YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION!

HOW TO START A REVOLUTION IN 13 EASY

STEPS

So, you want a revolution, eh? Well, here’s

your step-by-step guide on just how to do that,

using the American Revolution as an example!

I

n 1750 Britain, France, & Spain all had

empires in N.A.

B

ut, Britain & France wanted more of

each other’s (not to mention the

Natives’) land

T

he French & Indian (or Seven Year

War) resulted

B

ritain gained all of France’s land

STEP #1: KICK OUT THE FRENCH

STEP #2: TAX THE COLONISTS

T

he war cost Britain BIG TIME!

P

lus, they had to keep 10,000 British soldiers in N.A. to protect new land…

costing even more!

B

ritish Prime Minister, George Greenville defending taxing colonies this way:

“

The nation has run itself into an immense debt to give them protection; and

now they are called upon to contribute a small share toward public

expense.”

T

he new tax plan on the colonies

C

olonist buying any legal

documents or paper goods

(newspaper, books, playing

cards, etc…) had to buy a stamp

to prove they had to pay a tax

THE STAMP ACT

N

o one likes taxes

S

ince the colonists had been self-

governed to a large degree for a long

time so this was even more

troublesome.

“

No taxation without representation!”

B

ut what to do about it?

THE STAMP ACT

SAMUEL ADAMS

A failure to the rescue…?

SAMUEL ADAMS

H

e was a little over 40 and had failed miserably in business despite his

father giving him a small fortune to try.

I

nstead he focused on political writing and meetings.

H

e was in the right place at the right time!

S

am Adams had a plan to battle the Stamp Tax…make sure no one is

around to collect the tax when it goes into effect in November 1765!

SONS OF LIBERTY OR THUGS?!

A

ndrew Oliver was in charge of

stamps in Boston…he was hung in

effigy outside of his house with a

poem that read:

“

What great joy did New England see,

Than a man hanging from a tree?”

THE STAMP ACT FAILS

“

The Andrew Oliver

Treatment” was given to

stamp distributers

throughout the 13 colonies.

S

o, the tax did not raise any

money!

B

ritish Parliament repealed (got rid of) the Stamp

Tax

C

olonists celebrated (New Yorkers even built a statue

to King George III)

B

ut, the British still needed money and thought they

had every right to tax the colonists to get it. King

George was quite stubborn on this point!

P

arliament passed The Townsend Acts in 1767

STEP #4: TRY, TRY AGAIN!

THE TOWNSEND ACTS (1767)

C

olonial merchants had to pay a tax on imported

products like paint, paper, glass, and tea.

How would the colonists

react to this?

STEP #5: REFUSE TO PAY

C

olonists started boycott (refusing to buy British imports)

W

omen took a central role:

“

Stand firmly resolved and bid Greenville to see

T

hat rather than Freedom, we’ll part with our tea.

A

nd well as we love the dear draught when a’dry

A

s American Patriots our taste we deny.”

—

Hannah Griffiths, PA

Others, like John Hancock started smuggling in goods without paying taxes.

Though illegal he thought his breaking the law was just in response to an

unfair law.

B

ritish wanted to stop the smuggling but many British officials were afraid

to risk collecting the taxes, and for good reason…

J

ohn Malcolm (a British tax official) tried to do his job properly and he

ended up being stripped to the waist, smeared with hot tar, and covered

with feathers from a pillow. Then, he was pulled through Boston in a cart,

just to make the humiliation complete. What was the worst thing about

getting tarred and feathered? Well, having to rip the tar and feathers off

of him (along with a considerable amount of skin) couldn’t have been fun!

DID THE TAX WORK?

S

pring of 1768 Hancock’s ship Liberty (full of

bootleg wine) was seized by tax agents in Boston

S

ons of Liberty gathered at the dock

S

am Adams shouted, “If you are men, behave like

men! Let us take up arms immediately and be

free!”

T

hey threw stones at the tax collector’s house all

night, even setting his boat on fire! He had to

run away to escape.

THINGS GET UGLIER

STEP #6: SEND IN THE WAR SHIPS

K

ing George was furious at the brazen colonists! He

couldn’t permit his officials to be run out of town.

T

he thought of repealing the hated (and ineffective) tax

was no longer an option.

A

s one of the King’s top advisors (Frederick North) said,

“America must fear you before she can love you. I hope

you shall never think of it till we see America prostrate

(face-down) at our feet.”

S

o in October 1768 he sent warships into Boston Harbor

and 1,000 troops under General Thomas Gage

F

rom the outset, the colonists and soldiers

are uneasy and spats occur.

T

he breaking point comes on March 5,

1770…

B

ritish soldiers being harassed by an angry

mob of Bostonians fired into the crowd

(killing 5 and wounding 6)• Crispus Attucks (an African-American)

was the first to die in the American Revolutionary cause.

STEP #7: FIRE INTO A CROWD

S

am Adams charged the British with

firing into a crowd of harmless

protesters.

H

e called them “bloody murderers” and

then dubbed it the “Boston Massacre”

P

aul Revere immortalized it in silver

(he was a silversmith) engraving.

B

ritish soldiers claimed that they were

under attack by a mob armed with ice,

rocks, and clubs (used for making rope)

that menaced them.

A

lso, the commander did NOT order the

attack!

U

ltimately, only 2 soldiers were convicted,

but not of murder, of disobeying orders.

SO, WHAT WAS IT?

The Boston Massacre The Incident

STEP #8: KEEP THE TEA TAX

A

fter “the incident” General Gage pulled his soldiers out of

Boston to calm things down.

P

arliament thought that the Townsend Acts were more trouble

than they were worth so they repealed them…well, most of

them, except the one on tea.• King George instructed them, “I am clear that there must

always be one tax to keep up the right, and as such I approve the tea duty.”

• Everyone understood that this tax would not raise much money, but it was the principle of the thing! (Told you he was stubborn!)

D

ecember 16, 1773

D

ozens of men as badly disguised “Indians” marched to the waterfront.

T

hey boarded three ships full of British tea in Boston Harbor (the people of Boston had

refused to allow them to be unloaded because of the tax).

T

hey dumped the tea into the harbor• 342 cases• Worth $90,000 dollars!

STEP #9: THROW A TEA PARTY

STEP #10: PAY THE FIDDLER

T

here were consequences of this little “Party”

K

ing George called the Tea Party “violent and outrageous”

and Parliament was just as mad

O

ne member said,

“

The town of Boston ought to be boxed about their ears

and destroyed. I am of the opinion you will never meet

with that proper obedience to the laws of this country

until you have destroyed that nest of locusts.”—Charles

Van

COERCIVE ACTS OF 1774

D

esigned to reassert power of Britain and make example of Boston

S

eries of laws passed in 1774 that did the following:• Closed the Port of Boston• Increased the power of the Royal Governor, Abolished Upper House of MA

Legislature, Cut right to have Town Meetings (Why?)• All murder cases would be tried in England (Why?)• Strengthened Quartering Act (You read about it. What was this earlier

bill?)

What were the goal of all of these laws?

A

gain the colonists had a much different take

on these laws.

T

hey dubbed them The Intolerable Acts.

A LAW BY ANOTHER NAME…

T

hose who opposed the

British taxes and stood

by Boston

T

hose who supported

Britain and the King

THE LINES ARE DRAWN

Patriots Loyalists

STEP #11: STAND FIRM

O

ther colonies sent food & supplies

to Boston as aid

C

reated Committees of

Correspondence (to keep in touch)

C

alled first meeting of Continental

Congress (in Philadelphia, PA)

C

ontinental Congress ran from September 5th-October 26th 1774 in

Philadelphia, PA• 56 Total Delegates• From 12 Colonies (excluding GA)

S

erious differences of opinions & long debates

D

ecisions:• Demanded repeal of Intolerable Acts b/c colonies could self-govern & tax • Restart British boycott• Start arming & training militias (volunteer armies)• Planned to meet again in May 1775 (if demands went unmet)

T

his unity of colonists was surprising!

STEP #12: MAKE SPEECHES

STEP #13: LET THE FIGHTING BEGIN

N

either side wanted war (most were hoping

for a peaceful revolution)

B

ut, neither would back down!

P

atrick Henry famously proclaimed,

“

Gentlemen, may cry, ‘Peace! Peace!’ but

there is no peace…I know not what course

others may take, but as for me, give me

liberty or give me death!”

FOR TOMORROW

Complete the missing events in your graphic

organizer

(using Ch. 5-2 &3 from your textbook).