The Road to Revolution
How a war debt in London turned into a tax, a protest, and a chain reaction that neither side could walk back.
5 topics · 16 questions
Each topic is a path, not a menu: work down it in order and every question builds on the one above. Click any of them to watch the answer draw itself.
The Proclamation of 1763
- How it worksShow me the Proclamation Line of 1763 running along the Appalachian Mountains and what it tried to separate.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't the Proclamation of 1763 really about protecting Native nations rather than avoiding another costly war?
- Going furtherWhat happens when land-hungry colonists start crossing the Proclamation Line anyway within a few years?
Your turn1 of 2
In 1763, Britain drew a line along the Appalachian Mountains and forbade its own colonists from settling west of it, on land Britain had just won from France. Pontiac's War, a costly Native uprising against British forts in that same region, had broken out that same year. Why isn't the Proclamation of 1763 really about protecting Native nations rather than avoiding another costly war?The Stamp Act Crisis
- How it worksWalk me through how the Sons of Liberty organized boycotts that spread from Boston to every major port city.
- Going furtherWhat happens to Parliament's authority once it repeals the Stamp Act but passes the Declaratory Act right after?
- How it worksHow does 'no taxation without representation' turn a tax dispute into a question about who gets to govern colonists?
Your turn1 of 2
In 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp Act, a direct tax on everyday colonial paper - newspapers, legal documents, even playing cards - rather than a duty collected on goods entering colonial ports. Why did this tax provoke sharper colonial anger than any earlier British tax?The Townshend Acts and the Boston Massacre
- How it worksWalk me through how the Townshend duties on glass, paint, and tea led colonists to station troops in Boston homes.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't the Boston Massacre the outright slaughter its name and Paul Revere's engraving made it sound like?
- How it worksHow did Samuel Adams turn a chaotic five minutes on King Street into propaganda titled the Boston Massacre?
Your turn1 of 2
On a March evening in 1770, a crowd on Boston's King Street threw snowballs, ice, and insults at a small group of nervous British soldiers, who fired into the crowd after being struck, killing five colonists. Patriot leaders soon called the event the Boston Massacre. Why isn't that name, and Paul Revere's famous engraving of it, an accurate picture of what actually happened?The Boston Tea Party and the Coercive Acts
- How it worksWalk me through how the Tea Act's cheaper tea was actually a trap that colonists refused to fall into.
- Going furtherWhat happens to colonial unity once other colonies start sending food and supplies to blockaded Boston?
- How it worksHow did the Coercive Acts close the port of Boston and punish the whole colony of Massachusetts at once?
Your turn1 of 2
On the night of December 16, 1773, colonists boarded three ships in Boston Harbor and dumped 349 chests of British East India Company tea into the water, each chest worth about 28 pounds sterling. About how many pounds sterling worth of tea did they destroy that night?The Continental Congress and Lexington and Concord
- How it worksShow me British troops marching from Boston to Concord and the militia response converging from every direction.
- How it worksWalk me through how the First Continental Congress organized a boycott without yet declaring independence.
- Going furtherWhat changes once the Second Continental Congress has to decide whether to fund an actual army.
- Ties togetherHow does the First Continental Congress's boycott strategy connect to the independence Congress finally declares two years later?
Your turn1 of 2
In April 1775, British troops marching to seize colonial militia weapons and gunpowder near Concord clashed with Massachusetts militia at Lexington and Concord - the first real fighting of the war. No congress had yet voted for independence. Why did fighting break out before any political body had voted for it?