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Events Leading up to the American Revolution
With the research that I have done, I have come up with the following information
on the events leading to the American Revolution.
After the French-Indian War the British Government decided to reap greater
benefits from the colonies. The colonies were pressed with greater taxes without any
representation in Britain. This eventually lead to the Boston Tea Party. In retaliation the
British passed what are now considered the Intolerable (or Coercive Acts) to bring the
colonies to the heal of the King.
The Intolerable (or Coercive Acts)
* Quartering Act: Effective March 24, 1765
This bill required that colonial authorities to furnish barracks and supplies
to British troops. In 1766, it was expanded to public houses and
unoccupied buildings.
* Stamp Act: Effective March 24, 1765
This bill raised revenue in the American colonies. The bill require that all
legal documents, licenses, commercial contracts, newspapers, pamphlets,
and playing cards to have a tax stamp on them. This act was already in
place in Great Britain and just extended itself into the colonies. It was put
in place to raise money to cut the costs of keeping the military troops in the
colonies. It was undebated in Britain, but it brought much opposition
among the colonists, who said that it was because they had no
representation in Parliament, and that they couldn’t be taxed without
having some voice in the matters. Colonial businessmen stopped importing
British goods until Britain would repeal the act. Most of the colonists
refused to use the stamps on business papers and courts would not use
them on official documents. Since it was opposed by the British business
community the act was repealed by the British Parliament on March 4,
1766, after Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania’s representative in London,
spoke on behalf of the American colonists. It’s repeal was followed by the
Declaratory Act which gave the British Government the right to legally tax
the colonists by any acts they wanted.
* Boston Port Act: Effective June 1, 1774
This bill closed the port of Boston to all colonists until, the damages from
the Boston Tea Party were paid for. The bill also moved the seat of
government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from Boston to Salem.
Most of the colonists were upset and showed sorrow for the town by
setting, the day that the bill went into effect, aside as a day of fasting and of
prayer. To make sure that this act was enforced correctly British troops
were sent to Boston, along with enough boats to blockade the port.
however there where towns in New England that sent grain and other types
of food to Boston.
* Administration of Justice Act: Effective May 20, 1774
This bill stated that British Officials could not be tried in provincial courts
for capital crimes. They would be extradited back to Britain and tried
there. This effectively gave the British free reign to do whatever they
wished, because no justice would be served while they were still in the
colonies.
* Massachusetts Government Act: Effective May 20, 1774
This bill effectively annulled the charter of the colonies, giving the British
Governor complete control of the town meetings, and taking control out of
the hands of the colonists.
* Quebec Act: Effective May 20, 1774
This bill extended the Canadian borders to cut off The Western Colonies of
Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Virginia. Although this was not passed as
one of the Intolerable Acts it is considered to be one of them because it
stopped forward progress of the colonies and took some of their land.
Events
* Sugar & Molasses Act: Smuggling trade flourished for many decades,
while the British government made few attempts to enforce the Molasses
Act. In 1764, realizing they had massive losses of potential revenue, the
new prime minister of Britain, George Grenville, started a policy of strict
enforcement of the customs laws, and later that year the Molasses Act was
replaced by the Sugar Act. The provisions of this new act raised the tax on
sugar and lowered the tax on molasses; added a tax to Madeira wine; and
imposed a difficult bonding procedure to be applied to all shipped
merchandise. The Sugar Act was generally enforced although its tax was
eventually lowered.
* Townshend Acts: This bill was passed by Parliament in 1767, affecting
the Thirteen Original Colonies The first part of the bill suspended the New
York Assembly, penalizing it for not complying with a law, that was
enacted two years beforehand. That reprimanded the colonies to house
the British troops in the New World. The second part called the Revenue
Act made customs taxes on colonial imports of glass, red, and white lead,
paints, paper, and tea. A later act appointed commissioners in the colonies
to head the custom service and to make sure the taxes were collected.
These acts were overwhelmingly unpopular in the colonies. Because a
colonist published an article that criticized the Townshend Acts the King
dissolved the Massachusetts legislature in 1768.
* The Boston Massacre: The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5,1770,
between British troops and a group of citizens from Boston. The British
troops were housed in the town to stop demonstrations against the
Townshend Acts. Because of constant criticism by the citizens, a squad of
British soldiers, who were also hit by rockets thrown during a
demonstration, fired shots into the crowd, killing five men. The eight
soldiers along with their commanding officer were on trial for murder.
Incidentally, they were defended by John Adams, who would later become
president of the U.S., and Josiah Quincy. Two of the eight soldiers were
found guilty of manslaughter, but claimed benefit of clergy, and were
branded on the thumb instead. The others, including the officer, were
acquitted. The “Massacre,” as it was called, was exploited by Samuel
Adams to help gather more anti-British support.
* The Boston Tea Party: On May 10, 1773, Parliament allowed the East
India Tea Co. to Export a half a million pounds of tea to the American
colonies for the purpose of selling it without imposing upon the company
the usual duties and tariffs. It was their intention to try to save the corrupt
and mismanaged company from bankruptcy. The effect was that the
company could undersell any other tea available in the colonies, including
smuggled tea. The disruption to American commerce was unacceptable to
many, including Sam Adams. On November 27, 1773, three ships loaded
with tea, from the East India Tea Co., landed at Boston and were
prevented from unloading their cargo. Fearing that the tea would be seized
for failure to pay customs duties, and eventually become available for sale,
Adams and the Boston Whigs arranged a solution. On the night of
December 16, 1773, a group of colonists, thinly disquised as Mohawk
Indians, snuck aboard the ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston
Harbor. The sabotage was denounced by Boston’s less radical population,
and applauded by those more radical. England’s response was the passing
of the Intolerable Acts.
References
Legrand, Jacques. Cronicle of America. Chronicle Publications. Mount Kisco, N.Y., 1989.
Mazour, Anatole G. World History “People and Nations” Revised ed. Holt, Rinehart,
and Winston, Inc., 1993 p. 412-416.
Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 97 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1996 Microsoft Corporation.
South Western. Student Handbook vol. 1 & 2. MacMillan Publishing Co., 1989.
Western Printing. The Golden Book Encyclopedia, Book 1. Golden Press, Inc., 1959.
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