Transcript (RR7 Teacher Lecture Notes)

Stamp Act
Declaratory Act
Townshend Acts
Battle of Golden Hill
Boston “Massacre”
Gaspee Affair
Tea Act
Boston Tea Party
Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts)
First Continental Congress
Patrick Henry’s “liberty or death” speech to
Virginians
New England Restraining Act
Sam Adams
John Hancock
James Otis
John Adams
John Dickinson
Thomas Hutchinson
Charles Townshend
Revenue Act of 1767
Indemnity Act
Commissioners of Customs Act
Vice Admiralty Court Act
New York Restraining Act
"The superiority of the
mother country can
at no time be better
exerted than now."
Letters from a Farmer sent to
Then Circular Letter
Colored copy of 1768 engraving by Paul Revere
Governor Francis Bernard instructed General Thomas Gage,
Commander-in-Chief, North America, to send "such Force as
You shall think necessary to Boston."
The Liberty
Battle of Golden Hill
January 19, 1770
1884 print, commemorating the Battle of
Golden Hill
Christopher Seider (sometimes
"Snider")
BOSTON
MASSACRE
March 5, 1770
Visual Propaganda
Henry Pelham Print
Jonathan Mulliken Print
The text at the bottom of the image states:
Unhappy BOSTON! see thy Sons deplore, Thy hallowe'd Walks besmear'd with
guiltless Gore: While faithless --- and his savage Bands, With murd'rous Rancour
stretch their bloody Hands; Like fierce Barbarians grinning o'er their Prey, Approve
the Carnage, and enjoy the Day.
If scalding drops from Rage from Anguish Wrung If speechless Sorrows lab' ring for
a Tongue, Or if a weeping World can ought appease The plaintive Ghosts of Victims
such as these; The Patriot's copious Tears for each are shed, A glorious Tribute
which embalms the Dead.
But know, FATE summons to that awful Goal, Where JUSTICE strips the Murd'rer of
his Soul: Should venal C-ts the scandal of the Land, Snatch the relentless Villain
from her Hand, Keen Execrations on this Plate inscrib'd, Shall reach a JUDGE who
never can be brib'd.
The unhappy Sufferers were Messs. SAM. L GRAY, SAM.L MAVERICK, JAM.S
CALDWELL , CRISPUS ATTUCKS & PAT.K CARR Killed. Six wounded two of them
(CHRIST.R MONK & JOHN CLARK) Mortally
Testimonial
Propaganda
A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre
(Pro Patriot)
A Fair Account of the Late Unhappy
Disturbance in Boston
(Pro Loyalist)
Eyewitness Account # 1
“Thirty or forty persons, mostly lads, being by this
means gathered in King Street, Capt. Preston with a
party of men with charged bayonets, came from the
main guard to the commissioner's house, the soldiers
pushing their bayonets, crying, make way! They took
place by the custom house and, continuing to push to
drive the people off pricked some in several places, on
which they were clamorous and, it is said, threw snow
balls. On this, the Captain . . . said, damn you, fire, be
the consequence what it will! One soldier then fired, . . .
the soldiers continued the fire successively till seven
or eight or, as some say, eleven guns were
discharged.”
Eyewitness Account # 1
“Thirty or forty persons, mostly lads, being by this
means gathered in King Street, Capt. Preston with a
party of men with charged bayonets, came from the
main guard to the commissioner's house, the soldiers
pushing their bayonets, crying, make way! They took
place by the custom house and, continuing to push to
drive the people off pricked some in several places, on
which they were clamorous and, it is said, threw snow
balls. On this, the Captain . . . said, damn you, fire, be
the consequence what it will! One soldier then fired, . . .
the soldiers continued the fire successively till seven
or eight or, as some say, eleven guns were
discharged.”
Eyewitness Account # 2
“…The people continued to insult and defy this party of
soldiers...pelting them with sticks and balls of ice, and
calling out to them “Dam you, you rascal, Fire! You dare not fire!
Fire and be Damed.” These expressions were frequently repeated;
during which time Captain Preston spoke often to the Mob,
desiring them to be quiet and disperse; for that, if they continued
their attack upon him and his party, he should be obliged to fire
upon them. But his humane endeavors were to no purpose. The
people continued their attack upon the soldiers till they were
provoked beyond all patience. A large stick…or a piece of ice…,
that was thrown at a grenadier on the right of the party, struck him
with violence and made him stagger, upon which both he and the
soldier next to him fired their pieces.”
Eyewitness Account # 2
“…The people continued to insult and defy this party of
soldiers...pelting them with sticks and balls of ice, and
calling out to them “Dam you, you rascal, Fire! You dare not fire!
Fire and be Damed.” These expressions were frequently repeated;
during which time Captain Preston spoke often to the Mob,
desiring them to be quiet and disperse; for that, if they continued
their attack upon him and his party, he should be obliged to fire
upon them. But his humane endeavors were to no purpose. The
people continued their attack upon the soldiers till they were
provoked beyond all patience. A large stick…or a piece of ice…,
that was thrown at a grenadier on the right of the party, struck him
with violence and made him stagger, upon which both he and the
soldier next to him fired their pieces.”
The Neck Verse
Psalm 51
“Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to Thy loving kindness; according unto
the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot
out my transgressions.”
The trial-verse of those who claimed benefit of clergy; and if they could
read, it would save their neck…they would only be burnt in the hand
and set at liberty.
The Part I took in Defence of Cptn. Preston and the Soldiers, procured me Anxiety…It was,
however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested Actions of my whole Life,
and one of the best Pieces of Service I ever rendered my Country. Judgment of Death against
those Soldiers would have been as foul a Stain upon this Country as the Executions of the
Quakers or Witches, anciently.
This however is no Reason why the Town should not call the Action of that Night a Massacre,
nor is it any Argument in favour of the Governor or Minister, who caused them to be sent here.
John Adams, on the third anniversary of the massacre
John Adams would later write of the Boston Massacre: "On that night, the
foundation of American Independence was laid.”
Gaspée Affair
June 9 and 10, 1772
An
ORATION
upon the
BEAUTIES of LIBERTY;
Or, The
Essential RIGHTS
of the
AMERICANS
_____Rev. John Allen_____
delivered in the Second Baptist
Church, Boston
3 December 1772
“Consider then, my Lord, how cruel, how UNJUST, how unanswerable
before God and Man it must be, by any violence and power to destroy the
rights of the Americans.”
“the Americans will not submit to be SLAVES; they know the use of the
gun and the military art we well as any of his Majesty’s troops.”
“Is not the day of
the watchmen of America come,
who watch for the rights of the people,
as the sentinels of the land, to defend them from every invasion of power
and destruction?”
“See your danger⎯death is near⎯destruction is at the door⎯Need I speak?
Are not your harbors blockaded from you? Your castle secured by
captives⎯your lives destroyed⎯revenues imposed upon you⎯taxation
laid⎯military power oppressing.”
“Every Christian and Son of Liberty in America; Loose the bands of
wickedness, undo the heavy burdens, let the oppressed go free.”
BOSTON
TEA PARTY
December 16, 1773
Philadelphia Tea Party
October 16, 1773 and December 25 1773
Dr. Benjamin Rush wrote to John Adams:
I once heard you say [that] the active business of the
American Revolution began in Philadelphia in the act
of her citizens in sending back the tea ship, and that
Massachusetts would have received her portion of
the tea had not our example encouraged her to
expect union and support in destroying it... The flame
kindled on that day [October 16, 1773] soon
extended to Boston and gradually spread throughout
the whole continent. It was the first throe of that
convulsion which delivered Great Britain of the
United States
Thomas Hutchinson
The Beaver
The Eleanor
The Dartmouth
(No Image Exists)
Tea Act
May 10, 1773
Says using cheap tea to "overcome all the patriotism of an
American."
Sam Adams
Penelope Barker leads The Edenton
Tea Party in North Carolina
“This meeting can do
nothing further to
save the country.”
"The Destruction of Tea at Boston
Harbor" by Nathaniel Currier, 1846
December 17, 1773
John Adams diary entry
Last Night 3 Cargoes of Bohea Tea were emptied
into the Sea. This Morning a Man of War sails.
This is the most magnificent Movement of all.
There is a Dignity, a Majesty, a Sublimity, in this
last Effort of the Patriots, that I greatly admire. The
People should never rise, without doing something
to be remembered—something notable And
striking. This Destruction of the Tea is so bold, so
daring, so firm, intrepid and inflexible, and it must
have so important Consequences, and so lasting,
that I cant but consider it as an Epocha in History.
LORD NORTH
Lord North said to the House of
Commons on April 22, 1774:
The Americans have tarred and feathered
your subjects, plundered your merchants,
burnt your ships, denied all obedience to
your laws and authority; yet so clement and
so long forbearing has our conduct been
that it is incumbent on us now to take a
different course. Whatever may be the
consequences, we must risk something; if
we do not, all is over.
INTOLERABLE
ACTS
(COERCIVE ACTS)
• Boston Port Bill
• Massachusetts Regulating Act and
Government Act
• Administration of Justice Act
• Quartering Act
• Quebec Act
First Continental Congress
September 5 – October 26, 1774
Two Successes:
1. Compact among the colonies to boycott British goods
2. Provided for a Second Continental Congress to meet
PATRICK
HENRY
SPEECH
March 23, 1775
It is in vain to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may
cry, Peace, Peace – but there is no peace. The war is
actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the
north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding
arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why
stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish?
What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so
sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and
slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what
course others may take; but as for me, give me
liberty or give me death!
6:30
Reactions to the speech:
• Edmund Randolph said the convention sat in silence
for several minutes.
• Thomas Marshall told his son John Marshall, who
later became chief justice of the Supreme Court, that
the speech was “one of the most bold, vehement,
and animated pieces of eloquence that had ever
been delivered.”
• Edward Carrington, who was listening outside a
window of the church, asked to be buried at this
spot. In 1810, he got his wish.
• George Mason, said: “Every word he says not only
engages but commands the attention and your
passions are no longer your own when he addresses
them.”
"The Revolution was effected
before the War commenced. The
Revolution was in the minds and
hearts of the people…This radical
change in the principles, opinions,
sentiments, and affections of the
people, was the real American
Revolution.”
John Adams