UNSPEAKABLE ACTSTHE ROAD TO REVOLUTION
• Passed in 1763• Prohibited governors
from granting land beyond the headwaters of rivers flowing into the Atlantic
• bans colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains
THE PROCLAMATION OF 1763
• Colonists: Can't expand West. Restricts their ability to self-govern. Restricts trade to the West. Restricts land availability. Protected from Native attacks.
• Native Americans: Their lands protected from encroaching colonists. Protects people from unnecessary attacks by colonists.
• African Americans: Kept from being separated further from families.
• Women: Kept from braving the wilderness.
POTENTIAL EFFECTS AND REACTIONS
Some colonists move West despite the law. Some colonists feel they should be able to expand and see the law as a threatening interference by the crown
STAMP ACT(1765, REPEALED 1766)What it Did:• Printed
documents (deeds, newspapers, marriage licenses, etc.) issued only on special stamped paper purchased from stamp distributors
POTENTIAL EFFECTS• Colonists: – Questions self-taxing. – Inconvenient. – Threatened liberty. – Reached into the lives of ordinary people,
not just merchants and businesses. – Increased fear of unemployment and
poverty.• Women: Taxed everyday items women
may have bought.
REACTIONS
• Riots in cities• Collectors forced to resign• Stamp Act Congress (October 1765)• Virginia Resolves: "Give me liberty or give me
death!" • Boycott British goods
QUARTERING ACT (1765)What It Did• Colonists must
supply British troops with housing, other items (candles, firewood, etc.)
Potential Effects• Colonists: Financial
responsibility for troops. Must provide space. Possibly make sacrifices of the family for the sake of the soldier.
• Native Americans: Greater military presence.
• African Americans: Subject to demands of soldiers in addition to masters.
• Women: Must work to support another member of the household.
REACTIONS• Protest in assemblies• New York Assembly punished for failure to comply, 1767
COERCIVE ACTS (INTOLERABLE ACTS, 1774)What It Did• Closes port of
Boston • Restructures
Massachusetts government
• Restricts town meetings
• Troops quartered in Boston
• British officials accused of crimes sent to England or Canada for trial
Potential Effects• Colonists: – Restricted self-
government. – Imposed troops
on families. – Restricts
business and travel.
– Undermined colonial authority to try officials in their own courts.
REACTIONS• Boycott of British goods• First Continental Congress convenes
(September 1774)
PROHIBITORY ACT (1775)What It Did
• Declares British intention to coerce Americans into submission
• Embargo on American goods
• Americans ships seized
Potential Effects• Colonists: Blocked from
trade. Ships seized. • Native Americans:
Drawn closer to possibility of another war in their backyard.
• African Americans: Urged to take up arms against masters.
• Women: Husbands out of work if they worked on ships seized. Livelihood threatened.
REACTIONS• Drives Continental Congress closer to
decision for independence
