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Pre-Revolution Notable Events
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Sugar Act
On April 5, 1764, the British Parliament, at the request of Prime Minister George Grenville, passed The Sugar Act. The Sugar Act imposed duties or taxes on sugar and molasses imported to the colonies and called for the strict enforcement of the taxes. Parliament passed the The Sugar Act in order to pay for the costs of maintaining its army in the colonies. The taxes had a negative impact on the economies of the colonies and angered many colonists. -
Stamp Act of 1765
On March 22, 1765, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act of 1765, following the request of Prime Minister George Grenville. This Act imposed a tax on paper items bought within the colonies, including licenses, legal documents, newspapers, pamphlets, and playing cards. This tax was the first tax imposed directly on the colonists, as oppoesed to taxing imported goods. Parliament passed the Act in order to raise money for the high British national debt. This tax angered colonists. -
Sons of Liberty
The Sons of Liberty was an underground society of middle-class colonists that tried to prtect the rights of colonists against the British government. The group formed in Boston in August 1765, and spread to the other colonies. Members of this group would take to the streets to cause trouble for the British. Members of the group included Samuel Adams and John Hancock. -
Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts were a group of laws passed by the British Parliament to impose taxes on the colonies. These laws created taxes on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea. The laws were named after Charles Townshend, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer. British officials conducted searches to enforce these new taxes. These taxes were opposed by the colonists, who boycotted many of the goods subject to the tax. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre occurred in Boston on March 5, 1770, as a result of rising tension between the colonists and British soldiers and officials. A single British soldier and a colonist had an argument, and the colonist hit the soldier. A crowd soon gathered throwing snowballs and shouting at the soldier. Soon, a few other soldiers arrived. When the dispute escalated, the soldiers fired into the crowd killing three men and fatally wounding two others. -
Committees of Correspondence
In November of 1772, Samuel Adams helped found the Committees of Correspondence by starting the first committee in Boston. Within three months, eighty other committees had formed in other towns in Massachusetts. These committees were intended to form a network for sharing ideas and information on how to challenge the British laws that were harming the colonies. -
Tea Act
On May 10, 1773, the British government passed the Tea Act, which allowed the British East India Company to sell tea directly to the colonists. This tea could be sold at prices well below that available to colonial merchants. The Act was intended to help save the British East India Company. The colonists feared that the Act would put colonial merchants out of business. -
Boston Tea Party
On December 16, 1773, members of the Sons of Liberty, disguised as Indians, sneaked onto three ships in Boston Harbor and dumped 340 chests of tea into the harbor. The Sons of Liberty were protesting the Tea Act and the British taxes on the colonies, which the colonists believed to violate their right to a representative goverment. -
Intolerable Acts
On March 24, 1774, as punishment for the Boston Tea Party, the British Parliament passed the Coercive Acts, which were called the Intolerable Acts by the Colonists due to their intolerable nature. These Acts provided for the closure of Boston Harbor until the City paid for the ruined tea, the cancellation of the Massachusetts charter, the quatering of British soldiers in colonial homes, the trials of British officials in Britain, and the appointment of a new governor for Massachusetts. -
First Continental Congress
In September and October of 1774, colonial leaders from all colonies except Georgia gathered in Philadelphia to discuss the growing problems between Great Britain and the colonies. The leaders decided to encourage the continued boycotting of British goods and to have the colonial militias prepare for possible war. The Congress also prepared the Declaration of Rights to present to King George, which included the right to "life, liberty, and property."
