Unit 2: Lesson 1: Colonial Discontent

Question 1

What was the Treaty of Paris of 1763?

Answer 1

in the Treaty of Paris of 1763, Britain, France, and their allies set new borders in North America. Britain ruled the land from Canada to Florida and the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. Britain’s American colonists were anxious to settle lands they now considered open to them, but Native Americans still occupied much of that territory.

Question 2

How did the Ottawa leader react to the British being on their land?

Answer 2

The Ottawa leader Pontiac allied Native American groups to expel the British—and their colonists—from the continent.

Question 3

What was the Potiac’s Rebellion and when did it start?

Answer 3

In May 1763, Pontiac’s Rebellion began when Pontiac attacked Fort Detroit. Native Americans laid siege to British forts and skirmished with British soldiers and American colonists. Hundreds of British soldiers and settlers died. Native American losses went unreported.

Question 4

How might British conflict with Native Americans have led to tension between Britain and the colonies?

Answer 4

Britain had just finished fighting and funding one long war and didn’t want to pay for another one. Generally, British officials wanted peace with Native Americans in North America, so conflict between colonists and Native Americans likely caused tensions between the colonists and British officials.

Question 5

The Potiac’s rebellion caused a lot of bloodshed and mounting costs, this prompted Britain to do what in 1763?

Answer 5

to draw a new boundary in the colonies. In October 1763, King George III issued a royal proclamation establishing the **Proclamation Line of 1763 **north to south along the Appalachian Mountains. American colonists were barred from settlement beyond that line.

Question 6

What did the Proclamation line of 1763 do?

Answer 6

north to south along the Appalachian Mountains. American colonists were barred from settlement beyond that line.

Question 6

What reasons does King George III give for the proclamation?

Answer 6

The proclamation says that the line is necessary to protect the interests and security of the colonies as well as of the Native Americans. The proclamation says fraud and abuses have been committed against Native Americans, and suggests they have a right to be angry.

Question 7

How does Washington’s letter suggest colonists viewed the Proclamation Line?

Answer 7

Washington doesn’t seem to take the line seriously. He says that it will be repealed, and that it’s OK to ignore the line and scope out land to settle before others can do the same. His letter suggests that colonists will be able to settle the lands eventually.

Question 8

How did the Seven’s year war affect Britain?

Answer 8

The Seven Years’ War cost Britain a lot of money. It required ships; guns, cannons, and other weapons; uniforms, boots, food, and other provisions for soldiers; and other war supplies. The war had nearly doubled Britain’s national debt, and the country had ongoing expenses—like keeping up a military presence in North America.

Question 9

How did Britain’s Prime Minister George Grenville react to the debt?

Answer 9

Britain’s Prime Minister George Grenville decided to make sure American colonists did their part. After all, part of the war had been waged to protect them, he argued. Surely they should pay more of the cost!

Question 10

Britain’s Parliament passed two laws in 1764 what were they?

Answer 10

the Currency Act and The Sugar Act

Question 11

What was the currency act of 1764?

Answer 11

The Currency Act required the colonies to use gold and silver to conduct foreign trade and to pay public and private debts.

Question 12

Why did the colonists object the sugar act?

Answer 12

the Sugar Act tightened enforcement of earlier laws that required foreign goods to go through British ports. It placed a duty, or import tax, on molasses, sugar, and rum from non-British sources. For years, the colonies had skirted the rules through smuggling while British officials largely looked the other way. The Sugar Act changed that. It also took the power to decide colonists’ guilt away from colonial courts.

Question 12

What was the Sugar Act?

Answer 12

The Sugar Act made ships and their cargo subject to search and seizure by British officials. It also established juryless courts with appointed judges to try those suspected of offenses.

Question 13

Why did colonists object The currency act?

Answer 13

First, gold and silver were in short supply in the colonies. The Currency Act hurt colonists who couldn’t afford to trade in coin and made it tough for colonial assemblies to pay their debts to Britain.

Question 14

Why did the colonists object the laws in general?

Answer 14

Third, the colonists argued that they had already paid their share of war costs and should not have to pay more.

Question 15

What was the Stamp Act of 1765?

Answer 15

The Stamp Act required anyone who used or purchased anything printed on paper to buy a revenue stamp. It was a new kind of tax— a direct tax on goods made and used in the colonies, just like Samuel Adams had feared. It also denied violators the right to a trial by jury.

Question 15

What were the 2 new laws that came up in 1765?

Answer 15

The Stamp Act and The Quartering Act

Question 16

How did Britian view the laws of 1765 in contrast to the colonist?

Answer 16

Britain viewed that imposing the laws was within its right as the colonies’ ruler. The colonies saw them as an abuse of power.

Question 17

What was the Quartering Act of 1765?

Answer 17

The Quartering Act required colonists to house British troops in barracks, public houses, and uninhabited private buildings, like barns, and to provide them with food and other provisions.

Question 18

Why were all these laws being passed? Did colonist have repersntated in parliament?

Answer 18

According to the unwritten British Constitution, only representatives for whom British subjects voted could tax them. The colonies had no voting representatives in Parliament and therefore no one to act in their interests. The Stamp Act touched their daily lives by taxing goods that people at all level of society used—every time they used them.

Question 19

The Stamp Act and the Quartering Act had unintended consequences:

Answer 19

they brought colonists together in a coordinated way.

Question 20

How did the Massachusetts Assembly respond to the Stamp Act?

Answer 20

In response to the Stamp Act, the Massachusetts Assembly sent letters to the other colonial legislatures.

Question 21

What was the Stamp act congress?

Answer 21

In October 1765, delegates from nine colonies met in New York at what came to be called the Stamp Act Congress. They found common ground in opposing Britain’s new laws and taxes. Together, they issued a document called **Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress. **This document listed their combined grievances against the British government.

Question 22

What was the Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress.?

Answer 22

Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress. This document listed their combined grievances against the British government.

Question 23

The resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress made the following points:

Answer 23

• Colonists are British subjects.
• As British subjects, colonists are entitled to the same rights that subjects born in Britain have.
• No taxes should be imposed upon citizens without their consent.
• Colonists are not being represented in the House of Commons.
• Only the legislatures of the colonies can impose taxes on colonists.
• Trial by jury is every British subject’s right.
• The Stamp Act subverts the colonists’ rights and liberties.
• It is colonists’ right to petition the king and Parliament.
• It is colonists’ duty to ask for a repeal of the Stamp Act.

Question 24

Who were the men who attended the Stamp Act Congress?

Answer 24

Most of the men who attended the Stamp Act Congress came from local assemblies. These wealthy and influential men were used to being diplomatic.

Question 25

Who were the Sons of Liberty?

Answer 25

Beginning in Boston, **the Sons of Liberty **brought together artisans, merchants, and shopkeepers to oppose the Stamp Act and later laws. The Sons of Liberty met in secret, in taverns, shops, post offices, and even beneath a giant elm known as the Liberty Tree. They printed pamphlets and broadsides (a large sheet of paper, like a poster) protesting the laws. They published many articles in newspapers, part of a propaganda campaign to draw attention to the injustice of the Stamp Ac

Question 26

What acts did the Sons of Liberty do, were they peaceful all the time?

Answer 26

The Sons of Liberty also sent communications between colonies, organized public protests, and carried out not-so-legal, even violent actions—like hanging and burning tax collectors in effigy, which means using the likeness of the person.

Question 27

How the the Daugthers of Libertly form?

Answer 27

Colonial women organized a counterpart to the Sons of Liberty dedicated to nonviolent means of protest.

Question 28

What form of Protest did the daughters of Liberty do?

Answer 28

The Daughters of Liberty launched a boycott in which they refused to buy British goods. That boycott became the heart of a new movement. The Daughters of Liberty made teas with local herbs and berries and homespun cloth so colonists didn’t have to buy these items from British merchants. They held “spinning bees” at which they competed to see who could spin the most and the finest linen.

Question 29

What were the effects of the Sons of Liberty and the Daughters of Liberty?

Answer 29

Over time, the Sons of Liberty and the Daughters of Liberty formed groups throughout the colonies. Their efforts drove the** Non-Importation Movement** to pressure Britain into repealing the Stamp Act by depriving them of trade. Merchants signed non-importation agreements, refusing to move British goods until the act had been repealed.

Question 30

The severity of the colonial response shook British officials. What did Parliament do in response?

Answer 30

On March 18, 1766, Parliament voted to repeal the Stamp Act. However……………

Question 31

Why was the Declarartory act of 1766 passed even though parliament voted to repeal the stamp act that same day?

Answer 31

British opponents of the repeal feared it would weaken parliamentary power over the colonies. So, that same day, Parliament passed another law in response to the colonies’ charges of “no taxation without representation.” The Declaratory Act stated that Parliament had “full power and authority to make laws” for Britain’s colonies in North America. In other words, Parliament could tax the colonies if it voted to do so.

Question 32

In 1767, Britain passed the Townshend Acts. What were those?

Answer 32

• Restraining Act
• Revenue Act
• Indemnity Act
• Vice-Admiralty Court Act

Question 33

What was the Restraining Act?

Answer 33

Disbanded the New York Assembly until it agreed to uphold the 1765 Quartering Act. The assembly had refused to house and provision British troops.

Question 34

What was the Revenue Act?

Answer 34

• Placed duties on imported goods such as paper, paint, lead, tea, and glass.
• Used revenues from these taxes to pay British officials who had been paid by colonial assemblies, making them less beholden to the colonies.
• Granted writs of assistance, or search warrants, to customs agents to reduce smuggling.

Question 35

What was Indemnity Act?

Answer 35

Exempted tea produced by the British East India Company from taxation when it was imported to Britain. Tea sent on to the colonies was subject to the tax.

Question 36

What was the Vice-Admiralty Court Act?

Answer 36

Established three new British courts in the colonies to try offenders.

Question 37

How did The Sons of Liberty and Daughters of Liberty react to the Townshed acts?

Answer 37

The Sons of Liberty and Daughters of Liberty renewed and expanded the Non-Importation Movement. They called out and sometimes intimidated fellow colonists into supporting the boycott of British goods, and more merchants signed non-importation agreements.

Question 38

Many leading colonists also increased a written campaign of protest. In 1768 what letter did Samuel Adams write, what was it about?

Answer 38

In 1768, Samuel Adams wrote a letter that became known as the Massachusetts Circular. The letter laid out the unconstitutionality of taxation without representation and encouraged the other colonies to again protest the taxes by boycotting British goods.

Question 39

The colonies established Committees of Correspondence, what was its purpose?

Answer 39

In 1772, Samuel Adams persuaded the Boston Town Meeting to form the Boston Committee of Correspondence. That committee sent letters to towns throughout the colony, spreading news of the Townshend Acts and encouraging them to set up their own committees. Within months, committees connected more than 100 towns around Boston.

Question 40

How did the committees help the colonies develop a shared identity?

Answer 40

The committees united many people in the colonies behind a common purpose. This helped them think of themselves as American colonists, with a shared identity, rather than as members of separate colonies with no common bonds.

Question 41

A republic is a government in which supreme power rests with the citizens and is exercised by elected representatives. How were the committees a step toward republican self-government?

Answer 41

With the committees, the colonies took another step toward working together and establishing a shared system of self-government. The committees were formed and operated by the colonists themselves, through local town meetings and assemblies.

Question 42

How did the parliament react to the increased protest in resoonse to the townshed acts?

Answer 42

In 1768, Britain sent 4,000 troops to Boston to quell the unrest. The troops’ presence had the opposite effect; they were a constant reminder of British power, and many viewed them as a threat. Some Bostonians, led by the Sons of Liberty, mounted a campaign of harassment against British troops.

Question 43

Describe the seris of event of the Boston massacre March 5, 1770?

Answer 43

On March 5, 1770, a crowd of Bostonians gathered outside the Customs House and began heckling a British sentry. The sentry called for help. Several other soldiers as well as the commanding officer, Captain Thomas Preston, emerged. The colonists became more hostile. They lobbed snowballs, rocks, and ice at the soldiers, and reportedly, called them names and issued threats. While the captain spoke with one colonist, one of his soldiers fired a shot. More shots went off, and soon, five colonists lay dead or dying, including Crispus Attucks, an African American dock worker.

Question 44

Who was Lord North, and what did he want to do?

Answer 44

In 1767, a new prime minister—Lord North—came to power in Britain. He wanted to find a more workable solution with the colonists.

Question 45

Lord North persuaded Parliament to do what?

Answer 45

North persuaded Parliament to drop all the Townshend duties except the tax on tea. Britain withdrew its troops from Boston, but the military courts and customs officials stayed.

Question 46

How did the Tea Act of 1773 affect the life of colonist?

Answer 46

Then, the Tea Act of 1773 upheld the existing duty of the Townshend Acts. For years, the colonies had avoided that tax by making their own teas and smuggling Dutch tea. The law made British tea less costly than smuggled tea and cut out colonial merchants who might otherwise sell the tea.

Question 47

What did the Tea Act of 1773 do?

Answer 47

The Tea Act gave the British East India Company the ability to export its tea directly to the colonies without paying import or export duties. The law made British tea less costly than smuggled tea and cut out colonial merchants who might otherwise sell the tea.

Question 50

How did the colonist react to the Tea Act of 1773?

Answer 50

The Committees of Correspondence coordinated a response: port cities up and down the coast refused to let British East India Company ships dock to unload their tea. In December, three ships entered Boston Harbor and were forced to wait. BOSTON TEA PARTY

Question 51

How much tea was lost in the bost tea party?

Answer 51

90,000 pounds of tea

Question 52

How did the King and Prime minster react to the boston tea party?

Answer 52

The violent destruction of property in the colonies infuriated King George III and Prime Minister North. They insisted the losses be repaid.

Question 53

How did the colonsit react to the king and prime minster’s demand to repay for the tea?

Answer 53

Though some American merchants proposed paying for the tea, the Massachusetts Assembly refused.

Question 54

In 1774 what laws did PArliament pass to punish the colonists for the Boston tea party?

Answer 54

In 1774, Parliament passed four laws collectively known as the Coercive Acts. These laws intended to punish Boston’s citizens. The colonies nicknamed these laws the “Intolerable” Acts.

Question 55

What were the Coercive “intolerable” acts?

Answer 55

• Boston Port Act
• Massachusetts Government Act
• Administration of Justice Act
• Quartering Act
• Quebec Act

Question 56

What was the Administration of Justice Act?

Answer 56

let the royal governor relocate trials of government officials to other colonies or to Britain to shield them from colonial juries

Question 56

What was the Boston Port Act?

Answer 56

shut down Boston Harbor until the colony had repaid the British East India Company for the lost tea

Question 56

What was the Massachusetts Government Act?

Answer 56

placed the colonial government under the direct control of crown officials and made traditional town meetings subject to the governor’s approval

Question 57

What was the Quartering Act ?

Answer 57

amended the earlier Quartering Act by requiring colonists to house British troops in private, occupied buildings

Question 58

What was the genral reaction to the Coercive “intolerable” acts?

Answer 58

Many colonists believed that the British government had resorted to nothing less than tyranny. Even some citizens and leaders in Britain thought Parliament had gone too far.

Question 59

What was the Quebec Act?

Answer 59

expanded the boundaries of Quebec westward, granting the Quebec colony access to lands denied the American colonies under the Proclamation Line