The Real Story of the American Revolution 

Escalation of the Conflict 1760-1774

Latest Changes: 08Apr06 - add Vermont dispute / 08Apr10 - add Declaration of Rights / 08Jun04 - expand on Coercive Acts /

More Economic Restrictions 1764-1774  The Sugar Act of 1764 was the first tax passed to raise money from the colonies for a specific purpose. It increased the taxes levied on a number of items besides sugar, and many items were added to the list of Enumerated Articles (that were taxed if shipped between two colonies). [Boatner, pp 773-5] The Stamp Act of 1765 required that special tax stamps be placed on a wide variety of printed matter, legal documents, and playing cards. Text of the Stamp Act [HistoryWiz] There was widespread civil resistance in the colonies through boycotting the purchase of British goods, closing courts and selling unstamped newspapers in defiance of the act. August 14 1765: Boston Mob Protests Stamp Act [Massachusetts Moments] describes this event and notes sources for further study. Benjamin Franklin was the agent representing the intersts of Pennsylvania, and in 1766 he testified before Parliament against the Stamp Act. Benjamin Franklin's Testimony in the British Parliament [HistoryWiz] Source: The Parliamentary History of England, (London:1813), XVI, 138-159. 1765 Oct 07: Delegates from nine colonies met in New York, to protest against the Stamp Act and other encroachments upon their rights, and drew up a Declaration of Rights [Bartleby.com] The Declaratory Act of 1766 repealed the Stamp Act but at the same time declared that Parliament had the right to make laws binding the colonies "in all cases whatsoever". Thus Parliament took the position that it had repealed the Stamp Act out of charity and not because it agreed with the colonists' argument that Parliament did not have the right to impose taxes on the colonies. [Boatner, pp 1050-2, 324] The Townshend Revenue Act of 1767 imposed duties on all glass, lead, paper, and tea imported by the colonies, the revenue to be applied toward the expense of paying for stationing troops in the colonies. Collection of the taxes was made more certain by reforming the operation of the customs commissioners. Previously the appointees had remained in England and hired agents who supplemented their low wages with bribes from American merchants. Now a more highly-motivated group was sent to act directly in American ports, where they enforced the customs law with an arrogant self-interest that precipitated many acts of violent resistance. [Boatner, pp 1110, 949, 313]

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Abuse of Power: Riots  Many frustrations of colonial life were abuses that were traditional parts of British culture (such as gangs of sailors kidnapping young men from the streets to ships to serve as sailors, "impressing" them into the navy). These had been the source of complaints and local retaliation for centuries. While they were listed in the Declaration of Independence as contributing reasons for seeking independence they did not precipitate a coordinated regional response. [See Maier, "From Resistance to Revolution"] The abuses of power that caused the most colonial outrage were refusal to allow new immigrants adequate represenatation in colonial legislatures. This led to the North Carolina Regulator movement in 1768 and its suppression in 1771. increased vigilance of collecting import duties, which led to the burning of the British armed revenue schooner Gaspee in Rhode Island on 1772 June 9. impressing young men into the British navy. This led to riots in a number of coastal towns.

Dissention among the Colonies Most of the land that is now Vermont was technically under the rule of France until the end of the French and indian War in 1763, when France ceded it to Great Britain. The colonies of New Hampshire and New York made overlapping land grants in the area, and in 1764 Great Britain declared that the land to belong to New York. Settlers holding New Hampshire grants were told to leave them or to pay New York for the land. In 1770 those settlers response by forming the Green Mountain Boys to resist this and to drive New York settlers out of the area.

Resistance: Petitions, Demonstrations, and Threats  The colonists complained and resisted using both passive and active means through increasingly violent levels -- sending petitions to parliament and the king, demonstrating in the streets, boycotting taxed goods, destroying tax stamps or British imports, and threatening and assaulting government officials [sometimes even the royal governor]. They also began to form communication networks to exchange views and to coordinate actions for maximum impact.

Retaliation: Taxation, Embargo, and Unwelcome House-Guests  These acts of resistance led Parliament to pass punitive acts -- barring colonists from settling west of the Appalachian mountains [land that had previously been granted to the colonies by royal charter], assigning that land to the colony of Quebec, closing the largest port in New England, and establishing a standing British army in the colonies -- to be quartered in private homes if barracks were not readily available. 1773 May The Tea Act met with physical resistance. Many colonial ports (Philadelphia, New York) refused entry for the tea or dumped the tea in the harbour (Charleston SC, Annapolis). [Maier, pp 275-7] On 1773 Dec 16, about fifty men disguised as Mohawks boarded ships of the British East India Tea Company and dumped 342 chests of British tea into the Boston Harbor. This became known as the Boston Tea Party. News of the events in Boston reached London in 1774 January, leading the British Parliament to pass over the next six months four acts that became known as the The Intolerable (or Coercive) Acts of 1774. The intent was to make clear to the colonies that Parliament had both authority and control over the colonies and would punish Boston (for the acts of its residents) as a warning to others. Text of the Intolerable Acts [HistoryWiz, as of 2006 Sept 22] The Boston Port Bill basically closed the port of Boston to all imports except food until the damages were paid for the tea destroyed there. The Administration of Justice Act moved trials for officials accused of capital crimes (for which the penalty was death) from the colony in which they were committed to England or another colony -- making trials more expensive for the accusers and vigilante justice less likely for the accused. The Massachusetts Government Act revised Massachusetts' colonial charter of 1691 to expand the powers of the royal governor and reduce that of elected officials by giving the royal governor control over town meetings. The Extension of the Quartering Act extended coverage to non-American colonies and also extended application to occupied homes. The latter provision put a considerable burden on a populace that did not see a need to have a soldier in the house, especially now that the French and Indian War had removed French Canada as a threat to the colonies. The Quebec Act was passed separately from the Intolerable Acts, but it was considered similarly oppressive by the colonists. It transferred from Massachusetts, New York and Virginia to Canada control of the land between the fall line of the Appalachians west to the Mississippi River and from the Great Lakes south to the Ohio River. It also allowed Canadians colonists with French ancestry to practice their Catholic religion openly, a provision that angered many colonial Protestants -- who said that the King George III's assent to this act was contrary to his coronation oath, in which he pledged to maintain "the protestant reformed religion established by law" in Great Britain and its colonies. [Ref. Maier, p 238] This complaint was made in spite of the fact that Catholics and Jews had been openly practicing their religion in several colonies (Maryland and Rhode Island) since the time of their founding. Text of the Quebec Act [The Solon Law Archive]

European Colonial Claims in Eastern North America in 1775
from xroads.virginia.edu/~MAP/TERRITORY/us_1775.jpg
with a more distinctive color for Other British Terrirories
[American Studies at the Univ. of Virginia]

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Rebellion: Incursions into the Indian Reserve  In 1773-75 groups of European settlers from Virginia and Pennsylvania began to establish settlements in the area that is now Kentucky. This area was part of the Indian Reserve created by George III's Proclamation of 1763, under which such settlements were illegal. The settlements were also opposed by the Cherokee, Delaware, Iroquois, and Shawnee nations which had occupied the land for many years. Great Britain supplied arms to its Amerindian allies to aid them in forcing the settlers out. After the Declaration of Independence in 1776 the state of Virginia claimed Kentucky as a county of Virginia, and encouraged the formation of additional settlements there. Raids and retaliation between settlers and Amerindians were frequent until 1778, whenGeorge Rogers Clark led several successful expeditions against nearby British outposts cutting off military supplies for the Amerindian nations. The First Continental Congress On 1774 June 17 the Massachusetts House of Representatives proposed to the other colonies that a Congress be held in Philadelphia. This Congress met from 1774 Sept 04 to 1774 Oct 26, with 56 delegates representing all of the colonies that later revolted except Georgia. Peyton Randolph of Virginia served as President until October 21, resigning due to poor health. Henry Middleton of South Carolina served as President during the final week. Delegates from the lower three counties of Pennsylvania that later became the state of Delaware were listed as a separate entity, "New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, on Delaware". Roster: Delegates to the Continental Congresses of 1774 to 1789 [PDF file] Table of delegates [Wikipedia]. Each colony could cast a single vote, so the delegates from each state had to decide amongst themselves what vote would be cast (if any) by that state. During its seven-week existence the Congress voted to denounce the Intolerable Acts and the Quebec Act declare unconstitutional thirteen revenue acts of Parliament passed after 1763 adopt a Declaration of Rights, saying that each colonial assembly had the right to make laws governing everything except foreign trade. RSAR Documents has a link to the full text online. adopt broad economic sanctions to stop importing goods from Great Britain discontinue the slave trade stop consuming British and some other foreign products stop exporting goods to Britain or to the West Indies. defeat (by a single vote) a proposal that would have provided an all-colony council under a single royal governor. agreed to re-convene on 1775 May 10 if the grievances had not been resolved. Further Study: From Resistance to Revolution, by Pauline Maier (W.W. Norton & Co, New York, 1972) describes the gradual escalation of resistance, following the traditional stages for staging public demonstrations in a way that minimized violence and chaos.

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