Causes of the American RevolutionFrom the Proclamation to the “Shot Heard

Round the World.”

Proclamation of 1763

What: British Parliament law; colonists were forbidden to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Why: Britain wanted a buffer zone between the colonists and the Indians to avoid more bloodshed

How did it Cause the Revolution:

Colonists wanted to settle in the Ohio River valley and had fought in the French and Indian war to earn that privilege to do so. Colonists were angry that the British were telling them where they could not live.

Stamp Act- 1765

What:Required that all legal documents such as diplomas, contracts, wills and newspapers have an official stamp showing a tax had been paid.

Why: The British were trying to pay for the war debt from the French and Indian War by taxing the colonists

How did it cause the Revolution: The colonists reacted by rioting, demanded the Stamp Act be repealed at the Stamp Act Congress. Colonists did not believe it was fair to be taxed without representation in Parliament.

Patrick Henry

Spoke out against the Stamp Act as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses

Gave a speech March 23, 1775 at a church in Virginia (with George Washington and Thomas Jefferson in the audience)that ended with “I know not what course others may take, but as for me; give me liberty , or give me death!”

During the Revolution he served in the Continental Army

NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!

Since the beginning of the colonies, colonists had set up their own legislative assemblies (Virginia House of Burgesses)

Colonists became infuriated from things like the Declaratory Act and Taxes because Britain tried to show it controlled the colonies.

The colonists believed it was not fair that they did not have any representatives in Parliament

Mercantilism:Economic Control

The colonies existed for the benefit of the mother country (England)

The colonies could only trade with Great Britain (Navigation Acts) and were expected to provide raw materials to and buy manufactured goods from the mother country.

The colonists were accustomed to salutary neglect and became angry (and involved in smuggling) when Britain tried to control them.

Boston Massacre-1770An event where a company of British soldiers opened fire on a crowd

of unarmed colonists

Five people died including Crispus Attucks, a sailor, who was an escaped slave. He was considered the first casualty in the American Revolution

The event angered the colonists, but the Sons of Liberty used this

event to make propaganda and stir up more anger and a desire for independence

Paul Revere’s Propaganda

John Adams

At the time of the Boston Massacre he was a lawyer.

He represented the British soldiers who fired on the colonists...

Adams would also serve on the Continental Congress and was on the Committee of five who helped Thomas Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence

Would later be the 2nd president of U.S.

The Boston Tea Party-1773: Civil Disobedience

The Tea Act, an act that forced colonists to buy tea from the East India Tea Company, angered the colonists

The Sons of Liberty dressed up like indians, boarded tea ships in the harbor and threw the tea overboard

This action is known as Civil Disobedience; the act of non-violently breaking the law when the laws are considered unjust. Examples are: boycotts, protests and refusal to pay taxes.

Samuel Adams

Organized protests against the Stamp Act. Help start the Sons of Liberty

Started the Committees of Correspondence (secret governments)

Delegate at First Continental Congress

Signed the Declaration of Independence

Intolerable Acts (AKA Coercive Acts)-1774British reaction to the Boston Tea Party

Closed the port of Boston until the tea was paid for, Restructured Massachusetts’ government, troops quartered in Boston, British officials accused of a crime were sent to Canada or England for trial

Colonists boycotted British goods and the First Continental Congress Convenes.

Political Cartoon published in the colonies in response to the Intolerable Acts

Mercy Otis WarrenAn anonymous patriot writer who supported independence through her famous plays, poems, and other writings.

She was friends with Abigail Adams and believed that women should have the right to vote

1st Continental Congress

In 1774, This brought together representatives from each of the colonies, to discuss their response to the British "Intolerable Acts".

The purpose of the First Continental Congress was not to seek independence from Britain.

The members agreed to boycott British goods and passed resolutions asserting colonial rights. They also agreed to meet again in May 1775, if the British did not change their policies.

Lexington and Concord-1775

British soldiers were ordered to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock in Lexington and destroy a weapons cache in Concord.

Paul Revere had rode from Boston to warn them the night before and they escaped.

When 700 British soldiers arrived in Lexington, there were 75 minutemen waiting for them

No one knows who fired first, Lexington was known as “the shot hear round the world” because it started the revolution

ConcordPaul Revere was captured and never made it to Concord

Two other riders Dr. Samuel Prescott and William Dawes also rode with Revere and were captured, but they escaped and warned Concord.

By the time the British arrived from Lexington the minutemen were waiting and the weapons were hidden in new places

They forced the British to retreat out of Concord and run all the way back to Boston while being shot at, the British suffered 250 casualties.

The Colonists called for a 2nd Continental Congress

Wentworth Cheswell was a black patriot who made a ride like Paul Revere and warned his community