Leading up to The Revolutionary War
By Maggie Bagatta
give me liberty or give me death!
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was when Britain had sent 1,000 more soldiers come to Boston under the command of General Thomas Gage. The Colonists were angered by this and on March 7, 1770 a group of colonists surrounded the soldiers and began to throw rocks and snowballs and yell at them, feeling threatened they began to shoot into the crowd, killing four colonists. The soldiers that shot were tried for murder, although many colonists said they deserved no trial, but John Adams, although he was ridiculed, defended them in court, stating that everyone was subject to the law. This event lead to the colonists angered that the British killed colonists and that lead to the Committees of Correspondence informing the colonists of anymore British acts against the colonists to ensure that no more colonists were killed.
The stamp act
What was it?
The British made an act so that for every legal or commercial document had to be stamped showing that a tax had been paid for it. This angered the colonists and they started to protest, sometimes violently, because they were being taxed unfairly without representation.
Stamp act congress
Stamp act debate
Seeing all the protesting and boycotts against british goods Lord Rockingham, the new British Prime Minister, agreed with the colonists and brought Benjamin Franklin, an important colonist figure, to the Stamp Act debate in England. March 18, 1766 the Stamp Act was repealed and at the exception that the Declaratory act passed stating that parliament had the right to make laws for the colonies in all matters.
The Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable acts were caused because the King was furious about the Boston Tea party, these were passed in 1774 and were meant to punish the Massachusetts colony and give them more power and control over all the colony. In 1774 the first Continental congress met, including delegates from each colony except for Georgia. They decided that they were going to ban all trade with Britain until the acts were repealed. They also decided to start to gather troops, this was when Patrick Henry gave the “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech. This resulted in the British becoming even more frustrated that the colonists were officially defying them more.
-Boston Port Act
-Massachusetts Government Act
-Administration Justice Act
-Quartering Act of 1774
-Quebec Act of 1774
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was made because the colonists were all affected be the acts and unfair taxes and decided to do something about it. Several delegates from each colony, including Samuel Adams for the Massachusetts colony, except for Georgia, came together for this meeting. They decided to ban all trade with Britain until the Intolerable acts were repealed and decided to train troops although they were not ready to declare independance.
It was the first time all the colonies gathered together and decided to officially go against Britain and decide to start getting troops together in case of a battle or potential war. This irritated the British even more that the colonists were going to go against the new laws they had passed (The Intolerable acts) that were meant to punish them for the Boston Tea Party so the British did not end up repealing the Intolerable acts, unlike the other acts.