Acts passed by Parliament

  • Proclamation of 1763

    It was created after the French and Indian war. This was a way of keeping the colonies from expanding past the Appalachian mountains. The colonists decided not to listen, they went there anyway.
  • Currency act

    This kept the American colonies from making their own currency. The colonist were suffering a shortage of currency to trade with, but they had no guidelines to go by. There was not a standard value to base the notes on either. Parliament passed this act to rid of colonial bills and make the new standard "sterling". The colonies could not make any new bills or any other forms of currency.
    The colonists decided to protest heavily against this.
  • Sugar Act

    This was to stop the smuggling of sugar and molasses from the French and Dutch West Indies. It put harder customs on sugar or molasses coming from anywhere but the British Caribbean sources. They decided the Navy was going to enforce this more heavily.
    The colonists protested this because the English did not have enough to provide for the colonists.
  • Stamp act

    This was the first of many taxes put onto the colonists simply because Britain spent all their money on the Seven Years War. It put taxes on all the paper products in the colonies. (newspaper, wills, playing cards, letters, court documents, etc.) The penalty for counterfeiting these stamps was death without clergy.
    The colonists boycotted the products that the stamp was required on.
  • Quartering Act

    This act required the colonies to house British soldiers in "Barracks" that they had to provide, and if they did not make one big enough they must use inns, ale houses, stables, and the houses of wine sellers. Though what happened most commonly was soldiers would take hold in the colonist houses, which they disliked. So some colonies did not follow the law. They said they would prefer to be asked than to be forced to house soldiers.
    The colonists opposed this act and tried to protest it.
  • Declaratory Act

    It said that British Parliament had the same authority in American colonies as it does in Great Britain. It helped Parliament repeal the Stamp act from the colonies. It also made all laws more heavily enforced in American colonies.
    The colonists thought this would trigger more "Acts" from the British Government to tax them.
  • Townsend Act

    It was a set of acts that taxed goods being imported into the American colonies. The British had to send troops to America to enforce these acts, because most people saw them just as an abuse of power. The acts were created to tax the Americans for getting protection during the French and Indian war.
    The colonists boycotted these acts.
  • The Boston Massacre

    It began as a street brawl. A group of Patriots attacked a loyalist store. An officer than shot his gun through a window and killed an 11 year old boy, which only enraged the patriots. days later someone came and begin insulting a soldier, throwing snowballs at him. This led to the bloody fight. The soldiers were in the colony to enforce the new acts known as the Stamp Act and the Townsend Acts. The incident portrayed soldiers as vicious. None of the soldiers were convicted of murder.
  • Tea Act

    This act was made to bail out the East India Company, who were severly in debt. It taxed all the tea that was imported to the colony. This act caused the Boston Tea party. Which was a protest against the tea act.
  • The Boston Tea Party

    The colonists dumped the crates of tea into the Boston Harbor. They did this to protest the tea act. "No taxation without Representation." This was the first major act against the British government.
  • Coercive Acts

    These acts closed the Boston Harbor until the tea that was dumped is paid for. It also gave power to General Thomas Gauge, and put in a new council appointed by the British. They were not allowed to have town meetings without approval. It also protected British colonial officials that were being tried for capital crimes by making them be sent to another colony.
    Many colonists disapproved of these acts.