Sticky Note Questions - Unit 2

Why did the British soldiers fire into the crowd and kill 5 colonists on March 5, 1770 (Boston Massacre?) The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occurred on March 5, 1770, between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. Several colonists were killed and this led to a campaign by speech-writers to rouse the ire of the citizenry.The presence of British troops in the city of Boston was increasingly unwelcome. The riot began when about 50 citizens attacked a British sentinel. A British officer, Captain Thomas Preston, called in additional soldiers, and these too were attacked, so the soldiers fired into the mob, killing 3 on the spot (a black sailor named Crispus Attucks, ropemaker Samuel Gray, and a mariner named James Caldwell), and wounding 8 others, two of whom died later 

For the Intolerable Acts (1774), there was no trading which meant no taxes - how?  someone was going to pay.Parliament was utterly fed up with colonial antics. The British could tolerate strongly worded letters or trade boycotts. They could put up with defiant legislatures and harassed customs officials to an extent.But they saw the destruction of 342 chests of tea belonging to the British East India Company as wanton destruction of property by Boston thugs who did not even have the courage to admit responsibility.

Someone was going to pay.The British called their responsive measures to the Boston Tea Party the COERCIVE ACTS. Boston Harbor was closed to trade until the owners of the tea were compensated. Only food and firewood were permitted into the port. Town meetings were banned, and the authority of the royal governor was increased.To add insult to injury, General Gage, the British commander of North American forces, was appointed governor of Massachusetts. British troops and officials would now be tried outside Massachusetts for crimes of murder. Greater freedom was granted to British officers who wished to house their soldiers in private dwellings.

What/How did the soldiers being allowed to take lodging in colonial homes help? (referring to the Intolerable Acts) It helped the British but did not help the situation. The Quartering Act applied to all of the colonies, and sought to create a more effective method of housing British troops in America. In a previous act, the colonies had been required to provide housing for soldiers, but colonial legislatures had been uncooperative in doing so. The new Quartering Act allowed a governor to house soldiers in other buildings if suitable quarters were not provided. The act only permitted troops to be quartered in unoccupied buildings.Although many colonists found the Quartering Act objectionable, it generated the least protest of the four Coercive Acts. (Intolerable Acts)

Was the Sugar Act(1764) to hurt smugglers? What was the main purpose of the Sugar Act?   check out this site . It does a great job breaking down the Sugar Act!

Where on the map is the Ohio River Valley? (disputed land between French and British - cause of the French/Indian War) Scroll down to see map


Purpose of the Albany Plan of Union (1754) The Albany Plan of Union was a plan to place the British North American colonies under a more centralized government. On July 10, 1754, representatives from seven of the British North American colonies adopted the plan. Although never carried out, the Albany Plan was the first important proposal to conceive of the colonies as a collective whole united under one government.

Who are the main people that we shold know for the French/Indian War? (1754-1763) George Washington, General Braddock, William Pitt. 

What could colonists do to prepare for war with Britain? (referring to the American Revolution)   By the time the Second Continental Congress met, the American Revolutionary War had already started with the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The Congress was to take charge of the war effort. For the first few months of the struggle, the Patriots had carried on their struggle in an ad-hoc and uncoordinated manner. They had seized arsenals, driven out royal officials, and besieged the British army in the city of Boston. On June 14, 1775, Congress voted to create the Continental Army out of the militia units around Boston and quickly appointed Congressman George Washington of Virginia as commanding general of the Continental Army.