Transcript Ch. 5, Sec. 2—Building Colonial Unity

Ch. 5, Sec. 2—Building
Colonial Unity
Objectives
Know
why colonists and British
soldiers clashed, resulting in the
Boston Massacre.
Be
familiar with how the British
government tried to maintain its control
over the colonies.
Trouble in Boston
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1768—Custom officers sent word back to Britain
that colonists were on brink of rebellion.
Parliament responded by sending 2 regiments of
troops to Boston.
New “redcoats” (Bloodybacks & lobsters) set up
camp in middle of city.
Many soldiers were rude and violent toward
colonists.
Fighting often took place between soldiers and
poor men.
Colonists’ hatred for soldiers grew stronger
every day.
Boston Massacre
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March 5, 1770—tension reached its peak.
 Fight broke out earlier in day between
townspeople and soldiers.
• Some soldiers tried to calm the crowd.

Angry townspeople picked up sticks, stones, and
clubs and marched through streets toward
customhouse.
 Crowd approached, sentry on duty panicked and
called for help.
• Crowd responded by throwing stones, snowballs, oyster
shells, and pieces of wood at soldiers.

One soldier knocked down & nervous redcoats
fired into crowd, killing 5 colonists.
Dead Colonists
Among those killed in the Boston
Massacre was Crispus Attucks.
Generally believed to be a
runaway slave, he is featured
prominently in several of the
engravings of the Massacre, and
is considered in legend to be the
first casualty in the American
Revolution. He was a
dockworker who was part
African, part Native American.
Crispus Attucks
Also killed was Samuel Gray,
Samuel Maverick, James
Caldwell, and Patrick Carr.
The Word Spreads

Colonial leaders, like Samuel Adams, used killings as
propaganda.
• (Information designed to influence opinion)
Adams put up posters describing “Massacre” as slaughter
of innocent Americans by “bloodthirsty Redcoats.”
 Paul Revere’s engraving showed British officer giving
order to open fire.
 “Massacre” led colonists to call for stronger boycotts of
British goods. (Propaganda)
 Some colonial leaders called for resistance to British rule.
 1772—Sam Adams revived the committee of
correspondence in Boston to circulate colonists’
complaints against Britain.
 Parliament repealed Townshend Acts, except tax on tea.

The colonist version
The British version
The engraving on the left, created by Paul Revere, demonstrates the
colonial view of the massacre, with the British appearing to be the
aggressors. The painting on the right, done by a British artist, shows
the colonists armed and the British soldiers more in a defensive
posture.
Crisis over Tea
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Parliament passed the Tea Act of 1773 to save the British
East India Company from going under.
• Gave the Company right to ship tea to colonies w/o paying
most of taxes placed on tea.
• Also allowed company to sell tea directly to shopkeepers at
extremely low prices.
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Colonists again boycotted British goods, denouncing a
British monopoly.
• Felt this was another way to crush colonists’ liberty.
• Colonists vowed to stop Company’s ships from unloading.
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Parliament ignored warnings.
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Ships sent to New York and Philadelphia were turned back.
Ships sent to Charles Town were seized & stored in a warehouse.
Boston Tea Party
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3 ships arrived in Boston Harbor in December
1773, refusing to turn back.
Royal governor ordered ships to be unloaded
50 members of the Sons
of Liberty, led by Samuel
Adams, dressed up like
Mohawk Indians and
boarded the ships,
removing 342 chests of
tea and throwing it
overboard into the
Harbor. More than
10,000 pounds sterling
worth ($800,000) of tea
was destroyed.
Intolerable Acts
 Passed in response to
the Boston Tea Party by
Parliament in 1774.
 Officially called the
“Coercive Acts”, but they
were nicknamed the
“Intolerable Acts” in the
colonies.
 Coercive Acts closed
Boston Harbor.
 They were designed to
punish the colony of
____________ until the
tea destroyed in the
Boston Tea Party was
paid for.