Acts of Parliament

Proclamation of 1763

Oct 7, 1763

This proclamation halted westward expansion by not allowing the colonies to seize the land between the Allegheny Mountains, Florida, the Mississippi River, and Quebec. This land was reserved for the Native Americans. In the eyes of the colonists, this was an infringement upon their rights to expand into new territories, and this started the divide between the colonists and the British government.

Sugar Act of 1764

Apr 5, 1764

This act made the importation of rum from other countries illegal. This act also placed taxes on many luxury goods like wine, silk, and coffee. This act was enforced strictly by the British government. Colonists and merchants protested the act, and the Sugar Act led to the creation of the phrase "no taxation without representation."

Currency Act

Sep 1, 1764

This act stopped the colonies from being able to issue their own currency or print paper money for colonial use. This hurt the colonies because they did not have access to hard currency. The only way to get goods was to trade.

The Stamp Act

Mar 22, 1765

This act placed taxes on all paper products. This act placed a lot of pressure on the colonists because they could not afford to buy goods with the taxes being so high. This act led to the Stamp Act Congress being formed. This was the first meeting with the leaders of the colonies. The colonies came together too try and make a difference in the way Parliament was treating the colonists.

Quartering Act 1765

May 15, 1765

This act required colonists to provide royal troops with places to stay in North America. The colonists had to pay for the housing of British troops. This act did not allow troops to stay in the homes of colonists, but it still made the colonists angry that they had to pay for the housing of the troops.

The Declatory Act

Mar 18, 1766

The Act followed Parliament's repeal of the Stamp Act and modifications to the Sugar Act. In the Declaratory Act Parliament declared that it has the right to make laws binding the colonies. This means that even though the Stamp Act and Sugar Act were altered, Parliament was still going to be able to pass Acts like those in the future.

The Townshend Acts

Jun 27, 1767

This Act placed taxes on goods imported to the colonies. These taxes were acceptable according to the British government, when the taxes from the Sugar Act were not, because taxes on goods imported from the colonies were legal, but taxes on internal goods were not legal. The colonists disagreed and began to reject British goods as a form of protest against the Townshend Acts, and eventually, they were revoked for everything except tea.

Boston Massacre

Mar 5, 1770

The Boston Massacre started when a group of colonists harmlessly threw snowballs at a group of British soldiers. Then one of the soldiers gave the order to fire their guns at the colonists and killed three people. This gave the colonists a basis to believe the British were heartless and tyrannical. In response to the backlash from the colonists, the British government strategically revoked the Townshend Acts to get the colonists back on their side.

The Boston Tea Party

Dec 16, 1773

Durring the Boston Tea Party a group of colonists, disguised as Indians, raided three British ships and dumped the tea on these ships into the Boston harbor. They did this because they worried that if the tea was on the market in the colonies, the colonists would buy the tea and pay the taxes placed on British tea. This would hurt their resistance to British taxes.

Intolerable Acts

May 20, 1774

The Intolerable Acts, also known as the Coercive Acts, were a response to the Boston Tea Party by the British government and were meant to punish the colonists for the dumping of British tea and the Boston Tea Party. The intolerable acts were a series of multiple different acts that took place after the Boston Tea Party. The acts did things like close the Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for and banned town meetings that were not consented to by the governor.

Quartering Act 1774

Jun 2, 1774

This Act was a part of the Intolerable Acts and forced the colonists to provide places for the British troops to stay, even if it meant staying in the homes of the colonists. After the Boston Tea Party, there were many more troops sent to the colonies, and they had to give them all places to stay. Unlike the previous Quartering Act of 1763, this Act permitted troops to force colonists to let them stay in their homes. This infringed upon the colonist's privacy and made them very uncomfortable.

Quebec Act

Jun 22, 1774

This act was not meant to punish the colonies, but to gain loyalty with Quebec. This act allowed the people living in Quebec to extend their boundaries south to the Ohio River. It also allowed them to continue some of the practices they were accustomed to with their culture, such as trial without a jury and their catholic religious beliefs. These things angered the colonists though, because they limited the prospects for expansion to the North, and did not align with their Protestant beliefs.