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Proclamation of 1763
Prohibited Anglo-American colonists from settling on lands acquired from the French following the French and Indian War. As a result, colonists rebelled against this law just like they did with the mercantile laws. -
Sugar Act
The Act cut the duty on foreign molasses from 6 to 3 pence per gallon, retained a high duty on foreign refined sugar, and prohibited the importation of all foreign rum. The colonists reacted to this with many protests and boycotts. -
Currency Act
Prohibited the printing and issuance of paper money by Colonial legislatures and also set up fines and penalties for members of Colonial government who disobeyed, despite the long-standing currency shortage. The colonists once again, protested greatly against this and suffered a trade deficit with Great Britain. -
Stamp Act
It taxed newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, broadsides, legal documents, dice, and playing cards. (Anything that needed a stamp). The Act resulted in violent protests in America and the colonists argued that there should be "No Taxation without Representation" and that it went against the British constitution to be forced to pay a tax to which they had not agreed through representation in Parliament. -
Quartering Act
The Quartering Act stated that Great Britain would house its soldiers in American barracks and public houses. And if the soldiers outnumbered colonial housing, they would be quartered in inns, alehouses, barns, other buildings, etc. As a result, like the past acts, the colonists protested heavily against this. -
Declaratory Act
The Declaratory Act, passed by Parliament on the same day the Stamp Act was repealed, stated that Parliament could make laws binding the American colonies "in all cases whatsoever." In the colonies, leaders had been glad when the Stamp Act was repealed, but the Declaratory Act was a new threat to their independence. It was 1766, and to most colonists, the ability of England to tax the colonies without giving them representation in Parliament was seen as disgraceful. -
Townshend Act
Initiated taxes on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. Colonists organized boycotts of British goods to pressure Parliament to repeal the Townshend Acts. -
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
It was an act of protest in which a group of 60 American colonists threw 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor to agitate against both a tax on tea (which had been an example of taxation without representation) and the perceived monopoly of the East India Company. This was a response to the previous acts that Parliament had passed. -
Intolerable Acts
A series of four laws passed by the British Parliament to punish the colony of Massachusetts Bay for the Boston Tea Party. Colonists responded to the Intolerable Acts with a show of unity, convening the First Continental Congress to discuss and negotiate a unified approach to the British. -
Quartering Act of 1774
This new act allowed royal governors, rather than colonial legislatures, to find homes and buildings to quarter or house British soldiers. This act was only slightly different from the Quartering Act from before. The colonies however, reacted the same as before and became enraged with the acts being passed against them. -
Quebec Act
The Quebec Act established the procedures of governance for the Province of Quebec.The Quebec Act was very unpopular among settlers in the Thirteen Colonies. They thought it was a kind of “British Authoritarianism.” It was considered one of the five “intolerable acts” passed by Britain in the lead-up to the revolution.