Revolutionary War Notes

Following the Stamp Act, some colonists, calling themselves the Sons of Liberty, began seizing land due to unpaid rent.
The original Sons of Liberty opposed these uprisings, which were eventually suppressed by British and colonial troops.

Small farmers in the Green Mountains took up arms against New York landlords.
The legal situation was complex: New York claimed the area, but the governor of New Hampshire had issued land grants in the 1750s.
Ethan Allen, the settlers' leader, argued that land should belong to those who worked it, denouncing outsiders as trying to "enslave a free people."
In the mid-1770s, Allen and his Green Mountain Boys gained control of the region, which later became Vermont.

The emerging rift between Britain and America exacerbated conflicts within the colonies.
Social divisions revealed during the Stamp Act riots and backcountry uprisings made some colonial elites fear that opposition to British measures could lead to domestic turmoil.
Consequently, these elites were more hesitant to challenge British authority.

British attempts to assert tighter control over its North American colonies and the colonial resolve to pursue self-government led to a colonial independence movement and the Revolutionary War.

The desire of many colonists to assert ideals of self-government in the face of renewed British imperial efforts led to a colonial independence movement and war with Britain.

Explain the economic causes for the American Revolution.
Explain the intellectual and philosophical influences upon the causes for the American Revolution.
Explain the causes for growing discord between the American Colonies and Great Britain following the 7 Years War.
Direct Representation
Self-rule

Following the Stamp Act, Great Britain attempted to regulate trade instead of raising taxes.
The Townshend Acts were passed, imposing new taxes on imports and creating a new board of customs to collect taxes and suppress smuggling.
Effect: Leaders in several colonies called for boycotts of British goods.

"Homespun Virtue" was encouraged, promoting the use of colonial-made goods.
The Daughters of Liberty were instrumental in encouraging action.
Artisans supported the boycott because it meant less competition from British goods.
Elites saw it as an opportunity to stop buying expensive British goods that had driven them into debt.

On March 5th, 1770, a fight broke out between snowball-throwing Bostonians and British troops.
The conflict escalated, resulting in 5 Bostonians being shot by British troops.
The incident began because British soldiers, while off duty, were taking jobs as dock workers.
Paul Revere and other patriots used the deaths as propaganda to denounce British control of the colonies.
By 1770, the non-importation/boycotts dissolved; Britain removed the Townshend Acts but kept a tax on tea.

The British propped up The East India Company.
This lowered tea prices in the colonies but also cracked down on the smuggling of tea, hurting established merchants.
This threatened colonial governments' ability to control finances.
Many colonists believed that paying the tax on tea was to support Parliament's ability to tax them.
On December 16th, 1773, a group of colonists, dressed as Indians, dumped 300 chests of tea into Boston Harbor.