Big IdeasGovernment and Society The colonists formed the Continental Congress to act as a government during the American Revolution.

Content Vocabulary• committee of correspondence• minuteman

Academic Vocabulary• enforce• submit

People and Events to Identify• Boston Tea Party• Intolerable Acts• Loyalist• Patriot• Battle of Bunker Hill• Thomas Paine• Declaration of Independence

A. AB. B

Do you understand why some colonists did not want to break with England?A. Yes

B. No

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Massachusetts Defies BritainWhen Parliament punished Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, the colonists organized the First Continental Congress.

• To intercept smugglers, the British sent customs ships to patrol North American waters.

• Thomas Jefferson suggested that each colony create a committee of correspondence to communicate with the other colonies about British activities.

• Under Lord North’s rule, Parliament passed the Tea Act of 1773 to help the struggling British East India Company.

Massachusetts Defies Britain (cont.)

• In October 1773, the East India Company shipped 1,253 chests of tea to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charles Town.

– The committees of correspondence decided that they must not allow the tea to be unloaded.

– In Boston, 150 men boarded the ships and dumped the tea overboard—now known as the Boston Tea Party.

Massachusetts Defies Britain (cont.)

Countdown to Revolution, 1763–1776

• In spring of 1774, Parliament passed four new laws—the Coercive Acts—in order to punish Massachusetts and end colonial challenges.

• Coercive Acts:

Massachusetts Defies Britain (cont.)

– Boston Port Act– Massachusetts

Government Act

Countdown to Revolution, 1763–1776

– Administrative of Justice Act

– Quartering Act

• In July 1774, the British also introduced the Quebec Act, which seemed to imply that the British were trying to seize control of the colonial governments.

• The Coercive Acts and the Quebec Act became known as the Intolerable Acts.

Massachusetts Defies Britain (cont.)

Countdown to Revolution, 1763–1776

• On September 5, 1774, the First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia.

– The first order of business was to endorse the Suffolk Resolves.

– When the Congress learned that the British had suspended the Massachusetts assembly, they voted to issue the Declaration of Rights and Grievances.

Massachusetts Defies Britain (cont.)

– The delegates also approved the Continental Association and agreed to hold a second Continental Congress in May 1775 if the crises had not been resolved.

Massachusetts Defies Britain (cont.)

A. AB. BC. CD. D A B C D

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Which of the Coercive Acts allowed the governor to transfer trials of British soldiers and officials to Britain to protect them from American juries.A. Boston Port Act

B. Massachusetts Government Act

C. Administrative of Justice Act

D. Quartering Act

The Revolution BeginsColonists organized alternative governments and formed militias to oppose British “tyranny.”

• Throughout the summer and fall of 1774, British control of the colonies weakened as colonists created provincial congresses and militias raided military depots for ammunition and gunpowder.

– The town of Concord created a special unit of minutemen.

The Revolution Begins (cont.)

committee of correspondence committee organized in each colony to communicate with and unify the colonies

minutemen companies of civilian soldiers who boasted they were ready to fight on a minute’s notice