Chapter 7: Road To Revolution

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Quartering Act (1765)

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The Quartering Act of 1765 was a measure that required certain colonies to provide food and quarters for British troops. This act was significant because it frustrated many Americans that were forced to open up their homes and provide food for British soldiers and it built up their anger that led to the Revolutionary War.

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Stamp Act (1765)

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The Stamp Act was a law requiring all residents to pay a tax on almost every form of printed paper including advertising, pamphlets, wills, contracts, almanacs, legal documents, bills of sale, and even dice and playing cards. The colonists did not have a say in this (taxation without representation), furthering their anger towards the British and pushing them closer to the brink of war. Along with this, the stamp act limited American global trade options.

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Patrick Henry

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Patrick Henry was a planter, politician, attorney, and, most famously, orator who spoke out against Great Britain's control of the American colonies. He inspired many new ideas and thoughts that encouraged masses of people to support the American split from their mother country.

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Stamp Act Congress

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The Stamp Act Congress was a New York City meeting with elected representatives from the colonies to discuss the taxes imposed by Great Britain and the respond to the Massachusetts Circular Letter. It was the first elected representative gathering with representatives from several colonies to protest British taxes.

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Sons and Daughters of Liberty

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The Sons and Daughters of Liberty was an organization of American patriots that originated in pre-independence America that was formed to protect the rights of colonies and to take to the streets against the abuses of the British government. Its protests angered the British government but they gained supporters of American independence in the process.

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Declaratory Act (1766)

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The Declaratory Act of 1766 was an act that accompanied the repeal of the Stamp Act stating that Parliament's authority to tax was the same in the American colonies as it was in England. Parliament feared that America would break away due to the lack of equality between England and the colonies, and this act made the two more equal in order to accommodate to the colonists in support of secession.

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Townshend Act (1767)

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The Townshend Acts of 1767 put in place a tax on the importation of items including glass, white lead, paper, paint, and tea. Similar to the Stamp Act, colonists were angered at their lack of representation when it came to taxes forced upon them by their mother country. Although the Townshend Acts had failed to produce a profit, they managed to produce near-rebellion.

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Writs of Assistance

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The writs of assistance was a written order declaring that all an official needed was a license to search anywhere. On September 24, 1766, Daniel Malcolm gave Boston custom officials permission to search all of his belongings with the exception of a locked cellar. They returned with a specific search warrant, but Malcolm had locked his house. This was significant because although it made Boston seem lawless to Great Britain, it was the last time a writ of assistance was issued in Boston and it helped show the colonists how unconstitutional the actions of Malcolm were in comparison to how unlawful those of the officials were.

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John Dickinson: Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania

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John Dickinson was a politician and lawyer who played a large part in the revolution. He wrote Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, a series of twelve essays published from 1767 to 1768 that were spread throughout the colonies and gained popularity to help unite the colonists against the recently enacted Townshend Acts. In these essays, he declared Parliament's taxing of the colonies unconstitutional because the colonies were sovereign in terms of their internal affairs.

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Samuel Adams

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Samuel Adams was a Boston native and cousin to John Adams. He was a propagandist and engineer of rebellion with a life that revolved around politics and a faith set in the common people. He was known as the "Penman of the Revolution" and he is best known for organizing Massachusetts' local committee of correspondence. The first was formed in Boston in 1772, but soon after eighty towns in the colony set up similar organizations. These groups kept alive the anti-British ideas throughout his home state, continuously pushing colonists towards a revolution.

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James Otis

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James Otis was a lawyer who argued the unconstitutionality of the writs of assistance for five hours in the State House. He also published pamphlets protesting the writs, revealing to others including John Adams how unconstitutional the writs were, furthering the colonists' anger towards Great Britain.

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Massachusetts Circular Letter

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The Massachusetts Circular Letter was written by Samuel Adams and argued that the Townshend Acts were unconstitutional because Massachusetts had no representation in Parliament. The letter was ordered to be revoked, but the Massachusetts General Court voted against it, leading to mob violence from colonists. The outbursts caused more British troops to be sent to Boston, increasing tensions that led up to the Boston Massacre.

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Boston Massacre (1770)

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The Boston Massacre of 1770 occurred on March 5 and was a street fight between a mob of sixty townspeople and a squad of ten Redcoats. One was knocked down and another was hit by a club, and without orders they opened fire on the citizens, killing five and wounding six. This is considered to be the first act of violence of the Revolutionary War, strengthening anger and tensions between both sides.

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Crispus Attucks

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Crispus Attucks was a runaway "mulatto" who led the Boston Massacre mob where he was one of the first to die. He is significant because he was considered to be the first casualty of the revolutionary war, the Boston Massacre being the first official violent confrontation between the colonists and the Redcoats.

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Committees of Correspondence

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The Committees of Correspondence were organizations originally founded by Samuel Adams in 1772 in Boston. Their significance was their spread of propaganda and information through letters, keeping alive anti-British sentiment. This was the most effective possible method for promoting British resistance.

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Gaspee Incident

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The Gaspee Incident occurred in 1772 when Lieutenant William Dudingston into Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island to help enforce customs collection and inspect cargo. On June 9, the ship chased the Hannah, a small packet boat (used for the transportation of passenger and freight transportation, and domestic mail) around the shallow bay. Hannah's crew could not free her due to the shallow tide, but on June 10, a group of Providence members of the Sons of Liberty boarded the ship, shot and wounded Lieutenant Dudingston, and burned the Gaspee. The Gaspee Affair was used in pamphlets as examples of greedy monarchs and the corrupt British government, and there were rumors of Americans possibly being sent to England for a trial. In Boston and Virginia, a committee of correspondence was formed to discuss the crisis at hand.

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Tea Act (1773)

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The Tea Act of 1773 gave the British East India Company a monopoly on tea sales. This was unfair to the American tea merchants and ultimately caused the Boston Tea Party.

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Lord North

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Lord Fredrick North was the prime minister of Great Britain. He was pressured by the colonists into various things, most significantly repealing the Townshend Acts. However, the tea tax, the most offensive to the colonists, remained to keep the principle of parliamentary taxation alive.