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The Stamp Act
The stamp act made colonists have to pay a tax on any item marked with a stamp such as newspapers, dice, and playing cards. It acted as common cause to unite the 13 colonies in opposition to the British Parliament. -
Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation line of 1763 was a British produced boundary marked in the Appalachian Mountains at the Eastern Continental Divide. The line kept the American colonists from entering the land gained from the French during the French and Indian War. This added moral force to the Union cause and strengthened the union both militarily and politically. -
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a deadly riot. It began as a street brawl between American colonists and a lone British Soldier but quickly escalated. Someone yelled fire, no one knows who, but it ended with a few people dead and more injured. This made colonists decide to fight for independence. -
The Tea Act
The Tea Act of 1773 was one of several measures imposed on the American colonists by the heavily indebted British government in the decade leading up to the American Revolutionary War. Basically the tea was taxed. This led to the colonists dumping 342 chests of tea into the harbor. -
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that occurred on December 16, 1773. The American Colonists dumped 342 chests of tea in the harbor because they were mad about "Taxation without representation." -
The Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were a series of four laws passed by the British Parliament to punish the colony of Massachusetts Bay for the Boston Tea Party. -
Lexington & Concord
Hundreds of British troops marched from Boston to nearby Concord in order to seize an arms cache. But the weapons were hidden at Lexington. -
Common Sense
Written by Paine less than two years after he emigrated to Philadelphia from England, Common Sense outlined the need for American independence. Paine presented his arguments in plain language that made political discussion accessible to colonists of all walks of life. -
The Declaration of Independence
The declaration of Independence was a documents signed by all 13 American colonies declaring independence from British Rule. It was adopted on July 4, 1776, by the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House.