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Proclamation of 1763
A law from the British government forbidding the colonists from settling west of the Appalachian mountains, and which required any settlers already living west of the mountains to move back east. -
Sugar Act
An act that imposed a duty, or import tax, on foreign sugar, molasses, and several other items entering the American colonies. -
Stamp Act
A law by the British that placed a tax on printed items like advertisements, diplomas, legal documents, newspapers, and playing cards. These materials had to be printed on stamped paper or have special stamps on them to show the tax had been paid. -
Quartering Act
An act forcing colonists to house and feed British troops living in the colonies and troops from the French and Indian War. -
Stamp Act Congress
A group of colonists who protested against the stamp act, saying that Parliament could not tax the colonists without their consent. -
Declaratory Act
An act declaring that Parliament had the power to tax the colonies both internally and externally, even though the fight of Parliament’s right to do so was not over. This also included that the British asserted "their full power and authority of Parliament to make laws." -
Townshend Acts
An act that taxed luxury items imported into the colonies like paper, glass, tea, and dyes. Colonists were outraged and started another movement to stop importing British goods. -
Boston Massacre
The colonists hated the British soldiers in the colonies because they took their jobs away from them. A group of about fifty colonials threw snowballs, rocks, and pieces of coal at the British soldiers and one soldier may have slipped and fired his musket, and other soldiers opened fire on the crowd, killing four colonials. This outraged the colonies and increased anti-British feelings. The name “Massacre” was made an exaggeration so people would think worse of the British. -
Tea Act
An act that allowed the British east India company to avoid navigation taxes when exporting tea to the colonies and gave them power to dominate tea trade. This angered colonists and threatened merchants and the colonial economy. -
Boston Tea Party
A protest against increased tea prices in which citizens of Boston raided three British ships in the Boston harbor and dumped hundreds of chests of tea into the harbor. -
Coercive Acts
A group of acts that closed the Boston port until the destroyed tea was paid for. It stopped town meetings, appointed a military government for Massachusetts, and said that trials of government officials would be in England. -
First Continental Congress
Representatives from twelve colonies gathered in Philadelphia. The representatives passed a resolution backing Massachusetts in its struggle; decided to ban all British goods and to stop exporting goods to England until the Intolerance (Coercive) Acts were canceled. -
Quebec Act
An act that recognized the Roman Catholic church in Quebec. Some colonials took it as a sign that England was planning to set Catholicism upon the colonies. The First Continental congress met to discuss their concerns over Parliament's separations of the New York (for refusing to pay to quarter troops), Massachusetts (for the Boston tea party), and Virginia assemblies. After a dispute, Parliament declared the colonies to be in a rebellion. -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
These battles began the revolutionary war between the American colonists and the British. The British governor Thomas Gage sent troops to Concord to stop the colonists who were loading weapons. The first shots were fired in Lexington, starting the war; the battles resulted in a British retreat to Boston. -
Second Continental Congress
A congress of American leaders which first met in 1775, declared independence in 1776, and helped lead the United States during the revolution. -
Olive Branch Petition
The colonies made a final offer of peace to England, agreeing to be loyal to the British government if it addressed their complaints (canceled the Coercive Acts, ended the taxation without representation policies). It was rejected by Parliament, which in December 1775 passed the American Prohibitory Act, forbidding all further trade with the colonies. -
Declaration of Independence
The document recording the law of the Second Continental Congress asserting the independence of the colonies from England.
