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Proclamation Line
Royal proclamation setting the boundary which limited British settlement to the east of the Appalachian Mountains. Its purpose was to keep white settlers and Native Americans apart, preventing hostilities between them, and to keep the colonists close to the coast, where they could be more easily controlled. -
Sugar Act
This law decreased the tax on molasses to 3 cents/gallon, but put into place procedures to ensure the tax was collected, such as trying smugglers at the Admiralty Court, located in Nova Scotia. Defendants had the burden of proof and a judge, rather than a jury, decided on cases. -
Currency Act
In order to regulate colonial economy to serve the interests of British creditors, this law banned the issuing of any colonial currency. British merchants had been complaining that colonists were paying off their debts with depreciated paper money. Moreover, the Sugar Act and Stamp Act (passed the following year) required that taxes be paid in specie (gold and silver). -
Stamp Act
The legislation required all valid legal documents, as well as newspapers, playing cards, and other papers to have a government-issued stamp, for which there was a charge. This was the first internal tax that Parliament had imposed on the colonies. -
Quartering Act
Required colonies to house soldiers in barracks, taverns, and vacant building and to provide the army with firewood, candles and beer, among other items. -
Virginia Resolves on the Stamp Act
Patrick Henry introduced 5 resolution protesting the Stamp Act in the Virginia House of Burgesses. The 5th resolution announced that any attempt to collect stamp revenues in America was “illegal, unconstitutional, and unjust and has a manifest tendency to destroy British as well as American liberty.” Newspapers throughout America printed the resolutions. -
Declaratory Act
The Stamp Act was repealed, but with that came this act. Intended to make Parliament’s backing down from the Stamp Act more acceptable to its members, Parliament stated that it had the right “to legislate for the colonies in all cases whatsoever.” Americans considered this act a way at Parliament tried to save face. -
Townshend Act
Charles Townshend, chancellor of the exchequer, suggested a series of taxes in order to generate enough money so that the salaries of royal governors and other imperial officers could be paid, thereby freeing them from the dependence of colonial assemblies. The duties would be placed on tea, papers, paint, lead and glass. The British added a new board of customs commissioners for America and located its headquarters in Boston. -
John Dickinson Writes “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania”
Dickinson was an attorney and member of the Pennsylvania legislature. He asserted that a tax was a tax, no matter what its form. The purpose of these taxes was to pay the cost of governing the colonies, including salaries of governors and judges was dangerous. Americans believed it was the role of their own assemblies to raise revenues for these costs. -
Boston Massacre
After months of increasing friction between the British troops stationed in Boston, British troops fired on American civilians. The Massacre happened when frightened British soldiers fired on a crowd that was pelting them with rocks. Five men died. -
Tea Act
After Townshend Duties on all items other than tea were removed, the British East India Company received a monopoly on the sale of tea, enabling it to drop tea prices by cutting out the middleman. As a result the price of tea would drop below that of smuggled Dutch tea. Also, in all of MA, only 5 men would be allowed to sell British tea – 2 sons, a nephew and 2 friends of Gov. Hutchinson. Activists warned colonists that the law was a trick to get them to accept a tax without representation. -
Boston Tea Party
Colonists avoided drinking British tea after the Tea Act. In many ports, threats from the Sons of Liberty convinced ship captains to return to England without unloading the tea. In Boston, however, Hutchinson barred tea ships from leaving. When the Sons of Liberty learned this, they decided to the action. Samuel Adams reportedly gave the sign and well-organized band of men disguised as Indians raced aboard three ships broke open 342 chests of tea and through them into the harbor. -
Coercive Acts/Intolerable Acts
It closed the Boston port until colonist paid for the destroyed tea. The king appointed MA’s Council; town meeting had to first get written permission from the governor; the governor would appoint judges and sheriffs while sheriffs would select juries. The governor could send officials and soldiers accused of capital crimes out of MA for trial. Troops could be quartered in private homes. -
Quebec Act
The law gave the Ohio River Valley to Quebec. Britain allowed Quebec to be governed by French tradition, which meant no representative government and civil cases would be tried without juries. Roman Catholicism was tolerated. -
First Continental Congress Meets in Philadelphia
55 delegates, including John Adams, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry and George Washington, from 12 colonies met. More radical members, like Samuel Adams, wanted to confront Britain. More conservative members wanted to compromise with Britain. They sought fair treatment from Britain rather than independence. It declared that Parliament had no right to pass laws that affected America, except possibly in the area of foreign trade. It claimed each colonial assembly should regulate its own affairs. -
Lexington and Concord
The Lexington militia stood on the village green to watch British soldiers march toward Concord. No one planned to fight, but in a moment of confusion, someone fired; the British began firing in full force and 8 Americans were killed. Minutemen quickly spread the news. This was the “shot heard ‘round the world” -
Second Continental Congress Meets in Philadelphia
New delegates included Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Hancock. The Congress took on many governmental duties, uniting the colonies for a fight. An army was organized, and George Washington was appointed commander in chief. On July 8, 1775, the Congress issued a declaration setting forth the need to take up arms. -
Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" Published
Paine strongly urged Americans to claim independence from Britain. He argued that reconciliation was impossible and described some of the disadvantages suffered by the American colonies through their connection with Britain. The work stripped the monarchy of all its traditional justifications. Paine said that that’s nonsense; monarchs rule by force, and King George III was a “royal brute.” Paine also wrote that all power came from the people. -
Declaration of Independence