Lead up to the American Revolution

Question 1

Timeline: Imperial Reforms and Colonial Protests, 1763-1774

Answer 1

1763: Proclamation Line establishes boundary restricting westward settlement. 1764: Sugar Act reduces tax on molasses and strengthens compliance. 1765: Stamp Act and Stamp Act Congress. 1767: Townshend Revenue Act. 1770: Boston Massacre. 1773: Tea Act, Patriots dump tea into Boston Harbor in Boston Tea Party. 1774: Coercive Acts and First Continental Congress.

Question 2

*Confronting the National Debt: The Aftermath of the French and Indian War*

Answer 2

The British Empire had gained supremacy in North America with its victory over the French in 1763. Almost all of the North American territory east of the Mississippi fell under Great Britain’s control, and British leaders took this opportunity to try to create a more coherent and unified empire after decades of lax oversight. Victory over the French had proved very costly, and the British government attempted to better regulate their expanded empire in North America. The initial steps the British took in 1763 and 1764 raised suspicions among some colonists about the intent of the home government. These suspicions would grow and swell over the coming years.

Question 3

George Grenville

Answer 3

George Grenville (1712-1770) ended salutary neglect in the colonies when he became prime minister in 1763 (April 1763 – July 1765), in the aftermath of the French and Indian War. In order to pay for debts incurred during the war, he was responsible for various policies that pushed the colonists towards declaring independence, such as: The Proclamation of 1763, Sugar Act (1764), Currency Act (1764), Quartering Act (1765), and Stamp Act (1765). King George III fired Prime Minister Grenville after the Stamp Act was ineffective.

Question 4

Proclamation of 1763

Answer 4

This set a border line for the western edge of the colonies to keep the settlers and Native Americans apart in order to avoid another expensive conflict. Instead, it caused the colonists to be frustrated because they couldn’t move west into the land they fought for and won. It also encouraged some Native Americans to become hostile in an attempt to recover territory that once belong to France, known as Pontiac’s Conspiracy.

Question 5

Proclamation Line

Answer 5

A line along the Appalachian Mountains, imposed by the Proclamation of 1763, west of which British colonists could not settle.

Question 6

Pontiac’s Conspiracy

Answer 6

In Pontiac’s Conspiracy, from 1763 to 1766, Native Americans united under an Ottawa leader, named Pontiac, in an attempt to win territory lost during the French and Indian War and give it back to France. They were encouraged by French inhabitants whose presence they preferred over the British. They attacked the weakly guarded forts, terrorized settlers who had defended the proclamation line, and raided towns along the western frontier. Despite these successes, France refused to get involved. Pontiac’s Conspiracy fell apart, but it still frightened the British government who responded by sending 10,000 troops to guard the proclamation line. It was a military expense they couldn’t afford.

Question 7

Vice-Admiralty Courts

Answer 7

British royal courts without juries that settled disputes occurring at sea. Vice-admiralty courts were unpopular with Americans because their purpose was to enforce Britain’s control over the colonial economy. It was particularly galling that the courts were staffed by imperial placemen who exercised summary jurisdiction over local merchants. The absence of trial by jury reduced local influence on the courts and allowed them more latitude in helping the Customs Commissioners prosecute smugglers and collect the fees levied by the various acts of trade.

Question 8

Sugar Act (Grenville)

Answer 8

The Sugar Act, in 1764, increased existing taxes on sugar products and some other imported goods, such as wine, coffee, textiles, and indigo. But even more important to the colonists was the punishment for dodging the tax. Violators would be tried at a new court in Canada, depriving colonists of their right to a trial by a jury of their peers.

Question 9

Currency Act (Grenville)

Answer 9

Currency Act in 1764 forbade the colonies from issuing any paper currency. This destabilized the economy of several colonies.

Question 10

Quartering Act (Grenville)

Answer 10

The Quartering Act in early 1765 required colonists to provide food and shelter to the soldiers they disliked without being reimbursed for their expenses.

Question 11

Stamp Act (Grenville)

Answer 11

The Stamp Act in March 1765 required a stamp on all printed materials, including legal documents, newspapers, and leisure materials, such as playing cards or almanacs. It was the first time that Americans had been required to pay a tax directly to England instead of going through their colonial legislatures first.

Question 12

Non-Importation Movements

Answer 12

The Nonimportation Agreements (1765–75) were a series of commercial restrictions, boycotting British imports. The Nonimportation Agreements were adopted by American colonists to protest British laws and taxes prior to the American Revolution. Associations were organized by the ‘Sons of Liberty’ and Whig merchants to boycott English goods in response to new taxes. American colonists were discouraged from purchasing British imports. ‘The first Nonimportation Agreements’ were started by the Stamp Act of 1765. ‘The second Nonimportation Agreements‘ in 1767 were triggered by the the Townshend Acts imposing taxes on British imports. ‘The final Nonimportation Agreements’ in 1774 were initiated by the Continental Congress which created the Continental Association.

Question 13

*The Stamp Act and the Sons and Daughters of Liberty*

Answer 13

Though Parliament designed the 1765 Stamp Act to deal with the financial crisis in the Empire, it had unintended consequences. Outrage over the act created a degree of unity among otherwise unconnected American colonists, giving them a chance to act together both politically and socially. The crisis of the Stamp Act allowed colonists to loudly proclaim their identity as defenders of British liberty. With the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766, liberty-loving subjects of the king celebrated what they viewed as a victory.

Question 14

Writs of Assistance (Grenville)

Answer 14

Grenville insisted that customs officers take advantage of British writs of assistance to make sure acts were enforced. These were blank search warrants, allowing officers to inspect colonial ships and warehouses. England thought this would close the loopholes that had allowed the colonists to evade the Navigation Acts 100 years earlier. But what they hadn’t thought about was that the new laws affected some of the most influential members of colonial society: Publishers, merchants, and lawyers.

Question 15

Writs of Assistance - James Otis

Answer 15

A Boston lawyer, named James Otis, represented several merchants in court against the writs of assistance (blank search warrants). He lost the case but made a name for himself and aroused the public against yet another policy.

Question 16

No Taxation without Representation

Answer 16

The principle, first articulated in the Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions (1765), that the colonists needed to be represented in Parliament if they were to be taxed. James Otis published a pamphlet convincing colonists that ‘Taxation without Representation is tyranny’.

Question 17

Patrick Henry and the Virginia Resolutions

Answer 17

Patrick Henry was a fiery young member of the Virginia House of Burgesses who encouraged opposition to the Stamp Act. He claimed it violated the English Bill of Rights, as only the Virginia assembly could tax Virginians since they were not represented in Parliament. The House of Burgesses passed the Virginia Resolutions in may of 1765 and later influenced the Stamp Act Congress.

Question 18

The Virginia Resolutions

Answer 18

The Virginia Resolutions, in May 1765, claimed that in accordance with long established British law, Virginia was subject to taxation only by a parliamentary assembly to which Virginians themselves elected representatives. Since no colonial representatives were elected to Parliament, the only assembly legally allowed to raise taxes would be the Virginia General Assembly.

Question 19

Samuel Adams

Answer 19

Samuel Adams (1722-1803) organized a secret society called the ‘Sons of Liberty’. At first, they just stirred the pot with protests and publications against the Stamp Act and spread the word about the upcoming boycott. Soon, though, individual chapters of the ‘Sons of Liberty’ emerged in towns throughout the colonies. Many of them began harassing people who had contracted to become stamp agents, forcing them to resign. Later, the ‘Sons of Liberty’ terrorized anyone who cooperated with the British laws.

Question 20

Sons of Liberty

Answer 20

Artisans, shopkeepers, and small-time merchants who opposed the Stamp Act and considered themselves British patriots. The ‘Sons of Liberty’, originally organized by Samuel Adams, was a secret organization that was created in the Thirteen American Colonies to advance the rights of the European colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It played a major role in most colonies in battling the Stamp Act in 1765. The group officially disbanded after the Stamp Act was repealed. However, the name was applied to other local separatist groups during the years preceding the American Revolution.

Question 21

Daughters of Liberty

Answer 21

Well-born British colonial women who led a non-importation movement against British goods. It was the formal female association that was formed in 1765 to protest the Stamp Act, and later the Townshend Acts, and was a general term for women who identified themselves as fighting for liberty during the American Revolution.

Question 22

The Stamp Act Congress

Answer 22

By October 1765, James Otis had called for a Stamp Act Congress to be held in New York City. Representatives of nine colonies attended, and together they wrote a petition to the king requesting the repeal of the Stamp Act before it went into effect. They asserted that it was a violation of their rights as British citizens for a new tax to be placed on them without having direct representation in Parliament. Though King George III ignored their letter, it was an important step toward unified opposition to the king, and many of the emerging leaders in different colonies met each other for the first time.

Question 23

Repeal of the Stamp Act and Declaratory Act

Answer 23

The Stamp Act was enacted on November 1st, 1765 and repealed in 1766. This was because business became stagnant from organized boycotts, along with some riots breaking out in some cities. There was no revenue made from the act, while it cost money to enforce it. King George III fired Prime Minister Grenville. After heated debate in parliament, and an appearance by Benjamin Franklin, it decided to repeal the Stamp Act, but asserted its authority to tax and legislate the colonies by passing the Declaratory Act.

Question 24

Declaratory Act

Answer 24

Declaratory Act, (1766), declaration by the British Parliament that accompanied the repeal of the Stamp Act. It stated that the British Parliament’s taxing authority was the same in America as in Great Britain.

Question 25

\*The Townshend Acts and Colonial Protest\*

Answer 25

Like the Stamp Act in 1765, the Townshend Acts (1767) led many colonists to work together against what they perceived to be an unconstitutional measure, generating the second major crisis in British Colonial America. The experience of resisting the Townshend Acts provided another shared experience among colonists from diverse regions and backgrounds, while the partial repeal convinced many that liberty had once again been defended. Nonetheless, Great Britain’s debt crisis still had not been solved.

Question 26

The Townshend Acts

Answer 26

The Townshend Acts went into effect in 1767. An influential politician in England, Charles Townshend, believed he could devise a plan to avoid direct taxes by placing duties on imported items, such as paper, tea, glass, lead, and paints. Once again, tax evaders would be tried in the admiralty courts in Canada and the customs agents were granted writs of assistance (blank search warrants) to search for contraband. To avoid the problem of bribery, Townshend tied the agent's salaries to the money they collected. Furthermore, he disbanded the colonial legislature of New York as punishment for not abiding by the Quartering Act.

Question 27

The Townshend Acts - Consequences

Answer 27

Boston merchants organized a boycott. The Massachusetts legislature had Samuel Adams write a letter denouncing taxation without representation and requested that other colonies take similar measures to avoid the taxes. Parliament then decided to dissolve the Massachusetts legislature and warned other colonies that the same would happen to them if they did not obey. After royal officials seized one of John Hancock’s ships - which was probably smuggling goods - a mob formed and violence against customs agents ensued. England sent a warship to Boston harbor filled with British regulars to control the population. This marked the beginning of the end of America’s colonial relationship with Great Britain because the colonists began to see the British as an occupying force instead of countrymen.

Question 28

Massachusetts Circular Letter

Answer 28

The Massachusetts Circular Letter was a statement written by Samuel Adams and James Otis Jr., and passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives in February 1768 in response to the Townshend Acts (as constituted in the government of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, not the current constitution). It argued that the Townshend Acts were unconstitutional because the colony of Massachusetts was not represented in Parliament. Reactions to the letter brought heightened tensions between the British Parliament and Massachusetts, and resulted in the military occupation of Boston by the British Army, which contributed to the coming of the American Revolution.

Question 29

Committees of Correspondence

Answer 29

Colonial extralegal shadow governments that convened to coordinate plans of resistance against the British. They originated in Massachusetts after the Townshend Acts. Samuel Adams started the idea to circulate news to the inland towns. Within three years, all of the colonies had these Committees of Correspondence, with an inner circle for communicating with the other twelve colonies.

Question 30

Boston Massacre

Answer 30

A confrontation between a crowd of Bostonians and British soldiers on March 5, 1770, which resulted in the deaths of five people, including Crispus Attucks, the first official casualty in the war for independence. Tension had been growing between both sides because of the Townshend duties. Patriots immediately used this tragedy as propaganda against the British.

Question 31

Boston Massacre - Consequences

Answer 31

Nine soldiers were put on trail for murder, with two found guilty of manslaughter. John Adams served as a defense lawyer for them. The Townshend Act was repealed except for the tax on tea to assert British authority. Colonists generally avoided the tax through smuggling. The British increased their custom ships in response. A customs ship named the ‘Gaspee’ ran aground near Rhode Island and a mob of colonists set it on fire. The king vowed to punish them, but they were never caught.

Question 32

John Adams (F)

Answer 32

John Adams (1735-1826) was a leader of the American Revolution, and served as the second U.S. president from 1797 to 1801. The Massachusetts-born, Harvard-educated Adams began his career as a lawyer. Intelligent, patriotic, opinionated, and blunt, Adams became a critic of Great Britain’s authority in colonial America and viewed the British imposition of high taxes and tariffs as a tool of oppression. During the 1770s, he was a delegate to the Continental Congress. In the 1780s, Adams served as a diplomat in Europe and helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris (1783), which officially ended the American Revolutionary War (1775-83). From 1789 to 1797, Adams was America’s first vice president. He then served a term as the nation’s second president. He was defeated for another term by Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826).

Question 33

\*The Destruction of the Tea and the Coercive Acts\*

Answer 33

The colonial rejection of the Tea Act (1773), especially the destruction of the tea in Boston Harbor, recast the decade-long argument between British colonists and the home government as an intolerable conspiracy against liberty and an excessive overreach of parliamentary power. The Coercive Acts were punitive in nature, awakening the worst fears of otherwise loyal members of the British Empire in America.

Question 34

Understand the state of the colonies' relationship with Britain before the Tea Act in 1773.

Answer 34

After the Boston Massacre in 1770, even the Sons of Liberty quieted down. There were a few scattered incidents, like the burning of the Gaspee, but the violence was limited, and nearly three years passed without a major confrontation. Most of the Townshend Acts had been repealed, and the colonists weren't protesting the remaining tax on tea because it was easy enough to avoid. They just stopped importing tea from Britain and smuggled it in from Dutch colonies. If England had overlooked this problem, we might still be loyal to the British monarch today.

Question 35

Describe the Tea Act and the colonies' reaction to it, including the Boston Tea Party.

Answer 35

Three years passed without serious incident since the Boston Massacure, and England decided it was time to try and collect some tax money. The Tea Act (1773) would have lowered the price of tea while still collecting the Townshend duty, and it would have helped bolster the nearly-bankrupt British East India Company, but colonists protested yet another example of taxation without representation. Many colonies refused shipments of tea and successfully bullied the tax agents into resigning, but the Massachusetts governor insisted on allowing three shiploads of tea into the harbor. During the Boston Tea Party (1773), the ‘Sons of Liberty’ threw the cargo overboard rather than allow the tea to be unloaded and the tax paid.

Question 36

Identify and describe the Intolerable Acts

Answer 36

In 1774, Britain responded to the Boston Tea Party by passing the Coercive Acts aimed at punishing Boston. They simultaneously passed the Quebec Act that angered Americans because it allowed Canadians to settle in land west of the Proclamation line. Together, these actions were called the Intolerable Acts. Additionally, Massachusetts was placed under martial law, the Quartering Act was reinstated, all forms of local legislation were forbidden, the commander of the British army in America was appointed governor of Massachusetts, and Boston Harbor was closed until the people responsible for the destruction of the tea stepped forward and paid its full value.

Question 37

Coercive Acts

Answer 37

Four acts: Administration of Justice Act, Massachusetts Government Act, Port Act, and Quartering Act, that Lord North passed to punish Massachusetts for destroying the tea and refusing to pay for the damage. (1774)

Question 38

Coercive Acts - Administration of Justice Act

Answer 38

Administration of Justice Act (1774), also called Murder Act, had the stated purpose of ensuring a fair trial for British officials who were charged with capital offenses while upholding the law or quelling protests in Massachusetts Bay Colony. It was one of several punitive measures, known as the Intolerable Acts, that the British government enacted in retaliation for American colonial defiance.

Question 39

Coercive Acts - Massachusetts Government Act

Answer 39

The Massachusetts Government Act (1774) was passed by the Parliament of Great Britain. The act effectively repealed the Massachusetts Charter of 1691 of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and gave its royally-appointed governor wide-ranging powers. The colonists said it altered parliamentary authority over the basic structure of colonial government. They vehemently opposed it and would not let it operate. It was a major step on the way to the start of the American Revolution in 1775.

Question 40

Coercive Acts - Boston Port Act

Answer 40

In 1774, British Parliament passed the Boston Port Act, closing the port of Boston and demanding that the city’s residents pay for the nearly $1 million worth (in today’s money) of tea dumped into Boston Harbor during the Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773.

Question 41

Coercive Acts - Quartering Act

Answer 41

In 1765, Parliament passed the Quartering Act, outlining the locations and conditions in which British soldiers are to find room and board in the American colonies.

Question 42

Intolerable Acts

Answer 42

The name American Patriots gave to the Coercive Acts and the Quebec Acts.

Question 43

Suffolk Resolves

Answer 43

A Massachusetts plan of resistance to the Intolerable Acts that formed the basis of the eventual plan adopted by the First Continental Congress for resisting the British, including the arming of militias and the adoption of a widespread non-importation, non-exportation, and non-consumption agreement.

Question 44

\*Disaffection: The First Continental Congress and American Identity\*

Answer 44

The First Continental Congress (1774), which comprised elected representatives from twelve of the thirteen American colonies, represented a direct challenge to British authority. In its ‘Declaration and Resolves’, colonists demanded the repeal of all repressive acts passed since 1773 - the Intolerable Acts. The delegates also recommended that the colonies raise militias, lest the British respond to the Congress’s proposed boycott of British goods with force. While the colonists still considered themselves British subjects, they were slowly retreating from British authority, creating their own de facto government via the First Continental Congress.

Question 45

Explain what was accomplished in the First Continental Congress.

Answer 45

1774, the First Continental Congress met to assert their rights within the British government, not to rebel against it. The Congress was contentious, characterized by heated debates, but the delegates were able to get a better feel for the needs of the other colonies and demonstrated an ability to cooperate that would be critical in the years to come. More importantly, they took several important actions. First, they sent the 'Declaration and Resolves' to King George III in which they condemned the Intolerable Acts as a violation of British law. They sanctioned the colonial militias and a Patriot government in Massachusetts and endorsed a boycott of British goods, including slaves. Finally, they agreed to meet again the following spring if England had not granted them full representation and undone some of the wrongs they had committed.

Question 46

Explain what was accomplished in the First Continental Congress - Declaration and Resolves

Answer 46

The Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress (also known as the Declaration of Colonial Rights, or the Declaration of Rights), was a statement adopted by the First Continental Congress on October 14, 1774, in response to the Intolerable Acts passed by the British Parliament. The Declaration outlined colonial objections to the Intolerable Acts, listed a colonial bill of rights, and provided a detailed list of grievances. It was similar to the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, passed by the Stamp Act Congress a decade earlier.

Question 47

The Conciliatory Resolution

Answer 47

In 1775, the Conciliatory Resolution or Conciliatory Act was a resolution passed by the British Parliament in an attempt to reach a peaceful settlement with the Thirteen Colonies immediately prior to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. It declared that any colony that contributed to the common defense and provided support for the civil government and the administration of justice (ostensibly against any anti-Crown rebellion) would be relieved of paying taxes or duties except those necessary for the regulation of commerce. It intentionally ignored the Continental Congress and attempted to divide the colonists amongst themselves and thus weaken any revolution/independence movement. The resolution proved to be too little, too late and the American Revolutionary War began at Lexington on April 19, 1775.