Acts Passed by Parliament 1763-1774

Proclamation of 1763

Oct 7, 1763

This Proclamation was a boundary which prohibited the Colonists from moving and settling westwards. This boundary reserved all territories west of the Allegheny Mountains, Florida, the Mississippi River, and Quebec for the Native Americans. This was not enforced, so the colonists continued to settle westward.

Sugar Act

Apr 5, 1764

The Sugar Act stopped foreign rum from entering the colonies and placed a high tax on imported sugar, wines, silks, and coffee. The Sugar Act also added a small tax to molasses. This caused colonists to smuggle these commodities. The people thought this act would bring ruin to their business, thus the phrase "taxation without representation was born."

Currency Act

Sep 1, 1764

This act prohibited the colonies from legally printing their own currency in the form of paper bills.

Stamp Act

Mar 22, 1765

This act required all documents/papers to contain a revenue stamp, a tax which would then go towards Britain. As a result of this, merchants created nonimportation associations. Protest groups were also created to boycott British trade.

Quartering Act of 1765

Mar 24, 1765

This act required colonists to provide the Royal Troops with barracks. Many people resisted this, causing the New York Assembly to be suspended.

Declaratory Act

Mar 16, 1766

This act allowed Parliament which let them govern over the colonists in whichever ways they saw fit. The colonists saw this as a threat to their rights.

Townshend Act

Jun 15, 1767

This Act placed taxes on glass, lead, paper, and tea to reduce taxes back home in Britain. This act was supposed to raise money to keep British Troops in the colonies. This caused the colonists to boycott British imports and make use of local products.

Boston Massacre

Mar 5, 1770

In Boston, many people wanted to protest against the Townshend Act. The colonists threw snowballs at the British troops. As a result of this, the troops fired at the crowd of protestors, killing three colonists.

Boston Tea Party

Dec 16, 1773

The East India Company created a monopoly on tea imported into the colonies, prohibiting smugglers and all duty-free tea. The colonists rallied for independence, causing for some of the ports to be closed. In Boston, this wasn't the case, causing colonists to sneak onto the cargo ships and throw the tea into the harbor.

Coersive/Intolerable Acts

May 20, 1774

This act closed the port of Boston until all wasted tea was paid for. The act also restricted town meetings unless it was approved by a governor. This resulted in the First Continental Congress meeting to figure out how to resist the British.

Quartering Act of 1774

Jun 2, 1774

This Quatering Act forced local authorities to find places for the British Troops to live in, even if it were in the colonist's private homes. This caused all of the colonies surrounding Massachusetts to rally with them, as this seemed unreasonable.

Quebec Act

Jun 22, 1774

This act moved the border of Quebec south to the Ohio River. This area would now have trials without a jury, and no representative assembly which gave the Catholic Church power and blocked colonial expansion to the North and Northwest. The new-given power to the Church made Protestants angry. Colonial representatives met up, forming the First Continental Congress. They led boycotts and informed them on how to rebel against the British.