The Road to Revolution

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The Road to Revolution
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British Colonies

• The British colonies were officially under the
  authority of the King and Parliament
• In reality, the distance between them made this
  difficult
• colonial legislatures were elected to collect
  taxes and run the colonies
• Royal Governors were chosen by the King, and
  worked with colonial legislatures to run the
  colonies

The Virginia House of Burgesses in Williamsburg
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• Starting with Jamestown, British colonies thrived
  and expanded
• England wasnt alone is founding colonies however
• By the mid 1700s, almost all of North America,
  had been made colonies of Britain, France. Or
  Spain

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War!

• With the European powers competing for colonies,
  conflict was inevitable
• The French and Indian War (Seven Years War to the
  Europeans) broke out between England and France
• England won and took over French colonies
• Almost all of eastern North America was not ruled
  by Great Britain

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The Colonists War

• The French and Indian War was an important event
  for the colonists living in British America
• The war itself was fought by many of them,
  including Col. George Washingtons first military
  command
• Victory meant that there was more land the
  colonists hoped to settle in that land
• British authorities limited settlement, to avoid
  troubles with the Indians

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Your blood, my land

• The Proclamation of 1763 made it illegal for
  colonists to move west of the Appalachian
  Mountains it helped cause the American
  Revolution
• To many colonists, this defeated the point of the
  war
• They had much new land, but they could not use it
• King George III hoped this would prevent problems
  with the American Indians
• An even bigger issue to the colonists was

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TAXES!

• Although the war was a victory it left Britain
  with a large national debt
• Parliament passed the Sugar Act in 1764 to have
  the American colonists pay off the war debt
• The colonists werent against paying their fair
  share
• Do you remember what their problem was with
  paying these new taxes?
• Taxation without representation!

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Taxation without Representation

• Why was it such a big deal to the colonists? Any
  ideas? Think about what weve learned about
  English democracy
• To the colonists, Taxation without Representation
  violated their rights under the English Bill of
  Rights
• They were guaranteed the same rights as people
  living in England by the Charters of the Virginia
  Company
• It became a cause of the American Revolution

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We have rights!

• I can see no reason to doubt, but that the
  imposition of taxesin the colonies, is
  absolutely irreconcilable with the rights of the
  colonists, as British subjects - from The
  Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and
  Proved by James Otis, member of the
  Massachusetts Colonia Legislature, 1764.
• Levying (collecting) money for use of the crown
  (King)without grant of Parliamentis illegal-
  from
• the English Bill of Rights (1689)
• Otis is asserting the rights of the colonists as
  English citizens

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Stamp Act

• The Stamp Act was passed in March, 1765
• It had the colonists pay taxes directly to
  Parliament for the first time, bypassing the
  Colonial Legislatures
• The colonies sent representatives to express
  their concerns at the Stamp Act Congress

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Resolves of the Stamp Act Congress

• Subjects in these colonies are entitled to all
  the inherent rightsof his natural born subjects
  within the Kingdom of Great Britain Article 2
  of The Declaration of the Stamp Act Congress
  10/19/1765
• It isthe undoubted rights of Englishmen that no
  taxes be composed on them but with their own
  consent.. Article 3 of The Declaration of the
  Stamp Act Congress 10/19/1765
• The Stamp Act was protested by colonists because
  it violated their rights under the English Bill
  of Rights

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Victory?

• Colonial protests and boycotts were successful
• Parliament lifted the Stamp Act on March 18, 1766
• However, in the Declaratory Act, Parliament
  asserted its power,
• Parliamenthas full power and authority to make
  lawsto bind the colonies and people of America,
  subjects of the crown of Great Britain, in all
  cases whatsoever from section I of the
  Declaratory Act

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Radicalization

• The conflict over the right to tax went on from
  1763, up to the outbreak of revolution 1775-76
• The debate would become more radical as time
  progressed, sometimes getting violent
• It is one of the liberties of free subjectsto
  be governedby laws made by persons, in whose
  elections theyhave a voiceany people who are
  subject to the unlimited power of another, must
  be in a state of abject slavery from the
  Massachusetts legislatures answer to the Royal
  Governor 1/26/1773

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Patrick Henry from Give me Liberty Speech March
23, 1775 in the Virginia House of Burgesses

• The question before the House is an awful moment
  to this country I consider it nothing less than
  a question of freedom or slavery Is life so dear
  or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the
  price of chains and slavery?...I know not what
  course others may take, but as for me, give me
  liberty or give me death!
• To the radicals like Henry, slavery was defined
  by the inability to hold property of your own

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The shot heard round the world

• On April 19, 1775, less than a month after
  Henrys speech, people began dying for liberty
• Fighting broke out between colonists and British
  troops at Lexington and Concord
• It was followed by the Battle of Bunker Hill in
  June
• The clash of ideas was now a clash of arms