Mounting Tensions Cornell Notes
Colonial History Dispatch • Lesson Reading Inquiry Focus: 1765–1770
Road to Revolution: Tensions Mounting
Name: Date:
Essential Question: How did economic policies and military occupation escalate colonial resistance from peaceful boycotts to deadly violence?
Section 1 • Taxes & Boycotts (1767)
Even after Parliament repealed the hated Stamp Act, Great Britain remained deeply in debt from the French and Indian War. British officials still needed funds to defend and govern the American colonies. To raise revenue, Parliament turned to new forms of colonial taxation.
In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, placing import duties (special taxes) on everyday items shipped to the colonies, including lead, glass, paper, paint, and tea. The acts also granted British officers broader powers to search ships and seize smuggled goods.
Colonists reacted with swift economic resistance. Merchants signed non-importation agreements pledging to boycott British goods. Women organized as the Daughters of Liberty, weaving homespun fabric to replace British cloth and crafting local herbal substitutes for taxed tea.
Resistance Turns Violent: When royal customs officials in Boston seized merchant John Hancock’s sloop Liberty on smuggling charges, colonists rioted in the streets. Alarmed royal officials requested armed British regiments to restore order.
Section 2 • Redcoats & Riot (March 5, 1770)
Tensions worsened under the 1765 Quartering Act, which forced colonists to provide barracks, food, and housing for British soldiers—referred to by locals as "Redcoats" and "lobsterbacks." In Boston, daily competition for jobs and military policing created constant friction.
On the freezing night of March 5, 1770, British Private Hugh White stood guard at the Boston Custom House. When a young wigmaker’s apprentice named Edward Gerrish taunted a British officer over an unpaid bill, White struck Gerrish with his musket.
A hostile crowd quickly gathered, pelting the lone sentry with snowballs, ice chunks, and oyster shells. Captain Thomas Preston led seven soldiers to relieve White. In the chaotic standoff, a soldier fired, triggering a volley.
Five colonists died. Among them was Crispus Attucks, a formerly enslaved sailor of African and Wampanoag descent. Attucks is remembered as the first casualty and martyr of the American Revolution. Attucks was buried alongside the other victims in Boston’s Granary Burying Ground.
Import Duty A direct tax levied on foreign goods entering colonial ports.
Daughters of Liberty Colonial women who manufactured homespun goods to support boycotts.
Crispus Attucks Sailor of African/Indigenous descent killed; revolutionary martyr.
Propaganda Paul Revere & Sam Adams used the incident to rally Patriot unity.
• Turn to Page 2 to Complete Your Cornell Notes •
Cornell Notes: Tensions Mounting
Topic: British Revenue Policies, Resistance, and the Boston Massacre
42-Min Inquiry
Cue Column (Questions & Terms)
Note-Taking Column (Key Ideas & Evidence)
1. Townshend Acts (1767)
• Why did Britain tax the colonies?
• What items were taxed?
2. Colonial Boycotts
• Role of Daughters of Liberty
• John Hancock & Riots
3. Quartering Act & Redcoats
• Why did Bostonians resent British soldiers?
• "Lobsterbacks"
4. Boston Massacre & Crispus Attucks
• Event on March 5, 1770
• Crispus Attucks' martyrdom
• Samuel Adams & Propaganda
Summary & Synthesis (In your own words):
Synthesize the cause, escalation, and impact in 2-3 complete sentences.
Road to Revolution Sequencing Chart
Cause & Effect Chronology
Britain vs. Colonists: Sequencing Chart
Name:
Date: Period:
Directions: Complete the 5-step sequence tracing how economic policies and military presence escalated colonial rebellion between 1767 and 1770. Fill in the British actions, colonial responses, and significant impacts.
STEP 1 • 1767 British Action: Townshend Acts & Import Duties
Why Britain Enacted Taxes:
Taxed Everyday Goods (List 3):
↓
STEP 2 • 1767–1768 Colonial Reaction: Boycotts & Homespun Movement
Merchants' Action:
Daughters of Liberty Strategy:
↓
STEP 3 • 1768–1769 Escalation: The 'Liberty' Riot & Quartering Redcoats
John Hancock's Ship Seizure:
British Response (Quartering Act):
↓
STEP 4 • MARCH 5, 1770 Flashpoint: The Boston Massacre & Crispus Attucks
How the Sentry Dispute Started:
Casualties & Crispus Attucks:
↓
STEP 5 • AFTERMATH Colonial Outrage: Sons of Liberty & Repeal
Samuel Adams' Propaganda Campaign:
Parliament's Final Concession:
Cause-and-Effect Conclusion:
How did peaceful economic boycotts organized by colonial citizens eventually transform into violent confrontations with British troops?
Tensions Escalation Exit Ticket
Formative Check • 5-Minute Closure
Road to Revolution: Quick Check
Name: Date: Period:
1. Match each term to its accurate historical description:
Daughters of Liberty
A. Law forcing colonists to house British Redcoats
Quartering Act
B. Women who made homespun cloth to support boycotts
Crispus Attucks
C. Sailor of African/Native ancestry; 1st revolutionary martyr
2. Why did Parliament pass the Townshend Acts even after repealing the Stamp Act?
3. Why did Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty call the March 5, 1770 shooting a "Massacre"?
Score: _____ / 10 • Road to Revolution Lesson
Cut Line • 2 Copies Per Page
Formative Check • 5-Minute Closure
Road to Revolution: Quick Check
Name: Date: Period:
1. Match each term to its accurate historical description:
Daughters of Liberty
A. Law forcing colonists to house British Redcoats
Quartering Act
B. Women who made homespun cloth to support boycotts
Crispus Attucks
C. Sailor of African/Native ancestry; 1st revolutionary martyr
2. Why did Parliament pass the Townshend Acts even after repealing the Stamp Act?
3. Why did Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty call the March 5, 1770 shooting a "Massacre"?
Score: _____ / 10 • Road to Revolution Lesson
