U.S. History

Chapter 6: Conflicts in the ColoniesSection 4: New Taxes & Tensions

The Townshend Acts

•Townshend Acts (June 1767):

–Glass–Lead–Paint–Paper–Tea

The Townshend Acts

•Purpose: pay for military costs & salaries of colonial governors

The Townshend Acts

•Writes of assistance—special search warrants that allowed tax collectors to search for smuggled goods

The Townshend Acts

•Boycotts

•Legislatures supported protests

The Townshend Acts

•Daughters of Liberty: women’s groups that met to sew, support boycotts of British goods & discuss politics

The Townshend Acts

• Liberty seized for smuggling

• Owned by John Hancock

• Supported by Sons of Liberty

John Hancock

•Customs houses attacked

•Massachusetts legislature broken up

•Troops brought in to restore order

The Townshend Acts

The Boston Massacre

•The Boston Massacre took place after a British guard argued with colonists.

The Boston Massacre

•Propaganda—stories and images designed to support a particular point of view

The Boston Massacre

• Soldiers charged w/ murder

• Lawyers: John Adams & Josiah Quincy

• 7 not guilty, 2 guilty of accidental murder

John Adams

A Tax on Tea

•British repeal most of Townshend Acts

•Tax on tea kept in place

•Problem: Smuggling

A Tax on Tea

•British East India Company proposes a solution:

–Sell tea directly to colonists

–Charge low prices

–Cheap tea = less smuggling = more taxes paid

A Tax on Tea

•1773: Tea Act enacted

•Colonists become worried

•November 1773: Three ships arrive in Boston Harbor

A Tax on Tea

•The Boston Tea Party encouraged colonists in other cities to destroy tea shipments.

The Intolerable Acts

• Intolerable Acts (1774):

–Boston Harbor closed

–Massachusetts charter cancelled

–Royal official accused of crimes sent to Britain for trial

The Intolerable Acts

•Quartering Act

•General Thomas Gage made governor Gen. Thomas Gage