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Treat of Paris
Ended the French and Indian War, granting Britain conrol of all land to the east of the Mississipi River. -
Proclamation of 1763
Declared that all land transactions made to the west of the Appalachian crest would be governed by the British government rather than by the colonies. -
Sugar Act
Lowered the import tax on foreign molasses in an attempt to deter smuggling, and placed a heavy tax on Madeira wine. The act mandated that many commodities shipped from the colonies had to pass through Britain before going to other European countries. -
Stamp Act
Required all colonists to purchase watermarked, taxed paper for use in newspapers and legal documents. First internal tax ever imposed on the colonies by Parliament and aroused great opposition. -
Quartering Act
Required colonial legislatures to pay for certain supplies for British troops stationed in each colony. -
Virginian Resolution
The Virgianian assembly refused to comply with the Stamp Act. -
Stamp Act Congress
The colonial legislatures sent representatives to New York, where they agreed broadly that Parliament had no right to tax the colonies or to deny colonists a fair trial. -
Stamp Act is Repealed
In response to colonial resistance, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, and passed the Declaratory Act on March 18, which states that Parliament may legislate for the colonies in all cases. -
Townshend Revenue Act
Duties on tea, glass, lead, paper, and paint to help pay for the administration of the colonies -
British troops arrive in Boston
In response to political unrest. -
Boston Massacre
Angered by the presence of troops and Britain's colonial policy, a crowd began harassing a group of soldiers guarding the customs house; a shot was heard, causing more fire which killed five civilians. -
Townshend Revenue Act Repealed
Under financial pressure from the colonists' non-importation policy, Parliament repealed all of the Townshend duties except for the tax on tea. -
Burning of the Gaspee
in an act of open defiance against British rule, more than one hundred Rhode Island colonists burn the corrupt customs ship Gaspee to the waterline after it runs aground near Providence. -
Tea Act
In an effort to support the ailing East India Company, Parliament exempted its tea from import duties and allowed the Company to sell its tea directly to the colonies. Americans resented what they saw as an indirect tax subsidising a British company. -
Boston Tea Party
Angered by the Tea Acts, American patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians dump East India Company tea into the Boston harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
Four measures which stripped Massachusetts of self-government and judicial independence following the Boston Tea Party. The colonies responded with a general boycott of British goods. -
Continental Congress
Colonial delegates meet to organise opposition to the Intolerable Acts. -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
First engagements of the Revolutionary War between British troops and the Minutemen, who had been warned of the attack by Paul Revere. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
The first major battle of the War of Independence. 1054 British casualties to the Americans' 367. -
Olive-Branch Petition
Congress endorses a proposal asking for recognition of American rights. the ending of the Intolerable Acts in exchange for a cease fire. King George lll rejected the proposal, then colinies declared to be in open rebellion. -
French provides covert aid to the Americans
French provide cover aid to Americans.
