Chapter 5 The Spirit of Independence (1763-1776)

Lesson 2 Uniting the Colonists

Essential Question

• How did the colonists react to British policies?

How did the colonists react to British policies?

Trouble in Boston

• By 1768, protests by the colonists were making British colonial officials nervous
• Colonies were on the brink of rebellion
• Parliament sent troops to Boston
• Colonists felt the British pushed them too far
• First the British had passed laws that violated colonial rights
• Now they sent an army to occupy (control) colonial cities

Making Matters Worse

• The soldiers in Boston acted rudely
• Sometimes even violently toward colonists
• The Redcoats earned little pay
• Some stole goods from local shops
• Some fought with boys who taunted them
• The soldiers often competed for jobs that Bostonians wanted

Problems Continue

• March 5, 1770- A fight between Bostonians and the soldiers
• A man shouts “We did not send for you. We will not have you here. We will get rid of you, we’ll drive you away!”
• The angry townspeople move toward the customhouse, where taxes were collected
• Picked up stones, sticks, clubs, and snowballs
• The sentry panicked and called for help

The Crowd Grows

• The crowd starts throwing snowballs and other objects
• Yelling at the crowd “Fire you bloodybacks, you lobsters”
• “You dare not fire.”
• A soldier gets knocked down
• The Soldiers got nervous

The Boston Massacre

• The soldiers fired
• Killed 5 colonists
• One Bostonian cried: “Are the inhabitants to be knocked down in the streets?”
• “Are they to be murdered?”
• Among the dead was Crispus Attucks, a dockworker who was part African, part Native American
• The tragic encounter (unexpected meeting) was called the Boston Massacre

The Word Spreads

• The killings were used as propaganda by colonial leaders
• Information made to influence public opinion
• Paul Revere made an engraving of the event
• Showed the British firing on an orderly crowd
• Boycotts spread after this and Parliament repealed the Townshend Acts
• Only the tax on tea remained
• Trade with Britain continued
• Some colonial leaders called for resistance to British rule
• Committees of Correspondence were set up

A Crisis Over Tea

• 1773- The British East India Company faced ruin
• To save the company, Parliament passed the Tea Act
• Gave the Company a monopoly on tea trade
• Made tea cheaper than smuggled tea, but helped the British
• Colonists vowed to stop the Company’s ships from unloading
• People stopped drinking tea (Many started drinking coffee)

More Tea Crisis

• Ships were sent away
• Cargoes of tea was unloaded in damp cellars making it rot
• Three tea ships arrived in Boston in late 1773
• The Royal governor refused to let them leave and ordered them to be unloaded

Unloading The Tea

• The Sons of Liberty “helped” unload the tea
• December 16^th- Men disguised as Mohawks boarded the ships at midnight
• Threw 342 chests of tea overboard
• Became known as the Boston Tea Party
• Colonists gathered to celebrate
• No one wanted to break with Britain
• Most saw themselves as British citizens

King George III

• Heard the news of the Boston Tea Party
• He realized he was losing control of the colonies
• King George III said “We must master them or totally leave them alone”
• British Government passed the Coercive Acts in 1774
• Intended to punish the colonists

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Coercive Acts

• Closed Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for
• Town meetings were banned in New England
• Bostonians had to shelter (Quarter) soldiers
• Boston was isolated, but other colonies sent food and clothing to support Boston
• Parliament then passed the Quebec Act

Quebec Act

• Set up a government for Quebec
• Gave Quebec the area west of the Appalachians and north of the Ohio River
• This ignored colonial claims of this area
• The colonists expressed their feelings in their name for the new laws
• The Intolerable Acts

Section 2

1. A
2. B
3. C
4. D

What did the colonists call the new laws passed by the British government?

A. The Intolerable Acts

B. The Revolutionary Acts

C. The Boston Massacre

D. The Coercive Acts

Essential Question

• How did the colonists react to British policies?

How did the colonists react to British policies?

• Colonists objected to the occupation of Boston and used the Boston Massacre as anti-British Propaganda.
• The Tea Act spurred protest throughout the colonies, but especially in Massachusetts, where colonists staged the Boston Tea Party.
• The Coercive Acts led other colonies to support Massachusetts and oppose British policies.

Twenty colonists were killed during the Boston Massacre.

1. True
2. False

Boycotts following the Boston Massacre helped repeal the Townshend Acts.

1. True
2. False

The committee of correspondence was a system of letter writing between the colonial governors and the king.

1. True
2. False

At the time of the Boston Tea Party, most colonists still considered themselves as British citizens.

1. True
2. False

Parliament successfully isolated Boston from the rest of the colonies by passing the Coercive Acts.

1. True
2. False

When Britain learned that the colonies were on the brink of rebellion in 1768, Parliament responded by

1. closing Boston Harbor.
2. sending a letter to the colonies.
3. sending troops to Boston.
4. doing nothing.

Anti-British feelings among the colonists grew more intense because of propaganda like Paul Revere's engraving of the

1. Boston Massacre.
2. Intolerable Acts.
3. Liberty Affair.
4. Boston Tea Party.

Which act gave the East India Company an advantage over colonial merchants?

1. Sugar Act
2. Declaratory Act
3. Tea Act
4. Stamp Act

Some colonists celebrated the dramatic act of defiance known as the

1. Intolerable Acts.
2. Coercive Acts.
3. Boston Massacre.
4. Boston Tea Party.

The colonial name for laws that banned town meetings in New England was

1. the Navigation Acts.
2. the Intolerable Acts.
3. the Coercive Acts.
4. the Boston Tea Party.

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