Lesson 6: Leading Up to Revolution
Day 2
Activity 2: Resistance
As the colonies grew larger and more successful, the British government took on a more active role in the administration of colonial affairs. They began to enact royal proclamations and acts of Parliament designed to raise revenue from the colonies and reinforce British authority over these faraway communities. In this activity, you'll learn more about the government acts and policies that colonists found objectionable and consider both the reasons why the British government may have wanted to enact them and the reasons why they were unacceptable to many colonial leaders.
NCpedia's digital textbook for North Carolina history includes information relevant not only to that state's past, but also to historical events of national importance. This helpful timeline of resistance from 1763 to 1774 covers many of acts of Parliament, royal proclamations, and British policies that led to resistance from colonists.
NCpedia's digital textbook for North Carolina history includes information relevant not only to that state's past, but also to historical events of national importance. This helpful timeline of resistance from 1763 to 1774 covers many of acts of Parliament, royal proclamations, and British policies that led to resistance from colonists.
Web Link
Student Activity Page
Student Activity Page
In this activity, your child will view a digital textbook written for 8th grade students in North Carolina to learn more about the acts passed by the British government in the 1760s and 1770s and colonists' objections to them. An answer key for the activity page has been provided.
| Answer Key | ||
| Name of Act or Policy | What it Did and Why the British Might Have Enacted It | Why Colonists Might have Objected to It |
| Proclamation of 1763 | Set aside lands west of the Appalachian mountains for American Indians.
The British may have wanted to appease native people by defining the settlement areas for colonists clearly. | Colonists may have wanted to expand into the areas set aside by the Proclamation of 1763. |
| Sugar Act | Increased duties paid on goods imported from places other than Great Britain. | This act of Parliament raised taxes on colonists, yet colonists were not represented in Parliament and had no say as English citizens in the passage of this act (taxation without representation). |
| Currency Act | Prohibited colonists from printing their own money.
This may have been an effort to maintain a standard British currency or prevent inflation. | Colonists may have wanted to print their own money for practical reasons. This was another example of taxation without representation. |
| Quartering Act | Colonists were required to provide supplies and housing for British troops.
This may have been an effort to offset the costs of maintaining a military presence in the colonies by asking those who were protected by the army to pay for its upkeep. | Colonists did not want to have to pay for the presence of the army and may have feared that the army was not there to protect them but rather to control them. This may also have been viewed as taxation without representation. |
| Stamp Act | A direct tax to raise money by requiring a paid stamp to be placed on documents, newspapers, dice, and other items. | An example of taxation without representation. |
| Declaratory Act | Issued the same day that the Stamp Act was repealed, this act stated that the Parliament could make laws that were binding on the colonies. | Colonists objected to taxation without representation, and this assertion of Parliamentary authority without offering representation could have been taken as inflammatory or insulting. |
| Townshend Acts | This act created taxes on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. | A strongly resisted example of taxation without representation. |
| Tea Act | Reduced the tax on British tea, giving British merchants an advantage in the colonial marketplace. | Raised the price of tea, and was an example of taxation without representation. |
| Coercive Acts or Intolerable Acts | Designed to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party. Boston Harbor was effectively closed, royal officials protected, and colonial officials were put under the control of the British Crown. | Colonists in Massachusetts would have objected to the closing of Boston Harbor for economic reasons and to the loss of local governmental authority. Colonists elsewhere saw this as a hostile action by the British government. |
Activity 3: Timeline of U.S. History
Materials: scissors, tape or glue, timeline and timeline cards
In this activity, you'll continue to add to your year-long timeline of U.S. history. Today, add cards #19-29 to your timeline.
Today your child will add cards #19-29 to her timeline.