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Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 was appealing to the British for several reasons. It would allow London, rather than the provincial governments to control the westward movement of the white population. Conflicts with the tribe the tribe which were both costly and dangerous to trade, might be limited.
British Rationale: To maintain/restore relations with Natives Colonists Reaction: Colonists ignored and believed that they fought for the land they had and that they should maintain the right to keep it. -
Sugar Act
The sugar act was imposed in 1764. This act was designed to eliminate the illegal sugar trade between the continental colonies and the French and Spanish West Indies. British Rationale: Help pay for the protection that the British are providing them and for the war. Colonists Reaction: Believed that Britain had no right to have taxation without representation. -
Currency Act
The currency act was imposed in 1764 and required the colonial assemblies to stop issuing paper and all the paper money already in circulation. British Rationale: Must use the specific currency that the British are using so that there are no faults among trading Colonists Reaction: Believed that the Mercantilism created limited amount of trading for them. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was imposed in 1765 which taxed on most printed documents in the colonies such as newpaper, almanacs, pamphlets, deeds, wills, licenses. British Rationale: Colonists have to pay their debts and the taxes would support the soldiers. Colonists Reaction: Reiterated that they should not be able to have taxation without representation. -
Quartering Act
The Mutiny Act was imposed in 1765 which required the colonists to provide quarters and supplies for the British troops. The British considered this as a reasonable requirement because the troops were stationed to protect the colonists from French and Indian attacks. British Rationale: Colonists have to feed and shelter soldiers because they are protecting the colonists. Colonists Reaction: Believed that they were spying on them; and they didn't need to protect them from anything -
Repeal of Stamp Act and Passage of Declaratory Act
British Rationale: Stamp act wasn't working because the Colonists were resenting it and not buying anything Colonists Reaction: Focusing on the benefits of the withdraw of the specific laws. -
Townshend Acts
The townshend duties were taxes on various goods imported to the colonies from England such as led, paint, paper, and tea. British Rationale: Believed that the colonists would be needed to purchase these Colonists Reaction: Taxation without Representation and that the British were using them just for profit. -
Tea Act
The tea act was passed in 1773 which gave the East India company the right to export its merchandise directly to the colonies without paying any of the navigation taxes that were imposed on the colonial merchants. With these privileges, the East India Company could undersell American merchants and monopolize the colonial tea trade. British Rationale: Raise revenue from the Colonies for profit. Colonists Reaction: Threw Tea off of boats when dressed like Natives. -
Coercive or Intolerable Acts
The Coercive Acts’ objective was to provide a civil government for the French and speaking Roman Catholic inhabitants of Canada and the Illinois country. The law extended the boundaries of Quebec to include the French communities between the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers. British Rationale: Close the harbor until they pay back for the Tea that they threw into the ocean. Colonists Reaction: Denial of liberties and eventually leads to first continental congress. -
Lexington and Concord
British Rationale: Seize the stores that contain gunpowder. Colonial Reaction: Thomas Paine's “Common Sense” -
Second Continental Congress
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The second continental congress was vital to the future events and America's independence that would come. The second continental congress succeeded the first one and focused directly on the war effort and achieving independence. This pinpointed resources to the war that helped alter the outcome. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
Location: Charlestown, Boston, MA The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought in June in 1775, the battle consisted of British soldiers marching onto a hill that the colonists were defending. Although the British had won the battle because they took over the hill, this war provided a big confidence boost for the war to the colonists because they inflicted numerous casualties on the British. -
Declaration of Independence
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The Declaration of Independence was essentially the foundation for the war; it helped place things into actuality; that the freedom for the colonists was inching closer and closer. This idea helped fuel the spirits of the colonists into devoting themselves into the war and also helped encourage people into joining the war effort. -
Battle of Saratoga
Location: Saratoga County, and Stillwater, New York The Two battles of Saratoga served as a turning point in the war for the colonists. Although they slightly lost the first battle, in the second one they held the British off and this led to the French realizing their reasons for independence and they had gained the ally of France for the war. -
Battle of Yorktown
Location: Yorktown, Virginia This battle was the most significant of all because it was the end of the revolutionary war. Cornwallis surrendered to Washington when the French and American forces trapped the British at Yorktown. -
Treaty of Paris
Location: Paris, France
This treaty ended the French and Indian war/Seven Years’ War between Great Britain and France.
