KING GEORGE III

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EVENTS LEADING UP TO AND INCLUDING THE AMERICAN
REVOLUTION
Presented By Tammy Pittman
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KING GEORGE III

• George III became King of Great Britain in 1760
  during the Seven Years' War
• He saw the loss of the American colonies in the
  War of Independence
• George III took the throne at the age of 22.
• His abilities were limited and he was poorly
  suited for the rigorous demands of being the
  king.
• It is believed that he suffered from a hereditary
  disease which would cause long periods of
  insanity which lasted until his death in 1820.

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FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS

• May 18, 1756, the British declare war on the
  French
• Was the source of much resentment and controversy
  between England and the American colonists.
• England's debt was greatly enlarged by the war.
• England set plans in motion to gain more control
  over the American colonists.

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PROCLAMATION OF 1763

• Provided an end to the French and Indian War in
  1763.
• The Proclamation closed off the western frontier
  for colonial expansion.
• The Proclamation was presented by the King and
  his council as a measure to calm the fears of the
  Indians.
• The colonists felt a strong sense of resentment.
  They felt as though they were trapped and they
  thought they could be controlled more easily and
  regulated by England.
• The Proclamation provided that all of the lands
  west of the heads of all rivers which flowed
  into the Atlantic Ocean from the west or
  northwest were off-limits to the American
  colonists.
• This meant that the rich Ohio Valley and all
  territory from the Ohio to the Mississippi Rivers
  from settlement.

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THE STAMP ACT

• Passed on March 22, 1765
• This act would grant and apply stamp duties both
  in the British colonies and plantation of
  America.
• These duties were to help compensate for the
  expenses that were incurred by defending,
  protecting and securing the colonists.
• This Act required that the colonists had to
  purchase printed documents such as
• Deeds
• Legal Documents
• Marriage License (Licenses in general)
• Newspapers
• Bills
• Almanacs
• Pamphlets
• Dice and Playing Cards

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• These items would be issued on specially stamped
  paper that had to be purchased from stamp
  distributors.
• The colonist were outraged by the imposition of
  this tax.
• Colonists reactions were on occasion riotous.
  This was seen in a popular tactic used by the
  colonists in which they would threaten or attack
  the court appointed stamp commissioners
  (collectors).
• Many were also threatened to be tarred and
  feathered, but none of the collectors were ever
  harmed in this way.
• By November 1, 1765, the day the Stamp Act was to
  go into effect, there were no stamp commissioners
  left in the colonies.

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SUGAR ACT

• Passed by Parliament in 1764.
• To be used to offset the war debt brought on by
  the French and Indian War.
• Also would be used for expenses of running the
  new colonies.
• The Sugar Act would increase duties on the
  following items
• Imported Sugar
• Coffee
• Wines
• Textiles
• Indigo (Dye)
• It also doubled duties on foreign goods.
• It also forbid the import of foreign rum and
  French wines.

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CURRENCY ACT

• In 1764, the Currency Act prohibited the
  colonists from issuing any legal tender paper
  money.
• This Act unified the industrial North with the
  agricultural South once again.
• The Currency Act threatened to destabilize the
  colonial economy.

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QUARTERING ACT

• In May 1765, the Quartering Act went into effect.
• This Act required that the colonists had to house
  British troops and supply them with food.

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SONS OF LIBERTY

• Formed in July 1765.
• Underground organization formed by a number of
  colonial towns in opposition to the Stamp Act.
• Violence and intimidation was used by its members
  to force the British stamp agents to resign and
  stop American merchants from ordering British
  goods.

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STAMP ACT CONGRESS

• Covens in New York City in October 1765.
• Congress prepares resolution to be sent to King
  George III and Parliament.
• Petition requests repeal of the Stamp Act and
  Acts of 1764.
• The Petition asserted that only colonial
  legislation could tax colonial residents and
  taxation without representation was a violation
  of the colonists basic civil rights.

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STAMP ACT - REPEALED

• March 18, 1766, the Stamp Act is repealed.

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DECLATORY ACT

• March 18, 1776, Parliament passes the Declaratory
  Act.
• This Act stated that British government had power
  to legislate laws governing the colonies.

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TOWNSHEND REVENUE ACTS

• June 1767, Parliament passes the Townshend
  Revenue Acts.
• Imposition of a new series of taxes or the
  colonists to offset costs of administering and
  protecting the American colonies.
• Taxed items included
• Paper
• Glass
• Paints
• Tea
• Lead

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THE BOSTON MASSACRE

• Occurred on March 5, 1770.
• Mob harassed soldiers.
• Soldiers fired muskets point blank into the
  crowd.
• (3) were killed instantly
• (2) mortally wounded
• (6) injured
• Captain Thomas Preston was arrested along with
  eight (8) of his men.

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TOWNSHEND ACTS - REPEALED

• Repealed in April 1770.
• Duties on imports were eliminated on everything
  except for tea.

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THE TEA ACT

• Went into effect on May 10, 1773.
• A 3 penny per pound import tax on tax was
  imposed.
• British East India Company had a tea monopoly and
  were underselling American merchants.

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THE BOSTON TEA PARTY

• Occurred on December 16, 1773.
• Colonial activists dresses as Mohawk Indians and
  boarded the ships docked in Boston Harbor.
• All 342 tea containers were dumped into the
  Boston Harbor.

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COERCIVE ACTS (INTOLERABLE ACTS)

• March 1774, Parliament passes the Coercive Acts
  (Intolerable Acts).
• The Coercive Acts were in response to the Boston
  Tea Party.
• The Boston Port Bill closed all commercial
  shipping in the Boston Harbor until Massachusetts
  agreed to pay taxes on the tea that was dumped
  into Boston Harbor.
• The Coercive Act also required reimbursement to
  the East India Company for the loss of the tea.

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FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS

• Met in Philadelphia from September 5, 1774, until
  October 26, 1774.
• All colonies were represented at the First
  Continental Congress but Georgia.

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CONFLICT ARISES

• April 14, 1775, England secretly orders
  Massachusetts Governor Gage to enforce the
  Coercive Acts and suppress rebellion among the
  colonists.
• April 18, 1775, General Gage orders British
  soldiers to go to Concord and destroy the weapons
  depot of the colonists.
• Paul Revere and William Dawes are sent to warn
  the colonists.

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AMERICAN REVOLUTION

• Early on the morning of April 19, 1775, an
  unordered "shot heard around the world" begins
  the American Revolution.
• The British destroy the colonists weapons and
  supplies in Concord.
• Militiamen attack a British platoon at North
  Bridge in Concord.
• British forces retreat from Lexington back to
  Boston.
• May 10, 1775, Ethen Allen and Benedict Arnold
  capture Fort Ticonderoga in New York with
  American forces.

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• May 10, 1775, The Second Continental Congress
  convenes in Philadelphia.
• June 15, 1775, George Washington is appointed
  general and commander-in-chief of the
  Constitutional Army.
• June 17, 1775, Battle of Bunkerhill in Boston.
• This was the first major fight between British
  and American troops.
• American troops are dug in along the high ground
  of Bunker Hill.
• American troops are attacked by a frontal
  assault.
• Americans are ordered not to fire until they see
  "the whites of their eyes".
• British succeed at taking the hill.

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• July 3, 1775, George Washington takes command of
  the Continental Army.
• December 22, 1775, King George issues a
  proclamation which closes commerce and trade to
  all American colonies beginning in March 1776.
• January 9, 1776, Thomas Paine's "Common Sense"
  was published.
• 50 page pamphlet
• It was very critical of King George III
• Attacks allegiance to the monarchy
• Argues for American Independence

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• April 6, 1776, the Continental Congress opens
  colonial shipping ports to all but the British.
• May 10, 1776, Continental Congress authorizes the
  13 colonies to form local government.
• June 11, 1776, Congress appoints a committee to
  draft a declaration of independence.
• Members of this committee included
• Thomas Jefferson
• Benjamin Franklin
• John Adams
• Roger Livingston
• Roger Sherman

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• Thomas Jefferson is chosen by the committee to
  prepare the first draft.
• June 28, 1776, Jefferson's draft is presented to
  Congress, with changes made by John Adams and
  Benjamin Franklin.
• July 4, 1776, Congress formally endorses the
  Declaration of Independence.
• December 25th and 26th, 1776, George Washington
  takes 2400 troops across the Delaware River.

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• Washington organizes a surprise raid on British -
  Hessians in Trenton, New Jersey.
• Hessians surrender and Washington re-occupies
  Trenton.
• June 14, 1777, Congress mandates a flag for the
  United States consisting of 13 stars and 13 red
  and white stripes.
• July 27, 1777, Marquis de Lafayette is appointed
  as general by the Continental Congress.

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• August 1, 1777, Americans first major victory of
  the Revolutionary War is won at the Battle of
  Saratoga.
• General Horatio Gates and General Benedict Arnold
  defeat General Burgoyne.
• October 17, 1777, General Burgoyne and his army
  surrender to the Americans led by General Gates.
• December 17, 1777, the Continental Army led by
  Washington set up winter quarters at Valley Forge.

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• July 3, 1778, American settlers in the Wyoming
  Valley of northern Pennsylvania are massacred by
  British loyalists and Indians.
• December 29, 1778, British capture Savannah and a
  month later they capture Augusta.
• From April 1st to 30th, 1779, American troops
  attack Chickamauga Indian Villages in retaliation
  of the Indian attacks on the colonial
  settlements.
• May 10, 1779, British troops burn Portsmouth and
  Norfolk, Virginia.

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• August 14, 1779, a peace plan is approved by
  Congress. Stipulations include
• Independence
• Complete British evacuation from America
• Free navigation on the Mississippi.
• October 17, 1779, Washington sets up quarters at
  Morristown, New Jersey.
• Troops suffer another harsh winter.
• Troops suffer from low morale, desertions are
  high and there are many mutiny attempts.

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• December 26, 1779, British sail from New York and
  head toward Charleston, South Carolina.
• April 8, 1780, the British attack Charleston.
• May 6, 1780, the British capture Fort Moultrie in
  Charleston.
• May 12, 1780, America suffers the worst defeat of
  the Revolutionary War when the British capture
  Charleston.

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• June 23, 1780, American forces defeat the British
  in the Battle of Springfield.
• September 28, 1781, General Washington begins
  siege against Yorktown.
• October 17, 1781, as Yorktown is about to be
  taken, the British send out a flag of truce.
• Washington and Cornwallis workout the terms of
  surrender.
• October 19, 1781, the British march out in
  formation and surrenders Yorktown to Washington.
• British hopes for a victory against America are
  gone.

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• January 1, 1782, Loyalists leave America.
• March 20, 1782, British Prime Minister, Lord
  North resigns.
• Lord Rockingham will succeed him.
• June 11, 1782, the British evacuate Savannah.
• November 10, 1782, the final battle of the
  Revolutionary War occurs.
• Americans retaliate against loyalists and Indian
  forces.

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• November 30, 1782, preliminary peace treaty is
  signed in Paris.
• February 4, 1783, England declares an end to
  hostilities in America.
• April 11, 1783, the Treaty of Paris is signed by
  the United States and Britain.
• November 2, 1783, Washington delivers his
  farewell address to his army.
• January 14, 1784, the Treaty of Paris is ratified
  by Congress. The Revolutionary War officially
  ends.

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• August 31, 1786, Ex-Revolutionary War Captain
  Daniel Shay's (now a bankrupt farmer), leads an
  armed mob to the Northhampton Courthouse in order
  to prevent the court from holding session. They
  mobbed the courthouse so that debtors would not
  be tried and put in prison.
• September 26, 1786, Shay's rebels, fearing being
  tried for treason, forced the Massachusetts
  Supreme Court to adjourn.

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• January 26, 1787, Shay's rebels attack a federal
  arsenal and is unsuccessful.
• February 4, 1787, Shay's rebels are attacked by
  General Lincoln's troops.
• 150 rebels are captured
• Shay flees north to Vermont

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• June 19, 1787, delegates at the Constitutional
  Convention vote to create a new form of national
  government which will be separated into the
  following 3 branches
• Legislative
• Executive
• Judicial

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• July 13, 1787, the Northwest Ordinance is enacted
  by Congress.
• These are the formal procedures for transforming
  territories into states.
• Includes a Bill of Rights that guarantees freedom
  of religion, right to trial by jury, public
  education and a ban on slavery in the Northwest.

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• September 17, 1787, 39 delegates vote to approve
  and sign the final draft of the new Constitution.
• Legislative - will consist of two (2) houses the
  upper house (Senate) which will be selected by
  the state assemblies and they will serve six (6)
  year terms
• Executive - is headed by the President and
  elected every four (4) years by president
  electors from the states
• Judicial - consists of a Supreme Court headed by
  a Chief Justice. The court has implied powers to
  review laws that conflict with the Constitution.

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• September 25, 1789, Congress submits twelve (12)
  proposed Constitutional Amendments. Only ten
  (10) will be ratified and added to the
  Constitution as the Bill of Rights in 1791.

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