STARTER

What was the Boston Tea Party?

VOCABULARY

• Stamp act p.96

• Enlightenment p.82

• Townshend Acts p.97

• King George III p.99

• Intolerable acts p.99 and R60

• Boston Tea Party p.99

• Samuel Adams p.97

• Thomas Jefferson p.105

• Declaration of Independence p.106 and R57

• Patriots p.106 and R64

• Loyalist p.106 and R61

• Common Sense p.105 and R56

The Boston Tea PartyThe Boston Massacre & Lexington and Concord

September 17, 2014

TENSION MOUNTS IN MASSACHUSETTSThe Boston Massacre

• The atmosphere in Boston was extremely tense.• The city erupted in bloody clashes and a daring tax protest

and there was a fight over jobs in the shipyard.• On March 5, 1770 a fist fight between colonists and poorly

paid soldiers broke out.• Cripus Attucks and several dockhands joined the fight,

Attucks and 4 others were killed.• Samuel Adams and others named this confrontation The

Boston Massacre.

TENSION MOUNTS IN MASSACHUSETTSThe Boston Massacre

• The tax protests, the fight over jobs, and The Boston Massacre pushed the colonists and England closer to war.• The Boston Massacre was considered to be a British attack on defenseless citizens.

BOSTON MASSACRE 1770 BY PAUL REVERE

BOSTON TEA PARTY 1773

The Boston Tea Party

• The British India Company which was in control of tea imports was hit hard by colonial boycotts.

• The company was nearly bankruptcy.

• Prime Minister Lord Fredrick North devised the Tea Act.

• The act granted the company the right to sell tea to colonies free of taxes which would cut out colonial merchants out of the tea trade. North hoped the colonists would buy the cheap tea.

• The colonist protested violently.

The Boston Tea Party

• December 16, 1773 Boston rebels disguised themselves as Native Americans and attacked three British tea ships anchored in the harbor.

• After 18,000 pounds of tea was dumped by colonists into Boston Harbor, King George III was infuriated with the colonist destroying British Property.

Intolerable Acts

• Parliament responded by passing the Intolerable Acts; which included the closing of the Boston Harbor, the Quartering Act, Martial law in Boston.

• Quartering Act: British commanders were authorized to house soldiers in vacant private homes and other buildings.

• Thomas Gage, the commander in chief of British forces in North America was appointed the New governor of Massachusetts, to keep the peace, Boston was placed under a rule imposed by military forces (Martial Law).

THE ROAD TO REVOLUTION

• Colonists start to organize and communicate. Committees of Correspondence assembled the First Continental Congress.

• First Continental Congress met in 1774, 56 delegates met in Philadelphia, and drew up a declaration of colonial rights.

• They defended the colonies’ right to run their own affairs.

ATTENDEES INCLUDED SAMUEL ADAMS, PATRICK HENRY, AND GEORGE WASHINGTON

FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS - 1774 PHILLY

• They supported the protests in Massachusetts and stated that if the British use force against the colonist they should fight back.• Military preparation began• England reacts by ordering troops to seize

weapons

LEXINGTON AND CONCORD

• General Gage got reports that arms and munitions were being hid in Boston.

• He sent spies to find out; they returned with maps showing were and reported that John Hancock and Samuel Adams were the leaders of those that were resisting British authority.

LEXINGTON AND CONCORD

• General Gage gave orders to his men to march along the Lexington Rd. to Concord to seize and destroy all the arms and munitions they could find and to arrest Adams and Hancock.

• The colonists Minutemen, or civilian soldiers were watching, the people were warned and Adams and Hancock went into hiding. Leadership was placed into the hands of Dr. Joseph Warren.

• Warren sent for Paul Revere, a Sons of Liberty member, Warren sent Revere to warn the people that the British would soon attack he also warned Adams and Hancock and they fled through the backwoods.

LEXINGTON AND CONCORD

• With Paul Revere’s announcement, the Colonists and the British began fighting in April of 1775

• The first battle of the American Revolution lasted only 15 minutes, but its impact has lasted for over 200 years

ACTIVITY

•Create a propaganda poster reflecting the separatist displeasure of the attack. Look at example on page 98.

EXIT SLIP QUESTIONS

1. Why were the committees of correspondence established?

2. What did King George III set out to achieve when he disciplined Massachusetts?

3. What did Warren order Paul Revere to do?4. What lead to the Boston Massacre?5. What lead to the Boston Tea Party?