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First Navagational Laws to Control Colonial Commerce
Navagation ActsA series of laws that put restrictions on the using of foreign shipping for trade between England and its colonies. Their goal was to force colonial development into lines favourable to England, and stop direct colonial trade with the Netherlands, France and other European countries. The original ordinance of 1651 was renewed at the Restoration by Acts of 1660 and 1663, and subsequently subject to minor amendment. These Acts also formed the basis for British overseas trade for nearly 200 years -
Board of Trade Assumes Governance of Colonies
Board of TradeThe Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions. This department was merged with the Ministry of Technology in 1970 to form the Department of Trade and Industry (since 2009, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills), headed by a Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (now Secretary of State for Business, Innovat -
Seven Year's War Ends
Seven Year's WarThe Anglo-French hostilities were ended in 1763 by the Treaty of Paris, which involved a complex series of land exchanges, the most important being France's cession to Spain of Louisiana, and to Great Britain the rest of New France except for the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon. France was given the choice of retrieving either New France or its Caribbean island colonies of Guadeloupe and Martinique, and chose the latter to retain these lucrative sources of sugar,[27] writing off New France as -
Sugar Act
Sugar ActThe Sugar Act (4 Geo. III c. 15), also known as the American Revenue Act or the American Duties Act, was a revenue-raising act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain on April 5, 1764.[1] The preamble to the act stated: "it is expedient that new provisions and regulations should be established for improving the revenue of this Kingdom ... and ... it is just and necessary that a revenue should be raised ... for defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the same."[2] The ear -
Stamp Act Congress
Stamp Act CongressThe Stamp Act Congress was a meeting on October 19, 1765 in New York City of representatives from among the Thirteen Colonies. They discussed and acted upon the Stamp Act recently passed by the governing Parliament of Great Britain overseas, which did not include any representatives from the colonies. Meeting in the building that would become Federal Hall, the Congress consisted of delegates from 9 of the 13 colonies. -
Quartering Act
Quartering ActsQuartering Act is the name of at least two 18th-century acts of the Parliament of Great Britain. These Quartering Acts were used by the British forces in the American colonies to ensure that British soldiers had adequate housing and provisions. These acts were amendments to the Mutiny Act, which had to be renewed annually by Parliament.[1] Originally intended as a response to problems that arose during Britain's victory in the Seven Years War they later became a source of tension between inhabit -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act of 1765 (short title Duties in American Colonies Act 1765; 5 George III, c. 12) was a direct tax imposed by the British Parliament specifically on the colonies of British America. The act required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London and carrying an embossed revenue stamp. [1] [2] These printed materials were legal documents, magazines, newspapers and many other types of paper used throughout the colonies. Like previous taxes, -
Declaratory Act
Declaratory ActThe Declaratory Act was a declaration by the British Parliament in 1766 which accompanied the repeal of the Stamp Act. It stated that Parliament's authority was the same in America as in Britain and asserted Parliament's authority to make laws binding on the American colonies. -
Townshend Acts
Townshend ActsThe Townshend Acts were a series of laws passed beginning in 1767 by the Parliament of Great Britain relating to the British colonies in North America. The acts are named for Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who proposed the program. Historians vary slightly in which acts they include under the heading "Townshend Acts", but five laws are frequently mentioned: the Revenue Act of 1767, the Indemnity Act, the Commissioners of Customs Act, the Vice Admiralty Court Act. -
New York Legislature is Susoended by Parliment
The New York State Legislature is the term often used to refer to the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York. The New York Constitution does not designate an official term for the two houses together. It says only that "legislative power is vested in the senate and assembly." The legislature is seated at the New York State Capitol in Albany. -
British Troops Occupy Boston
British OccupationOctober 1768
British troops land in Boston to enforce the Townshend duties (taxes on paint, paper, tea, etc., passed in June 1767) and clamp down on local radicals. The troops' presence doesn't sit well with locals and leads to street fights. One clash between soldiers and a mob in March 1770 will leave five dead. Radicals will call it the Boston Massacre, while the British will call it the incident on King Street. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre, also known as the Boston riot, was an incident that led to the deaths of five civilians at the hands of British troops on March 5, 1770, the legal aftermath of which helped spark the rebellion in some of the British American colonies, which culminated in the American Revolutionary War. A heavy British military presence in Boston led to a tense situation that boiled over into incitement of brawls between soldiers and civilians and eventually led to troops discharging their m -
All Townshend Acts Accept Tea Tax Repeal
On 5 March 1770— the same day as the Boston Massacre—Lord North, the new Prime Minister, presented a motion in the House of Commons that called for partial repeal of the Townshend Revenue Act.[64] Although some in Parliament advocated a complete repeal of the act, North disagreed, arguing that the tea duty should be retained to assert "the right of taxing the Americans".[64] After debate, the Repeal Act[65] received the Royal Assent on 12 April 1770.[66] Historian Robert Chaffin argued that li -
Committee of Correspondence Formed
The Committees of Correspondence were shadow governments organized by the Patriot leaders of the Thirteen Colonies on the eve of American Revolution. They coordinated responses to Britain and shared their plans; by 1774-75 they had emerged as shadow governments, superseding the colonial legislature and royal officials. The Maryland Committee of Correspondence was instrumental in setting up the First Continental Congress, which met in Philadelphia. -
British East Indian Company
East India CompanyThe East India Company (also known as the East India Trading Company, English East India Company,[1] and, after the Treaty of Union, the British East India Company)[2] was an early English joint-stock company[3] that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China. The oldest among several similarly formed European East India Companies, the Company was granted an English Royal Charter, under the name Governor a -
Intolerable Acts
IntolerableThe Intolerable Acts or the Coercive Acts are names used to describe a series of five laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 relating to Britain's colonies in North America. The acts triggered outrage and resistance in the Thirteen Colonies that later became the United States, and were important developments in the growth of the American Revolution. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from twelve of the thirteen North American colonies that met on September 5, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. Called in response to the passage of the Coercive Acts (also known as Intolerable Acts by the Colonial Americans) by the British Parliament, the Congress was attended by 56 members appointed by the legislatures of twelve of the Thirteen Colonies, the exception being the -
Quebec Act
quebec actThe Quebec Act of 1774 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain (citation 14 Geo. III c. 83) setting procedures of governance in the Province of Quebec. The principal components of the act were: * The province's territory was expanded to take over part of the Indian Reserve, including much of what is now southern Ontario, plus Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota. * The oath of allegiance was replaced with one that no longer made reference to the Prot -
First Continental Congress calls for abolition of slave trade
The Slave Trade Act (citation 47 Geo III Sess. 1 c. 36) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed on 25 March 1807, with the long title "An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade". The original act is in the Parliamentary Archives. The act abolished the slave trade in the British Empire, but not slavery itself; that remained legal until the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
Battles of L and CThe Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War.[9][10] They were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge, near Boston. The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in the mainland of British North America. -
Philadelphia Quakers found world's first antislavery society
Anti SlaveryThe Anti-Slavery Society or A.S.S. was the everyday name of two different British organizations. -
New fersey constitution temporarily gives women the vote
Women SuffrageThe constitution granted the right of suffrage to women -
Articles of Confederation adopted by Second Continental Congress
Articles Of Con.The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777. However, ratification of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not occur until March 1, 1781. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. The need for a stronger Federal government soon became apparent and eventually led to the Constitutional Con -
Massachusetts adopts fi rst constitution drafted in convention and ratified by popular vote
Massachusetts created by a written Constitution--adopted by the people and changeable (from its ... That Constitutional Convention of Massachusetts was the first successful one -
Articles of Confederation put into effect
On March 1, 1781, the Articles of Confederation went into effect. Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_did_the_Articles_of_Confederation_go_into_effect#ixzz168fzYf3g -
Military officers form Society of the Cincinnati
MSCThe Society of the Cincinnati was established in 1783 by and for the officers in Continental Service. It was organized in 14 constituent societies, one of which is the Massachusetts Society. Eligibility was based on the officer’s length and terms of service. Membership in the Society of the Cincinnati was extended to the officers of the Continental Army — as well as Continental Navy and Marine officers — who had served until the end of the war, plus those who had been declared no longer needed b -
Land Ordinance of 1785
LOThe Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by the United States Congress on May 20, 1785. Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress did not have the power to raise revenue by direct taxation of the inhabitants of the United States. Therefore, the immediate goal of the ordinance was to raise money through the sale of land in the largely unmapped territory west of the original states acquired at the 1783 Treaty of Paris) after the end of the Revolutionary War. Over three-fourths of the area of th -
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
VirginiaThe Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was drafted in 1779[1] by Thomas Jefferson in the city of Fredericksburg, Virginia. In 1786, the Virginia General Assembly enacted the statute into the state's law. The Statute for Religious Freedom is one of only three accomplishments Jefferson instructed be put in his epitaph.[2] It supported the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, and freedom of conscience. -
Shays's Rebellion
RebellionShays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in central and western Massachusetts (mainly Springfield) from 1786 to 1787. The rebellion is named after Daniel Shays, a veteran of the American Revolutionary war, who led the rebels. -
Meeting of five states to discuss revision of the Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States and specified how the Federal government was to operate, including adoption of an official name for the new nation, United States of America. The Second Continental Congress appointed a committee to draft the Articles in June 1776 and sent the draft to the states for ratification in November 1777.[1] In practice, the Articles were in use beginning in 1777. The ratification process was completed in March 1781. Under th -
Northwest Ordinance
NOhe Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by the United States Congress on May 20, 1785. Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress did not have the power to raise revenue by direct taxation of the inhabitants of the United States. Therefore, the immediate goal of the ordinance was to raise money through the sale of land in the largely unmapped territory west of the original states acquired at the 1783 Treaty of Paris) after the end of the Revolutionary War. Over three-fourths of the area of the -
Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia
link"Federal Convention" redirects here. For other uses, see Federal Convention (disambiguation).
Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States, by Howard Chandler Christy. The United States Constitutional Convention[1] (also known as the Philadelphia Convention,[1] the Federal Convention,[1] or the Grand Convention at Philadelphia) took place from May 25 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had be -
Ratification by nine states guarantees a new government under the Constitution
wikipediaNine of the thirteen states would have to ratify for the new government to go into effect.
