Causes of the Revolution 2: The American Revolution

Which of the following was included in Patrick Henry's Virginia Resolves?

Colonists could be taxed only by colonial assemblies.

Why did British soldiers open fire on colonists in the event known as the Boston Massacre?

Colonists had thrown rocks and snowballs at the soldiers.

"Liberty or Death" (Patrick Henry)

. . . It is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable—and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come! It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace—but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

The Riot

As the protests continued, angry crowds assaulted colonists who supported or helped to collect the taxes. The crowds were especially violent in Boston. In August 1765, a mob led by the Sons of Liberty tore down the office and damaged the house of the stamp tax collector.

On March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry urged a Virginia convention to prepare for war against British forces. According to Henry, where were the colonists "enslaved"?

Boston

Differences in Colonial Governments 3

British officials hoped to change the situation by taxing the colonists to provide salaries to royal governors and judges. Crown salaries would make them less responsive to the assemblies and councils. But that prospect alarmed the colonists, who began to cherish their deviations from Britain as important advantages. Members of Parliament believed that they "virtually represented" every British subject, including the colonists.

First mentions of Americe

By 1774, Patriot John Adams had decided that he already lived in a new country named America. He also believed that Americans could unite to defeat the British. But Adams was ahead of most colonists, who still hoped to remain within the British Empire, provided that Parliament would revoke the Coercive Acts and stop trying to tax them. Far from blaming the king, most colonists still expected that he would side with them against Parliament. Within two years, however, events would prove Adams right.

British Government Is a Model 3

By modern standards, the British system was far from democratic. But democracy seemed foolish and dangerous in a society where people inherited wildly unequal property and status. In 1770, the British prime minister, Lord North, insisted, "I can never acquiesce in the absurd opinion that all men are equal." Most Britons and colonists agreed, and wealthy men controlled government in the colonies as in Great Britain.

The Sugar, Quartering, and Stamp Acts

Colonial merchants had grown rich from trade, often smuggling or bribing officials to avoid duties, or taxes, on imports. In 1764, the new prime minister, George Grenville, proposed raising money by collecting duties already in effect. The law, known as the Sugar Act when put into effect, actually lowered the duty on foreign molasses. However, it also assigned customs officers and created courts to collect the duties and prosecute smugglers. Grenville hoped that these measures would encourage colonists to pay the tax.

Enlightenment Ideas

Colonial protests drew upon the liberalism of the Enlightenment. Europe's leading liberal writers included Baron de Montesquieu of France and John Locke of England. They argued that people had divinely granted natural rights, including life, liberty, and property. A good government protected these individual rights. Locke insisted that government existed for the good of the people. Therefore, people had the right to protest any government that violated this "social contract" by failing to protect their rights.

Patriot Leaders Emerge

Colonists violently opposed the Stamp Act, which affected every colonist. In the months following the passage of the act, colonists began to work together to fight it, which created a new, but still fragile, sense of American unity. Those who opposed the British taxes called themselves "Patriots." In the seaport streets, people showed a powerful new interest in politics. To lead the popular protests, some men formed associations known as the Sons of Liberty. Their most famous leader was Boston's Samuel Adams, a cousin of John Adams.

Although the colonial governments were supposed to be miniature versions of the British government, they were, in fact, different in some important ways. What was one way that colonial governments differed from the British government?

Colonists' rights were defined by formal documents. British rights were defined by laws and tradition.

Differences in Colonial Governments

Despite the similarities, colonial politics differed from the British model in several ways. The British constitution was not a formal document but a collection of laws and traditions accumulated over centuries. In contrast, the colonists' rights had traditionally been spelled out in formal legal documents such as the royal charters of Maryland or South Carolina, as well as informal written agreements like the Mayflower Compact.

The Colonies Take Action

Fortunately for Massachusetts, the other colonies also opposed the Coercive Acts and viewed them as a threat to their freedom. In the fall of 1774, delegates from every colony except Georgia met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the First Continental Congress. Virginia's delegates included the fiery Patrick Henry, who became famous for declaring, "Give me liberty, or give me death." He delighted the New England delegates by declaring, "The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American."

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Stamp Act

In March 1765, Parliament passed a bill intended to raise money from the colonies. The Stamp Act required colonists to pay a tax on almost all printed materials, including newspapers, books, court documents, contracts, and land deeds. This was the first time that Parliament had imposed a direct tax within the colonies.

Differences in Colonial Governments 2

In addition, two-thirds of free colonial men-owned enough property to qualify to vote, compared to less than a fourth of British men. By 1760, political upheaval in Great Britain and European wars had allowed the elected colonial assemblies to increase their powers at the expense of the royal governors. Since the colonies lacked aristocrats with inherited titles, the leaders in both assembly and council were wealthy planters and merchants related by blood or marriage. The assemblies often withheld salaries from unpopular governors.

Liberty (John Hancock)

In an already tense situation, customs officers seized the merchant ship Liberty in June 1768 for smuggling. The ship belonged to John Hancock, a wealthy merchant, and a prominent colonial politician. The seizure set off riots against the customs officers. To suppress the riots, the Crown sent 4,000 troops to occupy Boston, a city of only 16,000 people. For over a year, the presence of British troops inflamed popular anger, especially because the poorly paid soldiers competed with unskilled workers for jobs.

Quartering Act

In early 1765, Parliament passed another unpopular law, the Quartering Act. This act required the colonies to provide housing and supplies for the British troops stationed thereafter the French and Indian War. Colonists complained but most went along with the changes because they accepted Parliament's right to regulate trade and provide for defense.

Violence Erupts in Boston

In response to the Townshend Acts, the colonists revived their protests, boycotts, and street violence. Once again, the largest riots occurred in Boston, where many of the British customs officials abused their power. The Massachusetts legislature issued a circular letter denouncing the Townshend duties. Few other colonial legislatures paid attention to it until the governor dissolved the Massachusetts legislature in retaliation for their protest.

The Intolerable Acts 2

In rural Massachusetts, people reacted to the British actions with violence. Armed with clubs and guns, they forced the courts of law to shut down. They also assaulted anyone who accepted an office under the governor or spoke in favor of obeying Parliament. They coated some victims in hot tar and feathers—a punishment both humiliating and painful.

The Boston Tea Party 2

Instead of buying the cheaper tea, the colonists protested that the British were trying to trick them into paying the tax. If the East India Company sold tea directly, it would also hurt the wealthy colonists who smuggled tea. On the night of December 16, 1773, Boston Patriots took matters into their own hands. Dressed as Indians, they boarded three British ships laden with tea and dumped the tea into the harbor. The event became known as the Boston Tea Party.

In which sentence or sentences did Patrick Henry suggest that living under British tyranny was intolerable, even if it meant risking personal safety?

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?

Patrick Henry 2

On May 30, 1765, the Virginia House of Burgesses accepted most of Henry's resolves but rejected two because they were deemed too radical. Colonial newspapers, however, printed all six, believing that they had been accepted. Eight other colonies then adopted resolves similar to Henry's original proposal.

Another Small Victory

Once again, Parliament backed down. The British withdrew troops from Boston and dropped most of the Townshend duties. But to preserve the principle of Parliamentary supremacy, Parliament kept the tax on tea. Therefore, colonists continued to boycott British tea and to drink smuggled Dutch tea.

Boston Massacre

One night in March 1770, a group of colonists hurled snowballs and rocks at British soldiers guarding the Customs House. The nervous soldiers fired into the crowd, killing five colonists. The dead included Crispus Attucks, a sailor who may have been an escaped slave of mixed Indian and African ancestry. Under the leadership of Samuel Adams, Patriots called the killings the Boston Massacre. Adams later organized a network of local committees of correspondence throughout Massachusetts. The committees provided leadership and promoted cooperation. By 1773, several other colonies had created committees, which helped build colonial unity.

British Government Is a Model 2

Similarly, each colony except Pennsylvania had a two-house legislature: an elected assembly and a council of prominent colonists appointed to life terms by the governor. The governor was appointed by, represented, and served the king. Only Connecticut and Rhode Island elected their own governor, while Pennsylvania's entire assembly was elected. The colonists did not elect any members of the British Parliament.

Leaders Organize a Boycott

Some colonial leaders opposed the tax but feared the violence of the crowds. To control and coordinate their protest activities, nine colonies sent delegates to a Stamp Act Congress held in New York City in October 1765. Members of this congress encouraged a consumer boycott of goods imported from Britain. Local committees enforced these nonimportation agreements, which threatened British merchants and manufacturers with economic ruin.

Colonial Protests Intensify

Tax resistance among the colonists took three forms: intellectual protest, economic boycotts, and violent intimidation. All three forms combined to force the British to back down. Colonial leaders wrote pamphlets, drafted resolutions, gave speeches, and delivered sermons to persuade colonists to defy the new taxes. The surge in political activity astonished John Adams, a prominent Massachusetts lawyer who observed "our presses have groaned, our pulpits have thundered, our legislatures have resolved, our towns have voted."

Colonists Unite Against Harsh Measures

The Bostonians' actions outraged Parliament and the Crown. To punish Boston, Parliament passed the Coercive Acts. They closed the port to trade until the inhabitants paid for the destroyed tea, including the tax. They also increased the power of the governor at the expense of the elected assembly and town meetings. To enforce these measures, the British sent warships and troops to Boston.

British Government Is a Model

The British government had three branches. Executive power belonged to the monarch. Legislative power was divided between two houses of Parliament: the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Aristocrats inherited seats in the House of Lords. Only the House of Commons depended on elections by a small percentage of the people.

Small Victory

The combination of tactics worked. Under pressure from British merchants and manufacturers, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 1766. But the struggle was not over, for Parliament also passed an act declaring its right to levy taxes on the colonists.

How did the colonists respond to the possibility of purchasing tea directly from the East India Company?

The Colonists responded with the Boston Tea Party. The colonists believed that the British were trying to trick them into paying taxes by offering to sell them tea directly through the East India Company.

Which statement best describes the significance of the First Continental Congress?

The First Continental Congress showed unified colonial opposition to the Coercive Acts.

Thomas Hutchinson

The Massachusetts lieutenant governor, Thomas Hutchinson, denounced this riot. He insisted that the colonists had a legal duty to pay Parliament's taxes. Another mob destroyed Hutchinson's house. Thereafter, no one in Boston dared to voice support for the stamp tax. By the end of the year, every stamp collector in the colonies had resigned, leaving no one to collect the taxes.

New Taxes Upset Colonists

The Seven Years' War—called the French and Indian War in the colonies—nearly doubled Britain's national debt and greatly expanded its colonial territories. Parliament needed to raise money, both to pay the debt and to protect the colonies. People in Britain paid far more taxes than the colonists did. This imbalance seemed unfair, for the war had been fought largely to protect the colonists. Parliament decided that the colonists could and should pay more to help the Empire.

New Taxes Lead to New Protests

The Stamp Act crisis showed that the colonists would not accept a direct tax. But the British government still needed to raise money to pay its debt and support troops in the colonies. Charles Townshend, the Crown's chief financial officer, thought that colonists would accept indirect taxes on commerce. After all, they had long accepted customs duties in principle, though evading them in practice. In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, which levied new import duties on everyday items such as glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea.

Taxation Without Representation

The colonists angrily protested the Stamp Act, which was to take effect in November. They claimed that it threatened their prosperity and liberty. Colonial leaders questioned Parliament's right to tax the colonies directly. They argued that the colonies had no representation in Parliament, so Parliament had no right to tax them. Some colonists believed that if they accepted this tax, Parliament would add ever more taxes, stripping away their property and political rights. Many colonists thought that the stamp tax revealed a conspiracy by British officials to destroy American liberties.

The Colonists' Political Heritage

The colonists believed that Great Britain enjoyed the best government on Earth. British liberty included the due process of the common law, trial by jury, and freedom of the press from prior censorship. Above all, the colonists cherished the right to pay no tax unless it was levied by their representatives. Colonial governments followed the British model, but the colonists' protests of the 1760s revealed that there were some important differences.

What was the colonists' main objection to the Stamp Act?

The colonists did not want to be taxed directly by Parliament.

The Intolerable Acts

The colonists were outraged. In addition to closing the port, the acts forced colonists to house British troops and allowed British officials to be tried in Britain for crimes committed in the colonies. In addition, the Quebec Act extended Canada's southern border, cutting off lands claimed by several colonies. The horrified colonists called the legislation the Intolerable Acts. They rejected the idea that the British could shut down trade and change colonial governments at will.

Failed Arguments

The colonists' arguments puzzled the members of Parliament. After all, most Britons paid taxes although they could not vote. Many large British cities did not elect representatives to Parliament, which claimed to represent everyone in the Empire. Parliament dismissed the colonial opposition as selfish and narrow-minded. The Empire needed money, and Parliament had the right to levy taxes anywhere in the Empire. Of course, Parliament's argument did not sway the colonists, who were appalled to discover that the British were denying their right to tax themselves.

The Boston Tea Party

The tea boycott worsened financial problems for the already struggling British East India Company. To help the company and encourage the colonists to pay the tax, Parliament passed a law allowing the company to sell directly to the colonists. This made their tea cheaper than the smuggled tea, even with the tax.

Why did the colonists so angrily protest the Stamp Act?

They believed there should be no taxation without representation. Because the colonists had no voice in the British Parliament, they argued that they should not be taxed.

New Taxes Lead to New Protests 2

To Townshend's surprise, the colonists insisted that they would pay no new taxes of any sort to Parliament. They also resented Townshend's plans to use the money to pay the salaries of colonial governors and judges, making them more independent of the colonial assemblies. That prospect alarmed the colonists, who valued their financial control of the governors.

Establishment of Local Committees and Rural Congress'

To pressure Parliament to withdraw the Coercive Acts, the delegates announced a boycott of all British imports. Throughout the colonies, the Patriots established local committees and provincial congresses to enforce the boycotts. In effect, the Patriots established new governments that bypassed Parliament and the Crown. By including common shopkeepers, artisans, and farmers, the committees expanded the ranks of the politically active. In the spring of 1775, a newly arrived immigrant marveled, "They are all liberty mad."

Differences in Colonial Governments 4

While Parliament expected the colonists to obey, the colonists saw themselves as equal members of the British political body. These differences quickly became a problem when Parliament tried to levy taxes on the colonies. The colonists believed that only their own elected officials had that right

Daughters of Liberty

Women played an important economic role in the boycotts. When colonists stopped buying British goods, they needed "homespun" cloth to substitute for British-manufactured cloth. Gatherings of women to spin thread and weave cloth drew applause from spectators and from the Patriot newspapers. Women also gave up certain comforts when they pledged not to buy any manufactured British goods. Known as "Daughters of Liberty," these women won respect for their efforts in the political struggle.

Patrick Henry

a young Virginia representative used these ideas to draft a radical document known as the Virginia Resolves. He argued that only the colonial assemblies had the right to tax the colonists

What informal document spelled out colonists' rights?

the Mayflower Compact, Unlike the British, American colonists included the rights of the people in their plans for government.

The colonists protested angrily against the Stamp Act. The British levied new taxes and the protests intensified, erupting in violence and resulting in the event known as the Boston Tea Party. What actions by the colonists surprised John Adams?

the increase of political activity about taxes

What three tactics did colonists use to protest British taxes?

the intellectual protest, economic boycotts, and violent intimidation Colonists were influenced by the ideas of enlightenment thinkers. They organized boycotts, gathered in mobs, and used forceful protests to oppose the new taxes.

Why did colonists form committees to enforce nonimportation agreements?

to ensure that colonists observed the boycott of British goods

Why did the Sons of Liberty form?

to lead popular protests against the Stamp Act

After the Seven Years' War, Parliament decided that the colonists should pay more to help the British Empire. The Stamp Act, passed in March 1765, required colonists to pay a tax on almost all printed materials. Why did Parliament raise taxes on the colonies after the French and Indian War?

to pay war debts and keep the colonies safe

What was the purpose of the Boston Tea Party?

to protest the tax Parliament had levied on tea

What was the goal of the committees of correspondence?

to provide unity and leadership for anti-British colonists

Parliament passed the Coercive Acts, later known as the Intolerable Acts, closing Boston's port and forcing colonists to house British troops. The First Continental Congress formed to boycott British imports and bypass British rule. Why did Parliament pass the Coercive Acts?

to punish colonists for the Boston Tea Party