.) issued only on special stamped paper purchased from stamp distributors

POTENTIAL EFFECTS• Colonists: – Questions self-taxing. – Inconvenient. – Threatened liberty. – Reached into the lives of ordinary people,

not just merchants and businesses. – Increased fear of unemployment and

poverty.• Women: Taxed everyday items women

may have bought.

REACTIONS

• Riots in cities• Collectors forced to resign• Stamp Act Congress (October 1765)• Virginia Resolves: "Give me liberty or give me

death!" • Boycott British goods

QUARTERING ACT (1765)What It Did• Colonists must

supply British troops with housing, other items (candles, firewood, etc.)

Potential Effects• Colonists: Financial

responsibility for troops. Must provide space. Possibly make sacrifices of the family for the sake of the soldier.

• Native Americans: Greater military presence.

• African Americans: Subject to demands of soldiers in addition to masters.

• Women: Must work to support another member of the household.

REACTIONS• Protest in assemblies• New York Assembly punished for failure to comply, 1767

COERCIVE ACTS (INTOLERABLE ACTS, 1774)What It Did• Closes port of

Boston • Restructures

Massachusetts government

• Restricts town meetings

• Troops quartered in Boston

• British officials accused of crimes sent to England or Canada for trial

Potential Effects• Colonists: – Restricted self-

government. – Imposed troops

on families. – Restricts

business and travel.

– Undermined colonial authority to try officials in their own courts.

REACTIONS• Boycott of British goods• First Continental Congress convenes

(September 1774)

PROHIBITORY ACT (1775)What It Did

• Declares British intention to coerce Americans into submission

• Embargo on American goods

• Americans ships seized

Potential Effects• Colonists: Blocked from

trade. Ships seized. • Native Americans:

Drawn closer to possibility of another war in their backyard.

• African Americans: Urged to take up arms against masters.

• Women: Husbands out of work if they worked on ships seized. Livelihood threatened.

REACTIONS• Drives Continental Congress closer to

decision for independence