The Road to the American Revolution (1763-1775)

Overview

• Timeframe: 1763-1775
• Context: End of the Seven Years War/French and Indian War.
• Significance: England expands territory but faces massive debt.

Key Events Leading to Revolution

1763 - Proclamation Act

• Purpose: Prevent colonists from moving westward.
• Impact: First of many acts causing colonial unrest.

Economic Measures by Britain

• Sugar Act (1764):

  • Tax on sugar to raise revenue.
  • First revenue-raising act.
  • Stricter enforcement of Navigation Acts.

• Quartering Act (1765):

  • Colonists must house British soldiers.

• Stamp Act (1765):

  • Direct tax on legal documents, newspapers, etc.
  • Colonial Reaction:
    • "No taxation without representation."
    • Formation of the Stamp Act Congress.
    • Boycotts and formation of groups like Sons of Liberty.

British Responses

• Declaratory Act (1766):

  • Reaffirmed British authority over colonies.

• Townshend Acts:

  • Taxes on imports like tea and glass.
  • Funds used for paying royal officials.
  • Writs of assistance to search homes.
  • Colonial Opposition:
    • Non-importation agreements.
    • Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania by John Dickinson.

Rising Tensions

• Boston Massacre (1770):

  • British troops fire on colonists, killing five.
  • Used as propaganda by colonists.

• Committees of Correspondence:

  • Led by Samuel Adams to coordinate resistance.

• Tea Act (1773):

  • Monopoly to British East India Company.
  • Led to the Boston Tea Party.

Coercive/Intolerable Acts (1774)

• Aim: Punish Boston after the Tea Party.
  • Closed Boston Harbor.
  • Restricted town meetings.
  • Expanded Quartering Act.
  • Trials of officials moved to England.

Quebec Act (1774)

• Extended Quebec into Ohio Valley.
• Allowed Catholicism, angering Protestant colonists.

Beginning of Organized Colonial Resistance

First Continental Congress (1774)

• Participants: All colonies except Georgia.
• Goals:
  • Address grievances.
  • Restore pre-1763 relationship with Britain.
  • Actions:
    • Declaration of Rights and Grievances.
    • Endorsed Suffolk Resolves (boycotts).
    • Military preparations.

Hostilities Erupt

• Lexington and Concord (April 1775):
  • British troops seek to seize Colonial weapons.
  • "Shot heard ‘round the world." Initiates armed conflict.

Conclusion

• Tensions led to organized colonial unity.
• Increasing military engagements prior to declaration of independence.
• Next steps: Declaration of Independence (1776).