HALTING WESTWARD MOVEMENT

To own land was everything to the colonists. Those without land had no position in society. they couldn't even vote.The land west of the Appalachian Mountains was the land of so- called opportunity. The old and restless colonists were suprised   and angry that their own government would stop them from moving west. Many colonists ignored that order and began to settle in the Ohio Valley. Ten thousand British soldiers were left in the colonies  by King George III. This was to enforce the Proclamation of 1763. Parliament passed the Quartering Act in 1763. It forced the colonies to Quarter /  or provide housing and supplies and food for the soldiers

The general in charge of all of the soldiers was Thomas Gage. He decided to focus on placing British soldiers in New York. From there they might have been sent to the frontier.

TAXING THE COLONIES

Britain's war with the French caused Britain to go deep into debt. Their tax payers had to repay that debt. There was also more expense because Britain was keeping an army on the American frontier. Britain needed more revenue, in other words income, to keep their empire afloat.

THE STAMP ACT

The Stamp Act was passed by parliament in 1765, as a result of the colonists. The Stamp Act was the first attempt for Britain to tax the colonies. The law required that every legal document had to carry a stamp showing that a tax had been paid off. A copy of the newspaper, a diploma, a will, an advertisement, even playing cards were taxed. People were obligated to use already stamped paper. To handle this paper, you had to go to a special stamp-tax office to buy stamped paper. The tax was prohibited to be paid in silver coins, which was a scarce item in the colonies. Those who disobeyed this order were tried in court in which there was no trial by jury.

The colonists reacted in anger. The American colonies had no representatives in Parliament. So Parliament could not tax them. In particular Samuel Adams of Boston demanded, "Why not our lands?  Why not the procedure of our lands and everything we possess and make use of ? "

PROTESTING THE STAMP ACT

Some men and women in the colonies organized secret societies.  They were called The Sonsxxxxx of Liberty & The daughters of liberty.  Most of these people were lawyers, merchants and artisans.  Artisans were the ones who were most affected the stamp act.   The groups often made protests against the stamp act.  Not every protest was serene. Wherever the sons of liberty could find a stamped paper, they would burn it in protest.  They tarred and feathered custom officials.  Most of the officials quit their jobs in fear of being abused.  The might of the protest from both colonists and English merchants forced parliament to repeal the Stamp Act in 1766.   But parliament was not about to submit to the colonists. It then passed the Declaratory Act.  This law declared the right for parliament to rule and tax the colonies " in all cases whatsoever".  A big struggle between parliament and the colonists had begun.  The main issue in the struggle was the authority of parliament over the colonies.

THE TOWNSHEND ACT

 Remember in 1767, parliament wanted no more trouble, like what happened with the stamp act.  Parliament still needed to pay troops by getting new revenue.   A man whom hated the colonists was Charles Towshend, the king's minister.  He had found a way to tax the colonies without offence, and told parliament.  Parliament passed this plan in 1767.  It was known as the Townshend Act. 

New York's assembly was the first to get suspended by the Townshend act.  To do buisness, the lawmakers had to meet with the demands of  general Gage, to house his troops.   Taxes on glass, paper, paint, lead and tea were placed as duties into the colonies.   These duties were paid in silver and gold. That money would be paid to officers and governors of the British. To stop smuggling, British officers would use the writs of assistance. The writs of assistance was a paper saying that an officer can search anyone's home for any reason.

REASONS FOR PROTEST

The Townshend Act immediately broke out in protest. New Yorkers were upset that their assembly had been suspended. They wondered if this would accrue dealing with the colonies. The new duties were just an excuse to raise revenue witch were found out by the colonies. The writes of assistance angered anyone who believed in the traditional rights of Englishmen. A group of Boston Merchants in 1761  went to court to challenge the legality of the writs of assistance. Collecting public taxes, and catching smugglers were more   important than one's rights of an individual-argued the government. But a man named James Otis was against common law and against the law of nature. This idea was best expressed by the English philosopher John Locke in the 1600's. He said that No one has to harm another in his life,health,liberty,or possessions.

TOOLS OF PROTEST

The colonists were offended by the Townshend act.  They were afforded by the Townshend Acts challenging some of their basic notions of liberty.  A boycott of British goods was voted by a town meeting in Boston.  The major power behind the vote was Samuel Adams.  He was the leader of the sons of liberty, and tried to stop British controls in the colonies. The boycott flowed throughout the colonies. The Sons of Liberty stressed shop keepers not to sell imported goods. "Spinning Bees" were held by the Daughters of Liberty in which they spun their own cloth and drank herbal tea. These activities forced the public to wear and using their own American made goods. Trade between the colonies and Britain became very slim. Colonial leaders asked that their was no violence in the protests.  Articles ran in the Boston Gazette calling for "no mobs, no confusion, no tumults, and that the constitutional methods are best."

People were furious, when customs officials tried to stop the merchants, a riot broke out. A wealthy merchant named John Hancock owned a ship Casks of wine from Portugal lay aboard. The cargo had been smuggled and was illegal under British law. When officials tried to stop the ship,  rioters forced the officers to run.

THE BOSTON MASSACRE

Officers called troops to keep order on Boston after they feared for their lives.Under the order of General Thomas Gage, one thousand British soldiers known as 'RED COATS'  The coming of the troops only made matters worse. Since the troops were so badly paid the hired each other to be workers. Anger against the redcoats grew. The troops and the street youth often taunted each other. 'Lobster for sale', the youth would say. 'Yankees'!, troops would say. Yankees was referring to an insult. But, colonists quickly took pride in the name. nerves finally exploded.    A group of youth and dock workers began to throw snowballs in front of the Boston customhouse.  A group of soldiers showed up, as the crowd grew the soldiers all became nervous.  They began to fire their weapons.  When the smoke cleared, Crippus Attackus and four other men, lie dead on the ground, or mortally wounded.  

The sons of liberty, used the shooting as propaganda. They referred to the shooting as the Boston massacre, and proved danger of having British troops in colonial towns.  The soldiers were arrested for murder.  Lawyers, John Adams and Josiah Quincy, Jr. defended them.  Quincy and Adams were criticized for their doings but John Adams said that law should be "deaf...to the clamors of the populace" their defense was victorious. Six of the soldiers were acquitted (cleared of wrong doing) two others had their thumbs branded as a punishment for the shooting.  

THE TEA ACT

A month after the Boston massacre parliament repealed the townshend act.  The colonial boycott had affected British trade.  Parliament kept only the taxing on tea to show that they still had the right and the power to tax the colonists. 

For most Americans crisis was over. In Boston however, Samuel Adams was not content to let the people forget about the cause of liberty. In 1772, Adams organized a committee of corespondents to keep up communication with leaders in Massachusetts towns, the idea quickly spread.  Soon committees in all of the colonies were communicating together.

Parliament then opened up healed old wounds, when it passed the tea act of 1773.  This act intended to help  British East India Company by giving it total control over the American tea trade.  The tea would arrive in the colonies in then trading companies own ships and it would be sold there by it's own merchants.  This would be even cheaper than smuggled tea.  Colonists, however would still pay tax on the tea.

Shippers and merchants were outraged about the new law.  It hurt their buisness.  Other colonists also hated the law, they asked: if parliament had a control on tea, what control might it create next?

THE BOSTON TEA PARTY

Colonists established against the tea act.  In Charleston, colonists unloaded cargoes of tea and stored it in damp cellars so it would rot.  In New York city and Philadelphia, ships  carrying tea were turned away from the harbor.  In Boston, the sons of liberty planned what came to be known as the Boston tea party. George Hughs who took part gave this account of what happened: " it was now evening and i immediately dressed myself in costume of an indian,  equipped with a hatchet... and a club... I [went] to... where ships lay that contained the tea... I fell in with many who were dressed,... as I was, and marched... to take place of our destination [and boarded the ships]  we then were ordered by our commander to open the hatchets, take our all the chests of tea and throw them over board, In about three hours from the time we went on board, we had thus broken and thrown over board ever tea chest to be found on the ship, while those and other ships were disposing of the tea in the same way, at the same time"

On that night in December 1773, Hughs and others destroyed 342 chests of tea.  Many colonists celebrated when they heard about The Boston Tea Party.  John Adams believed Britain would now see how strongly the colonists appeased taxation without representation. 

Other colonist doubted that destroying property the best way to settle the debate over he right to tax.  Benjamin Frankin even offered to pay for the tea.  His only condition was that the British repeal the tea act. The British ignored him.  Britain's outraged reponse to the Boston Tea Party would set for future  disaster in the 13 colonies.

http://www.heritagestudio.com/continen.htm