Albany Plan of Union

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Albany Plan of Union
Road to Revolution

• Plan proposed by Benjamin Franklin
• Called for a council of delegates from each
  colony with a leader appointed by the British
  king
• Not approved because each colony wanted to
  control its own taxes and make its own decisions

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Proclamation of 1763
1763
Road to Revolution

• Prohibited colonists from settling west of the
  Appalachian Mountains
• Disliked by many of the colonists

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Sugar Act
1764
Road to Revolution

• Tax on foreign molasses and sugar
• Colonists refused to pay it

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Quartering Act
1765
Road to Revolution

• Required colonists to house British soldiers and
  provide them with food and supplies

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Stamp Act
1765
Road to Revolution

• First direct tax on colonists by Parliament
• Forced people to pay a tax on items such as
  newspapers, playing cards, and legal documents

• Colonists believed it went against the idea of no
  taxation without representation (since no
  American voted in elections to Parliament)

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Sons/Daughters of Liberty
Road to Revolution

• Protest group who helped organize boycotts
• Sam Adams was an outspoken leader of the Sons of
  Liberty in Boston
• Women signed pledges against drinking tea,
  promised not to buy British-made cloth, and met
  at spinning clubs to make their own cloth

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Boycott
Road to Revolution

• Refusal to buy goods or have dealings with a
  country or other entity
• Colonists boycotted (or, refused to buy or sell)
  British goods

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Declaratory Act
1766
Road to Revolution

• Act stated that parliament had the right to rule
  and tax the colonies
• Passed after Parliament put an end to the Stamp
  Act, to warn colonists against future protests

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Townshend Acts
1767
Road to Revolution

• Set of laws designed to raise money from the
  colonies
• Acts placed import taxes on paint, glass, lead,
  paper, and tea coming into America.
• Acts also allowed British officials warrants to
  search anywhere for suspected smuggled goods.

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Boston Massacre
1770
Road to Revolution

• Boston citizens were angry at the sight of
  red-coated soldiers on the streets.
• Group of Boston civilians began insulting and
  throwing snowballs at a British guard. More
  soldiers arrived.
• Mob of civilians surrounded soldiers in protest,
  and in the confusion the soldiers fired their
  guns into the crowd and 5 civilians died.
• Following Boston Massacre, Townshend Acts were
  repealed (ended), except for the tax on tea.

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Boston Massacre
1770
Road to Revolution
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Committees of Correspondence
1772
Road to Revolution

• Network of communication for passing along news
  of British activity to the colonies
• Organized by Samuel Adams in Massachusetts
• Also formed in other colonies

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Tea Act
1773
Road to Revolution

• Designed to help the East India Company, who was
  struggling financially
• Gave company exclusive rights to sell tea
  directly to the Americans without paying the
  British import tax
• Cut out business for colonial sea captains and
  merchants
• Colonists protested the act

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Boston Tea Party
1773
Road to Revolution

• Organized by a group of about 50 men (from the
  Sons of Liberty), disguised as Mohawk Indians
• Dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor from a
  ship in Boston

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Coercive (or Intolerable) Acts
1774
Road to Revolution

• Laws meant to punish the colonists for the Boston
  Tea Party
• Closed port of Boston until payment made for tea
• British officials accused of a crime were to be
  tried in English rather than American courts
• British troops could be quartered in any town in
  Massachusettseven in private homes
• Reduced Massachusetts right to self government

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Quebec Act
1774
Road to Revolution

• Extended the Canadian province of Quebec south to
  the Ohio River
• Allowed French Canadians to keep their laws,
  language, and Roman Catholic religion
• Colonists saw act as first step toward doing away
  with jury trials and Protestantism in the
  colonies, and an attempt to keep American
  settlers out of the western lands

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First Continental Congress
1774
Road to Revolution

• Group of delegates from every colony except
  Georgia who met in Philadelphia
• Did not seek independence at this time
• Sought rather to right the wrongs that had been
  inflicted on the colonies and hoped that a
  unified voice would gain them a hearing in London

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Suffolk Resolves
1774
Road to Revolution

• Set of resolutions passed at a meeting in Boston
• Demanded return to constitutional government
• Demanded an end to trade with Great Britain
• Plan for arming and training of militia
• Paul Revere brought a copy to First Continental
  Congress, who passed the resolves

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Militia
Road to Revolution

• A group of citizens who would be ready to fight
  in any emergency

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Minutemen
Road to Revolution

• Members of a militia who could be ready to fight
  at a minutes notice
• Minutemen were usually 25 years of age or
  younger, and they were selected (from the
  militia) for their enthusiasm, reliability, and
  strength

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Lexington and Concord
1775
Road to Revolution
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Lexington and Concord
1775
Road to Revolution

• First battles of the American Revolution
• British soldiers marched toward Concord to take
  Americans supply of guns and gunpowder
• British were surprised by group of minutemen in
  Lexington (a town on the way to Concord)
• British casualties were nearly three times those
  of the Americans

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Second Continental Congress
1775
Road to Revolution

• Delegates from all 13 colonies met in
  Philadelphia
• George Washington chosen to build a Continental
  Army

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Olive Branch Petition
1775
Road to Revolution

• Petition sent to the King by the Second
  Continental Congress begging him to stop the war
  and make peace with the colonists
• UnsuccessfulGeorge III declared the Americans to
  be rebels and the colonies went to war

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