1. IntroductionIn Chapter 9, you read about life in the

American colonies in the early 1700s. At that time,

the colonists were content with the rule of Great Britain. They supported the British king. In this

chapter, you will learn about events that changed how the colonists felt.

During the 1750s and 1760s, Great Britain and the colonists joined forces against the French. This

conflict was called the French and Indian War. The war left Great Britain with huge debts and new lands

to protect in North America. To solve its problems, the British government passed a number of acts, or laws. Some of these laws

ordered the colonists to pay new taxes. The colonists became angry because they had no representatives in the British government to vote on these laws. They said

that this taxation without representation was unfair. Many colonists began to protest, or object to, British rule.

Look at the drawing of the parent and child to the right. Some people have compared Great Britain and the colonies to a parent and a child. Great Britain was

like a parent because it created the colonies and expected them to respect its authority. The colonies were like a child who sometimes refused to obey the

parent. Such a comparison is called a metaphor.As you read this chapter, think about the metaphor of the bond between a

parent and a child. What can a parent do when a child disobeys? What may happen to the bond when the parent makes new rules, or punishes the child?

2. The French and Indian WarDuring the 1600s and 1700s,

Great Britain, France, and Spain

often fought one another to gain lands. They clashed in Europe,

Asia, and the Americas.In North America, Great

Britain and France both claimed the Ohio River Valley. British

settlers wanted to farm the rich soil there. The French wanted to trap beavers and trade the furs.

In 1754, the contest over the land along the Ohio River began a war that lasted almost 10 years. Thousands of British soldiers, with many colonists, fought

against the French.Because many American Indians were allies of the French, the British colonists called the conflict the French and Indian War. Some American

Indians, however, did fight alongside the British.At first, Great Britain lost many battles. The British soldiers’ bright red uniforms

helped make them easy targets.But things changed in 1759 when British troops captured Quebec City in Canada. By 1760, the French had lost control of

Canada. In 1762, they asked for peace. Under the terms of the peace agreement in 1763, France gave up its land claims in present-day Canada to Great Britain. The

British also won the land between the Mississippi River and the Appalachian Mountains.

The war gave Great Britain more land. But it also created huge problems. Most important, it left Great Britain with debts, or unpaid bills. The British

national debt had almost doubled by the end of the war.

3. The Proclamation of 1763After the French and Indian War,

many British settlers moved west.They

built homes on the land that Great Britain had won from the French. American

Indians feared that this movement of people would destroy their way of

life. Some American Indians tried to drive the settlers away by attacking their

homes and the British forts. By the time this fighting ended, nearly 2,000 settlers,

soldiers, and traders had died.To stop the attacks and to protect

the colonists, Great Britain announced a law called the Proclamation of 1763. Thisproclamation declared that American

Indians could have much of the land west of the Appalachian Mountains. It also said that settlers could not move to these areas.

The colonists disliked this law. They did not like the way in which Great Britain was trying to control the colonies. Many colonists simply ignored the law and moved

west.

4. The Quartering ActThe British government kept thousands of soldiers in

North America after the French and Indian War. Great

Britain wanted to protect its colonies and also keep them under closer control.

Great Britain wanted the colonists to help pay for the protection provided by its troops. In 1765, the

British Parliament passed a new law called the Quartering Act. It ordered the colonists to provide

quarters, or places to live, for British troops. Colonists also had to give the soldiers

food, fuel, and transportation.The Quartering Act angered the colonists. They did not want to pay for British

troops in the colonies. Therefore, many colonists treated the soldiers badly.

5. The Stamp ActAfter fighting the French and Indian War, Great Britain needed money to pay

its debts. It also had to pay for the army in the colonies. In 1765, to raise money, Parliament passed a new tax law called the Stamp Act.

The Stamp Act said that the colonists had to pay a tax on printed papers. Newspapers, pamphlets, marriage licenses, and playing cards were

taxed. When a colonist paid the tax, an official would mark the printed paper with a large stamp.

This new tax angered the colonists. They did not want to pay more money for things they used every day. They did not want to pay another tax to the British

government. But they were mostly angry because they had no say in making the law.

Colonists showed their anger in many ways. Some colonists refused to buy the stamps. Some of them protested in the streets and town squares. And some

tried to scare off the tax collectors. At times, groups of colonists even attacked the tax collectors and their homes.

Groups from different colonies joined together in protest against the Stamp Act. In some colonies, merchants agreed not to buy any British goods. Many

women, such as the Daughters of Liberty in Rhode Island, refused to buy British cloth. They wove their own cloth instead.

In October 1765, nine colonies sent delegates to a special gathering in New York. This meeting became known as the Stamp Act Congress. The delegates

thought that all British subjects had a right to vote on taxes through representatives. But the colonies had no representatives in Parliament. The

delegates said that it was unfair for Parliament to pass tax laws like the Stamp

Act. To them, such laws were an example of taxation without representation.The colonists’ angry protests surprised King George III and Parliament. However,

British leaders knew that they could not force the colonists to obey the Stamp Act. In March 1766, Parliament repealed the law. But Parliament let the colonies

know that it still believed in its right to tax them.In 1767, Parliament again passed tax laws to raise money from the

colonies. These laws, called the Townshend Acts, taxed several goods that the colonies imported. These goods included lead, glass, paint, paper, and tea. In

protest, the colonists again stopped buying British goods.

6. The Boston MassacreIn 1770, the colonists remained angry that

British troops were living in their towns and

cities. They thought that the soldiers were rowdy and rude. It was also upsetting to the colonists when

soldiers took jobs away from them. The British soldiers could work for low pay in their spare time.

The soldiers weren’t content, either. They were far from their homes. The colonists’ anger made

their jobs more difficult.As time went on, the relationship between the soldiers and the colonists

worsened. Things were especially tense in the city of Boston. The colonists showed their hatred for the soldiers by making fun of their red coats. They called them

names like “lobsterback.” And some soldiers went out of their way to annoy local citizens. Soon, name-calling and fistfights in the streets were common.

On the cold night of March 5, 1770, violence erupted in Boston. A British soldier was standing guard at the Customs House, a building where the disputed

taxes were collected. A crowd began to gather. People called the soldier names. Some of them threw stones and snowballs. Captain Thomas Preston and

seven other soldiers hurried to the guard’s defense. They loaded their muskets, a

type of gun.The crowd kept taunting the soldiers. The colonists threw more snowballs and

chunks of ice. No one is sure about what happened next. Some people said that Captain Preston told his soldiers not to fire their guns. But one soldier thought that

he heard the command “Fire!” He shot into the crowd. When the crowd moved toward them, the soldiers panicked and fired more shots. Within moments, five

people lay dead or dying. Six more were wounded.The colonists called this tragic event the

Boston Massacre. A silversmith named Paul Revere made an engraving, or an image etched

into metal, of the massacre. The engraving shows soldiers firing at a peaceful crowd,

although that was not what actually happened.Colonists shared news in letters, or

correspondence. Colonial governments had begun to set up informal Committees of

Correspondence in the 1760s. Members of these groups let one another know what was going on

in their regions. Samuel Adams was a leader of protests against the British. He made sure that the news of the massacre spread throughout the colonies. In 1772,

Adams helped form a permanent Committee of Correspondence in Massachusetts. This group wanted to unite the colonists to protest against British

actions.

7. The Boston Tea PartyIn response to the Boston Massacre, Parliament repealed all the taxes on the

colonies, except the tax on tea.Although the colonists loved tea, many boycotted it because of the tax.

The largest British tea company, the British East India Company, lost a great

deal of money. To save the company, Parliament passed the Tea Act in 1773. It said that only this company could sell tea to the colonies. The British hoped to force

the colonists to again buy British tea.The Tea Act did, in fact, lower the cost of tea. But the colonists were still

angry. This was another unfair law passed without their approval. And they didn’t like being forced to buy tea from only one company. What if Parliament decided to

let certain companies control other imported items?Again, the colonists protested. Some spoke out. Others again boycotted

tea. In Boston, some local citizens acted.On December 16, 1773, a group of men dressed as American Indians boarded ships in Boston Harbor. They opened 342

chests of tea and dumped the tea into the water.Afterward, the colonists called this incident the Boston Tea Party. Soon,

people began to sing about it in the colonies. “Rally, Mohawks [an American Indian tribe],” they sang. “Bring out your axes / And tell King George we’ll pay no taxes /

On his foreign tea.” But in Great Britain, people were shocked and angry. And King George was furious.

8. The Intolerable ActsAfter the Boston Tea Party, Parliament

passed several laws called the Coercive Acts. The

British wanted to coerce, or force, the colonies to obey Great Britain. Many colonists said that they

could not tolerate, or accept, these harsh laws. The colonists called these laws the Intolerable Acts.

One law, the Boston Port Act, closed Boston Harbor. Trade ships could not enter or leave the

harbor until Boston paid for the lost tea.Many workers lost their jobs. Some people feared that the

citizens of Boston would starve.

The other colonies helped by sending money, food, and supplies to Boston. In

addition, in September 1774, the First Continental Congress was held. Leaders from every colony except Georgia met in Philadelphia. They discussed their

complaints about Great Britain.The angry delegates agreed to fight against the Boston Port Act and the other Intolerable Acts.

Summary

In this chapter, you read about some of the events, from 1754 to the end of 1774, that created tension between the colonies and Great Britain. You used the

metaphor of a parent and a child to describe this relationship.The British behaved like concerned parents who protected the colonists, their

children. Great Britain thought that the colonists should be grateful and respect British authority. But, like growing children, the colonies wanted to have a greater

role in making their own decisions. They did not like Great Britain’s efforts to control them. When Great Britain ignored their complaints, the colonists protested,

sometimes violently. By 1775, people on both sides were very angry.In the next pages, you will learn more about King George III. He ruled Great Britain

during this time. How did the king’s personality and beliefs affect events in the colonies? Read on to find out.