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Events leading up to the Revolutionary War
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Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War. It forbade settlers from settling past the Appalachian Mountains. The 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. -
Sugar Act of 1764
The Sugar Act was a revenue-raising act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain on April 5, 1764. The preamble to the act stated that new provisions and regulations should be established for improving the Kingdom. It was necessary that a revenue should be raised for defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the same. -
Stamp Act of 1765
The Parliament decided to tax stamps used on documents and paper goods. The tax was collected at purchase and a tax stamp was on the item showing that it had been paid for. -
Quartering Act 1765
. These Quartering Acts ordered the local governments of the American colonies to provide housing and provisions for British soldiers. They were amendments to the Mutiny Act, which had to be renewed annually by Parliament. It was originally intended as a response to problems that arose during The French and Indian War. -
Stamp Act Congress
The Stamp Act Congress was a meeting held between October 7 and 25, 1765 in New York City. It consisted of representatives from some of the British colonies in North America. It was the first gathering of elected representatives from several of the American colonies to devise a unified protest against new British taxation. -
Declaratory Act of 1766
The Parliament repealed the Stamp Act because boycotts were hurting British trade and used the declaration to justify the repeal and save face. The declaration stated that Parliament's authority was the same in America as in Britain and asserted Parliament's authority to pass laws that were binding on the American colonies. -
Townshend Acts of 1767
Acts that were designed to collect revenue from American Colonists by assigning duties on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea are the Townshend Acts. The American Colonists wanted the British to suffer during the war with tax debts, and Britain used the Townshend Acts to change authority and government. The Colonists wanted to raise a lot of money by locally collecting and being retained by the governors of colonies to pay for the French and Indian War. -
Boston Massacre 1770
The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occurred between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. Several colonists were killed and this led to a campaign by speech-writers. The presence of the British troops was extremely unwelcomed. The Boston Massacre was what led to the revolutionary war. -
Tea Act of 1773
The Tea Act launched the final spark to the revolutionary movement in Boston. The act was not intended to raise revenue in the American colonies, and imposed no new taxes. It was designed to prop up the East India Company which was floundering financially and burdened with eighteen million pounds of unsold tea. This tea was to be shipped directly to the colonies, and sold at a bargain price. -
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773, took place when a group of Massachusetts Patriots, protesting the monopoly on American tea importation seized 342 chests of tea in a midnight raid on three tea ships and threw them into the harbor. -
Coercive Acts of 1774
News of the Boston Tea party had reached England in January of 1774. The reaction of Britain was anger and they felt that Massachusetts must be punished. The government rushed a series of legislation through the parliament. -
The first Continental Congress
The first Continental Congress met in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia. All of the colonies except Georgia sent delegates. These were elected by the people, by the colonial legislatures, or by the committees of correspondence of the respective colonies. The colonies presented there were united in a determination to show a combined authority to Great Britain. -
The Quebec Act of 1774
The Quebec Act was formed in order to keep the people in check and to make sure that they kept their loyalties to the Parliament. Due to the rise of aggressive rebels and groups in the American colonies, the British Empire became worried that the French Canadians would follow afterwards. -
Battles of Lexington/ Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles 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 British Army regulars were given secret orders to capture and destroy military supplies that were reportedly stored by the Massachusetts militia at Concord. -
The second contintental congress
It was agreed that a Continental Army would be created. The Congress commissioned George Washington of Virginia to be the supreme commander, who chose to serve without pay. The Congress authorized the printing of money. Congress had even appointed a standing committee to conduct relations with foreign governments, should the need ever arise to ask for help. No longer was the Congress dealing with mere grievances. -
Olive Branch Petition
The Olive Branch Petition was adopted by the Continental Congress in July 1775 in an attempt to avoid a full-blown war with Great Britain. The petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and entreated the king to prevent further conflict. In August 1775 the colonies were formally declared in rebellion by the Proclamation of Rebellion, and the petition was rejected, although not having been received by the king before declaring the colonists traitors. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire.
