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Road to Revolution
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Treaty of Paris of 1763
The Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Years War. The Treaty of Paris was signed by Great Britain, Spain, France, with Portugal in agreement. The Treaty of Paris caused France to give up all of its territory in North America. -
Navigation Laws
In 1763, Prime Minister George Grenville told the navy to enforce the Navigation Laws. The Navigation Laws made anyone that wanted to trade with the colonies, go to England first. England was in such a big debt that they rerouted the travelers to trade with them first, and the colonies would get the leftovers. -
The Sugar Act
The Sugar Act was the very first law passed by Parliament that’s purpose was to raise revenue for England from the colonies. The Sugar Act caused an increased duty on sugar coming from the West Indies. However, after protests the duties were lowered. -
The Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was passed by Parliament in order to receive revenue for the British troops. The Stamp Act was intended to be the biggest paying act passed, and it was. The Stamp Act created a tax on any paper goods or stamps. The citizens of England had to pay an even higher tax on paper and stamps. The Stamp Act caused lots of outbreaks and anger against England. -
The Quartering Act
The Quartering Act was passed by Parliament in 1765. The Quartering Act required the colonists to provide shelter and food for the British soldiers. The Quartering Act created a new kind of anger in the colonists. -
The Stamp Act Congress of 1765
The Stamp Act of Congress was a meeting discussing the repeal of the Stamp Act. The colonists wanted the king and Parliament to repeal the legislation. The repeal was ignored in England, which caused a new unification of the colonies. The Sons and Daughters of Liberty started protesting the act and eventually caused the machinery for collecting tax to break down. Finally, in 1766 the Stamp Act was repealed. -
The Declaratory Act
The Declaratory Act was passed by Parliament showing that England still controlled the colonies over everything. In the Declaratory Act, the British government redefined it’s constitutional principle, which was to have “absolute and unqualified sovereignty over colonies”. -
The Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts were passed to tax the colonies on imported goods. One of the taxed goods was tea. The colonists were furious with the Townshend Acts, especially the tea tax. The colonists refused to pay any taxes without representation, creating: “No taxation without representation,” comes from. Instead of paying the tax, colonists found they could smuggle cheap tea. The Townshend Acts failed to generate revenue, produced a near-rebellion, and nonimportation hurt the English economy. -
The Boston Massacre
A fight started between colonists and British troops in Boston. Colonists started to throw snowballs at the soldiers. Then they started to throw rocks and bricks. The British soldiers started to fight back. A fire broke out in a building so someone shouted, “Fire!” The soldiers heard the word fire and killed two people. The first person to die was Crispus Attucks. -
The Tea Act
The British East India Tea Company was facing bankruptcy, so the British created the Tea Act. The Tea Act only allowed tea in the colonists to be traded with England. Also, the colonists could sell their own tea for cheap but they were afraid it was a trick. The British East India Tea Company had 17 million pounds of unsold tea. Other tea-bearing ships had to go to England since they couldn’t sell to the colonies. -
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party happened at the Boston harbor because the colonists were fed up with the tax on tea and the restricted trading of goods. So, a group of colonists were disguised as Indians and boarded ships. They smashed 342 chests of tea, enough to fill 18.5 million tea bags, and dumped them into the harbor. -
The Intolerable Acts
After the Boston Tea Party happened, Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts as a punishment. The most effective punishment was the Boston Port Act. The Boston Port Act closed the Boston port until damages that were caused during the Boston Tea Party were paid. Other acts restricted town meetings and the New Quartering Act allowed authorities to have anyone house soldiers with no excuses. -
The First Continental Congress of 1774
The First Continental Congress met to talk about the hardships that were occurring in the colones. They met in Philadelphia with twelve out of thirteen of the colonies attending. There were 55 delegates that attended, including Samuel Adams and George Washington. The Continental Congress created the Declaration of Rights, several solemn appeals, and started a boycott that caused the nonimportation, non-exportation, and non-consumption of British goods. -
The Battle of Lexington and Concord
After the rejection of Congress’s petitions, the colonists started to train for a war. The British commander that was stationed in Boston heard about the training and sent soldier to Lexington and Concord. British soldiers were also supposed to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were the leaders of the training. At Lexington, “Minute Men” refused to leave. So, the British fired and killed eight men with others injured. Then, the British went to Concord where they were ambushed. -
The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a declaration created for the colonies to have an independent nation. The Declaration of Independence ended the colonies’s connections with Great Britain. it was written by Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston.
