1
00:00:03,020 --> 00:00:07,020
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Way the World Works.

2
00:00:07,020 --> 00:00:14,720
The day I want to continue talking about America 2.50 and all the cool history behind things that led to the Revolutionary War.

3
00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:19,720
So today I want to talk about the acts, the acts that sparked a revolution.

4
00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:23,520
And what do I mean with that? I don't mean an act like a thing you chop a tree down with.

5
00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:27,020
I don't mean an act like a thing you do to somebody else's behavior.

6
00:00:27,020 --> 00:00:32,120
I mean the acts like the laws, these laws that one by one built onto each other

7
00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:36,720
until the colonists just couldn't take it, it became too oppressive and they were built.

8
00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:43,720
And just kind of as a spoiler, as a teaser you've probably heard them as the Stamp Act or the Intolerable Acts.

9
00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:50,420
So I want to dive into each of them today in order and talk about how they each built on each other.

10
00:00:50,420 --> 00:00:56,520
Because one thing about the revolution that it's really important to understand is that it wasn't one thing.

11
00:00:56,520 --> 00:01:04,420
It wasn't just one event that made everybody take up arms and risk their lives and their sacred honors to fight for independence.

12
00:01:04,420 --> 00:01:11,920
It was the culmination, which means it was the result of many smaller things that finally led to a breaking point.

13
00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:18,120
If you're familiar with the saying straw that broke the camel's back, I remember my mother saying that all the time,

14
00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:21,520
when we get in trouble, she'd say that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

15
00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:27,420
But that little thing on top of many big things that results in a revolution.

16
00:01:27,420 --> 00:01:33,520
So let's talk about it and let's begin with something called salutary neglect, which I've probably talked about before.

17
00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:38,320
But that was this period of time prior to the French and Indian War.

18
00:01:38,320 --> 00:01:44,120
So it's going to be the 1600s where the king was kind of not really paying attention to the colonists.

19
00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:46,920
And because of that, their economy thrived.

20
00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:52,520
They were able to get away with not really abiding by the customs rules.

21
00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:59,720
And by customs, I mean, if a merchant ship was importing something, if they were going to another country and buying goods

22
00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:06,120
and bringing them back on paper, England had a lot of rules that said, no, you can only trade with certain countries.

23
00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:11,120
You have to come through us first so you can pay the tax on whatever you're bringing over here.

24
00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:12,920
You have to use a British ship.

25
00:02:12,920 --> 00:02:17,120
They had all these rules, but the king really wasn't paying attention to the colonies, right?

26
00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:23,920
So he was leaving them to do whatever it was they were doing because he was off getting into a bunch of foreign entanglements, a bunch of wars.

27
00:02:23,920 --> 00:02:27,120
And so the colonists were able to just kind of be, right?

28
00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:31,120
They were able to create their own laissez-faire economy, so to speak.

29
00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:35,120
But then something different happened, the French and Indian War.

30
00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:37,920
And so this is a very expensive, very ongoing war.

31
00:02:37,920 --> 00:02:40,520
Sometimes you'll hear it called the Seven Years War.

32
00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:43,120
It's like a part of the Seven Years War.

33
00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:47,720
But the French and Indian War was very much fought on the American continent.

34
00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:54,920
And there's some for parents, if you've ever seen last of them on the weekends, very violent, not for kids, but it was a classic back in the day and the 90s.

35
00:02:54,920 --> 00:03:00,520
And it's a really good, it kind of shows you how the French and Indian War was fought here.

36
00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:06,520
But one thing about that is that the king was in a lot of debt after that war.

37
00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:09,120
And he didn't have the money to pay that debt.

38
00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:16,120
So all of a sudden, all those years of looking the other way and letting colonists get away with not paying attention to the law, that went away.

39
00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:23,320
Suddenly, he's starting to put new laws in place or enforce laws that he never was enforcing before.

40
00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:31,320
And they'll tell you, the British excuse was, well, we protected you guys during this war because it did happen on your soil.

41
00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:36,120
Therefore, you owe us, you do need to start complying with these laws.

42
00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:39,320
But if we look at it, that's not really what he was doing.

43
00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:44,920
What he was doing is he was saying, I'm in debt from this war and I need to figure out a way to pay it.

44
00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:45,820
Guess what?

45
00:03:45,820 --> 00:03:49,520
We haven't really been taking the money from the colonists for the taxes.

46
00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:50,720
We should utilize that.

47
00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:53,120
And so that's what's going to start happening.

48
00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:57,920
So the crackdown all begins in 1764 with the Sugar Act.

49
00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:01,220
And here's a really interesting thing about the Sugar Act.

50
00:04:01,220 --> 00:04:03,120
It wasn't a tax increase.

51
00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:05,720
In fact, it was a tax decrease.

52
00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:09,020
The king was saying, you know what, I'm going to lower taxes on molasses.

53
00:04:09,020 --> 00:04:12,220
That's another sweetener and sugar in these things.

54
00:04:12,220 --> 00:04:15,120
But it's the first time I'm going to enforce it.

55
00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:17,820
So yes, it's cheaper, but you're going to have to pay it.

56
00:04:17,820 --> 00:04:20,420
Well, the colonists don't see this as a great tax decrease.

57
00:04:20,420 --> 00:04:24,920
They see this as, wait a second, the king has never been in our business before.

58
00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:27,120
Now, all of a sudden, he's enforcing this.

59
00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:29,820
Like, OK, things are getting kind of weird.

60
00:04:29,820 --> 00:04:33,720
Now, this tax, it's also important to note, was more on merchants.

61
00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:34,820
It was more like import.

62
00:04:34,820 --> 00:04:37,620
Things they were bringing into the colonies.

63
00:04:37,620 --> 00:04:42,520
So this is not something that everyday colonists are going to have to deal with.

64
00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:48,220
But as we know, because we understand economics, if a price is raised on a merchant

65
00:04:48,220 --> 00:04:53,220
who now has to pay additional duties, as they were called, or taxes on these items

66
00:04:53,220 --> 00:04:57,620
they're importing, who do they pass that cost down to so they can afford it, the consumer.

67
00:04:57,620 --> 00:05:01,420
So it is going to affect everybody, but not in the sense that they're on the hook

68
00:05:01,420 --> 00:05:03,020
for the actual tax.

69
00:05:03,020 --> 00:05:06,820
Shortly after that, you had what was called the currency act.

70
00:05:06,820 --> 00:05:10,620
This is going to basically have the king or Britain come in and say,

71
00:05:10,620 --> 00:05:14,320
you're no longer in control of your money supply of your economy.

72
00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:19,520
Because the colonists had started their own currency, their own, you know, paper money.

73
00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:23,520
We can get into paper money another time, but this was their system.

74
00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:27,820
They had set up the king comes in and says, you have to follow our rules.

75
00:05:27,820 --> 00:05:32,220
So this, this is a big loss of autonomy, a loss of sovereignty to the colonists

76
00:05:32,220 --> 00:05:34,520
who had been using their own system forever.

77
00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:37,720
And here the king comes in and says, no, you've got to use British currency.

78
00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:39,420
You've got to follow our rules.

79
00:05:39,420 --> 00:05:43,120
And then you had things like the quartering act, which we've talked about before,

80
00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:44,420
the quartering act.

81
00:05:44,420 --> 00:05:49,620
Well, it's kind of thought about as like, oh, the king was forcing the colonists

82
00:05:49,620 --> 00:05:52,920
to house, you know, British soldiers that they didn't agree with.

83
00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:54,520
That didn't happen quite as often.

84
00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:57,720
What it really was is it was putting the colonists on the financial hook.

85
00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:01,120
So they did have to give their food or they did have to help pay for the barracks

86
00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:02,120
where they lived.

87
00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:07,220
And so it was placing the financial burden of the British army who was brought

88
00:06:07,220 --> 00:06:10,720
there to police the colonists and to enforce these new laws.

89
00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:13,320
It was putting that financial burden on them.

90
00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:17,720
So it's like, it's like having somebody in your house who is supposed to follow

91
00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:20,120
you around all day and make sure you're obeying every single law,

92
00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:21,420
but you have to pay for it.

93
00:06:21,420 --> 00:06:23,220
It would be ridiculous, right?

94
00:06:23,220 --> 00:06:27,920
So that's all going to be creating an environment where the colonists are really,

95
00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:30,720
really angry because just like you would be, right?

96
00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:33,420
Let's say your parents are your government, right?

97
00:06:33,420 --> 00:06:36,620
And they start taxing your toys or taxing this and this and it's small.

98
00:06:36,620 --> 00:06:40,320
It's small, but then it turns into one thing and then another thing

99
00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:43,220
and then another thing until you're getting pretty fed up.

100
00:06:43,220 --> 00:06:46,420
So then we're going to have the stamp act by now.

101
00:06:46,420 --> 00:06:48,720
This is only 1765.

102
00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:54,220
So within one year, all of a sudden, the king has gone from nothing to steadily

103
00:06:54,220 --> 00:06:57,920
increasing the laws on the colonists, the stamp act.

104
00:06:57,920 --> 00:06:59,220
That one's going to hurt.

105
00:06:59,220 --> 00:07:02,420
Now, I remember hearing about this in school and thinking it was like a tax

106
00:07:02,420 --> 00:07:03,320
on stamps.

107
00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:03,920
It wasn't.

108
00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:08,020
It was a tax on pretty much all paper products, glass as well.

109
00:07:08,020 --> 00:07:12,020
So it was a tax on a lot of everyday items.

110
00:07:12,020 --> 00:07:15,720
The stamp was the item had to have like a stamp saying it had been through

111
00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:19,320
custard, not customs, but it had been through the proper channels that the

112
00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:23,420
government had, you know, the duties had been collected.

113
00:07:23,420 --> 00:07:24,120
It was official.

114
00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:27,420
So that way they would know if you were using contraband, right?

115
00:07:27,420 --> 00:07:30,320
They would know if you were trying to skirt the taxes because you'd be using

116
00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:32,320
something that didn't have the stamp on it.

117
00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:36,320
So the stamp act is going to be a huge moment for the colonists because this

118
00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:37,720
was a symbol, right?

119
00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:39,520
Even though the sugar tax was attacked.

120
00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:42,320
Like I said, that was like on merchants to have to pay.

121
00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:48,220
Now the stamp act, this is going to be a direct impact on the everyday

122
00:07:48,220 --> 00:07:51,720
lives of the colonists because it's on items that every single one of them is

123
00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:52,520
using.

124
00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:54,220
And so this is going to hurt, right?

125
00:07:54,220 --> 00:07:57,820
This is going to send the message that guess what were in all of your

126
00:07:57,820 --> 00:08:00,720
lives now, this is what's happening and they're not going to like it.

127
00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:04,920
Obviously that this is not a good trajectory or course that that the crown

128
00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:08,920
is following because more and more every day he's inserting himself into

129
00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:09,720
their lives.

130
00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:13,120
So it's around this time you're going to start hearing this no taxation

131
00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:14,520
without representation.

132
00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:17,920
This is when you're going to start seeing boycotts of British goods.

133
00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:21,320
So this is when the colonists are going to start getting pretty angry

134
00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:23,120
because they're saying, hold on.

135
00:08:23,220 --> 00:08:26,520
First of all, you ignored us for many years and we liked it.

136
00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:27,420
We thrived.

137
00:08:27,420 --> 00:08:29,620
Now you're like two up in our business.

138
00:08:29,620 --> 00:08:34,420
But wait, Parliament didn't even give us a say about this tax.

139
00:08:34,420 --> 00:08:36,520
We don't have representation there.

140
00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:39,520
How can you tax us without representation?

141
00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:42,120
And so it's it's it's lit a fire, right?

142
00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:45,920
This is where the the fire of Liberty while it's always been there is

143
00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:47,820
really starting to burn.

144
00:08:47,820 --> 00:08:52,520
This is also where you're going to see the real activation of the sons of

145
00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:57,020
Liberty, who we know are one of the most, you know, radical and outspoken

146
00:08:57,020 --> 00:08:59,820
groups that's, you know, Sam Adams, people like that.

147
00:08:59,820 --> 00:09:01,820
So this is a really big time.

148
00:09:01,820 --> 00:09:05,220
Liberty has been brewing for a while, but this is it now.

149
00:09:05,220 --> 00:09:10,020
Again, I want to mention that each of these acts, like the stamp tax,

150
00:09:10,020 --> 00:09:12,220
like the stamp act where you had to get the revenue stamp.

151
00:09:12,420 --> 00:09:14,520
It wasn't that expensive, right?

152
00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:19,120
The financial burdens of each individual thing was not backbreaking.

153
00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:21,120
It was not going to make them destitute.

154
00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:25,620
But each thing was building on the other and it was just this growing

155
00:09:25,620 --> 00:09:28,320
control that never happened before.

156
00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:31,020
And so they don't like where this is heading.

157
00:09:31,020 --> 00:09:34,320
So then in 1767, we get the town Schindachs.

158
00:09:34,420 --> 00:09:37,920
Now, the town Schindachs are going to expand everything that's happening.

159
00:09:37,920 --> 00:09:40,820
It's going to basically confirm the fears of the colonists.

160
00:09:40,820 --> 00:09:42,420
It's going to extend taxes.

161
00:09:42,420 --> 00:09:43,520
It's going to be on tea.

162
00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:44,520
It's going to be on glass.

163
00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:47,920
It's going to be on other things, but that's not the worst part about this.

164
00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:51,620
It's going to extend or expand customs enforcement.

165
00:09:51,820 --> 00:09:56,020
That means the people who are in charge of making sure everyone's paying their

166
00:09:56,020 --> 00:09:58,920
duties and their taxes, that's going to get bigger.

167
00:09:59,020 --> 00:10:03,220
But the worst part of it is it's going to expand vice admiralty courts.

168
00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:04,320
So what is that?

169
00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:07,320
A vice admiralty court is where somebody was taken with

170
00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:09,820
they were caught violating a customs law.

171
00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:15,120
Okay, these are jury lists courts where the king gets to a point his own judge.

172
00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:17,720
And that's the only person who gets to decide.

173
00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:18,920
If you're gilled here or not.

174
00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:23,520
So this is a huge affront to the rights of the colonists because remember,

175
00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:26,420
the right to a jury trial didn't come from America.

176
00:10:26,420 --> 00:10:29,420
The right to a jury trial started with Magna Carta.

177
00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:30,820
It started in England.

178
00:10:30,820 --> 00:10:35,220
And so this is the colonists being denied their rights as British subjects.

179
00:10:35,220 --> 00:10:38,620
It's not even then just being taken advantage of as colonists.

180
00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:42,120
So this is really, really scary because now they're saying,

181
00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:45,520
we're going to enforce these laws and guess what?

182
00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:47,320
You're also not going to get a jury of your peers.

183
00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:48,120
That doesn't exist.

184
00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:50,120
You're going to be tried in our courts.

185
00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:53,120
This also meant you had to increase customs officials.

186
00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:56,720
You had to increase enforcement and you had to start, you know,

187
00:10:56,720 --> 00:10:59,920
putting more British troops in place anyway to make sure people weren't

188
00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:01,320
getting away with these laws.

189
00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:04,620
Now, I don't want to tell this full story because I'm going to do a whole

190
00:11:04,620 --> 00:11:07,620
episode on John Hancock and what we know is the liberty affair.

191
00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:12,420
But let me just say the Townshendex had direct repercussions in the colonies

192
00:11:12,620 --> 00:11:16,220
because you're going to have John Hancock, a high profile guy get busted

193
00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:20,620
and they didn't even really have evidence to bust him and try to take

194
00:11:20,620 --> 00:11:22,020
him to Vice Admiral Seacort.

195
00:11:22,220 --> 00:11:24,220
I don't want to spoil what's going to happen.

196
00:11:24,220 --> 00:11:27,720
So you're just going to have to listen to the next episode to find out.

197
00:11:28,020 --> 00:11:31,820
But I want to bring it up to tell you that this was clearly something

198
00:11:31,820 --> 00:11:33,420
the colonists weren't ignoring.

199
00:11:33,620 --> 00:11:38,620
In fact, the Townshendex were such an abomination to people that Ben Franklin,

200
00:11:38,620 --> 00:11:41,420
who at the time was living in London, he was representing like

201
00:11:41,420 --> 00:11:43,420
colonial interests in front of Parliament.

202
00:11:43,620 --> 00:11:48,020
He wrote a whole essay telling the people of England to like,

203
00:11:48,020 --> 00:11:52,220
Hey, if you want to understand why the American colonists are so mad

204
00:11:52,220 --> 00:11:55,820
right now, you have to realize that their livelihoods, their ability

205
00:11:55,820 --> 00:12:00,220
to make money to live from the fruits of their own labor.

206
00:12:00,220 --> 00:12:05,420
As John Locke said, that's being taken away because of all these

207
00:12:05,420 --> 00:12:08,620
new acts, these laws that the king is putting into place.

208
00:12:08,820 --> 00:12:12,720
And that was directly written about the Townshendex and this era.

209
00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:16,820
So tensions are building, tensions are building, 1770 comes around

210
00:12:16,820 --> 00:12:20,520
what happened in 1770, the Boston massacre.

211
00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:23,620
So obviously things are brewing and people are getting mad.

212
00:12:23,620 --> 00:12:27,720
Now, Massachusetts, you know, Boston especially is known for its big

213
00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:28,520
role in the revolution.

214
00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:30,720
And part of that is because there was a harbor, you know, it was easy

215
00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:33,720
to transport goods there, but there's going to be a lot of things going

216
00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:34,220
on there.

217
00:12:34,420 --> 00:12:37,220
I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about the Boston massacre

218
00:12:37,220 --> 00:12:39,120
because we've talked about it in separate episodes.

219
00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:42,320
But just to show you the cause and effect that that the Townshendex

220
00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:45,120
and all these acts that came before are going to result in this

221
00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:48,920
unrest that one of the biggest instances we know of is, of course,

222
00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:49,820
Boston massacre.

223
00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:53,920
Now, 1773, you're going to have the T Act, which just like the

224
00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:56,620
Sugar Act actually didn't make T more expensive.

225
00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:00,020
It made it cheaper, but that didn't matter, right?

226
00:13:00,020 --> 00:13:00,720
It was a symbol.

227
00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:02,520
It was the principal of the matter.

228
00:13:02,820 --> 00:13:06,620
And the T Act was telling the call and as, Hey, you have to buy

229
00:13:06,620 --> 00:13:12,620
T from the East India Company, which was a crown subsidized

230
00:13:12,620 --> 00:13:13,320
company.

231
00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:14,720
And we could get into all this.

232
00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:17,320
I think I actually did get into all this in the Tea Party episode.

233
00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:19,920
So I don't want to go into it further, but you know, that the

234
00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:22,120
colonists had really liked to trade with the Dutch.

235
00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:25,820
The Dutch had great cheap, you know, items for them to trade with,

236
00:13:25,820 --> 00:13:29,320
but under Britain's laws, they couldn't do that.

237
00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:31,320
And even though they had looked the other way for years, that

238
00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:32,820
was that salatary neglect.

239
00:13:33,020 --> 00:13:34,220
Now they were saying, Nope.

240
00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:37,220
And also we have this East India Company that can't even get

241
00:13:37,220 --> 00:13:37,820
rid of their tea.

242
00:13:37,820 --> 00:13:38,520
So you know what we'll do?

243
00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:40,320
We'll force the Americans to buy it.

244
00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:41,520
That's all they can buy.

245
00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:44,420
So that is where you see this Tea Party.

246
00:13:44,420 --> 00:13:45,820
Go listen to the episode on that.

247
00:13:45,820 --> 00:13:49,720
I won't, I won't rehash that, but that's the next big event that's

248
00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:51,620
going to occur in the colonies.

249
00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:54,020
And now we are at 1774.

250
00:13:54,020 --> 00:13:58,220
So now we are 10 years after the king started cracking down on the

251
00:13:58,220 --> 00:13:58,920
colonists.

252
00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:02,220
And I've mentioned this quote many times that John Adams always

253
00:14:02,220 --> 00:14:05,020
said that the real revolution was actually born in the hearts and

254
00:14:05,020 --> 00:14:08,120
minds of the of the American colonists in those 10 years, you

255
00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:10,320
know, before the declaration was signed.

256
00:14:10,620 --> 00:14:13,920
And that's because you can see now it was these 10 years of

257
00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:16,920
one law adding on to another law adding on to another law.

258
00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:19,720
And so now we're going to have my favorite because it's called the

259
00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:21,620
intolerable acts and I always thought that was kind of fun.

260
00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:24,520
The intolerable acts is obviously going to be the colonist

261
00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:25,220
nickname for it.

262
00:14:25,220 --> 00:14:28,320
That's not what the king named his own act, but the intolerable

263
00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:32,120
acts, essentially what that's going to do is it's going to be a

264
00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:35,920
punishment to Boston to Massachusetts for their rebel

265
00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:36,820
rousing, right?

266
00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:40,220
For the Boston Tea Party, probably a little bit for the massacre too.

267
00:14:40,420 --> 00:14:42,820
And it's basically going to cut them off.

268
00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:45,520
They're going to restrict their ability to self govern.

269
00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:48,820
They're going to close off their harbor, which is where all the trade

270
00:14:48,820 --> 00:14:49,620
comes from.

271
00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:52,320
And they're basically going to send a message to the rest of

272
00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:55,820
the colonists saying, if you disobey us, this is what's going

273
00:14:55,820 --> 00:14:56,920
to happen to you.

274
00:14:57,120 --> 00:15:01,620
And so it was a lot of, you know, fear tactics and it had a very

275
00:15:01,620 --> 00:15:05,020
profound effect, not just on Massachusetts, but on all of

276
00:15:05,020 --> 00:15:08,920
the colonies, because one thing we, we forget and we see these,

277
00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:11,820
you know, join or die flags and it's the, it's the snake and

278
00:15:11,820 --> 00:15:12,720
it's the separate.

279
00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:16,020
It's like separated into pieces and it has each of the, the

280
00:15:16,020 --> 00:15:18,820
colonies, the initials on there.

281
00:15:19,020 --> 00:15:21,320
So you're going to see that and it says join or die.

282
00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:22,120
And what does that mean?

283
00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:25,120
That meant that these were separate colonies.

284
00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:25,620
Okay.

285
00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:27,420
They were not really united.

286
00:15:27,420 --> 00:15:28,520
They traded with each other.

287
00:15:28,520 --> 00:15:31,520
They lived near each other, but they had their own, you know,

288
00:15:31,620 --> 00:15:32,320
ways of life.

289
00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:33,320
They had their own customs.

290
00:15:33,620 --> 00:15:36,520
There was nothing unifying other than that most of them you

291
00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:37,120
spoke English.

292
00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:39,820
That was pretty much the only thing, but they didn't see

293
00:15:39,820 --> 00:15:42,920
themselves as this one unified body.

294
00:15:43,220 --> 00:15:47,020
But Austin and Massachusetts and what's happening there with

295
00:15:47,020 --> 00:15:49,620
the intolerable acts, that's going to send a message that's

296
00:15:49,620 --> 00:15:50,720
going to say, hold up.

297
00:15:51,220 --> 00:15:54,420
If this can happen in Massachusetts, this can happen to

298
00:15:54,420 --> 00:15:55,320
all of us.

299
00:15:55,620 --> 00:15:58,020
So this is really, you know, what I like to call the road to

300
00:15:58,020 --> 00:16:01,420
revolution because it was all these acts built onto each other

301
00:16:01,420 --> 00:16:03,620
and then finally the intolerable act being the one

302
00:16:03,620 --> 00:16:07,260
where everyone was like, okay, they can do this to each of us

303
00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:10,660
that led to the formation of the first continental Congress

304
00:16:10,660 --> 00:16:12,860
and then eventually the second continental Congress.

305
00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:16,260
And then, you know, you also have the shot heard around the

306
00:16:16,260 --> 00:16:16,760
world.

307
00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:21,660
So these are the reasons why the colonists felt so

308
00:16:21,660 --> 00:16:23,960
compelled to fight for their own independence.

309
00:16:24,260 --> 00:16:27,560
And it all started with one little law that actually made

310
00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:31,160
taxes on sugar cheaper, but that wasn't the point that one

311
00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:34,760
little logic into another and then another and then another

312
00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:37,860
and it took 10 years for them to be like, oh, no, we've we've

313
00:16:37,860 --> 00:16:39,660
lost our freedom.

314
00:16:39,660 --> 00:16:44,060
We've lost the the liberty that made the colonists what they

315
00:16:44,060 --> 00:16:47,760
were and what made the economy of the colonies, what they were.

316
00:16:48,060 --> 00:16:50,860
And so it was these little acts that led to the big act of

317
00:16:50,860 --> 00:16:51,760
the revolution.

318
00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:54,660
So I want to leave it there because the other things that

319
00:16:54,660 --> 00:16:57,660
we that it goes into next, we've talked to in different

320
00:16:57,660 --> 00:16:59,660
episodes, so I'm going to save it for there.

321
00:16:59,860 --> 00:17:02,460
But I can't wait to tell you guys about the Liberty affair and

322
00:17:02,460 --> 00:17:04,560
John Hancock, which I teased in this episode.

323
00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:05,960
So we will get to that soon.

324
00:17:06,260 --> 00:17:09,160
As always, don't forget to like and subscribe to the podcast.

325
00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:10,960
And until next time, I will talk to you later.