-
Period: to
Pre- Revolutionary War
-
The Sugar Act
The sugar act was passed by King George II. This act placed a tax on sugar items such as sugar. coffee. The tax effected the sugar trade between the colonies and also between the colonies and the British. The tax was mainly on the colonies that imported sugar products from other countries and the ones that exported the imported goods. The colonies were buying French molasses. This decreased trade with the British and they still needed to pay for the French and Indian War. -
Commitees of Correspondence
The Commitees of Correspondence was created by a man named Samuel Adams. It was created to make a way to communicate with other towns to ahsre ideas about the British laws and how to challenge them. This organization began in Boston. A man named James Otis argued that the British power was limited. THe colonies had no British representation in Parlaiment and called for no taxation without representation. -
The Stamp Act of 1765
The Stamp Act of 1765 was passed by Prime Minister of England George Grenville. This act required the colonists to pay for an official stamp when they purchased paper products The act came to play on legal documents, liscences, newspapers, and even playing cards. If a colonist refused to pay for a stamp, they could be fined or thrown in jail, This act affected all 13 colonies. The British wanted to make new ways to get money from the colonists by taxing them directly rather than on just goods. -
Sons of Liberty
Samuel and John Adams were the masterminds behind the Sons of Liberty- a group of ordinary townsmen that protested the taxation in the 13 colonies. This group began in Boston in the early summer of 1765. The colonists were becoming tired of the taxation without representation and the Sons of Liberty faught against the British soldies in the colonies. They sometimes reacted violently against tax collectors and Redcoats. -
Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts were passed by the British Parliament. THese acts placed duties on paint, lead, glass, paper, and tea. They also gave taxcollectors Writs of Assistance- the right to serch ships for smuggles goods. The colonies didn't like the Acts becuase they took power away from the colonial governmetns in all 13 colonies. The Townshend Acts collected revenue from the colonists and also limited their power over themselves. -
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Masacre took place in the streets of Boston when a Redcoat and a local colonist got into an argument. The locals and British soldiers absolutely hated each other nad tensions were growing since more soldiers were being sent to the colonies to enforce the Townshend Acts. A British soldier struck a colonist and a shot was soon fired. Five were killed, and this event was used as propoganda by the rebels to convice the colonists that the taxation was wrong. -
Tea Act
The Tea Act was passed by the Britich Parliament. This particular act imposed no new taxes, but was rather created to support the East India Company. In India, the British had 18 million pounds of unsold tea and decided to sell it at a very low price to the colonists. The colonists refused to let the British to sell to them and to unload the boats because the Townshend Acts were still in place. The tea was left in the Boston ports to rot. -
Boston Tea Party
When Massachusetts Patriots dressed like Indians boarded 3 East India Company ships docked in Boston Harbor, they did not know that this day would live on in history. The Sons of Liberty also had a part in this midnight raid. These men dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor, equalling about $1 million worth of tea in present-day. The Patriot swere protesting the monopoly on American tea importation granted by Parliament to the East India Company. -
Intolerable Acts
The British Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts to punish the Americans for the Boston Tea Party and their disobedience to the British. These acts included the Quartering Act, the Quebec Act, The Boston Port Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, and the Administration of Justice Act. The Intolerable ACts mainly took affect in teh Boston and New England area. this was the main reason for the Revolutionary War -
First Continental Congress
56 delegates from all states but Georgia gathered at Carpenter's Hall in Philidelphia, Pennsylvania. There, the delegates drafted a declaration of rights and elected the first president of Congress, Peyton Randolph. They discussed a untied American resistance against the British. This was the first real thought about an uprising against the British.
