Colonial Resistance: From Rebellious Belligerence to Political Consciousness

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Colonial Resistance From Rebellious Belligerence
to Political Consciousness
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British Economic Policies

• The British feel that the colonists are in some
  sense responsible for the French and Indian War
  in North America.
• They seek to place the war debt onto the
  colonists because they are British subjects.
• The colonists are used to self-governing
  themselves and electing their own representative
  governments due to salutary neglect from the
  British Parliament.

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British Economic Policies

• In actuality the colonist have grown quite
  wealthy because of the amenities being a British
  subject provides them.
• The British attempt to reduce their war debt by
  passing the cost onto the colonists through a
  series of taxes.
• Colonial resistance will vary from mob violence
  to tactfully designed propaganda to a statement
  based on poltical consciousness.

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Stamp Act Congress, Oct. 1765

• Stamp Act Congress made up of colonial
  representatives. They protest the new taxes
  imposed on the colonies and win in 1765.
• Taxation without representation, belief that
  colonists should vote on their own taxes.

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Sons of Liberty, 1765

• Formed in Boston as a response to the Stamp Act.
  Supported by Samuel Adams
• The Sons of Liberty use intimidation in the form
  of tarring and feathering tax collectors.
• Andrew Oliver, a tax collectors home is torn
  apart

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The Boston Massacre, Dec. 1770

• Colonists are upset that British troops are in
  Boston and that they are competing for jobs with
  them.
• Crispus Attucks an African American sailor is the
  first to die in the Revolution
• The colonist will look to this incident as
  another example of King Georges tyranny in the
  colonies

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The real story behind the drawing

• The British soldiers are shown standing in a
  straight line shooting their rifles in a regular
  volley, actually both groups are cussing at one
  another.
• The event occurred around nine o'clock on a cold
  winter night.
• Notice too the absence of snow and ice on the
  street, Crispus Attucks, a black man is lying on
  the ground closest to the British soldiers but is
  shown to be white.
• The print of the Boston Massacre was released
  three times by separate men. Paul Revere was one
  of those men. All the men benefited financially
  from the drawing.

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Committees of Correspondence, 1772

• Groups appointed in the 13 colonies to provide
  leadership and to show that the colonies, they
  were experiencing the same thing under the
  British
• Samuel Adams organized the first in 1772

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Samuel Adams

• Harvard educated politician from Massachusetts
• Shrewd and politically savvy starts committees of
  correspondence, Sons of Liberty
• Involved in Boston Tea Party

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Boston Tea Party, 1774

• Sons of Liberty members quietly and orderly
  December 13, dump 342 tea crates into Boston
  Harbor
• It is to protest the Tea Act, a British general
  will be sent to govern Massachusetts

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Common Sense, 1776

• Author of Common Sense, his writing style is
  crude, simple and direct to the point
• He argues that King George is a tyrant, that
  England is to far away to rule the colonies and
  it is time for the colonies to start off on their
  own

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Declaration of Independence,1776

• Formal declaration of independence from England
• It explains the reasons for the Revolution, lists
  the injustices made by King George III, and
  explains a the basic ideas of American
  government

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Declaration of Independence,1776