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French and Indian War
--War between Great Britain and France in North America --Fought along the frontiers between the British colonies from Virginia to Nova Scotia, and began with a dispute over the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers --Beginning of open hostilities between the colonies and Gr. Britain. --The colonies interested in overcoming French; appealed to the King for permission to raise armies/monies to defend themselves. George II was suspicious and declined their offer. -
Proclamation of 1763
--Issued by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War. --Purpose of the proclamation was to organize Great Britain's new North American empire and to stabilize relations with Native North Americans through regulation of trade, settlement, and land purchases on the western frontier. --Royal Proclamation continues to be of legal importance to First Nations in Canada. -
Sugar Act
--Passed by the Parliament of Great Britain to cut down on smuggling and to tighten England's grip on its empire. --Act approved to raise money to pay England's national debt (French and Indian War.) --By reducing the rate by half and increasing measures to enforce the tax, the British hoped that the tax would actually be collected. These incidents increased concerns about the intent of the British Parliament and helped the growing movement that became the American Revolution. -
Stamp Act (passing of)
Britain passeed the Stamp Act, imposing a tax on legal documents, newspapers, even playing cards. --First direct tax on the American colonists, hotly resisted. --A successful American campaign to have the act repealed will give Americans confidence that they can avoid future taxes as well. -
Quartering Act
--used by the British forces in the American colonies to ensure that British soldiers had adequate housing and provisions. --amendments to Mutiny Act --each colonial assembly was directed to provide for the basic needs of soldiers stationed within its borders. --Intended as response to problems that arose during Britain's victory in the Seven Years War --Later became a source of tension between inhabitants of Thirteen Colonies and London govt. -
Stamp Act Congress
--Meeting of representatives from among the Thirteen Colonies. --discussed/acted upon the Stamp Act recently passed by the governing Parliament of Great Britain overseas. --Congress consisted of delegates from 9 of the 13 colonies. --When word of the congress reached London, the Lords of Trade wrote to the king. --by the time Parliament was informed, the congress was already in session. -- -
Townshed Acts
--A series of laws passed beginning by the Parliament of Great Britain relating to the British colonies in North America. --Named for Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who proposed the program. --raise revenue in the colonies to pay the salaries of governors and judges (so they'd be independent of colonial rule) --create a more effective means of enforcing compliance with trade regulations --punish the province of New York for the Quatering Act -
British troops occupy Boston
--British troops land in Boston to enforce the Townshend duties (taxes on paint, paper, tea, etc., passed in June 1767) and clamp down on local radicals. --Troops' presence discomforts locals and leads to street fights. --One clash between soldiers and a mob in March 1770 left five dead. Radicals will call it the Boston Massacre, while the British will call it the incident on King Street. -
Townshed acts repealed, e/c tea tax
--Americans protested the Townshend duties, as they had the earlier Stamp Act, with constitutional petitions, boycotts, and violence to even include "tar and feathering". --They now rejected all forms of parliamentary taxation, whether external duties on imports or internal taxes like the stamp levies. --After colonists began to boycott British goods, Parliament altered the revenue measure on March 5, 1770. Duties on all items except tea were repealed. -
Boston Massacre
--an incident that led to the deaths of five civilians at the hands of British redcoats --the legal aftermath helped spark rebellion in British American colonies, which culminated in the American Revolutionary War. --British military presence in Boston led to a tense situation that incited brawls between soldiers and civilians --eventually led to troops discharging their muskets after being threatened by a rioting crowd. 5 civillians killed, 11 injured -
Boston Tea Party
--Direct action by colonists in Boston against the British government and the East India Company that controlled all the tea coming into the colonies. --After officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain... --Colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians dumped 342 chests of English tea in to Boston Harbor. -
"Intolerable Acts"
--The government spent immense sums of money on troops and equipment in an attempt to subjugate Massachusetts. --British merchants lost huge sums of money on looted, spoiled, and destroyed goods shipped to the colonies. --Revenue generated by the Townshend duties, in 1770, amounted to less than £21,000. -
Quebec Act
--an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain (setting procedures of governance in the Province of Quebec. --Established French civil law, British criminal law, freedom of worship for Roman Catholics, and government by appointed council. --Extended the boundaries of the province to the Ohio Valley, a future source of complaint by the American colonies. --guaranteed free practice of the Catholic faith. --French civil law for private matters/English common law for public administration -
First Continental Congress
--convention of delegates from twelve of the thirteen North American colonies --It was called in response to the passage of the Intolerable Acts --Congress discussed options: -an economic boycott of British trade
-publishing a list of rights and grievances
-petitioning King George for redress of those grievances. -
Battle of Concord
--One of the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. --Fought along with the Battle of Lexington in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay. --Marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in the mainland of British North America. --About 700 Brit. Army regulars given secret orders to destroy military supplies that were reportedly stored by the Massachusetts militia at Concord. -
The Battle of Lexington
--One of the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. --Boston, Massacusetts --British were armed with muskets and bayonet. Some light guns were used. The American militia were armed muskets, blunderbusses and any weapons they could find. --The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies --British suffered extensive loss. The Americans considered the contest an encouraging start to the war. -
Second Continental Congress
--A convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. --Succeeded the First Continental Congress --By raising armies, directing strategy, appointing diplomats, and making formal treaties, the Congress acted as the de facto national government of what became the United States. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
--Leaders of colonial forces besieging Boston learned that the British generals were planning to send troops out from the city to occupy the unoccupied hills surrounding the city --1,200 colonial troops stealthily occupied Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill --British alerted to the presence of the new position the next day, mounted an attack against them --Colonial forces retreated to Cambridge over Bunker Hill, suffered significant losses. --Brit victory but many casualities; 800 wounded 226 dead -
Thomas Paine's Common Sense
--First published anonymously --Became an immediate success. --largest sale and circulation of any book in American history. --presented the American colonists with a powerful argument for independence from British rule at a time when the question of independence was still undecided. --Paine wrote and reasoned in a style that common people understood --structured Common Sense like a sermon and relied on Biblical references to make his case to the people. -
Declaratory Act
--A declaration by the British Parliament in 1766 which accompanied the repeal of the Stamp Act. --The government had to repeal the Stamp Act because the boycotts hurt the British trade, but justified them repealing it with this. --Stated that Parliament's authority was the same in America as in Britain and asserted Parliament's authority to make laws binding on the American colonies.
