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French & Indian War
The French and Indian War was the North American conflict in a larger imperial war between Great Britain and France known as the Seven Years’ War. Some causes of the war were conflicting claims between Great Britain and France over territory and waterways, beaver trade, religious differences, control of the Grand Banks, and tensions from prior wars. -
The Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 was an attempt to stop the colonists from traveling west of the Appalachian Mountains. -
The Sugar Act
The British legislation aimed at ending the smuggling trade in sugar and molasses from the French and Dutch West Indies. -
Stamp Act
The act required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp, on various forms of papers, documents, and playing cards. It was a direct tax imposed by the British government without the approval of the colonial legislatures. This was enforced to help pay for British troops stationed in the colonies during the Seven Years' War. -
The Townshend Act
The Townshend act initiated taxes on glass, lead, paper, paint, and imported tea. The purpose of this was to pay the salaries of officials such as judges. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occurred on March 5, 1770, between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. Several colonists were killed and this led to a campaign by speech-writers to rouse the ire of the citizenry. -
Boston Tea Party
A group of men dressed up as Indians dumped 342 crates of tea into the Boston Harbor. This was a response to the tea act. -
Intolerable Act
The Intolerable Act were a series of four laws passed by the British Parliament to punish the colony of Massachusetts Bay for the Boston Tea Party. -
Battles of Lexington and Concord "shot heard 'round the world"
British troops had moved from Boston toward Lexington and Concord to seize the colonists' military supplies and arrest revolutionaries. British soldiers killed 49 colonists and this marked the start of the American Revolutionary War. -
Shay's Rebellion
Shays’ Rebellion was a series of violent attacks on courthouses and other government properties in Massachusetts that began in 1786 and led to a full-blown military confrontation in 1787.