Page 137 - American Stories, A History of the United States

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5.1

Learn about some key topics related to this chapter with the
5.2 MyHistoryLab Video Series: Key Topics in U.S. History.

1 seven years’ war, the american colonies chafed under an
5.3 The Burdens of an Empire: 1763–1775 Following the
increased tax burden, military occupation, and a lack of
influence in Great Britain’s political system. This video
5.4
surveys the economic and self-rule issues that led to
revolution and a formal break with the British Empire.

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discusses the origins of the stamp act, the hostility to its imposition, and how the tax was rescinded, all 2
The stamp act The British government’s efforts to pay off debts incurred during the seven years’ war
directly affected colonists in various ways. none were more despised than the stamp act. This video

of which strained the relationship between the British imperial government and its american colonies.
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3 Boston massacre The Townshend acts, coupled with Parliament’s decision to enforce customs duty and
station soldiers in american cities, came to a disastrous climax in Boston in 1770. This video provides
the background as well as an explanation for this watershed event that further alienated the american
colonists from Parliament and the British monarchy.
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The Boston Tea Party a British tax levied on tea provoked such resistance that a group of Bostonians,
dressed as native americans, dumped a shipment of tea into Boston harbor to avoid paying the required 4
tax. as a result, Parliament passed the “Coercive acts,” which served as a galvanizing force to bring
american colonists together and eventually inspired them to seek independence from Great Britain.

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On April 20, 1775, accounts of Lexington and concord reached bedford. Matthew noted in
his diary, “i Received the Melancholy news in the morning that General Gage’s troops had fired
on our countrymen at concord yesterday.” His son john marched with neighbors to support the
Massachusetts soldiers. the departure was tense. “Our Girls sit up all night baking bread and fit-
ting things for him,” Matthew wrote.
the demands of war had only just begun. in late 1775 john volunteered for an American
march on british canada. On the long trek over impossible terrain, the boy died. the father
recorded his emotions in the diary. john “was shot through his left arm at bunker Hill fight
and now was lead after suffering much fategue to the place where he now lyes in defending
the just Rights of America to whose end he came in the prime of life by means of that wicked
tyrannical brute (nea worse than brute) of Great britain [George iii]. He was twenty four years
and 31 days old.”
the initial stimulus for rebellion came from the gentry, from the rich and wellborn, who
resented Parliament’s efforts to curtail their rights within the british empire. but as these influ-
ential planters, wealthy merchants, and prominent clergymen discovered, the revolutionary
movement generated a momentum that they could not control. As relations with britain dete-
riorated, particularly after 1765, the traditional leaders of colonial society encouraged ordinary
folk to join the protest—as rioters, petitioners, and, finally, soldiers. Newspapers, sermons, and

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