APUSH - Topic 3.3 Taxation Without Representation + 3.4 Philosophical Foundations of the American Revolution

3.3 Explain how British colonial policies regarding North America led to the Revolutionary War. 3.4 Explain how and why colonial attitudes about government and the individual changed int he years leading up to the American Revolution.

What is virtual representation?

• colonists couldn’t directly elect members of Parliament (no power in politics)

• virtual representation → Parliament represents interest of entire nation, not just small district it represeents

What main measures caused colonists to be angered by the British?

• Sugar Acts (1764)

  • duties on foreign sugar and certain luxuries

  • to raise revenue

  • accompanying law cracked down on smuggling

• Quartering Act (1765)

  • colonists provide living and food for British soldiers

• Stamp Act (1765)

  • tax on most paper

  • first direct tax (as opposed to paid by merchants)

What were some reactions to the Stamp Act?

• Stamp Act Congress

  • reps. from 9 colonies decided that only elected representatives can approve taxes

• Sons and Daughters of Liberty

  • secret society that intimidated tax agents (eg. tar and feathering)

• boycotts of British imports

• Declaratory Act (1766)

  • parliament repealed Stamp At

  • asserted that Parliament could tax and make laws for colonies “in all cases whatever”

How did the British govt. attempt to earn revenue after the repeal of the Stamp Act?

• Townshend Acts (1767)

  • taxes on imports of tea, glass, paper

  • revenue paid crown officials

  • searched for smuggling only needed a writ of assistance instead of a formal warrant

How did colonists react to the Townshend Acts?

• accepted at first (taxes paid by merchants, not by colonists directly)

• leaders who protested

  • John Dickinson - “Letters From a Farmer in Pennsylvania”

    • can regulate commerce but no taxation without representation

  • Massachusetts Circular Letter

    • asked people to pressure Parliament to repeal Townshend Acts

    • sent to every colonial legislature

• eventually repealed in 1770 (damaged trade, generated little revenue)

What was the Boston Massacre?

• colonists resented British troops

• colonists harassed a group of troops who fired and killed 5

• most soldiers acquitted of murder

• called a massacre to create anti-British feeling (was more of a shooting incident)

How did American leaders keep suspicion about the British alive during the quieter years?

• committees of correspondence (Samuel Adams, 1772)

  • organized committees that discussed and sent letters about suspicious British activities

• House of Burgesses organized intercolonial committees (1773)

• The Gaspee

  • British customs ship that caught multiple smugglers

  • colonists dressed as NAs set fire to ship

What was the Boston Tea Party?

• Tea Act (1773)

  • GB made British East India Company tea cheaper than smuggled Dutch tea

• many still refused to buy tea

• ship full of tea arrived to a port with no buyers

• colonists dressed as Natives dumped tea into sea

What caused the passing of the Intolerable Acts?

• Boston Tea party angered British

• coercive acts passed as punishment

What were the Intolerable Acts?

• Coercive Acts (1774)

  • Port Act → closed port of Boston until tea was payed for

  • Massachusetts Govt. Act → reduced power of Mass. legislature, increased power of royal govt.

  • Administration of Justice Act → royal officials accused of crimes in the colonies could be tried in GB instead of colonies

  • Quartering Act → British troops quartered in private homes

• Quebec Act (1774)

  • established Roman Catholicism as religion of Quebec, set up govt. without representative assembly, extended Quebec’s boundary

  • seen as attack on Americans

  • took away land, feared future attempts to take away democracy, didn’t like that Catholics were given recognition

Who were the supporters and opponents of British policies?

• supporters

  • wealthy merchants and planters

• opponents

  • Virginia to Mass.

  • openly criticized British + often hostile to British in colonies

How did Enlightenment ideas affect people’s ideas of daily life?

• Deism

  • God exists but does not regularly intervene in daily life to reward or punish individuals

• rationalism

  • began to follow science more than interpretations of Bible

• social contract

  • agreement between people to form a government that promoted equality and liberty ( vs. monarch rule because they are chosen by God)

What was one of the most important pieces of writing in influencing the American revolution?

• Common Sense (Thomas Paine, 1776)

  • clearly stated that the colonies should break ties with British

  • illogical for a large continent to be ruled by small, distant island

• spread rapidly through colonies