Author:   Caesar Rodney Date:1774 Annotation: A signer of the Declaration of Independence from Delaware, Caesar Rodney (1728-1784) served as a major general in the state militia and as president of Delaware during the Revolution. In this letter, Rodney describes the rumors and paranoia following a false report of a British attack on Boston. He…

Date:1774 Annotation: Leaders of the patriot cause repeatedly argued that imperial policies would literally make the colonists slaves of the British. As the historian Bernard Bailyn has demonstrated, the colonists talk of being enslaved was not hyperbole or lurid rhetoric; it expressed a genuine fear of being subjected to “the arbitrary will and pleasure of…

Date:1774 Annotation: Established June 2, 1774, the Quartering Act of 1774 was similar to the Quartering Act of 1765. This act allowed troops to be quartered in private facilities. Document: AN ACT to amend and render more effectual, in his Majesty’s dominions in America, an act passed in this present session of parliament, intituled, An act for…

Author:   George Read Date:1774 Annotation: Britain responded to the Boston Tea Party with outrage. Convinced that rebels in Boston had to be taught a lesson, Parliament passed several laws that the colonists called the “Intolerable Acts.” One act closed Boston Harbor until Bostonians paid for the destroyed tea. Another measure gave the governor the…

Date:1774 Annotation: The Massachusetts Government Act put the election of most government officials under the control of the Crown, basically removing the Massachusetts charter of government. Document: An act for the better regulating the government of the province of the Massachuset’s Bay, in New England. WHEREAS by letters patent under the great seal of England, made in…

Date:1774 Annotation: Parliament passed the Boston Port Act in hopes to regain control of an unruly Massachusetts. The act closed the ports in Boston until the city saw fit to reimburse the East India Company for the damage caused by the Boston Tea Party. Document: AN ACT to discontinue, in such manner, and for or such time…

Date:1774 Annotation: The Continental Congress in 1774 made an address to the Inhabitants of Quebec. This address encouraged inhabitants to resist English threats that went against their freedom. It wasn’t taken in good favor as the people of Quebec already knew of their rights and did not need an explanation. They refused to participate. Document: An Appeal…

Date:1774 Annotation: The Administration of Justice Act of 1774 Document: An act for the impartial administration of justice in the cases of persons questioned for any acts done by them in the execution of the law, or for the suppression of riots and tumults, in the province of the Massachuset’s Bay, in New England. WHEREAS in his…

Author:   Thomas Jefferson Date:1774 Annotation: Two years before the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), then 31, distributed an essay to the delegates at the first Continental Congress in which he outlined grievances against the British government. At the time, this statement was considered too radical by most colonial leaders. In this document, Jefferson…

Author:   John Easson Date:1773 Annotation: A Bostonian named John Andrews (1764-1845) offered the following account of the Tea Party. “A general muster was assembled, from this and all ye neighbouring towns, to the number of five or six thousand, at 10 o’clock Thursday morning in the Old South Meeting house, where they pass’d a…