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The French and Indian war
The French and Indian War was the North American conflict in a larger imperial war between Great Britain and France known as the Seven Years' War. The French and Indian War began in 1754 and ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The French and Indian War was fought to decide if Britain or France would be the strong power in North America. France and its colonists and Indian allies fought against Britain, its colonists and Indian allies. The war began with conflicts about the land. -
The Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 was issued by the British at the end of the French and Indian War to satisfy Native Americans by checking the invasion of European settlers on their lands. It created a boundary, known as the proclamation line, separating the British colonies on the Atlantic coast from American Indian lands west of the Appalachian Mountains. This prevented Europeans from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. Private citizens couldn't buy land or make agreements with natives. -
The Sugar Act
The Sugar Act was a law that attempted to curb the smuggling of sugar and molasses in the colonies by reducing the previous tax rate and enforcing the collection of duties. The Sugar Act was the first tax on the American colonies imposed by the British Parliament. Its purpose was to raise revenue through the colonial customs service and to give customs agents more power and latitude with respect to executing seizures and enforcing customs law. -
The Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was the first internal tax levied directly on American colonists by the British Parliament. The act, which imposed a tax on all paper documents in the colonies, came at a time when the British Empire was deep in debt from the Seven Years' War and looking to its North American colonies as a revenue source. Part of the revenue from the act would be used to maintain several regiments of British soldiers in North America to maintain peace between Native Americans and the colonists. -
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occurred between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. The riot began when about 50 citizens attacked a British sentinel. A British officer, Captain Thomas Preston, called in additional soldiers, and these too were attacked, so the soldiers fired into the mob, killing and wounding many. Two British soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter. This was a signal event leading to the Revolutionary War. -
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that occurred, at Griffin’s Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing “taxation without representation,” dumped 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbor. This was the first major act of defiance to British rule over the colonists. It showed Great Britain that Americans would rally American patriots across the 13 colonies to fight for independence. -
The Boston Blockade
The Boston Port Act was designed to punish the inhabitants of Boston, Massachusetts for the incident that would become known as the Boston Tea Party. The Port Act was one of a series of British Laws referred to as the Intolerable Acts passed by the Parliament of Great Britain 1774. The intent of the Intolerable Acts was to reaffirm British authority over the American colonies. -
The Intolerable Acts
A series of British measures passed in 1774 and designed to punish the Massachusetts colonists for the Boston Tea Party. For example, one of the laws closed the port of Boston until the colonists paid for the tea that they had destroyed. The 5 acts were the Boston Port Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, the Administration of Justice Act, the Quartering Act, and the Quebec Act. -
The Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was the governing body by which the American colonial governments coordinated their resistance to British rule during the first two years of the American Revolution. The Continental Congress balanced the interests of the different colonies and also established itself as the official colonial liaison to Great Britain. As the war progressed, the Congress became the effective national government of the country and conducted diplomacy on behalf of the new United States. -
The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration explains why the colonies should break away from Britain. It says that people have rights that cannot be taken away, lists the complaints against the king, and argues that the colonies have to be free to protect the colonists' rights. At the bottom of the document, the delegates signed their names. By issuing the Declaration of Independence the 13 American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain.
