Question of the Day

1
Question of the Day

• Why did colonists challenge British taxes?

2
Chapter 10, Section 3The Road To Revolution

• ? Pontiac ? Proclamation of 1763 ? Sugar Act
• ? Quartering Act ? Writs of Assistance ? Stamp
  Act
• ? Treason ? Repeal ? Boycott

• Main Idea
• North Carolinians protested British policies
  after the French and Indian War.
• Why It Matters Now
• The colonial protests were the first steps
  toward the American Revolution.

3
Setting the Stage

• When the Native Americans in the Ohio River
  Valley learned the terms of the Treaty of Paris
  they sought a leader to keep them from loosing
  anymore land to the British.
• They rallied behind Ottawa Indian Chief Pontiac.
• Pontiac was described as shrewd, sensible, and
  of few words.

4
A New Proclamation

• Throughout the summer of 1763, a total of 40
  different Native American groups banded together
  under Pontiac and attacked British settlements.

• When word of what became known as Pontiacs
  Rebellion reached King George III, he signed the
  Proclamation of 1763 to avoid a costly war with
  the Indians.
• The Proclamation set the western boundary for
  settlement at the watershed line of the mountains
  and reserving the lands beyond for the Indians.

5
Britains New Colonial Policy

• After Frances defeat in the French and Indian
  War, Britain was left trying to protect the
  gained territory, maintain peace with the
  Indians, pay off war debts, enforce trade laws,
  and bring the colonies under better control.

• Since Britain fought the French and Indian War
  for the benefit of the colonies, it was decided
  to shift some of the tax burden to the colonists.

6
Britains New Colonial Policy

• With so much unrest in the colonies, the British
  decided to keep an army in North America.
• Approximately 10,000 British soldiers were sent
  to the colonies under the pretense they were to
  protect the colonists from the Spanish.
• The colonists feared the army would be used to
  enforce unpopular British laws.

7
The Sugar Act

• The Sugar Act of 1764 was designed to raise money
  for the defense of the colonies by taxing such
  imports as sugar, molasses, coffee, wine, and
  silk.

• The Sugar Act was to be strictly enforced.
• King George III gave the royal tax collectors the
  right to search warehouses for smuggled goods.

8
The Quartering Act

• Parliament enacted the Quartering Act early in
  1765.
• This law required the colonies to feed and
  shelter the British troops in private homes.
• Most soldiers found lodging in port cities which
  were the centers of colonial trade.

9
The Effect On North Carolina

• New England merchants complained about royal tax
  collectors being given writs of assistance, or
  search warrants, to search their business for
  smuggled goods.
• Since North Carolina had no major ports, the
  Sugar Quartering Acts had more affect on the
  northern colonies.

10
The Stamp Act

• The Stamp Act, passed by Parliament in March of
  1765 to be effective November 1, 1765, shattered
  the peace in North Carolina.
• The Stamp Act forced colonists to purchase
  special stamps or stamped paper for legal
  documents, licenses, newspapers, pamphlets,
  almanacs, playing cards, and dice.

• Britain expected little reaction to the law, but
  from New England to Georgia, colonists protested
  the new tax. No taxation without
  representation became a common cry. Many people
  began to boycott, refuse to buy goods from
  England.

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The Effect Of The Stamp Act

• Patrick Henry charged that the Stamp Act
  threatened colonial liberty and was warned he was
  close to committing treason, the betrayal of
  ones country.
• In June 1765, Massachusetts invited the colonies
  to send delegates to a Stamp Act Congress that
  would meet in October 1765 in New York City.
• In August 1765, a mob called the Sons of Liberty,
  looted the homes lf the royal governor and
  colonial stamp agent in Boston.

12
Protest In North Carolina

• Maurice Moore wrote a pamphlet attacking the
  Stamp Act.
• In October 1765, a group of 500 people came
  together in Wilmington and forced the stamp
  agent, Dr. William Houston to resign.
• Business and trade came to a halt in November
  1765 when John Ashe and Hugh Waddell would not
  allow the stamps to be off-loaded from ships at
  Brunswick.
• In February 1766, the British seized two ships at
  Brunswick because their papers had not been
  stamped. A group of protestors called the Sons
  of Liberty won their release.

13
New Taxes

• Stunned by the reaction of the colonists,
  Parliament repealed, officially withdrew, the
  Stamp Act in March of 1766 while simultaneously
  passing the Declaratory Act that proclaimed that
  Parliament had the authority to tax the colonies.
• In 1767, Parliament passed the Townsend Acts
  which placed duties on imports of wine, tea,
  paper, glass, and lead as they came into the
  colonies.

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The North Carolina Reaction

• John Harvey, the speaker of the North Carolina
  Assembly, wrote to King George III a humble,
  dutiful, and loyal address seeking repeal of the
  latest tax laws.
• The letter contained the phrase famous to
  colonists No taxation without representation.

15
The North Carolina And The Non-Importation
Association

• On November 2, 1769, Speaker Harvey presented the
  plan for the Non-Importation Association that
  would agree not to import products subject to a
  duty.
• The North Carolina Assembly adopted the plan
  without a single dissenting vote.

16
The North Carolina And The Non-Importation
Association

• When Governor Tryon learned of the
  Non-Importation Association, he dissolved the
  Assembly.
• Of the 74 members of the Assembly, 64 gathered in
  New Bern and took the first action by a colonial
  legislature independent of a governor by adopting
  the Non-Importation Association.

17
Success

• The Non-Importation Association was a huge
  success.
• Reeling with the loss of business, British
  merchants demanded that Parliament repeal the
  unpopular laws.
• In 1770, Parliament bowed to the pressure and
  eliminated all the taxes except the one on tea.

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The Boston Massacre

• On the night of March 5, 1770, a group of
  colonists crowded around a British guard at the
  Boston tax office.
• First they hurled insults at the red-coated
  soldier.
• Soon, soldiers and townspeople rushed to the
  scene.

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The Boston Massacre

• In the confusion that followed, shots rang out.
• Five colonists were dead, including a formerly
  enslaved African named Crispus Attucks.
• Led by Samuel Adams, the Patriots, supporters of
  colonial liberty, circulated letters describing
  what they called the Boston Massacre.

20
Boston Tea Party

• The British East India Company was nearing
  bankruptcy due to the colonial boycotts which
  caused them to have over 17 million pounds of tea
  warehoused.
• Lord North authorized them to sell direct to the
  consumer tax free. Lord North hoped the citizens
  would purchase the cheaper tea. Instead, they
  protested.
• On December 16, 1773 patriots disguised as Native
  Americans boarded 3 British ships and dumped
  15,000 pounds of tea into the harbor during what
  later became known as the Boston Tea Party.

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The Intolerable Acts

• The Intolerable or Coercive Acts passed by
  Parliament in 1774 as a response to the Boston
  Tea Party shut down Boston Harbor because the
  colonists refused to pay for the damaged tea.
• General Thomas Gage was appointed governor of
  Massachusetts and placed Boston under martial
  law.
• In 1774, the colonies once again organized a
  meeting known as the Continental Congress

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Congresses

• At a mass meeting in Wilmington in July 1774,
  William Hooper, Cornelius Harnett, and others
  called for a provincial congress independent of
  the governor.
• Despite the displeasure of Governor Josiah
  Martin, the First Provisional Congress took place
  on August 25, 1774, in New Bern and was attended
  by 71 delegates elected from 30 of the 36
  counties.
• The Congress condemned Parliaments tax policies,
  approved a general congress and a boycott of
  British goods, and pledged support to Boston.

23
Congresses

• The First Continental Congress was held in
  September of 1774. 56 delegates from 12 colonies
  (Georgia was not represented) met in Philadelphia
  to draw up a declaration of colonial rights.
• The Congress agreed to stop all trade with
  Britain and urged each colony to set up
  committees of safety to enforce the boycott.

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Do you remember?

• Why did colonists challenge British taxes?
• How did the people of North Carolina resist the
  Stamp Act and the tax on tea?
• How did the people of North Carolina support the
  colonial Non-Importation Association and the
  first Continental Congress?