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The French and Indian War
The French and Indian War lasted from 1754 to 1763, forming a chapter in the imperial struggle between Britain and France called the Second Hundred Years’ War. In the early 1750s, France’s expansion into the Ohio River valley repeatedly brought it into conflict with the claims of the British colonies, especially Virginia. The French fought with the Indians against the British and Colonists (as well as some Indians) over land in the Americas. It is also called the Seven Year's War. -
The Proclamation of 1763
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued by King George III on October 7, 1763, following the end of the French and Indian War where Great Britain gained the French’s territory in North America. It forbade all settlement west by the colonists by a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains, which was delineated as an Indian Reserve. The colonists were not happy about this. They thought since they fought in the war and for the British, they should be given this land to settle on. -
Sugar Act
On April 5, 1764, Parliament passed a modified version of the Sugar and Molasses Act. The Sugar Act reduced the rate of tax on molasses from six pence to three pence per gallon, while it was strictly enforced. The act also listed more foreign goods to be taxed including sugar, coffee, pimiento, cambric, and regulated the export of lumber and iron. The tax on molasses caused the decline in the rum industry in the colonies. This set the stage for the revolt at the imposition of the Stamp Act. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was passed by British Parliament on March 22, 1765. The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed. The money collected by the Stamp Act was to be used to help pay the costs of defending and protecting the area near the Appalachian Mountains (10,000 troops stationed there for this purpose). -
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a deadly riot that occurred on March 5, 1770, on King Street in Boston. It began as a street brawl between a large crowd of American colonists and a lone British soldier. This quickly escalated to a chaotic, bloody slaughter where reinforcements were called and four colonists were killed. The conflict energized anti-British sentiment and along with many other things, would pave the way for the American Revolution. -
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that occurred on December 16, 1773, 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. The event was the first major act of defiance to British rule over the colonists. It showed Britain that Americans wouldn’t take taxation and tyranny sitting down. -
Boston Blockade
British Parliament passed the Boston Port Act, which closed the port of Boston and demanded that the city’s residents pay for the nearly $1 million worth of tea dumped into Boston Harbor during the Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773. The Boston Port Act was the first and easiest to enforce of four acts that together were known as the Coercive Acts. The other three were a new Quartering Act, the Administration of Justice Act and the Massachusetts Government Act. -
Intolerable Acts
British called their response to the Boston Tea Party the Coercive Acts. The Harbor was closed to trade, only food and firewood were permitted into the port, town meetings were banned, and the authority of the royal governor was increased. After passing the Coercive Acts, they passed the Quebec Act, a law that recognized the Roman Catholic Church as the established church in Quebec. These acts were seen by the Colonists as malicious deeds and collectively called the Intolerable Acts. -
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress served as the government of the 13 American colonies. The First Continental Congress, which was comprised of delegates from the colonies, met in 1774 in reaction to a series of measures imposed by the British government on the colonies in response to their resistance to new taxes. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened after the American Revolutionary War had already begun. In 1776, it took the step of declaring America’s independence from Britain. -
The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was the first formal statement asserting the right to choose government. When conflict between colonists and British began, colonists were fighting only for their rights as subjects of the King. By the next summer, with the Revolutionary War in full swing, the movement for independence from Britain had grown, and delegates of the Continental Congress were faced with the issue. In 1776, a five-man committee was tasked with writing the Declaration of Independence.
