1 (4-2a Notes) Colonial Tension Leads to War Actions and Reactions 2 Action - The Gaspee Affair (June 1772) Two years of peace after Boston Massacre British custom ships were diligently patrolling for smugglers Gaspee ran aground off RI Colonists looted & burned it! Little Resistance Lt. shot & wounded 3 Hero of the Gaspee Affair Abraham Whipple Led colonial flotillas of 8 boats Said he was Sheriff of Kent County Warned later by British Captain, I will hang you from the yardarm! Whipple replied, Sir, always catch a man before you hang him! 4 Also a Revolutionary War Hero Sunk the 1 st ship of the American Revolution 1 st to fly the Stars and Stripes in London 1 st to sail ocean- going ships down Ohio River to Caribbean 5 British Reaction King furious! Set up commission to investigate searched for suspects Tried in England No jury of peers 6 Results in Colonies RI sends letter to other colonies appealing for help Jefferson suggests Committees of Correspondence (1773) A major step toward Colonial unity colonies could coordinate actions toward British 7 British Action - Tea Act (1773) New Prime Minister North Bail out East India Tea Company (bankrupt) boycott had hurt business colonists were smuggling cheaper Dutch tea surplus of tea 8 Provisions of Tea Act Sell tea in colonies w/out tax sell direct bypass merchants tea would be cheapest tea in colonies Colonists outraged!! Tea must not be allowed to land! Committees of Correspondence got the word out 9 Colonial Reaction - Boston Tea Party (Dec. 1773) Philadelphia & NY sent ships w/tea back Charles Town stored it in a warehouse Bostons action most dramatic 10 Boston Dumped It! 100 Sons of Liberty + Others dressed like indians w/axes and hatchets smashed crates/dumped tea in harbor 11 British Action - Coercive Acts, AKA - The Intolerable Acts(1774) Given this term by colonists (propaganda) King urged Parliament to pass 1- shut down Boston Harbor 2-appointed Gen. Gage as Mass. Governor 3- Mass. Under martial law 4- must house soldiers in private vacant homes 12 Results of Intolerable Acts Unfairly singled out Massachusetts only drew colonies closer together General Thomas Gage of Mass. 13 Colonial Reaction - 1st Continental Congress (Sep. 1774) 11 colonies represented (GA did not) 55 delegates in Philadelphia Moderates & Radicals All opposed Intolerable Acts Moderates - compromise is possible Radicals - Its time to fight! Put off uniting under one Gov. 14 Accomplishments of 1st Continental Congress Drew up a Declaration of Rights & Grievances Formed Continental Assc. To enforce boycotts Set date for next meeting one year later (May 1775) 15 Colonial Action - 1st Battles Colonists had been gathering weapons secretly preparing to fight Gov. Gage ordered 700 Br. Troops to Concord to seize arsenal 16 Minutemen were Prepared! Sons of Liberty had been watching Br. Army in Boston when army moved, riders rode out to warn minutemen warned Rev. Leaders to escape Paul Revere & William Dawes, Dr. Samuel Prescott 17 Lexington & Concord (Apr. 1775) 70 minutemen in Lexington 4-15 minute battle 8 minutemen killed/9 wounded/1 Br. Soldier wounded headed to Concord arsenal empty 400 Militia met them at North Bridge Br. lined up to march back to Boston (retreat) 18 Huge Colonial Victory Minutemen hid along road from Lexington back to Boston ambushed Redcoats from behind cover picked them off easily Br. Lost 99, 174 wounded 49 Colonists lost War Had Begun! the shot heard round the world Emerson Militia gathered from all over to fight British in Boston 19 2nd Continental Congress (May 1775) 1st Colonial Gov. organized the Colonial Army - the militia Appointed Washington as Commander-in-chief & General printed paper money to pay troops dealt with foreign nations John Hancock presiding 20 Moderates vs. Militants Try peaceful reconciliation with Britain led by John Dickinson, Penn. Moderates drafted Olive Branch Petition Last effort at peace with Britain King rejected it! Fight for Independence! led by John Adams, Boston lawyer, Sam Adamss cousin 21 Battle of Bunker Hill (for Boston) June 1775 Br. Surrounded by militia reinforcements arrive to rescue trapped Br. Colonists warned, dug in on Breeds Hill Redcoats march in lines up hill w/heavy packs colonists turned back two waves fired at 50 yds. (quote pg.131) third Br. Advance successful colonists out of ammo. 22 Deadliest Battle of War Results Colonists lost 311 Br. Lost 1000 built Am. Confidence stood up to one of the worlds most feared armies Gen. Gage resigned (his wife may have been informing colonists) Gen. Howe replaced him stalemate, Br. Still trapped in Boston 23 Flags of Bunker Hill Flag of New England Flag of Bunker Hill 24 25 Rebellion Forces a choice, Loyalist or Patriot? Called Tories against Parliament loyal to king Exact # unknown some eventually became Patriots usually tied to king (judges, councilors, governors) plain, modest, rural people felt Britain would win crown could protect them more than new gov. Native Americans slaves - Br. Promised freedom Patriots Saw profit to be made in the new country all classes of people Germans in Penn. Urban people mostly planters, lawyers 1/2 of population - also a Civil War There were many who were neutral 26 Tarring & Feathering Loyalists Effigies were also burned Loyalists' property was vandalized and looted They were harassed and publicly humiliated 27 Was it Rebellion or Revolution? What could British have done to soothe relations? Sons of Liberty & Propaganda were instrumental! 28 Key People Patrick Henry Virginia lawyer Famous words essential to Patriot cause: "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!" 29 Sam Adams of Boston Political Agitator Organized Sons of Liberty in Boston Instigated Boston Tea Party Spread propaganda through pamphlets Revolution might not have happened without him! 30 Paul Revere Talented, Boston silversmith and engraver Also worked as a dentist Became involved with Sons of Liberty Spread patriotic messages through his engravings 31 Reveres Engraving of the Boston Massacre " The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th, 1770" by Paul Walker (17351818), engraving by Paul Revere, hand-colored, 1770. 32 A Colonial Spy & Rider Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy- Five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Poem made famous 40 years after Reveres death (1861) During his life not many people knew of his ride Ignored other two riders Misrepresented lanterns in church and length of ride 33 Fact or Fiction? Revere warned patriots along his route - many of whom set out on horseback to deliver warnings of their own. By the end of the night there were probably as many as 40 riders throughout Middlesex county carrying the news of the army's advancement. Revere did not shout the famous phrase later attributed to him ("The British are coming!"), largely because the mission depended on secrecy and the countryside was filled with British army patrols; also, most colonial residents at the time considered themselves British as they were all legally British subjects. Revere's warning, according to eyewitness accounts of the ride and Revere's own descriptions, was "The Regulars are coming out." [6] Revere arrived in Lexington around midnight, with Dawes arriving about a half hour later. Sam Adams and John Hancock were spending the night at the Hancock- Clarke House in Lexington, and they spent a great deal of time discussing plans of action upon receiving the news. Revere and Dawes, meanwhile, decided to ride on toward Concord, where the militia's arsenal was hidden. They were joined by Dr. Samuel Prescott "returning from a lady friend's house at the awkward hour of 1 a.m." [7 [6] [7 Revere, Dawes, and Prescott were detained by British troops in Lincoln at a roadblock on the way to Concord. Prescott jumped his horse over a wall and escaped into the woods; Dawes also escaped, though soon after he fell off his horse and did not complete the ride. Revere was detained and questioned and then escorted at gunpoint by three British officers back toward Lexington. [8] As morning broke and they neared Lexington Meeting-house, shots were heard. The British officers became alarmed, confiscated Revere's horse, and rode toward the Meeting- house. Revere was horseless and walked through a cemetery and pastures until he came to Rev. Clarke's house where Hancock and Adams were staying. As the battle on Lexington Green continued, Revere helped John Hancock and his family escape from Lexington with their possessions, including a trunk of Hancock's papers. [8] The warning delivered by the three riders successfully allowed the militia to repel the British troops in Concord, who were harried by guerrilla fire along the road back to Boston. Prescott knew the countryside well even in the dark, and arrived at Concord in time to warn the people there. 34 His Boston Home and Revere in later years.