-
Navigation acts
The Navigation Acts were designed to regulate colonial trade and enabled England to collect duties (taxes) in the Colonies. -
French and Indian War
By the mid 18th century, both the British and French wanted to extend their North American colonies into the land west of the Appalachian Mountains, known then as the Ohio Territory. Indians side with the French and after 7 years of battling France and Britain signed a peace treaty. -
Proclamation of 1763
Britain forbade all colonial settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains. -
Sugar act
A law passed by British Parliament where colonists could only buy sugar from British sugar growers in the West Indies making them a monopoly on the colonial market. -
Stamp Act
British Parliament imposed a stamp duty on things like newspapers and legal documents. -
Quartering act
Britain tried to force the colonies to house over 1,500 British soldiers, colonist completely refused and the soldiers had to sleep on ships. -
Sons/Daughters of Liberty
Protest groups, who originally formed because of the Stamp Act, who helped organize boycotts. They tarred and feathered British tax collectors. -
Declaratory act
Britain repealed the stamp act, and then declared that thy can tax anything with an announcement -
Townshend Acts
The British put a tax on lead, paper, paint and tea. -
Boston Massacre
A group of Boston civilians began insulting and throwing snowballs at a British guard, more soldiers arrived. A mob of civilians surrounded soldiers in protest, and in the confusion the soldiers fired their guns, leaving 5 colonists dead. -
Committees of Corespondence
The Committees of Correspondence rallied colonial opposition against British policy and established a political union among the Thirteen Colonies. -
Tea Act
Britain was making colonists pay a tax on Tea. Britain created this act because the East India company was becoming poor. -
Boston Tea Party
Because the British made the Tea Act, colonists invaded British ships and threw all of their tea overboard into the Boston Harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
The British closed Boston ports and limited town meetings. Also trials now can only take place in Britain, and colonists were forced to house British Soldiers. -
First Continental Congress
Sons of Liberty set up a committee in each colony. The committee was made up of Anti-British leaders. Paul Revere invited everyone to a meeting to plan a unified response to Britain. -
Second Continental Congress
The second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved incrementally towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence -
Battle of Lexington and Concord
British troops are sent to confiscate colonial weapons, they run into an untrained and angry militia. This ragtag army defeats 700 British soldiers and the surprise victory bolsters their confidence for the war ahead. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
Boston was being besieged by thousands of American militia. The British were trying to keep control of the city and control its valuable sea ports. -
Thomas Paine's Common Sense
Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine, advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies.
