HIST362: Modern Revolutions

The first elected assembly in October 1765, the so-called "Stamp Act Congress", opposed the Acts of taxation. A group called the Sons of Liberty, based in Boston, Massachusetts, began to openly rebel against the British tax collectors by sabotaging the enforcement of the new laws. This led to the Boston Massacre in 1770 and the Boston Tea Party in 1773. Tensions escalated when the British government passed the Quartering Act of 1774, which essentially placed Boston under martial law. The colonies united by forming the first Continental Congress, but the British ignored the petitions and letters of redress drafted against British policies. In April 1775, several major confrontations, including Lexington and Concord, sparked a revolution. The colonies formed into the Second Continental Congress and, by July 1776, declared themselves independent. That spring, battles followed in North Carolina, New York, and Canada. The Continental Congress drafted its first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, based on Enlightenment ideas of citizen participation, republicanism, and limited government. Watch this lecture on why the colonists felt they needed to rebel and how they went about it. Think about what you know about the Enlightenment. Why did differences among the colonists fail to interfere with their shared purpose of independence?