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The Sugar Act
The Sugar Act was passed by Parliament in 1764. When it went into effect, it actually lowered the tax on foreign, imported molasses. However, it allowed Britain to set up courts and custom officers to prosecute smugglers. -
The Stamp Act
Parliament passed the Stamp Act in March 1765, that required all colonists to pay a tax on all printed materials including newspapers, books, court documents, land deeds, etc. -
The Quartering Act
The Quartering Act passed by Parliament required all colonists to house and feed British soldiers stationed in their area after the French and Indian War. -
The Boston Massacre
One night in March 1770, a group of colonists hurled rocks and snowballs at British soldiers who in return fired shots killing at least five colonists. Samuel Adams was actually the first person to call this event the Boston Massacre. This caused Parliament to back down and they withdrew their troops from Boston and repealed most of the Townshend Acts. -
The Boston Tea Party
One night on December 16, 1773, Boston Patriots boarded three British ships convoying tea and dumped it into the harbor, this became known as the Boston Tea Party. Parliament was outraged and passed the Coercive Acts which closed the port of Boston for trade. -
The First Continental Congress
In 1774 delegates from every colony except Georgia met in Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress. They all met to pressure Parlament to withdraw the Coercive Acts. They thought the best strategy was to boycott all British imports. New committees were created throughout all the colonies to enforce the boycott and basically bypassed Parlament.
