Why did the British want to collect new taxes from the colonist?
- Winning the French and India War cost the British a lot of money. They had to pay thousands of soldiers to fight.
- Also, they kept soldiers in the Ohio River Valley to protect the land they had won.
What is a tax?
Money that people pay to theri government in return for services.
What was the Stamp Act?
- A new tax in 1765 on almost everything that was printed.
- To buy newspapers, calendars, and even playing cards colonists had to pay a tax.
What was the Sugar Act?
- In 1764 Britain created a new tax on sugar, coffee, cloth, and many other imported goods.
What is smuggling?
To import goods illegally.
What did some merchants do to avoid paying British officials taxes?
- They smuggled goods into the colonies
Why were many colonists upset by the new taxes?
- They were not part of the decision to pass new tax laws.
- They believed local elected represetatives, not the British Parliament, should pass the tax laws for the colonies.
What did Patrick Henry, a member of Virginia’s House of Burgesses do?
- He made a speech against the Stamp Act that people all over the colonies heard about.
- Many colonist agreed with him.
What were the Sons of Liberty?
- Groups formed in the colonies that were against the British.
- They organized protests.
- Some members even wrecked the homes of a few British officials and beat up tax collectors.
Who was Samuel Adams?
A leader of the Sons of Liberty in Boston who organized protests against the Stamp Act.
What does Liberty mean?
Freedom from being controlled by another government.
What is a protest?
An event at whic hpeople compain about an issue.
What was the Stamp Act Congress?
- In 1765 nine colonies sent respesentaivies to a meeting in New York.
- They deicded that only the colonial governments could tax the colonists.\
What is a boycott?
When a group of people refuse to buy, sell, or use certain goods.
What did merchants in large port cities such as New York and Philadelphia agree to do? Why did they do this?
- They boycotted British cloth and other goods.
- It was a way of hurting British trade.
- They hoped it would force the British government to cancel the Stamp Act.
Did the colonists protests and boycotts convince the British government to repeal the Stamp Act?
Yes, they repealed the law.
What does repeal mean?
To cancel something, like a law.
Why did the British government creat the Townshend Acts?
- They still needed money to pay for the money they spent in the colonies.
What was the Townshed Acts of 1767?
- The British Parliment passed a loaw that taxed tea, glass, lead, paints and paper that the colonies imported.
How did the colonist repond to the Townshend Acts?
- They were just as angry as they had been for the Stamp Act.
- Colonists in Boston threatened to use violence against British tax officials.
- After an angry mob injured several people, Britain sent soldies to protect tax officials. This made the people of Britain even madder.
Besides violence, how did the colonists repond to the Townsend Acts?
They boycotted many imported goods such as cloth.
Who were the Daughters of Liberty?
- Women who gathered together and wove their own cloth and used it to make clothes.
- They did this so that the colonist would not have to import much cloth from Britain.
- These women still did their personal chores before and after weaving.
As a result of the boycotts in response to the Townsend Acts, what did the British do?
- Parliament decided to remove taxes from glass, lead, paints, and paper,
- However, they kept the tax on tea as a way to show that they still had the power to tax the colonies.
How did the colonists repond when the British removed the taxes on glass, lead, paints, and paper, but kept the tax on tea?
- Their anger toward the British government continued to grow.
- They felt that Britain should not even tax tea unless the colones had representation in Parliament.
