The Road to Confrontation

• Charles Townshend: was the chancellor of the exchequer (secretary of treasurer), came up with another approach to collecting money, he passed the Townshend Acts
• The Townshend Acts: tea, paint, paper, lead, glass
  • in order to better enforce the law they passed the writs of assistance. its like a blank search warrant.
  • the townshend act is supposed to raise money to pay for british officials in america
• Response to the Townshend Acts
  • Pamphleteer War
    • John Dickinson: wrote a series of essays called "Letters from a Pennsylvanian Farmer." He wrote that property is liberty and liberty and property. If you tax me without representation you are taking my liberty.
    • James Otis and Sam Adams (and others): wrote a series of protests called the circular letter. A protest statement from the Massachusetts legislature against the Townshend Acts.
    • These pamphlets started the Committees of Correspondence would warn neighbors about incidents with Britain and broaden the resistance movement
  • Boston Massacre: March 5, 1770
    • picture of the BM painted by Paul Revere. was not very accurate and was an example of propaganda
  • Townshend Act were all repealed except the tea tax, which was left behind for symbolic reasons, not for economic reasons.
• Lord Fred North after Charles Townshend died.
  • The Gaspee Incident in 1772: Colonists burned up the ship that was meant to take all the collected taxes back to Britain. It happened because the fires of revolution had died down a bit, and because it was a symbol of British taxes
  • John Wilkes: spoke his mind about the problems with representation in Britain. He got thrown in jail. The colonists loved him and he became a symbol for liberty to the colonists.
• The Clouds of War 1773-1775
  • The Tea Act of 1773: gave a monopoly on the tea empire to the British East India Tea Company (Larry says some of them were probably stock holders). Permitted the Company to sell tea directly to colonists without colonial middlemen
  • Response by the Colonists: even though the price of tea was lower, the colonists did not like this, because they didn't want to be tricked into paying taxes or support the British monopoly.
    • The Boston Tea Party
  • Response by GBR: the Coercive Acts
    • Boston Port Act
    • Government Act- took away all the colonists' rights, like martial law
    • New Quartering Act
    • Administration of Justice Act- all British officials would be tried in England
    • The Quebec Act- some say that it is separate, and some say that its part of the Intolerable acts. The British took away land claimed by the colonists and gave it to French Catholics. This angered the Protestant colonists for administration purposes. Parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin
  • The First Continental Congress: 55 delegates from 12 colonies. How do we respond to the Coercive and Quebec Acts?
    • The Suffolk Resolves: we will do everything we can to help Boston except taking up arms
    • The Galloway Plan: proposed to share power between GBR and the colonies. Called the Council of All Colonies. Got rejected epically by Massachusetts.
  • General Thomas Gage decided to disarm the colonists and take all their ammunition from the city of Concord. Supposedly Paul Revers warned all the colonists that the Regulars were coming. Battles of Lexington and Concord
  • The Colonists got their minute men ready very quickly. Only 8 colonist deaths in Lexington. The real English casualties occurred when the British were marching back to Lexington after finding nothing at Concord.