Colonial Unrest

1
Colonial Unrest

• Causes of the Revolutionary War

2
Proclamation of 1763

• When 1763
• What is it British formally ended all settlement
  west of the Appalachian Mountains.
• Who did it effect Colonial Settlers / Native
  Americans
• How did it contribute to the Revolution It
  closed off the frontier for expansion. Colonists
  felt that it deprived them of land for settlement
  and that they were paying for something that only
  England wanted.

3
Sugar Act

• When 1764
• What is it Revision of the Molasses Act of 1733
  Reduced tax on Sugar, but NOW it was going to
  be enforced!
• Who did it effect Colonial Merchants
• How did it contribute to the Revolution When the
  British started strictly enforcing the taxes,
  this eliminated the merchants profits for their
  illegal trade with the Spanish and French West
  Indies

4
Currency Act

• When 1764
• What is it Parliament took control of the
  colonial currency system by abolishing all
  colonial money (Bills of Credit).
• Who did it effect All Colonists / Colonial
  Merchants
• How did it contribute to the Revolution There
  were no gold or silver mines and currency could
  only be obtained through trade which was
  regulated by Great Britain.

5
Stamp Act

• When 1764
• What is it  The Act was created to help cover
  the cost of maintaining troops in the colonies.
  All printed materials and commercial documents as
  well as printed material including, newspapers,
  pamphlets, bills, legal documents, licenses,
  almanacs, dice and playing cards, were taxed and
  had to carry a special stamp. 
• Who did it effect All Colonists / Colonial
  Merchants
• How did it contribute to the Revolution It was
  the first direct tax imposed by Britain on its
  American colonies. Americans had to pay tax not
  to their own local legislatures in America, but
  directly to England The American colonists
  opposed the Act because they could not pay the
  tax, and because it violated the new principle of
  "No taxation without representation."

6
Quartering Act

• When 1765
• What is it Colonist were required to give
  quarters, food, and transportation to the British
  soldiers. 
• Who did it effect All Colonists / Colonial
  Merchants
• How did it contribute to the Revolution The
  British forced the colonist to accept it because
  they were protecting the colonists from the
  French.  The colonists did not consider the
  French a threat and did not like the idea of
  paying for the British protection.

7
Declaratory Act

• When 1766
• What is it Parliament declared that the colonies
  were under the sole rule of the Crown, and any
  law made by the colonial legislatures opposing
  this was null and void.
• Who did it effect All Colonists / Colonial
  Merchants
• How did it contribute to the Revolution The
  colonists believed that were not under the rule
  of England, but ruled themselves under the
  colonial legislatures. It took away their
  perceived right of self-government.

8
Townshend Act

• When 1767
• What is it Taxes on glass, paint, oil, lead,
  paper, and tea were applied with the design of
  raising 40,000 a year for the administration of
  the colonies.
• Who did it effect All Colonists / Colonial
  Merchants
• How did it contribute to the Revolution
  Resurrection of colonial hostilities created by
  the Stamp Act.

9
Boston Massacre

• When 1770
• What is it The Boston Massacre (the killing of
  five men by British soldiers on March 5, 1770)
  was the result of  tensions that had been
  growing  between the colonist and the English
  troops.
• Who did it effect Boston Citizens / All
  Colonists
• How did it contribute to the Revolution The
  massacre served as anti-British propaganda for
  Boston radicals and elsewhere heightened American
  fears of English armies.

10
Tea Act

• When 1773
• What is it 1773 Act that gave a monopoly on tea
  sales to the East India Company. The Tea Act
  lowered the price on this East India tea so much
  that it was way below tea from other suppliers.
• Who did it effect All Colonists / Colonial
  Merchants
• How did it contribute to the Revolution American
  colonists saw this law as yet another means of
  "taxation without representation" because it
  meant that they couldn't buy tea from anyone else
  (including other colonial merchants) without
  spending a lot more money. Their response was to
  refuse to unload the tea from the ships. This was
  the situation in Boston that led to the Boston
  Tea Party.

11
Intolerable/Coercive Acts

• When 1774
• What is it Britain responded to the Boston Tea
  Party in 1774 by passing several laws that became
  known in America as the Intolerable Acts.  One
  law closed Boston Harbor until Bostonians paid
  for the destroyed tea.  Another law restricted
  the activities of the Massachusetts legislature
  and gave added powers to the post of governor of
  Massachusetts.  Those powers in effect made him a
  dictator. Another required that British
  officials accused of a crime to be tried in
  British NOT Colonial courts.
• Who did it effect All Colonists / Massachusetts
  Colonists and Merchants
• How did it contribute to the Revolution In
  response to these actions and laws, the colonist
  banded together to fight back.  Several
  committees of colonists called for a convention
  of delegates from the colonies to organize
  resistance to the Intolerable Acts.  The
  convention was later to be called the Continental
  Congress.