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Treaty of Paris of 1763
This treaty effectively ended the French and Indian War. In this treaty, France gave up all of its mainland North America territories. The territories East of the Mississippi went to Britain while the territories West of the Mississippi went to Spain.
Immediately after the French and Indian War, Britain ended salutary neglect, issued the Proclamation Line of 1763, issued new taxes, got permanently stationed British troops, and passed the Quebec Act. -
George Grenville Was Made Prime Minister
The king appointed George Greenville in 1763. he had zero sympathy for the American point of view and sought to control the colonies through laws and taxes. He also saw that the American colonies should pay for the administration and defense of the empire. He tried to impose a new system of control (shift from salutary neglect). He was appointed by King George III of the House of Hanover. -
Pontiac's Rebellion
This is when a group of natives in the Great Lakes area united together to fight against the movement of the British colonists. This led England to put constraints on the colonists' movement west in the form of the Proclamation Line of 1763. This rebellion ended July 31, 1766. -
Proclamation Line of 1763
This restricted the colonists from being able to move west of the Appalachian Mountains. This angered the colonists because it prohibited them from expanding to the Ohio River Valley(and the other lands that they won from the French after the French and Indian War). -
Paxton Boys
A group of people from Western Pennsylvania known as the Paxton Boys flooded Philadelphia demanding less taxes and more money to help defend themselves from the attacks of natives. It ended in 1764. The Paxton Boys are known for murdering the peaceful natives along the border, and it made the British look down on them and back up their reasoning behind the Proclamation Acts. They were also evident of the poor on the frontier who wanted to move to better land and the rich who wanted peace. -
Sugar Act of 1764
This act was designed to eliminate the illegal trade of sugar between the continental colonies and the Fench and Spanish West Indies by strengthening the enforcement of the tax on sugar while lowering the tax on molasses. They also established new vice-admiralty (already presumed guilty) courts in America to judge smugglers angering many of the smugglers who could not benefit from local juries. The colonists that once were free during salutary neglect began to see their rights restricted. -
Currency Act of 1764
Required the colonial assemblies to stop issuing paper money and only use all of the paper money currently in circulation. This also angered colonists because the British were enforcing new acts without the say of the colonies. It angered the colonists because it messed with daily trade and economic activities. -
Stamp Act of 1765
This act was part of a new imperial program that imposed a tax on printed documents such as, newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, deeds, wills, and licenses. It was used to try to reapply the old principles of mercantilism. Many colonists were angered at the tax which gave ten times as much annual revenue from America to the British officials. This is where you first see the colonists starting to work together. This leads directly to the Stamp Act Congress. -
Mutiny Act of 1765 (Quartering Act of 1765)
The mutiny act forced colonists to help in providing provisions and maintenance fo the British army. The British navy was assigned to patrol American waters in search of smugglers or enemies. The custom service was reorganized and enlarged. Royal officials were sent from Britain to order and take up colonial posts in person. Colonial manufacturing was also limited so that America could not surpass British manufacturing. Many colonists were angered over the fact that they were restricted. -
Creation of The Daughters of Liberty (along with The Sons of Liberty)
This was a group of women that actively participated in anti-British riots and crowd activities in the 1760s. Many of these supported the colonies through boycotting goods instead of outright violence.
The Sons of Liberty were more known for being a secret society that worked to undermine the British authority. The earliest origins were in New York and Boston. TAR AND FEATHER!!!! -
The Stamp Act Congress Meeting
In 1765, the Stamp Act Congress met in New York with representatives from 9 of the colonies to try and decide to petition the King and the two houses fo Parliament. The petition said that the colonies were responsible for being subordinate, but the colonies had the right to be taxed through their own provincial governments. They met from October 7 to 25 of 1765. -
Repealing of the Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was highly unapproved by the colonists which resulted in many colonists stopped buying stamps altogether causing the English merchants to lose their colonial market. So, Marquis of Rockingham (who became the new prime minister) pushed the King to repeal the Stamp Act. There were still critics who wanted to fully control the colonies in America, so on the same date, Parliament passed the Declaratory Act which asserted Parliament's power over the colonies. -
Declaratory Act
This was passed along with the repealing of the Stamp Act. It stated that Parliament still had the direct ability to tax the colonists. -
Empowering of Townshend
The King dismissed the Rockingham ministry after many people were protesting against it. So, he finally designated William Pitt to replace it. However Pitt suffered from gout and mental illness, so the chancellor of exchequer, Charles Townshend, fell into power. He was a reckless politician. To enforce the law and raise revenues he used two inflammatory measures through Parliament in 1767. This disbanded the New York Assembly and implementing the Townshend Duties. Colonists were angry. -
Townshend Duties
A second levied new taxes that was implemented on products imported to the colonies from England, such as lead, paint, paper, and tea. Townshend believed that these were reasonable taxes because they were clearly external transactions, however, the colonists believed they were used to raise revenue from the colonies without their consent, like the Stamp Act. Mostly affected the Northern colonies who were big on importing and trading. -
Circular Letter by Samuel Adams
This is basically when Samuel Adams sent out a letter in response to the Townshend Acts, and he was trying to get the colonists to work together and demand representation. -
Nonimportation Agreement of Merchants
In 1768 the merchants of Philadelphia, New York, and Boston (along with some Southern merchants and planters) joined together in a nonimportation agreement. They agreed to boycott British products under the Townshend Duties. American and domestic products became more fashionable while English luxuries started to have a negative association. -
Thomas Jefferson Elected to the House of Burgesses
This is where you see Jefferson taking a stand in the government of the colonies which will lead to him playing a role in the American Revolution. -
Repeal of Most Townshend Duties
In March 1770, Lord North (the new prime minister) repealed all of the Townshend Duties except the tax on tea. He hoped to break the Nonimportation Agreement. This act never had a chance to appease the colonists' opinion. -
Boston Massacre
A crowd of dockworkers called the "Liberty Boys" began pelting the Customs house with rocks and snowballs. captain Thomas Preston lined up several of the British soldiers in front of the building to protect it. During the skirmish, the British soldiers fired into the crowd killing five people. This became a symbol of British oppression and brutality to the Americans. Resistance and public outrage started growing within the colonies.. -
Regulator Movement
In 1771, a relatively small civil war broke out between farmers of the Carolina Upcountry to the high taxes imposed by the local sheriffs who were appointed by the colonial governor.the regulators failed, and nine were killed on each side in the Battle of the Alamance. The significance is how the farmers were the people of the backcountry that felt underrepresented and exploited by the government. -
The Sinking of the Gaspée
Angry residents of Rhode Island boarded the British ship, The Gaspée, set it on fire and sank it in Narragansett Bay. The British in return took the defendants back to England for trial. This angered the colonists because they could have been tried in America, so it undermined their government. -
Creation of the Committee of Correspondence
John Adams began voicing his opinion frequently speaking at Boston town meetings. He attracted immense support and then proposed the creation of a committee of correspondents in Boston to publicize the disgruntlement against England. Adams became the first head of it, and then other colonies followed Massachussetts's lead. -
Tea Act of 1773
This gave the British East India Company the right to export its merchandise directly to the colonies without having to pay the Navigation Act's fees. It enraged colonial merchants who feared bankruptcy by a powerful monopoly. It also was resented by those who were excluded from the lucrative trade. The number one reason it made colonists mad was because "no taxation without representation". -
The Boston Tea Party
Three companies of fifty men dressed as Mohawks went aboard three ships, broke the chest containing tea, and dumped it all into the Boston Harbor. Other seaports followed their example. This showed the strong support of disobeying the British government. -
The Conciliatory Prepositions
Parliament said that instead of being taxed directly by Parliament, the colonies would tax themselves at Parliament's demand. Lord North hoped to divide American Moderates from the extremists, but his offer was too small and too late. The first shots of war had been fired after the news reached America. -
Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts and Quebec Act)
This happened in 1774, and they were four acts passed by Parliament. It closed the port of Boston, reduced colonial self-government, permitted royal officers to be tried in other colonies (or in England), and provided for the quartering of troops in the colonists' barns and empty houses. Its goal was to provide a stable government for the French-speaking inhabitants of Canada and the Illinois country. It sparked new resistance in the colonies. -
Quebec Act
The British transferred the land of the Ohio River Valley to the French in the Quebec colony (that are no longer under French rule). This is important in the fact that this angered the colonists who believed that they had rights to the Ohio River Valley and not the rotten French up north. -
The Creation of the Continental Congress
Virginia took a giant step to create a united front after the royal governor dissolved the assembly. After meeting in the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg and declaring the hatred of the Intolerable Acts, they decided to set up a Continental Congress. The congress would have delegates from all thirteen colonies (except Georgia). In September of 1744, the First Continental Congress convened in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia. -
First Continental Congress
In September of 1744, the First Continental Congress convened in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia. They made five major decisions: reject creating a colonial union under British authority, support a statement of grievances (demanded the repeal of oppressive legislation since 1763), approve recommendations and resolutions concerning military preparations and other things, agree to nonimportation, nonexportation, and nonconsumption (formed a "Continental Association"), and agree to meet again. -
Declaration of Colonial Rights
This is the first list of grievances that is associated with the First Continental Congress. -
The Battles of Lexington and Concord
General Gage wanted to bloodlessly cease illegal supplies that the colonists stashed, but the patriots in Boston were watching, and the minutemen were ready. Shots were fired, and 8 minutemen were killed with ten wounded. The British proceeded to Concord, but the farmers were hiding on the roads. The British ended up losing three times as many men as the colonists did. The shots fired here were "The Shot Heard Round the World", and they heralded in the American Revolution.
