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Proclamation of 1763
This Proclamation was issued by King George III. This document ordered colonial settlers to remain east of the Appalachian Mountains. This irritated many of the colonists because their expansion was limited. -
The Sugar Act
This act actually lowered the duty on foreign molasses. But, at the same time, assigned customs officers and created courts to collect the duties and prosecute the smugglers. -
The Stamp Act
Parliament passed this bill to raise money from the colonies. It required colonists to pay taxes on almost every printed material including newspaper, books, court documents, contracts, and land deeds. This was also the first direct tax that Parliament imposed onto the colonies. -
Formation of the Sons of Liberty
The Sons of Liberty were formed as a a way to begin to fight together as colonies against the British taxes that were being imposed. They were first called "Patriots," then changed the name after leading popular protests. Also, their most famous leader was Samuel Adams. -
The Townshend Acts
This was created because Charles Townshend, the Crown's chief financial officer, thought that colonists would accept direct taxes on commerce. So after that, Parliament passed these acts which levied the new import duties on items such as glass, lead, paint. paper, and tea. This is what leads and is a cause of the Boston Massacre and Tea Party. -
Boston Massacre
A group of colonist were throwing snowballs and rocks at British soldiers who were guarding the Customs House. The nervous soldiers ended up shooting into the crowd and killed five colonist. This event worsened the relationship of the British and the colonist even more and encouraged the colonist even more to fight for independence. -
Boston Tea party
Due to the colonist boycotting tea it worsened financial problems for the British East India company. To encourage colonist to pay the tax Parliament passed a law that allowed the company to sell directly to the colonist. Although the tea was cheaper, colonist protested that the British were trying to trick them. The night of December 16th, Patriots dressed as Indians and boarded British ships to throw the tea into the Harbor. -
The Intolerable Acts
After the Boston Tea party the British put these in place to punish the colonist. These acts closed the Boston ports to all ships until Boston paid for the tea. They also forced colonist to house British troops and British officials were allowed to be put on trial in Britain for crimes committed in the colonies. They also had the Quebec act which extended Canada's southern boarder cutting of some land claimed by colonist. The colonist were furious and reacted to these acts with violence. -
First Continental Congress
Delegates from all the 13 colonies besides Georgia met in Philadelphia. The colonist agreed to ban all trade that they had with Britain until they removed the Intolerable acts. -
Battle of Lexington and Concord
This battle was the first military engagement of the American Revolution. This battle was provoked because troops were sent to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams. They also wanted to seize patriot weapons that were in concord. Due to being tipped of by Paul Revere, local Patriots tried to drive back the troops to Boston. Redcoats went through Lexington Green onto Concord where they were met with fire from Minute men. The Patriots killed or wounded more than 200 soldiers,
