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Proclamation of 1763
After the French and Indian War, the British acquired a large sum of new land that was inhabited by Natives. The colonists wanted to settle on this land but for multiple reasons, they were not allowed to. There was places on the east coast that had not been settled yet, there was no direct water access, and the government wanted to avoid conflict with the Natives (because they were broke), so the colonists could not settle west of the Appalachian mountains. The colonists settled anyway. -
Sugar Act
This was an update to the Sugar and Molasses act. Because the tax of 6 pence was too high, the colonists got their sugar elsewhere, which hurt trade in the West Indies traumatically, this act lowered the tax to 3 pence, but added more things to the tax list. This resulted in smuggling goods into the country. -
Currency Act
In the colonies, during this time, each colony had its own form of currency. The bills changed in value, exchange rate, and some couldn't do what other bills could. This was super confusing, especially for the British, so parliament took control of the currency and made it so that they could only use British bills.The colonies protested against this. -
Stamp Act
After the French and Indian Wars, Britain was broke, and because countries make money off of taxes, they put a tax on all paper products, and many more items, in the colonies. This tax was extreme and the colonists were not happy about it at all. Violent protests broke out, and boycotts started because of this tax, and it was one of the first signs of the degrading relationship between England and the Colonies. -
Quartering Act
During the 7 years war, soldiers had an extremely hard time finding places to stay, as not many people wanted to take them into their houses. This act made it illegal for any household in Massachusetts to refuse service and a place to stay to a British officer. This didn't have much of an effect until a little while after the act was passed, but it made people so mad that it is included in our Constitution that it is not allowed. The colonists also refused service which caused conflict. -
Declaratory Act
This act stated that Britain's governmental rule had the same effect in the colonies as in actual Britain. Therefore, parliament could tax the colonies, make laws, or govern them however they pleased. This added to the taxation without representation movement, and struck up a large outrage within the colonies. -
Townshend Acts
This act taxed most things that were imported into the colonies, heavily. This struck an uprising of many violent protests, and boycotts. The colonists started making their goods in the colonies versus having them imported. These taxes were 'justified' by the thought that because Britain was 'protecting' the colonists, they should pay for it. -
Boston Massacre
Colonists were protesting in Boston one day and they attacked a loyalist store, who fired a gun at the crowd, and killed an 11 year old. A couple of days later, they were protesting again and another fight broke out. This one started with one officer and a crowd of protesters, they started threatening him and he hit one of them, they started throwing snowballs and rocks at him so backup came. There was 9 deaths and 6 injured. This made most colonists extremely mad at Britain. -
Tea Act
Britain was still in debt, so they allowed the East India Tea Company to from a monopoly over the tea industry in the colonies. They also put a heavy tax on this tea. This outraged the colonists more than most things, and they formed a riot which resulted in the Boston Tea Party. -
Boston Tea Party
The colonists were so angry about the tea act and taxation without representation, that this night, a group of colonists dressed up as natives, snuck on some cargo ships, and dumped millions of dollars of tea into the Boston Harbor. This inspired tea parties like this one all over the colonies. Britain was furious with Massachusetts and they passed the Coercive acts. -
Coercive Acts
These acts were direct responses to the Boston Tea party. They took away all government meetings and power in Massachusetts, stopped all trade from entering and exiting the Boston port, made it so British officers did not have to follow the laws and taxes in the colonies, and let Catholics worship freely. This was one of the most outrageous acts that was passed at the time. The Brits hoped that this would stop all insubordination but it encouraged more. -
Quartering Act
This act was not much different from the original Quartering Act, it just expanded the rules. It was now legal for officers to find refuge in any colony, anywhere, not just in Massachusetts. In addition, instead of only the colonist government representatives finding housing for the officers, the British government representatives chosen by the crown were also responsible. The colonists thought this was very unfair and struck up some more protests. -
First Continental Congress
This was an event in which many powerful patriot colonists grouped together to discuss politics and what to do about Britain. This inspired many other forms of rebellion and was the first of the continental congress meetings, which is how they set up government and the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence. Obviously Britain hated this and this caused much more friction as we eventually went to war with them.
