Taxes and Smuggling – Prelude to Revolution: Crash Course in US History #6

Taxes and Contraband – Prelude to Revolution: Crash Course in United States History #6

In which John Green teaches you the roots of the American Revolution. The Revolution did not begin on July 4, 1776. Nor did the Revolutionary War begin on July 4. (as I'm sure you recall, the Revolution and the Revolutionary War are not the same thing) The shooting began on April 19, 1775 in Lexington and/or Concord, MA. Or the shooting started with the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770. At least we can date the Declaration of Independence to July 4, 1776. Except most of the signers didn't sign until August 2. of the Revolution is very complex and difficult to understand. John will guide you through the brambles of taxes, royal decrees, acts of Parliament, colonial responses and various congresses. We'll start with the end of the Seven Years' War and the bill the British racked up fighting the war. This led to taxes on colonial trade, which led to colonists demanding representation, which led to revolution. This all sounds very complicated, but Crash Course will help you with this in about 12 minutes.

Hello Teachers and Students – Check out CommonLit's free collection of reading passages and teaching resources to learn more about the events in this episode. Many events paved the way for American independence from England: https://www.commonlit.org/texts/the-road-to-american-independence
English taxation on American settlers led to the famous Boston Tea Party of 1773: https://www.commonlit.org/texts/give-me-liberty-or-give-me-death-speech
And in 1775, Patrick Henry gave a speech rallying Virginians to form a militia against Britain: https://www.commonlit.org/texts/a-participant-s-first-hand-account-of-the- boston-tea -party

Chapters:
Introduction: The American Revolution 00:00
The end of the Seven Years' War 0:36
Taxation in the American Colonies 1:47
The Stamp Law 2:22
The Townshend Acts 3:31
The Boston Massacre 4:22
Boston Tea Party 4:54
Intolerable acts 5:47
The First Continental Congress 6:14
American Revolution/American War of Independence 7:35
Early battles of the American Revolutionary War 7:58
Mystery Document 8:45
Common Sense by Thomas Paine 10:09
Credits 11:47

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